Storia do Mogor 338.4.6

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?