their secrétariat, engaged among a number of sisters in copying M.
Hervé's attestation. It was enclosed in a sort of pastoral letter of
M. l'Abbé Etienne to the sisters throughout the world, dated 31st May,
1848; expressing his confidence that the bark of S. Vincent would
weather the storm of this revolution as it had the last of 1830, if
they were faithful to their rules, and fulfilled their ministry with
zeal. I found likewise that, three days after this cure, there had
been another of a person afflicted with blindness for seven months,
and I determined to go into this case likewise. The sisters went to
the Benediction at five: soon after I followed them to their chapel.
It was a most touching sight to see so large a number of sisters and
novices in worship together before the Host. Here then, I thought,
were before me so many female hearts offering up to God daily the
sacrifice of themselves in works of charity; they have made the
voluntary surrender of the pleasures of home, of feelings dearest to
the natural man; there is no holding back in their offering: it is
complete, and penetrated with charity. Here are hundreds kneeling
in front of me who dedicate their labours to the hospital and
the sick bed, going forth into all lands, and making the healing of
the body a means to cure the soul. If ever there was any institution
on which the sunlight of God's countenance may be supposed to rest, it
is surely this.
It was settled that I should return on Monday to continue my extract.
M. Defresne told me this morning that the Pères Lazaristes possess a
great number of S. Vincent's letters in MS., giving the most minute
directions as to cases of conscience and details of practice, which
were written to his fathers during his long experience, and which show
the most marvellous knowledge of the heart and the most acute
practical judgment. It is an instance of his wisdom that he directed
the sisters for thirty years by word of mouth, and at last wrote down
for them the rules which he had found work efficiently in that time. A
real constitution exists before it is written, just as model French
constitutions cease to exist before the ink which enunciates their
principles is dry.
M. des Billiers told me to-day of an old French Legitimist of
distinction, who, like most of his party, refrained for a long time
from exercising the franchise after Louis Philippe's accession,
because it involved an oath of fidelity to him. They found at length
the inconvenience of this, when they wanted to elect a Legitimist
deputy; and the old man was much pressed to take the oath. He refused
for a long time, but at length said he would go. As his purpose became
known, and he was much respected and looked up to, there was much
expectation at the polling-place what he would do. When called upon to
take the oath, he said, "M. le Président, allow me to tell you a
story. I remember being with his Majesty, Louis XVIII., King of
France, when a young prince came before him, confessed his faults,
and, falling at his feet, promised an unalterable fidelity. We all
know how that prince has kept his oath. Now I promise and swear,
(repeating the formulary of the oath), fidelity to Louis Philippe, and
I will keep my oath as he kept his." Every one was convulsed with
laughter, and the President could hardly stifle his: but he intimated
that he could not allow the oath to be taken with that reservation.
The old man repeated it again, by itself, but the effect had been
produced, and every one saw with what purpose he took it.
But who can regret that so foul a villany as the supplanting a king, a
kinsman, and a benefactor, has met with retribution even on earth?
_Sunday, July 30._--I have just heard at S. Roch a sermon which
lasted more than an hour and a quarter, delivered, for the most part,
with great rapidity, and a vehemence of tone and action which would
have frightened an English audience. The preacher, l'Abbé
Du----, showed very considerable power both of thought and expression.
I should have preferred a less rhetorical display, both in manner and
matter. But power there certainly was. "My thoughts are not your
thoughts, saith the Lord." He began by saying we were all under the
reign of a sophism; this sophism was, under a great variety of shapes,
the preferring the present life to the future. He then dwelt with
great force and beauty on our Saviour's life on earth, that He was
God, and that He was a carpenter; that He worked for his daily bread.
Now God can do nothing but what is perfectly good and wise; therefore,
when He assumed this servile condition, it was a work of perfect
wisdom and goodness. He came to do His Father's will. And this one
condition runs through all degrees of human society, alone making them
acceptable to God,--to do God's will. Glory, genius, success, the
wonder and admiration of our fellow men; all this is nothing. To do
the will of God will alone open the kingdom of heaven--Jesus Christ
stands ready to open the kingdom of heaven to generation after
generation of those who, sealed by the fore-knowledge of God, and
working with His grace, do His will--and to those alone. There was no
key to the present state of things, to these terrible conflicts, this
incessant agitation, but one; that life was but a day's labour,
an hour's--nothing in comparison of eternity. This life was not the
proper condition of humanity. It was fallen--the Saviour's proper work
was to restore it to its normal condition; but that normal condition
can never be here. Here it is a work of reparation, slow, painful,
full of obstacles in proportion to the depth of the fall, but always
merciful. Who would give a patient the full nourishment which he could
take in health? Now, here we are all patients of Jesus--all--and to
our latest moment. We shall never return to our normal condition on
earth, but in eternity. You are all workmen and workwomen; idleness is
a capital sin--idleness will shut out from heaven--Jesus Christ has
taught us to work, every one in his estate. The work is one, though
the condition may vary,--to do God's will. It will not be asked us
whether we had genius, skill, power to embrace the works of God in our
thought; but one thing only will be asked us,--whether we have done
our work; that very work which God set us,--to do His will. And this
is why society is suffering now to its utmost depths. This world is
made the end, the limit, the object, the reward--eternity is put out
of sight. "On a ôté Jesus Christ au travailleur de la pensée, au
travailleur de l'art, au travailleur de la terre. Et nous souffrons,
nous souffrons tous--nous allons de souffrances en souffrances." Thus
the question of labour is insoluble. Men think of repaying the
young girl's sacrifice who works day and night for the support of her
parents; who denies herself every gratification to which she might
innocently aspire, with a little more wages--or the mother's tears,
who suffers for her family, or the father's continued exertions, with
a few pieces of money. Jesus Christ did not so: he assigned to labour
a far different reward--he would give it no reward at all on earth--he
would give it eternal life. He then drew a vivid picture of the
priest's life of toil, suffering, instruction, and benediction. What
was the end of this work? It was eternal life. The greater the
humiliation, the greater the suffering, the more absolute the cutting
off of all human sources of enjoyment or requital--the more the will
of God was done, the greater the reward in heaven. To man, no matter
what his condition on earth, or the powers of his mind, to man working
with grace and inspired by grace, the kingdom of heaven, according as
he has done the will of God, will be given. This, and this alone, is
the remedy for all the ills of society; and we are under the dominion
of a sophism, because this truth is set aside.
There was rather a numerous congregation, by far the greater part
women; not many persons of education, I should imagine--yet the sermon
in tone was far beyond the reach of any but the educated.
This morning at eight I was at Mass here, a short High Mass;
there were many communicants. But I have never been in a church so
inconvenient in one respect, there were hardly any prie-dieus; the
consequence is, that people sit nearly all the time, or just bend the
knee against their chair; it is no easy matter to kneel on the floor,
so encumbered with chairs. I think there is far less reverence in the
outward demeanour of people at Paris than in the provinces.
Went to the evening service at Notre Dame des Victoires: I wished to
be present at one of the meetings of the Archiconfrérie du très-saint
Cœur de Marie. There was a large congregation, which at length
filled the church: some thirty or forty members round the altar of the
Blessed Virgin; of the rest nine-tenths at least were women of the
lower classes. Vespers were sung, the congregation joining with
remarkable unanimity. This indeed gives a particular and most pleasing
character to the service of the Archiconfrérie. Then the Abbé des
Genettes, founder of the brotherhood, a silver-haired old man, mounted
the pulpit, and spoke in the most familiar and practical manner on the
text "Beware of false prophets." His manner was in calmness the very
opposite of that of this morning's preacher. He contrasted the
disobedience to parents which now prevailed, the debauchery and
wickedness all around them, with what he had known fifty or sixty
years ago. They had been struck for this, and the rod was still
suspended over their heads; he besought them to repent. When this was
over, he read from a paper requests for the prayers of the
Archiconfrérie for so many men, so many women, parishes, bishops, &c.;
among which I heard in immediate juxtaposition "270 Protestants, 69
Jews." He likewise read a letter of thanks for their prayers, to which
was attributed the conversion of a desperate sinner, and such letters
he said he was receiving every week. He implored them to be very
fervent in their prayers for the objects named to them. There would be
in the week, he said, three especial days: Tuesday, the feast of St.
Peter _in vinculis_. He read them the account of this from the Acts.
It struck me, from the attention with which they listened to this,
that they were not accustomed to read it. He then passed to the Pope,
as successor of St. Peter, who was now, it might be said, in a sort of
moral captivity. He earnestly and repeatedly besought their prayers
for him, who was suffering at the hands of ungrateful subjects on whom
he had showered benefactions. Not that the bark of St. Peter could
ever be overwhelmed by the waves: it was secure by the divine promise;
but they might so far persecute the Pope as to gain for him the crown
of martyrdom. More than twenty times since his accession the Holy
Father had commended himself to their prayers by means of
persons coming from Rome. They should all now pray for him every day.
He should be in his confessional that day at six A.M., for several
hours; again from half-past-two till five; and from seven till nine,
in order that they might prepare themselves for the plenary indulgence
attached to this Church on Thursday. He notified likewise a fresh
religious service, for the soul of the late archbishop, on Monday, 7th
August, at Notre Dame. They should all pray earnestly for the holy
archbishop: it may be that he had washed out with his blood his sins,
and needed not their prayers; but they should pray for him. He then
descended for the benediction. The whole congregation seemed to have
one heart and one voice in the hymns which followed. This service
lasted from seven to half-past-nine, and was very interesting.
_Monday, July 31._--Went to the Père de Ravignan. He told me that,
since our last conversation, he had been looking in "Tournely," where
he found a passage on the primacy of jurisdiction, which seemed to him
quite convincing. He gave me a note for the Père Lacordaire, but my
visit was cut short by an appointment, so he begged me to come again.
Went to M. des Billiers: he attacked me again on the primacy of
jurisdiction. I said that the Ultramontane theory, when pushed to its
absolute issue, demanded the infallibility of the Pope singly; that,
indeed, this was involved in the primacy of jurisdiction; that
the Pope had exerted the supreme power of withdrawing their authority
from the French bishops when it seemed to him for the good of the
Church. He did not like to admit that the primacy of jurisdiction
involved infallibility, because infallibility of the Pope is not a
dogma. But here lies precisely the difficulty of their position. Roman
Catholics want, for the completion and impregnability of their system,
the infallibility of the single papal chair, and this is precisely
what has been ever denied by large schools among them, and is not even
now an article of faith. For that they are the universal Church, that
their dogma alone is true, that the Greek and every other communion is
heretical or schismatical, or both, all this depends on the
infallibility of the single papal chair. I said that, if they would
prove the Greek Church to be in schism, I should give up our cause.
We went to see M. Gabet, at the Pères Lazaristes, who has been ten
years in Central Tartary, or Thibet; gone through great dangers and
privations; has come back safe; and is going out again. He was with a
brother missionary, who remains at Macao till he rejoins him. His
account of Thibet is most interesting, and in many respects very
surprising. They have many Catholic practices there--such as holy
water, the religious celibate. The Lamas, or priests, are very
numerous. Two-thirds of the men of the country live in religious
celibacy; and he believes that this is a real celibacy. He and his
companions lived for six months in a great community of 5000 lamas;
they were, perhaps, of ten different nations, and spoke four different
languages. During that time they had not observed the least
impropriety among them. They are religious, pray much, and have a
complete contempt for those who do not pray. Faire l'esprit fort among
them is a sure way to be thought little of. But this religion is very
superstitious: they have not the power to choose what they should
embrace and what refuse; they have the instinct and the need of
religion very strong, but not discernment of what is true religion.
Thus, if you read to them the Gospel, they will adore Jesus Christ,
Pilate, Caiaphas, &c. Theirs is not an "incroyance raisonnée" like
Protestantism, but a cloud of superstition which obscures their sight.
He anticipated that Christianity would make large progress among them,
because of their religious spirit. There is as yet no religious
establishment in Thibet. All over Asia the ministers of religion
observe continence. The character of priest and married man is to
their notions incompatible. They look for a complete denial of self in
one who would teach them religion. There are no laws against foreign
religions in Thibet, as there are in China. A great number of the
female sex also live in continence, though not so many as of
men. I asked him how he accounted for the connexion between so many of
their usages and Catholicity. He said some were of opinion that they
had derived them from Catholicism; but as they are exceedingly
tenacious of their rites, he did not himself think this: others again
thought that Catholicism had borrowed from them. Neither of these
views was necessary. There was no trace whatever of Christian
missionaries having been among them. He thought that all the
resemblance which was to be found in their rites, customs, and belief,
might be accounted for as relics of the one true faith communicated to
all the world originally, and handed down by tradition. This faith had
been guarded in its purity among the Jews by a written law, and other
institutions: but other nations had possessed it likewise, and
retained it more or less corrupted. They had no bloody sacrifices, but
offered wine, water, corn, and especially paper. He had been well
treated on the whole: they had converted two Lamas--one of these had
lately written to him: he had sent the letter to the Society for
Propagation of the Faith at Lyons, for he believed there was no one in
France who understood the Mongolese language. That of Thibet is taken
from Sanscrit; but the continuous line above the letters which exists
in the latter language is broken at each letter in this. But the
strangest thing of all is the Grand Lama, who is at once High Priest,
King, and Divinity. They believe in the transmigration of souls, and
suppose that Buddha continually becomes incarnate for the redemption
of man. When the Grand Lama dies, they wait till a successor is made
known to them. And here M. Gabet said that, allowing for some
jugglery, it was impossible not to conclude that there was diabolic
agency at work. The present Grand Lama is a boy of ten years old; the
son of a poor woodcutter 600 leagues from the Grand Lama's residence.
The Grand Lama is discovered by a child of a few months or a year old
announcing that he is the Grand Lama who died--that his soul has
passed to him. Thereupon the most particular inquiries are made. A
commission is sent to the spot, and the utensils used by the late
Grand Lama are put among a number of others just like them; they then
demand of the infant which belonged to the Grand Lama, and he replies,
this and this was mine. Were this merely an arrangement of the men in
power, would not have chosen the son of a poor man, at a great
distance. They had not been, it is true, ocular witnesses of these
things; but from what he had heard, he could not doubt that there were
"des prestiges diaboliques." Under the Grand Lama there is a king for
the management of temporal matters, and four ministers; these conduct
matters in an interregnum. They had lived in intimacy with one
of these four ministers. The missionary in these countries must be
prepared for the most absolute self-denial--he must carry his life in
his hand. He noticed that throughout Hindostan the religious
indifference of the Europeans (save the Spaniards and Portuguese)
injured them exceedingly in the opinion of the natives. With them
religion is a first need of life: it does not matter so much what
religion it is--to pray is sufficient; but a man who does not
pray,--who has apparently no religion at all--is one of the lowest of
beings in their eyes. The English might save themselves an immense
expense if they showed themselves devoted to their religion instead of
indifferent.
M. Gabet has a very pleasing countenance: moustache and long beard,
plentifully mixed with grey hairs. He looks in vigorous health. Yet
when he went to the East he was delicate. He believes that the
constitution adapts itself to the rigours of climate. The cold of
Tartary is intense. From this high table land the rivers of Hindostan,
China, and Siberia all take their sources. They slept continually on
the earth; up to midnight, while the body was warmed with the day's
exercise, they maintained some heat, but from that time to the morning
they froze. Their only nourishment was wheat or oats, moistened with a
little tea. He is going back to Great Tartary. We had no introduction,
but nothing could exceed his readiness to hear and answer our
inquiries: and he offered to give us again any information in his
power.
We got from him the address of the young person who was cured of her
blindness in the chapel of S. Vincent on the 12th May, three days
after the former cure of the neck. We drove at once to see her at one
of the houses of the Sisters of Charity, Rue de l'Arbalète, 25. We
told the Sister who received us for what purpose we were come; she
assented to it, went out, and brought back immediately the young girl.
She is fourteen; very simple and homely in appearance, and looks the
daughter of a peasant. She said, in answer to our questions, that it
was hearing of the other cure which put it in her thoughts to go to
S. Vincent's chapel, and ask for his intercession. She was taken there
on Friday, May 12th, at 6¼ a.m., by the Sister who was then with us. I
asked her if she could see at all in going there. She replied, "Not
the least." She knelt and assisted at the Mass, but nothing took
place; but "as soon as I received our Lord, I saw perfectly." "Could
you not see at all the instant before?" "Not at all." "And the instant
after you saw perfectly?" "Yes." "The cure did not come then by
degrees?" "No; it was instantaneous." The disease called amaurosis had
subsisted from the month of September before; and every variety
of cure having been tried in vain, all treatment had been given up for
a month previously. It was accompanied with violent pains in the head.
Since the cure she has seen perfectly: she appears to be quite free
from any disease in the eyes now. While she and the Sister were gone
to the chapel, the rest united themselves at home at Mass in intention
for her cure. I said I was going to copy the account of this at the
Rue du Bac, when the Sister offered me a MS. copy, which would save me
that trouble. And, as it contained the report of the physician who had
attended her, we took it at once to get his signature, Rue Mouffetard,
94. He was out, but his wife received us, and it was settled that I
should come to-morrow, between twelve and one, when he would be at
home. The testimony of this young girl was so clear that I saw no
possibility of doubting the effect produced.
I dined with Mr. Coppinger and his two sons: since 1824, he has
resided here. The account they give of the irreligion of the
shop-keeping class, and of the wretched education which has tainted
the springs of French society, is terrible. They said by far the
greater number of men at Paris dine away from home in public places,
and often leave their wives and families to fare poorly at home, while
they themselves feast at a restaurateur's. It appears that on the
Sunday night of the last émeute the alarm at Paris was extreme:
the rebels were thought to have the best of it; and it was their known
intention to sack the quarter of the Tuileries and the Chaussée
d'Antin. They think that the present state of things cannot last: but
what is to come nobody can tell.