Storia do Mogor 361: Reply of the Lord Bishop to the Letter of the Rev. Father Michel Ange.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 361
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Contents
Reply of the Lord Bishop to the Letter of the Rev. Father Michel Ange.
361.1.1
'Reverend Father, 'I have not given permission to your Reverence, not even in thought, much less in words. All I said to you was that you could publish the decrees on your own authority, as you could publish any other sort of order in your church, just as you thought fit, without my leave and without anyone hindering you; I did not, however, issue the Pastoral to hinder the decrees of the Sacred Congregation, but to suppress the boldness with which the Reverend Father Fra Esprit declared in his church on All Saints' Day [November 1, 1706] that the reverend Jesuit fathers of the society were not the parochial priests of the Malabāris, the whole of whom were his parishioners, thereby encroaching on our jurisdiction, and acting against what I had ordered in virtue of the jurisdiction possessed by me as bishop, and conferred on me by the Sacred Canons and the decrees of the Sacred Council of Trent, in regard to the erecting and dividing parishes by following what I might think best for the welfare of my flock. The demand, as it is not founded on truth, falls of itself to the ground . . .,' et cetera.
361.1.2
Gentlemen, having already replied at length to this letter of the Lord Bishop in the previous letter which I did myself the honour of writing to you, I will say no more than merely pray you to observe if any permission could be given more authentic than the one above recorded. Yet his Lordship has written to your Council, and also said in his Pastoral, that we have published the decrees without his permission, and makes use of this assertion to take away our mission to the Malabāris, and to fulminate his anathemas against the Reverend Father Esprit. To speak the truth, gentlemen, do not all these things cry aloud for vengeance in the presence of God ? The French themselves, who know the innocent and irreproachable life of the said Reverend Father Fra Esprit, flee from him as if he were a wild beast. Should they not rather blush with shame, and at least spare us the fatigues, the afflictions, the sadness, to which we are daily subjected by them ? Yet it is thus that they act against a poor friar, who suffers persecution in the cause of justice — a humble man, if ever there has been one in this world. To see the Reverend Father Esprit declared excommunicated by a Portuguese bishop, whose nation is at this time warring and contesting with France, does not afflict us, knowing most thoroughly that they hate to the very death the French nation.
361.1.3
To see attached to the doors of the reverend Jesuit fathers a declaration against the Reverend Father Esprit, wherein he is pronounced accursed, and doubly accursed of God Omnipotent, of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and of all the other saints in the quire celestial, in spite of its cutting us to the quick, does not surprise us, because we have known the reverend Jesuit fathers for many a day, and we are aware by full evidence that they are our sworn enemies. But to see French gentlemen allow the reverend Capuchin fathers, who for over thirty years have had charge of their consciences, to be tyrannized over, outraged, and persecuted, without lifting a finger to help them ; that, seeing what we suffer — seeing, finally, their own pastor excommunicated, and knowing his innocence, they leave him exposed to the fury of his enemies, and take no steps to find out what sin he has committed — alas ! gentlemen, this is the thing which pierces us to the heart, which so pains us, that if God did not uphold us by His grace we should have succumbed inevitably under so great a burden. What boots it to live under the flag of France, in a city having a supreme Council, in the midst of men who know quite well that our Invincible Monarch has taken us under his singular protection and safeguard ; who know perfectly the orders they have received from his Majesty and the Royal Company to succour and protect us as often as necessary ;
361.1.4
who recently discovered the false devices through which we were damaged by the reverend Jesuit fathers; who have seen the oppressive way in which Monsignor has behaved to us several times; who know sufficiently well that we have not done a single thing unworthy of our ministry? In the teeth of all this, can you leave us in abandonment — nay, throw the blame upon us Capuchins? Not to resent these things we should need to be more than human, and not mere men.
361.1.5
Who has ever beheld so many excommunications, so many interdicts, so many suspensions, against the poor Capuchin fathers? The Reverend Father Michel Ange of Bourges, Superior at Madras, after twenty years and more of service in these regions, where he has gained the love of all the people by an exemplary life, suspended from divine duties! Father René of Angoulesme, after being in the mission fifteen years, and without the commission of anything for which he could be reproved, also suspended like the first-named! The Reverend Father Eusebius of Bourges, after twelve years in India, where he had reaped a great harvest, suspended, interdicted, and excommunicated! The Reverend Father Esprit of Tours, Superior of Pondicherry, after twenty-five years of mission work, in which he has sweated blood and water, declared accursed, doubly accursed of God Omnipotent, of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul [255], and of all the other saints in the quire celestial! Should you desire to know the reason why the first three were so treated, it was because they did not appear at Pondicherry, owing to the English gentlemen having retained them by force at Madras; and the last one, for having published decrees of the Sacred Congregation, and having cited his opposing party before the courts at Rome. Gentlemen, I ask you, can any other crimes than the above be laid to our charge? I trow not. If you have anything to reproach us with of which we are ignorant, kindly oblige us by stating it;
361.1.6
even publish it clearly in the face of heaven and of earth: we give you free license. But if you know us innocent, then have for us the same consideration that you have for the reverend Jesuit fathers, and when they take our business in hand, do not pay more deference to Portuguese or Savoyard prelates than to those of France. For, to sum up, it is a barbarous thing that Father Laurent of Angoulesme, Vice-Provincial in India, for having published in our church a provisional order about our cure issued by the Lord Bishop in his favour, should find himself forthwith summoned to appear before your Council and called upon to state by what authority he had acted ; while the reverend Jesuit fathers, who have published in their church an excommunication launched against the Reverend Father Esprit by the self-same bishop, have not been cited, like Father Laurent of Angoulesme, to file any answer. Nay, on the contrary, it would seem that they have received your plaudits, while we are derided. It is a cruel measure that a patriarch from Savoy, and a bishop from Portugal — the latter country at this moment at war with France — should discharge their weapons at us poor Capuchin fathers ;
361.1.7
but when a bishop of France [256] — that is, Monsignor of Tiripoli — tries to justify us and prove us not guilty, it should become necessary for a captain and a whole company to be put in motion before allowing a passage to a humble Capuchin father on his way to see his Holiness and report to him his whole conduct, to be followed by chastisement in case of his meriting it. Gentlemen, if we were invoking your aid in an unjust cause, it would be open to you to deny it to us ; but since we ask you only reasonable things, listen at least to our arguments, and, after having heard and thoroughly considered them, if we are guilty, punish us ; but if we are innocent, for God's sake do us justice. Here, then, are the great crimes we have committed; examine into them well, I implore you. Observe the want of justice that has been shown to us, the calumnies against us in the letter written by Monsignor to your Council, in which his Lordship begs you to proceed against us with all possible severity. The same is the case with the petition that the Reverend Father Tachard presented to Monsieur de Flacourt, judge at Pondicherry, in the hope of hindering the decrees. Having beheld, I say, conduct in direct opposition to the maxims of the Gospels, and so little agreeing with the ordinances of the Supreme Pontiff, we have cited the reverend Jesuit fathers to Rome for using violence to us and refusing to do us justice. This is the great crime we have committed, gentlemen.
361.1.8
I know no other whatever, although his Lordship, in his Declaration, may allege [257] that he acted in consequence of our having published certain decrees — that it was not until we had done so that he sent a Pastoral to the reverend Jesuit fathers as our punishment. But we have not taken any step, not even the slightest, since the issue of the said Pastoral, beyond the citation to Rome of the Reverend Father Tachard. Even if we were to be punished for having published the decrees and summoned the reverend Jesuit fathers, who has ever before heard of a case where a friar was anathematized and excommunicated for reasons of that sort ? I cannot believe that since the world became a world up to this very day there ever happened a case of this sort, for the thing appears an impossibility. In fact, if such a thing were likely to happen, it would be much better for the Sacred Congregation to issue no decrees ; and if it is allowable to excommunicate a friar when he summons his opposite party to Rome, the only thing left for the Lord Bishop of San Thome to do is to remove all the missionaries who are dependent upon him and replace them by Jesuit fathers.
361.2.1
But supposing, gentlemen, what cannot be admitted — that is, that the Lord Bishop could excommunicate for publishing the decrees of the Sacred Congregation and citing an opponent to Rome ; how, even then, can his Lordship excommunicate or declare excommunicated a friar of the Order of St. Francis in face of the Bulls, Decrees, and Privileges conceded to friars of that Order ? Here is the Brief of Martin V., which states in express terms that no ordinary or prelate can deliver a sentence of excommunication, suspension, or interdict, nor openly promulgate such against the said friars : 'Ordinarii et praelati alii, sive quaevis alia [258] persona generaliter, vel specialiter, aut communiter aut divisim, non possunt quavis authoritate excommunicationis, suspensionis, et interdicti sententias promulgare.' [Neither ordinaries nor other prelates, or other persons whatsoever, acting either generally or specially, or in common or singly, are authorized in any way to publish sentences of excommunication, suspension, and interdict.]
361.2.2
These words are to be read in the book entitled 'Monumenta Ordinum,' under the name of Eugenius IV. There is also what Clement IV. says : 'Concessit fratribus minoribus ne ab aliquo legato, nisi de Latere Sedis Apostolicae misso, vel delegato, vel subdelegato authoritate litterarum Sedis praedictae, possint excommunicari suspendi vel interdici nisi litterae ipsae plenam et expressam de ordine praefato et indulto hujusmodi facerent mentionem.' [He granted to the Friars Minor that no legate, except a legate commissioned de latere of the Apostolic See, and no delegate or sub-delegate, by virtue of letters of the aforesaid See, should have the power of excommunication, suspension, or interdict over them, unless the letters themselves made full and explicit mention of these powers concerning the aforesaid Order enjoying this indulgence.]
361.2.3
The same thing has been laid down by Sixtus IV.: 'Ne locorum diocesani vel alii ordinarii vel alii quicumque in personas aut [et] loca fratrum minorum contra privilegia exemptionis sibi quamcumque jurisdictionem aut superioritatem vindicare praesumant, et districte inhibuit ne quispiam absque Sedis Apostolicae speciali concessione aut auctoritate, in personas, domos, et loca dicti Ordinis Minorum (ut pote prorsus exempta) aliquas censuras vel sententias, specialiter vel generaliter audeat promulgare.' [That the local diocesans or other ordinaries, or any others whosoever, should not presume to arrogate to themselves any kind of jurisdiction or lordship over the persons or estates (lit. ' places ') of the Friars Minor contrary to their privileges of exemption ; and he strictly enjoined that no one without the special permission or authority of the Apostolic See should dare to publish, either specially or generally, any censures or sentences against the persons, houses, and estates of the said order of Minor Friars, seeing that they are entirely exempt.] Further, let us admit, gentlemen, that the Lord Bishop of San Thome possessed the power of excommunicating, or declaring excommunicated, the friars of the Order of St. Francis, notwithstanding the Privileges and Bulls of Martin V., Eugenius IV., Clement IV., and Sixtus IV. ;
361.2.4
still, his Lordship could not exercise this power without having called upon the friar to put in an appearance, without having taken legal steps against him, without having heard the case, without having found him guilty [259] on untainted evidence. My Lord Bishop took the deposition of the reverend Jesuit fathers, who are our adversaries, who would like to see us lost without hope of recovery. Upon these depositions (at the very time, too, when his Lordship had discovered the foulest calumny ever uttered), without any other foundation or process, without summoning the Reverend Father Esprit, and without passing sentence, my lord declares him accursed, and doubly accursed of God Omnipotent, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the other saints in the quire celestial. He prohibits, under penalty of the greater excommunication, all intercourse with him; and directs that he be not given water, fire, et cetera. He orders this wonderful Declaration to be affixed to the door of the church of the reverend fathers of the Society of Jesus, and that, too, in the sight of the heathen and of the Christians who have been but lately born into the faith. Gentlemen, does not this seem to you a fine sort of zeal for the glory of God? Does it not seem to you a fine observance of the Church's rules? Does it not seem to you a curiously judicious course of action? Does it not strike you as an excommunication launched in the very nick of time?
361.2.5
Is not this a splendid device for rendering us odious to every lover of justice? But who is aware that Monsignor and the reverend Jesuit fathers have followed rules which are directly opposed to the prescriptions of the Church? We find their pretended excommunication to be null and void, as even you can see, gentlemen, from the following words: 'Judex declarans aliquem excommunicatum vel incidisse in excommunicationem' — [If a judge declares anyone excommunicated or fallen under excommunication, although he has not been cited to appear, the declaration is absolutely null and without any effect] — 'ipso jure sine citatione illius, qui declarandus est, declaratio est nulla:' Glossa in Clementina 'Praesenti' in versu 'Constiterit' 'De Censibus,' and in the Clementine Constitutions, second vers., 'De poenis,' and Navar. 'Con.' 4 et 9, nunc 4, 'De Sententia Excommunicationis.' You cannot deny, gentlemen, that we fall under this rule, and I can never believe that you can approve those who act entirely contrary to the above ordinance of the Church. Yet this is what the Lord Bishop and also the reverend Jesuit fathers have done, for where is the citation issued to the Reverend Father Esprit of Tours ? You know very well, gentlemen, that he was never cited. Where are the proceedings that ought to have been held in the case against him ? Where are the depositions of the witnesses to be found ? Where is the official record of the case ?
361.2.6
No one has seen it, and they decline to show it in spite of an express demand for its inspection. Apparently they desire so passionately to see us lost and defamed in reputation that they have not complied with either the one or the other of the above conditions, and as an inevitable consequence of their having sinned against principles, their so-called excommunication falls rather upon them than upon the Reverend Father Esprit of Tours.
361.2.7
Let us farther assume, gentlemen, since I do not wish merely to prove the innocence of the Reverend Father Esprit, but also to display to the whole world the estimable conduct of our adversaries — let us assume, I say, that the Lord Bishop of San Thomé had the power of excommunicating or declaring excommunicated the friars of St. Francis. Let us also assume that his Lordship had permission to act without any rules or formalities. Let us assume plainly that the Reverend Father Esprit was really excommunicated, the which he most decidedly is not ; yet even then who has ever heard it said [261] that a judge could forbid a culprit to appear before him, when he has come for the express purpose of expounding to him his arguments, and submitting himself to punishment if it is decided that he has earned it? Nobody. I could never believe, gentlemen, that you would be so cruel that you would deny an audience to an innocent though calumniated man, who had come a distance of thirty leagues to demand from you as a favour that you would kindly listen to his arguments, and after hearing them, pass such orders as you pleased. Yet this was what Monsignor has done; he sent his secretary to Monsieur Guety's house, praying him to tell us not to go to his palace. If you decline to believe a statement which does not seem credible, Monsieur Guety is present at San Thomé: write to him if you like, and see whether what I say is true or false.
361.2.8
Although the Lord Bishop had caused this prohibition against us to be issued, nevertheless, after reflection over a mode of action as extraordinary as it is unjust, we determined to go and see his Lordship, and as an auspicious opening to the excellent feast of St. Thomas the Apostle of India [December 21], meant to urge him, to conjure him, with all tenderness and good feeling, to be graciously pleased to listen to the arguments of the Reverend Father Esprit; we also intended to present a petition in case of refusal. Hardly had we entered when we were asked what we wanted, and what we had come for. Immediately we answered that we had come to congratulate his Lordship upon the feast-day. When he learnt that the Reverend Father Esprit was with us, he sent word that we could come in, with the exception of the Reverend Father Esprit. We went in then, but in a sad mood, having had such a [262] compliment as we had hardly expected from a bishop. After having congratulated his Lordship on the festival, he asked us how we were. Our Reverend Father Guardian and Vice-Provincial in India replied: 'Monsignor, we are all well, through God's grace, but most deeply afflicted and pained at seeing the Reverend Father Esprit in the very pitiable state to which your Lordship has reduced him; and if as an effect WAX. Dakhin Women of your fatherly goodness you would deign to remedy it, we should express the greatest possible gratitude.'
361.3.1
To these words Monsignor made answer : ' He has been the cause of it, not I.' ' But what has he done,' said our Reverend Father Guardian, ' since neither he nor we know yet the reason ?' ' He has published the decrees of the Sacred Congregation without my permission ' (this is not true, gentlemen, as you must have ascertained from many passages), ' and has, besides, cited the Reverend Father Tachard to the courts at Rome.' ' Then, my lord,' replied the Reverend Father Guardian, ' your Lordship has declared Father Esprit to be excommunicated because he has published the decrees themselves with your permission, and because he has cited the reverend Jesuit Fathers, who are acting in direct opposition to the decrees ?' ' I gave no sort of permission,' then replied Monsignor. Thereupon, falling upon my knees and craving leave to speak, I asked him in the hearing of two Jesuits, the old cure, the secretary, and of a reverend Cordelier father (that is to say, a Franciscan) : ' Your Lordship has not, then, given permission to the Reverend Father Esprit, or, to speak more strictly, to Father Michel Ange, on the eve of St. Michael, for the publication of the decrees ?' ' No, I have not given it to him,' replied his Lordship without hesitation [263].
361.3.2
' It is quite true I said to him that he could publish the decrees of the Sacred Congregation, by virtue of their authority, in exactly the manner he could publish in his church whatever to him might seem meet, without my permission and without anyone being able to hinder him.' I had my answer ready, but I was interrupted by the Reverend Father Guardian, who with all possible insistence prayed the Lord Bishop to kindly hear the Reverend Father Esprit, who had been waiting at the door for now nearly an hour. As his Lordship persisted not only in declining to admit him, but also in prohibiting us from continuing the subject, the Reverend Father Guardian, a man who has made himself widely known in India by his virtues and other merits, flung himself on his knees, and, bathing his Lordship's feet with a torrent of tears, asked him for the love of God and of St. Thomas, whose festival was then being celebrated; by the love of Jesus Christ, whose natal day was so near at hand, to be so good as to relieve the woes of the Christian people of Pondicherry, who had been left groaning over the loss of their pastor. To get rid of the scandal growing greater day by day, and to satisfy us, would he kindly allow the Reverend Father Esprit to enter his presence, would he listen to his arguments ? But we observed that the greater the pressure applied the less the bishop seemed to feel for us, and the more the father humiliated himself the more furious against us his Lordship grew.
361.3.3
A posture which would have softened the hardest heart raised no hope of advancing our cause in the slightest degree with Monsignor. Our Guardian, therefore, put in our petition, which proved clearly that the Reverend Father Esprit had not become liable to excommunication, and that, even had he become so liable, the Bishop could not excommunicate or declare excommunicated any friar of the order of St. Francis, as he thereby infringed our Privileges, Bulls, and Decrees obtained from four Supreme Pontiffs. Further, it follows that, even could he excommunicate, the act would be null and void for want of compliance with the rules of the Canon Law and the formalities that must be observed.
361.3.4
His Lordship took the petition, and noticing that he had read no more than two or three lines, I went down on my knees again and said to him : ' Monsignor, by the love of God, read it all, from beginning to end.' Then he ordered me to rise, and said to me he knew within a word or two all that it contained ; that he would take upon his own head the responsibility about the said privileges ; and that he was fully cognisant of the respect and veneration due to the Supreme Pontiffs. Nevertheless, seeing that the Lord Bishop would not even now do us the slightest justice, I took upon myself the liberty of saying to him : ' Monsignor, what good does it do us for you to take upon your head the responsibility for our privileges, or for you to cherish such respect and veneration for the Supreme Pontiffs, when your Lordship acts to the precise contrary, and is more stubborn than ever was known before ? You not only refuse to absolve the Reverend Father Esprit from an excommunication to which he is not liable, but still farther you refuse him permission to present himself before you ' [265].
361.3.5
'If the Reverend Father Esprit has not incurred excommunication,' replied his Lordship, 'what is your object, then, in asking me to set it aside?' 'We call for that,' added I forthwith, 'not because he has become liable to it, for he is as much excommunicated as I am, but to avoid scandal, which must without fail arise if the Reverend Father Esprit, who has been declared accursed and doubly accursed of God, et cetera, should say Holy Mass before the publication of another declaration setting aside the former one. In addition to this, the simple folk do not judge by reality, but only by appearances, by which they are misled. Without considering whether the said reverend father is excommunicated or not, it is open to them to believe that he is a malefactor, for they are unable to persuade themselves that a bishop, whom here they venerate like the Pope is venerated at Rome, could treat a friar so unworthily without his having merited it. Moreover, as we clearly comprehend that no limit will be placed on what is done to us, we have just reason to fear that, having declared the Reverend Father Esprit out of rule, you will equally launch an interdict against our church, if he should celebrate publicly Holy Mass without your Lordship's leave.'
361.3.6
At these words the Lord Bishop of San Thomé said that if the Reverend Father Esprit were to be allowed in, it was necessary beforehand for him to admit three things, to be reduced to writing. The first was that he must confess himself to be guilty; the second, [266] that, having confessed his fault, he must humbly ask pardon; and the third, he must promise he will no longer claim the cure of the Malabārīs. We could not accept these conditions, which absolved Monsignor from his acts and threw the blame on the Capuchins. They also deprived us of all hope of a re-entry on our original mission. Shortly afterwards we took our leave. We suddenly perceived what had led to this declaration, and what, if only a little attention is paid, will clearly explain the maxims followed by the reverend Jesuit fathers.
361.3.7
These reverend fathers desire to be masters wherever they are, and to gain their designs make use of falsehood as if it were truth ; they regulate their consciences by their ambitions, and follow no other rule than what suits their interests. We see this in their falsely alleging His Most Christian Majesty's order ; in their having written to France and to Rome that there were thirty thousand Christians where there were only two thousand ; in their having produced a decree two years after it had been pronounced ; in their having disobeyed in formal terms the Sacred Congregation ; in the fact that the authorities they have quoted in the Pastoral are more against them than against us, as you will perceive in the course of time ; in their having recourse to the secular arm to impede the execution of the decrees ; in their spreading the calumny about the Reverend Father Esprit ; in their making us over to your hands [267] with a precise direction to chastise us with all possible rigour. Looking to all the above things, I say, and foreseeing the consequences (for what has been approved at Pondicherry will not remain unpunished at Rome), they have behaved almost identically as did the Scribes and Pharisees who assembled and took counsel to betray Jesus : ' Collegerunt pontífices et pharisaei concilium, ut Jesum dolo tenerent ' (Matt. xxvi. 3, 4, and John xi. 47).
361.3.8
As a matter of fact, after having plotted the destruction of the Reverend Father Esprit, the person who caused them the greatest umbrage, they sent off as quick as they could the Reverend Father de la Breuille to San Thome, where, for three days on end, there were four Jesuits and some other friars not particularly well-intentioned towards us examining into the best means of succeeding in their pernicious enterprises. The vicar-general, who was present at their last meeting, finding there had been such a precipitate excommunication of the Reverend Father Esprit, asked the reasons. After having reflected over them in a judicial spirit, he said such an act could not be done without injustice, and if they carried it out they would be forced one day to repent it. But perceiving what little account they made of his arguments, and that they had sworn our ruin, he shut the door behind him in a rage and fled. Never again did he appear in the midst of such a saintly assembly.
361.4.1
Gentlemen, it is hardly to be presumed that, in a case of injustice which cries aloud for vengeance in the presence of God and before men, there should be no one who would take our cause in hand. But as the reverend Jesuit fathers were in search of any method of covering up their evil deeds against us, they thought it better to sacrifice a [268] poor friar to their anger than to see a whole order dishonoured by the perverse behaviour of seven or eight individuals: Expedit ut unus moriatur homo pro populo, et non tota gens pereat (Vulgate, John xi. 49). As, however, man proposes and God disposes, they were deceived. For they had imagined that the Reverend Father Esprit would subscribe to anything and everything they wished, in order to be relieved from the so-called excommunication of which they had procured the issue against him. But the Reverend Father Esprit foresaw most clearly the consequences that would have arisen if he had subscribed to the propositions made to him. In addition to the witness of his conscience, which in this affair in no way stung him, he knew by full evidence that all they had done was intended solely to force him into returning to his province. Because the reverend Jesuit fathers hold it as an axiom that, when they cannot effect their designs by acting justly, they must persecute so vigorously that, no longer able to endure the persecution, such an one may be obliged to withdraw and escape by flight.
361.4.2
The Reverend Father Esprit, I say, knowing all these things, held it much better to decide on a return to Europe, there to petition the courts at Rome, than to subscribe such ridiculous propositions. Since we were now forced to return to our hospice at Madras without having been able to make any impression on the mind of my lord, we consulted together as to the best course to adopt on this occasion. After we had thoroughly deliberated, we saw that our opponents were our judges ; that there was no hope whatever [269] of obtaining justice from men who did not even know what justice was ; and we resolved to make an appeal to the Holy See. Our appeal was drawn up on the 23rd December, 1706, in the presence of Messieurs Cesar Louis Melique and Khwãjah Joannes, Armenian, whom we had for this end prayed to accompany us, not only to act as witnesses to our petition of appeal, but chiefly to let the whole world see that, when the Capuchin fathers were driven to such an extreme necessity, it was because we had been persecuted to the very last point and there was no other possible resource left.
361.4.3
In fact, before delivering our petition of appeal to his Lordship, we opened the conversation with the usual compliments, and after a somewhat prolonged conversation on indifferent subjects, our Reverend Father Guardian — that is, custodian and vice-provincial in the Indies [Laurent (Lorenzo) of Angoulême] — begged once more the Lord Bishop to be so kind as to have the goodness to adjust the affair of the Reverend Father Esprit, and not to leave him to pass the Festival of the Nativity in such a pitiable condition. His Lordship replied that the said Reverend Father Esprit declined to submit himself. Upon hearing this our Father Guardian replied at once : ' My lord, he has travelled post from Pondicherry with that object, and it is barely two days ago that he was an hour and a half in your entrance-hall awaiting the moment when he would be allowed to see your Lordship once more, and present to you his most humble supplications and pray you urgently to listen to his arguments.' ' Call you that a submission ?' said my Lord Bishop. ' He must admit himself wrong ; he must ask pardon for his misdoing ;
361.4.4
he must promise to cease further turbulence until some new [270] decision comes from Rome.' 'Let Monsignor permit the Reverend Father Esprit to appear before him,' replied the Reverend Father Guardian, 'and after you have heard his reasons, if you are not satisfied, you may do whatever you judge most appropriate.' We noticed then that his Lordship, instead of answering, turned his head in another direction. The more urgent we were with him the more obdurate he became. The Guardian continued and said: 'Monsignor, if the Reverend Father Esprit were at Rome, instead of being at San Thomé, and he were to present himself to his Holiness to report to him on imputations made against him, and were to submit himself to punishment in case he had merited it, would his Holiness order him to go away without having granted him an audience?' 'The cases are not parallel,' said a Jesuit who was present. This having afforded me an opening, I said: 'A pope would not refuse an audience to the Reverend Father Esprit if he were at Rome; and my Lord Bishop, upon the depositions of the reverend Jesuit fathers, whose most iniquitous calumny, worse than any ever yet heard, has been unmasked, excommunicates the Reverend Father Esprit without any regular form of process;
361.4.5
and then, when he presents himself at his Lordship's to lay before him the true facts, he (the bishop) desires him to confess himself in fault before he has been convicted.' Who has ever heard such a thing, gentlemen, and amongst laymen where is to be found a judge who has fallen into this error? There certainly never has been any such, and if by any chance one were found in the world, he could easily be brought to punishment.
361.4.6
'This reverend father,' said his Lordship quickly, without replying to my question, 'publishes certain decrees without my permission; declares publicly [271] that the reverend Jesuit fathers are no longer the legal pastors of the Malabārīs at Pondicherry; goes from house to house to take down the names of the Christians, and that notwithstanding the prohibition I have issued. I shall know, however, quite well how to reduce him to order and bring him back to his duty.' 'My Lord,' said I, 'the Reverend Father Esprit has not published the decrees without your Lordship's permission, since you gave it viva voce to the Reverend Father Michel Ange, which you confirmed in writing when we asked as a favour that your Lordship should testify the truth. It was not the Reverend Father Esprit either who declared the reverend Jesuit fathers to be no longer the legitimate pastors of the Malabārīs at Pondicherry, but rather it is the decrees that say so.' Here I repeated to him the whole decree of the Sacred Congregation, word for word, exactly as it stood in the original. 'Furthermore, subsequent to the Pastoral his Lordship issued, the Reverend Father Esprit has performed no function at all as curé, nor uttered the slightest word transgressing the respect he owes to your Lordship.'
361.4.7
'In addition, it was before the publication of the said Pastoral that the Reverend Father Esprit wrote down the names of the Malabārī Christians; hence, when he did this, it was not to take away your Lordship's jurisdiction. He knew thoroughly well the obedience he owed you. It was done in order to inform the court at Rome of the number of Malabarī Christians in Pondicherry. For the reverend Jesuit fathers, be it in France, be it at Rome, say there are to be found twenty to thirty thousand Christians, where we give details that show there are not even two thousand. Your Lordship yourself, did you not say to the Reverend Father Guardian, here present, that a reverend Jesuit father had baptized six thousand Christians in one day?'
361.4.8
These words caused the company present to smile; they knew very well indeed that I was speaking the truth. But our Reverend Father Guardian, whose heart was sore, wished to urge nothing but the matter of the Reverend Father Esprit. A second time he prayed his Lordship to have pity upon the poor Capuchin Fathers, who were thrown into the utmost consternation at seeing one of their friars declared excommunicated when he was innocent and had not done anything, not even the slightest, unworthy of his vocation. All this he poured forth with such energy, and in such touching and penetrating language, that, with the exception of the reverend Jesuit fathers, who seemed pleased at our troubles, all the others present were unable to do otherwise than shed tears. But, coming to the conclusion that all his eloquence was vain, and that he could easier convert a Turk than secure the very slightest hold upon my lord's mind, the Reverend Father Guardian presented to him the following petition of appeal.