Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1869-10-11
Letter of Father Hyacinthe.

| which, as advised by caDie, fatner ny doipNhe
| has addressed to the General of his order at
| Rome
My VERY REVEREND FATHER: During
the fl years of my ministry at Notre Dame
de Paris, despite the open attacks and secret
accusations of which have been the object.
your esteem and confidence have never fail
| ed me for moment. | preserve numerous
| testimonies of them written by your own
| hand, and which were addressed as much TO
my preaching as to myself Whatever may
happen, shall hold them in grateful re-
membrance To day, however, by 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
encour aged, you censure what you approved,
and you require that should speak a Ian
guage or preserve silence which would no
longer be the entire and loyal expression of
my conscience | do not hesitate an instant.
With language perverted by command, or
mutilated by reticence, shall not ascend
the pulpit of Notre Dame. | express my
regret tor this to the intelligent 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 regrets to the imposing
auditory who surrounded me there with Its
attention, its sympathies,I | was nearly going
to say, its friendship | would not be wor-
thy the auditory OF the Archbishop, Of my
conscience, nor of God, if would consent
to act before them in such role | separa-
ted myselfat the same time from the convent
in which | have resided, and which, under
the new circumstances that have happened
to me, renders it, for me, a prison of the
soul. In acting thus | am not unfaithful
to my VOWS. have promised monastc obe-
dience, but limited by the honesty of con
science. the dignity of my person and my
ministry, have promised under the benefit
of that superior law of justice and of royal
liberty which is. according TO the Apostle St.
james, the proper law of the Christian.
1t is for the more perfect practice of this
holy liberty that | came to ask at the cloister,
now more than ten years ago, in the elan of
enthusiasm free of all human calculatica,1
shall not venture to add free of all ,he illu-
slons of youth. If, in exch .nge for my
sacrifices, am to day offe. ed chains, have
not only the right bat the duty to reject
them. The present hour is solemn. The
Church pa.~,es through one of the most vic =
lent, DIRK, and decisive crises of existence
he-e below. For the first time in three
hn =.
not only convoked, but declared necessary !;
such is the impression of the Holy Father.
1t is not in such moment that a preacher
of the gospel, were he the last of all, can
consent TO remain as the mute dogs Of Isra-
ell, untaithful guardians, whom the prophet
reproaches as unable to bark Canes mutt,
non caldates iatrare. The saints were nev-
er silent. L am not one of them, but new
ertheiess | belong to their race, .tiii SdRct0-
rum suHlns, and | have always been ambi-
tious to place my steps, my tears, aud, If
necessary. my blood, iu the tracks which
/ they have left | raise, therefore, before
the Holy Father and the Council, my pro-
tcstation as Christian and preacher against
these doctrines and practices, calling them
selves Roman, but which are not Christian
and which in their enroachments, always
most audacious and most baneful, tend to
change the constitution of the Church, the
basis as we'll as the form of her teaching
and even the spirit of hel piety. l protest
against the divorce, as inpious as it is in
sane, which it is sought to accomplish be-
tween the Church, who is our mother ac-
| cordlng 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 attach
ments. protest against this more radical
and dreadful opposition to human nature,
which is attacked and made to revolt by
! these false doctrines in its most iudestructi
BILE and holiest aspiration. | protest above
all against the sacreligious perversion of
the Word OF the Son Of God himself, the
I spirit and The letter of which are equally
! trodden under foot by the pharisaism of the
new law.
| 1t is my most profound conviction that if
France, in particular, and the Latin races in
!
and religious anarchy, the principal cause is
without doubt not in Catholicism itself. but
in the manner in which Catholicism has,
during long time, been understood and
practiced. 1t appeals to the council about
to meet, to seek tor remedies for the excess
OF our evils, and to apply them with rs
mush force as gentleness. But if fears in
which do not wish 10 share, come to be re-
aiizad, If the august assembly has not more
liberty III its deliberations than it has already
III Its preparation, it, in word, it is depri
we'd of the essential characters of Ecumen-
ical Council, | will cry to God and men to
call another truly united in the holy spirit,
not IN the spirit of party, and representing
really the universal church, not the silence
of some men, the oppression of Others
For the heart of the daughter of my peo
pie am hurt; am black; astonishment
hath taken hold on me- Is there no balm
in Giead? Is there no physician there :?
| Why is not the health of the daughter of