KOMAST CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



613 



prudence on a priest, and especially on a monk, I 

 always manifested toward you sentiments of esteem 

 and friendship, and encouraged you in your preach- 

 ings. But if tnat is true, so also is it that, from the 

 moment in which I perceived that you were begin- 

 ning to go beyond these limits, I was forced to be- 

 gin on my side to express to you my fears, and to . 

 mark to you my dissatisfaction. You must remem- 

 ber, my reverend father, that I did so especially last 

 year, about the month of October, when passing 

 through France, relative to a letter addressed by you 

 to a club in Paris. I then expressed to you what 

 annoyance that writing had caused me. Your letters 

 published in Italy were also very painful to me, and 

 also drew on you from me observations and reproaches 

 when you last visited Eome. 



Lastly, your presence and speech at the Peace 

 League filled up the measure of my apprehension 

 and my grief, and forced me to write you the letter 

 of the 22d of July last, by which I formally ordered 

 you in future not to print any letter or speech, to 

 speak in public or elsewhere than in the churches, to 

 be present in the chambers, or take part in the Peace 

 League, or any other meeting, the object of which 

 was not exclusively Catholic and religious. My pro- 

 hibition, as you see, did not in the least refer to your 

 sermons in the pulpit. On the contrary, I desired 

 you in future to devote solely and entirely your tal- 

 ents and your eloquence to teachings in the Church. 

 Consequently it was with painful surprise that I read 

 in your letter that " you could not reascend the pulpit 

 at Notre-Dame, with language perverted by dictation 

 or mutilated by reticence." 



You must be aware, reverend father, that I have 

 never forbidden you to preach, that I have never 

 given you any order or imposed any restrictions on 

 your teachings. I only took the liberty of giving to 

 you some counsels, and of addressing to you some 

 observations, especially on the subject of your last 

 lectures, as in my quality of superior it was my right 

 and my duty to do. You were, consequently, as free 

 to continue your preaching at Paris, or elsewhere, as 

 in preceding years, before my letter of the 22d July 

 last ; and, if you have resolved not to reappear in the 

 pulpit of Notre-Dame de Paris, it is voluntary and 

 of your own free will, and not by virtue of measures 

 adopted by me toward you. Your letter of the 20th 

 announces to me that you are about to leave your 

 monastery in Paris. I learn, indeed, by the journals 

 and by private letters, that you have already left it, 

 and have cast off your gown, without any ecclesias- 

 tical authorization. 



If the fact is unfortunately true, I would remark to 

 you, my reverend father, that you must be aware that 

 the monk who quits his monastery and the dress of 

 his order without the regular permission from the 

 competent authority, is considered as a real apostate, 

 and consequently incurs the canonical penalties men- 

 tioned in Cap. Periculoso. The punishment is, as 

 you are aware, the greater excommunication, latce 

 sentential, and, according to our constitutions, con- 

 firmed by the Holy See, part iii., chapter xxxv.. No. 

 12,_those who leave the community without authori- 

 zation incur the greater excommunication, ipso facto, 

 and the note of infamy. Quia congregatione recedunt, 

 prczter, apostasium, ipso facto excommunicationem 

 et infamise notam incurrunt. 



As your superior, and in accordance with the pre- 

 scription of the apostolic decrees, which order me to 

 employ even censure to bring you back to the bosom 

 of the order you have so deplorably abandoned, I 

 am under the necessity of calling on you to return 

 to the monastery in Paris which you have quitted 

 within ten days from the date of the present letter, 

 observing to you that, if you do not ooey this order 

 within the time stated, you will be deprived canoni- 

 cally of all the charges you hold in the Order of 

 Barefooted Carmelites, and will remain under the 

 censure established by the common law and by our 

 rules. 



May you, my reverend father, listen to our voice 

 and to the cry of your conscience ; may you promptly 

 and seriously descend within yourself, see the depth 

 of your fall, and by an heroic resolution manfully 

 recover yourself, repair the great scandal you have 

 caused, and by that means console the Church, your 

 mother, you have BO much afflicted. That is the 

 most sincere and ardent desire of my heart ; it is also 

 that which your afflicted friends, and myself, your 

 father, ask with all the fervor or our souls of God 

 Almighty, of God so full of mercy and goodness. 

 FE. DOMINIQUE DE SAINT JOSEPH. 



While the letter of Father Hyacinthe met 

 with immense applause outside the Catho- 

 lic Church and among the liberal newspapers, 

 it was generally and severely censured by near- 

 ly all the Catholic press and by all the parties 

 within the Church. The Correspondent of 

 Paris, the organ of Count Montalembert, Prince 

 Broglie, and other friends of Father Hyacinthe, 

 blamed this unexpected move as too rash and 

 extreme, saying that Father Hyacinthe would 

 have served their common cause better by re- 

 maining in his place, preaching whatever he 

 would have to say from the pulpit of Notre- 

 Dame. Bishop Dupanloup immediately ad- 

 dressed to him the following letter : 



ORLEANS, September 25, 1869. 



MY DEAR COLLEAGUE : As. soon as I was informed 

 from Paris of the step which you were about to take, 

 I endeavored, as you know, to spare you at any 

 cost what would prove a great fault and misfortune 

 for yourself as well as a profound affliction for the 

 Church. I sent off on the instant, and in the night, 

 an old fellow-student and friend of yours to prevent 

 you, if that were possible. But it was too late ; the 

 scandal had been consummated^ and from this mo- 

 ment you can measure by the grief of all the friends 

 of the Church, and the joy of her enemies, the ex- 

 tent of the mischief which you have wrought. At 

 present I can do no more than pray to God, and con- 

 jure you to pause on the declivity on which you now 

 stand, leading as it does to abysses which your soul, 

 in its trouble, has not discerned. You have suffered, 

 I know ; but allow me to tell you, Father Lacordaire 

 and Father de Eavignan had to bear more than you, 

 and they raised themselves to a higher rank in pa- 

 tience and fortitude, through their love of the Church 

 and Jesus Christ. How is it that you did not feel what 

 an injury you were doing to the Church, your mother, 

 by these accusing predictions ? And what an insult 

 to our Saviour to place yourself, as you are now doing, 

 alone, face to face in opposition to Him, and in con- 

 tempt of His successors 1 But I am willing to hope 

 and believe that this aberration will be only a tran- 

 sient one. Eetum among us ; after haying caused this 

 affliction to the Catholic world, give it a great 

 consolation and a striking example. Go and throw 

 yourself at the feet of the Holy Father. His arms 

 will be open to receive you, and in clasping you to 

 his paternal heart he will restore to you the peace 

 of your conscience and the honor of .your life. Ee- 

 ceive from him who was your bishop, and who will 

 never cease to love your soul, this testimonial and 

 these counsels of sincere and religious affection. 



FELIX, Bishop of Orleans. 



To this Father Hyacinthe made the follow- 

 ing reply : 



PARIS, September 26, 1869. 



MOKSEIGNEUR '. I am much touched by the feeling 

 which dictated the letter you addressed to me, and 

 I am most grateful for the prayers you so kindly put 

 up in my behalf, but I cannot accept either your re- 

 proaches or your counsels. What you qualify as a 

 great fault committed I call a great duty accomplished. 



