The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-10-09
Letter of Father Hyacinthe.

The following is the text of the letter which,
as advised by Cable, Father Hyacinthe has
addressed to the General ofhs order in Rome !:
My VERY REVEREND FATHER: During
the five years of my ministry at Notre Dame
de Paris, despite the open attacks and secret
accusations oi which have been the object,
your esteem and confidence have never failed
i.e 'or moment / preserve numerous tes'
lnnonles OF them written by your own hand,
anu wn'cn were addressed as much to my
pen, L shall hold them in grateful remem
brance. To-day, however, by a sudden change
the cause of which do not seek in your heart
but in the intrigues of party all powerful at
Rome. you arraign what you encouraged, you
censure what you approved, and you require
that should speak language or preserve
silence which would no longer be the entire
and loyal expression of my conscience. L do
not hesitate an instant. With language per-
verted by command, or mutilated by reti-
cence, l shall not ascend the pulpit of Notre
Dame. | express my regret for this to the in
telligent and courageous Archbishop who has
given his pulpit to me, and sustained me there
against the bad will of men OF whom shall
speak at the proper time. L express my re
grets to the imposing auditory who surround
ed me there with its attention, its sympathies.
L was nearly going to say its friendship.
would not be worthy of the auditory of the
Archbishop, of my conscience, nor OF God, il
l would consent to act before them in such
role! L separate myself at the same time
from the convent in which l have resided,
and which under he new circumstances that
mo- happened to me renders il for me, a
PRISON OF tne sv-l- In acting thus l am no
unfathiul TO my vows. f.--ssa promised moa
a,tic obedience, but limited by the nonu.,y ol
conscience, the dignity OF my person and my
ministry.l nave promised under the benefit
of that superior law of Justice and of royae
Hbe' ty which is. according tn the Apostle ST.
James, the proper law of the Christian.
IL is for the more perfect practice of this
holy liberty that came to ask at the clio is, Ell,
now more than ten years ago, in the elan OF
an enthusiasm free OF all human calculation.
l sh | | not venture to add Tree OF all the illu-
sion of youth If, in exchange Tor my sacri1
ceS. am to-day offered Grains, | have moi
only the right but the dat, to reject them.
The present hour is solemn. The church
plsses through one of the most violent, dark.
and deci.i i've crises o its existence here below.
For the first time in three hundred years, an
Ecumenical Council is not only convoked
lDatt DECLARED necessary; such is the express
sion of the Hojyss Father. II is not in such
moment that preacher OF the gospel, were
he the last of all, can conseHt, TO remain as
the mute dogs OF Israel, untaithfuf guardians,
whom the prophet reproaches as unable to
bark. Canes mutt, non udlentes latrdre.
The saints were never silent. l am rot one
of them, but nevertheless | belong to then
race, fill sanctorum sumts, and have al
Ways been ambitious to place my steps, nv
tears, and, if necessary, my blood, in the
tracks which they have lett.
L raise, therefore, before the Holy Father
and Council, my protestatiOn as Christian and
preacher against these doctrines and practices
calling themselves Roman, but which are not
Christian, and which in their encroachments,
always most audacious and most baneiul, tend
to change the constitution OF the Church, the
basis as well as the form of her teaching, and
even the spirit OF her piety. L protest against
the divorce, as impious as it is insane, which
it is sought to accomplish between the church.
who Is our mother according to eternity, and
the society of the nineteenth century, of
whom we are the sons according to the times,
and toward whom we have also some duties.
and attachments. protest against this more
radical and dreadful opposition to human ma
ture, which is attacked and made to revolt by
these false doctrines in its most indistructible
and holiest aspirations. l protest above all
against the sacrelegious perversion of the
Word of the Son of God himself the spirit
and the letter OF which are equally trodden
1t is my most profound conviction that il
France in particular, and the Latin races in
general are delivered over to social, moral. and
religious anarchy, the principal cause is with
out doubt not in Catholicism itself, but in
the manner which Catholicism has during
a long time been understood and practiced.
l appeal to the Council about to meet, to seek
for remedies for the excess of our evils, and to
apply them with as much lOrce as gentleness.
But if fears in which do not wish to share
come to be realized, if the august assembly
has not more liberty in its deliberations than
it has already in its preparation. il, in word,
it is deprived of the essential characters of an
Gcumerical Council, will cry to God and
men to call an another truly united in the
Holy Spirit, not in the spirit of party, and rep
resenting really the universal Church, not the
silence OF some men, the oppression of Others.
For the heart of the daughter of my people
am [ hurt; l am black; astonishment hath
taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gill
cad? Is there no physician there? Why
then is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered ?'-Jeremiah viii. In fine,
1 appeal to your tribunal, o Lord Jesus! I'D
tuum Domino Jesu tribunal appello. 1t is
in your presence that | write these lines; it is
at your feet alter praying much, reflected, sui
tered. and waited much, that | sign them. i
have confidence that ifmen condemn them on
earth you approve them in heaven. That is
sufficient for me living and dying .-.
FIR. HYACINTHE.
Superior of the Barefooted Carlnililes of
Paris, second preacher of the order in the
province of Avignon.
Paris-Passy, Sept. 20, 1869.