Another Tour On The Continent.
The Provincial once more sent Father Ignatius to beg on the Continent.
He tried to do a double work, as he did not like to be "used up" for
begging alone, and the plea of begging would find him access to those
he intended to consult. This second work was a form into which he cast
his ideas for the sanctification of the world. The way of carrying out
these ideas, which has been detailed, was what he settled down to
after long discussion and many corrections from authority. The
pamphlet which he now wrote had been translated into German by a lady
in Münster. In it he proposes a bringing back of Catholics to the
infancy of the Church, when the faithful laid the price of their
possessions at the feet of the Apostles. He proposed a kind of
Theocracy, and the scheme creates about the same sensation as Utopia,
when one reads it. Like Sir Thomas More, Father Ignatius gives us what
he should consider a perfect state of Christian society; he goes into
all the details of its working, and meets the objections that might
arise as it proceeds. The pamphlet is entitled _Reflectiones
Propositionesque pro fidelium Sanctificatione_."
On February 14, 1856, he leaves London, and halts in Paris only for a
few hours, on his way to Marseilles. There he sees the Archbishop, and
begs in the town; he returns then to Lyons, where he has several long
conferences with Cardinal de Bonald. We find him in Paris in a few
days, writing circulars to the French bishops, of whom the Bishop of
Nancy seems to have been his greatest patron. He writes a letter to
the Empress, and receives an answer that the Emperor would admit him
to an audience. In a day or two {454} Father Ignatius stands in the
presence of Napoleon III., and it is a loss that he has not left us
the particulars of the conference in writing, because he often
reverted to it in conversation with a great deal of interest. He found
at his lodgings, on returning from a _quête_ a few days after, l,000f.
sent to him as a donation by the Emperor.
His good success in the Tuileries gave him a hope of doing great
things among the _élite_ of Parisian society. He is, however, sadly
disappointed, and the next day sets off to Belgium.
Arrived in Tournai, he sends a copy of the French circular to the
Belgian bishops. This does not seem to be a petition for alms, as we
find him the same evening travelling in a third-class carriage to
Cologne, without waiting for their Lordships' answers.
During his begging in Cologne, he says mass every morning in St.
Colomba's (Columb-Kille's) Church; perhaps the spirit of hospitality
was bequeathed to the clergy of this Church by their Irish patron, for
he appears to have experienced some coldness from the _pfarren_ of
Cologne.
In Münster he is very well received. The Bishop is particularly kind
to him, and looks favourably on his _Reflectiones_; besides that, his
lordship deputes a priest to be his guide in begging. Father Ignatius
notes in his journal that he preached extempore in German to the
Jesuit novices, and that one of the fathers revises and corrects the
German translation of the _Reflectiones_. The priest deputed for guide
by the Bishop of Münster was called away on business of importance,
and Father Ignatius finds another. This Kaplan "lost his time
smoking," and our good father gave up, and went off by Köln to
Coblentz.
He finds the bishop here very kind, but is allowed to beg only of the
clergy; the Jesuits give him hospitality. A cold reception in Mantz,
and a lukewarm one in Augsburg, hurry him off to Munich. He submits
the _Reflectiones_ to Dr. Döllinger, who corrects them and gives them
his approbation.
From Munich he proceeds to Vienna. A part of this journey, as far as
Lintz, had to be performed by an _eilwayen_ {455} or post car. The
driver of this vehicle was a tremendous smoker, and Father Ignatius
did not at all enjoy the fumes of tobacco. He perceived that the
driver forgot the pipe, which he laid down at a _hoff_ on the way,
while slaking his thirst, and never told him of it. He was exulting in
the hope of being able to travel to the next shop for pipes without
inhaling tobacco smoke, when, to his mortification, the driver
perceived his loss, and shouted out like a man in despair, _Mein
pfeiffe! Mein pfeiffe!_--My pipe! My pipe! To increase his passenger's
disappointment, he actually turned back a full German league, and then
smoked with a vengeance until he came to the next stage.
Father Ignatius sends a copy of the _Reflectiones_ to Rome, on his
arrival in Vienna, and presents it with an address at an assembly of
Bishops that was then being held.
He has audiences with the Emperor and Archduke Maximilian, now Emperor
of Mexico, as well as with the Nunzio, and all the notabilities,
clerical and secular, in the city.
Immediately after, somehow, he gets notice to quit from the Superior
of a religious community, where he had been staying, and all the other
religious houses refuse to take him in. He was about to leave Vienna
in consequence, as he did not like putting up in an hotel, when some
Italian priests gave him hospitality, and welcomed him to stop with
them as long as he pleased. As a set-off to his disappointment, the
Bishop of Transylvania is very kind to him, and Cardinal
Schwartzenberg even begs for him. He met the Most Rev. Father Jandel,
General of the Dominicans, in the Cardinal's Palace, and showed him
the _Reflectiones_. The good disciple of St. Thomas examined the
document closely, and Father Ignatius records his opinion, "he gave my
paper a kick." Notwithstanding this sentence, he went on distributing
copies every where; but his tract-distribution was stopped in a few
days by a letter he received from our General.
When he sent the little pamphlet to Rome it was handed for criticism
to the Lector (or Professor) of Theology in our retreat, who was then
Father Ignatius Paoli, the present Provincial in England. The critique
was very long and {456} quite unfavourable; it reached him, backed by
a letter from the General, which forbade to speak about the counsels
for the present. He records this sentence in his journal in these
words:--"June 17. A letter from Padre Ignazio, by the General--Order
to stop speaking of the counsels, &c. _Stop her, back her. Deo
gratias!"_ This was a favourite expression with him whenever a
Superior thwarted any of his projects: it was borrowed from the
steamboats that ply on the Thames, and Father Ignatius considered
himself as in the position of the little boy who echoes the orders of
the master to the engineers below. He used to say, "What a catastrophe
might one expect if the boy undertook to give an order of his own!"
Whilst in Vienna he received a letter from Father Vincent, telling him
of our having established a house of the order near Harold's Cross,
Dublin. Father Ignatius accompanied Father Vincent when they were both
in Dublin, before the German tour began, in his search for a position,
and Rathmines was selected. The excellent parish priest, Monsignor
Meagher, had just opened his new church, and laboured hard to have a
religious community in his district. He therefore seconded the
intentions of our people, and in a short time a house was taken in his
parish, and every day cements the connexion between us and this
venerable ecclesiastic. A splendid edifice has since been built during
the Rectorship of Father Osmond, and chiefly through his exertions.
Father Ignatius went to two or three towns, where the police would not
allow him to beg unless patronised by a native priest, and not being
able to fulfil these conditions he was obliged to desist.
This was Father Ignatius's last visit to Germany; he had been there
five times during his life. The first was a tour of pleasure, all the
rest were for higher objects. He seems to have had a great regard for
the Germans; he considered them related by blood to the English, and
although he himself was of Norman descent, he appears to have a
special liking for the Saxon element in character. He preferred to
{457} see it blended certainly, and would consider a vein of Celtic or
Norman blood an improvement on the Teutonic.
There were other reasons. St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, was an
Englishman; St. Columbanus and St. Gall might be said to have laboured
more in Germany than in their native Ireland. The Germans owed
something to England, and he wished to have them make a return.
Besides, the Reformation began in Germany, and he would have the
countrymen of Luther and of Cranmer work together to repair the
injuries they had suffered from each other. This twofold plea was
forced upon him by a German periodical, which advocated the cause of
the "Crusade" even so far back as 1838. Father Ignatius also knew how
German scholarship was tinging the intellect of England, and he
thought a spread of devotion would be the best antidote to
Rationalism. The reasons for working in France, which he styled "that
generous Catholic nation," were somewhat different, but they have been
detailed by himself in those portions of the correspondence respecting
his crusade.
He visits Raal, Resburg, Baden, Ratisbonne, and Munich; hence he
starts for London. Here he arrives on the 4th of October. He did not
delay, but went straight to Dublin, and stayed for the first time in
Blessed Paul's Retreat, Harold's Cross. This house became his
head-quarters for some time, for we find him returning thither after a
mission in Kenilworth, and one in Liverpool, as well as a retreat for
nuns, which closes his labours for the year 1856.
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