Fr. Paul of Moll was a Flemish Mystic who lived from 1824-1896. Even during his life, he was well-known for his holiness. As such, one of his acquaintances from Ghent wanted very much to have a relic of Fr. Paul. This woman had asked him many times for a lock of his hair, but in vain. Every time she asked, he put off her request with the reply that his hair was too short.

One day, she paid him a visit at Termonde. At a certain point, when Fr. Paul was looking away, this lady quietly cut off a lock of his hair. She instantly slipped it into her pocket. But the good priest knew what she had just done. He was very upset with her and said sternly,

"If you ever again do such a thing, I shall forbid you to come here again. You will not keep for very long the lock of hair which you have just taken."

These words were spoken in such a harsh tone that the woman was very much confused. She knelt down and asked pardon, however she did not give up the lock of hair. Fr. Paul said nothing more of it, and so she quietly kept it.

As soon as she returned to her home in Ghent, her first thought was to secure the precious relic. She tied a ribbon around the lock of hair and placed it in a piece of paper. Then she locked it up carefully in a drawer.

About four o'clock the next morning, as she lay in bed she heard an unusual noise in the house. She got up, went down stairs to investigate, and found the door half open. She glanced out into the street, but saw no one except the night watchman who was making his rounds as usual.

Addressing him she asked,

"Why did you not ring the bell when you saw my door open?"

"I thought you had left it open on purpose.", he replied.

"That is a poor excuse! I shall bring a complaint against you."

"Please don't do that, or I shall be punished!"

"Very well. But tell me how long my door has been open. And did you see anybody enter or leave the house?"

"Your door has been open for two hours, and I have not seen anybody enter or leave your house."

The lady then went upstairs and looked around to see if anything had been stolen. She opened the drawer where she had put the lock of hair the evening before. She was surprised to find that it had disappeared!

The next time she saw Fr. Paul, he asked her,

"Do you still have the lock of hair?"

"No," she said, "I did not find it again."

"Oh, well. I will give you one later on."

A year later, Fr. Paul gave her a lock of his hair as promised. To her amazement, she recognized it at once. There, tied around the middle of the hair, was the distinct little ribbon that she had used. It was the very same lock of hair she had clipped from the holy priest’s head a year before!

As she accepted the relic she longed for, the good priest kindly told her,

"Now you need no longer reproach yourself with having stolen it, for I myself give it to you."