Storia do Mogor 338.4
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 338.4
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338.4.1
After he had given it the man went out by the door, and who can have a doubt that this deceiving counsellor was laughing over having carried through such a good piece of work ? Thereupon came an opening to the house-owner to enquire from the friar the object of all those exaggerations and the cause of so many grimaces. He asked this as one who felt infinitely for his friend's troubles, as one who would in every way help him to redress. He urged this request regardless of the efforts of the friar to prevaricate and not disclose the facts. But the more he evaded telling him, the more the householder pressed the priest to speak out. He had already begun to show great resentment at the father's declining to communicate the circumstances to him ; for it seemed to him that the conversation had reference to the disagreeables his visitor was already suffering under. Seeing himself already pledged to the man of the house by having sought his aid, and yielding to so much insistence (thanks be to Heaven !), the friar was forced to disclose the secret, begging his friend to say how his flight was to be managed. But the said person, as soon as he heard the story, became quite disconcerted, and for a short time cast his eyes to the ground. After this pause, turning them on the friar, he broke the embarrassing silence in this form of words : ' My father, he who gave your reverence that idea is not your friend, and does not wish you well.
338.4.2
On the contrary, he is your mortal enemy, and will destroy you. For to that end alone can that counsel serve ; because there are very stringent orders at the gates (as I know) about the person of your reverence and your not leaving. I hold it to be impossible for you to get away without capture. Having seized you, they will without fail send you on board the ship about to set sail for England. Such a disaster would be a great disgrace both for you and your religion. They will catch your reverence in disguise taking flight for Pondicherry in time of war, and that after you have lived here so many years and been so well treated by all the English, especially by the government. Certainly it will not fail to appear a very abominable thing, an act unworthy of the personal character and conduct of your reverence. Not even among your own people will you be able to save your reputation ; even when they learn that this attempted flight was not due to treason, they will not refrain from declaring that your reverence behaved very imprudently in attempting such an absurdity. If you fancy that you will be highly honoured for your zeal in obeying, you are much mistaken, for there is no one who is ignorant of the fact that obedience does not include such impossibilities, and among us such an act would never be done. In confidence I warn your reverence in these words ; but you must decide as you please. As to this move, I do not advise you to make it.
338.4.3
I conclude by saying that such a project proceeding solely from yourself might, under some conditions, be prudently accepted [169] ; but coming from a third party it would in no way be prudent to acquiesce in it, much less to carry it out.' It will easily be seen that he who discoursed in this wise did it with a disinterested mind and a feeling heart for the harm that he feared and was attempting to obviate. Even although he opposed what the father desired to do, it would certainly be a great piece of imprudence not to value his advice. The friar was aware that he who repeated all these things to him knew extremely well the English customs (they being his own), and that in what he had advised he had given proof of the great love he bore him, such as he had always experienced from him. The friar's judgment being, let it be supposed, a little affected, still he had not, by the pressure of events, lost it altogether. He weighed with care the Englishman's reasons, and attaching to all of them full weight, he accepted them. At the same time he acquired this piece of wisdom — namely, not to pay, for the future, any heed to the counsels of his loving counsellor, the priest.
338.4.4
With this he took leave of the person in whose house he was, giving the requisite thanks, and returned to his convent, commending himself to God and giving to His Divine Majesty due thanks for the special favour vouchsafed to him at that hour, in permitting that the venom brought to him for his destruction should be turned into an antidote, by knowledge of which he could ever counteract the poison, as from that day forth he did. He implored the protection of the Virgin, to whom with insistence he prayed for help. For to console him in these great dangers he could not find anyone on earth, the great majority of men being tyrannous and false. Leaving him at this stage, let us turn to the other piece of artillery that, during Lent, quite at the end of it, they loaded against him. It was one of pretty large calibre. The Most Reverend Father Friar Lourenço, head and superior of the Capuchins in India, was then present in Pondicherry. He craved leave from the Lord Patriarch to proceed to Madras for the consolation of his brethren under the affliction they were in during these earthquakes. The first application the Lord Patriarch refused. But he wrote to the Abate di San Giorgio, then at San Thome, asking him if there was any drawback in conceding leave to the said father. The Abate replied that he knew no reason for refusing his request ; on the contrary, he thought that such an arrival would be of use in what he was attempting.
338.4.5
Upon receipt of this reply the leave to the Reverend Father Friar Lourenço was given. Let the reader here pay attention. The object of the Abate was to drive the superior of Madras into a corner, and he argued thus : ' If Friar Lourenço enters Madras, then the superior of Madras can go to Pondicherry. Whatever difficulty applies to the one applies to the other case. Thus the interdict which had been fulminated was properly launched.' Nor did he talk badly, since unjust acts, done out of place, cannot remain otherwise than committed, even if only executed in part. Let us, however, see the conclusion. ' If Friar Lourenço cannot get in, we can always try conclusions with the superior of Madras. In that case (at the very worst) we shall proceed against him as disobedient to his ecclesiastical superiors.' Let not the reader imagine that there is in this the slightest exaggeration — there is nothing but the purest truth. For thus spoke the Abate publicly at San Thome. The Reverend Father Friar Lourenço came with a letter of recommendation from Monsieur Martin, governor of Pondicherry, addressed to the Lord Governor of Madras. By its means, and assisted by an English friend, who took much trouble in this matter, he got into the Fort, where he was very well received by the Lord Governor. He came then to the convent, and all the time he remained he performed there the office of parish priest, to the content of all, whereby the Christians were relieved.
338.4.6
This gladness, however, became a hardship to them, because the Abate found that the superior [Michel Ange] never appeared in all this business, nor allowed himself any entry into it. The Abate sent to ask urgently for the issue of an order from his Excellency [the Patriarch] directing the Reverend Father Friar Lourenço to quit Madras and return to Pondicherry. This was carried out at once, and the father left. This manoeuvre surprised the English very much, and it was felt intimately by the Catholics. All were upset — those on one side discouraged, and those on the other incensed. But no one discovered at whom this shot was directed. It was only Time, the index of all craftinesses, that demonstrated its object, as the reader shall briefly learn. Hardly had the Reverend Father Lourenço arrived at Pondicherry, when the Lord Patriarch sent off the Reverend Father Friar Spirito (Esprit) for Madras. They hoped he would find the same facilities for an entrance as obtained by Father Friar Lourenço. In the hope of obtaining success in the business, they neglected not to obtain for him a letter from Monsieur Martin to the Lord Governor [170] of Madras. Be it noted that these Italian gentlemen could not bear the sight of Father Friar Esprit because he opposed with all his power a sentence they wanted to pronounce against him, touching a complaint then actually pending at Rome. A decision was expected thence every day. But what was to be done?