Abbé Lantaigne, head of the high seminary of …, wrote the following
letter to Monseigneur the Cardinal-Archbishop of …:
“MONSEIGNEUR,
“When, on the 17th of this month, I had the honour of being received by
Your Eminence, I feared to trespass on your paternal kindness and on
your pastoral clemency by expounding at sufficient length the matter
about which I came to converse with you. But as this affair reflects
on your high and holy jurisdiction and concerns the government of this
diocese, which counts among the most ancient and beautiful provinces of
Christian Gaul, I conceive it to be my duty to submit to the watchful
impartiality of Your Eminence the facts concerning which it is called
upon to judge in the plenitude of its authority and in the fulness of
its wisdom.
“In bringing these facts to the knowledge of Your Eminence, I am
fulfilling a duty which I should characterise as painful to my heart,
if I did not know that the accomplishment of every duty brings to the
soul an inexhaustible spring of consolation, and that it is not enough
to obey God, if one does not obey Him with ready gladness.
“The facts which it behoves you to know, Monseigneur, relate to Abbé
Guitrel, professor of rhetoric at the high seminary. I will state them
as briefly and as accurately as possible.
“These facts concern:
“First, the doctrine;
“Second, the morals of Abbé Guitrel.
“I will first state the facts relating to M. Guitrel’s doctrine.
“On reading the note-books from which he delivers his lectures on
sacred rhetoric, I noticed in them various opinions which do not agree
with the tradition of the Church.
“First, M. Guitrel, whilst condemning as to their conclusions the
commentaries on Holy Scripture drawn up by atheists and so-called
reformers, does not condemn them in their principle and origin, in
which he is seriously in error. For it is evident that, the care of
the Scriptures having been confided to the Church, the Church alone is
capable of interpreting the books which she alone preserves.
“Second, led astray by the recent example of a monk who thirsted
for the applause of the age, M. Guitrel presumes to explain the
scenes of the Gospel by means of that pretended local colour and
that pseudo-psychology of which the Germans make a great show; and
he does not perceive that, by thus walking in the way of infidels,
he is skirting the abyss into which they have fallen. I should
weary the benevolent attention of His Eminence Monseigneur the
Cardinal-Archbishop were I to place before his reverend glance the
passages where M. Guitrel with pitiable childishness follows the
narratives of travellers, as to ‘the boat-service on the Lake of
Tiberias,’ and those where, with intolerable indecency, he describes
what he calls ‘the soul-states’ and ‘the psychic crises’ of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
“These foolish innovations, blameworthy in a cloistered worldling,
should not be tolerated in a secular cleric entrusted with the
instruction of young aspirants to the priesthood. Hence I was more
grieved than surprised when I heard that an intelligent pupil, whom I
have since been obliged to expel for his bad disposition, described the
professor of rhetoric as a ‘fin de siècle’ priest.
“Third, M. Guitrel affects a culpable laxity in relying on the
untrustworthy authority of Clement of Alexandria, who is not included
in the martyrology. In this the professor of rhetoric betrays the
weakness of a mind misled by the example of the so-called mystics,
who imagine that they find in the _Stromata_ a purely allegorical
interpretation of the most concrete mysteries of the Christian faith.
And, without actually going astray, M. Guitrel shows himself, in this
matter, to be inconsistent and light-minded.
“Fourth, since depravity of taste is one of the results of doctrinal
weakness, and since a mind which rejects strong food battens on
worthless nourishment, M. Guitrel seeks models of eloquence for the use
of his pupils even in the speeches of M. Lacordaire and the homilies of
M. Gratry.
“Secondly, I will enumerate the facts relating to M. Guitrel’s morals.
“First, Abbé Guitrel consorts with M. _le préfet_ Worms-Clavelin both
secretly and constantly, and in this he throws off the reserve which it
always behoves an ecclesiastic of lower rank to observe in relation to
the public authorities, a reserve which, under present circumstances
and towards a Jewish official, there is no excuse for dropping. And by
the care which he takes never to enter the prefecture save by a private
door, M. Guitrel seems to acknowledge to himself the falseness of a
position which he nevertheless maintains.
“It is also notorious that M. Guitrel occupies a position with respect
to Madame Worms-Clavelin that is more mercantile than religious. This
lady is fond of antiquities, and although a Jewess, she does not
despise any articles connected with religion, provided that they have
the merit of art or of antiquity. It is unhappily well attested that
M. Guitrel busies himself in buying for Madame Worms-Clavelin at an
absurd price the antique furniture of village parsonages, left in
the care of ignorant churchwardens. In this way carved wainscoting,
priestly vestments, chalices, and pyxes are torn from the sacristies
of your rural churches, Monseigneur, in order that at the prefecture
they may adorn the private apartments of M. and Madame Worms-Clavelin.
And everybody knows that Madame Worms-Clavelin has trimmed with the
splendid and sacred copes of Saint-Porchaire the species of furniture
vulgarly called ‘_poufs_.’ I do not imply that M. Guitrel has derived
any material and direct profit from these transactions; but it must
needs grieve your paternal heart that a priest of the diocese should
have joined in robbing your churches of that wealth which proves, even
in the eyes of unbelievers, the superiority of Christian to profane art.
“Second, without complaint or protest Abbé Guitrel allows the rumour to
spread and grow that his elevation to the vacant bishopric of Tourcoing
is favoured by the President of the Council, the Minister for Justice
and Religion. Now this rumour is prejudicial to the minister, for,
although a freethinker and a freemason, he ought to be too careful of
the interests of the Church over which he has been appointed civil
overseer to place in the seat of the blessed Loup a priest such as M.
Guitrel. And if this invention were to be traced to its source, it is
to be feared that in M. Guitrel himself would be found the first and
foremost contriver of it.
“Third, having formerly occupied his leisure in translating into French
verse the Bucolics of that Latin poet called Calpurnius, whom the best
critics agree in relegating to the lowest class of insipid babblers,
Abbé Guitrel, with a carelessness which I would fain believe to be
quite unintentional, has allowed this work of his youth to circulate
privately. A copy of the Bucolics was addressed to the free-thinking
radical paper of the district, _le Phare_, which published extracts
from it; among them there occurred in particular this line, which I
blush to put before the paternal eyes of Your Eminence:
“And our heaven of bliss is a well-loved breast.[B]
“This quotation was accompanied in _le Phare_ by the most derogatory
comments on the private character, as well as the literary taste, of
Abbé Guitrel. And the editor, whose ill-will is only too well known
to Your Eminence, took this wretched line as a pretext for charges of
wanton thoughts and dishonourable intentions generally against all the
professors of the high seminary, and even against all the priests
in the diocese. This is why, without inquiring whether as a scholar
M. Guitrel had any excuse for translating Calpurnius, I deplore the
publication of his work as the cause of a scandal which, I am sure,
was more bitter to your benevolent heart, Monseigneur, than gall and
wormwood.
“Fourth, M. Guitrel is in the habit of going every day at five o’clock
in the afternoon to the confectioner’s shop kept by Dame Magloire,
in the Place Saint-Exupère. And there, leaning over the sideboards,
counters and tables, he examines with deep interest and careful
diligence the dainties piled up on plates and dishes. Then, stopping
at the spot where are arranged the kinds of cakes which they tell
me are called _éclairs_ and _babas_, he touches first one and then
another of these pasties with the tip of his finger, and afterwards
has these dainty morsels wrapped up in a sheet of paper. Far be it
from me to bring a charge of sensuality against him on account of this
ridiculously careful choice of a few cream-cakes or sugar-pasties. But
if one reflects that he goes to Dame Magloire’s at the very moment
when the shop is thronged with fashionable folk of both sexes, and
that he makes himself a butt for the jests of worldlings, one will ask
oneself whether the professor of rhetoric at the high seminary does
not leave some part of his dignity behind him in the confectioner’s
shop. In fact, the choice of two cakes has not escaped the ill-natured
comment of observers, and it is said, either rightly or wrongly, that
M. Guitrel keeps one for himself and gives the other to his servant. He
may doubtless, without incurring any blame, share any dainties with the
woman attached to his service, especially if that woman has attained
the canonical age. But malicious gossip interprets this intimacy and
familiarity in the most shameful sense, and I should never dare to
repeat to Your Eminence the remarks which are made in the town as to
the relations between M. Guitrel and his domestic. I do not wish to
entertain these charges. Nevertheless, Your Eminence will see that M.
Guitrel is not easily to be excused for having given a show of truth to
the calumny by his mischievous behaviour. I have related the facts. It
now remains for me only to conclude.
“I have the honour to propose that Your Eminence should cancel the
appointment of M. Guitrel (Joachim) as professor of sacred rhetoric at
the high seminary of …, in accordance with your spiritual powers as
recognised by the State (decree of 17th March, 1808).
“Vouchsafe, Monseigneur, to continue your paternal kindness towards
one who, being placed in command of your seminary, has no dearer wish
than to give you proofs of his complete devotion and of the profound
respect with which he has the honour to be,
“Monseigneur,
”The most humble and obedient servant
of Your Eminence,
“LANTAIGNE.”
Having written this letter, M. Lantaigne sealed it with his seal.
[B] “Notre ciel à nous, c’est un sein chéri.”