When Satan Wore a Cross: The Shocking True Story of a Killer Priest

by Fred Rosen

In 1980 in Toledo, Ohio—on one of the holiest days of the church calendar—the body of a nun was discovered in the sacristy of a hospital chapel. Seventy-one-year-old Sister Margaret Ann had been strangled and stabbed, her corpse arranged in a shameful and stomach-churning pose. But the police's most likely suspect was inexplicably released and the investigation was quietly buried. Despite damning evidence, Father Gerald Robinson went free.

Twenty-three years later the priest's name resurfaced in connection with a bizarre case of satanic ritual and abuse. It prompted investigators to exhume the remains of the slain nun in search of the proof left behind that would indelibly mark Father Robinson as Sister Margaret Ann's killer: the sign of the Devil.

When Satan Wore a Cross is a shocking true story of official cover-ups, madness, murder and lies—and of an unholy human monster who disguised himself in holy garb.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

260 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

American true crime author and former columnist for the Arts and Leisure Section of The New York Times.

Rosen's published works in the genre include Lobster Boy, There But For the Grace: Survivors of the 20th Century’s Infamous Serial Killers and When Satan Wore a Cross.

He is also the winner of Library Journal’s Best Reference Source 2005 award for The Historical Atlas of American Crime, and has written many other works of historical non-fiction including Cremation in America, Contract Warriors and Gold!.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Saturday, April 5, 1980 in Toledo, Ohio - on one of the holiest days of the Church calendar - the body of a nun was discovered in the sacristy of the hospital chapel. Seventy-one year old Sister Margaret Ann Pahl had been brutally murdered - strangled and stabbed, her body arranged in a shocking and shameful pose. But the police's most likely suspect was inexplicably released from custody and the investigation was quietly buried. Despite damning evidence, Father Gerald Robinson went free.

Twenty-three years later the priest's name resurfaced in connection with a bizarre case of satanic ritual and abuse. This prompted investigators to exhume the remains of Sister Margaret Ann to search for the incontrovertible proof that would indelibly mark Father Robinson as Sister Margaret Ann's killer: the sign of the Devil.

When Satan Wore a Cross is the shocking true story of official cover-ups, madness, murder and lies - and of an unholy human monster who disguised himself in holy garb.

I loved this book. The case was shocking to begin with, and I actually do remember when Gerald Robinson finally went on trial for Sister Margaret Ann's murder. Although, the television coverage that I watched certainly tamped down the satanic ritualistic element of the crime. This book was very clearly written, and I enjoyed the author's writing style - it was just detailed enough to be interesting, and not cluttered too much with technical jargon. I give this book an A+!

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a huge waist of time. It is about a priest who murders a nun some 40yrs ago when people still thought priests were beyond reproach. As I like nothing better than a book that reveals the dark side of religion I thought I would enjoy it. But the author's writing style was terrible! He jumped back and forth between topics and people and wrote like he was talking to you. By this I mean he'd state a fact and then write "remember that for later". It was weird. I kept reading hoping it would get better, or at least that the ending would be climatic. Was I disappointed.

[Marianne Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVE true crime books, but this one fell very short. There was no ooomph to the book, it was bland, and very poorly written. I'm really sad because I really wanted to like this book.

[Janell · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could have given it less stars, I would.

[McKenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars review to follow

[Chris Demer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially, it is the story of a nun who is murdered in the sacristy of a hospital chapel in Toledo Ohio in 1980. Although circumstantial evidence points to the resident chaplain, Gerald Robinson, the investigation is brought to a halt by representatives of the diocese and higher-ups in the police department. The apparent cover-up is consistent with the church protecting its own, even when serious crimes are committed. It is not until years later, when the tide has begun to turn in terms of believing the clergy incapable of heinous crimes, that information surfaces to bring Robinson to trial. There are witnesses to criminal activities, including cult-like Satan worship and physical, psychological and sexual abuse reported by at least two women. Both implicate Robinson, among others. Although there was no actual evidence found for such activities, it seemed more than a coincidence that he was named as a participant by women who did not know each other.

What follows is a trial and verdict.

Fairly well-written, the detailed digressions and photocopies of documents (in print almost too small to read) did not add anything to the core of the story.

I would recommend it for true-crime aficionados.

[Matthew Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was frustrating more than anything. It focuses on an interesting case and trial--a priest allegedly murdering a nun in my home State of Ohio--but the long tangential asides and frequent repetition of key points by the author means this book could have been less than 100 pages instead of 250. It has interesting documentation of supposed collaboration between the Diocese of Toledo and the Toledo Police Department to protect the priest from being investigated, though shoddy writing left something to be desired. A missing watch, for instance, is mentioned once as possibly being important if it was ever found; it never turned up and is never mentioned again. A fire is mentioned as being hot enough to destroy all evidence, which is called lucky for an arsonist, but the fire is never determined to be arson and no case that it was is ever expounded.

The Church and State collaboration to protect a murderer would be an original angle for a book, but ultimately this comes away as another true crime writer convinced of the guilt of a person without hard evidence and is trying to convince his audience of his opinion.

[Koren · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was a little different. It's not every day you can read a true crime about a priest that murders a nun. That said, this book had a hard time keeping my interest. It seemed to go off in other directions where I wondered what he was talking about had to do with the crime. There was little background information on the nun or the priest so I had a hard time feeling like I knew either one. And in the end, I wasn't convinced that the priest's guilt was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Not that I don't believe he was guilty, I just don't think it was proven.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a confession. I didn't actually finish this book. I made it to chapter 7. It was confusing. Dating back to like the 1800s and stuff. It was like notes all thrown together for a book. It wasn't well written at all. The author said "author note, remember this for later." stuff like that. Waste of my money and time. I really wanted to see how it got covered up. I think I shall google it. It will probably be more interesting then reading this book!!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a priest who murders a nun because he thought she was pushey and loud. It happens in Toledo in 1980. There are so many Catholics in the police force that it is impossible to bring him to justice. When that generation "passes away" the new guys aren't so devout, and he is sent to prison 25 years later. Interesting.

[Angi Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

True accounts of a priest gone bad. There is murder, huge coverups by the archdioces, satanic cults, ritualistic abuse, rape, prostitution ... gives you a whole new version of "evil" and the catholic church.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative look at what priests live with every day of their lives. It told the true story of a killer priest and a nun as his victim. They found the nun in the sanctuary and didn't expect the priest. The priest wasn't convicted until years later.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a little slow in parts and undeveloped in others but overall good book. The story was told in a simple, honest way. When some of the details were told it gave me the creeps. Strange and heartbreaking story.

[Humberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that really makes us think is our church capable of this?

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It amazes me that the priest went free for 23 years. Excellent book.

[Karen Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This eye opening piece of non fiction chronicles an in-depth look into not just a heinous murder but the disenchanting policies within the Catholic Church/the Diocese that definitely needed to change back in the 1980’s.
1980- Sister Margaret Ann Pahl met her untimely demise due to no fault of her own, other than her devout upbringing and service to God.
The lack of proper police procedural in securing a crime scene, to interviewing witnesses leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Considered the crime of the century, as no one had ever heard of a murdered nun before.
The dissection that follows shows a huge disgraceful policy within the church about how they protect the criminals and their deviant behavior.
The priest, who is eventually charged with Sister Margaret’s murder, was a suspect back in 1980, the ONLY suspect…yet he was not fully prosecuted until 2006!
Secret clandestine meetings with satanic cult members, rituals, abuse in spades (physical, sexual and psychological), all those hidden stones overturned.
Books by Fred Rosen do NOT disappoint.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the story of a murder of a nun in a Catholic hospital in Toledo, Ohio in 1980. I lived in the Toledo area for the first 45 years of my life. I knew several of the people in the book as well as being familiar with the names of the elected and church officials.
I can not believe that a writer who has been published in The New York Times wrote this waste of paper and time. I find it equally hard to understand that Harper Collins put their name on the title page.
The writing style is dreadful misusing words, including unneeded asides, adding unrelated side stories (some to try to draw a parallel and at least one that had no relativity whatsoever), and gives biased describes people and places (I lost count of the number of times Toledo was referred to as "a backwater town").
In the electronic edition I read, using a Kindle App for iPad, reproductions of court documents were unreadable - at least without a microscope.
With the situation and the dichotomy of sentiment about Father Robinson, this should have been a 5-star read.

[Ghost of a Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing leaves much to be desired and would have rated only two stars. But the story is interesting enough to carry the reader's interest. I was surprised to learn that this writer is a journalist for the New York Times and has won a prestigious award from Library Journal. This book reads like a tabloid newspaper.

[Lynn Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ the author is incredibly thorough, which meant there were a few parts that I skimmed because it wasn't super important to the story, but did provide background information (I just didn't care enough).

The story is incredibly sad, especially when it's from your hometown. So much corruption.

[Lacey Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The corruption is unreal

[Kristi Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. This was indeed eye opening to many things that have happened. The way it was written was a little hard to get through for me.

[Jennifer Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever added to my GR TBR shelf, long ago in Dec of 2012. I was intruiged because this crime happened here in Ohio and somehow I missed it on the news. A priest killed a nun in 1980 and was finally brought to trial in 2006 and found guilty. There really wasn't enough material to this story for a full book. A multi page artice would have been sufficient. There was loads of obvious filler such as the chapter on Hollywood preists. The strangest element of this case was a different nun who came forward with wild tales of Satanic cults and ritual abuse. I think this was a product of the times, much as the McMann daycare case, which this author also filled another chapter with. Sadly what I found most fascinating was the autopsy picture of Sister Margret Ann. That woman was 70 years old and she had the best damn tits I have ever seen. Are all nuns hiding perfect breasts under thier habits? I know, straight to hell for me.

[Big H · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started off as an intriguing story, but then it peters out. The end of the story makes it seem like no-one's even sure if the priest is actually guilty or not. Sure, they think he is...and he's serving time for the nun's murder based on mostly circumstantial evidence...but beyond that, there's not much. And even though the author links the probability of the priest being a Satanist, there's not much there, either. If and when any concrete physical evidence comes forth, it would be cool if the author updated this work/made another edition. There's so much potential to this work, but with the uncertainties of the cases that exist, it's just an unfulfilling read at the end.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love true crime books. This author, unlike my favorite, Anne Rule, seemed to enjoy including the gore and even some ugly slang words that turned me off. It is neat to know the story, but the book itself wasn't all that great.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting story, but not very well written.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting story but in my opinion it wasn't well written. It does make you wonder what our church personnel is capable of..

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took a turn into what feels like the author's opinion. It veers from the reporting of a chilling crime and begins a retelling of conjecture. I was a little disappointed .

[Amy Greenlese · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word: Disturbing

[Marilyn]

this book is really spiritually connected with me I really had a lot of connections with this book and I would read it over and over again.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

was a little slow at times and there were confusing parts, but a good book none the less.