Storia do Mogor 358.4.3

358.4.3

Before the receipt of the decrees of his Holiness and of the Sacred Congregation, the Lord Bishop of San Thomé and the reverend Jesuit fathers were possibly acting in an excusable manner, for it might be assumed that they did not know, in spite of its being a thing of which they should not have been ignorant. But after seeing the decrees, after having approved them, after having notified them to the reverend Jesuit fathers, after having proclaimed them in our church, after being convinced that his Holiness and the Sacred Congregation meant that the Capuchin fathers should re-enter upon their ancient mission, how could Monsignor entrust that mission to the reverend Jesuit fathers by a Pastoral expressly issued? The reverend Jesuit fathers know quite well that the thing is no longer in Monsignor's power, for, as the decrees state, 'sub quovis praetextu aut authoritate exercere absque expressa licentia ejusdem Sacrae Congregationis,' how, then, can they continue to exercise their functions in the usual way? It is no longer a sin of ignorance; it is — pardon me, gentlemen, I hardly dare to say what, and leave you to place upon it the interpretation that you please, and to judge calmly whether the Lord Bishop of San Thome and the reverend Jesuit fathers are right and clear in conscience, or, rather, have all of them incurred the censures set forth in the Sacred Canon?