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| “ | Have you come to confess your sins, my children? | „ |
| ~ Bishop Maltheus St. Claire's famous quote. |
Bishop Maltheus St. Claire is a young 13th century Catholic bishop who was driven mad by the influence of the Firstborn while leading an ill-fated army of very young Christian children against the Saracens on a missionary trek to the lost city of Al-Khali, and one of the bosses in the 2007 first-person shooter psychological horror video game Clive Barker's Jericho.
History[]
Young Maltheus St. Claire. was born in 12th century France and had traumatic experiences throughout his life due to his illness of the flesh (a skin disease in layman's terms) which became his fear, the fear for his own health and his own soul. He also could never control his appetites, despite his increasingly severe penances. He, therefore, sought a solution in Rome where he would become a Bishop of the Catholic Church and be forever devoted to his Christian faith. The Vatican library held many secrets. These included texts that spoke the existence of the Firstborn and legends of his coming upon the world of the living. Maltheus thought a being so like God could well save him from eternal damnation. He would have to free the Firstborn in order to win his favor.
In the year 1213 A.D., Bishop Maltheus St. Claire convinced Pope Innocent III that he had discovered the site of the Garden of Eden and that it was in the hands of infidels. He created a Crusade of children recruited into soldiers into the Israelite Holy Land to fight against Saracens for control of that area. He also convinced the Pope that the purity and innocence of Christian children would guard against this crusade. It is unclear that if Bishop St. Claire truly believed that God protect Bishop and his army and would open for them the path to the Garden of Eden or if he deliberately tricked the Pope and the massacre of these innocent young souls formed a part of the plan to open the Breach on the Firstborn's behalf. Whatever the truth, word of Bishop St. Claire's plot concerning the children in his care reached the Church which later ordered the Templar Knights to leave for the "Les Innocents" fortress stationed at Al-Khali and stop him at once. But the time, the Templars arrived the tens of thousands of these "Child Crusaders" already died atrociously at that time and their blood from this slaughter causes the Breach there to emerge, attracting the Firstborn to the human world and soon dooming the souls of Maltheus and the children to part of the Pyxis Prima and prisoners of the Firstborn's power for eternity.
Bishop Maltheus St. Claire who is not yet dead, interpreted what he was seeing as signs of the end of the world. When he heard noises in the crypt below the chapel at Les Innocents, the Bishop thought he was witnessing a divine miracle and that the Almighty in his benevolence was returning his children to him. He ran down to the crypt with mysterious Black Rose plants strangely grown on the grounds of Al-Khali for protection, and he was ready to receive his warriors of Christ with open arms. The Bishop's shrieks were heard for days. The Templars closed off the entrance to the crypt, leaving the heretical bishop to this fate, but like everyone else infected by the influence of the Firstborn, he returned from beyond the grave. And he was changed and powerful, very powerful. Capable of working "miracles", the delusional Bishop Maltheus thought he was in purgatory, subject to another of God's tests to pardon his sins: he had to free the souls of children, now agents of The Devil. He has been trying to do this since then, exorcising wave after wave of children without losing his determination for a single moment. His eternal life is at stake... if only he would stop to think... he already is immortal, but not in the way he thought.
When Delgado and his comrade's Ross Black were tricked by a Templar crusader who is one of Arnold Leach's pawns before escaping from the concealed dungeon used a trap at Les Innocents. They later met a chained prisoner who is a former Catholic priest who were once with the Templars. He revealed about St Claire's crimes against the children he sent to die and the crypt he now resides after death here at Les Innocents before leaving the prisoner on the way to regroup with the rest of the separated Jericho team members and soon facing Bishop St. Claire.
Quotes[]
| “ | How dare you to defile this holy place and make demands, heretic?! You reek of sin! Kneel before me and be cleansd! | „ |
| ~ Bishop St. Claire |
| “ | You dare attack me? You are warriors of Christ! Burn these heretics for God's glory! | „ |
| ~ Bishop St. Claire commanding his reluctant Maltheus Crusaders to attack the Jericho Squad. |
| “ | Save me, my children! Their wickedness must not go unpunished! I command you in the name of Christ! Rend their souls! | „ |
| ~ Bishop Maltheus St. Claire summoning the trapped souls of the Maltheus Crusaders to his defense against the Jericho Squad's attacks. |
| “ | No... I loved you. I loved you all. You were my children... My sweet, sweet children... | „ |
| ~ Bishop Maltheus St. Claire's last words, before being finally killed and destroyed by the angry spirits of the former Maltheus Crusaders as punishment for his crimes. |
Trivia[]
- He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (credited as "Additional Voices" in the game).