The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-10-13
Letter Of Father Hyacinthe.

Hyaclntne has addressed to the General OF
his order in Rome:
My Very. Reverend Father: During the
five years ofmy ministry at Notre Dame de
Paris, despite the open attacks and secret
accusations (which have been the object,
your esteem and confidence have never failed
nae for moment. l 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 remem-
brance. To-day, however, by sudden
change, the cause of which 1 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 Ian
guage or preserve silence which would no
longer be the entire and loyal expression of
my conscience I do not hesitate an instant.
With language perverted by command, or
mutilated by reticence, | shall not ascend
the pulpit of Notre Dame. l express my
regret for this to the intelligent and courage
GUS 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. express my regrets to the
imposing auditory who surrounded me there
with its attention, its sympathies, / was near
ly going to say its friendship. 1 would not
be worthy of the auditory of the Archbishop.
of my conscience, nor of God, if | would
consent to act before them in such rOlei |
separate myself at the same time from the
convent in which I have resided, and which
under the new circumstances that have hap
pened to me, renders it for me prison Of
the soul. In acting thus l am not unfaith
full to my VOWS. | have promised monaStic
obedience, but, limited by the honesty Of
conscience, 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 clois.
ter, now more than ten years ago, in the
elan of an enthusiasm free of all human cal
culation, [ shall not venture to add free Of
all the illusion of youth. If, in exchange
for my sacrifices, | am to-day offered chains
have not only the right but the duty tc
reject them. The present hour is solemn
The church passes through one of the mos
violent, dark and decisive crises of its exis
tence here below. For the first time in three
hundred years an Gcumenical Council is moi
only convoked, but declared necessary; such
is the expression of the Holy Father. 1t i;
not in such moment that preacher of the
gospel, were he the last of all, can consent
to remain as the mute dogs of Israel, I'm.
faithful guardians, whom the prophet re-
proaches as unable to bark. Canes mutt
non valentes latrara The saints were never
silent. [ am not one of them, but neverthe.
less | belong to their race, fill sanctOratn
sumaus, and have always been ambitious tc
place my steps, my tears, and, if necessary,
my blood, in the tracks which they have left
l raise, therefore, before the Holy Father
and the Council, my protestation as Christian
and preacher against these doctrines and prac.
tees, calling themselves Roman, but which
arenot Christian, and which in their encroach
ments, always most audacious and most bane
full, 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 &C
cording 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 dread.
full opposition to human nature which is at
tackled and made to revolt by these false
doctrines in its most indestructible and hottest
aspirations. l protest above all against the
sacreligious perversion of the Word of the
Son of God himself, the 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 general,
are delivered over to social, moral, and reli-
gious anarchy, the principal cause is without
doubt not in Catholicism itself, but in the
manner which Catholicism has, during long
time, been Understood and practiced. I ap.
peal to the Council about to meet to seek for
remedies for the excess of our evils, and to
apply them with as much force as gentleness.
But if fears in which l 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, if in a
word, it is deprived of the essential char.
acters of an Gcumenical 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 hurt of the daughter
of my people am | hurt; 1 am black; astonish-
ment hath taken hold on me. Is there no
balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why, then, is not the health of the daughter
of my people recovered. Jeremiah, viii.
In fine, l appeal to your tribunal, 0 Lord
Jesus I'D tNum Domino Jesu tribunal ap-
peUO. 1t is in your presence that L write
these lines; it is at your feet, after having
prayed much, reflected, suffered and waited
much, that 1 sign them. have confidence
that, if men condemn them on earth, you
approve them in Heaven. That is sufficient
for me, living and dying.
FIR. HYACINTHE,
Superior of the Barefooted Carmelites of
Paris, second preacher of the order in the
province of Avignon.
Paris-Passy, Sept. 20, 1869.