to the Assemblée Nationale. He said the Père Lacordaire had completely
failed in the Assembly: first he had taken his seat on the
Mountain, shaking hands with the most advanced of that party; then he
spoke for the first time, in defence of Ledru Rollin, to the
consternation of his friends: and, lastly, he seemed quite bereaved of
his usual eloquence, uttered nothing but trivialities, and was at a
loss for words. All this he conceived had deeply wounded him, and he
had resigned his seat to the great disgust of his constituents, who
had been pained first at the line he took, and then by his retirement.
He was always eccentric, and took a course of his own: he had
professed that his seat in the Assembly was incompatible with a
religious life, but he did not live here en communauté, but alone, and
was engaged with M. Ozanam and others on a journal, the Ère Nouvelle,
which was in the highest degree a political life. But he liked to be
unlike other people. Padre Ventura, in his funeral oration on
O'Connell, had ascribed R. C. Emancipation to the fear of England; so
Le Père Lacordaire lauded the Duke of Wellington and Sir R. Peel to
the skies for granting it, in his funeral oration of last February, to
the great disgust of the Irish, John O'Connell, and the rest, who were
present.--It was no easy matter to get into the Assembly: I was an
hour waiting, after sending in my name to the Comte de Montalembert,
and then the Tribune was full, and it was near another hour before I
got in. The Chamber is an immense room, in the form of a horse
shoe, at the bottom of which is the Tribune, and behind it the seat of
the President, and sundry officers; while the benches of the
representatives are ranged eleven deep, one above another, round the
other three sides. The speakers were heard very plainly, though I was
at the very furthest point from them: strangers sit in galleries at
some height above the members, on both sides and at the bottom. When
there is agitation, the sound of voices is like the roar of the sea.
But there was nothing interesting to-day. The President, M. Marrast,
said, "M. Fayet a la parole," and I heard the Bishop of Orléans speak
twice, but very briefly. The speakers were generally very rapid; there
was a great want of dignity both in their manner, and in the general
aspect of the Chamber. They sit uncovered. I listened for about two
hours, and came away congratulating myself that I was not a
legislator, specially in the National Assembly. It seemed to me a
place for the violent to succeed in, and for the good and thoughtful
to fail in. I watched the representatives going in for some time;
generally speaking, they are anything in appearance but distinguished.
The presence of an armed force on every side gives likewise an
unpleasant feeling to an Englishman.
_Saturday, August 5._--Was an hour with the Père de Ravignan this
morning--one of the pleasantest I have spent in France. Really his
kindness and charity to a complete stranger are more than I can
express; and I was quite confounded when he thanked me repeatedly for
coming to see him. I told him I had not seen any institutions for the
education of the other sex, and he gave me notes to three. He agreed
with M. Galais in thinking that France was at present that part of the
Roman Church in which there was most movement. "Italy is always the
head and heart: there are, and always have been, there many
ecclesiastics of a holy life. Still it cannot be doubted that a
certain reform is wanted there--a reform, of course, to be wrought
_by_ the Church, and not in separation from her. This is only saying
that where there are men, there is a natural tendency to degenerate.
We have passed through this reform in France." I asked whether he
thought, if liberty of teaching were granted, that the Church would
regain the mass of the population. He hesitated. A certain effect
would doubtless be produced: the mere establishment of a house of
education in every diocese would be a considerable step. It was very
difficult to know the number of practising Catholics in France. There
were not above two millions of Protestants. Out of the million of
Parisians there might be from a hundred to a hundred and fifty
thousand who communicated at Easter, men, women and children: of women
one half were Catholic; of men, perhaps, one-twentieth. Paris was one
of the worst places in France; so, again, the North generally, and the
centre, Bourges, Berri, le Nivernois. On the other hand, in Bretagne
and the South religion was much more general. He then passed to a
subject which was of peculiar interest to me, as touching the sorest
place of a parish priest. "Suarez," said he, "has a discussion on the
fewness of the saved, whether this is said with reference to the world
or to the Church; and he applies it to the world, but not to the
Church. I think he is right; this is the result of a ministry of
twenty years, in which I have necessarily had large experience--it is
the feeling, also, of our fathers generally. You know the Church
teaches that _at_trition only, combined with the Sacrament of
penitence, avails to salvation--attrition arising from motives of fear
rather than of love. _Con_trition by itself, one act of pure love by
the soul, avails even without the Sacrament, if there be a firm
purpose and desire to receive it. God has no desire for the sinner's
death. Jansenism has done great harm on this subject, by inspiring a
sort of despair which is most dangerous." I observed that purgatory was
the necessary complement of such a doctrine. "It is so," he said, "and
though God is alone the judge of the sufficiency of those acts of the
dying, yet we may hope that a great number come within the terms of
salvation, whatever purifying process they may afterwards require." I
asked if Jansenism was not well nigh extinct? "It is, in France," he
said, "but it is still strong in Piemont and in Portugal." He then
reverted to the Primacy, and spoke of the force of that superiority
which is discernible through every century in the Papal See. Not one
passed in which, even from the East, some appeal was not made to it.
M. de Maistre spoke of a "présence réelle" of the Papacy being
sensibly felt throughout the whole history of the Church. I said I
rested our defence entirely on the difference between Primacy and
Monarchy. There were two great powers in the Church of divine
origin--the Papacy and the Episcopate. In the earlier centuries the
latter had been most sensibly felt: but in modern times the former.
"With regard to discipline," he said, "I might allow that; but as to
the hierarchy, and as to dogma, the relation has always been what it
is now: the hierarchy, even the Eastern patriarchs, always were as
strictly bound to the Roman chair as the bishops now. They felt the
Pope was their superior." I said I had been unable to see that. I had
searched far and wide for evidence of it. The patriarchs of
Alexandria, in their own district, and, later, the patriarchs of
Constantinople, throughout the East, had judged as absolutely as the
Pope in the West: independence was a wrong word to use; but they
seemed to enjoy as complete a liberty of action in their sphere as the
Pope in his. He observed, with regard to Bossuet's Gallicanism, "We
have been preserved from the ultimate consequences of those principles,
but they might have conducted to a sort of Anglicanism--the two
touched each other. But," he added, "Le cœur et la prière vous
éclairera. L'étude est souvent difficultueuse; ce n'est pas que
l'esprit n'ait pas ses propres fonctions. But light comes from the
heart. I shall often think of you, and pray for you." I said I thought
of leaving Paris on Thursday, and should like to pay him a last visit
on Wednesday. "I fear I shall be ordered out of town by my physician;
but I will try and return on Wednesday." "You must not think of it," I
said; "but are you not well?" "My throat is unwell, which prevents me
from preaching." "That is just it," I said: "I should have thought
myself most fortunate if I could have heard you preach." He embraced
me at parting; and wished to call on me, which I would not hear of.
Certainly, if ever there was a heart of Christian kindness, it is that
of the Père de Ravignan.
M. des Billiers showed me a very interesting MS. letter from
S. François de Sales to Mad. Chantal. Went again to call on M.
Noirlieu, but found him out, and to the Archevêché to get a ticket for
the service of Monday, but the secretary was out. In the evening
walked along the Boulevards; there was the usual tide of men and
women, but here, as everywhere else in Paris at present, there was a
total absence of all that seemed distinguished in either sex: a
respectable equipage is rarely seen. I doubt whether I have set eyes
on a lady since I have been here.
_Sunday, Aug. 6._--Went to La Madeleine at 10, expecting a Mass, but
it was the end of a Benediction, and then to my amazement saw M.
L'Abbé Pététot in the pulpit. Presently he explained that he was
there, the curé of the parish having given in his resignation, and the
vicars general of the chapter having appointed him to take care of the
parish, until the new archbishop should nominate another curé. He
earnestly requested their prayers both for the parish under such
circumstances, and for the person to be named. In every parish the
responsibility was great, but peculiarly so there, where not only so
much good was to be done, but where the example would have a wide
influence on others. The curé is much to be compassionated with the
care of 50,000 souls. The time would allow him but a short exhortation
to them. He then read a few prayers: gave out a neuvaine of prayers
beginning on that day, and preceding the feast of the Assumption, to
be directed for the tranquillity and well-being of France, by order of
the vicars general. It was not, of course, of obligation. The Psalm
_Miserere_ should be said each day, and "Sacré Cœur de Jésus, prenez
pitié de nous. Cœur immaculé de Marie, priez pour nous." He then read
the account of the Transfiguration, and began with remarking on the
wisdom of the Church in bringing before us at stated times particular
subjects of contemplation. Thus the thought of heaven, which the
Transfiguration suggested, she called to our minds on the Second
Sunday of Lent, and on Ascension Day, and on All Saints. It was a
thought peculiarly necessary and good for us. What would our life with
all its pains and afflictions be, without heaven? How could we
understand anything that passed here below? "car la terre sans le ciel
serait la negation la plus formelle de Dieu." Without the thought of
heaven we should be exposed continually to two opposite dangers,--on
the one hand despair, on the other too great attachment to the world.
M. Pététot's delivery is particularly graceful, and has something
quite paternal and attaching in it. I thought his dress most becoming;
over the baue he wore a canon's tippet, dark, and bordered with pink,
while his stole, embroidered with gold and joined over the breast,
contrasted well with the other colours. No more consummate _bêtise_
have we committed, than the giving up the proper dress of the clergy;
and assuredly never was there a greater mistake, than to consider it a
question of superficial importance. Alas! for the day of coldness and
neglect, when the English priest changed his cassock for the layman's
coat. But I fear the outward form seldom fails to be an index of the
inward spirit; the body here is the clothing of the soul. From the
time the chasuble was relinquished, the keys were no longer used, and
both, I believe, will be restored or remain in abeyance together.
At three, a sermon at La Madeleine on humility: it was a good plain
discourse, setting it forth as the first and most necessary of
Christian graces, springing from the consciousness of our personal sin
and misery, in feeling which consisted the _precept_, and in desiring
to be treated accordingly the _counsel_ or perfection of humility.
This was followed by the Benediction, in which were the prayers for
the neuvaine.
Dined with M. Martin de Noirlieu. He said the archbishop's death had
been an époque for the Church. His funeral was a real triumphal
procession, such as France had not seen since the great revolution.
Seven hundred priests took part in it. His body was borne uncovered.
Every one, especially the military, pressed to touch it, so that the
white gloves and stockings became quite black. An intense feeling had
been excited by his sacrifice: the people had never been so well
disposed to the Church. It looked to the priests now for comfort and
support, and had confidence in them. He saw daily the effects of this
in his parish. He had been treated with more respect to-day than
he had ever known before. A movement towards religion was certainly
begun in France, which must go on; it would require time, but it would
spread wide. Catholicism was still a power in France; and, what was
very certain, it must be either this or nothing. There was no
inclination to Protestantism. Some Protestant ministers wished to
bless the trees of liberty, but the people would not hear of it. "Who
are you?" they said; "we want the priests of Pie Neuf." He said the
republic was hated and could not last: already Henri Cinq was in many
mouths. What was very remarkable in the archbishop's death was, that
he was not at all likely to have done such a thing. It was not in his
character. He had a great dread of death. At twelve o'clock on the
Sunday he had not thought of it: he then hastily dined and set off
with his vicars general to M. Cavaignac. The enthusiasm which his
presence everywhere produced was wonderful. The soldiers rendered him
martial honours by a spontaneous feeling, and the people knelt for his
blessing. That passage on foot was a triumphal march. In the midst of
his agony he said, "Eloignez vous, mes amis; je ne vous édifie pas."
M. de Noirlieu and his brother, a young priest, asked many questions
about the movement in England. The view he had taken was, that
Puseyism would lay hold of many Catholic truths which it found in
antiquity, such as the sacrifice of the Mass, but would not
admit that extension of power which was now claimed for the Pope. He
observed, however, that those who went over took the most extreme line
of Ultra-Montanism. The appointment of Hampden must have done us much
injury. I observed that among them the Church was working under such
oppression that anything but Catholicism would be destroyed by it. For
instance, in every commune the schoolmaster, generally a person
without faith, is set up by the government as an antagonist to the
priest. The attempt to make education a mere affair of the state was
thoroughly anti-christian. He agreed that it was only the "sêve
intarissable" of Catholicism, ever mounting up afresh, which kept them
alive. M. de Noirlieu has juster notions of the English Church, and
makes larger allowances in favour of our state, than any other
ecclesiastic I have met.
_Monday, August 7._--I was at Notre Dame by half past eight, for the
ceremony in honour of the archbishop. The church became gradually very
crowded. I was in time to get a seat very near the pulpit. Mass
began at ten. Most of the clergy of Paris were present; some
representatives; the Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne, a venerable old
man of 80, who officiated; the Bishop of Langres; and the Bishop of
Quimper. Just before eleven M. L'abbé Cœur began his funeral
oration, which lasted two hours and forty-three minutes. When
about half over, the poor old cardinal, who, of course, was fasting,
could hold out no longer; he was obliged to go out, and finished the
Mass in silence in the choir, while the sermon continued. Thus its
inordinate length broke the order of the service. The preacher was not
without merit, but his delivery was very bad, and he was obliged
continually to spit; an operation which would come on in the middle of
a sentence, and was once repeated six times in the most disagreeable
manner. The eloquence of Demosthenes himself could not have sustained
such an interruption; and I could not help wishing that the Père
Lacordaire, whom I saw present, had been in his place. The sermon
contained a sketch of the life and labours of the archbishop,
especially praising his simplicity, learning, courage, complete
independence of state or personal interests. That he had fully
understood the mission of the Church in these latter times, to
consummate the alliance between religion and his country. He had it
much at heart to form in the Ancienne Maison des Carmes, rendered so
illustrious by the blood of martyrs in 1792, a new school of prophets,
eminent at once for science, piety, and courage. He was a great
encourager of learning in the clergy. Their efforts in behalf of "la
liberté d'enseignement," would be the honour of the French episcopate
in the eyes of posterity. The archbishop was powerful in his
life, but much more so in his death. His death was the real apology of
the sacerdoce, which had been attacked. It could not be defended by
books; it required a martyrdom: "le martyre est un grand maître de la
raison; il ne discute pas, il montre." A hundred years of teaching
could not have proved what his blood shed in the Faubourg S. Antoine
had established. Nor was his death brought about by an "entrainement
du caractère: c'est l'apologie du sacerdoce et du Christianisme." The
preacher dwelt at great length on the "new times,"--that the Church
was essentially indifferent to all governments: it was the life of
humanity. He then gave a Christian explanation of liberty, equality,
fraternity; and finished with an address to the archbishop: they did
not believe that he needed their prayers, which, however, they would
offer for him.
This sermon, besides its inordinate length, was deficient in
connection and choice of subjects: it was far too general. Had it been
well delivered, parts would have been very interesting; but,
considering that the occasion was quite unique--the death of an
archbishop and martyr--it must be considered a failure. I was more
than five hours and a half in Notre Dame.
Went to M. des Billiers, who conducted me to the Couvent des Oiseaux,
for the Supérieure of which le Père de Ravignan had given me a
letter. The Sisters of Notre Dame were founded by the Bienheureux
Fourrier, for the purpose of educating. But their houses, though
conducted on the same principles, are independent. This is of very
great extent,--has a very handsome chapel, with oak fittings, and a
rich marble altar; a very costly library, including a large collection
of engravings of different schools, museum of natural history, and
every thing which can contribute to the ordinary education of young
ladies. Nothing that I have seen in Paris interested me more than this
house; nor was I ever more struck with the advantages which la vie de
communauté presents. There are here, between mères and sœurs, 116
religieuses, who are occupied in directing the education of 240 girls;
at least, there were this number before the events of February: there
are at present only 50; but it is just before the vacation, and a
large number have been withdrawn, either from the fears of their
parents, or their inability, since those events, to pay the pension.
They employ, besides, sixteen masters, for music, languages, &c. The
terms are 1800 francs a-year. There are one hundred pianos in the
house, and every thing that I saw was on a like scale of abundance and
richness. They attend Mass daily. We went to a Benediction in the
chapel; and after this the aumonier conducted us all over the
house,--the class-rooms, dortoirs, garden, &c. A religieuse
sleeps in each dortoir; the beds have not even curtains, so that there
is the most perfect surveillance. A pupil is never left with a master
alone, but one of the sisters is present at the lessons. No private
establishment could possibly compete with this: three millions of
francs, the almoner told us, had been laid out upon it, first and
last; every thing is done for the pupils by the religieuses, nor have
they any servants, save for the garden. They give, besides,
instruction gratuitously to a large number of poor children,
separately from their pensionnaires. The almoner told us he gave two
instructions to the upper, and two to the lower classes, every week.
He had got together an immense collection of maps and engravings, a
volume for each department of France, in order that the pupils might
have pictures of all that was described to them; for which he quoted
to me--
"Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,
Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus."
The great extent of this house, the number of the rooms, the
perfection of all its accommodations, astonished me. The number of
teachers, in comparison to the taught, is far beyond anything we have;
not less difference is there in the pains taken with their religious
instruction, and the moral surveillance exercised over them. But the
most pleasing thought of all was, that personal interest was not
the prime agent, nor an agent at all in this. These nuns acquire
nothing from their pupils personally: the house, it is true, is
necessarily supported by the pensions; but all that remains goes to
the instruction of the poor, or the decoration of the chapel, or the
advantage of future generations of scholars in the accommodations of
the house. The teachers do not get rich upon the taught, not to speak
of the poor who are instructed gratuitously at the same time. The
number of persons engaged allows of the greatest attention being paid
to any individual case requiring it, and the primum mobile is charity.
How great the superiority in all points of view to any private
establishment. Gain entering in changes the motive of all this: from a
work of love, it becomes a profession; self-sacrifice vanishes, as
personal interest appears. They have English and Irish pupils here, as
well as of other nations: even some Protestants. The garden is quite
sufficient for all purposes of recreation. The age of the pupils
ranges from ten to eighteen or twenty. Some remain till they marry.
Accompanied M. Bonnetty to Lady ---- in the evening.
_Tuesday, August 8._--My visit to the Couvent des Oiseaux yesterday
sharpened me for that to the Dames du Sacré Cœur to-day. Le Père de
Ravignan had given me a note to Madame D'Avenas. We had a great
deal of talk with her, which not unfrequently took a controversial
turn; and she seemed particularly well informed on such points. The
congregation of Sacré Cœur was only founded, she told us, in 1800;
they now have about fifty houses in France, three in Rome, others in
Piemont (lately sequestrated by the state), in the United States, one
at Acton, near London,--in all, about seventy. At eighteen they may
commence a noviciate, which lasts two years: they can then take the
vows for five years: at the end of which time, being of twenty-five
years at least, they can, if they please, take the final and
irrevocable vows. There are one hundred Sisters in this house, which
is the old palace of the Ducs de Biron, in the Rue de Varennes, having
a garden of immense extent behind it. Their scholars, before the
events of February, amounted to 160: all is done for them by the
sisters, who have no servants, except for the garden. They have
masters for the different arts: the pension, exclusive of these
masters, is 1000 francs. The Supérieure Générale of all these seventy
houses resides here. They are founded uniquely for education. Some of
the class-rooms are very magnificent--the old reception rooms of the
palace. But, generally speaking, the house is not equal in its extent
or fitting up to Les Oiseaux; but the garden is far more extensive.
Madame D'Avenas walked over it with us; and amid its groves one
can hardly believe that one is in Paris. Both Madame D'Avenas and M.
des Billiers attacked me on the state of separation of the English
Church, and the schism it had thereby incurred: this, I said, depended
on the degree to which the Papal claim is true.
Called on M. ----, who gave me a deplorable account of the state of
things here: that the chiefs of the party for the République
Rouge--Louis Blanc, Caussidiere, and Ledru Rollin--were supported by
General Cavaignac secretly: that the rapport just given to the
Assemblée had re-awakened the most furious passions, and that a fresh
insurrection might break out at any time.
In the evening called to thank the bishop of Langres for the service
he has been to me in procuring for me the company of M. des Billiers,
who, together with M. Farel, his Vicaire Général, returned with me and
talked some time.