Storia do Mogor 364: Reply of the Lord Bishop of San Thomé to a Letter of the Reverend Father Guardian of the Capuchins upon the Matters dealt with in the Preceding Letter.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 364
- Language
- English
Reply of the Lord Bishop of San Thomé to a Letter of the Reverend Father Guardian of the Capuchins upon the Matters dealt with in the Preceding Letter.
364.1
Most Reverend Father Fra Lorenzo, I have written to the Reverend Father Fra Esprit, and to the gentlemen of the Pondicherry Council. But as your Reverence does not believe it — on the contrary, you say I am mistaken on this subject — I sent to get back the letters, which were already in the hands of Monsieur Guety. I showed your Reverence's petition to the Reverend Father Carlo de Labros. He says when he made over the letter to the Reverend Father Esprit he told him it was from the Reverend Father Tachard, and not from the Lord Bishop; that the superscription on the letter was in French ; that it was in the handwriting of a brother (fratello) of the Society ; he did not tell the Reverend Father Esprit that under the outer covering was a letter from the Lord Bishop ; the seal on the letter was that of the Reverend Father Tachard, and not that of the Lord Bishop ; but he (de Labros) could not swear these things in a legal proceeding without the leave of his superior, and even if he obtained it, he would not swear, as it was not necessary ; that your Reverence could think [285] and suspect what you liked ; that your suspicions could not be proof of the falsity that your Reverence wished to impute to the members of the Society of Jesus.
364.2
I owe, however, infinite thanks to your Reverence for saying that by appealing to the gentlemen of the Council, in the hope that they might compel your Reverence by every severity to remain quiet until the arrival of a finding from Europe, I have consigned your Reverence to the secular arm. Such a thing your Reverence could only say when an ecclesiastical judge has recourse to the secular courts, as frequently happens. But the evil-disposed mind of your Reverence, either directly or by some twist, must needs always interpret words in their worst sense. The two petitions are returned to your Reverence, since the Reverend Father de Labros declines to be sworn to the interrogatory sent by your Reverence along with the petition. May God keep your Reverence. San Thome, November 26, 1706, Of your Reverence the most humble servant, The Bishop of Meliapur. This is the exceeding tenderness that we have received from the Lord Bishop of San Thome. At the very time his Lordship confesses his mistake, and replies in conformity to the demands of the Reverend Father Guardian, he will not make use of an opening to declare our innocence, and he thereby shows to all the world the maxims which are acted upon by the reverend Jesuit fathers. The least he could have done was not to inveigh against us and say that we [286] wanted to fix a falsehood on the reverend Jesuit fathers ; that we were carried away by a spirit of malignance ;
364.3
that we always put the worst construction upon his best-meant acts. But, gentlemen, his Lordship, while confessing he has been misled, denies (can we credit it ?) that this happened owing to the calumny uttered against us by the reverend Jesuit fathers. If they were not its inventors, how, possibly, could his Lordship have been able to assert a thing which never happened? And why has he written to your Council a letter the most outrageous, the most pungent, that could ever have been written? Still farther, gentlemen, the Lord Bishop writes to you asking you to treat us with all possible severity; he accuses the Reverend Father Esprit of having thrown one of his letters on the ground, refusing to take it. This being untrue, as you will have already seen, he tells you besides that he does not wish to expose himself to the rage and rudeness of the said Reverend Father. When we ask his Lordship to testify to the truth, while on one hand he acquits us, on the other he endeavours to make us out greater culprits than he had ever done before. While you are considering this we pray you to tell us, please, the way in which you would have interpreted this precious letter, which is in your possession, had his Lordship written it as an accusation against you, instead, as he did, writing it against the poor Capuchins.
364.4
[287] Before discussing the methods which ought to be adopted against us in case of disobedience, I beg you to bestow your attention on the first three lines of the said letter, where his Lordship accuses us of refusing credence to his words. He granted permission to the Reverend Father Michel Ange for the publication of the decrees in our church at Pondicherry, and after we had published them he wrote in his Pastoral that we had acted without his permission. After that, how can we place reliance upon what he says? Messieurs Cesare and Khwãjah Ovanes presented a petition to his Lordship on behalf of the Father Guardian of the Capuchins. After he had accepted it and promised to those gentlemen that he would send it on after comparison, three days afterwards he returned it unauthenticated. Now, how can you expect us to believe in what he promises to do? You will find it too much for you, perhaps, to believe that a bishop can be false to his word. Here, then, is the affidavit given to us by the above-named gentlemen, Cesare and Khwãjah Ovanes. 'We, the undersigned, certify that, seeing we were told by the Very Reverend Father Frey Laurent of Angoulesme how the Most Illustrious Lord Bishop of Meliapur would not listen to any representations about his petitions, he (Father Laurent) asked us to take the above petition and present it; whence we did present the same on November 24, 1706, and the said Most Illustrious Bishop accepted it.
364.5
But upon his being requested by us to pass an order on it, he declined to do so then, telling us that he would send us the petition after the order had been passed, and we might rely upon his word. In spite of all these promises, two days afterwards — that is, on the 26th of the said month — he sent it to us without any order endorsed on it.' The Reverend Father Michel Ange presented a petition to his Lordship wishing to know from his own mouth the reason for which he had taken from us the cure of the Malabāris and given it to the reverend Jesuit fathers. He replied that it was done on the initiative of the general, Monsieur Martin, who told him that thus His Most Christian Majesty wished and had ordained. Here is his answer to the question of the Reverend Father Michel Ange:
364.6
'In compliance with the order above referred to of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Dom Gaspar Alfonso, Bishop of the city of San Thomé of Meliapur, I declare that by order of the said Lord Bishop was published the executive order (provision) mentioned in the petition of the Reverend Father Francesco Henriques Dolu of the Society of Jesus, declaring the said reverend Jesuit father to be the parish priest of the Malabar Christians dwelling in Pondicherry. This was done at the instigation and on the petition of Monsieur Martin, [Director] General of the Royal Company of France, who wrote to the Lord Bishop, as appears from his letter, because it was so desired and directed by the Most Christian King, his sovereign lord. This is what I know, and it is true. The above was signed by me on July 15, 1699.' Can anything, gentlemen, be more precise? In spite of that, however, when we showed to his Lordship that the king had never given any order of the sort, that His Most Christian Majesty had never even had such a thought, he (the bishop) says that he did not transfer the cure for that reason; on the contrary, he has no recollection of Monsieur Martin ever having written to him to the effect that such was the will and order of His Most Christian Majesty: 'I do not recollect that Monsieur Martin wrote to me that it was the order of the most Christian King.' Taking all this into consideration, who would, gentlemen, be able to confide in the word of Monsignor?
364.7
When the Reverend Father Michel Ange saw there was no more hope of being allowed to re-enter on our mission to the Malabāris, since Monsieur Martin alleged the king's order, and the Lord Bishop submitted to that order, which he had never at any time received, he wrote to his Lordship asking if he would resent the Capuchins seeking to enforce their rights elsewhere. His Lordship then wrote him the answer which follows : 'Most Reverend Miguel Anjo, 'The letter of the Lord Director [Governor] (? François Martin) is very short. In it he complains that it should be necessary to write to me so many times to prove his sincerity in the matter on which he wrote to me. He begs me not to believe anyone who asserts the contrary. I sent him the provision (executive order) for the fathers of the Society. A rumour was current that the Malabãris were furious and did not want it sent, but I saw that that would only confirm the Lord Director in his want of confidence. Your Reverence must now do what you think advisable for your negotiations and for getting justice, as to which I cannot feel any grievance myself.'
364.8
[290] After that answer, gentlemen, written with his own hand, although the decrees have now arrived in our favour, his Lordship treats the Reverend Father Michel Ange in the most haughty manner. Seeing this attitude, the reverend father wrote asking to be informed whether he had given authority that he might sue for his rights wherever he pleased, without his Lordship being in any way offended. Monsignor replied in a single phrase : 'I do not recollect your Reverence asking for a "bene placito" in order to seek your rights in whatever tribunal you could obtain them.' Gentlemen, how can you expect us to trust the words of the Lord Bishop ? His Most Illustrious Lordship knows very well indeed that taking without cause the cure over the Malabãris out of the hands of the Capuchin fathers, and making it over to the reverend Jesuit fathers, was the greatest possible of unjust acts. The very least he could do was to abstain from writing a letter to the Reverend Father Esprit of Tours, Capuchin, with the idea of persuading him that all was done much against his (the bishop's) will. Here are the very words of the letter the bishop honoured him with : ' Most Reverend Father Fra Spirito, ' Foreseeing occasion for discord, which may arise in the division of these two churches, I had great repugnance to separating them, as my desire was all along that they should form one only, which would be assigned to your Reverence. . . .,' et cetera.
364.9
In spite of that, however, after writing those words, and after receiving the decrees from Rome which restored us to the cure taken from us by [291] his Lordship against his will, he having had the greatest difficulty in making up his mind to it, we are surprised to find he makes no attempt to put the said decrees into execution. Nay, when we ask him to remember what he told us so often with his own lips and has so plainly written — namely, that he had done violence to his own feelings in taking the cure of the Malabāris away from the Capuchin fathers, and giving it to the reverend Jesuit fathers — he replies now quite to the contrary of what he wrote at first. He now says : ' I know not what change it is that your Reverence says you find in me in regard to your Reverences ; still, as I am now so old, I do not recollect what I said to your Reverence about making the transfer in opposition to my natural inclination.' Having regard to all this, how is it possible for his Lordship to complain if we have not relied upon his words, when to-day he writes one thing and to-morrow the contrary ?
364.10
Gentlemen, hitherto I have put restraint upon myself not to disclose to the public the doings of the Lord Bishop ; but since he accuses us of having no confidence in him ; since, in addition, he treats us in a manner the most unworthy that has ever yet been seen ; since you yourselves allow a Portuguese bishop to excommunicate without cause your very pastor and make no attempt to apply any remedy, I wish to demonstrate that these are maxims of the reverend Jesuit fathers, because the Lord Bishop is a Jesuit, and is controlled by Jesuits, French and Portuguese. As for the legal proceedings that were to be instituted against the Reverend Father Fra Esprit in case of disobedience [292] after the publication of the Lord Bishop's Pastoral, up to this very day we have seen no sign of them. We have demanded them and redemanded them over and over again, as you can see in our notice of appeal, but without our ever having them set in motion. Gentlemen, in order that you may have no doubts, and to show you what rules of justice are followed against us, I will enter here the last petition we have presented to his Lordship, calling for the proceedings taken against Father Esprit, and asking to have all the letters in our hands attested and certified ; after that, you will find the reply to the said petition, which is within a trifle as fair and just as that given by his Lordship to our notice of appeal.