The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-10-10
a Father Z HyacInihoe and tho pope,.. ,.,.7

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Father HyaoInthe and tho Pope.
The followipg lis the letter of Father
Hyacinthe, the 9Barefooted Carmelite, to
the General Of his Order in Rome: 49,.
NIX sNHRY; REVEREND FATHER: During
the five ,years of my ministry, at ,Notre
Dspe,de Paris, nna notwithstanding the
open attacks and sacret accusations of
whichI hRye been q the subject, your os-
te9m aud your; confidence have never
failed imesd I preserve numerous proofs
of, them, written in your. own hand,
which apply to my preaching quite as
much as to my person. Whatever may
happen, I shall always retain q grateful
recollection of them. Nov, however, by
sudden change, the cause of which
do not seek in your. heart, but in the
intrigues of an. .all;powerful party iat
Rome, you accuse what you encouraged,
you blame what you approved, and you
maintain q silence, which would no
longer be the full and faithful expression
Of my conscience. do not hesitate an
instant. could not re-ascend the pull
pit of Notre Dame with language per-
verted by aicommaud or mutilated by
reticencesi! Iexpressmy regret to the in
tellgent and courageous Archbishop who
opened. the pulpit, to me, and who has
maintained me in it against the ill-will of
thetn1en of whom. I have Just spoken. I
expressin regret to the imposing audi
tory which bestowed upon me its atten-
tion;aits sympathy, I iihadt almost said its
friendship.d;D should not be worthy of
thatlauditory, of the Bishop, of my con.
scienoe, Tor OF God. could consent to
enact suchaia part before them. I
withdraw at the g same time from the
monastery 1 live. in, and which, under
the new circumstances in which am
placed, is changed for me into prison
of the soul. In acting thus I am not un-
faithful to my VOWS; I promised monasti-
cal obedience, out within the limits of
the, honesty Of my conscience, and the
dignity of my person and ministry. 1
promised it, subject to that higher law
of Justice and royal liberty which, nc
cording to Saint James the apostle, is
the proper law of the Christian. 1t was
the most perfect practice of that holy
liberty which I went to ask in the
cloIster moro than ten years ago, in the
ardor OF an enthusiasm free from all hu-
man calonlation-I cannot add, free from
all the illusions of youth. If in exchange
for my sacrifices I am now offered chains,
it is not merely my right, it is my duty
to reject them. The present moment is
a solemn one. The church is passing
through one of the most violent, the
most obscure, and the most decisive of
its existence here below. For the first
timein 800 years an Ecumenical Council
is not only oonvoked, but declared neces-
sary. These are the expressions of the
Holy. Father. It isfnet at such mo-
ment that preacher Of the Gospel, even
70 hr1r aINI
silence, like those mute degs of. Israel,
faithless guardians, which the prophet
reproaches because unable to bark; canes
mutt, non Ddlentes .4rtrdre. The saints
never kept SILENT VI Ian4 not one of them,
but nevertheless Lam of their race-1iiii
Sanctorum snn,s-:..and I haye: always
longed to leave my footsteps, my tears,
and, if need be, mn blood. in the traces,
where they have left theirs. I raise,
therefore, before the Holy Father and the
Council, my protest: Rs Christian and o
priest, against those doctrines and those
practices which are. called Roman, but
which are not, Christian, and which, by
their encroachments, always more auda-
cious and more Raneful, tend to change
the constitution of the church, the basis
and tue form Iof it's teaching, and even
the spirit. Of tits piety. I protest against
tneIdiSOEcet aS AmPlous as 1t IS .lnsensate,
sought t0, ,be. effected between the church
which ;ia pqr etel nal mother, and the. SO
cietNof the ruin eteenth century, Of which
wen Rpe the temporal children, and to-
wards which We have also duties and re-
geasns.D Iprotestagaip. that opposition,
more radical and more ,.ightful still. to
human nature, attacked, and outraged by
these false, .dooters. in it's most indie
structable and most holy aspirations. I
protest above all against the sacrilegious
perversion of the Gospel Of the Son of
God himself, the spirit and the letter of
which are alike trampled under foot by
the Pharisaism of the newHIaw. It is my
most profound conviction thai if France
in particular, and the Latin race in gene
raj. are given mp to social, moral and re-
ligious anarchy, the principal cause
undoubtedly is not Catholicism itself,
but tho manner in which Catholicism has
for long time been understood and
practiced. appeal to the council which
is about to assemble to seek remedies for
the excess of our ills, and to apply them
with as much force rs gentleness. But
if fears which I will not share were to be
realized-if the august assembly had no
L.