Storia do Mogor 362.4
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 362.4
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362.4.1
Thus Father Michel Ange and Father Esprit were forced to return to Madras without having been able to gain in the slightest degree on the mind of Monsignor, having only rendered him more unfeeling towards us. What say you, gentlemen, of the course taken by the Capuchin fathers compared with the line of action adopted by the Lord Bishop, as well as by the reverend Jesuit fathers? Have we been guilty of anything unjust or not conformable to right reason? On their side have they in the slightest point been other than unjust, or acted otherwise than in direct opposition to the precepts of the Gospel? No; I cannot conceive our doing more to make our case a good one, or their doing more to make theirs a bad one. In effect, gentlemen—for, although our cause from the very first was the best in the world—for what is more natural than a demand for justice against violence, for a restoration to our rights after gaining our case?—no one can make us the reproach, still less prove against us, that we have said or done the least thing to disturb the minds of the Lord Bishop and the reverend Jesuit fathers; and that, too, in the face of the cruellest and most harassing treatment that it is possible to conceive. For, after all, I should prefer a great deal to die on the gallows than to find myself publicly excommunicated, damned, and doubly damned of God Omnipotent, of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and of all the other saints in the quire celestial.
362.4.2
It is not the same thing, gentlemen, with the reverend Jesuit fathers, although their case was a bad one from the very first, since they began by capturing our cure through a false allegation. Besides their frontal resistance to his Holiness and to the Sacred Congregation; besides their untrue assertion that the Capuchin fathers had attempted to infringe the jurisdiction of a bishop; besides their obtaining the excommunication of the Reverend Father Esprit, in contravention of our privileges, and without the observance of any form of law, we can produce in due time and place over twenty documents where we have been spoken of so unworthily that, if such papers, emanating from Capuchins and derogatory to Jesuits, were in their possession, one single paper out of them would be enough to destroy us poor Capuchin fathers for ever. But we have no protectors, unless it be a just God who knows our innocence. Gentlemen, nothing beyond a mere perusal of what I have written in this manifesto is required to free the Capuchin fathers from all blame. The only blame which can be imputed to them is to have so deeply suffered without uttering any complaint. But perhaps you have not noticed the way in which Monsignor's Pastoral, as well as his Declaration, is drawn up ; I proceed, therefore, to point out to you that there is no less of contradiction in the one and in the other, not to call it malice or ignorance, than there is in all the rest that you have read up to this point.
362.4.3
I begin with the Declaration, wherein I pray you to consider three things inserted by his Lordship. The first one is the three monitions put into the Pastoral ; the second regards the gentleness with which his Lordship, as he says, has always treated us ; and the third refers to the proceedings to be taken against us if we should contravene the aforesaid Pastoral.
362.4.4
As to the three monitions, they are inserted in one document. Added to this is the fact that the short interval specified did not permit of the Pondicherry Capuchins informing their Guardian and Vice-Provincial then actually at Madras. To write to and receive a reply from that place requires eight days. Now, we have never done the slightest act contravening the said Pastoral, and if our enemies accuse us of such an act, let them prove it. It will then be demonstrated, in due time and place, that nothing can be more untrue. For we are not so devoid of friends at Pondicherry that we cannot find fifteen or so persons, men of the highest position and zealous for justice, who will sign attestations to the contrary. It is true that we have cited the reverend Jesuit fathers to Rome ; this has not been done singly by Father Esprit, but by all of us, by all of the Capuchins belonging to Pondicherry and Madras. For have we not all signed upon the citation ? Thus, if excommunication is incurred under the Bull ' In Caena Domini,' by citing an opposite party to appear before the courts in Rome, the Lord Bishop must declare us all excommunicated like Father Esprit. He is no more at fault than we are, and we are as guilty as he is.
362.4.5
You may wish to know, gentlemen, why the reverend Jesuit fathers and the Lord Bishop have decided to make this difference, and have singled out Father Esprit from the rest; why they have made him feel the effect of the threats with which they intimidate everybody opposed to their violences, saying that they will bring ruin on them. It is because the said Father Esprit has always boldly faced them in things which he considered necessary to the welfare of Christianity and the honour of our religion; because he succeeded in having a church built at Pondicherry, much to their umbrage; because they thought they could drive him away to Rome or to his province, after a public declaration of excommunication. In that case the building would be left incomplete. It is also because he knows the Portuguese, Malabarí, and Arabic languages to perfection; and they imagined that when he had quitted Pondicherry we should no longer be capable of carrying on the mission. By this means they would be able to insinuate themselves into the cure of the French gentlemen and the Portuguese, as they have already done into that of the Malabãrís. There you have, gentlemen, their reasons for selecting the Reverend Father Esprit rather than the other Capuchins at Pondicherry and Madras.
362.4.6
Most assuredly there are no other reasons; but perhaps they will assert [278, resumed] that it is for having said that the reverend Jesuit fathers are not the legitimate pastors of the Malabãrís at Pondicherry. That, however, gentlemen, we have not said, however much they believe that we did say it. Still, outside the fact that they accuse us of this falsely, I go farther, and say that, had we even made use of the words, they are insufficient to bring down on us an excommunication. For it is a condition precedent that we proceed [279] to overt acts, as I have already indicated above. As regards the gentleness with which his Lordship claims to have always treated us, I have already, gentlemen, in a passage near the end of the first manifesto that I did myself the honour of sending to you, called your attention to the fact that the Lord Bishop has designated us as scandalous persons, liars, disobeyers, over-bold, and madmen. Again, every inhabitant of Pondicherry knows as well as you do that his Lordship has made us over to the secular arm; not only so, but has further directed that we be dealt with with all possible severity. Therefore, to the end that all may know the unworthy manner in which the Capuchins are handled—men who have no enemies in India except the reverend Jesuit fathers—I wish to give you a demonstration of the great 'gentleness' the Capuchin fathers have always enjoyed from the Lord Bishop, as he states in his Pastoral and in his Declaration.
362.4.7
The wife of Signor Manucci, a Venetian by origin, a man who has become sufficiently known in Europe by his writings, when on her death-bed made a bequest to the Lord Bishop of San Thomé of two hundred pagodas. After her death the said Signor Manucci, having become extremely ill pleased with the part taken by his Lordship, showed reluctance in making up his mind to execute the bequest. Hearing this, the Reverend Father Michel Ange of Bourges, Superior of the Capuchins at Madras, begged him for the love of God to send this money to Monsignor, and added that he was conscientiously under an obligation to do so. Signor Manucci made excuses, saying he had not the cash to meet it. The Reverend Father Michel Ange promised he would get some one to lend him the money, so that he might pay the legacy. Signor Manucci said he did not want to increase his indebtedness, which was already quite heavy enough. After this time, the Lord Bishop, upon the deposition of one of our enemies, took steps to sue the Reverend Father Michel Ange. He asserted that it was he who had forbidden him (Manucci) to pay; and without fail he (the Bishop) would have brought the suit, as many persons worthy of belief asseverate, had not the clerk of Signor Manucci, then in San Thomé on some business, offered to swear upon the Holy Gospels that the whole thing was absolutely false. Here you have, gentlemen, his excessive 'tenderness.'