John Pruitt

About Him

Father Paul Hill (real name Monsignor John Michael Pruitt) is the central semi-antagonist turned antihero of the Netflix original horror series Midnight Mass.

Father Paul arrives on Crockett Island as a replacement priest for St. Patrick's after its standing minister falls ill. From there, he builds a loyal congregation of followers after performing various miracles.

Father Paul was later revealed to be Crockett Island's original pastor, Monsignor Pruitt made young again after being drained and then revived by a vampiric monster. He claims the beast is an angel sent by god to save Crockett Island from their mortality.

About Us

Status: Unofficially Married

Met on: 03/05/2009

"married" on: 04/15/2011

We met shortly after John returned to Crockett Island. As I was running a small bakery on the island started by a friend of mine before she had passed away. He recalled the store but not me running it, and took the oppurtunity to introduce himself in hopes of getting a snack after finding out that Mildred had passed on while he was away.

I didn't see him super often beyond that, not being (Roman) Catholic meant that I didn't attend mass at St. Patricks, nor did I go out often beyond delivering snacks and bread to some of the islanders who couldn't make it to my shop. Intent on including me in his plan to save the island john, still using the alias of Paul Hill, began going out of his way to come visit me, until he could convince me to spend the evenings with him. (His intent was to get the sacrament into me by putting it in my coffee after he determined that it would be the most likely to be able to cover the taste.)

Gradually though as he spent more and more time with me, he found himself becoming more fond of me. More fond than a priest should be.

Split between saving me from death alongside the rest of the island, and keeping me mortal and hidden away, the choice ended up being made for him when I told him I'd be gone for a week and a half, including easter weekend, as I'd be staying on the mainland for orthodox pascha and the birthday of one of my friends. Initially he accepted this. I was human... ish. I would be safe during the day. He'd sit with me once I got back and he'd tell me then. He'd tell me about his angel, about the sacrament and why he would be turning me.

And then Beverly destroyed his plans, the majority of the town burned in the sun.

I returned late, following the repairs of The Breeze, to a ghost town. An already struggling little place now missing it's entire parish, save for one Erin Greene, and its priest. John didn't even hear about me having returned. Lost between guilt and prayers for forgiveness, and the safe passing of far too many souls returned far too soon because of his delusion.

It's months later before I hear from him again. He'd started holding services again, only on sunday, and only for a handful of people. The story of his misdeeds never leaving the island, hardly even leaving the parish itself.

He showed up on my porch one evening, seemingly exausted and emaciated. And he told me everything. He told me about the beast he brought back thinking it was an angel, about his plan to save the town from death and inadvertenly causing many needless deaths in the process. Of his hunger for blood and sensitivity to the sun. He too tells me that he'd originally planned on turning me alongside the rest of the town. That he'd still like to, but only if I'm willing- entirely willing.

My answer at first is no, with a single stipulation. Unless he can tell me why he so badly wants to turn me, I won't let him.

He doesn't have a real answer at first. His original reason- wanting to save the town- is null and void. He knows now that in turning me he damns my soul irreperably. He leaves that night, my humanity still in tact.

It becomes routine again, I go visit him in the rectory, in the mornings now instead of the evening. I eat breakfast and he doesn't. and we talk.

It's fall the following year before he has an answer for why he so badly still wanted to turn me. He loves me, he loves me and he can't bear the idea of spending another livetime, much less eternety alone, as he did his mortal life. The woman he loved always just out of reach until she passed on while he was across the globe making the worst mistake of his life.

We talk for a long, long time. About the process, what it means for my soul, for his vows. I end up allowing him to turn me, I'd loved him for a long time by this point, just waiting for him to figure out if he loved me too. He has no concern for his soul anymore, should he ever pass it's damned regardless, permanently tainted with the beast's blood, and the death of his parish.

He's still guilty, he never truly stops being guilty.