Storia do Mogor 359.2.1

359.2.1

And in effect, who was it that could have written to the Lord Bishop of San Thomé that the Reverend Father Esprit had thrown on the ground with disrespect a letter written to him by his Lordship ? You gentlemen could hardly have done it, since you are incapable of inventing so enormous a calumny. Again, the Capuchin fathers could not have been the persons, for, besides there being no hint of such a thing, to do it would have been too much to their disadvantage. Now, if neither the one nor the other of the above could have done it, as must be admitted, it follows by necessity that it was the reverend Jesuit fathers. For, to sum up, the Lord Bishop of San Thomé not having the gift of prophesy, he could not know what never had happened. Yet his Lordship launched his Pastoral and founded it upon this calumny. The reverend Jesuit fathers, who invented it, know thoroughly well that it is not in the power of the Lord Bishop to put them in possession of the cure of the Malabāris. Because, as it runs in the decrees of the Sacred Congregation: 'Illam sub quovis praetextu aut authoritate exercere absque expressa licentia ejusdem Sacrae Congregationis sub poena privationis officii, privilegii et facultatis ipso facto incurrenda non obstantibus quibuscumque.' At present they enjoy the fruit of their iniquity.