long talk with M. le Supérieur Général. He was good enough to give us
a sketch of the objects for which his congregation was founded, to
this effect:--About two hundred years ago, a lady was desirous to have
the poor upon her estates better taught and instructed in the faith
than they had been, and proposed for that purpose a certain endowment.
But it so happened that no religious society then existing would
accept the proposal. Thus S. Vincent de Paul was led to establish his
congregation of priests; in the first instance, for the instruction of
the poor on this lady's lands: by and by more and more came to him for
assistance, and his institution grew by consequence. It came to have
four objects in view. First of all, to provide good priests for
country parishes: at that time the priests throughout the country in
France were very ignorant, and the people, of course, much neglected,
and scarcely knowing the first elements of the Faith, for seminaries
had not yet been established according to the decree of the Council of
Trent. But, secondly, as good priests could not be made without
training, S. Vincent de Paul had in view to educate them well in
seminaries for the evangelising of the poor; and to this day, the
Supérieur said, they were restricted to the care of the poor, and do
not preach in cities at all, save in hospitals. Moreover, the third
object was, that they might direct in perpetuity the Sisters of
Charity; for the special task of these Sisters being to attend the
sick, and, if need be, to convert or instruct them, the Saint
considered it of the utmost importance that their own spiritual needs
should be consulted for by a religious order specially charged with
that care, and, consequently, he put both his congregations under one
head; and the Supérieur Général of the Pères Lazaristes is likewise
Supérieur Général of the Sisters of Charity. The fourth object,
which grew out of the former three, was foreign missions; for wherever
Sisters of Charity go, the Fathers must go also, working in relation
to them, and with regard to the poor. They have now 600 missionaries,
chiefly in the East: their labours extend to Syria, Smyrna,
Constantinople, China, Brazil, the United States. They have at
Constantinople 1200 children in their schools, of various creeds: no
attempt at conversion is made in these schools: they are free to
accept, or not, the religious instruction; but the Supérieur said,
they were generally very glad to accept it. The moment, he said,
liberty of conscience is allowed in Turkey, the Turks will be
converted in large numbers. They are already strongly inclined to
Catholicism: for the Greeks they have a supreme contempt; but they
trust and respect the Catholics: in money transactions the Sublime
Porte chooses a Catholic agent. I inquired if the orthodox Greek
Church (whom he called schismatic) had no missions: he said, it has
neither missions nor schools--it is utterly dead--its priests are
profoundly ignorant. These people have sinned against the Holy Ghost.
He extended this charge of ignorance to the Russian priests. I
observed that I had been told by an eye witness that the Church in
Russia had the same sort of hold on the mass of the population as it
had in the Middle Ages in Europe; but he seemed to think both
people and priests densely ignorant. Many converts, he said, are made
to Catholicism from the Armenians and other sects; but hardly any from
the schismatic Greeks; however, as soon as they are instructed, they
will give up their schism. The Pères Lazaristes direct ten séminaires
in France; the S. Sulpiciens twenty: the Société de la Rue Picpus two;
the Maristes one or two; the rest are directed by diocesan priests
chosen by the bishop. As we rose to leave I asked him if the Sœur
de Charité were still living to whom the vision of the Blessed Virgin
had been granted. He replied that she was. But you have heard, I
suppose, the miracle which has happened lately. We said we had not. A
young novice, he continued, of the Sœurs de la Charité, on the 30th
April last, received, in attending a sick sister, a most violent
luxation of the vertebral column. The surgeon considered her case so
full of danger that he refused to operate on it without calling in
another. The head was turned round and pressed closely on the left
shoulder; paralysis had seized on the left side, and the right was
beginning to be affected. The surgeon said an operation might be
performed, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it failed. She
had been several days in this state; the Supérieure of the Sisters was
asked for a written authorisation to operate on her; she did not like
to agree to this, unless the patient herself demanded it. At length
they determined on a neuvaine of prayers to S. Vincent de Paul,
the feast of the translation of whose relics they were then
celebrating. This began on Sunday, the 7th May. After this had begun,
the patient expressed the most earnest desire to be carried into the
church of S. Vincent de Paul, and to be laid before the shrine
containing his relics over the altar. She had the most confident
persuasion that she should be cured by his intercession. Her
confessor, as he told me, set himself against it as much as he
could--he had given over her case, and was going to administer the
last sacraments to her on the next day. At her repeated request it was
referred to the Supérieur Général, and he gave his consent that she
should be carried on a couch to the church between four and five in
the morning. The Supérieur said to himself, as he told us, the case is
desperate; if she dies on the way it will be no worse than it is now.
She was accordingly carried to the church on Tuesday, the 9th of May,
and laid before the altar; as the Mass went on, at the Gospel she took
her face with both hands and pushed it round from where it had been
pressed on the left shoulder beyond its proper place to the right. At
the elevation she tried to rise, but to no purpose. She received the
Holy Communion with the utmost difficulty, and in the greatest pain;
but, before the priest had finished the Mass, she rose of her self
from her bed, perfectly cured, and knelt down. She staid in the
church while another Mass was said, en action de Graces; and then
walked back to the house of the Sisters of Charity in the Rue du Bac
(about ten minutes' walk). The Bishop of Carcassonne, who was in the
church, about to say Mass at the time, was told by the Supérieur
Général what had happened. He said to her, "Doubtless, you prayed
fervently?" "No, my Lord," she replied; "I did not pray; I believed."
("Non, Monseigneur, je ne priais pas; je croyais.")
After this account I inquired of the Supérieur Général whether we
might be allowed to see and speak with the young person to whom this
had happened; "for," I said, "people in England will simply disbelieve
it." He consented, and sent for a priest to take us to the house of
the Sisters of Charity, with a request to the Supérieure to let us see
the novice. This priest was her confessor; and from him we heard a
great deal in confirmation of the above account; how hopeless her case
had appeared, and how bent she was upon being carried before
S. Vincent's shrine, which he had discouraged as much as possible. We
also saw the Mère Supérieure, who gave the same information. At length
the novice herself was introduced, who told the same tale in a very
simple and natural way. She described herself as in such a suffering
state that she did not attempt to pray in the church; that she heard a
sort of crack in her neck, and thereupon thrust her face round
from the left to the right side--so that the sister who was with her
put it back just right; but after this she continued in extreme pain
and weakness; tried in vain to rise at the elevation; and only a
little after receiving the Holy Communion felt suddenly quite well.
She had never since felt the least return of her pain. I asked her how
the accident had happened. She said she had taken up the sick sister
to support her, when, by some mishap, the whole weight of her body
fell on her neck. Others told me that her confidence of being healed
had been so great, that before she was carried to the church she had
said to the sister waiting on her, "You may put my 'couvert' in the
refectory for to-morrow, for I shall return on foot." When the surgeon
came, after her return, to see her, the sister told him that the
patient had no need of his services. "What! she is dead!" he said.
"No," replied the sister, "she is cured." "She is cured! How?" He then
asked to see her; and was obliged to confess that it was a perfect
cure. M. Hervé stutters a little, and his agitation at finding a
patient in such a state so unexpectedly cured added to this defect. I
was told that he shook her head about in every direction, exclaiming,
"C'était cassé! c'était cassé! c'était cassé!" There is accordingly
the attestation of the Supérieur Général of the Pères Lazaristes, of
the Supérieure of the Sisters of Charity, of the priest confessing the
patient, and of the patient herself, for this cure; besides the
sisters who spoke of it to us.
We drove in the evening to Notre Dame, St. Gervais, and La Madeleine.
The latter was lighted, and many were at private prayer before the
Holy Sacrament, or waiting for confession.
_Sunday, July 23._--Our own office at home. Part of High Mass in St.
Thomas d'Aquin. The churches in Paris have a certain official air. I
like them better in the provinces. M. des Billiers took us to the
Société de la Rue Picpus, and presented us to its Supérieur, the
Archbishop of Chalcedoine (formerly Latin Archbishop of Smyrna). He
gave us a sketch of the rise and objects of this society. In 1794
l'Abbé Coudrin, seeing the destruction and desolation of all holy
institutions, was inspired with the thought of founding a religious
society at once to repair by the perpetual adoration of the Holy
Sacrament of the altar, day and night, the disorders, crimes, and
profanations of every kind, which were taking place; to bring up youth
in the knowledge of the truths of salvation, together with the
elements of profane science; to form young Levites, by the study of
theology, for the service of the sanctuary; to bring back to God, by
preaching, an alienated people; and to evangelise the heathen. L'Abbé
Coudrin at this time was in daily danger of his life, and was
concealed in a barn. At the end of the year 1794 a pious lady, Madame
Aymer de la Chevalerie, just delivered from prison, into which she had
been thrown, with her mother, for having concealed a Catholic priest,
offered her assistance to l'Abbé Coudrin, to carry out his designs
with regard to her own sex. Hence arose les Dames des Sacrés Cœurs
de Jésus et de Marie, who devote themselves to the perpetual adoration
of the Holy Sacrament, and to the education of young females, and who
now count more than twenty establishments in France, and two in Chili,
one at Valparaiso, and the other at Santiago. All these establishments
are directed by priests of this Congregation.
The Abbé Coudrin gathered by degrees a number of young persons round
him, and succeeded in setting his Congregation on foot, which was
recognised in 1817 by Pius VII. In the year 1837 he died, having
witnessed many establishments of his Congregation in France; the
foundation of one at Valparaiso: many of his disciples evangelising
the Polynesian islands, and two of his children bishops, M. Bonamie,
first Bishop of Babylon, and then Archbishop of Smyrna, and M.
Rouchouze, Vicar Apostolic of Eastern Oceania. On his death the former
was chosen for the government of the Congregation by its general
chapter.
At present the Congregation has, besides twenty-four establishments in
France, two houses in Chili, and two in Belgium; one at Louvain, the
other at Enghien, for instruction of youth. It has about one hundred
missionaries, priests and catechists, in the Sandwich Islands, the
Marquesas, Oceania, and elsewhere.
The object of the institution is to retrace the four periods of our
Lord's life: His infancy, His hidden life, His evangelical life, and
His crucified life.
With respect to our Lord's infancy, gratuitous schools are kept for
poor children; and larger schools, to which a certain number of young
persons is admitted free of charge, according to the resources of each
establishment. Those intended for the Church are here prepared for
their sacred functions.
As to our Lord's hidden life, all members of the Congregation are to
imitate it by repairing in the perpetual adoration, day and night, of
the Most Holy Sacrament, the wrongs done to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus
and of Mary, by the sins which are committed.
Priests imitate our Lord's evangelic life by the preaching of the
Gospel, and by missions.
Lastly, all members of the Congregation should recall, so far as in
them lies, our Saviour's crucified life, by practising with zeal and
prudence works of Christian mortification, specially in the mastery of
their senses.
In 1833 Gregory XVI. entrusted to the Society of Picpus the missions
of Eastern Oceania.
There are houses for the novitiate at Issy, near Paris, at Louvain,
and at Graves, near Villefranche. It continues not more than eighteen,
nor less than twelve months. Here are priests and candidates for the
priesthood, preparing themselves to live under the laws of religious
obedience, and to devote themselves either to the instruction of
youths, or to missions, or to the direction of souls, in the post
assigned to them by their obedience; or to deeper studies, which shall
enable them to serve the faith according to the talents God has given
them.
Young men and adults likewise are received, who, without being called
to the ecclesiastical state, wish to consecrate themselves to God for
the advancement of His glory, and the assuring of their own salvation
by the practice of religious virtues.
Priests besides, and laymen, are received as boarders, who, desirous
not to remain in the world, wish to prepare themselves in retirement,
and the practice of the virtues of their estate, for their passage
from time to eternity.
This society has just applied to the government for permission to send
out chaplains with those who shall be transported for their
participation in the late revolt. I do not know a higher degree of
charity than this; and many other priests have inscribed themselves
for this service.
In the chapel we saw one of the brethren continuing the perpetual
adoration of the Holy Sacrament.
The archbishop spoke in terms of great contempt of the ignorance of
the Greeks; and likewise anticipated a large conversion of the Turks,
whenever liberty of conscience is allowed. He had just sent out some
missionaries to Oceania.
Both going and returning, we passed the spot at the entrance of the
Rue du Faubourg S. Antoine where the late archbishop received his
death wound. The house near was severely battered, and in different
places along the Rue S. Antoine, and in the Faubourg, were the marks
of balls; but altogether the insurrection has left much fewer traces
behind than one could have expected.
Returning we looked into the Sainte Chapelle, S. Louis' peerless
offering in honour of the Crown of Thorns. It is a perfect gem of the
13th century, and the under chapel is almost as beautiful; but nothing
has been done since last year. All round works were going on in the
Palais de Justice, though it was Sunday. Indeed, in this respect, the
aspect of Paris generally is that of a heathen city.
At four we went to a Benediction at M. l'Abbé Ratisbonne's house, to
which he had invited us. His sisterhood of Converted Jewesses sung the
Psalms very nicely. Nothing, to my mind, can be more solemn or
touching than this ceremony, when the priest takes the ostensoire in
his hand, and blesses the people, Benedicat vos Omnipotens Deus,
Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. One seems to hear the
words of God Himself.
We then adjourned to the parloir, with M. Ratisbonne, Lady ----, and
Mr. ----, a Scotch minister. Here we conversed about various matters;
magnetism, true and false miracles, &c. They asked about my visit to
the Tyrolese Stigmatisées. Lady ---- told a story, in one point of
which, in spite of its bizarrerie, I found something which strangely
takes hold of the mind. We had been talking of that Egyptian
witchcraft by which an unknown person is said to be seen in a child's
hand. She observed that M. Laborde had purchased this secret, and had
been able to do the thing;--having afterwards become a Christian, he
abstained from it. Lord ----, it seems, had told her respecting one of
the ---- family, that he had come back from Italy with the firm
persuasion that he should not survive a certain day: the source of
this persuasion was, a prophecy made to him by a Venetian sorceress,
and to two of his friends, who both died violent deaths at the time
specified. Lord ---- treated this notion of Mr. ---- as an
imagination; however, he made him promise that he would visit him on
the day he mentioned. After going to England, Mr. ---- returned to
Paris, and there Lord ---- met him again. One day the friends who were
with him told him that Mr. ---- was ill with a fever, and though he
thought himself better, and intended to go to a ball at Lady
Granville's, they thought ill of him. In a short time Mr. ---- died. A
few days after Lord ---- had been dining, and the dessert had just
been removed, when the door opened, and the figure of Mr.---- walked
into the room. Lord ---- said, 'What ----, is that you? I thought you
were dead.' The figure assented. 'Will you take a chair?' said Lord
----. 'Are you happy?' An expression of indescribable sadness passed
over the face, and he shook his head. 'Can I do any thing for you?'
said Lord ----. Again he shook his head. 'Why, then, have you appeared
to me?' 'Because of my solemn promise,' the figure said. 'Since,
then,' replied Lord ----, 'you say I can do nothing for you, I beg one
favour of you,--that you would go away, and never return again.' The
figure complied, and walked out of the room. I don't think I should
have thought this story worth repeating, but for M. Ratisbonne's
remarks on it. He said, 'I can well believe this may have happened,
for we are surrounded with beings that we know not. A sense is wanting
to us, and if but a veil dropped, we might see this room crowded with
beings who look on us. Besides, appearances of this kind are
continually happening, and I believe it from what occurred to myself.'
'Occurred to you!' I said. 'What do you mean?' 'I had been called in,'
he answered, 'once at Strasburgh, to administer extreme unction to a
young married lady. I found her in the agony of death, screaming
fearfully; her husband was supporting her in his arms on the bed. I
administered the last unction to her; and an effect followed which I
have often observed: she became calm, and died in the utmost peace.
Some days afterwards I was in my room about noon, looking out on the
garden. Suddenly I saw her within two steps of me, the same exactly as
when living, but with a great brightness all around her. She made a
motion to me of inexpressible sweetness and happiness, as if thanking
me for a great service, and disappeared. At the first moment I felt a
thrill like an electric shock; but this passed. I mentioned this
vision afterwards to a friend, and to her husband. I had known but
little of her.' I asked if he was quite sure this was not an illusion,
but he had no doubt about it. Of the many stories of this kind one has
heard this is the first told me by the person to whom it happened.
The heat to-day was intense, and it was followed about eleven o'clock
by a violent thunder-storm and torrents of rain.
_Monday, July 24._--P. left me at twelve. I dread exceedingly the
being alone in Paris, but for the object I have in view I must try to
get on a few days.
Called on M. Bonnetty, who was very cordial. He asked about the
movement in England, and the state of minds. Likewise on M. Gondon, to
deliver Mr. N.'s letter. I had a very long talk with him on the
state of minds in England. He expressed the greatest dislike of the
Tablet; said Dr. Wiseman had done all he could against it. Dr. W. had
multitudes of letters from persons asking what they should do if they
became Catholic. He spoke with feeling of the great sacrifice those
made who did so; that, if married especially, all means of subsistence
were closed to them; and their family often gave them up. He asked
what those who had been converted did. I said I believed many were in
great difficulties. Louis Philippe had, during his reign, appointed
more than half, or nearly two-thirds, of the French bishops: his
notion was to get "des Evêques complaisans; mais il avait la main
malheureuse." Except three or four, all that he had appointed had
proved themselves men of firmness and courage; and had not been
willing to sacrifice the liberty of the Church to his smiles. I
inquired if the late Archbishop had not once been too much inclined to
the liberal side. Louis Philippe, he said, had appointed him in that
hope; but he had opposed the utmost firmness to the king's attempt; so
that latterly the King called him a downright porcupine,--there was no
laying hold of him on any side. Twice his addresses to the King had
not appeared in the "Moniteur," which was as great an insult as could
be offered. I remarked what a great blessing it was to the French
Church to have firm and courageous bishops. He spoke with
enthusiasm of the choice of the Bishop of Digne for Paris; it was
better than could have been hoped for: he was a man of great energy,
and would leave no abuse uncorrected. The late Archbishop had some
little Gallicanism, but the new one was entirely Ultra-Montane.
I was some time at La Madeleine this evening. This church is never so
grand as when the solitary lamp is burning before the altar, and a few
worshippers here and there come, in the silence of the evening, to
offer their prayers. I observed several common soldiers who thus came
in, knelt for a short time, and went out again.
At nine went with M. Des Billiers to see the Bishop of Amatha, Vicar
Apostolic of Western Caledonia. He was lodging in a house of the
Maristes, Rue du Mont Parnasse; and had all the simplicity of a
missionary. He received us in his sleeping-room, which was not even
ordinarily comfortable. We had an hour's conversation with him. His
society has been lately established, the actual Superior General being
its founder--it is named after the Blessed Virgin; they take the three
vows, and are bound especially to the practice of simplicity. The
objects of their institution very much resemble those of the Société
de la Rue Picpus. They have now four bishops in Western Oceania. "We
did not choose this sphere for our labours," said the Bishop,
"the Pope assigned it to us." The bishop lately massacred in those
parts was of their society. The Bishop of Amatha has in all twenty-six
missionaries under him--he is going out with eleven; and this very
day, after many fruitless attempts, has received the promise of a free
passage in the first government ship, for himself and his companions.
As the transit costs 2000 francs a head, this was matter of great
importance to him, as he has 40,000 francs to set him off, with his
missionaries, from the Société de la Propagation de la Foi; but
nothing for his after support. Thus, they live by cultivating the
earth--and, he says, the natives are only excited to labour by seeing
them labour. When asked whether the savages were more inclined to
Protestantism or Catholicism, he answered, "They are ready to take
whichever comes first; but in the long run we expel the Protestants.
They see that we are consistent and invariable in what we teach--that
we come and settle among them without wife or children; that we do not
trade; and so they are unable to assign any motive for our conduct but
charity to them; and this in the end works upon them." By the bishop's
account he and his missionaries live in the midst of the savages. He
seems about thirty-eight or forty years of age--able to "endure
hardship," and quite willing, in a state of the most apostolic
poverty. He knew and spoke highly of Bishop Broughton--also had
heard a high character of Bishop Selwyn. I said, there was not upon
the earth a bishop of a more Catholic heart or greater charity than
he. He said, he heard he had put down trading among his missionaries,
and brought them into order. "He is living," I said, "just the same
life which you have described, cultivating the earth with his
missionaries." The bishop's expression was, "We try to make the
savages men, and then Christians. We have been calumniated as though
we were agents of the French government; this will tell you," he said,
"whether that is true:" and he read me an official letter refusing him
a free passage. "This would not have been were we government agents."
He spoke highly of the Anglican missionaries, but very badly of the
Methodists--"they will do anything by any means, against us--but the
others are men of education and good faith, and act honourably." Two
Anglican ministers in Sydney, he said, had lately gone over to them;
and a third, the best preacher in the city, was expected. They had a
splendid cathedral there, which had cost 40,000l., and some 15,000
Catholics--the Anglicans about 2000, the Methodists 10,000. (I am told
this is entirely incorrect; the numbers of the English Church are far
greater.) "We want but England to be Catholic," he said, "in order to
convert the world; men we can send in abundance in France, it is
your resources we need." I said, "You must pray for that." "We do pray
constantly for it," he said. He alluded to the corrupt state of morals
in Sydney. At parting he regretted he could not answer my visit, as he
was going to Auvergne, his own country, to-morrow, to see his family
before leaving France.
It is, I think, impossible to conceive a higher degree of charity than
the going to live among savages in Oceania. Banished from country and
friends, without family ties or support from domestic affections--in
danger at times of massacre, and always subject to every species of
personal discomfort. If this be not an Apostolic life, I am unable to
conceive what is.
_Tuesday, July 25._--Went to a Low Mass at S. Roch: this is a poor
uncomfortable church. I do not like the demeanour of people at Paris,
compared with those in the country; they seem afraid to show reverence.