 
## **Contents**

Title page

Copy right

Foreword

About the texts

Abbreviations used

I MISSION DOCUMENTS

DOCUMENT I: REPORT TO THE S.C.OF PROPAGANDA See Introductory Note (I) preceding this Document.

DOCUMENT 2: MY THOUGHTS ON THE MISSIONS

DOCUMENT 3: INDIA: A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION

II FOUNDATION DOCUMENTS

Section I: Towards a New missionary Engagement:

Section II: The Society of African Missions

III BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY

EPILOGUE: THE TRIUMPH OF FAILURE

Notes
MARION BRESILLAC

Mission and Foundation

Documents

Mediaspaul – Paris 1986
French Edition prepared by Jean BONFILS s.m.a.

with the collaboration of Noel DOUAU s.m.a.

Translated into English by Bob HALES s.m.a.

The electronic book prepared with the kind assistance of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, Srs. Rani, Rita, Selvi and Shanti.

(p 6)

Cum permissu Superiorum

Patrick J.Harrington s.m.a.

Superieur general

Rome, 6 janvier, Epiphanie 1985

French edition prepared by Jean Bonfils s.m.a.,

With the collaboration of Noel Douau s.m.a.

Translated into English by Bob Hales s.m.a.

© Médiaspaul 1986

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(p 9)

Foreword

This book is primarily meant for the members of the SMA (Society of African Missions) and for historians of the Church's Mission. It presents some of Bishop de Marion Brésillac writings which have never been published before in their exact original form. A brief portrait of this missionary bishop - a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society - is required before going on to writings which express the hopes and crosses of his life; for he is still not as well known as he should be.

Melchior Marie Joseph de Marion Brésillac was a man from the South of France, Languedoc, born at Castelnaudary on the 2nd December 1813. The name Brésilhac designates the village of Razès, home of his ancestors. The Marion side of the family were leading citizens of Fanjeaux, cradle of the Dominican Order. His father, Gaston, having lost all his fortune in the French Revolution, took on the post of Engineer and Superintendent of the Canal du Midi (South). It was he who personally saw to the early education of his son, at Brésilhac, Fanjeaux, and Lasserre de Prouilles. Melchior had just two years at school in a minor seminary (Carcassonne) and four in the major seminary. He was ordained a priest on 22nd December 1838 and appointed curate at St. Michel's Castelnaudary.

In 1841 he left his family and homeland forever, to join the Paris Foreign Missions seminary. He opted for that particular Institute because, as he said, "I felt no attraction for the kind of religious life that one is subjected to in almost all the Congregations. The Foreign Missions Society seemed to go straight for the objective I had in mind. It must have been its name that attracted and decided me, rather than its constitutions, which I hardly knew at all. »

On the 12th April 1842 he went on board ship for India, where he was to remain until 14th January 1854. There, his situation was (p 10) not at all comfortable, either before or after he became a bishop. His episcopal motto was "Lumen Rectis" and his upright - even scrupulous - conscience could not go along with certain pastoral practices there, which were in his view more or less dubious. His determined insistences on what were to him fundamental missionary options - for example his promotion of a native Indian clergy and episcopate - did not exactly gain him universal popularity. He eventually offered his resignation. It was refused. He felt obliged to insist. It was finally accepted by Pope Pius IX on 18th March 1855.

By January 1856 he was volunteering to try a new missionary initiative in Dahomey (now Republique Populaire du Benin). Rome urged him to found a new Institute and confided a specific territory to him: the present Republics of Liberia and Sierra Leone and two-thirds of the present Republic of Guinea. He landed at Freetown on the 14th May 1859, only to die of yellow fever on the 25th June. Three days later, the last survivor of his five man team of missionary pioneers was to follow him to the grave.

Obviously, several of the writings presented in this book will presuppose some knowledge of special Indian problems, notably the Malabar Rites. The brief notes we give here can merely serve to indicate and situate the problems.

Marion Brésillac was a son of the Paris Foreign Missions. Everything that concerns or criticises that Institute has been submitted before publication to Fr. Raymond Rossignol,Vicar General, and Fr. Jèan Verinaud, Archivist, of that Society. To these two experts on Indian matters must go our heartfelt thanks for their fraternal contributions, and for the critical suggestions made to us, which we have kept in their entirety.

Finally, what we here offer are historic sources. In these closing years of the 20th century the reader can draw on them for a deeper understanding of his own ecclesial mission. The Church's Mission still presents new challenges to the missionary's imagination and action; and it still reveals its power to mobilise youthful enthusiasm in Europe and elsewhere. For the Mission of the Church is for all times: universal and catholic.

Jean BONFILS s.m.a.
(p 11)

About the texts

Needless to say, these texts will not always be an easy read. The style is not of our present age (I). Neither is the writer's social or religious culture.

The original text has at all times been scrupulously followed. Which was not always the case with Fr Le Gallen when, in 1910, he published a part of the manuscript" Memoirs of Twelve Years on the Missions", some pages of the Diary, and parts of Marion Brésillac's correspondence. So we do not as a rule refer to Le Gallen, even when quoting texts already published by him in whole or in part. We always prefer the original, merely touching up the punctuation, sometimes liberally, for easier reading.

In the document DM for example, a few titles and subtitles would have greatly improved the readability of the text, which is difficult in its subject and not very succinct in its formulation. Nevertheless we decided to leave the text just as it stands, so as to respect the thinking of the writer; also because it is sometimes difficult to add subtitles without artificial slicing. The same goes for DM (2).

For Indian proper names we generally keep to the writer's spelling, except for well-known places, where we use the present-day forms.

The Sacred Congregation formerly called "de Propaganda Fide" is nowa-days "for the Evangelisation of Peoples" or "for the Propagation of the Faith". We mostly use, in Latin or French, the former title, which was that of the period.
(p 12)

Abbreviations used

A.A.S. Act Apostolic Sedis.

A.M.A. S.M.A. Archives, Rome.

A.M.E.P. Paris Foreign Missions Archives.

A.P.F. Archives of the S.C. de Propaganda Fide, Rome.

A.P.F.L. Archives of the work of Propagation of the Faith, Lyons

D.T.C. Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique.

E.M.A. Echo des Missions Africaines, Lyon.

F.A. Frères d' Armes, SMA Lyons magazine.

F.D. Foundation Document (followed by No.)

M.D. Mission Document (followed by No.)

J.B. J. Bonfils "L'reuvre de Mgr de Marion Brésillac en faveur du clergé local dans les Missions de l'Inde au XIX' siècle", Lyon 1958.

L.G. Le Gallen, "Vie de Mgr de Marion Brésillac d'après ses Mémoires", Lyon 1910.

M.B. Mgr de Marion Brésillac, notice biographique, doctrine missionnaire, textes; Paris, Le Cerf 1962.

N.D.A. Notre Dame des Apôtres Sisters' Archives, Rome.,

S.C.P.F. Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide Or

S.C. Sacred Congregation.

In the footnotes, most quotations are translations of the original French (or Latin) from the above sources. References are also to these originals.
(p 13)

I MISSION DOCUMENTS

Under this title we present three documents: I. the Report from Bishop de Marion Bresillac to the S.C. of Propaganda Fide dated the 24th June 1854; 2. a document entitled "My Thoughts on the Missions" probably written - in rough draft only - between April and October 1855, and 3. a similarly unfinished document entitled" India: a Brief Account of the State of Religion there".

These texts belong to the Indian period; they gather the fruits of that experience, mostly bitter: the trials, the questionings, the missionary reflec-tions, necessarily worked out in the cultural and ecclesial situation of that time. The realities of this situation had to be faced daily by every missionary in the India of that mid-19th century: the Malabar Rites, the Indian clergy, the position of the communities of Syro-Chaldaean Rite on the West Coast, the interference of political jurisdictions in Church government, etc. And also (already!) the mere presence of foreign missionaries in a country with such a strong cultural and religious tradition of its own.

No missionary could escape from that context. Some of them, like Marion Brésillac, with high pastoral responsibilities, were able to face it with clear thinking but not without sufferings. Marion Brésillac, for his pan, came to conclude in conscience that he must resign. The responsibility had become too heavy to carry in that rather mind-blowing pastoral foul-up. Of which the first document, especially, gives us some idea. In this document we have added just four titles, one for each main part.

(p 15)

Introductory Notes to Document I:

Report to the S.C.

This Report is harder to follow and less immediately interesting than the other writings in this book. Notes 1-3 are very useful/or understanding the Report. So I placed them all together here, instead of leaving them chopped up at the foot of the opening pages. They are well written (though in small print) and I advise you to read them. B.H.

(I) When Mgr de Brésillac requested authorisation to go to Rome, it was not for the purpose of presenting a Report on the Indian problems, but only to explain his written requests to be relieved of his Vicariate Apostolic. So how did he come to write this Report? Let us turn to his own account of his first audience with Pius IX:

"While I was there alone, he spoke of the missions, in a not very satisfied way. In particular about those of India, especially Bombay and the Carme-lites - more unfortunate, I think, than culpable; though they cannot be excused for leaving those missions so long without sufficient missionaries; and several individual missionaries must be culpable for not having worked hard enough at the languages, especially Syriac. He hardly spoke at all about our own missions. He complained that, among the missionaries, there were some who were not good. To this I replied that I didn't know the missionaries of other congregations well enough to say anything about that. But I could assure him that in our congregation there was not one bad missionary in a hundred. Not bad, I said, in the sense of bad priests, driven by ambition, greed and other capital sins. But I admitted that there were some who arrived on the missions with an adventurous, reckless spirit (esprit exalté). Many, especially, had not had sufficient preparation before leaving. So that, although they had a lot of talent, plenty of true zeal, they lacked those virtues which can only be acquired through specific education for one's state in life. This explanation did not seem displeasing to him.

He dropped a hint that he had heard I wasn't all that well in with the Congregation. I replied that I liked it very much but I thought there was room for improvement, for example in the training of aspirants etc.... "And", I went on, "what pains me above all is that I am convinced there is great confusion in the work of the missions, without my having any hope of being able to help in improving the state of things there. And that is why I have asked to resign, and why I am still asking Your Holiness".

"But that's a long time you have been on the missions. You must let us know in writing what you think. (Our italics - Ed.). Then we shall see". Evidently this was hinted by Mgr Barnabo. "That's what Mgr Barnabo is asking of me", I told him. "But I must say I feel reluctant. It runs the risk of hurting the feelings of people that one likes and even respects, and without any great usefulness. "But what does it matter to you, since you are asking to resign? Say out what you think, for the glory of God, without caring what men may say. Anyway, the Sacred Congregation will not publish your reports. If you like, (p 16) You can give them directly to myself'. "I have no reason", I replied, "to mistrust the Sacred Congregation. And, thank God, I don't put too much store on what men will say. Only I would not like to turn them against me for no good purpose. But if Your Holiness orders me to write something I will do it in conscience, without wanting to hurt anyone and without fearing their judg-ments". "Well, that's it. Do it", he told me.

"Then, Holy Father", I said, "allow me to explain Mgr Barnabo's request. And if it is also yours, I will have to obey". I then took out of my port-folio a little note, which I read to him like this: "Most Holy Father, Mgr Barnabo, the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, desires that I inform the S.C. in writing what I think about: 1° the special question of the Malabar Rites; 2° everything touching the question of the missions in India; 3° Catholic missions in general; 4° the present state of our pious Congregation of Foreign Missions, and what would have to be done to enable it to produce all the potential good which it has in it but which, in my view, cannot develop because of accidental faults blocking it". - I admit, Most Holy Father that I have a lot of misgivings about treating these questions in detail, because of the persuasion that I could not produce a work that would come to any happy result. I will, however; do whatever Your Holiness will order me". "Do it", he replied. The conference being finished, we exchanged only a few vague bits of small-talk, and I ended by going on my knees and asking him for a special blessing for ... "

Having read this account of the circumstances which caused Bishop de Brésillac to write a Report, we may well be surprised to learn that, sometime later, Mgr Barnabo wrote to Fr Barran, superior of the Foreign Missions Seminary, saying that neither the Holy Father nor himself had ordered Mgr de Brésillac to write this Report; just that they had gladly given him permission  Especially when we know that, on 21st December 1850, Mgr Barnabo had written to Mgr de Brésillac: "It would be very useful if Your Lordship added, specifically, what - in the Rules of the Society of Foreign Missions, or the Seminary, or the methods of apostolate - seem to him not so good and to be reformed; so that we can examine that also".

References of the present Report : APF Congressi, Indie Orientali, 1853 - 1854, p. 1118 s.; 1851-1852, p. 479 s. (for the letter of 12 June 1851); 1853-1854, p. 1143 (for the letter of 12 January 1852). Complete and almost identical copies are in AMA 2F II, p. 209 s., 317 S., 361 s., 425 s., 475.

(I bis) I use "Mission(s)" for definite jurisdictions (e.g. a Vicariate Apos-tolic) and "missions" for vaguer places. - tr.

(2) Some explanations about the resignation had better be given at this point.

a. First of all, the time sequence: The first document about it is dated 25th October 1849. It is a letter addressed to Fr Tesson, Director at the Paris (p 17)Seminary with special responsibility for India; the letter to be forwarded to the S.C of Propaganda. Marion Brésillac left the Directors free not to forward the letter to Rome if they judged it better not to do so. And that is what happened (a). This letter brought the warmest encouragements to Marion Brésillac from the Paris Directors'(b).

a) AMA 2F 6, p. 29 s. b) AMA 2F 8, p. 346 s., 348 s., 350 s.

The second document is dated 16th September 1850 and is addressed directly to the S.C. of Propaganda. It reminds the S.C. of the letter sent to Paris a year earlier and it renews his offer of resignation, with even greater insistence". The S.C. replied by asking for a more detailed account of the abuses mentioned by Marion Brésillac but making no allusion to his offer of resignation'(b). So, on 24th March 1851, on a letter about a dividing-up of territory, Marion Brésillac came back to the issue, emphasising among other things that his conscience could not rest secure without an intervention by the Holy See to put the Indian situation in order.

a) APF, congressi, Indie Orientali, 1851-1852, p. 363 s.; and AMA 2F I, p. 166 s.

b) AMA 2F 13, p. 12 s. APF congressi, Indie Orient. 1851-1852, p. 372 s. and AMA 2F 6, p. 365 s.

The third letter exclusively about his resignation is of the 20th April 1852 (a). From this date he no longer offers it, but demands it. "For two years and more", he writes, "My soul is overwhelmed, tormented, and suffering intolerably". The S.C. replied on 13th July 1852 that in such a grave matter it was necessary to consult the Paris Seminary Directors. While waiting, he must "not abandon the flock confided to him,,(b). Another reply, longer and giving more reasons, after consultation with the Paris Seminary, was sent to him on 13th September 1852(c). The refusal to accept his resignation was again very clear.

a) APF id. p. 920 s. and AMA 2F 6, p. 424 s.

b) AMA 2F 13, p. r8. c) AMA 2F I3, p. r3.

On 1st November 1852 Marion Brésillac insists once again. And, in the case of another refusal by the S.C., he requests permission to go to Rome to explain the matter in person to the Holy See (a). In June 1853 Fr Barran, then Superior of the Paris Seminary, lets him know that this permission has been granted. But Marion Brésillac, dissatisfied that no reply has been given to his demand to resign, renews his representations on the 10th September 1853 (b). He indicates to the S.C. that it can reply to him along his route to Rome, either at Bombay or at Alexandria. The S.C. kept mute, and Marion Brésillac had to continue on to Rome.

a) AMA 2F 7 v. p. 4. b) AMA 2F 7 verso p. 44.

The Report of 24th June r854 officially renews his demand. But the Holy See was not very favourably impressed by this Report, and Marion Brésillac had to leave Rome without a definite answer. On 14th December 1854 he returned to the issue with Rome(a), Mgr Barnabo, on the 13th January 1855, no longer replies with a total refusal, but wishes to make sure that the retired bishop would have the means to live a suitable life(b). On the 10th February 1855 the demand is repeated (c), and Mgr Barnabo replies that the Pope does not reject it but would want first to provide for the apostolic administration of the Vicariate of Coimbatore(d). At last, on 18th March 1855, in an audience granted to Mgr Barnabo, (p 18) Pius IX accepted the resignation of Bishop de Brésillac. And a letter of the 27th March 1855 brings him this happy news (e).

a) AMA 2F II, P.463. b) AMA 2F 13, p. 21. c) AMA 2F II,

p. 447 s. d) AMA 2F 13, p. 23. e) AMA 2F 13, p. 24·

b. Now to the reasons for the resignation. Going through the above correspon-dence, one is not always able to discern these reasons in their order of importance. Fortunately a letter from Marion Brésillac to Mgr Bonnand, dated 31st April 1853, informs us perfectly on this point (a),

The moral difficulties about tolerating the Malabar Rites, and his own subjective incapability of standing the dilemmas of conscience posed by this toleration any longer, are indicated as the compelling reason (b). The other reasons are impelling rather than compelling. Considered in isolation, "they would not tell me I ought to resign. Perhaps they might tell me I could". (Our italics. - Ed.). The present Report includes all these reasons, which can be summed up as follows:

\- a certain understanding of local clergy, its formation, its future, its promotion; this understanding opposed him to the Madurai Jesuits and some Foreign Missions confreres;

\- "the impossibility", in his view, "of taking even the first step towards unity and cohesion of action within the Society of Foreign Missions"(c), and a personal view of the structure of the Society;

\- fairly difficult personal relations with his Coimbatore missionaries and those of some other neighbouring missions;

\- conflicts of jurisdiction with the Vicar Apostolic of Madras, understandable in the general confusion of ecclesiastical administration in India at the time.

a) AMA 2F 7, p. 40 S; also a letter of 15 August, p. 35 s.

b) AMA 2F I I, p. 450, confirmed by 2F 3, p. 76-77.

c) AMA 2F 7, p. 43·

Finally, in two letters of 17th April 1855 written by Marion Brésillac to Mgrs Bonnand and Charbonnaux, there is an unambiguous passage on the exact reasons for the resignation : "While I would like as much and even more toleration than we have had for the customs of the Indians, my conscience absolutely refuses to go on in the way I have been proceeding, as long as the Holy See will not declare that it is perfectly informed about all that is being practiced, and that this practice is tolerable. That is the real cause of my resignation" (a).

Mgr Bonnand in a letter of 16th September 1853 to Marion Brésillac was already expressing his disappointment: "Mgr Luquet has sent in his resigna-tion ... You are going to resign. And from all this it will result that the men who should have been the strongest pillars of our congregation will be almost the first to fall. The congregation, and Religion in the pagan countries, wi11 be sadly deprived of the work and help of eminent young prelates who could have rendered them invaluable services, if only they had decided "non plus sapere quam oportet sapere, sed sapere ad sobrietatem" (b). (Not to exaggerate his real importance. Rom 12.3. JB.)

a) AMA 2F II, p. 450 (copy). b) AMA 2F 8, p. 694·

(3) "The history of all that happened ..." A mere note can only give a glimpse of this highly complex matter: all the problems raised in the Missions (p 19) of Southern India about cultural and religious practices. (And in Hinduism as in all the other great Asiatic religions, it is practically impossible to separate religion and culture). These practices were called the "Malabar Rites". It was a question of deciding, among those rights, which ones had to be suppressed and which ones could be "tolerated", at least temporarily, while getting ready to abolish them later on. The question was stated at that time in terms of tolerability or not. Today we would put it in terms of inculturation, which is very different because more positive. At that time, the very most they could talk of was "accommodation" of Christian practices to Indian customs.

It is to Robert de Nobili, a Jesuit missionary who landed at Goa in 1605, that this idea of accommodation is traced back. He reckoned that Christianity could never penetrate India unless it got rid of the European style given to it by Portuguese colonisation, and unless it accommodated itself to the customs, the ideas, and even the prejudices of the country. On the coast, Christianity had spread among the no-caste people, formerly called pareas or pariahs, untou-chables, and later rechristened by Mahatma Gandhi as "harijan", children of God. The 17th-century missionary's inevitable contacts with these people debarred him almost absolutely from associating with the other castes. The resulting obstacles to evangelisation are obvious. On the coast, this difficulty had gradually diminished, because the Portuguese missionaries had adopted the policy of deculturising the converts; these just had to adopt the Europeans' way of life. It was not the same in the interior when de Nobili got there. The "real" natives, aware of what was happening on the coast, remained impene-trable. De Nobili resolved to join with the caste of the Brahmins, who enjoyed a privileged position in Indian society. Out of the various states of life open to a Brahmin, he chose that of "sanyassi" or voluntary penitent, living with a vow of celibacy and all kinds of restrictions about food, practicing a life of retreat and meditation. By this way of life, capable of gaining the attention and respect of the Brahmins, and also of the other castes, he could see a real chance for the evangelisation of India.

Various accusations were made against de Nobili at Rome, and de Nobili sent a Memoir justifying his approach(a). On 31st January 1623 Gregory XV, in the Bull "Romanae Sedis Antistes", pronounced judgment on the contro-versy; in it, he himself declared the judgment provisional, He allowed some tolerations, but with many precautions around them, And he formally condemned the whole spirit of Caste. What de Nobili and his companions saw in the Bull was mainly an approval of their methods. Conversions multiplied. For the evangelisation of the lower castes, de Nobili had plans for a special category of missionaries, the "pandara". Provided they followed certain precautions, these could communicate with pariahs without thereby being rejected by the higher castes. Obviously, this division of the missionaries into two categories could have led to some difficulties.

a) J. Bertrand, Madurai Mission, T. II., p. 151 ss. and P. Dahmen, A Jesuit Brahmin, p. 43.

During me first half of the 17th century, opposition to de Nobili came mostly from his fellow Jesuits. Towards the end of the century the French Capuchins at Pondicherry reported abuses, real or alleged, in the Jesuit mission of Madurai. Rome sent out the Patriarch of Antioch, Bishop (later Cardinal) Maillard de Tournon. He had no special responsibility for India but was to go (p 20) to China to settle the question of the Chinese Rites. De Toumon arrived at Pondichery on the 6th November 1703 and left in July 1704, after signing a Decree which Benedict XIV was to confirm substantially forty years later.

De Tournon's decree of 23rd June 1704 expressly covers the Missions of Madurai, Mysore and Karnat, evangelised by Portuguese and French Jesuits. Without going into detail, we can say it was an extremely severe blow to de Nobili's method, or at least to certain abuses deriving from it. And to add to the discouragement of the missionaries, it was salted with censures and penalties against offenders. The Jesuits made repeated efforts to get de Tournon to suspend the censures for three years. This he did, clearly but only verbally, before he left for China.

The Rites "palaver" was not finished, for all that. In some Indian circles they told of a "word" spoken by Clement IX in 1707 (oraculum vivae vocis) during a private audience granted to Fr. Boucher S.J., superior of the Karnat Mission. It was essentially as follows: "We want this decree (de Tournon's) observed in all things, except where the missionaries, in their conscience and before God, will judge that it is an obstacle to the good of souls and to the greater glory of God." This saying, brought to the knowledge of the missionaries and the Christians, was more often than not taken as a pure and simple retreat from the discredited Decree. Hence a reaction from Clement IX in the Brief "Non sine gravi" of 17th September 1712 maintaining the prescriptions of de Tournon.

Meanwhile in Rome the Malabar Rites case continued to be investigated. It was given to Prosper Lambertini, the future Benedict XIV, to deal with. In 1734 Clement XII, in the Brief "Compertum", replied to some practical problems put to him. He softened certain points of de Tournon's decree and explained others. He ended up by begging for an end to all these controversies. But on the spot, no chance of that. New denunciations kept arriving at Rome and brought Clement XII to promulgate the Brief "Concredita Nobis" on 13th May 1739. In it he renewed the previous ordinances and demanded complete obedience from the missionaries under pain of censures. Further-more, as soon as the Brief arrived, all missionaries must take an Oath to carry out the pontifical decrees on all points. Under the same penalties, any new missionary in the territories was forbidden to exercise any act of ministry without having taken the oath.

On the 12th September 1744 Benedict XIV signed the Constitution "Omnium Sollicitudinem" which tempered and explained some of the previous decisions but rigorously maintained the censures and the Oath. So, forty years later, it was practically back to square one: de Tournon's decisions. The application of "Omnium Sollicitudinem" met with some resistance in India. By the middle of the 19th century things were as described by Bishop de Brésillac in the present Report, except for a few critical details which we will point out when we come to them.

On the Malabar Rites, see: D.T.C. art. Malabar (rites), E. Amann, col. 1704-1745 and the bibliography there. Also: A. Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, T. I., p. XCIX to CXXVIII, Introduction.
(p 21)

DOCUMENT I: REPORT TO THE S.C.OF PROPAGANDA

24th June 1854

Most Eminent Lords,

Forced by obedience to treat the grave questions that will follow, I first of all feel the need of opening my mind and heart entirely to Your Eminences.

It is nearly fourteen years that I have worked exclusively on the missions; and it seems to me that the Lord still preserves in my heart all the same love which, by his grace, he put there from the start, for this admirable work. Nevertheless, in spite of my deep attachment to the missions, I have believed it my duty to offer my resignation as Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore, where I was sent as Bishop in 1846. (Appointed 1845, ordained 1846).

This painful obligation has been imposed on me by the deep personal conviction that, as head of the Mission (I bis) and as one of the superiors of the pious congregation of the Foreign Missions, I was forced (especially because of the indispensable relations existing between my own Mission and the neighbou-ring ones) to take part in actions and in a type of administration which seem to me disastrous for the Work, the work to which I have, by the grace of God, dedicated myself without reservation, (p 22) but which it is impossible for me to continue like this with peace of conscience.

Before taking such a grave decision, I had to try all means in my power to see if there was not some possible way to correct a situation which, in my view, is a cause of great evils on the missions (I bis). But the nature of the difficulties (which I will set out later) will prove to you that there was nothing I could do, on my own. It would have needed agreement with at least the principal evangelising workers in India about the matters concerning the Indian missions, and agreement with the other Vicars Apostolic of the Society of Foreign Missions on other questions. For that, I wrote many letters and I spoke out my thoughts many times, sometimes to confreres of my own Society, sometimes to missionaries belonging to other groups, religious and secular. But although I had the consolation (I must admit) of meeting complete approval from some and lively encouragement from others, their approvals and encourage-ments have remained without practical result. And, on the other hand, certain people considered me a dangerous subversive and even an adversary. They felt bound to work to make my efforts useless; and maybe they were right; God knows. But they weren't able to destroy my own conviction, which remains solid, and even stronger than ever.

Nothing was left for me but the last resort, of turning to the Holy See. This I did in letters to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, which is to us the honoured representative of the Head of the Holy Church. But of course the Sacred Congrega-tion, in its prudent wisdom, could not - and ought not listen to me alone. Indeed I myself, in my letters, begged them to get information from other evangelising workers so that, all things being fully known and weighed, a final declaration could be made: either that we were on the right track or that we must modify our action, taking every means to do so with all possible prudence, calm and agreement. But now it appears that the Sacred Congregation has received reports that fail to agree – not (p 23) only about the interpretation of the facts but even about the facts themselves.

Meanwhile it was impossible for me to doubt the evidence of my own eyes. And the attitudes and dispositions prevailing seemed to be such as to make it difficult for me to continue dealing with these questions without stirring up dangerous disputes. I believed it was better simply to resign.

You did not deign to accept that resignation, Most Eminent Lords, and I continued to exercise my ministry in the hope that was given me that we would finally get out of the state of confusion rampant on the missions. But all I got was the pain of seeing the evils growing worse day by day. Evils which, in my view, are doubly deplorable: not only do they produce regret-table results; they also prevent a great deal of possible good, for which we will also have to render an account to God.

We often reproach ourselves bitterly for the evil we do, but rarely for the obstacles which we oppose to the good. It is true that individual workers are more excusable on the latter point. But truly I do not know if those in charge of a Work on which the salvation of so many souls depends, have any less reason to be terrified of the second than of the first responsibility.

Things being so, and the Sacred Congregation being silent since October 1851, I thought it my duty to renew my offer of resignation, asking to come to Rome to explain myself in detail to Your Eminences, in the case that my resignation was not accepted.

That, Most Eminent Lords, is the chain of events which has brought me here, without much hope - I will say it in all the simplicity of my heart - without any great hope that I will be able to demonstrate adequately what the Lord seems to have made so self-evident to my own mind.

Who am I, indeed, to conquer the opposition which I will necessarily meet on several points, opposition from better men than me, men who also desire the good, men who merit your confidence more than I do!

(p 24)

I am nevertheless convinced that the great majority of the missionaries to whom God has given the zeal for our work and love for the missions - if only we could all get together and talk things out - would fall into agreement on almost all the essential points. This thought, which is perhaps presuming too much, comes from a fact which I have noticed all my life: I have nearly always found myself in accord with intelligent people after I had a chance to discuss face-to-face with them; whereas, before that, they used to suspect my opinions, and even sometimes used to look on me as their adversary. They came to recognise that I was the adversary only of certain opinions and prejudices of birth, education or nationality, views arrived at by force of circums-tances which people get into without thinking too deeply about them. Sometimes, it is true, it took a long and painful time before they agreed with me. But many of them ended up more zealous than myself for the truth which had dawned on them. I could cite some remarkable examples of these.

Distance, unhappily, and the difficulty (sometimes the impos-sibility) of even corresponding by letter on these questions - almost always very complex - have rendered my efforts nearly useless up to now. Indeed I am lucky when, by my awkwardness or other faults, I haven't given the impression of being reckless!

And now the evangelising workers [who], like me, [are concerned] by the questions I am about to discuss with you, are far away. And perhaps, in these reports where I will be obliged to say out all that I think, I may have to hurt their feelings and Society interests, the esprit-de-corps or group pride to which a good man is always more attached than to his own personal interests and pride. Which often puts a fatal blind-fold over the eyes of even the most impartial intelligence.

Let me confess now, Most Eminent Lords, my fear of having to fight against such adversaries. It has made me strongly desire that the Holy Father would just simply accept my resignation.(p 25)And I find it hard to believe, even now, that this would not have been the best solution.

In a fight against bad men, the very power and numbers of the adversaries will only redouble one's courage. But to fight against good men, is that possible? Fights like that, I do not want. And to prove it, in spite of my desire to give the last breath of my life to the missions, I have asked to withdraw from the scene, with nothing left for me but, night and day, to raise my hands and eyes to heaven, to Him from whom all blessings flow, that he might one day send an Apostle, a real Apostle, to the churches on the missions, those communities which are sometimes desolate, often languishing, nearly always frustrated and blocked from growing in evangelical life. And still today, I do not want a fight like that; and to prove it, I do not take back my offer of resignation. I am ready to take myself off quietly to any place required, if it is considered useful to the one and only Cause that I aim to serve.

*

But perhaps God may grant that it will be seen and unders-tood that this is no fight that I am engaging in, but a straight and charitable discussion, one which seems indispensable if we are ever to shake off the dazed condition we have got into, if we are to stop moving in self-contradictory ways which render our efforts counter-productive instead of all being united against the common enemy, if we are ever to get out from the complicated and un-natural administration that is blocking the progress of Christianity in scores of missions - and which will continue to block it unless there is a first-class miracle of the kind and magnitude that God has not been pleased to operate since He established the apostolic ministry in order to found and perpe-tuate the first churches. For truly, what astonishes me when I (p 26) really look at what is going on in many countries, what amazes me is not the fact that Christianity isn't flourishing; it is the fact that there is any trace of Christianity left in those places at all.

Nevertheless, even this charitable discussion, I would have preferred to avoid, out of fear (I repeat) that it may turn into mere disputes, and so become useless and dangerous.

*

Meanwhile, on my arrival in Rome, Mgr Barnabo, to whom I went first, wouldn't hear of an immediate resignation. The prelate asked me to, first of all, set out in writing to the Sacred Congregation what I think about:

I. the special question of the Malabar Rites

2. The other problems now causing concern on the Indian missions

3. Catholic missions in general

4. The present state of our pious Congregation of Foreign Missions, and what would have to be done to enable it to produce all the potential good which it has in it but which, in my view, cannot develop because of accidental defects now blocking it

For the reasons mentioned above, I could not see my way to meeting Mgr. Barnabo's request immediately. I still had hopes that the Holy Father, on hearing the oral explanations I would give him, would accept my resignation. Unfortunately for me, the Holy Father was of the same opinion as Mgr.Barnabo. His Holiness expressed the desire that I should set out my thinking on all those points; for if they could be clearly settled, there would then be no continuing reasons for my abandoning the work which I love with all my soul, work which my conscience and nothing else is obliging me to leave, because of the way I am personally caught by the moral difficulties it presents.

The wishes of the Holy Father were for me like a formal command. So I commence this work, imploring first the necessary lights and graces from Above, and then the benevo-lence of the Sacred Congregation. If God blesses this work, may (p 27) he be praised now and glorified forever. I have confidence that I want only to do good, without any ulterior motive, content if the time has now come for giving my own poor support to any progress that can be brought about in the vast countries of the missions.

*

So vast a subject, Most Eminent Lords, could not, I think, be treated all at once or in a single Report. And if Your Eminences feel that my work can be of real use, you will, I hope, share my opinion that it must be preceded by exact research into the facts. About the Malabar Rites, for example, it appears, as I already said, that in the various replies to its circular of II October 1851, the Sacred Congregation has perceived some contradictions even in the reporting of the facts. I like to think that these contradictions are more apparent than real. But in any case, the Sacred Congregation does not seem to have exactly decided on the weight to be given to what I have written formerly on this subject. And the first requirement, it seems to [me, is that] everyone should be perfectly clear about the objective facts of the matter to be treated.

In this first work, therefore, I will limit myself to showing the necessity we face, at this point in time, of going into the four points indicated by Mgr. Barnabo, and of resolving certain questions related to them. Secondly I will state what seem to me the right methods for getting an exact knowledge of the facts which must form the basis for any serious discussion. I will proceed like that for each of the four points. Afterwards, if the conclusions which follow are accepted by Your Eminences, this work will become the prelude to subsequent Reports, in the light of a clearer view of the facts themselves, and above all in the Light that the Holy Spirit will be pleased to give us, so as to see our way clearly through the confused affairs of the missions.

So now, let us come first to the Rites, ceremonies and customs prevailing in the Indian missions.

(p 28)

I THE MALABAR RITES

I will not go back over the history of all that happened before and after the arrival of Cardinal de Tournon in India, nor what happened before and after Benedict XIV's Constitution Omnium Sollicitudinem. These miserable troubles are already too well known to everyone who has had anything at all to do with the missions of China and India. What is less well known, perhaps, is the real cause of so much wrangling and shouting, so much worry and constraint in these missions, so many scandals (mostly involuntary, no doubt, but their deplo-rable effects can never be repaired), so many souls lost and still being lost every day. And meanwhile it is far from certain that we will ever arrive, in those countries, at the normal healthy way of propagating the Gospel and consolidating the Faith.

The dismal position of the evangelising workers in India - towards the pagans, towards the Christians and towards them-selves - has often been the subject of my deep meditations: The pagans they cannot convert because the workers live in a manner which makes it impossible to communicate familiarly with them. The Christians they are continually obliged to vex and insult over their personal and public habits and social laws. Themselves, they are forced daily to walk a razor's edge, if they want to hold on to their Christian communities without viola-ting the orders of the Holy See. A posture, I say, which is not only painful but which is opposed to the holy freedom of the Gospel and which seems almost to contradict the admirable simplicity and gentle condescension of the Saviour of all mankind.

(p 29)

I can hardly dare to express my personal conviction about all this. The conviction first appeared in my mind as a vague idea, one which I almost felt should be driven out like a temptation. But as time went on, it was so strengthened by various new considerations which more and more confirmed it that, today, I regard it as a certainty. The only trouble is, I doubt if this conviction of mine is of any practical use. Because it would take an Apostle to put it into practice. And an Apostle does not appear on the Church's horizon even once every century. I mean an Apostle like Augustine of England, Boniface of Ger-many. It would take nothing less than that. But maybe the action of the Sacred Congregation might be able to replace that of an Apostle. That is what persuades me to share my thought with you now - although it seems very unlikely that the Sacred Congregation could, from so far away, apply the energy and day-to-day vigilance which would be absolutely required for conducting so great an enterprise.

*

This my conviction, let me say it now, is: that the remedy applied by Cardinal de Tournon of pious memory was not the remedy that the patient needed. True, the illness was there. True, it was dangerous. It needed a remedy. But it would have been better if he had found another kind of one. This would have been better :

1. Because the method employed was inadequate, in that it did not include in its prohibitions all superstitious customs, and therefore did not terminate the problem, which has always existed and still exists.

2. Because the medicine was too severe, given the nature of the patient.

As to the first of these two defects, the venerable Cardinal seems to have foreseen it himself when he very prudently ended his decree as follows : "Et ne ex his, quae expresse praecepta vel (p 30) prohibita a nobis fuere, tacitum quis deducere valeat, in reliquis praticare solitis in istis missionibus, nostrum assensum, seu approbationem (cum plura forsan reformatione digna nostra cognitionem effugerunt, et alia maturius examen postulantia indecisa remanserint) hanc interpretationem omnino rejicimus, et menti nostrae esse contrariam declaramus.".

And in fact his list of prohibitions could (and perhaps should) have been greatly lengthened. For I am convinced that there are many other observances just as essentially superstitious as some of those mentioned in the Decree, observances practiced by our Christians every day, and sometimes by ourselves. Here I will mention only one: absolute abstinence from cow meat, a kind of abstinence which I consider more superstitious in it than marking the face with some of the prohibited marks. "To eat cow meat", says Fr. Dubois, "is an absolutely ineffaceable defilement. The mere idea of tasting it is enough to revolt the imagination of any Indian devoted to his duties. This invincible repugnance, nowadays based only on the superstition that the cow is one of the principal Divinities of India, probably had in the beginning a much better and an equally powerful reason : intelligent self-interest". (Customs of the Indian Peoples, vol I., p. 262).

(p 31)

In passing, let us observe - for we will have needed to use this truth later on - that all Indian customs, including the most bizarre and ridiculous, have a reason: political, philosophical, and hygienic or else. Superstition has taken over all these customs and has apparently caused the original good reason to be forgotten. But the reason still exists, and it could become a life-saver for us.

*

Without going into the details of so many other observances which are, at the very least, dubious, I will just give a general idea of their superstitious potential by quoting from a letter sent to me recently by Bishop Charbonnaux. It contains the testi-mony of two senior missionaries worthy of respect under all headings: the bishop himself and Fr.Jarrige, a man with 35 years' ministry over most of Southern India. Moreover, the qualities of this worthy missionary are not unknown to the Sacred Congregation.

Bishop Charbonnaux wrote to me on 6th January 1853: "I wish you (and myself) the insights we need for this dark maze, this awful labyrinth we are lost in ... I wish you, and myself, the grace to be able to deliver our Christians from all customs, habits and attitudes that are contrary to Christianity. Pray for me, dear friend. Yesterday I concluded work on the ceremonies observed in Mysore at marriages and the coming-of-age of women ... My God, how have these customs been tolerated for so long? They just did not know about them ... This ignorance does not surprise me when I see Fr. Jarrige, whose conscience has always been so timid and exact in observing the Papal Decree - when I see this man, thirty years a missionary, and he completely thunder-struck, scared, at what he used to do in the past; only with great difficulty was he able to reassure himself that he had been acting in good faith, that he just did not know the details and the original meanings of all these customs ... How many, many others have never examined them in depth, nor understood !"

He means that Fr. Jarrige, like most missionaries I know, (p 32) would never dream of doing anything directly contrary to the oath we take. But he was very liberal until then on the interpretation made in practice, and on the customs which the Decrees of Cardinal de Tournon do not expressly condemn. He even used to laugh at young missionaries for sometimes having scruples. In 1845 he prepared a booklet for the direction of new missionaries, to tell them some of the customs of Pondichery. In- it he recommended certain things which some now regard as definitely superstitious. And now, after 35 years' ministry, he has scruples himself! Not that he is getting soft in the head, for he is in no way decrepit, but that he has studied things better.

I believe therefore that it is only self-delusion to deny that many things are still being practiced which are radically supers-titious, and which will have to be condemned - if one persists in thinking that detailed condemnations are the only way to safeguard the purity of Gospel faith and morality.

It would be an even bigger delusion to imagine that our Christians no longer do anything that was expressly forbidden by Cardinal de Tournon or later by the Holy See. True, it is generally done in secret, out of the way of the missionaries, so that these either don't see it or can turn a blind eye. "The Kaller of Mysore" \- Mgr. Charbonnaux again - "have given us some lovely gentile ceremonies to discover at Trichinopoly. (Most of the Christian Kallers are from Trichinopoly. They often return there, especially for their marriage ceremonies). One of their Christian Purohitas described them to me. And the poor chap, fearing a crack-down, only told me the half of it". (Letter of 12th September 1852).

(p 33)

Another letter: "Fr. X left here today after staying six or seven days. He spoke spontaneous about the awkward problems of the ceremonies. It is well for those Jesuits with their reflex principles - leave them in ignorance if you can see no hope of changing them." (8th December 1852).

Another testimony: a missionary, admittedly young but writing down the words of an Indian priest who, in this kind of question, especially when it is only a question of recognising the facts, knows more with his eyes closed than we after ten years' investigation. "It is certain", he says, "that in their weddings the Kallers (and we think some other Christians) practice secretly the superstitions (or some of them) forbidden by Doubt n° 8 of the Constitution. For example the ceremony called Nagatali which consists of setting out 'arassa maram' with 'araical vulacu'. If it got extinguished it would mean a bad marriage. Seventy earthen vessels tied with strings are brought by the parents. The Pater, Ave, Credo are recited in Sanskrit or even some pagan prayers. And the ceremony ..." I have other witnesses to quote later if necessary.

That is where we are at today, Most Eminent Lords. That is what has constantly been taking place even after the Constitu-tion of Benedict XIV. And that is what will continue, more or less, as long as there are Indian Christians inside the caste system - even if a new Decree appears, going into longer details than Benedict XIV and making the missionaries swear better to proceed differently from those of today.

There is one way, sure, to put an end to almost all these (p 34) complications: effectively order every missionary entirely to disregard the caste system (the principal source of these disor-ders) and to take no account whatever of Indian customs and in general to act as if there had never been Jesuits in India. Yes, but such a decree would be even more violent than Cardinal de Tournon's, which in my opinion was already much too severe, as I will try to prove. I have just now, I hope, demonstrated that it was too weak, in that it did not really staunch the wound which it aimed to heal.

*

Let us take things as what they are, not as what many would like them to be. If it was all to be done from the start, I would, perhaps, take the view that we should not attempt to introduce Christianity into a pagan country by such extraor-dinary methods as were used in Madurai and Karnat. I say "perhaps" and not "certainly" because, on this point, there were arguments so powerful for defending the Jesuits, and even for admiring them, that one really does not know what to think. Especially you do not know what to think when you look at the immense areas of Northern India, where the caste system and its consequences would have to be faced, just as in Madurai. There is not yet a single native Christian community there. The only Christians you see are a few Europeans, some descendants of Europeans, and some displaced Indians, chiefly Pariahs who came there with Europeans, in their employment. Again, you do not know what to think when you see Blessed Jean de Britto getting the honours of a public liturgical cult. No doubt he was a martyr. But raising him to the altar, is not that an invitation to the faithful to admire the other details of his life?

(p 35)

And what the Indians will see in it above all is this exact observation: he practiced the caste laws. Things, then, being as they are, a decree directly attacking Caste would only throw the hundreds of thousands of surviving Christians into apostasy, or at least into schism and Protestantism. This is as easy to foresee as it was to foresee the apostasy of more than forty thousand Christians after the publication of Benedict XIV's Constitution, which the Jesuits had predicted.

Before taking such drastic steps, one would have to be perfectly sure that there was absolutely no other way of guaran-teeing the purity of our holy Faith. And yet there is the very caste system itself, which may be basically superstitious; all the caste practices condemned by the Holy See certainly are. For, it seems to me, it would be worse than temerity to question, today, the rightness of the condemnations made by Cardinal de Tournon and confirmed, with a few small modifications, by several Popes.

Meanwhile, in spite of the impossibility of any true doubt on that point, we see men who are otherwise learned and pious, writers devoted to the Holy See but studying this strange problem only from afar, probably unable, easily, to consult the numerous Acts of the Holy See; for according to these one could hardly put forward such a query without querying the infallibi-lity of the Sovereign Pontiff. We see men like this, I say, tending more or less towards an indirect doubt. And they are all the more inclined to this point of view because they cannot read without disgust the vehemence of the language used by the opponents of the Jesuits.

On the other hand, how can one not be amazed at the tenacity of the old-time Jesuits, at their submission made with such bad grace, and at all they did, and are still doing, to elude the law? And still today, it is not only the Jesuits but also the most pious of our own missionaries, and the most advanced in the supreme virtue of evangelising workers - I mean self-denial - who bemoan the Oath which they have been obliged to take. They (p 36) wish with all their heart that they could be delivered from it. Often they deplore in the depth of their soul to have been sent to a Mission which they wouldn't have taken on at any price if they had known about these miseries. They threw themselves into their apostolic career with the purest motives of faith and devotion; and then, right at the entrance to our missions, they are pulled up short. Before they are allowed to exercise the sacred ministry, an oath is demanded of them, an oath that cannot but deeply depress them and even humiliate them, by implying a question-mark on the purity of their faith and on the sincerity of their zeal. And as soon as they actually begin to function there, this same oath becomes for them a cause of troubled conscience, anxiety, constraint. Sometimes they just cannot square their conscience to judge and act in the way their superiors command them to judge and to act. They begin to see that their senior confreres proceed by mindless routine rather than by weighing up the situations. And when they themselves begin to weigh things up, they change their opinions and sometimes their practices - one on this point, one on another - as the years go by... Some of the older men no longer want to have the responsibility of administering the sacraments. Others withdraw completely ... So it goes.

*

How explain this state of moral confusion? Nothing can be compared to it, unless it is the mental confusion of those brave spirits who try to understand the origin and significance of the customs of India. How explain such moral confusion among our confreres of the Foreign Missions? They belong to a Society which, though it may have its faults, has always gloried in its perfect obedience to the orders of the Holy See. A Society that, year after year, sends out its members to risk their lives by execution, for the Faith. How explain such moral confusion among the Jesuits? They belong to a Company which also may have its faults, but whose devotion to the Holy See is known the wide world over, a Company that can count its Saints in hundreds.

(p37) I certainly am not a blind admirer of the Jesuits. But God forbid that I should swerve an instant from the truth as I see it, about them or anybody else. The Madurai Jesuits look on me as their adversary. They are wrong. By the grace of God I am only the adversary of error, of what seem to me false and dangerous opinions. The fact is : that in general I admire and I like the Company of Jesus; that on many points I do not understand them; that on other points I believe they are on a regrettable and deadly track, especially on the missions. I have said it to themselves, and I will say it again whenever I have hope that some good can come from saying it. Imprudent, perhaps. But I cannot deviate for a moment from absolute frankness, especially when I am addressing the Sacred Congregation, for I have full confidence in its impartiality.

How explain, I repeat, this moral confusion, even among the Jesuits? Can it be denied that they have always maintained, at least substantially, their obedience to the Holy See? Can it be denied that they have always had men of the highest sanctity, who would prefer to die than to commit an act of formal disobedience, men who would never, absolutely never, consent to do an act of idolatry? These men so pious, have they not eyes to see? And however strong their training to place their conscience into the keeping of their superior's, if these superiors ordered them to bend the knee to Baal, would they do it? Assuredly not.

And yet both the Jesuits and our own missionaries (in great number at least), in olden times and today, are united in bemoaning what Cardinal de Toumon did. Sometimes openly, sometimes by insinuation in serious works of study, always and continually in the heart. As much as possible (and maybe more than possible) they dodge his Decree and the subsequent (p 38) ordinances of the Popes, and the Constitution of Benedict XIV and the oath. That's the fact of the matter.

Don't let us seek the reason for this sad fact in any love of paganism, as a few have not feared to state; it would be ridiculous. Nor in any spirit of disobedience properly so called; it would in my view be a manifest error. The real reason, as far as I can make it out, is this: Something indefinable tells the heart that Cardinal de Tournon's remedy, although good in itself, was not what the patient needs.

For it is an inescapable fact that, since the publication of the Constitution "Omnium Sollicitudinem" there has been no further serious conversions in India. And the Christians who did not actually apostasies are just dragging along in a state of mortal weariness which can only end in the complete annihila-tion of all truly native Christian communities in India. A few more centuries, especially if Providence does not permit the Europeans to continue in possession, and there will be no Christians left in those missions except a few mulattoes hooked on all the vices, and a few Pariahs. The soul of a Pariah is of no less value than a Brahmin's; but since they are only the dregs of the population, they could not persevere alone in Christianity for very long. Already the real Brahmin caste Christians have almost ceased to exist. And several of the other high castes are also on the way out, or already extinct.

*

So the first conclusion from this work is: It seems to me that it would be important to consider seriously if, instead of thinking up new restrictions and condemnations (which seem inevitable according to the line hitherto pursued) it might not be better to review what has been done, and to see if there is not some other means of preserving the Christians from culpable participation in idolatry, but without vexing, insulting and (p 39) browbeating them, as has happened since the implementation of the Decrees. And to save the honour of Cardinal de Tournon, who has deserved so well from the Church, let us admit that, in the circumstances he met, there were then no other means available except those which he took. But, in any space of 150 years, circumstances have to change somewhat. In our over-all circumstances of today, would it not be possible now to find happier methods? I implore the Sacred Congregation to reflect very seriously on this very grave question.

But, it will be said, what methods do you propose? It would be pointless, Most Eminent Lords; to proceed any further with the development of my thoughts if the Sacred Congregation decides that there is no way to go back on past decisions for any reason whatever. But if, on the contrary, the Sacred Congrega-tion finds sufficient motives, in what I have just said, to review the present legislation, I would ask it to put the following questions to the principal evangelizing workers on our missions, adding other questions which it might consider useful for more perfect clarification. After the replies, we would see if there is any point in pursuing our thinking and getting down to practical details.

*

Questions for the Vicars Apostolic and the principal missio-naries of Pondicherry, Madras, Madurai, Mysore and Coim-batore:

1. Is it certain that the oath imposed by Clement XII on all missionaries in the kingdoms of Mysore and Karnat is a cause of troubled conscience, uneasiness, constraint and even grave anxiety to many evangelizing workers, men otherwise strong in the faith, who would prefer to die than to participate in a single act of idolatry?

(p 40)

2. Is it certain that, since the publication of the Constitution of Benedict XVI "Omnium Sollicitudinem", the conversion of pagans has practically stopped, especially among the high castes, and that the Christian communities which remained faithful have lost a lot of their strength and vigour?

3. Is it certain that, by rigorously prohibiting them from everything condemned in the said Constitution, Christians are obliged to live a humiliating and even dishonoured life amidst their pagan compatriots, because of the rules of public decency generally accepted in the country and closely linked to these superstitious practices?

4. Is it not to be feared that this humiliation (if it exists) also falls on the Christian religion itself, making it in the eyes of the pagans a society of degraded and dishonourable people?

5. Is it likewise not to be feared that this also affects the material success of the Christians, in such a way that, other things being equal, Christians will be less rich than pagans, and will enjoy less well-being in their families?

6. Is it certain that, generally, Christians hang on so tena-ciously to these customs only because of their civil effects and not through any remaining attachment to paganism or the false dogmas presupposed by these customs in their superstitious parts?

7. Is it certain that a great number of Christians, finding the ordinances against these customs a yoke unbearable to their weakness, dispense themselves as far as they can, and even secretly violate them expressly in many circumstances, thus sinning doubly, adding disobedience to sharing in superstitious acts?

8. Do you think that any way might be found to preserve Christians from all participation in idolatry without at the same time vexing and humiliating them (if this happens) by the rigour of the present legislation?

(p 41)

9. For example: Instead of absolutely prohibiting these customs, could they not be modified enough so as to contain nothing pagan, and yet not too much to allow the Christians to retain their honour in public?

10. If this idea seems unsuitable or impractical to you, let us know what you think could be done, in the case that you have to reply to Question 8 in the affirmative.

*

Nevertheless, whatever value my proposals may have in the future, it still remains true that in the meantime we can never for one moment tolerate or practice anything superstitious or idolatrous, as long as we have not found the right way to strip these customs of their superstitious elements.

Now, in the present state of things in India, is our manner of acting free from all blame? Many think not. For myself, I admit that, on this point, I am in real doubt. And it seems to me that, in matters affecting purity of faith and sound morality, a bishop cannot remain in a practical doubt, for he is the one who has to guide the others, the one who must render an account of every soul confided to him.

True, in India the bishops are not the Ordinary pastors of their unhappy flocks. Nevertheless a great part of this terrible responsibility must necessarily fall on the Vicars Apostolic. For the rest, it is because this responsibility will be shared be the S.C. of Propaganda, representing the Pope towards the Vicars Apostolic that I have acted as follows in my state of doubt.

This doubt, however, did not start when I was appointed Vicar Apostolic. For a long time many things appeared to me not clear; and I was especially saddened to see that, among the evangelizing workers in India, opinions were so divergent; so I could not put my doubts down to mere personal scruples. However, I used to tell myself, this conscience-worrying state can be of real danger only to superiors. For it seems evident to me that ordinary missionaries obeying their superiors' orders (if not evidently contrary to the Holy See's) will be excused before God from the faults they might unwillingly commit. Whereas, (p 42) by acting otherwise, they would expose themselves to formal faults which would be very dangerous by reason of the troubles and revolts they would certainly stir up in the missions. This, alas, has happened only too often in these last years.

No doubt, ordinary missionaries have the right of direct recourse to the Holy See when the practical policy of their superiors seems to them very probably wrong. But, let us face it, this recourse is rather illusory. The Sacred Congregation already finds it hard enough to correspond as actively as would be desirable with the Vicars Apostolic. How would it be if ordinary missionaries started having direct recourse to it every time?

*

Leaning on this theological reasoning, I remained tranquil as long as I was just a missionary, by passing the responsibility for my doubtful actions on to the conscience of my Vicar Apostolic. But when I was made a bishop myself, in spite of my unworthi-ness, I had only the Sacred Congregation, representative of the Holy See on the missions, as my superior. So I wrote to the Sacred Congregation, doing towards it as I had formerly done towards other superiors. For I continued to be in a position where it was impossible to change anything on my own autho-rity without risking the greatest evils and being supremely reckless.

Meanwhile, as I could foresee that by getting into such matters I was going to stir up really dangerous questions, and to hurt many feelings, I offered my resignation in my letter to the S.C., of 16 September 1850, n° 2. In it I indicated that, while awaiting a reply, I would continue to follow (and as far as it was in my power, I would ask my missionaries to follow) the customs I found already established in my Mission, which are the same as at Pondicherry and Madurai. Without, however, accepting any responsibility for certain practices, a responsibi-lity which I left entirely to the S.C. For I presumed that it was fully informed on all that goes on in these missions, of which my Vicariate is only a sub-division.

(p 43)

The S.C. replied on 21 December 1850, ordering me to inform it in detail about what I had only mentioned in general. I made it my duty to reply immediately, taking only the time to make sure that there was no inexactitude, at least in the facts. And as I felt that the exposure of the facts in all their nudity would tum the stomach of the S.C. members - and that in such grave matters it is vital to keep the heart's impressions in balance, so that the mind can be fully free - I prefaced this expose with some principles that I consider true, giving the main possible reasons for continuing the present practice. For the rest, I enclose my letter of 12 June 1851, n° 2. It was addressed to His Eminence the Cardinal Prefect of Propa-ganda.

That exposé, Most Eminent Lords, was written after mature deliberation on what my own eyes have seen and on what I myself have practiced. Moreover I showed it to several senior missionaries, who found it absolutely exact. One of these is extremely well versed in the languages of the country and has exercised the sacred ministry for more than 20 years in the three Missions of Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Madurai, principally in the last, both before the return of the Jesuits and afterwards along with them.

Still, the S.C. could not, and should not, believe me alone. In its prudent wisdom it asked for information from the other Vicars Apostolic by its circular of II October 1851: "Jam-dudum et iterato".

In the replies of my venerable colleagues there were diver-gences, it seems; which may have led the S.C. to believe that I had exaggerated things. Maybe I contributed myself to this impression by a second letter, in which I must not have expressed myself clearly enough to avoid all misunderstanding. For it appears that this letter was regarded as a kind of retraction (p 44) from me. Whereas I meant it only as a development of some of the principles prefacing my expose of the facts. For, to make a retraction like that, I would have to lie in the face of the evidence of my own eyes.

So I was very badly inspired when I wrote that second letter, which seems to have helped to stop the investigations of the S.C. whereas my desire was only to urge the S.C., before passing sentence, to consult the principal missionaries not only on the facts but also on the reasons that could be cited for and against our conduct. Not to decide anything without having heard all possible explanations. Nor even to condemn anything without having considered whether it might not be possible to find a better way than detailed condemnations: a more effective and less dangerous method than that used by Cardinal de Tournon, a method that would preserve the Christians from participating in idolatry without putting a drag on evangelizing action in India, as has been put since that period. For the rest, my letter was thought out in these terms...

It was the forceful language of the Circular, and especially the terms coenosae consuetudines, perjurii reos, coenosis fontibus, which made me write that second letter. I was afraid, I admit, that the S.C. would react too quickly with new prohibitions or more rigorous interpretations of existing laws. All the more did I fear it because some missionaries, among the most fiery against the present practice, looked on the indignant tone of the Circular as a formal approval of their opposition to the Vicars Apostolic. And on the other side (the defenders of the present practice) I was accused of being the direct cause of an upsurge of rigorism which was showing itself sometimes in regrettable acts. Finally, my own conviction - that further decrees of the same kind will only further block conversions from paganism, without preserving the Christians from all participation in idolatry - this conviction made it my duty to call upon the S.C. to please still wait a bit longer, so as to give time to the various evangelizing workers to put forward their views: to (p 45) use whatever the Lord has given them of wisdom in the mind and of resources in the heart.

Such were my motives which (no doubt through my own fault) were wrongly interpreted by the S.C. and wrongly judged by some confreres; and these continued no less to think that I was the one who first employed (or suggested) the tough language used in the Circular. Whereas, on the contrary, I disliked its forcefulness.

*

What to conclude from all this? That these questions cannot be left at that. The Holy See has to intervene again. And God grant that this may be done in all possible calmness and in perfect good faith.

Now if there is to be hope for any solid and lasting good from the decisions to be laid down, it is not enough that the S.C. be informed of all the facts. It must be certain itself that it is perfectly in touch with the whole situation. And moreover, the various evangelizing workers in India must also be certain, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the S.C. has been, indeed, perfectly and fully informed.

Personally, I am certain that, in my letter of 12 June 1851, I have informed the S.C. of very nearly everything, except the details of what still goes on in more or less pagan fashion in the marriage and funeral ceremonies, a maze that even the most learned get lost in. However, that letter cannot suffice; for it appears, as I said, that the replies of the other Vicars Apostolic may have cast some doubts on the accuracy of my reporting. Which could happen in two ways? For I cannot contemplate a third possibility: that they wished to deceive the S.C.

I know the men of the Foreign Missions now working in India well enough to have no fear of assuring you that they are incapable of knowingly deceiving the S.C. And I have too much respect for the Rev Frs. of the Company of Jesus to suspect them capable of formal lies. Yet it is a question of objective facts! How can there be a contradiction about the facts - facts which people (p 46) cannot be unaware of when they have lived long in the country - if everyone is writing in good faith?

An out-and-out contradiction, truly I cannot even conceive.But there may be divergence; and this is probably all that has occurred. I said such a divergence could happen in two ways:

I. Omitting certain facts which the writer believes he need not make known, lest the variations of customs between diffe-rent places in India lead to a wrong interpretation in Rome; whereas he himself is sure of the rightness of his own on-the spot interpretation. Let's report nothing but the truth, he may say; but don't let's report truths that would be wrongly interpreted.

2. Covering up a fact by passing it off un-noticed under an interpretative form which represents it the way it "should" be interpreted.

For myself, I have never been able to understand this kind of policy in such matters. It seems to me of the greatest importance that the S.C. know the truth and the whole truth. To act otherwise is merely to perpetuate questionings, doubts and, troubled consciences; to expose oneself to not getting what one desires if the desire comes from God, and to getting it if one's desire is not completely in line with His holy will.

Let us make everything known. If methods of mercy and understanding are possible in the situation, the Holy See is not lacking in mercy and understanding. If they are not possible, and if there is indeed some involuntary wrongness in our way of acting, then let us have no dodging about it, no bent interpreta-tions of divine and ecclesiastical laws. Let us be frank and loyal. It is a rigorous duty.

I therefore conclude the first part of this first Paragraph (§ I) by asking the S.C. to take immediate effective steps to know all the facts perfectly. And for this purpose, to renew its interroga-tions on the missions. Not in vague general terms but by asking for a categorical Yes-or-No reply to all the following questions and to any others that It may consider useful.

(p 47)

Questions to be put to My Lords Vicars Apostolic and the principal Missionaries of the Missions of Pondicherry, Madras, Madurai, Mysore and Coimbatore:

In the places forming part of the ancient Kingdoms of Madurai, Mysore and Karnat:

I. Is Caste and its divisions authorized among the Chris-tians?

2. Do these divisions not appear to you superstitious and contrary to the Gospel?

3. If they so appear, what are your reasons? If they appear tolerable to you, do you know the reasons of those who consider them contrary to the Gospel?

4. Do the missionaries themselves submit to some Caste requirements? Which once?.

5. Is it certain that for no reason whatever would the Christians of a higher caste consent to communicate with those of lower caste in certain things, e.g. meals?

6. Is it certain that high-caste Christians would not allow Pariahs to enter their homes? That they will not touch a water vessel used by Pariahs? That they keep other similar vain observances against Pariahs?

7. Does this repugnance towards Pariahs go as far as avoiding touching them?

(p 48)

8. If yes, is this repugnance not due to some idea of legal defilement?.

9· Is it certain that high-caste Christians, even the poorest, have a reluctance to eating a European's food, on the pretext that Europeans are usually served by Pariahs?

10. Is it out of respect for this repugnance that missionaries avoid frequent communications with Europeans, especially at table?

11. Is this the reason preventing senior Indian priests from eating at table with missionaries (even those having no Pariah servants) on the sole ground that missionaries occasionally go to share a meal with compatriots?.

12. How far has this repugnance of the clergy disappeared? Would the younger priests eat with Europeans having Pariah servants?

13· Do missionaries make a point of never having Pariah house servants, especially as cooks?

14· is it certain that high-caste Christians abstain totally from eating beef? That they would not accept it even for health reasons or to cure an illness?.

15· Do the missionaries themselves observe this same rigo-rous abstinence from cow meat?

16. If so rigorous, does this abstinence not appear to you superstitious?

17· Does it seem superstitious to some apostolic workers in these Missions? Could you tell us their reasons?

18. During visitation of Pariah villages, do missionaries avoid eating anything cooked by them, using their water vessels, etc.?

19· Would high-caste Christians refuse to take into their house a Pariah who was in great or even extreme need?

(p 49)

20. Is it impossible to take in pupils of high caste and Pariahs into the same school or seminary building?.

21. Are there churches where Pariahs are separated from the other Christians by a wall, a grille, or something else?.

22. In churches lacking such a separation, are they carefully separated in some other way, e.g. in different wings of the building?

23. Is it to facilitate this kind of separation that churches are purposely built in the form of a cross?

24. Where these separations exist, is it for avoiding contact?

25. Is it organized that Holy Communion is always given first to other Christians and afterwards to Pariahs?

26. Are baptisms of Pariahs sometimes done separately? Or, failing this is some distinction made during the ceremony whenever Pariahs and other catechumens present themselves at the same time?

27. In churches without baptismal fonts, are there special vessels for the water falling from Pariahs' heads?

28. In churches lacking distinct places for Pariahs, do priests omit bringing in catechumens at the words of the Ritual Ingredere in templum Dei?

29 In such churches does the priest leave the altar and go to the the door, or even outside, to give Holy Communion to Pariahs.

30. Is there reluctance to let Pariah children serve Mass?

31. In confession, are there some distinctions made between high caste Christians and Pariahs? For example, not hearing the latter in a room where one hears the others?

32. Are Pariah cemeteries separate from others?

33. Are there some differences in the funeral ceremonies?

34. Does the repugnance of the high castes towards the low extend to others besides Pariahs?

(p 50)

35· Is it certain that the Pariahs themselves feel a similar repugnance towards other castes that they consider inferior?

36. Do people avoid bringing the bodies of Christians into the church?

37· If so, is it not because of a false idea of defilement?.

38. Is it entirely for health reasons, or rather also in order to go along with Caste, that missionaries wear different clothes than in Europe?

39· Are there missionaries who always wear yellow?

40. Is yellow not the colour worn by pagan priests of certain cults?

41. Are there places where Christians keep their heads covered in Church, even before the Blessed Sacrament exposed?

42. Do Christians keep strictly to marrying only within their own caste?.

43· Is it certain that in many marriages the girl is only 12-13 years old?

44· Is it certain that many marriages are made between very close relatives, even second degree, especially in the high castes?

45· Are there situations where the female first cousin is considered automatically promised to her own cousin?

46. Do the spouses ask, and sometimes obtain, permission to tie the "tali" outside the church?.

47· If this is done, do you not fear that it may give rise to the idea that Church marriage is not irrevocable?

48. If the "tali" is tied before the couple come to the priest, do they consider themselves thereby married - even if there (p 51) were other impediments apart from its being clandestine? In which case, if the marriage was certainly null and void, could one demand that they separate, and get them to contract another marriage?

49. Can you tell us whether, in spite of the missionaries' prohibitions, Christians continue to practice dubious or even certainly superstitious ceremonies at marriages and funerals? Which ones?

50. Would it be desirable that the Decree of the Council of Trent C.I., Session 24, De Reformation Matrimonial, be publi-shed in all these missions?

51. Is it the policy never to admit a Pariah to become a cleric?·

52. Moreover, are other lower castes besides the Pariahs excluded?

53. Do you not fear some danger to Faith in certain ways of expressing religious ideas, e.g. calling abstinence from meat "sutte posanam", pure food?.

54. Do you not think it has become common to use other dangerous or inexact expressions? Which ones?

55. Do Christians still use "sandanam" powder for a "puttu" on the forehead or for anointing the body?.

56. If yes, is it not to be feared that there is superstition in this custom?

57. Do Christians still sometimes bathe for reasons other than health and cleanliness?

58. Do Christians still use body marks? Which ones? For what purpose?

59. If they use such baths or marks, in what circumstances?

(p 52)

Do you think they are thus going against the Decree of Cardinal de Tournon?.

60. Do Christians sometimes use written Scriptures or prayers which they carryon them as a talisman?

6 I. Do Christian women "menstrual morbo laborantes" still find it difficult to go to Church and receive the Sacraments?

62. Do Christians still do public ceremonies "super prima purgatione puellis contingente"?.

63. If yes, do you think it is "sub titulo nuptiarum" or "sub titulo menstrui"?

64. Are there still places where the Pariahs have to bring their sick to the Church, at least outside danger of death, to avoid as far as possible having the priest enter their home?

65. Do the caste laws sometimes require that newly-weds live apart for a considerable time, sometimes for years?

66. Have all the missionaries who exercise the sacred ministry in the above-mentioned places taken the oath required by Clement XII in his Brief "Concredita Nobis"?

67. Is care taken to send us this sworn document and to keep a copy in the mission archives?

*

To these questions each Vicar Apostolic should reply separa-tely, and at least three or four of the most experienced missiona-ries in each Vicariate. Not that the good faith of the Vicars is suspect, but because it could be that they do not know certain local details which the ordinary missionaries would sometimes be in a better position to know.

(p 53)

I think it would be prudent to inform these evangelising workers that putting all these questions does not mean that the S.C. is preparing severer ordinances, but rather that it is important for the S.C

. to be perfectly in touch with all that is going on at present in the missions. Finally, I think it would be good to invite them to first make a categorical reply to each question, brief and clear; after which they could add the reasons for and against the various opinions.

Let us now go on to other questions related to the present state and needs of the Indian missions, independently of Caste, Rites and Customs.

2 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA

Even supposing, Most Eminent Lords, that the difficulties of rites and ceremonies did not exist, there would still be plenty of other problems in the Indian Missions. Quite apart from the deplorable Schism of Goa, many other causes prevent the (p 54) Holy Church from being present in India in a normal state. Whence many disputes, embarrassments and contrarieties - not to say contradictions - between the evangelising workers. Whence a lot of good is blocked and at least a bit of evil produced, and much evil to be feared in a not-so-distant future.

About the Schism of Goa I have little to say, because all missionaries truly devoted to the good of the Church seem united on that point. Many writings have been published on it, and I believe all the ones I came across were substantially correct.

In my opinion, it is true, not everything (perhaps) that was done then should now be done if it were to do all over again. But it seems quite pointless to go back over the past because, in the present state of affairs, it seems evidently necessary to persevere along the path which the Holy See has entered since the recall of the last Archbishop of Goa. Provided that the Holy Father does not consent, for any reason, to approve a bishop for Goa until (p 55) such time as Portugal has effectively given up its claim to the right of Patronage - and provided that, when the Bishop of Macao has died, the same policy is maintained - the schism will sooner or later collapse. Especially if the Vicars Apostolic become a bit more active in forming a local clergy to gradually take the place of the Goanese clergy in their respective Missions.

Unfortunately it is not so easy to say all that would have to be done to cure the many other ills that work against the solid building-up of the Church in those vast and interesting coun-tries - among peoples whose remarkable natural qualities are impossible to ignore when one judges them (which is rare) without prejudices - peoples among whom Catholicism would be such a lovely plant if only it could really take root there.

But what do we find? On to the difficulties intrinsic in the particular form of paganism infecting these countries - on to the peculiar manner we are forced into, in leading Christian com-munities with customs so different from ours - new difficulties are added, very powerful difficulties, coming from the evangeli-sing workers themselves. These difficulties arise from their national prejudices, from their Society or corporate prejudices, from their institutional interests, which do not always agree perfectly with the interests of the Christian communities (at least in practice); also from Government restrictions and from preconceived ideas of System, which often clings with unbelie-vable tenacity, even to the minds of those who loudly proclaim "we have no system" and end up believing it.

*

There was one moment in my missionary life when I felt a real hope for Religion in India. It was in 1845 when the immortal Gregory XVI, to whom the missions owe so much, made the series of Acts well known to you. All they needed was a few later modifications, and the development of their principles about what was most essential for the progress of the missions. (p 56) However, if the expected good results were not to fail, it was essential that the immediate action of the Holy See should not stop at that, but should be able to oversee the details of the implementation in a sustained manner until such time as the whole ecclesiastical set-up in India was completely harmonised.

Unhappily the upheavals of the bad years which were soon to follow 1845 made any such immediate concentration by the Holy See on our distant missions impossible. Maybe this looks a very small misfortune among so many others of that period, but it was none the less a great loss to us. We hasten to say, however, that it is not irreparable. With a spirit of cohesion and a well thought-out plan embodying the fundamental principles that ought to guide the progress of the various missions having the same kind of resources and difficulties, it will still be possible to do later what should have started sooner. Only, how unfor-tunate are the souls that the delay has let fall into the abyss! Because in such affairs undue delay, as well as imprudent haste, can lose souls. Such is the double weight of our responsibility.

Meanwhile, a longer delay would end, perhaps, in cancelling all the good we were expecting from the Acts of Gregory XVI. We might even come to regret their ever having been made. Because if the Vicars Apostolic, at the head of their respec-tive Missions, do not go forward together like an army in battle, in concerted action, it would be better to have much less of them.

It would be necessary here to go into minute details. But since, for the moment, my sole aim is to let the S.C. know that it is important to give urgent attention to the condition of the Church in India, I will merely state that everything there, from the smallest to the biggest, is in confusion. To show this I will just give a few examples.

*

Let us see, for example, how far we are with Indian clergy. You are not unaware, Most Eminent Lords, that in India our Foreign Missions predecessors, influenced by the Jesuits' (p 57) system, have done very little for this work. And as some-times happens to the best of men, they tried to console and fool themselves by its alleged impossibility. [Against any contrary opinion] they would point out the rather irrelevant cases of the Goanese clergy and those of Malabar. There, for the clergy to be good, you would need a perpetual ongoing miracle, because of the way they were trained. Then came the Synod of Pondicherry in 1844, when this question was hotly debated. And it was declared that a clergy was really desired, if it was possible.

As I had already gone into the alleged difficulties, I felt able to assure the venerable Bishop of Pondicherry that it is possible, provided we took the proper means to form the clerics from an early age and gave them assiduous care. This worthy prelate - who in all my personal discussions with him has put more confidence in me than I deserve; but who, when I was far away, felt bound to disclose suspicions about me which I didn't entirely deserve either - this prelate put me in charge of the seminary and gave me the means of action. And, thanks be to God, the results soon surpassed all my hopes.

During this time I had to struggle against many prejudices on the part of several confreres. However, these prejudices nearly all disappeared little by little. And when I had to leave my (p 58) beloved seminary to go as Bishop to Coimbatore, I had the consolation of leaving behind in that institution some model clerics and several lay students who gave hopes of following in their footsteps. God granted us an abler confrere than myself to replace me there. This man perfected my beginnings so well that, today, Bishop de Drusipare and most of the missionaries of Pondicherry Vicariate are justly proud of the good conduct, knowledge, common-sense and ecclesiastical virtues of their clerics and young priests.

At Coimbatore things were difficult in a quite different way. Because of the obstacles, coming not from the Indians but from the missionaries, I would probably have failed completely. But providential help came to me in a letter from the S.C. of Propaganda. I had consulted it on some points and on 22nd June 1847 it replied in a manner perfectly adapted to the needs of the situation. In spite of that, I would not have succeeded if I had not directed the Seminary in great part by myself, up to the (p 59) moment of my departure. And I must admit that one of my principal worries now, at being out of my Vicariate, is to be so far away from my Seminary. For at this moment I have some twelve ecclesiastical students, including nine clerics in minor orders, who give me great cause for hope. However, the last letters I have received give me some assurance that the excellent missionary to whom, on leaving, I confided this small but so precious portion of my flock will do his duty perfectly there.

But look at other Vicariates: they continue not even to want a local clergy. They may use a thousand different forms of verbiage, but that's what it comes down to in simple language. Now this kind of imbalance cannot last. It is vital that in neighboring territories with daily inter-relations, with the same customs, the same identical people, the same needs etc., the religious administration should be essentially the same. And is there any difference more basic than that of having and not having a local clergy? The gravest practical consequences must follow. So one side or the other must change.

I am quite ready to be the first to yield if the S.C. orders it. I have as yet no sub-deacons. I will make catechists of my clerics if it is decided that we are not to have a local clergy in this part of India. Let whoever likes take on the responsibility of contradic-ting the Holy Spirit if it is His grace that is calling my clerics to Holy Orders.

This is a dilemma that is hard for me to get out of. In a certain Vicariate where there is not yet a single tonsured cleric, I am quite certain that I would have thirty to forty priests if I were bishop there for fifteen to twenty years. (The Vicariates have over 50,000 Christians each; some over 100,000).

(p 60)

For the vocations must come either from God or from me. If from God, how can men be in safe conscience if they refuse to impose hands on them, meanwhile leaving so many Christians die without the help of the last sacraments? If it is from me, then I am the one who has to tremble.

Not so long ago, I was putting this very reasoning to one of the Vicars Apostolic whom these words cut very near the bone. He had the charitable modesty to reply that he had much more reason to tremble than me. And he admitted that it was his missionaries' lack of sympathy for this work that was chiefly preventing him; but that he would think again. May heaven enlighten us, one or the other, or rather both! Whatever way it goes, either myself or other people are a source of scandal (hopefully involuntary but still real) by acting in such contradic-tory ways about such a grave matter.

*

Another example of confusion: It seems evident to me that it is extremely important for the good of the Catholic Religion that, in the immense English Colonies, the English or Irish ecclesiastics should not have sole ecclesiastical administration. Indeed, they should not, according to rule, have any authority superior to their colleagues. So how is it tolerable that they usurp such authority through the leverage of a Government that does not even recognize the Catholic Church? I have had reason already to call the S.C.'s attention to this point. But since then, not only has there been no improvement, but things have got much worse: the Vicar Apostolic of Madras has accepted a grant from the Government for the Roman Catholics in all the (British) Presidency of Madras, he being the only Catholic leader they recognize. This Presidency includes eight Vicariates, (p 61) without counting two others in the kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore. (The real ruler of these kingdoms is the Governor of Madras).

God grant that the trouble has not already gone too deep to be stopped without danger! What a list of other things I would have to add about the confusion in lesser points, sometimes called small details but having considerable influence on the development of Religion and the strengthening of the Faith, if they are regulated according to the real present needs of the Churches and followed out with unity and good accord. Among these are: the liturgy of the Church, the external celebration of Feasts, the exercise of pontifical powers, the days of fast and abstinence, the holy days of obligation, etc.

I will say just a word about the last. Once, I was in a certain place on a day which I thought should be a day of obligation. [I asked] a missionary. He replied: "Really, I don't know. I'm only here a short while and I don't know the custom." A few hours later I asked another. "I think there is an obligation to hear Mass, but not to abstain from servile work." About four in the evening a third told me: "Certainly there is an obligation to abstain from servile work today."

I myself, in my own Vicariate, have never succeeded in discovering for sure if such-and-such a Feast (e.g. the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin) is a day of obligation or not. But all these details can come later, in a further report, if the S.C. so wishes. Here I have said enough, I hope, to show that, from top to bottom, there is lamentable confusion. And I conclude by saying that it is vital, in my opinion, not to let things go on chaotically like this.

(p 62)

(PICTURE)

The Vicariates Apostolic (French names) about 1850.

(p 63)

To stop the confusion, several means could be taken. Some of these would depend on the direct action of the S.C. Of those I have nothing to say. But however strong the zeal of the S.C. it could never treat directly a whole range of questions of detail which can only be properly known and judged on the spot. It is principally up to the Vicars Apostolic to study these, to reach agreement on action, and to formulate decisions which would then be approved or disapproved by the S.C. But, for this, they would have to meet periodically in synod. It appears, moreover, that almost all the Vicars Apostolic of India feel the need of this.

However, holding the first Meeting may not be as easy as might appear. And it would not be without its dangers; the least being that it might turn out useless if the S.C. itself has not prepared most of the agenda and the procedure. So I conclude by asking the S.C., if it deigns to take what I have just said into consideration, to write to the Vicars Apostolic asking for all available ideas which could be of help in guiding it, both for its own direct actions and for Its preparatory work towards a meeting of the Vicars Apostolic. At the same time the Bishops could be sounded about their degree of enthusiasm for this meeting and about whether it should be general for all India or in several groups, each for a region sharing the same kinds of difficulties. Thus, the Vicariates of the Malabar and Bombay coasts might form one. Those of Madras, Pondicherry, Coimba-tore, Mysore and Trichinopoly (or Madurai) another. The North of India a third. Meanwhile I myself could prepare a more detailed work if the S.C. finds this one insufficient.

3 CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN GENERAL

In setting out what I think is needed for the development of the Missions in general, I admit I see no immediate utility in doing so except that of adding whatever glimmers of light God (p 64) has given me towards the progress of this Work, which I love par excellence because it is the work He has long called me to do.

Occupied exclusively in the work of the missions for more than 14 years, and having had the opportunity of knowing fairly well what is going on in several Missions, both from personal or written communication and from many conversations with a great number of experienced missionaries, pious and sometimes venerable men, advanced in knowledge of the things of God, perhaps I might draw the attention of the S.C. to certain important realities. I am sure It knows them already, but distance may keep It from realizing how dangerous they are (when hindering our work) and how eminently useful they could be (when they might be helping us to correspond with the graces of the Holy Spirit). For He has been pleased to mediate the grace of the conversion of peoples, and the grace of stability in the Church, through the hands of the ministers of the Gospel.

To say that the work of the Missions is not very flourishing; that the results seem to bear no relation to the sacrifices of every kind suffered for it; that a puff of wind would be enough to knock down the frail scaffolding holding it up, almost every-where, and to put it back more than two hundred years - all this is only to repeat the conclusions of those who go to the heart of the matter, not stopping at surface descriptions of a more or less poetic or imaginary style, nor being taken in by certain Reports made for public consumption in which, out of necessity or vested interest, only half the truth can be disclosed.

Yes, but where is the seat of the malady? And is there no cure for it? If there is hope of improvement, what is it? I will not presume to give a quick answer to these difficult questions. Even if I had found the solution, I would be the first to mistrust my own conclusions until I saw them confirmed by men of practical knowledge and perfect devotedness in the different missions.

Only one thing is clear to me: Even if the wisest and holiest missionaries have the best possible ideas in their heads, these ideas will achieve nothing if they keep them hidden there. On the other hand, if they all trustingly share their insights with the S.C. - the only focus where these rays of light can effectively converge - then the S.C., which can never cease for a moment (p 65) from its active vigilance over the whole work, would at all times be equipped, ready to act or to postpone action with full knowledge of the situation. I say "act or postpone" because, as I have to repeat, imprudent hurry and culpable slowness are equally disastrous for various works. So I will stop here, asking only for the S.C.'s kind acceptance and desiring only to know if the S.C. wishes me to proceed further with this work.

4 THE SOCIETY OF FOREIGN MISSIONS

Now to the fourth question, more delicate than the others to me personally. And yet, Most Eminent Lords, I regard it as so useful! I feel I would be letting down the pious Congregation to which I have the honour to belong, if I missed the opportunity given me: of helping with all my efforts to obtain for it what it lacks, in my opinion, in order to activate all the potential good it has in it, a potential that cannot be developed for lack of an adequate government and an orderly administration.

For I truly love this pious Congregation of Foreign Missions, because I believe it to be good, even excellent, in its funda-mental principles. For a long time now I have been watching the way of acting of the various groups working on the missions. And there is none, it seems to me, that has more good qualities and less defects than our own Congregation, from the specific point of view of external missions. Let our Society start responding well to its institution and I will guarantee that, for distant missions, it will be the right arm of the Church. And even now, as it is at the moment, it is perhaps the least defective group, taking an over-all view of the Missions. That is why I like it so much, and not precisely because I belong to it myself; for I have tried to be impartial and unprejudiced about that, so as to see clearly into the work of the Missions.

But precisely because my love for the Society of Foreign Missions is deep and real, I am not among those who think they (p 66) are helping it by denying the faults which circumstances have let creep into it, or by ceasing to deplore its failure, up to now, to acquire the qualities which in my view it lacks, in order to be able to render the Church the first-rank services that can rightly be expected from it.

*

This is not to say that I would go around and publish from the roof-tops whatever defects I see in it. But I could never keep silent when an opportunity came up of expressing my disap-pointments or fears about it to serious confreres whose authority might be able to help towards the desired improvement - even if it made me seem (as has sometimes happened) to be a man of utopian systems! An unfavorable judgment like that is just my bad luck; I don't complain. Any rethinking that my words force them to make, leading hopefully to a happy result sooner or later, is the good luck of the Society I want to serve. And still less could I be silent now, when the opportunity is given me of bringing in the S.C. itself to help us with its insights and its authority.

Anyway, I am confident that several serious confreres of the Society of Foreign Missions do not judge me so severely, notably several Vicars Apostolic who are, as you know, the superiors of the Society. For it is worth recalling that the Superior of the Foreign Missions Seminary in Paris is in no way the superior of the Society. Neither is the whole Bureau of the seminary Directors. This merely has one vote (by its majority voice) equal to only vote from one of our bishops. And (p 67) even among the Directors there are a few, I have reason to hope, who believe me to have some zeal and concern for the Congrega-tion of Foreign Missions.

*

Well, in spite of the excellence of the founding idea of the Institute, I do not fear to state that it almost immediately began to deviate from that idea, which was actualized perfectly only with our first Vicars Apostolic. And by now the Society is in a state that seems to me to be bordering on disintegration. Very soon, if it is not reinforced, it will be totally incapable of rendering any services to the Church except the isolated services of a few more or less zealous missionaries, who will always be there in any Society.

To avoid this disaster it would be important, I feel, not to let this precious Congregation drag on much longer in a state of debility. And for this purpose the cause of the weakening malaise must first be sought out, so as to see, along with the Superiors, what remedies to apply.

Now, without going into a whole crowd of details (they could come later) it will be enough here to establish that the malaise is undeniable and admitted by all - or nearly all - of our most respected missionaries, excepting perhaps those at the Paris seminary, for they are not in a position to feel it as we do.

Apart from individual letters - there must be a considerable (p 68) file of them at Paris - this malaise expresses itself often by action. To be sure of this, all one needs to do is to ask for the list of the numerous confreres who have left the Society in a short span of years, along with the reasons for their depar-ture. Thanks be to God, very few have been led to that extreme measure by any other reason than disillusionment, more to be lamented than blamed. But God alone knows how many others would have left as well, but for the fear of going against their vocation and of giving bad example.

*

For the rest, just to give an idea of the protests and complaints made (and still being made) by the Bishops of the Congregation, here are a few passages from letters written to myself. And I should point out that I am someone that many would fear to communicate all their thoughts to, because of the suspicions about me which certain influential confreres have thought fit to spread.

"In these remote countries we need to agree well among ourselves in order to get the affair of the Corps working better than they do". - Letter from a Vicar Apostolic, 10th February 1847.

"I am quite convinced that there would be something, and maybe many things, to be reformed among us." (From a Coadjutor Bishop, 14th July 1853).

"I deplore ... all the defects in the regulation of our Congregation, (p 69) and the infractions against it, especially in Paris. I also deplore the kind of omnipotence which Messrs les Directors usurp in many cases ... What is needed is a radical reform. Half measures will not do." (Another Vicar Apostolic, 19th August 1853·)·

Indeed, it seems to me, a mere reading of the Rule will be enough to show that what it contains is quite good, but that it is supremely defective in what it leaves out. For the moment I will just point out that it is prefaced by no approval from the Holy See. Even if that was all, are they being so extravagantly out of line, those of us who, before the signatures of Louis and Napoleon and their Ministers, would like to see the signature of the Sovereign Pontiff and the venerable Cardinals?. And can anyone fail to see, at the first reading, that this association is a body without a head, in the sense that there are as many heads as there are Vicars Apostolic, and that there is no machinery for them to arrive at agreed decisions? Another head exists in the Bureau of the Paris Seminary which, without being any higher than the others, often finds itself in the position, and almost in the necessity, of abusing its powers.

This is what everyone sees. This is the subject of continual protests from those who dare to speak out. For you have to be nice to the Paris Confreres. They have the new missionaries in their hand, and they can share them out to the various Missions as they please. The same with funds, even those coming from (p 70)the Propagation of the Faith. True, the administrative Bureau is obliged, from time to time, to give an account of income and expenditure to the Mission Superiors. But it is easy to see that this obligation is just an illusion, since there is no way for the Vicars Apostolic to have any control over these expenses. And the individual protests or complaints that each one can make will have no force, because of their distance and isolation.

*

But if they are all complaining more or less loudly, what means do they propose for getting out of this state of affairs? Out of all that I have heard and read on this point, I could not pick out even two opinions that coincided. And how could it (p 71) be otherwise? These problems are never treated except acciden-tally, in passing, by men dispersed over India, China, Indochina, Korea, Siam etc.! It can take two years to get a hurried and undiscussed reply. And there are other factors as well, easy to imagine. The S.C. alone has the means to get all these views together, and to pick out from them, perhaps, the best way towards a consensus. And if consensus is not possible, the S.C. could use its authority.

For, thanks be to God, I think I can assure you that, at this moment, everyone would cheerfully hurry to obey an autho-ritative decision from the Holy See. However, for the greater good, it would be better to avoid using this means unless it first became clear that there was no other way out of the state we are in.

I would therefore wish that the S.C. first obtain information and opinions from all the Superiors of the Foreign Missions Society in order to see : 1. to what extent they desire a reform; 2. what means seem best to them for producing a better state of things. Once in possession of these replies, an attempt could be made to co-ordinate, if possible, the resulting diverse ideas. Or one could search, in the peculiar nature of their contradictions, for the precise nature of the remedies, which the Holy See might (p 72) have to apply, by authority. And in the case that authority had to be used, I am convinced that it would be easy to bring the great majority (or even the unanimity) of the Society to ask for this themselves.

*I stop here, Most Eminent Lords. I repeat what I have implied from the beginning: that my fear of being personally an obstacle (rather than an instrument in the merciful hands of God) in all these matters has brought me (and still brings me) to ask again whether it would not be better that I just simply resign in silence and retirement.

God alone knows the heart-break and pain of all kinds that these problems have brought on me, from men that I like and respect - some of them I really venerate - while they have taken me to be an adversary, and one of the severe Superiors in our Congregation. Whereas myself, I merely want to be the defender of the simple truth, and to be a gentle father, not severe (God forbid) but evangelically and theologically kind and understanding towards those whose guidance was confided to me.

Now the prejudices against me have not stopped. So, instead of calm and friendly discussions, I have reason to fear that what will happen is bitter disputes, in which I will be represented and judged in a way that I certainly hope God will not judge me. Perhaps even now it has started, in the written replies you have received from my colleagues on the questions of the rites and customs in India.

Anyway I think that, personally, I am fairly indifferent about the judgments of men. God grant that, at my expense and at the expense of my reputation and peace of mind, some good may be affected on the missions! But if all I achieve is to stir up storms, after which everything will stay pretty much as it is today (apart from the storm damage) it would be much better to take myself off to some cave in the mountains.

[(88877773]

*

And to show my good faith in all this, to prove that I am guided only by my desire to help the Society of Foreign Missions - which I believe to be good and even excellent in its fundamental principles, very useful to the Church, to the Indian missions I love so much, and to the Missions in general, which I consider one of the principal works of the Church - I hereby undertake to keep silence on all these questions, or on any of them, if the S.C. decides it is better that I be silent. I am ready to withdraw immediately, either into solitude or into any work the Holy See wishes to confide to me, if the S.C. feels that the work of the missions is not for me, or that any motives other than supernatural ones are leading me in the representations that I am making.

Only one thing I cannot do: continue my present ministry in the present state of our missions. It is clear and proven to me personally that we are on a false and dangerous path. God may not enable me to convey this conviction into the minds of others. But as long as He leaves it in my own, how could I continue to proceed along that path with such awareness and such a conscience?

However, let us pursue this to the end, and suppose that my conscience is erroneous: that my eyes don't see straight; that instead of the confusion which I see, the absence of that admirable clarity given by the universal laws of the Church - from which we should never deviate except with trembling - suppose that in reality everything is in the kind of order required by the special circumstances in India. Suppose that a supreme authority so judges it and declares that it is I who am wrong, either over-all or in detail, and that I should place all my judgment under his, declaring that his own has been made with full knowledge of the case. In such a hypothesis I believe I can assure you that by the grace of God I would instantly submit. For I hope from the infinite Mercy of God that He will grant me the grace of persevering to the end in the purity of the Catholic Faith, and also in perfect submission to him who is the visible (p 74) Head on earth of the Holy, Catholic and Roman Church, in which I aim to live and die. Amen.

With profound respect, Most Eminent Lords,

I have the honour to be

Your Eminences' very humble and obedient servant,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, Bp. of Pruse,

V.A. of Coimbatore.

Rome, 24th June 1854

(p 75)

ADDITION TO PART I

Noticing that the first Part of my Report could possibly be considered by some persons to have tendencies towards certain opinions not in conformity with those of the Roman theolo-gians, I thought it better to sum up my thesis so that it can more easily be grasped as a whole. I oppose those opinions, which God gave me the grace to reject as soon as my theological studies enabled me to recognise what Gallicanism is. Gallicanism! I hold it to be an error, and I regard it as one of the principal causes of the misfortunes that have poured on France since the century of Louis XIV.

*

More than ten years spent on the Indian missions have demonstrated to me that there exists an unbelievable mental confusion about many points, especially the rites and customs of those peoples. This confusion shows itself daily in outward acts. It is paralysing the apostolic ministry, troubling many consciences, discouraging excellent missionaries, and pushing away the Indians considerably from our holy and admirable Religion. Must things be left to drift like this? If the evil times require so, I tremble and adore the inscrutable designs of God. But my heart could not bear to look on idly at this tragic spectacle. I beg the S.C. to please try its best to end this state of things.

(p 76)

If it is desired that I set out what I know about the causes of this confusion and the means that I think might be able to end it, God forbid I should refuse. It would be a very painful and difficult work, but it comes under the duties of my vocation. And, thank God, it is not the effort of the work that I am afraid of. That is what has given rise to my Report, which is far from including everything which has to be said on these grave questions, far too grave to be treated in few words or in a short time. I beg the S.C. to patiently weigh what has been said in this Report, and to elicit from the other evangelising workers the explanations, verbal or written, which are still required.

*

In my Report I maintain (among other things) that it would be very useful to allow a frank and free discussion on the policy to which a great number of evangelising workers tend, i.e. to more or less ignore or go back on what was done at the time of Cardinal de Tournon's Decree. I ask the S.C. to please believe me that this is not in any way due to a spirit of opposition. Rather, I am led to it: 1. by the desire to end, once and for all, the doubt (held by many) about the necessity, imposed on us by this Decree, of behaving towards the Indians with a severity which many believe could be dispensed with. 2. By the desire of at last reaching a united attitude among all the evangelising workers, whatever is the final conclusion of the discussion.

Acting directly like this, and under the direction of the Holy See, we would, I think, escape many dangers. For the present system is one that we are following every day, indirectly or on our own personal responsibility, by action or in writing. It has occasioned certain publications. It has been the basis of certain practical interpretations. And it makes us yearn with the desire, so clearly and so often manifested in those countries, of one day seeing ourselves liberated from an Oath which, rightly or wrongly, is troubling our consciences.

(p 77)

And at the same time consciences are tormented from another direction. For it is evident to many, and to me personally, that in practice, while apparently observing the decrees of the Holy See, we are often deviating if not from the letter at least from the spirit of the law. Anyway we are tolerating a whole crowd of practices not prohibited by name in Cardinal de Tournon's decree, among them many which are very dubious and, in my eyes, very probably superstitious. I have given an account of those practices. And I ask the S.C. to believe that I have in no way exaggerated. But as it is fair that It should not believe me alone, I beg it to please inform itself in every possible way about the present state of things under every heading. It would obtain this information, I believe, through the double series of Ques-tions that I have formulated, by putting them not only to the Vicars Apostolic but also to several missionaries situated in the relevant Missions.

*

So I ask the S.C. to please believe me that it is in order to act in perfect accord with the Holy See, in order that everything be done with the Holy See and by the Holy See, that I am proposing the discussion of certain propositions, some of which may seem at first glance to be out of line with the respect due to the Holy See's judgments. (Literally: the respect due to the thing judged. –Tr.)

However, if anything in my Report is really lacking in the respect due to the Holy See, I retract it immediately. But before rejecting it I would ask the S.C. to please take note of it and to have its terms weighed by its theologians.

*

Without in any way deviating from that respect: if some of my proposals seem to lean too much in favour of the poor (p 78) Indians, and if these proposals are improbable (but containing some feeble elements of probability) I beg the S.C. to allow a discussion of them. Maybe the discussion will result in an increased probability, for the salvation of many.

A.M.D.G.

I disavow and retract anything in my Report to the S.C. of Propaganda, given on the 24th June of this year, or in my other writings, which might give the impression that I am asking for the revision, properly so called, of the Constitution of Bene-dict XIV "Omnium Sollicitudinem".

Rome, 16th August 1854

\+ M.M.J. de M. Brésillac, Bp. of Pruse,

V.A. of Core.
(p 79)

DOCUMENT 2: MY THOUGHTS ON THE MISSIONS

I. Mother Church, my mother! Holy Church - Catholic, Apostolic, Roman - only true Church of Jesus Christ! From my tenderest years you have been the dearest object of my thoughts. The burning passions of my adolescence gave way to one only passion: to love you and to devote myself to your glory. May my mature years be no less devoted than the springtime of my life! Until the end, are thou my one driving ambition on earth. How I long to see the whole world subject to you! But the greater part still does not know how sweet it is to obey you.

(p 80)

2. If, like Saint Bernard, I had the joy of seeing one of my disciples seated on the throne of Saint Peter, and if I was permitted to give him advice, I would say to him: Holy Father, always have a terrestrial globe placed prominently in the room you frequent the most. Spin it at least three times a day and ask yourself, as each country comes round: Today, have I done everything in my power for the advancement of Religion in that land, on these mountains, islands, deserts?

3. And if the voice of a younger son in the Holy Catholic Family might be graciously heard by his elder brothers in the episcopate, the venerable Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, I would give the same advice to them. The other Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church would not need a complete globe. Unfortunately!

4. The Missions have always existed. And, under one form or another, they will always exist, until the end of the world.

5. According to the ways established in the order of grace, missionaries are so 'useful everywhere that it may be said they are everywhere necessary. Nevertheless, in the work of sancti-fying souls, they should everywhere be only auxiliary. Unhappy the country where the voice of a missionary is never heard. But still unhappy is the country that has only missionaries to look at .

(p 81)

6. What is a missionary? He is a man sent (by the Bishop or the Sovereign Pontiff) to work extra-ordinarily at that part of the apostolic ministry which the efforts of the ordinary ministry, however great, could hardly ever cope with.

7. This truth is fairly generally understood in the Catholic countries but is hardly grasped at all in the countries that are mostly pagan; there, almost all the priests are called "missiona-ries" and they call themselves so; although in actual fact they are not missionaries.

*

8. Theophilus: I am a missionary, and an apostolic missionary at that! For I am a member of a Society exclusively devoted to the Missions ... My superiors gave me the title when they ordered me to leave my country and go to preach the Gospel on foreign shores.

Marion Brésillac: Let us understand each other, Theophilus. Believe me; I don't want to diminish either your merit or the glory of your sacrifice - if you still cling to that glory. As your friend I would advise you to renounce it, just as you renounced all the other glories which you so courageously left behind. However legitimate this glory seems, it could make it awkward (p 82) for climbing to Heaven. You are a missionary, that is to say you have the title of it, and maybe the privileges. Agreed. But what are you actually doing in the portion confided to you in our common Lord and Master's vineyard?

*

9. Th: Listen. And don't think it is my vanity talking. I would love to shed my blood for Jesus Christ. Sometimes I look with envious eye on my luckier confreres who have the honour of fighting in the front lines and are fortunate enough to flyaway to Heaven with the palm of martyrdom! Alas, Heaven did not find me worthy to share their happy lot!

There were three of us, together, who bade an everlasting farewell to the land of France. From three very different parts of our well-beloved Fatherland, we had met as if by chance- but in reality led by the hand of God - at the Foreign Missions Seminary. It was at the time when French blood was shed with impunity by Minh-mang's barbarous knife. You know how many generous vocations grew up and blossomed then, enri-ched by the generous blood of those noble Frenchmen.

The weakness and impiety of our Government, whose heads at least call themselves Catholic, and yet lets its noblest sons be slaughtered with impunity, abandoning its rights and its honour with an undignified cowardice that makes it betray its most sacred duties - all this only further inflamed the zeal of the generous defenders of our ancient Faith. I can say this, I feel, with a noble pride, for the purest of French blood is still surging in my veins. Even if your severity makes it out to be a crime, I cannot but speak out the inmost feelings of my heart. And when I have (all too often) to hide my face in shame for France, or even to blush (almost) with shame for being French, I am soon able to raise my head again with some honest pride. For I then recall that noble band of brave Christians that I was given to (p 83) know - for all too short a time - in that sanctuary of courage and honour that is called the Foreign Missions Seminary. Again and again I go back there in spirit. And when I consider that community - short-lived for each individual but continually renewed by a succession of new athletes whose glorious num-bers seem to increase with the governmental shame of our dear country - I draw myself up again and I can say without blushing: I am a Frenchman.

The shame should not fall on France! Let it all stick to the unrepresentative minority that wants to drag the name of France in the mud (may they not succeed!) by despising its beliefs, materializing its laws, corrupting its people. Pardon me this long digression. But what do you expect? It's what I feel in my guts. I cannot keep from tears when the name of France comes to my lips - which have almost forgotten its language - when that slur on her honour is revealed to my heart, which has never let go any of its patriotic sentiments...

MB: Continue, Theophilus. Your sentiments are generous.

But, Theophilus, how far they are from those of a true mis-sionary!

TH: What! Do the noble functions of a missionary have to strangle the generous feelings of a true patriot? But that would be an immense fault, and the world would justly accuse him for it.

MB: The world, yes, Theophilus. But we ought not to be of this world. But continue, Theophilus, I do not aim to trouble you, much less discourage you! All I want to do is just to demonstrate to you that you are not a missionary.

TH: But you crush me entirely! Wasn't it to be a missionary that I abandoned my elderly father, that I swallowed my sobbing lest I add to the tears of my pious mother, that I made all kinds of sacrifices? And the only compensation I want for it all is the cherished thought that I am a missionary.

MB: Go back to when you were leaving France, Theophilus. (p 84)Since then, the ship must surely have had time to lose sight of the coast of France, which you are never to see again.

TH: No indeed. I am to see it no more! That sacrifice is made. And if it was to be made again I would not hesitate. For the Lord is still giving me the grace (although unworthy) of loving my vocation above all things.

MB: That's good, Theophilus. Ask God to persevere in that grace to the end. [But what work have you been doing on the missions?]

TH: After staying some time at Pondichery to learn the Tamil language, I was sent by my Bishop into the interior of the Mission territory. The day of my departure was a red-letter day for me. I regarded it as the first day of my missionary career.

MB: And what did you do in your district?

TH: I baptized, heard confessions, preached. I tried, in short, to carry out as well as I could all the functions of the sacred ministry for a great many Christians dispersed over a radius of 8 to 10 leagues.

MB: Well, Theophilus, what were you being then? You were being a parish priest the pastor of those poor souls for whom you were exercising the ordinary ministry; only too imperfectly to be able to hope that you got many of them into Heaven. And after that?

TH: A little while afterwards I was called in to teach a class in the Seminary.

MB: Very well. You were then being a professor.

TH: Then the Bishop put me in charge of a lay College. I must say I found it quite hard to decide to accept that job, for I regarded it as going astray from my vocation as a missionary. The Bishop assured me that I would remain essentially a missionary by directing this establishment, which was so useful (p 85) to the common good of his Vicariate Apostolic. The Lord gave me the grace to understand this. And the joy that He has graciously kept in my soul ever since is a guarantee that I really am in the line of my vocation. If you were to prove the contrary to me, you would throw my soul into great trouble and discouragement!

MB: I would beware of doing that, Theophilus. On the contrary, I believe quite sincerely that you are perfectly within your vocation, that you will do a lot of good, and that you will save your soul as a college Principal, just as well as when you were a pastor or a teacher. What I recommend you to do is just to ask God for the grace of your [real] state. Also to remember that you will have to give an account to God about the work He has actually called you to do, and not about the work that you have only the title of.

*

10. TH: Does a Mission need to have many missionaries?

11. MB: No. If in a Mission there is a sufficient number of native priests to fulfill the functions of the ordinary ministry towards the already existing Christians, two or three true missionaries will suffice for a very extensive Mission. If there is not the sufficient number of native priests, this in itself does not call for more missionaries. But there will be a need for more pastors, professors, chaplains - people having the right spirit for the various works that are essential for the existence of any Church, even a new-born one.

12. TH: Why all these abstract distinctions? Isn't it a mere playing with words?

MB: Very far from it. Because words enclose a thought. And when the dominant thought of our life, the one which becomes the first mover of all our actions, is expressed by an inexact word, it is a huge misfortune.

13. A priest who is called a missionary, without being one in fact, will ordinarily be a very poor pastor, although a pastor is what he really is.

(p 86)

14. TH: If they had told me I was going to be just a parish priest in India or Tibet, I would never have left my home.

MB: That is true. But why so? Because you have not thought out an exact idea of things.

TH: To be a parish priest, all I had to do was stay in my own diocese.

MB: Yes. But in order to be a pastor in places where there are no pastors, to save souls that would be lost without your pastoral ministry - to be a pastor where and how the Lord wants you to be one - that took nothing less than the generous sacrifice of your native land. Be glad and rejoice, and do not envy the lot of the man who is more really a missionary. He will have no greater merit than yourself.

15. The title of "missionary" and especially "apostolic mis-sionary" should be as scarce as it is now common. Priests who sacrifice their natural position to work in countries more or less pagan should just be called "Priests of the Foreign Missions". And according to their particular vocation in those countries, they should take more realistic titles - which are just as precious, at least when the other is so general - the titles "parish priest", "director", "chaplain" and so on. They would lose nothing by it - neither in sacrifice, nor in merit, nor in their actual work. In fact they would gain by it, and so would the people, in that they would work better to make themselves worthy of their real vocation.

(p 87)

16. Do you want to be perfect on the missions, Theophilus? Enter the Association which God lets you know as being the most suitable for the impulse of grace on your soul. Do not plan any particular projects before you arrive in the country that the Lord is calling you to. And when you get there, let yourself be known just as you are, and give yourself over without reserva-tion to the Bishop, who shall answer before God for all the souls in his Mission. Have confidence that the post which is then confided to you will be the one that God is calling you to. And whatever ministry you are given, try to really understand the nature of it, so as to fulfill its functions well.

17· TH: Happy the real missionary! Happy the glo-rious confessor! Happy the generous martyr!

MB: And I say: Happy is the one marches and who stays where the Lord calls him!

18.TH: How I wish I were in Tonkin, or Japan! And me on the real ( 8 b )missions, in peace of mind. And me preaching to the gentiles! And...

(p 88)

MB: Imperfection! Imperfection! Remember there is only one right place for you on the earth. The Lord has fixed it from all eternity. Don't be wanting any other.

19. Desires for greater sacrifices, more sufferings, more dangers - these are good and praiseworthy. Even if they were never to come true, they are still the sign of a soul filled with the love of God, burning to be used up for His glory. Sometimes they are the impulse of the Spirit of God, drawing us like that towards the end He has in mind. Often they can indicate to Superiors what kind of place would be best suited to him who is devoured by a holy love of the Cross. However, take care, Theophilus! If these desires are making you lose your peace of soul, if you feel discouragement taking hold of you, if you are neglecting this perfect work, the one you are at present placed in charge of, for the sake of that other "more perfect" one which your desires are drawing you towards - then, however good those desires, they are coming more from nature than from grace. They can become a weapon against you in the hand of the devil.

20. The virtues of the priest on the missions are not other than those of the priest in generally Christian countries. They just need a degree more perfection.

*

21. Many missionaries imagine they don't have much need to study theology, much less canon law. It is a big mistake.

22. Beware, Theophilus, of the theological trends which have, perhaps, already over-influenced your moral and practical opinions, following the more or less laudable customs of your native country. Try your best to grasp the universal meaning and spirit of the laws of the Church.

23. Just as particular practices have come in to almost all the Christian countries, so also, Theophilus some will necessarily come in to the new churches on the missions. Learn to foresee this and not to be surprised at it; in order to steer them better if they do not yet exist; and in order not to be scandalized at them if they are not in conformity with what you are used to.

(p 89)

24. If you were born in France, be very cautious against the practices peculiar to France. If you were born in Spain, beware of the peculiarly Spanish ones. Get away from all these peculia-rities and keep the Church of Rome always before your eyes, in order to bring everything round to its customs but always gently, without ever jolting people.

*

25. The same plant, under different climates, takes on diverse forms and appearances. The horticulture has to be always adapted to the temperature of the air and the nature of the soil. You must not expect the same taste in the fruits which the plant produces at different positions on the globe. Church of my God, you are that wondrous vine whose mysterious shoots must take root in all places in the world. These shoots, grafted on to the main trunk nourished by the blood of a God on Calvary, will have the same nature and the same essential properties wherever they grow. But beware, reckless missio-nary, of reaching with unmeasured zeal for the French (or Portuguese) vine-grower's pruning knife. Beware, above all, of despising its fruits just because they do not seem to taste as sweet as the ones you used to harvest in gentle Italy. You would soon make the vine sterile, and you would run the risk of despising the very work of the Holy Spirit himself.

(p 90)

26. Among the particular customs of Churches, there are some which are so much in line with local character and conditions that they are, in a sense, necessary; others are morally indifferent; many are abuses, but reformable. The first should be carefully and intelligently preserved; the second respected; the last corrected little by little, but with prudence. On the missions, Theophilus, this prudence, respect, intelli-gence are more necessary, and also more difficult. Believe me; do not risk modifying any custom without having thought it over many times, nor without consulting the Lord, asking Him first of all to free you from the prejudices of your own country.

27. Defective customs creep in, as it were, by themselves; and the less care the particular Church is getting, the easier they get in. So don't be surprised, Theophilus, to find such a great lot of them on the missions - churches which can hardly yet be given the name of church at all, since ecclesiastical hierarchy and discipline are so weak there, or non-existent. Even in the better organized churches such customs never completely disappear. Or, usually, when they do disappear, it is only to make way for other ones.

28. Indifferent customs are usually the ones which harmonies the best with the particular genius of the peoples. It is therefore very dangerous to combat them. And we should be all the more cautious of doing so because our tendency is to replace them with others more acceptable to our own tastes. These may be indifferent in our home countries, but they can often become dangerous in a mission country, where they would be just as foreign as we are ourselves.

29. Indifferent customs at first appear blameworthy to a foreigner seeing them for the first time. But naturalize yourself to the country and you will soon find them less shocking. Perhaps you will end up by finding them laudable. Anyway, you will certainly come to repent if you have imprudently condemned them.

30. Particular customs of the kind I call "necessary" to the (p 91) Churches should be religiously respected if they exist. If they do not yet exist and it's a question of introducing some, this will require as much prudence as piety, joined to a deep understan-ding of the character of the people. Moreover, Theophilus, never take a practical initiative on this without consulting Rome.

31. There is never any real danger in introducing the cus-toms of Rome. But there might be danger in the timing. Wait a few years and you will sometimes get good results from introducing a custom which would be dangerous to attempt right away.

32. Work it in such a way that you never introduce something that goes against the grain of the people, but rather bring the people to desire what you are wanting to introduce. Let them be convinced that you are doing them a favour and doing them good when you start it off.

*

33. TH : How hard it is to be a good priest! Harder to be a good pastor! And harder still to be a good missionary!

34. MB: Work out an exact idea of things. Sweeping generalizations, exaggerations, enthusiasms - even the noble passions of the heart - can become traps in the work of the missions!

35. let us very careful not to demand too much perfection.

This can be very imprudent here, and produce more harm than excessive kindness or condescension.

36. I often hear the more or less outspoken adversaries of a local clergy quoting Saint Paul. "Non neophytos", they say. (p 92) But what is a neophyte? Look up the exact definition of the theologians. I will accept that and will shout as well "non neophytes". And anyway, was Saint Paul talking about the ordination of priests or of bishops.

37. I don't know which type of missionary is the most dangerous, whether the man with great charity but no pru-dence, or the one whose great prudence leads him to sin against charity.

38. What faults! What faults! Lack of study and of know-how.

39. I see many missionaries who are talented men. A fairly big number are even learned in some subjects. Many are very good at dialectic; they easily win in arguments. They are well able to stand up for the Catholic faith, sometimes with elo-quence and nearly always with solid logic. But I see hardly any who know parish administration, still less how to run a diocese. And it is a pity to see how many serious things are neglected, falsified, invalidated, by this ignorance!

40. The Church is lacking a Code of laws - short, clear, exact and totally reliable.

41. Sometimes a sort of dream comes to me. I see a great Pope taking in the whole globe in one sweeping gaze; it looks no bigger than an apple in his hands. He questions each place, smiling at each Church like a good father; and they all reply with acclamation. He is making detailed regulations for the universal Church and all the particular churches.

42. In another dream this same Pontiff stopped at me. He was discouraged because he could see that the ordinance he was (p 93) going to make would have the same fate as those of his predecessors. In vain were they dressed up in "perpetual" clauses. A few short years later they were modified, altered, replaced, and forgotten. Which one of them could last even two centuries in practice, everywhere? And he said to me: "My brother, what do I have to do to make my work endure?" I answered like a child no doubt; but anyway this is what I told him: "Holy Father, do not look for the impossible. Laws necessarily have to change, because men change and the times change. That is not the trouble. The trouble is that they change by mere erosion, often without the sanction of the competent authority, etc. Furthermore, there are very few laws that can be made universal, because the world is too varied. So, make very few universal laws. Make many particular ones, but still very few for each particularity. And don't call any of them 'perpetual' except the ones that come from the Apostles and so can never be changed".

This beginning did not displease him. "There is a lot in what you say", he said, "but how can it be put into practice? Above all, how can so many points, not yet well understood, be regulated wisely? I am thinking of a General Council, but I fear it may not answer to my views. What do you think?"

"Holy Father, a General Council, in my opinion, would do very little good on this matter. Up to now, anyway, General Councils have been "general" according to law and the canons, but they have never really represented the generality of the Christian churches; and their "general" laws have never been feasible everywhere. Particular laws have never come out of that. "

\- "So what do you think is needed?"

"Holy Father, set up a General Congregation composed of three learned Cardinals and a sufficient number of Doctors, experts in Roman laws and ordinances. Have them produce a (p 94) preparatory work, not taking more than three or four years. During that time, quietly find out, in each country, which Bishop would be best able to understand and help your plans, and order him to come to Rome at a given time: one French, one English, one Spanish, one from each distinctly characterized nation in Europe; at least five or six from Asia, including one (at least) from India, one from China, one from the persecuted countries; at least three or four from Africa (with at least one non-Mediterranean); seven or eight from America; and a few others from the Islands.

Once they have all arrived at the feet of Your Holiness, order them to compose a Code of laws, as short as possible, to be the most substantial expression of all that has been legislated since Saint Peter and which has the best chance of lasting. You will then notify the whole of Christendom that, ten years after the publication of their work, it will become strictly obligatory for 100 years, over the whole universe, under pain of being cut off from the Holy Catholic Church.

The first Article will abrogate all previously existing laws, privileges etc. Consequently, those who want to preserve their own will have to write to the Holy See, which will give a ruling on each before the ten years are up. Furthermore, during those ten years, each Bishop will have to do a similar job in his own diocese with the help of three or four learned and pious men: a local code of laws conforming to the new general Code and to the needs of his church. Otherwise he will cease to be Bishop and will be replaced. This local code can contain dispensations from the general laws. After the approval of the Holy See it will be binding for that diocese, for the same period (100 years). Every preceding law will be totally annulled. They will become mere historical documents, shedding light, as precedents, on similar cases not covered by the new laws. The interpretation of these will be left to each Bishop in a particular case; but no interpretation can be made into a law for the others; authentic interpretation to be by the Holy See alone. Ninety years later, the same work will have to be started again, using the various interpretations made, the subsequent rulings of Rome etc.

By this method, one will be able to know where he stands. (p 95) The decrees of Rome, the new laws, the authentic interpreta-tions, will not be so numerous or far-fetched that someone can't easily get to know them. And the particular interpretations of the Bishops will cover all the practical cases on the spot. Consciences will be at peace and the religious world will be orderly."

43. It will soon be time for the Pope to break free from human [political] powers and take the liberty of command which he holds from God but which is being blocked by men.

44. Who knows all the laws, ordinances, decrees that exist? Who knows when and how they have been revoked? Even at Rome, do they know? I doubt it.

45· Either declare that those laws no longer exist; or else, if they exist, make people observe them!

45 bis. It is a great misfortune that Bishops so far away from Rome do not have all the ordinary powers of Bishops. I t is a worse misfortune that they have so many extra-ordinary powers, and so extensive.

46. Is it possible to make the Bishop the real Ordinary of the place? Do not delay, but do it. Would there still be grave inconveniences in making him immovable, and a real Bishop? Or leave him still with another name and with immovability; but let his obligations and powers be as near as possible to an Ordinary's. And let each and every exception to common law be clearly indicated in the powers given to that Bishop, and never in vague generalities.

(p 96)

47. I think it is generally agreed and recognized nowadays that the heresiarch Luther would not have been blameworthy, and would perhaps have been rendering some service to the Church, if he had confined himself to respectful protests against the then all-too-common abuses of indulgences. So could one not hold that, today as then, there are many abuses on this point - although different in nature - and request the Holy See to remedy them? Which I say under a two-fold fear.

48. It is an immense advantage, for a priest on the missions, to have exercised the sacred ministry for some time before leaving for far-off countries.

49. I have never understood how they could send out priests of 24-25 years to the missions.

50. "But he's such a pious young man, so devoted, so certain of his vocation!". Pious, devoted, I grant you. But can you really count on a piety that has been grown in the seminaries like a hot-house plant? Devotion is common enough at 25 years of age. But certainty he has not, and cannot have as yet.

51. The Gospel is not the work of a man. It needs no other proof than this : that it is fitting for all times, all places, all societies. The most imperfect society will accept it without fear, because the Gospel does not blast its imperfections. It will manage with them. Without accepting them as good enough for its own unchanging standards, it will adapt to them. The most perfect societies will welcome the Gospel with admiration, because it is more perfect than they are. But, given enough time, the accepting society will modify and perfect itself more and more. Then the imperfections of the other societies will become more hideous. Does that mean they have got worse than before?

(p 97)

No. And someone who lands into one of these societies, like an isolated projectile launched across the seas from inside a society long Christianized, will he now be authorized to say that the Gospel condemns such-and-such a custom which has long ceased elsewhere, but which the Gospel has suffered through for centuries? Above all, will he be authorized to smash the imperfections of a whole people and to harden his heart against them in the name of the Gospel, on the grounds that such-and such a practice is incompatible with the spirit of that Divine code? Patience! Patience! The spirit of the Gospel is, before all else, a spirit of kindness and gentleness!

*

52. How easy it is to persuade ourselves that we are ready, like the Apostle, to become all things to all men. Let's bring it to the test. As long as the faults of those around us are of the kind we are familiar with, yes. But let us find ourselves in the midst of a people that never thinks like us, nor speaks like us, nor walks like us, nor eats like us, nor deceives like us, nor lies like us - which does nothing, good, bad or indifferent, in the same way as we do - how very few are those who can then honestly say: Omnibus omnia factus sum utomnes salvos faciam. Even the most pious forget, sometimes, that these men are their brothers, and that he who says to his brother "Raca" (fool) is worthy of Gehenna!

*

53. You are all alone, you say. This isolation overwhelms you. I admit it can be a most terrible trial. It must be, because the complaint is so general. But, in the last analysis, I do not understand it really. You have ten thousand Christians in your district and you are alone! - Yes, but they are other. - Well they won't be other if you make yourself like to them.

(p 98)

54. If -not only in doctrine but also in personal conduct and things of counsel - we had always, without dodging, followed the directions of Rome, the missions would not be in the mess they are in today. "And can Rome not make mistakes in those details?" I won't go into that. But if it was nothing else but the strength that unity would have given, it is easy to see that we would be better off. At least we would not still be at the stage, in various parts of the world, of asking what to think about such-and-such contradictory principles, after centuries of fruitless apostolate.

55. It is supremely regrettable that, up to now, the Sovereign Pontiff could not actively oversee the Missions in person.

56. Instituting the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda was an inspiration from heaven. But it does not suffice.

57. Rome is far, far away. But would it be impossible for it to draw nearer to all the Churches?

58. The invention of applying steam to navigation seems to have greatly diminished distances. Yes indeed, we have less to complain of than our predecessors. But doubling speed is not all gain, because it brings redoubled activity in all spheres, which requires more effort than before, merely to keep up and to achieve the same target. Rome is still very far away.

*

59. It is very remarkable that those who are the most demanding about the perfection of native ecclesiastics are generally the most imperfect of missionaries themselves.

60. I always hear "those priests are imperfect!" And why do you require that they be as perfect as the perfect in Europe?

61. A native priest with much less perfection than a Euro-pean priest will do infinitely more good in his own land than the foreigner.

62. The native priest often has perfections that hardly impress us at all, because they are related to customs which we dislike. And some of his imperfections, which revolt us and would scandalize our home Christians, are in fact very excusable and do not shock the people he is born among in the least.

*

63. The character of a nation, with all its spread of grada-tions, will be found inside any given group or category of its citizens whatsoever.

64. In every aggregation of people you will find a few perfect: those who go straight for the aim they were united or chosen for. There will be a few bad types: those who go against the aim they should be working for. And there will be a great number of imperfect people: those who, without denying their aim will work only carelessly for it, and will sometimes even go against it, when this would help their personal interests. If you put very great care into picking and composing a particular group, you can make the last two sections (bad and imperfect) less numerous. But that's about all you can hope to achieve.

If society can get on without a particular category of people, you could not be too strict in its recruitment; for if it turns out bad it will be more of a hindrance than a help to society. But if society cannot get on without it, then you have to beware of demanding too much perfection in it; for you would run the risk of making it impossible. So what to do? First of all aim at making it exist; and then take all practicable means to make it also the least bad that is possible.

Such essential categories are the Clergy in the Church and the Army in a State. A ruler can disband a particular army corps (p 100) which no longer answers to the purpose for which it was created? But he would be crazy if he did not carefully renew the over-all strength of his army. He would cease to be king and his country cease to be a free people, the day he ran out of soldiers. And a Church without priests will equally cease to exist. Better a defective clergy than none at all.

65. You have demanded not only that each individual should have a relative degree of perfection, but also that the clergy as a body should be perfection itself, and with a particular kind of perfection similar to your Own. Then it turns out you haven't been able to make any priests. What's surprising about that?

66. The perfection of a clergy has to be related to the evangelical perfection of the society it belongs to. Now you admit that such and such a people are not capable of evangelical perfection, at least from the start. For them, you would be satisfied with the bare minum. So why do you want their priests to be more perfect than what the Church in Europe is satisfied with?

67. You want the native priests to be unconcerned about money and you do not work at ensuring their welfare with a revenue that is fixed and not dependent on your charity. You want them to be obedient and you give them no guarantee of the justness of your commands. You want them to be humble and you humiliate them by keeping yourself always above them. You want them to be mortified men and you demand that they renounce the customs of their own country. Impose conditions like that on the clergy of any nation in Europe and you will soon see whether the ranks of the clergy will be well or poorly filled.

68. One of the great misfortunes of the missions during the last two centuries is having neglected to create benefices.

(p 101)

69· you want all the native priests to be missionaries as well. Better come out straight and say you don't want native priests.

*

70. It would be very good if there were religious among the native priests, provided it was not made into a necessary condition either directly or indirectly, by making it practi-cally impossible for them to become priests in any other way. Moreover, no Order in charge of a particular Mission should be permitted to enrol clerics from that Mission under any pretext whatsoever. The same should apply to every Missionary Society whether religious or secular.

*

7 I. Can any man answer for himself right to the end? The most perfect would beware of claiming it, or even thinking it. So what of a Society or Congregation? Why then get annoyed over such-and-such a preventative measure, saying "It's putting the missionaries under a suspicion". And why not?

(p 102)

72. Before the Council of Trent, seminaries were almost unknown. Their establishment was one of the most valuable things brought in by that Council. But let us not rush to the opposite extreme by imagining that seminaries are absolutely necessary, just because they may be necessary for us Europeans.

73. In the present state of France it seems good and even better not to ordain any young man except those who have done many years in a seminary. I don't want to go into the question: is that too extreme? But we are not in France; we are on the missions. And it could be that, in many cases, seminaries are neither automatically sufficient nor at all times necessary. What is necessary is to make priests.

74. As soon as ever you can, set up seminaries on the missions. But do not wait for that before starting to make priests.

*

75. To be a good missionary, is it necessary to know the language of the country? No. Is it very useful? Yes. If someone neglected to learn it, would he be free of blame? Generally speaking, no. If someone couldn't learn it, should he therefore think he is not in the right vocation? No. Knows the language the first qualification of a missionary? No. In short: Knowing the language is the first accessory qualification. Only by accident can it become essential.

*

76. I would wish that after two years a missionary, even a religious, should always be allowed to return home. And every (p 103) Mission Superior should have the authority to declare to a subject, after his first two years on the missions, that he would do more good in his home country.

77. Apart from some chosen persons on whom grace operates directly, moral perfection needs to be based on intelligence. And this is still more true of the moral perfection of a people. Do not demand so much perfection from peoples who have less intelli-gence.

*

78. It is a mighty curious thing to observe what Europeans say and write about the Equality of Man, and then to see them in action afterwards. You laugh at the castes. You jeer at the ridiculous observances of the Brahmins. Alas, come and see, right here! Do you know who the most caste-proud people in India are? It's the Europeans. And, among the Europeans, it's the English.

79. The European priests are not immune from this same malady of pride. They are caste-proud too.

80. How hard it is for a white man to recognize the black man for his brother!

81. Why are you afraid to introduce the young [Indian] cleric to all branches of human knowledge? As regards the ecclesias-tical sciences, it's your plain duty. As for the others, let us impose no limit except those imposed by time and intelligence.

82. "If the native priests learn about everything, they will be scandalized at times. And, more often than not, they will misuse their knowledge". - Yes, at times. But ignorance is something still worse. It, too, has its abuses. And it makes a native clergy, properly so called, impossible.

83. "If the native priests found themselves as well educated as the Europeans, they would become proud and they wouldn't obey us any more". As to pride, let's not talk of it. You will find (p 104) some of it at all times and places. But I do not see why they would obey any less. Unless you mean that they will get to know their rights, and so will exercise them and will end up by taking our place. But it is right reason that will bring them to that. And reason should make us want the same, if we were humble.

*

84. Where is the Society that is honestly ready, at the first signal, cheerfully to leave the Mission that it has received from Rome, and to leave it in the hands of another Society or a native Bishop? Humility, where are you?

85. "But is it just that a Society should lose to another group all the advances it has made, with all its buildings, establish-ments, etc?". - What? With whose money were these advances made? Wasn't it from the collection of alms? For whom? Isn't it for the Church? For the communities, for the Christians, who will still be there? And you say you 'lose' them. How? Because another Society will benefit from them? But isn't that Society, like yours, a member of the one great Catholic family? Won't it be working for the same objectives as yourself? Maybe you believe it won't do things as well. What's happened to your humility?

86. Oh, how I reject the word "our Mission" or "the Mission of our Fathers"! Is there something on the missions that is really "yours" or "ours"?

87. You take pride in the fact that your Society has been in possession of such-and-such a Mission for centuries. Strange pride! Isn't it more like a shame to you?

*

88. Young man, you desire to be a missionary. Test yourself. Test yourself. Piety is sometimes impetuous. The Spirit of God is not always the only one that drives people to generous resolves. Potential vice can develop very fast in the wilderness of the mind and heart.

(p 105)

89. How many young men there are who greatly desire to do good as long as they are not into the work, but who do very badly once they have used up their shallow virtue in fighting their first temptations.

90. Generally speaking, I can hardly understand how people can go on the missions before the age of 30, especially if they are not religious.

91. "But in that case there will be very few missionaries". - Yes, indeed. But what is needed is few and good ones.

92. Religious societies can employ more subjects on the missions than secular societies without getting into the same amount of trouble. Nevertheless, in both cases, a big number of missionaries is a big misfortunate.

93. A young man just out of the seminary, without going through the trials of life, and heading for the missions, inspires more fears in me than hope.

94. You fear for the virtue of chastity, Theophilus, in those burning countries, so far away from the daily supports which maintain fervour. I also fear for you. But I fear still more that you may become light-headed, impetuous, irritable, over-confi-dent in yourself etc. The virtue of chastity, though there are a few shipwrecks at times, is the least likely of all to perish.

95. It is said that a European who is choleric by nature learns to become patient out here; and that the one who was full of patience loses it. Which is probably why I see so many angry missionaries?

96. I am always hearing about "the ingratitude of these peoples!" And what do they owe us, in the final analysis? Anyway, is it to be rewarded in this world that we do our work?

97. Ah! How few Societies there are in the Church that has not deviated from their foundation! On the missions as every-where else.

(p 106)

98. The remote Churches are more exposed to schism than to heresy. The fear of this is well-founded, and it notably slows down the work of solidly forming the churches on the missions. There is something to be done by Rome on this point.

99. The farther away a Church is from the centre of unity the more rigorously should that wise law of the Church be observed which commands the Bishop to go to Rome at pre-determined times. Especially if these Bishops were indigenous.
(p 107)

DOCUMENT 3: INDIA: A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION

With some of the Causes for its slow propagation in this unhappy country, the importance of finally Remedying them, the Difficulties there are in overcoming them, the Hope that still remains, the Means to be taken, etc.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.

Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

*

(p 108)

If anyone reads this document before I have issued it, I ask him to consider that, jotting down my thoughts Just as they came to me, intending to revise them afterwards and correct them according as experience will prove necessary, It may well be that I do not approve myself of everything that is found here. If there is anything good, let the reader attribute it to God. If there is anything bad, let him pray for the one who had the weakness to put it there.

J.M.J.

I A GLANCE AT THE HISTORY OF MISSION IN INDIA

I am not going to attempt a history of Religion in India from the introduction of Christianity up to our days. I will merely recall that Saint Thomas brought the Faith there even before the servants of Jesus had first received the dear name of "Christians" at Antioch. He formed the first and the best of all the Christian communities in India. It still exists and maintains itself under the name of "Nazarene" which the Apostle first gave them. Moreover, at various times and places, there have been other Christians existing in India, as is proved by ... · But their history is too obscure for even a summary to be attempted here.

Let us come immediately to the period of the second apostle of India, Francis Xavier. His virtues are retold and his memory kept green by every Christian town. An instrument of the (p 109) Lord's mercy, he traversed India in all directions. At the sound of his voice, customs that were inflexible before all other men bowed and yielded to the power of grace he carried with him to spread to all this people.

Nevertheless, may we be permitted to express here, very respectfully, some disappointment. Great Saint, do not be offended by my word, for it is also a kind of glory to you! The fault was not yours! Perhaps it was nobody's. The Lord just did not will that you do more than that. I adore his decrees, but our disappointment is no less bitter...

Yes, I dare to say it: in order to be, in all reality, the true Apostle of India, Xavier lacked a certain sublime Character. This Character is precisely the one which distinguished the first Apostles from the other disciples of Jesus Christ, who remained only disciples and simple priests. Xavier was not a Bishop. Xavier had not the power to reproduce the priestly character which he had himself. He lacked the fecundity of the Pontiff. Xavier could make Christians; he could not make Churches. When I reflect on this misfortune, it explains almost all the rest.

And do not say that Xavier did not need the Episcopal character, since there were other Bishops in India. First of all, they were very few. And across such a vast country, a continent almost, where communications are so difficult, how could Xavier have brought (his candidates) to the then existing bishops? Moreover, would these have understood a missionary priest sending those candidates so totally different from the ones coming out of the Portuguese Universities? To understand this would have taken a missionary. And history shows us fairly clearly that there was only one single missionary in India at the time. He was Xavier. And he wasn't a Bishop!

(p 110)

2 WHY IS INDIA STILL SO UNKNOWN?

Let us not be surprised that India has not become better understood. The customs of its peoples are so extraordinary, so numerous, so diverse, so complicated! Their ceremonies of all kinds are so loaded with observances - some religious, some purely civil, some mixed - that to really understand them you would have to go back to their original Source, or else to hear the real meaning and intention behind them from the people who actually practice them.

Now the Source, lost in the mists of time, is absolutely unknowable. The Brahmins themselves do not know a; their books just presuppose it. And the second way has never been used successfully, either. For the character of the .people is always to hide what it possesses, and never to share its ideas, and especially its intentions, except with the greatest reluctance. Their home is never open to the foreigner. In vain will he try to grasp their thoughts and intentions by frequent observation, for they will do nothing [important] in his presence. What, then, has happened with us? We have only half seen, half understood. We have let ourselves be fooled by lying explanations. There is no agreement on the interpretation of what little information has been gleaned in various ways. We did not know India. And we still do not know it.

3 THE INDIAN AND THE FOREIGNER

It is difficult to imagine the distant contempt that the Indian has for everything that is foreign to him. Eminently a Family man he loves or esteems nothing outside it. All his thoughts are for his family. His only ambition is to see it flourish and increase. His first duty is to repay his debt to his ancestors, by giving the family a son to succeed them. And as soon as he (p 111) knows he is a father - sometimes before he has even seen his child, who is still in the mother's womb - he begins to plan how to settle the child, again within the Family, with a partner always and without exception from the same Family or caste (which is only a wider family); and that's enough for him. A caste different from his own is forever foreign to him. Never will he contract any alliance with it. If it is in the least bit distant by blood, don't ever expect to see the two castes meeting at feasts or joining in social activities or visiting and conversing familiarly. No. They are forever strangers.

But someone who is not even from their country, and has not the same colour of skin or cut of face! He is worse than a Pariah, whom they will not even allow to set foot on their door-step, to whom they will never give food or drink except from afar, breaking the vessel which they have had the bad luck to touch one single time; and if ever they have the misfortune of entering his house, they will believe themselves destroyed entirely.

If the domination of the Turks and then the Europeans has forced them to show some external respect for their oppressors, at the bottom of their heart they do not despise them one bit less. Imagine, then, with what reluctance they adopted the religion of these foreigners! And how much farther were they repelled from the Faith when the Europeans came in greater numbers, spreading into the various lands of India! The strength of the Truth had won over the Indians' repugnance at the time when they could simultaneously admire the virtues inspired by the Truth in those who were preaching it to them. But later on, it was not Saints like Xavier and ... and ... that they saw, but "Christians" unworthy of that noble name, apostates by their depraved behaviour from the Faith which their lips still pro-fessed. Greedy traders, unreliable business-men, indecent blas-phemers - that's what they were shown. From then on, if Europe could claim the glory of having brought the light of the true Faith into India, she soon saw that glory tarnished when she scandalized it away.

(p 112)

4 INSTITUTING THE HIERARCHY, THE AIM OF MISSIONARY WORK

The Principle. A Church without a bishop is a society without a leader; it is a body without a head; or rather it is a foetus not yet fully formed, living on a life not .its own. If It stays on longer than it needs in this state of constraint, it will weaken and finally perish; or else it will only be a puny offspring, listless and without vigour, crawling rather than living. How well the first Apostles understood this! On their missionary Journeys they not only left priests behind them in all the places, but the most worthy of these was always raised to the pontifical Order, and the Church was really founded.

Today, the Formation of New Churches leaves some-thing out.

I am not someone who always runs down everything modem and says the Church is deteriorating. God forbid that I should put forward such a statement, so contrary to my own sentiments and the principles of my Faith. May I rather prefer the option that said: "If Saint Paul came back, he would find that the Church is going well".

Still, it would be just as dangerous and erroneous to think that everything is so well ordered in every branch of ecclesiastical administration that there is no room for wanting a better way. Otherwise why would God, in all periods, have raised up zealous and powerful men to restore order to various institu-tions eroded gradually by human nature in charge of the divine work or to create new ones hitherto neglected? Now if there IS one matter that leaves a great deal to be desired, it is the way of forming new Churches. As if this were not the principal aim all the Missions! Very little thought or attention, unhappily, is given to it. We are all the time trying to make [new] Christians; [new] Churches hardly ever.

First confide Small Jurisdictions to the Local Clergy, to star; them on the road to Greater Responsibilities.

And how could we make bishops when we are not even (p 113) making priests? Yet, out of the small number of existing priests, a few could even now be raised to the higher dignity. Especially if they were given jurisdiction over just one town or a quite small diocese, as the Apostles used to do. For it is always the Apostles that we must have our eyes on when we are exercising an apostolic ministry.

This elevation would be of priceless value, not only because it is in line with the normal constitutive and liturgical order of the Church, but also because it would stimulate the native priests; they would see that at last they are recognized as something in the Church. They would bestir themselves to become more and more worthy of these high honours, once they saw they were no longer excluded from them.

These bishops, being truly the fathers of their flocks and the natural leaders of their clergy, would be keen to have Indian successors. They would surround themselves with priests from their own country. They would encourage them and form more of them. Meanwhile, more powerful bishops - European or Indian according as circumstances required - would still keep in hand the higher jurisdiction of these new-born Churches. They would be the channel of communication with the centre of Catholic unity, from which they would draw the lights and graces of the apostle and pastor to pass on to these remote but faithful churches. And if these bishops could come together frequently, to discuss and plan concerted action in their Province as in the days of Cyprian, where is the demon of idolatry that could long resist this army set in battle array?

5 THE MISSIONARY'S SACRIFICES

Fatherland. No priest can be blamed for cherishing grateful and loving memories of his country. It's like a family religion, a sentiment praised by... Let us not condemn it. But someone called to the apostolate must somehow forget it. Above all, the spirit of nationalism must be totally absent from his actions. (p 114) Unfortunately, it has not been thus in practice, The French missionary has remained far too French, the English too English, the Portuguese too Portuguese, and so on. And how can we fail to see the stupidity of imposing this national influence on a people which detests it? That Government official tries to frenchify Algeria, or to anglicise India... I can understand. They aim to rule over these nations. But we! If we aim to rule over these peoples, we are no longer missionaries. Even if we want to hang on to ecclesiastical authority over these peoples, we are no longer missionaries. Let us not dare to sign our names with the noble title of "apostolic missionary". It does not fit us. We are only the ecclesiastical officers of the Govern-ment we serve. Nothing else.

Who can tell all the harm caused by this spirit of nationalism, in India and in many other missions? A missionary, once he has left the natural boundaries of his native land, should remember that he is a Roman priest, and nothing else. Rome, that's his fatherland. The customs of Rome, that is all he should try to propagate. And when I say "Rome" understands well that I do not mean Italy. I mean Rome insofar as she is the centre of Catholicism, our capital, we who have the honour to march under the sacred banner of the illustrious leader seated on the Chair of the First Apostle, we who should have eyes only to know his will, ears only to hear his word. Great God! Hasn't experience shown us all too clearly that we stray and get lost - in the work of the missions as in all the rest - when we neglect to learn at his school.

Our Fellow-Europeans. Who did we come to these strange lands for? Was it for the few Europeans who come here to get rich? If any of them are concerned about the salvation of their souls, it is only right that they should be helped; but it is not our affair. Priests should be specially appointed to look after their spiritual needs; but let it not be any apostolic missionaries. This is not the place to go into the means of providing for the spiritual needs of the Europeans living in the colonies. This branch - perhaps the most defective of all - is not my present concern. Let us leave the abuses and return to the people we are charged with preaching the Gospel to.

(p 115)

Our National Customs. What interest can these peoples have in those peculiar European rites, local feasts, special institutions, whose only purpose among them is to help impose the foreign yoke that weighs them down? What a scandalous thing! Today Madras belongs to France. The nave no longer rings with the universal hymns of the Church. The people cannot join in the chants, for they never heard them before. Everything changed even the priest's vestments and clothes. Tomorrow, if this city falls under English rule, there they will be with their saints from Ireland and Scotland. And the poor native priest (if there are any) will just smile in pity [at the stupidity of it all]. So let us be Romans, nothing but Romans, pure Romans. Then we won't have to change.

Our Group Spirit (esprit de corps). I say more: We must in some ways leave behind the spirit of the Group we belong to. Let us beware of turning that esprit de corps to the detriment of the peoples confided to us. And beware of ever regarding them as our property, the various Christian communities which we had the happiness of converting to the true Faith, or which the Church has entrusted to us. Never say "It's my mission" or "This mission belongs to us" or any other similar expressions that would imply that we look on them as ours, when the fact is that their jurisdiction has been entrusted to us for only a time; so we should be eager to see it handed over very soon to those it naturally belongs to: the priests and clergy of the country.

The Mission Itself. Apostolic missionary, you are neither the parish priest nor the bishop of the place you are administe-ring. The longer you have been there, the more humbly you should pray to God, for the length of time is a proof that God has not blessed your efforts. Perhaps the fault is not yours; but perhaps also you should not be without some self-reproach. Happy the apostolic missionary who founds Churches and, as soon as he sees them well established, hurries on elsewhere to found new ones! He is someone who does not bear the name (p 116) "Apostolic" in vain - a name that is self-contradictory for those who want to settle down and reign in these places. Once again let us remember that we do not aim to dominate peoples, but only to teach them the one way to be happy, and show them the way they should follow. As soon as we have laid out that way for them, let us leave them to walk it themselves, on their own. We do not want to reign spiritually over them; we only want to give them to Jesus Christ. And if, in every society, there must be chiefs and administrators, it is from them that they must be picked. And then Religion will be theirs in this country. As long as we are there, Religion is not established there.

6 MISSIONARIES SECULAR OR REGULAR?

My intention here is not to examine whether it is better for the missions and the missionaries that they be confided to a regular or to a secular clergy. After weighing the many pros and cons, perhaps I would give preference to the regulars, although I belong myself to a secular Society and do not have any reason to regret it. But perhaps the best of all is to have both kinds. That's what the Church has always had. It's a strong argument.

What is quite certain is that the missionary, of whichever kind, should make use of the advantages offered by his own group for his personal direction, the safeguarding of his inno-cence, etc. But let him beware of turning them to the detriment of the people by always boasting only about the achievements of his own Group, confusing them with his own peculiar ideas. To act like that is to fall into an absurdity almost as shocking as trying to make Frenchmen out of them (when it's a French missionary) or Portuguese (when it's a Portuguese announcing the Gospel to them). And when different Companies succeed each other - or especially when they clash, as has happened all too often - what scandals this brings into the midst of new converts who are not very accustomed to this sort of squabbling!

(p 117)

7 THE FORMATION OF THE LOCAL CLERGY

A Mission is not a Constituted Church. The Missionary is not a Pastor. To make priests, to make bishops, to plant real Churches - this, then, is the true mission of the Apostle. To make the planted tree grow and extend, this tree of life planted by the envoy of the Lord; to make it bear better fruit every year, sweeter and more abundant; gradually to root out the weeds that prevent its full growth - that is the mission of the pastor and bishop canonically established.

Why has this been forgotten for so long? It is the dearest wish of the Church. It is her very life. Like this she first formed herself.. [Like this she grew]. And she stopped growing and expanding only when men stopped giving her new Churches. Today she spreads out her branches, some glorious indeed, some red with the blood of her martyrs. But truly, the missions have other things to do [than to tend these branches]. For the missionary there are still other places waiting to be cleared for planting.

In any place where there are already thousands of Christians I deplore that things should still be stuck in the state of a Mission pure and simple. These places should be Churches and the Mission working somewhere else. These Churches would then be the gateways to new Missions.

But, for all this, we would need [local] priests and bishops. We have to hand over our establishments to them, give them our church buildings; we must regard ourselves as being under them. And at last, stripped of the fruits of all our sweat and labour, we must go away, alone and empty as on the first day to other peoples who will give us nothing but trouble.

Yes indeed, that is what I am driving at. And that is your glory; that .is your vocation; that is your work. As soon as you degenerate Into parish priests and bishops you no longer deserve to be called missionaries (although in the order and spirit of the Church, a parish priest is higher in dignity that a missionary priest, and a [proper] bishop is placed higher than a Vicar (p 118) Apostolic). When I say you "degenerate" it is because, for you personally, it's a real degeneration or down-grading.

A Local Clergy is Possible. "But it's impossible". That is the terrible word we hear repeated every time. Behind this Idea they dig in, as behind an impregnable rampart. But has it ever been really tried, to see if it is impossible? Have the proper means been taken to make it possible? Let us face it: absolutely not.

Objections and Replies.

a) They set up Dioceses in India and regretted it.

Certainly; I agree. And I hope it will long remain as an awful living example, to teach the Princes of this world that they may make themselves masters of a country but they will never be the masters of the people's conscience. And to teach bishops that If they want to administer the faithful they should do it at home. They should not set themselves up as the [foreign] Governors of Christians whom they know only nominally and whom they often direct only from afar ... Foreign bishops who are not missionaries in reality (for the name alone achieves nothing) are in my view the biggest insult and injury on a country .that the Lord in his anger could permit. The deadly example laid down by Portugal, then, only supports my thesis. So do not say they tried to "set up dioceses" in the way I am asking. For they did not give us bishops from the country; and these alone are what I want.

b) But priests Fit for it were never Found.

To that I would reply two things: First, the reason is, they did not look for them. For they were there. Even today, there are some who would be very worthy - as far as any man can be "worthy" of such a dignity. Secondly: if there haven't been any up to now and if there is not a great number yet, whose fault IS it? Why didn't we form them? Where are the establishments for training good priests, educated and pious men? What means were organized for that? What encouragements were given? etc.

(p 119)

I am of the opinion that, in a country that was not yet mainly Catholic, there should have been other ways besides seminaries for arriving at the priesthood. Still, it must be admitted that seminaries, if they had been established on a proper basis, would become more and more useful and productive. And it is normally from the levities trained there in priestly knowledge and ecclesiastical virtues that the future leaders of the flock of Jesus Christ should be chosen. But where are they, those seminaries? There is not a single one. True, a certain building bears the name of "seminary" in our Vicariate, but...

And then, how do we treat the native clergy? Firstly, no education. This part of our work has not been understood up to now, nor any appropriate method for training them adopted. A few candidates have been hanging on to a missionary for many a long year and they barely know a bit of Latin. No history, geography, literature; no Scripture, no Law, no Plain Chant. Why haven't they been given some notion of these? Behind this state of affairs, there is a more deadly cause; and it comes from the faults I have pointed out already. It is this: we were afraid of them becoming educated. A native priest must not get too educated - that's the idea that has prevailed over long years. And, still today, even some well-respected missionaries are not liberated from it yet. But from where could such a thought have come? From that other diseased idea which has got inoculated into our unfortunate missions: that we are here indefinitely to govern them; that this Mission is "ours" etc. Starting from that, it easily follows that native priests must not be too well educated. Because if they got the normal instruction given to priests, they would long ago have been asking us : "By what right are you treating us like this?", "Why do you humiliate us?", "Where is the nation in which exclusively foreign priests ate put in charge of the people?" ... And so on. They have always been put under the missionaries; so we did not want them to be (p 120) on top, ever. In spite of that, many have lifted themselves up by their own personal talents and studies. But they have always been left aside. So, the clergy has not been encouraged. And if it has not been more numerous, this is in great part due to the fact that it has not been more respected!

c) The Indian priest is too proud in himself; they also say. He would not even care about elevation to the episcopacy.

Take good care of his ecclesiastical education and you will have men who are virtuous, and therefore humble. Moreover we must always clearly distinguish between two different things: There is such a thing as natural pride of nation, which deserves rather the name of manly self-respect (fierté); it is found everywhere; it is vital to the health of a nation; it is born with every man. Such a "pride" is not a sin. It is just a natural disposition like any other. It must be managed, respected, directed, and made use of. But to try to destroy it in a people is madness; it's impossible. This defect - if it is one - does not prevent the individual virtue of someone affected by it. Now, that is the kind of "pride" that can be assigned to the people of India in general. Well, isn't it also the well-known character of Castile? And who will say that the Church has not had good reason to rejoice in the venerated Bishops there? For centuries they have been the honour and the joy of the Catholic Church. Just because the Castilian is "proud" should they have sent him bishops exclusively from France or England? Is it not this same pride that would have made him reject them, and would even have made him stay pagan (if he was born so) rather than. Submit to foreign leaders in his country? The Church did not refuse to accept him because of that; and she has had reason to be glad of it. As to the kind of pride that is a sin, just take the right means to root it out, and it will be diminished like all the other passions - especially if we give the example.

d) But you can never depend on a native priest. His morals are always shaky. What scandals have those raised to the priesthood not given?

There have been constantly-virtuous priests; and today there are some whose conduct is irreproachable. It is true that, in (p 121) proportion to the small number of native priests, disorders have been numerous and painful, But while admitting all this, I point out that they have themselves have not been the only cause of their disorders. Even If they are primarily responsible, perhaps the Lord will also ask us for a bit of an account of their conduct, especially the defectiveness of the training we gave them. If, in spite of all the care that is lavished on the youth in French and other seminaries, there are still so many that later give the Church Just cause for tears, can we really be surprised that priests who have not had the benefit of an ecclesiastical educator are weaker still?

And the second place, what was done with them after their ordination? Now note well that we consider the vocation of missionary to. be specific and extraordinarily difficult to fulfil. How many priests in Europe are stopped by a wise director from taking the plunge when motivated by zeal alone, unaccompa-nied by prudence! And yet many of these candidates are excellent Christians, excellent clerics; but they would not by that be excellent missionaries. The man who has received the race of discerning spirits tells the young man in a prayerful Interview that he just is not made for the missions, that his virtue would perhaps not stand up to the special trials which necessarily accompany that state. And yet he does not reject him from the priestly state. He will not agree to send him to us, but he has no fear about keeping him for the home Church.

The fact is that not every priest is called to the glorious but rough and sometimes dangerous labours of the missions. Someone who is an excellent parish priest or chaplain or canon and who is sanctifying himself in one of these various states' might be a very bad missionary and might perhaps be lost, might scandalize instead of edifying the people. Let him who has the signs of a missionary vocation have no fear. The Lord who calls him will always be with him. But if someone is not called, let him not undertake a career which it would be so rash to enter without the voice of God. [That, surely, is what we all would say].

Very well, then. So why do we force the Indian priests to be missionaries, for the mere reason that they are priests? Just (p 122) because we are missionaries, must everyone with us become a missionary as well? How many priests would have persevered in the good company of a few pious colleagues, but have got lost in the temptations of isolation and in the mazes of an uncharted liberty! Yes, I would like to believe that in a country where the sacred ministry generally has to be exercised in mission style, God may give missionary vocations more widely. But that this is absolute is what I deny. To reject a young man from being a cleric, merely because you don't see the makings of a missionary in him, is a deplorable mistake. And to send him off (when a priest) into a vast district by himself, without seriously asking whether he is meant to be a missionary priest or not, is even worse. "What are we to do with him, then?" the church rulers will ask us, "Since all we have here is missions?". That's your trouble. That's the big trouble. It is imperative that another [normal] ministry be made to exist here.

8 INCULTURATION OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY; ITS LIMITS

From the start, missionaries have thought that, to make themselves all things to all men, especially in this country where foreigners are so discredited, they had to try to pass as natives. Thus, the Jesuits called themselves "Brahmins from the North". That illusion could not last long, once the country began to be exploited by the Europeans; they criss-crossed the whole place, unfortunately not always spreading the good odour of Jesus Christ. Anyway, our appearance, our colour, our gait, out whole being, is so removed from the Indians' way of being, that nobody could ever really hope to pass for an Indian. Still the costume originally adopted with this in mind has always been kept. It was a royal costume, to meet the prejudices of these peoples, who put the priest above the (p 123) king. They would have had nothing but contempt for us if we had adopted the costume of the ordinary classes.

Whether this antique costume was originally a good idea or a bad invention, it so happens that, today at any rate, it is a complete anomaly. Since kings are no longer to be seen around in India (nor even heard of except in some enclosed palace park where the English keep the rulers' offspring as noble prisoners) a costume like ours is unthinkable. So the Indians themselves are not in the least enthusiastic about it. And the Europeans have the utmost contempt for it. The English especially, because of their erroneous beliefs, have not a clue what a Catholic priest is. So they cannot see that it is only for the good of the people that we leave aside a much more suitable costume (from every point of view) and adopt one that is so different to what we are used to. And they call us charlatans.

Several priests, seeing no present usefulness whatsoever in this costume, are modifying it in every sort of way, to the scandal of the Indians, who take the slightest change as an insult. I think, therefore, that we should adopt a costume that shocks nobody; but it has to be done uniformly, allowing no exception whatever. The safest costume would be European dress (for there is no-one who is not aware that we weren't born here) with the natural colour demanded absolutely by the taste of the people we are to live among, and also so suitable for the climate. I mean white.

Today, I believe, it is not only useless but also absurd and farcical to try and pass oneself off as an Indian. And since they know we are Europeans, and also have a fair idea of the Europeans' way of living, it is equally useless to try and live like Indians and pretend to adopt all their customs. We should go about things frankly, without any fudging or ambiguity.

And yet you would get me wrong if you thought I want us to live completely European-style and to despise all Indian cus-toms. Just as I don't want us to pretend to adopt them all, I equally do not want us to make ourselves free from them all.

(p 124)

There is a golden mean which befits us, both as Europeans (since we are children of Europe) and as Indians (since we are now the fathers and pastors of those born in India). This just mean consists in never doing anything that goes against their customs, especially anything that shocks them, and in submit-ting ourselves to those customs which are so widely and deeply rooted that no Indian, high or low, could even conceive how any courteous or reasonable person could fail to observe them.

Not to keep to generalizations but to get down to specific examples, I will say this: It matters very little whether we dress in Turkish or Chinese style, or wear the Italian or the English soutane. It will still be a costume different from theirs but not contradicting their manners. They know and can understand that costumes vary with places. But, to have Pariah servants, for example, that is an idea which cannot be digested by Indian minds for a long, long time to come. And it is quite certain that there is nothing worse for repelling the pagans away from our society for good. For us to eat beef is worse in their eyes than to eat roast dog in Europe, or toads or similar fare. With their ideas on purity, this is one powerful method to keep them well away from our presence. I cite these examples - and I could add many others - all the more urgently because I know there are many priests, otherwise worthy of all respect, who thinks they can afford to ignore these customs. In my view, they go to the other extreme (opposite to the one I first attacked here). Let them take care, or they will make their whole ministry sterile.
(p 125)

II FOUNDATION DOCUMENTS

Section I: Towards a New missionary Engagement

May 1855 - January 1856

This first Section of Part II brings us to the "African" period of Bishop de Marion Bresillac's life.

The period has two stages: The first, covered by this Section I, presents some documents in which a new orientation begins to appear, a new missionary engagement. Since he no longer had any hope of doing some good in India, and after his resignation had been accepted by Pope Pius IX, Marion Brésillac turned his thoughts to Africa, The Chronology will later on give the circumstances of this new orientation, and his Report on Dahomey will give the details.

Within Africa he was looking for places where no missionary had yet penetrated. But he had no thought whatever of founding a missionary institute. It was Mgr. Barnabo, Secretary and later Cardinal Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda, who subsequently made this suggestion to him. And for all we know, the "suggestion" was probably more like an injunction, given the Cardinal's character and style of government. This happened probably in January 1856.

All the known correspondence between Bishop de Brésillac and the S.C. of Propaganda from May 1855 to June 1859 is given here in its entirety, with only one exception which was of no interest.

(p 127)

DOCUMENT I : To Mgr. Barnabo

26th May 1855

After receiving the letter of 27th March, in which the Sacred Congregation informed me that the Holy Father had graciously accepted my resignation as Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore, I left the Foreign Missions Seminary and withdrew into deepest retreat at the Rev Capucin Fathers at Versailles. There, I am adoring the impenetrable designs of God and asking myself if it is by my own fault that I am no longer on the missions, in spite of the ardent love for them which He has never ceased to inspire in me! But now, since all hope is lost for me of ever again seeing the missions of India, so dear to me, I ask : is there not some other place in all the world where I can be a missionary ? Young as I still am, is it really the will of God that I should remain inactive like this? I just cannot believe it. And I hereby pray you, Monseigneur, to present to the Holy Father the offer I am making of myself for any place whatsoever in the universe.

(p 128)

If the Episcopal character I bear is an absolute obstacle to my working in an already-existing Mission, is there not still some place in the world where missionaries have not set foot? For example, in the centre of Africa?

This, then, Monseigneur, is what I pray you to ask for me from the Holy Father: Either any mission whatever according to his good pleasure; or else his authorization to go and try a mission in interior Africa, some place that the missionaries of the existing Vicariates Apostolic have not yet reached.

I am under no illusions about the difficulties - even the apparent impossibility - of succeeding. But everything is possible to God. In him we place all our hope. My desire would be to throw myself blindly into the arms of Divine Providence and, absolutely apostle-style, to go straight to those peoples, either alone or with one or two companions, if I can find any who are willing to follow me on a path where, naturally speaking, we are bound to meet death very soon, and then Heaven. But I am offering my life to God, and to the Holy Father, with whose blessing God will not refuse us His. And it may be that He will grant us, by this death (or by a success which would be visibly the pure work of his grace) to make the holy Name of Jesus Christ known to a few poor clans or tribes somewhere.

I pray you, Monseigneur; please speak to the Holy Father about this offer as soon as possible, asking him to give me his paternal blessing and to let me know his orders.

Meanwhile, I am...

Your humble and devoted servant.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse.

(p 129)

DOCUMENT 2 : To Mgr. Barnabo

23rd June 1855

I have received your honoured letter of the 9th June, and I begin by recognising and agreeing with you that prudence is needed here, lest the Holy Father think that my request is the result of an inconstant and fickle minded spirit. My unlucky involvement in matters which there is now no point in going over again must have given him a bad opinion of me. God permitted my pen to give a wrong impression of the sentiments of my soul. I was trying to make allowances for the various opinions, and especially motivations, of people whom I greatly respect; and so I appeared to be contradic-ting myself. Also, no doubt, I was imprudent. But do me the favour, Monseigneur, of believing that my intentions were pure and upright, and that my only aim was the glory of God and the advancement of the missions, which the Lord has given me the grace of loving with all my soul from the first moment that He gave me the grace of leaving all things for them.

This affection for the missions I had principally concentrated on the Mission confided to me. True, I have thought it my duty to sacrifice it to my conscience's rejection of trying to continue the (p 130) sacred ministry with the caste system at present in force, and its consequences. But I pray you, do not be offended if I still feel all the pain of that sacrifice, which I believed myself morally obliged to make, and please see some zeal for the missions in it.

Allow me even to hope, Monseigneur, that the day will come when they will recognize that all {the bad} I did was to express badly things that were true. I am not saying I was wrong about nothing - omnis homo mendax. But I cannot keep from believing that the core of my thinking was in line with the present needs of the Indian missions and especially with the spirit of the Holy See, for which I always have professed - and all my life will profess - a profound veneration and a filial love. Allow me also to hope that the Holy Father will himself recognize that in me he has a son who is full of respect, obedience, love; one who is completely devoted to the missions.

It is in this hope that I have the courage to ask him to please let me continue that work. And if the Episcopal character which I bear (unworthy, but without regret; for I hope that all things have happened according to the will of God) is an obstacle to my being sent to an already-established Mission, why could the Sacred Congregation not permit me to go and try to open a new one in places hitherto inaccessible? If I do not succeed, what is lost? If I succeed, God will have turned evil into good.

With the blessing of the Holy Father, I would go to the Mission of Guinea. There, I would get all possible information from the good Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and from natives of the interior who come to trade on the coast. Then I would throw myself, in the arms of Providence, towards the interior. I would take one or two devoted companions with me; no more would be needed, I feel, at the start. And if success answered to our zeal, it would not be difficult to attract the interest of some Congregation. Of course, this (p 131) plan would be modified according to the wishes of the Sacred Congregation, whose instructions I would scrupulously follow.

I hope the Holy Father will see in this offer not a fickle minded spirit - or even worse, Monseigneur, as you make me fear - but the actual desire which I have : to keep faithful to my vocation and to use up all my life in the work of the missions.

So, Monseigneur, I renew the request I made to you: to speak of this to the Holy Father as soon as you judge it opportune, assuring him that I kiss his sacred feet with respect. And I ask you to believe, yourself, that I am your humble and devoted servant,

\+ M.M.]. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse.

(p 132)

DOCUMENT 3 : To Mgr.Barnabo

16th July 1855

Monseigneur,

It was a great consolation to receive your good letter of the 7th July because it gives me the hope of taking up again, at the time chosen by Providence, the ministry of the missions, in the exercise of which I desire to go on living and to die. Allow me however, Monseigneur, to add a few words to what I have written already; for I noticed in your letter a few expressions that made me fear I have not yet properly explained my whole thinking about this.

... It seems clear to me, Monseigneur, that there has not been, on my part, any "a priori sententia imputatio". I believed myself morally obliged, it is true, to give in my resignation as Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore. But I did not then give up the consecra-tion of my life to the service of the missions. So much so that, immediately after the Holy Father had accepted my resignation, I offered myself for any post whatever in our Society. These Fathers (p 133) of the Paris Seminary considered that the Episcopal character made it impossible. And, moreover, they had not the "ex officio" authority to assign me any post, because they are not the only Superiors of our Society. Since then I have been looking for a place where, even with the Episcopal character I bear, I could labour at God's work and the propagation of the Gospel without being a nuisance to anybody. Now it seems to me that in Africa there are countries where de facto there are no evangelising workers, and where I could, without inconvenience to anybody, go and try to penetrate.

But you add, Monseigneur, "in locis memoratis ubi jam Episcopi, Praesulesque Apostolici constituti sunt". I do not know whether or not the whole extent of Africa is covered within the boundaries assigned already to the various apostolic workers. But it seems to me that, either because of the fewness of the workers or because of difficulties they could not overcome, there are plenty of places where, in fact, there are as yet no missionaries. Well it is to places like this that I am asking to be sent, unless the Holy Father deigns to assign me some other. In mentioning Guinea I did not mean I was asking to be sent to that Mission, where there are already zealous workers. I merely expressed the hope that these Fathers would have the charity to let me stay with them as long as was needed to get the required information and the other means required by prudence, before pushing East beyond the limits, to where they themselves have not started evangelising. It seems to me that, this being well understood, the Holy Father would not put any obstacle in my way, unless he wanted to employ me elsewhere.

As to the enormous obstacles I would meet, from the character of the people, the language etc., I have no illusions myself. But this is how it seems to me : since nobody has yet explored the lands I am asking to go to, nor learnt the language, these are obstacles whi.ch the first person starting there will just have to face anyway. Still, may one not hope to find, on the frontiers of these countries or on the coasts, some individuals from the interior to get in contact with (p 134) first? And neither should we get ourselves stopped by the idea that the zealous missionaries already in Guinea might find it easier than me to penetrate into the interior. These Fathers have already far more than they can do in their actual Mission. Whereas I would not have to concern myself at all about that, and would have nothing to do but find and prepare a way in, and to seize the first opportunity to penetrate and contact peoples to whom the holy Name of Jesus Christ has perhaps never been brought.

So, Monseigneur, I sum up: It seems to me you can plead my case with the Holy Father by pointing out that:

I. There is no inconsistency ;

2. I am not asking to work in other peoples' fields;

3. To tackle the work which I am asking to go and try, what is needed, perhaps, is someone useless for any other mission, such as I am at the moment.

In any case, if the Holy Father replies favourably, as I hope, to my request, my plan would be not to set out without first going to Rome, to arrange with Propaganda and receive its detailed instructions. Only, before going to Rome, it would be very advanta-geous to be sure of the Holy Father's assent .so as not to have to come back again to France and lose still more time arranging with the Propagation of the Faith etc.

I repeat, Monseigneur, your letter has filled me with hope. I place this hope in the keeping of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and I entrust it to your kindly zeal, asking you to believe me, Monseigneur, your ...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac,

bp of Pruse.

(p 135)

DOCUMENT 4: To Mgr. Barnabo

13th October 1855

Monseigneur,

The last letter I had the honour to receive from you was of the 24th July. I take the liberty today of sending you these few lines to tell you I am leaving Versailles to go and spend some time with my family and then go on to Rome. I hope to arrive in the Eternal City during the month of December. . .

I am still hoping that the Holy Father will grant me his blessing for some spot on the globe where there are no evangelising workers, since any other Mission seems closed to me. The moderate size of my request and the purity of my intentions (as far as I can testify to myself about that) sustain me in this hope. .

Hoping that I will have the advantage of meeting you, Monsignor,

I am meanwhile, yours etc.

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac,

bp of Pruse.

(p 136)

Map

(p 137)

(p 138)

DOCUMENT 5: REPORT TO THE S.C. OF PROPAGANDA ABOUT A NEW MISSION TO BE ESTABLISHED IN THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY

4th January 1856

Most Eminent Lords,

I. When because of the state of the missions in India, and particular Coimbatore, I believed myself obliged to resign, and to leave a Vicariate Apostolic whose memory will always be dear to my heart, I was in no way influenced towards that decision by any dislike for the work of evangelising peoples still plunged in the darkness of idolatry, nor by any desire to rest after twelve years of mission work, painful indeed but made enjoyable by grace. Still young and strong, my desire is still to work without ceasing in the Lord's vineyard.

As soon as my resignation, long since offered, was finally accepted by the Holy See, I went into retreat in the cloister of the Rev Capuchin Frs. at Versailles, to examine in calm and quiet how I might still yet make myself useful to the missions. But after some unsuccessful overtures I began to see that the Episcopal character which I have the honour to bear would for long prove an obstacle to joining any already-organised Mission.

(p 139)

Thereupon, after long and mature reflection in the presence of God, renewing the offering of the sacrifice of my Country, my parents and family, my time, my days, and my life if required, I asked myself why not ask the Holy Father to bless me and permit me to penetrate, even all alone if I found no companions, into one of the places where, by force of circumstances or difficulties, there are at the moment no evangelising workers. For example, into some of the lands in the vast interior of Africa. Anyway I was morally certain that, once I was authorized by the Holy Father to take along some worthy co-workers, I would find some in France who would be full of zeal and devotedness.

On the 26th May of the year just finished, I put all this in writing to Mgr. Barnabo, Secretary to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. A correspondence ensued, from which I concluded that I should come to Rome, to personally explain my request to the Sacred Congregation and, if it approved me, to ask the Holy Father for a blessing to make my undertaking fruitful.

And now see how, in the interval between my resolution to come to Rome and its execution, Divine Providence seems to have handed me the way to fix and specify the rather vague and still general idea I had, of undertaking a mission into as yet unexplored countries, or lands at present empty of missionaries.

II. Rev. Fr. Ambrose, Guardian of the Capuchin Convent at Versailles, and Fr. Dominic the Novice Master, knew of my interests and intentions. Now it happened that Fr. Ambrose, having gone to Eaux Bonnes, made the acquaintance of Mr. Regis senior of Marseilles, a very good Christian man, it is said, a rich ship-owner trading on the Guinea Coasts. This gentleman spoke to him of the complete absence of missionaries in the African Kingdom where he does most of his trading, adding that he personally would be ready to facilitate the action of missionaries in that country, where he has some influence, although the inhabitants are most barbaric, but friendly at the moment towards the French.

On his return from Eaux, Fr. Ambrose told me of the opportunity offered by Mr. Regis; but at first I did not attach (p 140) much importance to it. Meanwhile I left Versailles to spend two months with my family before going to Rome. The two months were almost up when I received a letter from Rev. Fr. Dominic, who had been at Marseilles on business for his Order, and had occasion to speak with Mr. Regis. He highly praised the ship-owner and strongly urged me to go and see him on my journey, for he was still convinced that there was something to be done along with him for the glory of God in the propagation of the holy Gospel.

Having only one day at Marseilles and wishing to meet Mr. Regis then, I sent him a note in advance, requesting him to be at home the day I was passing. He did indeed wait for me, and I could have nothing but praise for his graciousness and his good disposition to support the setting up of a mission in the Kingdom of Dahomey, where his Commercial House, as I have said, exercises a big influence. Here, for the rest, is a resume of his conversation:

III. "The Kingdom of Dahomey", he told me, "is one of the most powerful in West Africa. Today its King controls the territory where the Fort of Whydah was situated, once held by the French but long abandoned. We ourselves possess it at present, with the authorization of the French Government. We have established a palm oil trading post there. We have excellent relations with the King of Dahomey, who is our protector. Up to now we have had enough influence over him to prevent him authorizing Protestant ministers to come and exploit the country. For we are Catholics, and our strong desire would be to see a Catholic mission established there.

"We know that the Fathers of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary are at present in charge of spiritual jurisdiction over all the Guinea Coasts. But, for lack of personnel and because of the losses they have suffered at many points on the Coast, it has, in fact, been impossible up to now to establish the mission of Dahomey. A few years ago Mgr. Bessieux stopped off at Whydah. We received him as best we could and we tried to (p 141) fix his attention on this Kingdom. He seemed very interested in everything we told him; but up to now he has no doubt been unable to do anything for this part of his immense territory.

"Nevertheless we are convinced that there are good results to be hoped for in this Kingdom, whose interior we do not think Christian missionaries have ever penetrated. The sea-coast has been somehow evangelized in time gone by, so that today there are still, around the old Fort, some blacks who say they are "Christians" although at the same time they worship the Serpent and the fetishes.

"At long intervals - sometimes of several years - a black Portuguese priest comes to give baptism, for a consideration, to the children presented to him. He goes away again immediately.

(p 142)

And that's al1 the Christian memories that remain with these few blacks who conduct themselves in everything else like the pagans. Still, these baptized people do not seem to be ashamed of the name of Christian, nor do they seem to be ill regarded in the Kingdom because of the name.

"Moreover, the King is very well disposed towards us and towards the French. He would be pleased to see schools established near our trading post, and perhaps also in the interior, even in the capital, to teach the French language to the little Negroes. It seems to us that this is the way the missionaries should first introduce themselves to the Dahomeys.

"In 1851 the French Government sent Mr. Bonet, a naval lieutenant, to explore the coasts of Africa. This officer made a little treaty with Guézo, the present ruler; he took care to slip in an Article in favour of any [French] missionaries who might come to instruct his subjects. It is important to note that the Muslims have not yet established themselves in this kingdom.

"It would be absolutely necessary that the mission be able to make some [financial] sacrifices for the schools. For although there are as yet no Protestant ministers there, people know they exist in other places in Africa, and that they pay the children who come to their schools etc. The missionaries must at least give clothes to those whom they could attract to their schools, for they would be coming almost totally if not completely naked. It would also be imperative that, from time to time, the mission give presents to the King and the big people of the Kingdom, especially on arriving, so as to win their good graces and be well got in the country.

"Although these peoples are very cruel and like to see plenty of blood flowing, French missionaries have nothing to fear at the moment, because of the good harmony we have with the King. (p 143) For we undertake to receive the missionaries at first in our house, to give them the means of putting themselves in commu-nication with the King, and to provide accommodation for them until the mission is built.

"The air of Whydah is not absolutely unhealthy. We keep several employees there. Some have been there many years and are quite well. No doubt there are some precautions to be taken against the intermittent fevers, although these are not as dange-rous as elsewhere. Nor are they any worse in the interior."

IV. That, Most Eminent Lords, is a resume of what Mr. Regis senior told me. Reporting his words only from memory, I cannot guarantee all his expressions. But assuredly that is the substance of the interview. At the end of this Report, I will add an appendix with the text of Article 10 of the Treaty he spoke about, which I copied down at his house. I will also include some extracts from a Geography collection giving some idea of the Kingdom of Dahomey and the former Fort of Whydah.

Now from all this it seems clear to me that the moment of Providence has arrived for going out to try and plant the standard of the Cross in the interior of the kingdom of Dahomey. It is important to get in there before the Protes-tants, who have their eye on the place and will try hard to be the first to take possession of the terrain and, what is worse, the minds of the population. The owners of the Whydah trading post have managed up to now to outwit their attempts; but they are not likely to be able to keep it up much longer, Mr. Regis himself told me, if the Protestants return to the charge. For the Treaty made with the officer does not specify Catholic missiona-ries. The spirit of the Treaty is in our favour, but the letter had to say "French" missionaries. So all the Protestants have to do is send some French ministers, and the zeal of Mr. Regis is neutralized.

(p 144)

Finally, the good dispositions of this powerful Trading House will not necessarily last forever. Not that I cast any suspicion on the faith and generous loyalty of these honest traders; but men come and go; things change. Whereas if we manage to anchor ourselves now in the country and if, by means of the opportunities now offered us, we put down roots for a few years, we will place ourselves in a good position to stand up to the storms that we should expect later on.

V. As to the difficulties of implementation, they are grave no doubt; but they do not seem to me insurmountable. The most obvious objection - and apparently the gravest - is this:

1St Objection: The kingdom of Dahomey is already included within the Vicariate Apostolic which the Holy See has confided to the worthy priests of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary. Why not leave it to their zeal instead of creating a new Mission?

Reply: Assuredly, Most Eminent Lords, the priests of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary would not have neglected this portion of their vast territory if they had been able to effect everything their zeal suggested to them. The Sacred Congregation knows better than anyone else that the zeal and self-sacrifice of this pious Congregation are in no way at fault. However, they were put in change of an immense extent of country and they have only a relatively small number of subjects to send on the missions. Furthermore, you know the enormous losses they have suffered in the places they decided they had to occupy first. Obliged to replace the men who died in those places, they have doubtless found it impossible to provide for the needs of several other places. Everything indicates they will be a long time in that same impossibility. They are aware of these themselves because, unless I am mistaken, they have long been asking to be released from responsibility for a portion of their Vicariate. I think therefore that they will not be in the least offended by the creation of a new Mission in Dahomey, and that their charity will joyfully welcome as brothers those who present themselves to share their painful and glorious labours.

2nd Objection: To whom could this new Mission be (p 145) [afterwards] entrusted? In the present circumstances, it seems it could only be provided for by a religious Order or a Congregation of priests exclusively or partially engaged in the work of overseas evangelization. And where is the Congregation that would want to take it on?

Reply: I think this question need not be dealt with immedia-tely. However valuable such an Organization may be for the ongoing continuity of evangelising workers in a Mission, it is not absolutely essential. It might even be better, before offering a Congregation a completely new mission such as Dahomey would be, to have tried out the terrain through the efforts of a few devoted missionaries depending only on Propaganda. And what would be needed, to make a start? A bishop, accompanied by two solid missionaries - or three at the most - with one or two servant brothers. Now I believe that, given the blessing of the Holy Father, I could find this number of evangelising workers without too much difficulty. Later on, in a few years from now, if God preserves our lives, and above all if He grants us some successes, it would be easy for us to make a definitive arrange-ment with some of the pious and zealous Congregations engaged in the missions.

3rd Objection: How meet the expenses of preparation, establishing and maintenance?

Reply: If the Sacred Congregation came to share my hopes, it seems to me it would not hesitate to make some sacrifices itself, at least for the first establishing. I have no doubt that the Work of the Propagation of the Faith would come to our aid, as soon as Dahomey will be erected as a distinct Mission. We can also hope, I think, in the Work of the Holy Childhood. For the missionaries in Dahomey will have to direct their efforts to the children from the start, either in schools or in some other way. It can therefore be expected that the Work of the Holy Childhood will have some sympathetic understanding of us and will therefore come to our aid. Finally there would be the method of a special Collection; but seeing the straitened circumstances in which the whole of Europe is at present, I believe this would only be a last resort.

(p 146)

VI. I conclude, Most Eminent Lords, by humbly asking the Sacred Congregation:

I. If it would not be opportune at this time to create a distinct Mission in the Kingdom of Dahomey?

2. If the Sacred Congregation would not think it good that, while putting myself at Its disposal for any work that It may graciously entrust to me, I offer myself in a special way to go and try to plant the Faith in that barbarous, inhuman and blood-thirsty country, in which however the God of all mercies has perhaps reserved some Elect for himself in these last times?

I am, Most Eminent Lords,

Your Eminences' humble and obedient servant,

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse.

Rome, 4th January 1856.
(p 147)

Section II: The Society of African Missions

February 1856 - June 1859

From the Spring of 1856 we can see the beginning of the Society of African Missions - its conception, its birth and its difficult first years. We can follow it step by step through Marion Brésillac's exchanges with his two most impor-tant correspondents: Cardinal Barnabo and Fr. Planque. Without Fr. Planque especially, the Society of African Missions would never have been able to manage the grace or pursue the mission, which the Calvary of Freetown very nearly finished. For a new institute in the Church is always a grace before being a working enterprise.

The course of events which started in May 1855 will lead us to discover what may be called the charism of the Founder, and therefore the [spiritual] legacy he has left to his institute. It will also show us how fragile the new-born enterprise was, both in material means and in personnel. And it will give an idea of the Founder's educating influence, from the way he exercised his responsibilities and from the kind of relations that existed between himself, Fr. Planque and Fr. Reymond, the three pillars of the new community.

(p 149)

DOCUMENT 6 : To Fr. Vian

Rome,

15th January 1856

My very dear friend,

Charity does not lose sight of the friends it has united in the Lord. so, although it is a long time since I have had any news of you, I have not forgotten you by any means. And especially I remember that many a time you told me of your desire to be of service to the missions. Well, I come to you now to propose a work of zeal and devotedness which is still only in the germinating stage but which is depending perhaps on you, with grace from above, to help it bear fruits of salvation in the near future. For this reason you ought to agree to back me. Let's go into a few details:

You probably know already that, because of the state of the missions in India, I believed myself morally obliged to resign from the Vicariate Apostolic of Coimbatore. This step was in no way motivated by any dislike for the ever admirable work of the missions nor by any desire for rest. So, as soon as my resignation, which I had made long since, was at last accepted, I offered myself to the S.C. of Propaganda for another mission, to be sent if possible to peoples that the light of faith had not yet reached, for example to certain of the most barbaric regions of Africa.

Peculiar circumstances later enabled me to fix my request on to a (p 150) definite point in Africa where perhaps no missionary has ever penetrated and where Divine Providence seems to be opening a door to us now. I have offered myself to go there, alone or in the company of a few devoted missionaries, if I can find some ready to follow me. The Sacred Congregation would be pleased to see me go to work at opening this new mission. But it does not want me to go alone and is urging me to make a Society of missionaries for this purpose.

Meanwhile the same Providence has had me make the acquain-tance of another evangelising worker who is here to seek help for other points in Africa where there seems to be an abundant harvest to gather but where the laborers are lacking. This and other considerations are urging me to form a special society for the evangelization of the peoples of Africa among whom the Gospel has not yet been preached or who, through the misfortune of the times, are the most unprovided with missionaries.

If the good God blesses this idea, it will grow and become of some significance in the Holy Church. Hence I am resolved to undertake it and to get to work on it as soon as the first elements can be got together. For the moment, a few co-workers will be enough, some to follow me to the missions and some others to stay in Europe, to be our representatives here, and be the soul of the new association. Your age and poor health would probably not allow you to follow us on the missions; but could you not be that soul that I am seeking for our work in Europe? For that purpose you should join me, in order to form the first nucleus of the Society of African Missions.

This Society will be organized like the [Paris} Foreign Missions, with some modifications which I will explain to you as soon as you have given your consent. We would take from the Foreign Missions Society everything that my twelve years' experience has shown to be excellent, and we would modify what would seem to us defective .

(p 151)

Look into it before God and his holy Mother, and please reply as soon as possible. I am almost counting on your agreement and will be awaiting your reply with impatience, for time is pressing.

A Dieu. Yours in Our Lord,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Rome, Piazza Venezia, 115.

P.S. For your letters to cost no more than inside France, address them in double envelope to M. Gableda, Sergent au 25e de ligne.

(p 152)

DOCUMENT 7: To Fr. Vian

Rome,

4th February 1856

My dearest Fr. Vian,

On the holy day of the Purification, after Mass, I had to thank our good Mother for the contents of your letter, just then received. A beautiful work to do is presenting itself. With the grace of God, it shall be done, if it fits in with the plans of Divine Providence. If not, we will always have the merit of having tried. As of now I consider you one of the founders. I enclose a little Notice just printed by Propaganda, at its expense. Though only a small thing, it does show that Propaganda is in favour of our project, and will not fail to support and .encourage it later on, if we can show a real start at implementation.

(p 153)

It's not so easy. We need devoted men. We need money. A house must be started in France, either in Paris or in one of the bigger cities. But I am convinced that if God gives us the men, who are worth more than the money, His Providence will not refuse us what is necessary for the rest. As regards personnel, all we need now - to make a start - is one priest of mature age, worthy in all respects and having the same sentiments as yourself, and a few other men, young but friends of the cross, even if only seminarians, ready to start for the missions when the time comes.

As for yourself, dearest friend, I don't think you need to make any mystery or secret about your devotedness [to the missions ] either with your worthy brother or even with your father. For I do not think you will ever need to go away on the missions. You will have to gain all the merits of a missionary while staying in France, in charge of the House we will found, with God's help, and in the holy occupation of forming the young workers who will offer themselves to God and to us for the apostolate. With present-day communications, your respected father will have you with him when he wants you, just as quick as if you were a parish priest in some village of the diocese.

I do not think there is any point again in coming to Rome. But we ought to get together soon and agree on the fundamental Articles which will be the basis of our future Constitutions. I have already formulated some of these articles, too long to send you. I will go to France myself as soon as my business is perfectly all right at Propaganda, which will be, I think, at the end of Lent or soon after. In the meantime we will have written to each other again, and we will fix a place where we can meet. If Providence gives me the opportunity, I want to go by Savoy where I could, perhaps, pick up some good missionaries.

Meanwhile, look after our work before God, and also before men. Consider yourself Providence's procurator for the African Mis-sions. And if someone applies to you to join the work, act as such, but advise the persons wishing to join that they should wait patiently in their present position until the time is come to leave it. As for yourself, do not trouble yourself about your Superiors' permission. You will have to ask them at the proper time, but they cannot refuse you.

(p 154)

In a few days' time I will send you on some Notices. On the ones you give out you should put in "to Fr. Vian at Lorgues, Var" instead of Fr. Chaillot.

As to difficulties of conscience, like those which you had the too great goodness to communicate to me, or any others, leave them all at the foot of the Cross and do not let yourself be disturbed by them. If this is the work of God, He will bless it even though we ourselves be very miserable instruments. But do we not know that "infirma mundi elegit Deus ut confundat fortia?" Let us go to Him in all our nakedness, for at this moment we have nothing; We have only our good will, but that's the part He requires from us above all else.

I leave you now, very dear friend, embracing you in spirit, until I have the pleasure of seeing you with my bodily eyes. Before all else, let us be united in prayer under the patronage of the Holy Family, who have preceded us into Egypt and will protect us in the other lands of unhappy Africa. A Dieu.

All yours in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Rome, 4th February I856.

P.S. My respects to your family. I do not, I repeat, see any need to hide your decision from them. I am for Africa. You are for France, in the same work.

(p 155)

DOCUMENT 8 :To H. Em. Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda

Rome,

26th February 1856

You're Eminence,

While waiting until the S.C. has received replies to its letters and can authorise us to penetrate the barbaric Kingdom of Dahomey, it is my duty to do all I can to recruit evangelising workers full of zeal and devotedness, ready to help me in this enterprise, which is difficult but all to the glory of our divine Saviour.

For that purpose I plan, God willing, to make a tour of several French dioceses as soon as the Easter feasts are over. At the same time I shall try to mark out the foundations of a society of missionaries who, under the authority and direction of the S.C. of Propaganda, will get ready to evangelize the countries of (p 156) Africa which the light of Faith has not yet reached, or which are the most deprived of spiritual helps.

Already a well-respected priest of the diocese of Fréjus has given me an assurance of his personal support. The rest I hope from the infinite mercy of God towards so many African peoples among whom the holy Name of Jesus is unknown or almost unknown.

You yourself, Eminence, have already given me signs of the gracious confidence and interest that you have in my undertaking. Nevertheless, it would be very useful to have a letter from the S.C. that I could show, testifying to your sentiments towards me, and to the entire harmony of my plans with the wishes of the Holy See. I hereby ask you, Eminence, for this letter, which will give me the moral support I need, and will inspire confidence in those whom the Spirit of God will move to support me in this work, whose direct aim is the propagation of the Holy Gospel.

Should I tell you again, Eminence, that one of the things that can notably delay and frustrate the starting of my enterprise is lack of material means? I do not want to labour this point. Enough to say how grateful I would be to the S.C. if it could come to my aid.

Hoping that your Eminence will graciously grant my requests, I thank you in advance. I remain...

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse

(p 157)

DOCUMENT 9: To Fr. Planque

end of May 1856

Monsieur,

I received your good letter at Marseilles on the 23rd of this month and I begin by blessing the Lord for the intention He inspires in you. He himself will know how to iron out every difficulty if your idea, as I hope, comes from God. As for what I think myself, after mature reflection before God, here it is in a few words:

Perseverance until your present age in your intention of working for the missions seems to me a powerful sign of vocation. I presume that your directors, in advising you to wait because of the reasons you indicate, took care to weigh, and to have you yourself weigh with them, these words of the Gospel : "Sequere me" and dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos ".

Starting from this hypothesis, I respect your continuing reluc-tance to leave your country just now. But Divine Providence disposes events and our own hearts as It wills, always leading them (p 157) to Its ends provided we do not place resistance to Its grace ; has It not willed to keep you back to help in establishing the very work I am planning? For in the present state of things I will need some men like you, ready indeed to set out at a given time, but who in fact would not set out immediately. I would need them immediately so that a nucleus of the Society could be definitely formed, and that the Sacred Congregation could count on it, and so could energetically further its development.

I would therefore need to give the Sacred Congregation the names of two or three respected persons who agree to give themselves whole-hearted to this work. Although my project is hardly known yet - it is not yet two months since I brought it out -I could already give the Sacred Congregation the names of two or three young people who have offered themselves; but I cannot count on them enough for that. Anyway they are the kind of vocations that would have to be tested for some time at the noviciate house. Whereas your position - your age and the antecedents you have told me of - give me every reason to believe that your vocation is certain. Your name, along with that of a venerable priest whom I know personally and believe I can count on, will suffice for the moment. So if you agree to share my labours, with the difficulties and crosses inseparable from every good work, especially founding it, you would do well to give me your assurance as soon as possible. This, then, is what would happen:

You would peacefully continue the tasks at present confided to you, until the moment we are able to unite in community, exercising during this time the apostolic virtues, which are all summed up in perfect self-renunciation. How long will that go on for? God alone knows. It will depend on the number and quality of those whom the Lord will inspire to join me, and also on the material resources it will please Him to send us. Probably also on the greater or lesser activity of the S.C. of Propaganda; unfortunately it has just lost its venerable Prefect. But one of the apostolic virtues we must particularly accept is the one Saint Paul expresses in these words: "Per patientam curramus".

(p 159)

When the moment has come I would call you and we would live together awhile, until the time for departure. Meanwhile, because of your special circumstances, I give you advance assurance that I would not have you set out as long as the reason holding you back continued to exist. I myself would set out then, with others, and you would come and join me later. In the meantime you would be of great help to the new-born association.

I do not think that the worthy Society of Foreign Missions could be in the least offended at your decision, seeing the circumstances you are in. Anyway, you have not spent any time at their novitiate. And I cannot suppose that you're learned and pious Bishop will place the least obstacle to your zeal. But although patience is necessary we must not waste time by our own fault. It is important for the success of my undertaking that the Sacred Congregation be aware that some generous hearts are responding to my call. It is also important that we have a centre as soon as possible, a Society house, a novitiate for the young men who present themselves. Therefore if, after reflecting on it before God, what I have just told you answers the attraction of grace on your heart, I would be obliged if you could let me know this and authorize me to give your name to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. It would be perfect if you could write something like this: "I the undersigned Augustin Planque, priest, at present professor of philosophy at the seminary of Arras, aged X years, hereby declare (p 160) that I place myself at the disposal of Mgr. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse, for the work of the African Missions, accepting the fundamental articles of the Rule such as will be submitted to the approval of the S.C. of Propaganda and as will be accepted or modified by the said Congregation. Made at Arras on the x-x-I856. Signature".

I would send this document to the S.C. of Propaganda. I have no doubt that, once it has received two or three similar ones, it will confirm the encouragements it has already given me in its letter. (Copy enclosed). Also a small Notice containing the substance of the Fundamental Articles which I am asking to have approved. Courage, then dear Father. Let us join together for the greater glory of our Good Master, for the salvation of peoples who do not yet know Jesus Christ - for there are such. And it is these above all that our Society aims to go and evangelise.

All yours in Our Lord,

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

P.S. I will stay at Marseilles 5 or 6 days. I will be at Lyons in a fortnight. You could write me there, poste restante.

(p 161)

DOCUMENT 10: To Cardinal Barnabo

23rd June 1856

I learn today that the Holy Father has graciously clothed you with the Roman Purple. All the Missions will rejoice. And I, who have had the advantage of talking face to face with you about our ever blessed work, do not want to be the last to join my congratula-tions to those you are receiving from the four corners of the universe. We have, moreover, the confidence that the Holy Father is going to give you the Prefecture of Propaganda. And nobody doubts that, under Your Eminence's active and enlightened direction, the reign of Jesus Christ will be extended and strengthened in the regions still groaning in the darkness of idolatry.

This letter, Eminence, has no other object than to bring you my congratulations and best wishes. In a few days time I hope to be able to write to you in detail about my undertaking for the evangelization of the most abandoned peoples of Africa.

The terrible floods that have devastated a notable part of France and thrown the rest into mourning are singularly impeding my preaching and collections. It's an extra obstacle; but I still have full confidence in the Lord, who will cut short, when He wills it, the difficulties keeping me from the poor blacks far from that Kingdom of Dahomey especially, where it is becoming more and more certain that we can enter today without any obstacle from the Barbarians.

Once again, Eminence, please accept my congratulations and the perfect devotedness with which I am

Your humble and obedient servant,

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

(p 162)

DOCUMENT 11: To Fr. Planque

Lyons,

14th July 1856

Monsieur and Dear friend,

Allow me to call you so, in the hope that henceforward we shall together share our work, our consolations and our crosses, which are more especially precious than the consolations it will please God to grant to our weakness.

On my return from a retreat which I went to make at the Grande Chartreuse monastery, it was a great pleasure to find your good letter of the 3rd awaiting me. Please God, another respected priest whose high virtue I know personally may have also made up his mind. Pray that the good God may give him to us. Among (p 163) the other clerics who have offered themselves, I count a lot on a deacon and a sub-deacon. Pray for their perseverance also.

I have postponed writing to you for a few days, hoping to finalize a transaction which is still unconcluded but, I believe, well under way: the purchase of a house here for starting off our work. If what I hope happens, then we will need to count on Providence to pay for it, but without tempting Providence, because of the good terms we are promised. That done, we could get together and wait in peace for the Lord to get our work moving another step forward. In any case I have firm confidence that I will be ready to receive you some place - poorly and apostolic-style no doubt - before the end of the summer holidays. Indeed I would like you to let me know now about what time you could come, in case the business gets finished within a few days.

So I ask you to please write immediately about that. And if I have to leave Lyons very soon I will let you know in my next reply where you can write to me. Good courage. Pray a lot to the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph, the great provider of those in need. If he gets us some good amount for our future dwelling, he will be doing a great favour to our new-born work.

All yours in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

P.S. Please address your reply c/o the Marist Fathers, Montée Saint-Barthélemy.

(p 164)

DOCUMENT 12: To His Em. Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

20th July 1856

Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda,

Eminence,

Since leaving Rome on 20th April this year until now, I have not ceased an instant from working for the African Missions with the aim of trying new Missions in the most abandoned countries of Africa. It is time, I think, to give you an account of what I have been doing, and of the hope that has been given me of being able very soon to put at your disposal some workers devoted to this difficult enterprise. I also have to indicate to you what would seem most desirable at the moment for hastening the day when it will be given us to go and bring the holy Name of Jesus Christ amongst these poor peoples.

Supported by the kind letter of encouragement from His Em.Card. Fransoni of pious memory, I began, immediately on my arrival at Toulon, to preach about my work, to make it known to the faithful and the clergy: from the former to obtain the material help that is indispensable to my enterprise; from the latter to attract (p 165) devoted co-workers. By neither side have I been disappointed. No sooner had I preached in two dioceses than I obtained some thousands of francs in contributions. But just then, unfortunately, came the terrible floods which devastated a sizeable part of France. This disaster made a deep nation-wide impression. On every side collections were started for the flood victims. Every other good work had to give way. And I had to stop my collecting for a time.

However, if I stopped preaching I did not stop working. I visited several Seminaries and finally came to Lyons to make arrange-ments with the Council of the Propagation of the Faith and to see if I could not find a suitable location to set up the first centre of the Society of African Missions. The gentlemen at the Propagation of the Faith persist in saying what they wrote to me at Rome, which I have had the honour to communicate to you, i.e. that, while being very sympathetic to my enterprise, they refuse to give anything toward the first establishing of it in Europe. On the other hand, once a Mission is definitively entrusted to me; they again assure me that I can count on their help for the travel expenses as well as our establishments in Africa and the maintenance of the Mission.

Several clerics have offered themselves to share my work. With the meagre resources I collected in the first two months and counting for the rest on Providence, I am going to bring together as soon as possible those who give the best guarantees of a real vocation. We will live in community until the day of departure and together we will/lay the foundations of the Society. Already twelve or fifteen are more or less decided. But the ones I especially hope to see becoming excellent missionaries are:

1. Rev. A. Planque, a priest, at present professor of Philosophy at the Seminary of Arras.

2. Rev. Girerd, a deacon. The Directors of the seminary where he still is (though he has finished his theology) have given me the best of reports about him.

3. Rev. Noché, sub-deacon.

4. Rev. Faure, sub-deacon.

5. Rev. Brissaud, minor orders. The same remarks for these three young clerics as for Rev. Girerd; only Rev. Brissaud has not yet finished his theological studies.

(p 166)

6. Mr. Paul Nicol, layman.

7· Mr. Joseph Richard, layman. These two could be lay bro-thers.

It is still to be expected that, among those who, at first glance, did not inspire so much confidence in me, there will be at least one that is solid after spending some time in our house of probation. But what is certain above all is that, as soon as 4 or 5 of us have come together- once the Society has a domicile and the work becomes known - many generous clerics will join us especially when they know that a definite Mission has been confided to us. Until that happens - and certainly not without reason - Seminary Directors will be the first to hold back the enthusiasm of young clerics. " Wait" they will say. "Let us see how this Society turns out, since as yet it has no Mission, really."

So it is beyond doubt, Eminence, that we will have no lack of candidates. Even now we do not lack them. Indeed I might almost say we have too many at the moment. For, without tempting Providence, my present resources would not allow me to take in immediately and maintain afterwards all those who have offered themselves. I am going to bring together only 4 or 5 of those I have named above. And when God in his goodness sends us more abundant help I will call some others. Moreover, once you have designated a Mission and the Propagation of the Faith can include it in its Annals, I hope it will allocate something to us even before our departure.

If only the Lord continues to bless us, you will soon have a Society of missionaries in your hand, Eminence, at the service of the S.C. of Propaganda for the most abandoned countries of Africa, whatever are the rigours of the climate or the barbarity of the inhabitants.

It would be difficult and perhaps impossible, just now to formulate detailed regulations for the Society of African Missions. Nevertheless we are going to have to follow a common rule from the start, at least provisional. We have therefore agreed on a few Fundamental Articles, of which I have the honour to send you a copy. Please examine them, Eminence, and tell us if we can keep to that for the moment. We will accept them with the modifications you may think useful to make in them.

(p 167)

Such, Eminence, is my first request to you, hoping that you will please let me know soon either your approval of my Articles or whatever modifications you think fit to make. I need them in order to have something definite to give the Bishops; before permitting their clerics to join me, they want me to tell them clearly what our Society will be.

Next, it would be very important, I think, that the S.C. graciously confide the Dahomey Mission to me without too much delay. That would give me a powerful moral force to lay a solid foundation for the Society. Moreover there is no doubt that fairly soon I will be able to set out for that country accompanied by two priests and one or two lay brothers. Meanwhile, under the direction of Fr Planque for example, the others could get ready to follow us at the right time. And, within a few years from now, I am confident that the Society of African Missions will be able to respond in a wide-ranging manner to the desires of the S.C. both for Dahomey and for others of the most barbaric peoples of Africa.

As to the information that I have continued to collect on the Kingdom of Dahomey, it is all in line with what I indicated in my January Report. The house of Regis still has the same dispositions towards us and has very good relations with King Guézo; It is through the Régis house that the King is trying to get the French Government to take on the education of two of his children.

It was only after submitting my Report to you that I learnt this fact, which I communicated verbally to you. I also take the liberty of sharing my fears and hopes about this matter with you. In itself it is a good thing. But if these young princes receive an impious education - as is only too probable -like what is being given at Paris to some young Egyptians, it would be far better for the future of Religion in those countries if these young people never set eyes on France. But if we arrived in their country before they left, it could well happen that the King would give up the idea of sending them overseas and would confide their education to use or else send them under the protection of the Society of African Missions which would bring them up either by itself or by placing them in a truly Christian home or in a small Seminary/College. It seems to me, Eminence, that here is another powerful consideration for not delaying the opening of the Dahomey Mission. Once on the spot I (p 168) would let you know as exactly as possible what are the limits of that Kingdom so as to properly fix the jurisdiction.It is now about a year, Eminence, since the House of Régis let me know of the possibility that exists of starting a Mission in that Kingdom and the hopes of doing a lot of good there - even of penetrating further on, into the interior of Africa, once we are strongly anchored in Abomey, the capital. Let us hope that another long time will not go by before I have the happiness of going to preach Jesus Christ there. I pray the divine mercy and you, Eminence, who are its providential instrument, graciously to hasten that moment, for the salvation of some chosen ones.

It only remains for me to again implore the favour of the S.C. and the blessing of the Holy Father on the work we are proposing to undertake. Finally I ask you to accept my respectful devotedness etc.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

Lyons, c/o the Marist Fathers, 20th July 1856.

(p 169)

DOCUMENT 13: FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES WHICH,IF APPROVED BY THE S.C. OF PROPAGANDA, CAN, WE THINK, SERVE AS A BASIS FOR THE SOCIETY OF AFRICAN MISSIONS

(1856)

I

The Society of African Missions has for its principal aim the evangelization of the countries in Africa which have most need of missionaries.

II

It places itself under the protection of the S.C. of Propa-ganda, to whose authority it will always remain perfectly obedient as being the official voice of the decisions of the Sovereign Pontiff for everything concerning the missions.

(p 170)

III

It will accept no mission except in conformity with the wishes of the S.C. of Propaganda. Conversely it will try to make itself capable of responding to these wishes for any point whatever in Africa, however unpromising or difficult be the mission to be confided to it. It will constantly work to prepare ways for penetrating into the places where there are no missionaries; and when it believes the time is ripe for an attempt to be made it will inform the S.C. in order to obtain authorization to put it into execution. Finally, on the express request, never sought, of the S.C., it can accept missions outside of Africa, provided it be to peoples of colour.

IV

The Society being essentially secular, a member will not take vows. Later it will be considered whether it would be advanta-geous to have an oath of perseverance taken after a year's probation in the mother house, or after some years on the missions. For the moment he will just make a solemn Resolution to persevere in the Society to the end of his days, considering it his greatest merit to die at the work, either on the missions or at their service in Europe

V

The association shall comprise the Superior General, local superiors, councillors, other priest confreres, and lay brothers. The government structure of the Society will be detailed later. In the meantime Mgr. de Marion Brésillac shall be considered the Superior of the association, and the four senior priests his councillors. Before leaving for Africa he shall appoint a superior for the house in France.

(p 171)

VI

To have active and passive voice shall require three years of membership.

VII

Before being accepted as a member a candidate shall normally spend a year in the house of probation in Europe.

VIII

Wherever several associates are together, they shall observe the common life. They can use the revenues from their patri-mony according to their own will. But everything they receive, directly or indirectly, from the missions or for the missions shall be put in the common fund. Superiors can require that their subjects apply a certain number of Masses for the needs of the community, but not more than four per week.

IX

Superiors shall take care to provide for the needs of the associates without neglecting anything necessary but without ever deviating from holy apostolic poverty.

X

Members of the association finding themselves in Europe, either by the will of superiors or in the cases to be foreseen in the Rule, shall not neglect to make themselves useful to the Church and the missions, not only by prayer but also by works which maintain the apostolic spirit at the heart of the association, for example: orphanages, educating poor children and children to be brought from the missions to be taken back home after their schooling. They shall also make themselves useful by preaching, especially in the country towns and villages. All this according to the directions of superiors.

XI

Lay brothers shall, as far as possible, exercise a skill or a trade, so as to be capable of teaching poor children and young Africans, either in Europe or in establishments on the missions.

XII

The sinew and strength of the Society is concord in perfect charity, and obedience to those placed in charge, to direct rather (p 172) than govern their confreres. Therefore, even if an aspirant has all the other qualifications, he shall not be incorporated into the association if he is seen to have a spirit of independence in him, or a marked reluctance to adapt to characters different to his own.

XIII

After eight or ten years of existence, a detailed Rule shall be drawn up and submitted for the approval of the Holy See.

A.M.D.G.

(p 173)

DOCUMENT 14 : To Fr. Planque

End of July 1856

Very Dear Father,

Today the business I told you about has been finalized. So we shall have a house. It will be lacking a lot of things at first, but it will also have its agreeable features. In a little enclosure quite near the city, magnificent view. May the Lord bless it and fill it with zealous missionaries who will launch out from there into the most abandoned countries of Africa to snatch from the devil some of the souls that he now possesses, so to speak, with no contest.

This house is at present rented out, and we cannot take possession before the 31st of October. However, the Carmelite Ladies who are selling it will arrange for a lodging to be vacated before that. So I will try to come back here about the beginning of October, and you can come and join me a few days later. Meanwhile, please write to me at Castelnaudary (Aude), if I am not there, letters will be sent on to me.

Yes, it would be good to bring all the books you can with you, for we will all be glad to have some things to read and to use for study (p 174) Whatever time the Lord gives us. However, to avoid the extra luggage charges, you could leave some to be sent on later by slow transport. I am saying this only to answer your question, and insofar as it suits you.

Finally, very dear Father, pray a lot, and get the pious souls that you know to pray also, to ask God in His goodness to give us strength in the contradictions and patience in the trials and annoyances which are inseparable from every new beginning.

In this unity in prayer and the Holy Sacrifice, I am

All yours in Our Lord,

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

(p 175)

DOCUMENT 15: To Fr. Planque

23rd August 1856

... Until such time as I have the pleasure of seeing you and communicating everything that led to my undertaking this work, you can tell this to people who may be surprised at it : I am proceeding in consultation and agreement with the S.C. of Propa-ganda. It 'Was Cardinal Barnabo - then Secretary, now Cardinal Prefect of the S.C. - who gave me the idea of this Society to be formed. The Holy Ghost Fathers (now joined with the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Mary) have themselves asked that other workers be sent into the vast regions which they are in charge of evangelising and cannot cover. The S.C. contacted several Congregations but they have not been able to respond to its wishes. I then offered myself. And, the better to ensure success, the S.C. manifested the desire to see a Society formed such as the one we are now trying to create will be; and that God will bless it, I am confident.

In a short time from now, the Bishop of Arras will be the same towards us as the Cardinal of Lyons and others who were suspicious at first but are now my supporters and protectors. Courage and perseverance! Write to me again at Castelnaudary. A Dieu.

All yours in Our Lord,

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Castelnaudary, 23rd August 1856.

P.S. I do not see why you should write to the Foreign Mis-sions.

(p 176)

DOCUMENT 16: To Fr. Planque

End of October 1856

Very Dear Father,

Here I am at last in Lyons. I have delayed until now giving you the address of our house. It is nº 9, Saint Foy Road. I figured on being here a week earlier. But feeling a bit tired after a month's almost continuous preaching on the road, I yielded to the pressing invitations of the Bishop of Le Puy to stop and rest a week with him.

And now, very dear Father, I am awaiting you with eagerness and impatience. Come as soon as possible, and please write what day you are to arrive, so that in your room there may at least be what would suffice for a prophet: a bed, a table and a candlestick.

Looking forward to the pleasure of seeing you and of sharing my work with you, I recommend myself to your good prayers.

Yours affectionately in Our Lord,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac

Missions Africaines, Chemin de Sainte-Fey, 9, Lyon.

(p 177)

DOCUMENT 17: To H. Em Card. Barnabo, Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda

12-18 November 1856

Your Eminence,

Thanks be to God, I have some good news to give you about our enterprise. The Society of African Missions is no longer just a project; it exists. And I hope that soon you will graciously entrust it with the Mission of Dahomey. Here are the steps of progress that have taken place since my last letter to Your Eminence, a few months ago:

Once the terrible effects of the floods had somewhat disappeared, I began again to do preaching and collecting. In spite of severe hardship in France this year, I have collected 13,080 francs to date. Moreover I have turned into cash that part of my patrimony which I can use before the death of my parents, which brought me nearly 12,000 francs. So, before the end of the month, out of the 34,000 francs that our house in Lyons is costing, 24,000 will have been paid off. For the remaining 10,000 we have five (p 178) years to pay. It will be very easy to meet this, once the Propagation of the Faith comes to our help, i.e. once you will have definitively assigned us the Dahomey Mission. For the rest, I hope to make a few more collections before setting out, and to leave no debt on the establishment.

Before the end of the month I think we will be nine or ten living in community in our African Missions house, established at Lyons on the hillside of Saint Foy, an admirable position. Already we are four including a priest that I have spoken to you about already, Fr. Planque. He is a providential man for our work. To join me, he left the Chair of Philosophy which he occupied with distinction in a highly considered French seminary. Very well informed, pious as an angel, all his life in seminaries, accustomed to the direction of young men, and gifted with a perfect character, he is very fitted to direct the noviciate and the Lyons house in my absence. Among the aspirants that I am expecting in a few days are two sub-deacons and a deacon, at present in the Grenoble seminary. Their Directors give them the highest praise. They have finished their Theology and can be ordained priests whenever I wish. So I can set out with them as soon as you permit, while Fr. Planque will develop our Society here and prepare the others, not only for Dahomey but also to be at your disposal later on for others of the most abandoned lands in Africa. For it is now quite certain that according as our, work becomes better known, as soon as we have some Mission confided to us, and the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith publicise it, we will have aspirants in great numbers.

The Propagation of the Faith is more and more disposed in our favour. To give you a proof of this, their Council has honoured an invitation of mine to a sermon I was giving to make my work known; and now it has invited me to preach the Sermon for the Propagation of the Faith on the 3rd December next. These gentlemen are impatient to be able to help me with more than just good wishes, but they cannot do so until a Mission is confided to us; (p 179) then they can put the name of that Mission into their Annals. You can imagine, Eminence, how anxious I am that they come to our aid soon, for the ten aspirants, who are going to be entirely my financial responsibility, could become an awkward burden on me if I am not helped by the Propagation of the Faith. All the more so because the Directors of the Paris Foreign Missions have written saying, now that I am forming a Congregation, they feel they are no longer bound to pay me the pension they have been giving me up to this. It seems to me they could have at least waited until a position was created for me by the S.C. But anyway I would not want to dispute with them, as I place a lot of store in preserving the good relations that have not ceased to reign between them and me, which it is important to preserve for the common good of our work and for public edification.

Here again, Eminence, are a few considerations which seem to me well fitted to help you decide to erect the Mission of Dahomey without delay: The biggest difficulties I meet, especially when it is a question of getting excellent candidates, come from the bishops; they do not undestand why I am asking to take them away with me before having any Mission. If the Deacons from Grenoble are not here at this moment, their delay is entirely due to this cause. The Bishop fears to give them permission lest he expose them to a gamble. It is the same with several other bishops. Thus, Fr. Planque encountered a lot of trouble in getting permission to come. But once a Mission is assigned to us, every difficulty will be ironed out on that side, which is so delicate and so important for our work. For it is good workers we need, and not priests who have become a nuisance to the bishop.

In a month or a month and a half I am to go to Paris, where I have not been since my return from Rome. This journey can be extremely useful to me if I can present myself as the Holy See's appointee to the Mission of Dahomey. I have a well-founded hope of maybe getting some help in money from the Government, and (p 180) above all some moral support and protection, this can be a great help to us in those barbaric countries. I have postponed going to Paris because I could not yet call myself a missionary to Dahomey. But it is important not to let the winter pass without those contacts.

I pray that all these reasons, Eminence, may persuade you to ask the Holy Father to entrust us with the Dahomey Mission without further delay.

A word from you, Eminence, when you were only the Secretary of the S.C., has given life to our Congregation. For I was very far from thinking of founding a Society of missionaries. I went to Rome solely for the purpose of requesting the Dahomey Mission for myself and two or three other evangelising workers that I would have joined. (This was on hearing the assurances of the Marseilles house of Regis that today it is possible and almost easy to penetrate among this people which, in the interior, has never been evangelised). You then expressed to me the idea that it would be much better to found a Society of missionaries to be at the service of Propaganda for Dahomey and the most abandoned countries of Africa. I was terrified of this proposal; but still I accepted it with some hope.

Today all my hopes have been surpassed. We have a house; we have the support of the clergy everywhere that I have been able to make my work sufficiently known; we have an assurance of help from the Propagation of the Faith; we have eight or ten very well disposed subjects, four or five ready to set out in a few months; we have the prospect of numerous vocations to feed our central house in Lyons in the future. The only thing we lack now is to be authentically authorised to call ourselves the missionaries to Dahomey. It seems to me very important that we be able to do so before the end of the year, before my journey to Paris, above all before the Propagation of the Faith allocates the 1856 contribu-tions. A longer delay could put back our departure by a year, because we would not have the funds for the voyage; whereas the Propagation of the Faith will ensure them. Finally, Eminence, this act of the S.C. would greatly encourage the generous clerics who have joined me, and would give us new strength for the happy development of our institution.

I forgot to tell you, Eminence that according to what Mr. Regis assures me, Sisters would be able to establish themselves at Widdah (p 181) and do a lot of good. However, I will certainly not bring any at first, without seeing for myself how things are. But already four or five Institutions (hospital and school) have offered to give me Sisters. So that, if necessary, this element of goodness will not be lacking to us.

I have the honour to be...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse.

Lyons, African Missions, 18 November 1856.

(p 182)

DOCUMENT 18: To Mgr. Barnabo

13 December 1856

Eminence,

Although I have not yet received a reply to the letter I had the honour of writing to you about a month ago, I think it useful to let you know that on the feast of the Immaculate Conception we went, seven of us to offer our enterprise to the Blessed Virgin, at the foot of her image venerated on the hill of Fourvière. There we renewed our resolution to devote ourselves entirely to the work of the African Missions. And we desire, if the Sacred Congregation so permits, to date the existence of our Society from the 8th December 1856.

At the moment I have two priests with me, three young clerics and a brother. Another has been received already, a sub-deacon from the Lyons seminary. The Cardinal Archbishop gave him permission yesterday. He is to receive the diaconate on Saturday (p 183) and enter here the following Monday. The three deacons from Grenoble are not with us yet. They are still waiting for the permission of their bishop, but that is all they need. Others have also offered themselves.

The running of our house is in everything like a seminary. We live in community. The exercises are regulated, as are the hours of study, both for the young clerics and the priests. It was not difficult for me to get things going on that footing because Fr. Planque, whom I appointed director of the house, is a former seminary director who taught Philosophy last year at Arras Seminary. The other priest, Fr. Reymond, is a man gifted with very remarkable qualities who will, I have no doubt, make an excellent missionary. Among the young clerics there is one, especially, who guest very solid hope; he has almost finished his Theology course. The deacon coming on Monday has also finished his course and he is of age to receive the priesthood. The superiors of the Lyons Major Seminary have praised him highly.

These details, Eminence, will therefore only corroborate what I told you in my last letter and will, I hope, persuade Your Eminence not to delay the erection of the Dahomey Mission. We have great need of that, to give a boost to our Congregation, re-assure the Bishops who fear to confide their subjects to us as long as they see us not having a determinate Mission, and to protect those who are ready to share my work from an uncertainty which could lead to discouragement.

On the 3rd December, after the meal given by the gentlemen of the Propagation of the Faith on the occasion of the Sermon I preached for their Work, I almost obtained a commitment from the members of their Council to come to our aid not only for the Dahomey Mission at our departure (that is certain) but even .before that as soon as a Mission is officially confided to the Society of African Missions. Now you can understand, Eminence, how much this would lighten the burden now weighing on me (which is well known to these gentlemen) having to buy the things indispensable for a house and provide for the maintenance of a personnel becoming every day (happily) more numerous - especially at the present prices of foodstuffs. This help from the Propagation of the Faith would be all the more precious to me as collections are getting more (p 184) and more difficult because of that same dearness all over France. I hope therefore, Eminence that you will graciously not delay in confiding the Dahomey Mission to our Society.

Meanwhile, in my own name and for the family of the African Missions,

We are your humble and devoted servants,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Lyon, Missions Africaines, chemin de Sainte-Foy 9,

13th December 1856.

(p 185)

DOCUMENT 19: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

28th December 1856

My dear Fr. Planque,

We arrived here yesterday, and this morning I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 26th. I thank you for the details you give me, and I pray you to do the same often. Do not be afraid of being too long-winded.

I hope Rev Riocreux will soon be with you, if he isn't already. Encourage him well from me if he has arrived. The family is still small, true enough; but it will get bigger by the grace of God, provided we ourselves are faithful to that grace and don't ever let ourselves get discouraged. Let us figure that we will have done something very pleasing to God, and in no way have wasted our time if, in ten years' time, we have managed to open a new Mission territory. The essential thing at the start is not that we be very numerous but that our young men should have a good spirit and a perfect devotedness to our work.

So what you tell me about Mr. Regis makes me stop and (p 186) think. It seems to me that if, after some time, it is probable he is not going to persevere, we should not keep him. For that, you must seize two or three occasions when he is found at fault and tell him - quae friendly and without any great reproaches - on .what conditions he

Can stay with us' that moreover, you are going to let me know everything related to his vocation. After that, I would write you a letter to be shown him, and then we would see what is to be done. As to F.B. if he has a good spirit the rest will come.

I haven't yet made my plan of campaign for Paris. I preached at Dijon and Sens. The collection came to about seven hundred francs. If in a few days' time you receive five thousand and some more francs which my brother is to pay me out of my patrimony (and which I am writing him to send on to you) I ask you to take five thousand immediately to the Carmelite Ladies and get a receipt on stamped paper in my name, indicating that it is a part payment on the property.

I think you did well to take on the six-o-clock Sunday Mass. It will be a bit hard as long as you are the only priest there; but we must not miss any opportunity for making ourselves useful. And we must hope that God will send us some recruits. In order to know what is lacking in our chapel, I think the excellent Fr. Burnichon would only have to come and see it.

It goes without saying that, any time those Ladies do you some favour, you should please thank them on my behalf and tell them you will let me know of it.

A Dieu. Pray for us. Regards to Revs Alba, Regis and Genin,

+M.M.J. De Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Paris, 31, rue de Londres, 28th December 1856.

(p 187)

DOCUMENT 20 : To Fr. Planque

Paris,

30th December 1856

My Dear Fr. Planque,

From what you tell me in your letter of Sunday, Mr. Garnier is obviously not meant for us. If you' think the same yourself, in a way that leaves no hope of improvement even when he knows that we are quite determined not to keep subjects who aren't entirely devoted to our work, you can tell him purely and simply to go. If you think that, after having understood your firm determination, he may make a salutary turning-back on himself, read him this part of my letter and warn him that you are going to keep a strict watch on him and that, at the first sign of back-sliding, he will be dismissed. I repeat: it matters little that we should be numerous from the start. What we need is none but devoted men. As to the other one, look again according to your prudence and tell me what effect is produced on him by your manner of acting with Mr. Garnier - which it is good he should be aware of in any case.

And we ourselves, dear Fr. Planque, let us take care not to get discouraged. These are the trials of the present moment, the trials of creating, and they are certainly as tough as the burning skies of the tropics and will, I hope, be therefore no less meritorious. We must expect all sorts of contradictions from men and from the devil. But he won't gain anything out of it, provided we are constant.

A Dieu. Let us pray and keep firm. Above all, let us be faithful to grace.

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Paris, 30th December 1856.

(p 188)

DOCUMENT 21: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

1st January 1857

To Fr. Planque

My Dear Fr. Planque,

Just now I received your good letter of the 30th and with all my heart I send you the happy New Year which you wish to me and to our work. May the end of the year now starting find one or other of us in the Kingdom of Dahomey! But if God in his goodness wants to stretch our patience a bit longer and wait still further to open the gates of that infidel Kingdom to us, let us know how to wait for the moment of grace without wanting to start before it, and also without wanting to hang back from the trials and dangers of making a start there, which must necessarily meet with some contradictions. Thank Mr. Alba from me and the others too, if they are proving worthy of our interest.

I leave it to your prudence to try out the Brother who is applying.

You alone can judge, by seeing him, talking with him etc., whether he is capable of learning soon how to be a passable cook and so forth.

As a general rule, eating out is not worth much. Only as a rare exception, with prudence.

(p 189)

We still have 135 Mass stipends, so you can take some for yourself.

I think you would do well not to delay writing to Fr. Reymond. It seems to me his intentions are excellent. Must keep up brotherly relations with him. I think he appreciates them.

I have received the 720 francs for the Cardinal. Please go and give them to him as soon as possible, offering him my respects and New Year wishes. Tell him that, if I have delayed so long, it is because I was away at Dijon and Sens, and because I didn't find Fr.Choiselat at home the first time I went.

Maybe this will leave your purse nearly dry. I will send you money as soon as you definitely need it, or as soon as I can get an opportunity to send it safely and without cost. Unfortunately I haven't made any yet at Paris. But I still have the two collections of Dijon and Sens.

Once again, very dear Fr. Planque, a happy new year in the Lord. He knows that we are working only for the extension of His Kingdom. Let us be faithful to Him. He will not abandon us.

All yours in Our Lord,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Paris, 1st January 1857.

(p 190)

DOCUMENT 22: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

3rd January 1857

My dear Fr. Planque,

Since Mr. Regis is to go, he must not hum and haw about going away as he did about coming. It takes only two days to get a reply from Le Puy. And anyway he has relatives in Lyons.

It is absolutely necessary to come to a decision about Mr. Genin.

Tell him you know, beyond any doubt, that he is thinking about going to the Oblates. That if this is so, while doing good he has done very bad offering himself to us. That this is doubtless what explains the contradiction, which I have observed myself, between his over-all conduct and his protestations of being devoted to our work. And that if this is so, he cannot in conscience stay with us.

As I said in my letter the day before yesterday, I leave it to your prudent judgment to try out the Brother.

Please give my congratulations and best wishes to the good Ursuline Ladies and ask them to pray a lot for us.

(p 191)

Certainly, if there is need, or merely great usefulness, you must send for a doctor for Mr. Alba.

My compliments to Rev Riocreux. I hope be won't be scared by the departure of our two young aspirants. Tell him we had never really counted a lot on them, one of them being too young and the other showing signs of inconsistency. On the good recommendations given to them, we had decided to give them a try, and it didn't succeed. But he himself is a deacon and has studied his vocation at the seminary, so we are counting a lot more on him. That he should not be surprised, either, at our small number. How could it be otherwise, starting off? And anyway, "non numerandi sed ponderandi". Above all, I pray you; see that he doesn't get discou-raged.

Thanks for your" happy feast day" wishes. May we be found worthy one day to follow them and bring the light of Faith to completely gentile peoples.

I told you in my last letter that I have received the 720 francs for His Eminence

All yours in Our Lord,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Paris, 3rd January 1857.

(p 192)

DOCUMENT 23: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

17th January 1857

Very dear Fr. Planque,

I have a letter from my brother saying that my letter giving your name was forgotten by him in the country and that he is sending to Mr. de Ranchin to hand you over the sum of 5,500 francs. Once you have got them and paid the Carmelite Ladies, please inform me so that I can give my brother a receipt.

Your letter of the 14th made me very happy, because it gave me hope that henceforward there will be unity of views and sentiments among the companions of our enterprise. Furthermore I thank Heaven for giving you the spirit of our work in a very high degree. Without you, I would still be asking myself whether the Lord wills the success of my enterprise. But even if all the rest went badly, provided only that God in his goodness gives you and me the spirit of patience and perseverance, and then sooner or later we shall eventually manage to create some new Missions in Africa, which is something well worth the life of a man. These reflections are suggested to me by what you shared with me about your plans of study and your work on the really evangelised countries of Africa. It will be difficult for you to get all the desired information immediately; but little by little you will perfect the statistical part. And that can be very useful to you in the meantime. And at a given time it may be something the S.C. ought to see. So I strongly urge you to keep at it.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Paris, 17th January 1857.

(p 193)

DOCUMENT 24: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

3rd March 1857

Eminence,

The last letter I had the honour of receiving from the S.C. was nº 5 of 4th December 1856.

Our work is going from strength to strength. And now it cannot but succeed provided we are faithful to grace. Which you will help us to do, Eminence, by your goodwill and kindly direction.

I have already spent more than 35,000 F on our work: 28,000 paid for our establishment in Lyons, 2,000 for registration expenses, and 2,000 for furnishing, the rest for travel and for mainte-nance of the community since the month of December. I have only 6,000 F more to pay on the house, and about 1,000 notary's expenses. This expenditure I have met from collections, now up to 21,000 F, and from an advance of 14,000 F belonging to myself. The end result is beyond my expectations, for I had thought I could not pay for the house without the help which the Propagation of the Faith has promised me once a Mission is confided to us.

(p 194)

Allow me to remind you, Eminence, how much it is to be desired, for the full success of our enterprise, that a Mission be assigned to us soon, even if we have to stay in France some time longer before actually setting out, if you judge it proper. It would double our strength and inspire greater confidence in those who are interested in our work, in the young clerics wishing to join us, and in those already with us.

We feel the need of this so strongly, Eminence, that if there were obstacles to assigning us the Dahomey Mission very soon, we would pray you to assign us another in one of the places in Africa where the need for missionaries is most strongly felt, while still keeping free to give us charge of Dahomey later on if you so wish. Still, we would prefer Dahomey before all if possible, because that was the first place we set our sights on, and because it is becoming more and more clearly desirable that there should be no delay in evangelising that country.

Mr. Régis is going on with his work of human civilization, and he is disappointed at not yet having our help. He wanted us to go out with the ship going there for two children of the King of Dahomey whom he has just brought to France for their education, by arrangement with the French government. I tried my best to explain to him at that time that such a thing was impossible for us, because I first have to have an official Mission from the Holy See. Since then I have been trying to avoid too frequent contacts with him, because it is difficult to get men of this world to understand the laws of spiritual jurisdiction; and I fear turning him against us by repeating, even now, that it is impossible for us to set out. Meanwhile, a priest affiliated to our work was at Marseilles some time ago. He met Mr. Régis, and this is what he writes to me :

"... I hasten to send Your Lordship the details that he (Mr. Régis) has just given me: Apparently the dispositions of the King of Dahomey and the people could not be more favourable to your projects. They all desire the arrival of missionaries. The King asked Mr. Vidal (Mr. Regis's agent) to get him some white-man's fetishes from France. Mr. Regis, having consulted some clerics, sent (p 195) out statues of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and a few Saints. The King received them with respect and placed them in his palace. Just recently he was proudly showing them to a Navy Captain who has just been on a special mission in his Kingdom. Telling Mr. Regis of his trip, he said he had no doubt but these images would prepare a favourable welcome for any missionaries who could present them-selves in his states. The King of Dahomey likes France so much that he has even had the Emperor petitioned for permission to send his two sons to France to be brought up. The Emperor agreed, and these two young men are soon to arrive at Marseilles on board Mr. Regis's "Camelia", I think an advantage for the future could be gained from their arrival by sending one of your clerics to take charge of their education - and at the same time he would be able to learn the language ..."

That letter was of the 30th January. Since then I have seen in the papers that the two sons of the King of Dahomey did arrive at Marseilles. They are to be brought up at the State schools, and you know, Eminence, what the university colleges are like in France! Is it not a great pity that these boys weren't confided to us, or at least to an independent [Catholic] school under our supervision? There the development of their minds could be looked after, while at the same time disposing their souls to receive the gift of faith. Is it not also a great pity that there is nobody in the Kingdom of Dahomey to follow up the religious movement which is going on, and which will turn out good or bad according to the way it is directed neverthe-less I did not think I could interfere in all that without the S.C. having definitely confided the Dahomey Mission to us, or without having had instructions from Your Eminence on the matter.

Unless some letters have got lost, Your Eminence must soon receive replies from Mgr. Bessieux to the letters written to him more than a year ago. I am hoping therefore that a decision will very soon be made by the S.C. Anyway, it is not unaware that the Holy Ghost Fathers have several times manifested their desire to share the evangelization of their immense Vicariate with others, and that at the moment they do not seem to be in a position to send any subjects to Dahomey themselves. Yet it is an entire Kingdom and seems to be very populous, very powerful, having more than 40,000 troops under arms, not counting regiments of women...

(p 196)

I could go there right now, along with two priests of remarkable qualities and one or two lay brothers, while leaving Fr. Planque here to direct the young aspirants and keep the noviciate going, so as to send us reinforcements at the right time. Isn't that all that is required to make a start? Indeed, it seems to me it would be even imprudent to go there with any greater number. In the last resort, if Your Eminence judged it better for me to stay on here to consolidate the foundation at Lyons, I could send Fr. Planque with two other priests and a lay brother, sacrificing my own very keen desire to be the first to set out there.

This letter is already a long one, Eminence, and yet I still have a lot more things to tell you. So perhaps it might be useful that I make a new journey to Rome to discuss personally with you. Please let me know, Eminence, and accept my profound respects and perfect devotedness...

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 3rd March 1857.

(p 197)

DOCUMENT 25: To Cardinal Barnabo

28th April 1857

Eminence,

Permit me to address Cardinal Barnabo here rather than the Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda Fide and to come in all simplicity, in a non-official letter, to ask you for some sign of encouragement. I ask it above all, Eminence. For the worthy priests who are with me. For in spite of the fact that they are persevering in their good intention of sacrificing their lives for the evangelisation of the most abandoned peoples of Africa, I can see that the continued silence of the S.C., leaving my last two letters without a reply, is causing them certain sadness. A letter assuring us that, either in Dahomey or somewhere else, a Mission will be confided to us soon, would renew their courage by reassuring them about their future. We would see many other clerics finally joining (p 198) us who are now stopped by the consideration that nothing is yet fixed about our starting off, neither the place nor the time.

Shall I tell you again what a heavy load it is on me to bear the expenses of the community all alone? I put up with it cheerfully out of the love I have for the work of the missions, but I am hoping that Your Eminence will not let me get crushed under its weight. These expenses are increasing every day, and I would be jeopardising the foundations of the work if I took in a great number of subjects before the Propagation of the Faith comes to our aid. And it will not aid us until a Mission is definitively confided to us.

Since my last letter to the S.C. I have, however, admitted another priest and a lay brother. The priest, Fr. Bresson, is with us a month now. He has, perhaps, not as much talent as the others, but he seems full of good qualities. He has left a parish to join us, with the highest recommendations from his ecclesiastical superiors. So a departure for Africa would soon be quite easy from our side.

I hope therefore, Eminence, that you will soon have a reply for us which, even if it does not yet actually fix a Mission, will neverthe-less be positive enough to strengthen the good resolution of the priests who are at present with me, to encourage those who want to join us, and to give myself a new moral strength to work for a good conclusion to this enterprise, which has been started only for the extension of the reign of Jesus Christ.

Yours etc.,

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse.

(p 199)

DOCUMENT 26: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

12th June 1857

Very dear Fr. Planque,

"Ab uno disce omnes ". You see how this Saint Irene storm is dispersing naturally all by itself, and that we mustn't let ourselves be too affected by difficulties arising on one side or another. No doubt it won't be the last of our troubles and pains in the enterprise we are starting? Pains from within, pains from without, pains of soul, pains of heart, compared to which bodily pains are nothing? So let us never let ourselves be discouraged, no matter what pains present them. I have told you, dear friend, and I think I can say it again, with the confidence I have in you: the only temptation I fear in you is discouragement. A few words in your last letter make me write these reflections. But I am fully confident that, with your knowledge of the human heart and your profound piety, you will find more than enough strength to triumph over it...

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Paris, 12th June 1857.

P.S. May be Fr. Reymond won't arrive until Sunday morning.

(p 200 )

DOCUMENT 27 : To Fr. Planque

Le Mans,

29th June 1857

My Dear Fr. Planque,

I received your last two letters and I admit that it is imperative to aim at having more of a spirit of kindly understanding and simplicity reigning in the house. It would be ruinous for the spirit of our work if every newcomer could blurt out whatever comes into his head, and could judge and decide without any regard for those placed in charge of some duty.

Moreover, the missions would become impossible if, even among two, there was not one who was the head, deciding in practice in every given case what's to be done - without his confreres getting themselves into endless arguments about it. And how would that good order be possible if, at Lyons, the aspirants did not get the habit of giving way, in a spirit of obedience and simplicity, to those placed in charge of directing the house? You see that I think the same as you about that.

Only let us our side use a lot of gentleness and patience, especially at the beginning, to bring along and improve what is imperfect, (p 201) without driving to discouragement those who have shown the good-will, anyway, to want to come and co-operate in the success of the work. I think Mr. Alba is in that category, provided he doesn't let himself get carried away too much by his sometimes exalted imagination.

As to Fr. Bresson, I doubt if his age and habits leave any hope for a serious modification - and a necessary one - in his character. It is certain also that, unless he gets down a bit more to study, we will find it very difficult in conscience to give him any administration to do. Still, he is a priest, and he has left a parish to come to us. Which must oblige us in turn not to abandon him unless he is absolutely incorrigible. For that reason I am writing him a letter in which I will talk very straight. Necessarily it should produce a marked impression on him. If he speaks to you about it, be very careful with him. Avoid discussing it and, whatever he wants to tell you, persuade him that it would be much better to deal with it in writing, with me. But don't be in any way sour with him. Meanwhile, try and judge of the impression made, along with Fr. Reymond, and if both of you seriously judge that he could not really be meant for our work, write it to me together. Do this before God, as in council; and you could also write me a resume of your reasons and opinions. But, I repeat, let us not despair of the correction of a man as long as there remains some way of conversion open to him.

As to Fr. Lacote and the other priest, I would like very much to receive them. But is this the right moment? If the spirit of the house was more calm and regular, I would not hesitate. But in the present state of things?.. In any case I think we should wait until I arrive.

It seems to me that clothing cannot be included in their accommo-dation, but only laundry, heating and lighting. However, before committing yourself, I pray you, examine in detail with Fr. Raymond whether we will not be losing at eight hundred francs for accommodation; and write me what you think about it.

I will write myself to Fr. Mercier.

It is impossible for me to go to Germany with Fr. Papetard. Why run after an uncertainty on the mere hope of doing better? When I have still so many places to continue what I am doing in France, and succeeding fairly well? I am sorry only about one thing: not to (p 202 ) have more time in Lyons. I will write to Fr. Papetard and encourage him to go alone.

It is now only eight days since I left Paris. Everything seems to be conspiring up to now to frustrate my preaching plans and collec-tions. However, God does let some hearts be touched. Just now two poor servants have sent me a hundred francs each. And so I have collected about a thousand francs in these eight days.

I would like very much to be back in Lyons before the holidays at the Ursulines. I don't know if it will be possible.

Share this letter with Fr. Raymond. Tell him that, if I don't write, it's because I suppose you tell him all my news. And he knows how much my time is usually taken up. A thousand friendly greetings to him and all the family. Let us all work for each other to help our perseverance, taking care to establish a Society spirit that will ensure the success and the development of the work.

I hope to be at Rennes on Sunday. You can write to me c/o the Bishop's House. A Dieu, very dear Fr. Planque. Yours affectiona-tely in Our Lord.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Le Mans, 29th June 1857.

(p 203)

DOCUMENT 28 : To Fr.Planque

Saint-Brieue,

13th July 1857

My very dear Fr. Planque,

Now that we are going to be out of the biggest material worry, thank God, it is absolutely necessary that we work at creating the kind of spirit that should reign in our congregation...

Let us begin with ourselves, by adopting a spirit of great kindness and understanding about the faults of others, yet without weakness, never giving the impression that the gentleness which we don't want to part with is in any way a bending of the principles which alone can maintain good order.

So Mr. Alba must be made to realise, without any possible doubt, that he has many things to improve, and even some which are quite incompatible with apostolic living. So I am writing him a letter, to be read by you and also Fr. Reymond, so that he may know very well that there is agreement between the two of you and me, and that opposition would serve only to break him faster, that's all. Try, however, to soften the blow rather than drive it in. And if he (p 204) corrects himself, as I still hope, he will be only more attached to you for that.

I am trying to get on faster, but in vain. Brittany is such a beautiful country that I proceed at a snail's pace. In spite of a thousand and one problems, I have collected almost five thousand francs since leaving Paris. So I cannot leave out the few cities that still remain to be done. Which will put back my arrival at Lyons still more.

Accidents apart, here now is my plan: Next Sunday 19th I will be at Quimper, the 26th at Vannes, the 2nd at Nantes, the 9th at Angers, the 15th at Tours; and the following week or the beginning of the next, at Lyons. But Fr. Reymond will know from experience that many a time you have to modify your itinerary when you are a brother out on quest, collecting. The purse doesn't want anything to inconvenience it. My own personal desire [is] to be with you more quickly. God's will be done!

I was hoping to find a reply here from the Ursulines' Mother Superior. Please go and greet her from me and ask her to please write to me, in time, to one of the cities mentioned above (c/o the Bishop's House) or else to dictate her reply to you.

Please tell Mr. Alba from me that it is clearly understood that the sacristan should make no expenditure for the chapel without my authorisation, or yours if I am not there. Only, whatever is received for the chapel should be spent exclusively for the chapel. And the sacristan should keep a record of what is received and spent.

A Dieu. Per patientiam curramus! All yours in Our Lord.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Bresillac, bishop of Pruse,

Saint-Brieuc, 13th July 1857.

(p 205)

DOCUMENT 29: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

28th August 1857

Eminence,

Although I have not yet had the consolation of receiving a reply to my last letter, I feel obliged to write to you again, to keep you up to date about the state of my enterprise, and to request the S.C. once again that we may soon be permitted to go and open a Mission in some one of the most abandoned places in Africa, and specifically in Dahomey if you please to authorise us there .

As to the material side, this is where we are: For the foundation of our Seminary, I have collected 39,800 F up to this day. Thus our establishment at Lyons is completely paid for. And I still have a few thousand francs in case the Propagation of the Faith does not decide to come to our aid until we are actually in the African countries.

(p 206)

It is impossible to expect that personnel will increase very much before we have actually started a Mission. I have been to many diocesan seminaries, and my work has excited lively interest in them. But assuredly - apart from exceptional cases - the Bishops and Directors will let their priests and seminarians come to our seminary only when they know that a Mission has actually been confided to us. To such a point that a few have already been authorised by their Bishops, but on that very condition. Meanwhile we are at the moment eight associates here present. Among these, four priests having very remarkable qualities have already spent a long time with me; and I can answer for the soundness of their vocations.

So therefore, Eminence, permit to insist again so that the S.C. may graciously assign us a Mission in Africa without delay. I make bold, as from today, to give you my assurance that we will have what it takes to keep it going. And I am even fully confident that, in a shorter or longer time, our seminary at Lyons will have made enough development and growth to be able to respond to the desires of the S. C. at several points of the most abandoned lands in Africa.

I should also tell Your Eminence that, crossing Paris without stopping off there, I had the opportunity, very briefly, of seeing Mgr. Kobès, who is there at the moment. This prelate, whose apostolic heart is well known to you, assured me that he saw my work with the greatest pleasure, and that it will be a duty and even a consolation for him to help us in our enterprise with everything in his power.

Perhaps it might be useful that I go to Rome, to explain a whole lot of small details to Your Eminence and to get your advice and your orders. The absence of the Holy Father makes me want to postpone the journey just now. I will try to do it this winter, and even earlier if Your Eminence judges it useful, especially in the case of the S.C. thinking it might accede to our wishes more quickly.

In any case, both in my own name and that of my priests and other members of the community, please accept the profound respect...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Lyons, 28th August 1857.

(p 207)

DOCUMENT 30: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons

25th September 1857

Eminence,

Two days ago I received your letter of the 12th of this month, along with the duplicate of your letter of 27th April {which did not arrive}.

Immediately, Eminence, I shared them with my associates. And 1 am glad to tell you that, unanimously, they got into the spirit which will, I hope, always animate our Society, by instantly letting go of the desire we had of starting our work with Dahomey, in order to go along, purely and simply, with the views of the S.C. of Propa-ganda.

(p 208)

We will therefore accept with joy the Mission of Sierra Leone. And we are confident that you will aid us, Eminence, to obtain from Almighty God the grace of doing some good there in the extension of the reign of Jesus Christ, the salvation of souls, and our own sanctification.

I have the honour to be...

+M.M.J. de Marion Bresillac, bishop of Pruse,

Lyons, 25th September 1857.

(p 209)

DOCUMENT 31: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

25th September 1857

Eminence,

Seeing that we will soon be placed in charge of the Sierra Leone Mission, in order to prepare in advance insofar as we can for the difficulties we will have to face, we are taking the liberty of asking the S.C. for some information on the present state of religion in that country, the languages we ought to study, the principal precautions to be taken, etc. I feel it is difficult to do by letter and that a conversation with Your Eminence, as well as the Secretary of Propaganda, would be much more useful. So I am hoping to journey to Rome for that, as well as for finalising the basic structure of our Society with Your Eminence. However, unless Your Eminence thinks otherwise, I would prefer to wait until the business of [erecting] the Vicariate of Sierra Leone has been concluded.

In the meantime, we could usefully employ our time in learning the English or Portuguese language, if they are indispensable, and preparing for our future mission in other ways. We would therefore be very grateful, Eminence, if you would please let us know:

(p 210)

1. At what point we should first land, Freetown or Monrovia?

2. About what is the number of Catholics at present in the country?

3. Any native Catholics? Do they speak English or Portuguese?

4. Do you think all the missionaries should know English, or only a few because of the stations?

5. Is there any Catholic church there?

I would be afraid of abusing your kindness, Eminence, if I were to make a longer list of questions. So I stop here.

Yours etc.

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 25th September 1857.

(p 211)

DOCUMENT 32: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons

24th December 1857

Eminence,

From the latest letters (no 2 and 3) from the S.C. of Propa-ganda, we are daily expecting a further letter telling us that the Sierra Leone Mission has been definitively confided to us. Mean-while, permit me to remind Your Eminence how important it would be to us, to receive an official reply before the Propagation of the Faith finishes distributing this year's funds, which it does in the course of the month of January.

In my own name and that of my priests, three of whom have been with me a year,

I am yours etc...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 24th December 1857.

(p 212)

DOCUMENT 33: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

20th January 1858

Eminence,

In reply to your letter of the 8th January, I have the honour of assuring you that, as soon as the Mission of Sierra Leone has been officially confided to us, we will start immediate preparations for our departure and will be happy to get to work as soon as possible.

Leaving Fr. Planque here as Director of the Lyons establishment to form the novices and send them to us later on, I can at present take three priests and a lay brother with me. These three priests have been with me a year and more. I know their characters and virtues perfectly. I have full confidence that they will be excellent apostolic workers.

As soon as I have received my powers for the Sierra Leone Mission, I still think it would be useful to go and spend some days at Rome, to get detailed information at Propaganda about this Mission. And also to properly establish the basic structure of our Society of African Missions. Perhaps I might bring Fr. Planque with me, so that he may be imbued with the spirit of the S.C. and direct the household in that spirit.

I recommend our new-born Society to Your Eminence's prayers and I renew my assurance of the perfect devotedness etc.

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyon, Chemin de Sainte-Fay, 20th January 1858.

(p 213)

DOCUMENT 34: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

12th March 1858

Eminence,

You must have received the letter I had the honour of writing to Your Eminence on the 20th January. And I hope no more letters from the S.C. have gone astray, as happened last year. So we are every day expecting the definitive erection of the Sierra Leone Mission.

May I be allowed to say, Eminence, that too long a delay would be very regrettable, both from the precious time it would make us lose and from the discouragement it would cause in the hearts of the associates, who have been with me for over a year without having enough occupation to nourish their zeal. Also from the negative decision it would cause in several others who are waiting for something real to be started on the missions before coming to us. As for our relations with the Propagation of the Faith, it is already a nuisance that everything was not finalised before the end of January. So let us hope there will not be further need of long delays. (p 214)

Since my last letter to Your Eminence, I have received two more young aspirants. I have also continued my collections, which have now reached the sum of over 56,000 F. Finally, I have made a brief trip to Paris, to get whatever information could be given from the Ministry of the Navy about Sierra Leone and Liberia. At the moment I am busy consolidating our African Missions Seminary by getting it some revenues and by long-term preparation for a building to accomodate forty to fifty aspirants, a number we can easily hope to have, once our congregation is seen to be actually at work on the missions,

While awaiting a prompt decision, I am etc.

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 12th March 1858.

(p 215)

DOCUMENT 35: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

29th April 1858

Eminence,

With joy we have received, by your letter of 31st March, the definitive assignment of the Mission of Sierra Leone. We are in daily expectation of the official papers with the powers, which Your Eminence mentions in that same letter.

I immediately got information at Paris from the Superior General of the Fathers of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary, and at Marseilles from the Superior of the Major Semi-nary, about the means of transport and the times of departure.

Unless we set out immediately - which we cannot do because we have not yet got our powers - it seems a few months delay is imperative because of the rainy season soon starting in Sierra Leone, during which no-one can land there without being morally certain to get very pernicious fevers. We are going to arrange everything so as to be ready to leave as soon as the rainy season is over. For that purpose I am going to make a journey in a few days' time to Marseilles, to get a thousand details and facts direct from the sailors, who know the country by having been there themselves. (p 216)

Once at Marseilles, Eminence, I will take the opportunity of going on to Rome, where I have many things to say to you which are too long to confide to paper, many things to ask you, many graces to request from the Holy Father by the intermediary your benevolent protection, on which you will permit mi to count, Eminence, while... Yours etc.

\+ M.M.J de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 29th April 1858.

P.S. My address: still at Lyons, at the African Missions Seminary.

(p 217)

DOCUMENT 36: To His Eminence, Cardinal Wiseman, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster

Lyons,

23rd July 1858

Eminence,

Having been newly appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate which the Holy See has just erected in Sierra Leone. From the River Nunez to the Republic of Liberia inclusive, I am making my preparations for setting out there in a few months from now, and I believe it is at Free Town, the chief place of the English colony, that we will go first to establish ourselves.

At this point, Eminence, I want to ask your advice. Do you think there is any immediate step to be made to the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of England? Evidently, there must be some Irish at Free Town. At the least, failing better, could we not ask that one of the priests I will send there be recognised as chaplain and have the salary etc?

In the case that there may immediately be some steps to be taken in England, would it be good that I journey to London myself, or would it be better (which I would much prefer as I speak English very badly) that Your Eminence have the charity to deal with this (p 218) business, or have it seen to? For which I would be infinitely grateful. I pray you, Eminence, to give me your opinion on all these points.

I have just come from Rome, where I learnt that Your Eminence was not well. I hope that God will listen to our prayers and will preserve you a long time more to his Church.

Your Eminence probably only knows incompletely the work I have just founded at Lyons for the evangelisation of the most abandoned peoples of Africa. In a few days' time I will have the honour of sending you a Notice about it. Any English or Irish priests who might associate themselves to this work could do a very great good.

In union of prayers and good works, I ask you to please accept, Eminence, this expression etc.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

Lyons, 23rd July 1858.

(p 219)

( Picture – MAP)

Present-day capitals. Limits of the 1858 "Vicariate Apostolic of Sierra Leone". No interior limits. Just "a flumine Nunez usque ad Republicam Liberiae ... inclusive".

(p 220)

DOCUMENT 37: FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES WHICH SHALL BE THE BASIC RULE OF THE AFRICAN MISSIONS

(1858)

The society of African Missions has for its principal aim the evangelization of the countries of Africa which have most need of missionaries.

It places itself under the protection of the Sacred Congrega-tion of Propaganda, to whose authority it will always remain perfectly obedient as being the official voice of the decisions of the Sovereign Pontiff for everything concerning the missions.

It shall accept no missions except in conformity with the wishes of the S.C. of Propaganda. Conversely, it will try to make itself capable of responding to any request made on it for any point whatever in Africa, however unpromising or difficult be the mission to be confided to it.

(p 221)

Independently of the care it will give to the missions specifi-cally confided to it, the Society shall constantly work to prepare ways for penetrating into the places in Africa where there are as yet no missionaries. And when it believes the time is ripe for an attempt to be made, it will inform the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda in order to obtain permission to put it into execu-tion. Finally it can, on the express request of the Sacred Congregation, accept missions outside of Africa, provided it be to peoples of colour

The centre of the Society is at Lyons, at the African Missions House. Candidates from all nations shall be received, provided they bring certificates of capability and good conduct and, moreover, give signs of a vocation to the apostolic life.

They will first be received as Aspirants, without being immediately incorporated into the Association.

Aspirants will become members definitively only after at least one year's probation. If they are not priests and are studying for this, they will become members only after receiving the priest-hood, unless they are sent earlier on the missions. To shorten the time of probation would require that a pressing need of the missions absolutely demanded it.

Superiors will not be obliged to send new members on the missions immediately upon membership. They can keep them in Europe as long as they judge convenient, either to have them do special studies or for any other reason.

Aspirants who are already priests when they come must, as far as possible, give 400 F for their maintenance during the year of probation. If they withdraw before the end of the year, they will be reimbursed according to the proportion of time remaining

(p 222)

Those who are not priests must, unless dispensed, pay for accommodation at the rate of 600 F if they are students and 400 F if they are lay-brother Aspirants.

The Society being essentially secular, a member will not take vows in it but he will make a solemn Resolution to persevere in the Society to the end of his days, considering it his greatest merit to die at the work, either on the missions or at their service in Europe.

The sinew and strengthof the association is concord in perfect charity and obedience to those placed in charge, to direct rather than govern their confreres

Therefore even if an Aspirant has all the other qualifications, he shall not be incorporated into the association if he is seen to have too much of a spirit of independence in him, or a marked reluctance to adapt to characters different to his own.

Members shall have active and passive voice in the Society only after three year's incorporation, with priestly character.

The association comprises the Superior General, Major Superiors, local Superiors, Councillors and simple associates.

The Superior General shall be appointed for life by the Major Superiors, the local Superiors and the Councillors present at the place where the election is made, by majority vote. He can reside outside Europe.

The Major Superiors are: the Bishops who will be part of the association and those appointed by the S.C. of Propaganda (p 223) without Episcopal character: Vicars or Prefects Apostolic having, so to speak, quasi-Episcopal jurisdiction

If a Major Superior happened to lose his post without leaving the congregation, he would retain the title of Councillor.

Local Superiors are those who have received this title from the Superior General, with responsibility for governing a certain number of confreres, whether in Europe or on the missions under the spiritual jurisdiction of non-Society Bishops or Vicars Apostolic. If they happen to lose their post they will retain only the rank they had before being appointed, or the rank befitting them according to the following Article :

Councillors are:

I. AIl those who have persevered twenty years in the Society, with priestly character;

2. Representatives of Missions at the Mother House;

3. Two missionaries from each Mission elected by majority vote by the missionaries of that Mission to assist the Major Superior.

Those who have attained the rank of Councilor shall retain it perpetually, in whatever functions they are later employed by the Superior General or the Major Superiors.

The Superior General shall be assisted by a Council com-posed of all Councillors who can be near him. He shall also have a Vicar General appointed by the same electors as him and at the same time.

The Vicar General must always reside at the Mother House, who's Superior he shall be. If at the election of a new Superior (p 224) General he is not re-appointed, he shall take rank with the Councillors of the association.

The Superior General shall not deal with any grave matter without consulting his Council. He shall listen to the views of his Councillors but he shall not be obliged to follow them. He shall, however, let them know his decision and shall be obliged to suspend it if 2/3 is opposed. It shall be thus except where a majority vote is required.

Each Major Superior has a Council composed of: two Councillors appointed by majority vote of the missionaries of his Mission' the other Councillors who happen to be near him; and other missionaries whom he believes he should call to his Council. He shall listen to their views but shall not be obliged to follow them.

Local Superiors shall consult, where necessary and according to their discretion, those confreres who could be of help to them with their advice.

The Society of African Missions shall hold general meetings in which sovereign power resides. They shall take place:

I. After the death of the Superior General, to appoint a new one

2. Ten years after the last meeting;

3. On the formal written demand of 3/4 of the Major Superiors;

4. By order of the S.C. of Propaganda.

The General Meeting shall be composed of: the Superior General; the Major Superiors, or their fully-empowered delegates when they judge before God that they cannot leave their Mission; one deputy from each Mission; one deputy from any missionaries under the jurisdiction of a non-associate Bishop; (p 225) all the Councillors present at the Meeting place; at least two Directors of the Mother House if the Meeting is held elsewhere than in that House.

On the death of the Superior General, the Vicar General- or failing him the most senior Councillor present at the Mother House - immediately succeeds to all his authority. He immedia-tely informs the missions, at the same time designating the time and place of the General Meeting, which must not be delayed more than a year. He shall preside over this Assembly until the appointment of the new Superior General. If the Vicar General were to die before the Superior General, the most senior Councillor present at the Mother House would take his place until the appointment of his successor, made by majority vote of the Superior General, the Councillors present, and those who could be called together without too much difficulty within a month at the most.

Procurators/Missions representatives shall be as many as there are Missions or groups of Missions distinct by interest or by different character of populations. Their exact number shall be fixed at each General Meeting. They shall be appointed for ten years by the Major Superior in Council, by majority vote. They can be revoked in the same way. After their term of procure they must return to the Mission that sent them. They can be reappointed indefinitely. During their stay in Europe they shall be under the Superior of the Mother House, who can employ them in the good works done by the members of the association and not incompatible with due care for the interests of the Missions sending them.

Each year they shall give an account to the Superior General and the Major Superiors concerning the income and expenses made for the missions.

The Vicar General shall be Procurator for those Missions not having a Major Superior at their head. He shall render account only to the Superior General about the income and expenses made for these Missions.

(p 226)

The Superior General assisted by his Council shall have full authority over Society members in Europe or in any foreign country not having a Major Superior.

He shall send out the new associates to the various Missions.But once they have come under the authority of Major Supe-riors he shall have no power of direction over them. If, however, the Major Superior were to send them out of his jurisdiction, they would not thereby be driven from the Society, but would come back under the authority of the Superior General, who would determine in Council if their fault merited expulsion or if they could be usefully employed elsewhere.

A missionary desiring to change Mission could not do so without the permission of his immediate Superior and then placing himself at the disposal of the Superior General.

Other developments shall be indicated later as needed in order to specify the powers of the Superior General in such a balanced way as to work for the good of the whole Society without affecting the full authority of the Major Superiors in the Mission they have received from the Holy See.

Superiors, assisted by their Councils, shall have the free administration of the goods of their Missions, with this diffe-rence : that Major Superiors will not have to render accounts to anyone [in the Society] while local Superiors must render account every year to the Superior General concerning the income and expenses of their Missions.

Superiors shall take care to provide for the needs of their confreres without neglecting anything that is necessary but without ever deviating from evangelical poverty.

Wherever several associates are together, they shall lead the common life. They can use their own patrimony according to their own will. But everything they receive, directly or indirectly, (p 227) from the missions or for the missions, as well as any stipends they may be given for the exercise of the Sacred Ministry, shall be put in the common fund. Nevertheless each priest shall be allowed 10 or 12 Masses free every month.

On the death of a missionary, any money he may have with him, as well as his effects, shall be deemed to belong to the Society unless he has indicated the contrary in writing. If he possesses immovable property in his name but in reality belon-ging to the Society he shall take care to make à will or to take whatever precautions are required by the laws of the countries concerned so that the Society may not be exposed to losing them.

The general goods of the Society shall be administered by the Superior General assisted by the Vicar General and his Council. The Vicar General shall keep the accounts and shall represent the Society in contracts. He shall keep the accounts available to the General Assembly each time it takes place. For day--to-day expenditure he can have the assistance of a Procurator, appointed in Council. The revenues of one Mission shall not ever pass to another. Every year, Superiors shall inform the Superior General of their needs and resources so that he can distribute the alms in Council, by majority vote, in proportion to those needs.

While carefully avoiding the least avarice, each Mission shall work to procure local resources to maintain itself; but nothing coming from the missions shall ever be passed to the Mother House. The Mother House must maintain itself out of founda-tions to be made for it, and out of alms from Europe from which (p 228) the Superior General in Council, by majority vote, can retain a proportion, to be employed for the common good, at the same time taking good care to scrupulously respect the intentions of donors.

If for any reason whatever a confrere obtains permission to come and spend some time in Europe, he shall not cease to belong to the Mission he came from. After the time conceded, he must return to his Mission.

After thirty years' effective service overseas with priestly character, or forty years without it, associates have a right to come and spend the rest of their days in Europe under the direction of the Superior General. If they prefer, on the contrary, to stay on the missions, they have this right; and they shall be treated with all the consideration due to their age and long service.

Members of the Association retained in Europe, either before being sent on the foreign missions or in the other cases foreseen in the rule, or indeed after thirty or forty years of missions as mentioned above, shall not cease to make themselves useful to the Church and the Association, not only by their prayers but also by works which keep up the apostolic spirit at the heart of the Society, such as, for example, orphanages for poor children, the education of blacks sent from the missions, etc. They can also make themselves useful by preaching, especially in the country towns and villages; all this under the direction of the Superiors.

As soon as possible, one or more houses shall be established for black children who will be brought from the missions to be taken home again after having done their education outside the atmosphere of paganism, and after having been taught a trade.

These houses must be established in Italy or at least in some (p 229).well-chosen places in the South of FranceIf any of these children show signs of a vocation to the ecclesiastical state, we shall try to foster the action of grace and shall arrange that some go to do their theological studies at the Seminary of Propaganda at Rome.

Lay brothers must all exercise a skill or trade so as to make themselves useful, either in Europe or on the missions, and be able to train the young negroes at the various establishments of the Society.

The Association of African Missions shall take on Affiliates who will share in a special way in the merits of the work, if they are ready to help it with all their strength.

Affiliates can help the Association in two ways: personally by joining it, or by their moral influence and the material support they can procure for it.

Affiliated members must be priests. They shall be received in the Mother House or the other establishments of the Society provided they pay at least 800 F a year for accommodation and agree to render any services in their power, taking their age and capabilities into account. All Mass stipends will be left at their own disposal but they must provide for their own lighting, heating and clothing. Whatever stipends they receive for other church functions shall be put in the common fund. If, however, they contract to go on the missions and are accepted to be sent there, they shall be dispensed from paying accommodation and shall be treated in everything like the other missionaries, except that they shall not have active and passive voice in what concerns the Society. If they should wish to return to Europe they shall always be permitted, provided they pay their own fare. For the rest they shall be treated like brothers and cared for until death.

(p 230).

One can be enrolled in the Association at any age, and so finish one's life's career usefully, serving the Church and the missions to the last breath, enjoying the advantage of commu-nity life with confreres.

Once a year the Superior General or his delegate shall bring the affiliates up to date, in a common letter, about the state of the work, its steps forward, its hopes, its needs; moreover he shall maintain all useful contacts with them.

The Society of African Missions places itself especially under the patronage of the Holy Family, honouring with special devotion the mystery which brought our Saviour into Egypt. It will also invoke with great devotion Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Saint Benedict of Philadelphia, called the Moor Blessed Peter Claver slave of the negroes, and all the Blessed who sanctified themselves by exercising the apostolic ministry on the missions, especially in Africa.

Until such time as the Society of African Missions is nume-rous and established enough to put all these articles into practice, it shall try to get as near as possible to the letter and the spirit that produced them.

After a suitable time Constitutions shall be drawn up in this same spirit, to be submitted for the approval of the Holy See and received back with respect, along with the modifications, addi-tions and excisions which the Holy See will see fit to make.

In the meantime Mgr. de Marion Brésillac shall be consi-dered the Superior General of the Association; and if he died, the most senior confrere would replace him immediately and provisionally, until the appointment of the new Superior (p 231) General, which shall be done by majority vote of the 10 most senior confreres having active and passive voice and, failing that number, by all the priest confreres already belonging to the Association.

The admission of subjects, both as aspirants and as missiona-ries, shall be decided in Council, by majority vote.

When an aspirant has been judged fit to join the Association definitively, the Superior shall inform him and he shall prepare, by a three days' retreat, to solemnly make his resolution of perseverance.

On the third day, at the appointed hour, the "Veni Creator" shall be sung. Then the Superior (or failing him, one of the Directors) shall address a few words to the new missionary, who shall come forward to the foot of the altar and pronounce the following resolution on his knees, holding his right hand extended over the Holy Gospels :

"I, ..., priest (or lay brother) take the solemn resolution to work all my life at the missions in the pious Congregation of the African Missions. I make the committment to observe its rules and, when I am on the missions, not to seek to return to Europe without the permission or the order of my Superiors, apart from the case where the Rule gives me the right.

"I shall be perfectly obedient to the decisions of the Holy See and to the orders of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, which I shall always regard as the voice of the Holy Father for everything concerning the missions.

"At this moment I make the offering of my life to God, joyfully accepting in advance, for His greater glory, for the salvation of my soul and the souls of the peoples to be confided to me, the resulting pains, privations, discomforts of climate, Sorrows of persecution and even martyrdom if God finds me Worthy to die in witness to the faith.

"May God graciously listen to this resolution and give me the strength to accomplish it as the precepts of His Holy Gospels."

(p232)After he has pronounced these words the Superior (or failing him the Director) shall say to him: "Dear confrere, I admit you into the pious congregation of the African Missions in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

He shall embrace him, as shall all the confreres present, and the "Te Deum" shall be sung.

His name shall be inscribed immediately in the registers of the Society, and he shall never cease to be a member of the body of the Association unless he freely withdraws or merits exclusion.

The causes for exclusion are: heresy openly and stubbornly maintained; a scandalous life; an enormous, publicly known crime; formal and stubborn disobedience to Superiors; a per-manent and incorrigible habit of going against the rule of the Society or the regulations made in the various Missions; bringing a case before infidel courts with complaints or accusa-tions against his confreres.

24th July 1858.

(p233)

DOCUMENT 38: Appendix

The Society shall make every possible effort to raise up a local clergy in the countries whose evangelisation is confided to it.

After definitive admission a member shall have the right to be looked after by the Society until death, unless he himself withdraws or is excluded for reasons indicated below.

No member of the Society can be excluded except by the Superior General in Council, with plurality of votes. If someone has committed a grave offense necessitating his immediate exclusion from the Mission where he is employed, his imme-diate Superior, in Council and with plurality of votes, shall proceed with this exclusion, thus placing him again at the disposal of the Superior General, who shall judge in Council whether he should be definitively excluded from the Society.

A Major Superior who was guilty of a grave offense could be excluded from the Society only with the agreement of the Holy See, after the Sacred Congregation had relieved him of his post.

The causes of exclusion are :

I. heresy;

2. immorality;

3· an enormous crime;

4· stubborn disobedience to superiors;

(p 234)

5. stubborn refusal to submit to the penance imposed by superiors for a grave offense;

6. bringing a case before the tribunal of infidels (or just heretics) with allegations against a member of the Society; refusal to observe the General Rule or the particular rules of the Mission where one is employed.

Once someone is excluded from the Society, he cannot be re-admitted.

In case of parity, the person presiding at a Council has two votes.

(p235)

DOCUMENT 39: Provisional Rule of the African Missions House

1st October 1858

Rising is at five o'clock. Each person raises his heart to God and occupies his mind with the subject of his meditation until the time for community prayer. During this time the lay brothers and the aspirants who are not priests make their beds and tidy their cells. Priests can make their beds or leave them to be made later by the brother in charge of them.

At half past five everyone goes to the chapel, where there is Morning Prayer, followed by meditation until a quarter past six.

At a quarter past six, community Mass; lay brothers and those who are not priests must be present at it. After Mass, studies or other occupations until a quarter to twelve.

(p 236)

Students shall have a special time-table fixing the order and times of studies, the subject-matter to be determined by their director. Priests shall say Mass at the times assigned to them by the director.

During the morning each person takes breakfast, in silence, at the time that suits him. It normally consists of a piece of bread and some fruit or dessert. If someone needs anything else, he will take care to inform the procurator.

Before midday all those bound by the obligation of the Divine Office shall take care to say the Little Hours in private.

The greatest silence should reign in the house outside recrea-tion times. Aspirants shall never go to each other's rooms without asking permission from the director; and if several are in the common room, there shall be no talk except in an urgent case, and then only in a low voice. Missionaries other than the directors shall never go to the aspirants' rooms without authori-sation from the Superior.

Priests and those in sacred orders can, if they wish, go to the garden to study in silence. Priest aspirants will direct them-selves in their own studies unless the directors indicate a particular subject-matter to them. They must revise their dogmatic and moral theology. It would be good that they compose some sermons, and especially plan a small course of informal instructions suitable for preaching in the country areas.

Once or twice a week, the priests in the house shall have theological conferences together. Moral questions, particularly, shall be treated, and points of canon law related to the problems most often met on the missions.

Ordinarily, aspirants are not engaged in the exercise of the ministry during the year of probation. Nevertheless they may (p 237) sometimes receive invitations from priests, and they should keep themselves ready for this.

Unless for a grave cause, nobody shall go out to the town before midday.

At a quarter to twelve all go to the chapel to hear a reading from the New Testament and make a particular examen. During Lent this exercise shall be preceded by Vespers. Lay brothers who are prevented by their functions from making their examen at this time shall make it at another time fixed by the director. At twelve the Angelus is recited and all go to the refectory in silence. There shall be reading during the meal. The lay brothers shall dine after the clerics, in common. As far as possible, they shall have reading at meals.

After lunch all go for a moment to the chapel where they pray for the benefactors of our missions. Then there is recreation until a quarter to two, when the Rosary is recited in common. This may be done walking. After the Rosary those bound to the Divine Office recite Vespers and Compline in common in the chapel. The others do their study or work.

At half past six Matins and Lauds are recited in common in the chapel. At the "Benedictus" the bell rings for the rest of the community to come to the chapel. There is spiritual reading followed by silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. '

Lay brothers do spiritual reading for a quarter of an hour at the most convenient time in the afternoon, followed by a quarter of an hour's Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, after which they return to their work.

At half past seven, supper for the clerics and then the brothers, as at lunch. After supper, recreation in common until a quarter to nine. Then to the chapel for vocal prayer.

After [night] prayer and preparation of the meditation points each retires to his cell and goes to bed before ten o'clock unless he has permission to stay up longer. The director can also require the young clerics to go to bed at an earlier hour than ten.

(p 238)

Aspirants shall never miss any common exercise without informing the director and indicating the reason. Directors and other priests in the house shall not forget that they ought to give an example to the aspirants on this and other points.

It is recommended not to go out town without reason. When priest aspirants have to go out, they shall inform the director, arranging always to be back before six in the winter and seven in summer.

Other aspirants must not only inform him but obtain permis-sion to go out, indicating the purpose. On their return they shall also inform him.

Wednesday shall be a half day. The exercises in common shall be at the same times as the other days, except Vespers and Matins, which can be said on the walk, in summer. In the morning there shall be study until eleven, and then recreation and a walk after lunch. It is mostly on Wednesday mornings that examinations and other special exercises will take place.

Lay brothers shall have a religion class on Wednesday and another on Sunday. Clerics shall have it on Sunday only.

On Sundays and feast days, everything will be done as usual up to nine o'clock. At nine, religious instruction for at least half an hour, three quarters at the most. Then all prepare for the High Mass, to be followed by recreation until a quarter to twelve. At three o'clock Vespers and Compline will be sung, then recreation until five o'clock. The rest as on other days.

Aspirants not bound to the Divine Office shall recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin once a week, Vespers and Compline on Saturday evening, Matins and Lauds on Sunday, the Little Hours on Wednesday, at times to be fixed later.

Each person can write and receive letters as he likes, provided he pays the postage himself. If, however, someone has not the money, he will give his letters to the procurator, who shall send (p 239)them off provided they are not too frequent. In which case he will tell him.

There shall be two months' holidays for the students, from 1st. August to 1st October exclusive. During this time the aspirants shall occupy themselves as they wish. They can go for a walk in the afternoon, or take decent recreation in the house. There, however, silence shall be kept from nine to eleven and in the afternoon from two to four.

During the holidays, aspirants who request it can be given permission to leave the house for a few days, provided that, if they make a Journey, it is at their own expense. They shall not, however, be permitted to go home except in very grave cases.

It is desirable that missionaries staying in the house should make use of these two vacation months if they have to absent themselves for their own affairs. They shall, however, arrange with the Superior so as not to be all absent at the same time so that the house may never be untended and the work of the missions not suffer .

(p 240)

DOCUMENT 40: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyons,

20th November 1858

Eminence,

I have the consolation of announcing to you that my first missionaries have at last set out for the Vicariate Apostolic of Sierra Leone. Two priests and a lay brother embarked at Mar-seilles on the third of this month. If they did not leave earlier it is because several persons who know the country well, and Mgr. Kobès himself, had advised me not to have them arrive before December, for reasons of acclimatisation.

I sent them directly to Dakar, where Mgs Kobès has offered us kindly hospitality. There, they will see how the missionaries of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary live. And after spending some time with them, they will go on to Free Town, the principal town of Sierra Leone.

As soon as possible, following the plan we worked out with Your Eminence, I will go there myself, to explore the country, see Mgr. Kobès and Mgr. Bessieux, and find out what are the points where we could do some good and could establish ourselves without too much danger. For at Free Town itself, according to what I have learnt from the Ministry of the Navy, there are only about a hundred Catholics. And very serious reports which I have received from several different sources indicate surely that the air there is so bad that it is almost certain that no European can live there more than three years. So those who have to live in the town are forced to have recourse to frequent changes of air. This will no doubt oblige us ourselves to look for a more healthy place from which our missionaries can go and come.

The void just made in our African Missions seminary by the departure of our first missionaries was immediately filled by the arrival of two Spanish priests and a lay brother. They were brought to me by Fr. Papetard, whom I had the honour of telling you about, a priest affiliated to our work who is at the moment in Spain, doing collections for the foundation of our seminary.

On this occasion I must tell you, Eminence, that my enterprise has aroused real enthusiasm in Spain. I was far from expecting anything like it. And it was almost by chance that I sent Fr. Papetard there to make our work known. Then God granted that the episcopate, the clergy and the faithful took it to their hearts so much that, in the first eight dioceses he has gone through, he has collected more than fifty thousand francs in the space of six months, and that several clerics are offering themselves to come with us to Africa. I have thought it more prudent to admit only two of them for the moment.

Ways now seem to be opening up to facilitate us in founding, fairly soon, in Andalusia, the house for young blacks which forms part of our plan of work, as Your Eminence already knows. Having raised them as Christians, outside of pagan influence, we can send them back to their own countries to exercise a skill or a trade, and especially to give an example of Christian virtues. Everything makes us hope that such an enterprise, almost impossible in France because of the climate, would succeed in Andalusia, where we hope(p 242) to try it out as soon as possible. For this we would need Sisters to look after the youngest blacks and especially the young negresses. And it seems that, here also, Providence is coming to our help, by means of a community of Trinitarian Sisters who wish to work with us.

I must tell you also, Eminence, that the Propagation of the Faith, with whom we have always closely co-operated, have so well understood the importance of our enterprise that, to help us get over the difficulties without having to divert any of the money we are collecting for the foundation of our seminary, they have just granted us forty thousand francs for the Vicariate Apostolic of Sierra Leone.

Thus, Eminence, from every point of view, our work seems to be blessed by God. In the seminary at this moment we have some priests who have finished their noviciate, others who have not concluded it, philosophy students, and lay brothers. And not only am I owing no money, but I have at the moment more than seventy thousand francs to begin endowing the seminary. Allow me to hope that the S.C. will continue its benevolence, and that it will do everything possible to help this new seedling develop all its potential : to be of real service to the whole Church. For that purpose, several of the favours I have asked for would be very useful to us. And we are anxious, above all, to obtain from the goodness of the Holy Father certain indulgences which would encourage the zeal and sustain the goodwill of those who are interested in the work and are supporting it with their prayers and their charity. Permit me, then, Eminence, to insist on our request for these indulgences, as indicated in the enclosed list or as it may please Your Eminence to modify them.

I assure Your Eminence...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

V.A. of Sierra Leone,

Lyons, 20th November 1858.

(Among the indulgences requested, to be accorded to the members of the Society and the affiliates, is the following) :

(p 243)

4· Plenary indulgence once a month for those of the affiliates who daily recite the following prayer, in Latin or in the vernacular:

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us,

Our holy Guardian Angels, pray for us,

Saint Joseph, pray for us,

Our holy Patrons, pray for us,

Saint Augustine, pray for us,

Saint Benedict of Philadelphia, pray for us,

Blessed Peter Claver, pray for us,

All you who have sanctified yourselves on the missions and especially in Africa, pray for us,

All the saints in Paradise pray for us.

(p 244)

DOCUMENT 41: To Fr. Planque

Paris,

1st January 1859

Very dear Fr. Planque,

Let me begin by wishing you a happy new year May Heaven bless you, and bless us all and our work, which is all His ; and we ought to be its faithful instruments, though unworthy. He alone knows all the pains and difficulties awaiting me this year; but by His grace I think I am ready to suffer them all, all the trials of the tempest, physical and mental. And if the sea and the rocks were to make this year my last, you would be there to see that the work did not get shipwrecked too.

Rome isn't the only place where things never get finished. [It's the same] when you have to deal with any bureaucracy. I am waiting every day for a reply from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without which I cannot go ahead. It is very annoying, if only because any further delay will force me to give up my journey to Belgium.

( p245)

I have received a fresh letter from Fr. Papetard, who is doing nothing at Valencia, or at least was doing nothing when he wrote me. Maybe I am wrong, but I have an idea that our streak of luck in Spain will be broken. This hardly encourages me to take on the considerable expenses for big medals, cachets etc. Isn't it better to wait a bit longer and see what comes up? What do you think? In any case, I have forgotten to bring the picture of the Holy Family going into Egypt. Please send it in your next letter.

At the Foreign Missions, according to what Fr. Ferron told me, they don't bother about the title following the more or less established custom of the Church in France at present. Instead, they require a dimissorial letter; a mere exeat will not do.

Fr. Riocreux and I said 39 Masses for current intention. I have seen Mr. de Glayeux, President of the Propagation of the Faith; he invited me to dinner next Wednesday. The Holy Childhood gentlemen seem very favourable. If I am still at Paris on the 13th I am to go to offer Mass and to say a few words at their General Meeting. The day after tomorrow, I am going to sing a pontifical High Mass at Saint Etienne du Mont for the famous Feast of Sainte Genevieve. You know it was at the close of this Feast that the archbishop was assassinated in that church.

A Dieu. Give my best wishes to all the others, to Mr. Baylure, the students, and the brothers - although I am writing a note to Rev. Courdioux who sent me New Year wishes.

ADieu.

P.S. I saw Mr. Maunory. I think he will come some time in January.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bp of Pruse,

V.A. of Sierra Leone.

(p246)

DOCUMENT 42: To Cardinal Barnabo

Lyon,

17th February1859

Eminence,

I had the honour of writing to Your Eminence after the departure of our first two missionaries for Sierra Leone.

They arrived first at Dakar, where they were received by Mgr.Kobès with real apostolic charity; and a few days later they arrived at Free Town, capital of the English colony of Sierra Leone.

At Free Town they were perfectly received by the French and Spanish consuls, to the great satisfaction of the few Catholics who are there. The English Governor has assured them that he will give them the same protection as the other denominations. Their first impression has been most favourable. They are commenced that there is a lot of good to be done there. Mgr. Bessieux, whom I saw at Paris a month ago, has confirmed this - not only for Free Town but for many other places in those unhappy lands.

(p247)

It is therefore time to go myself to the Mission which the Holy See has entrusted to me; it can become a powerful means of evangelisa-tion for the most abandoned countries of Africa, if God in his goodness deigns to bless our African Missions seminary at Lyons.

Since my last letter to Your Eminence, we have had both trials and consolations about this. The Spanish priests who came to do their noviciate did not persevere. Evidently they were not made for our difficult missions, which require men who are ready to face anything. From the material point of view, the dew from heaven has continued to fall on us. And I have the consolation of leaving nearly a hundred thousand francs endowment to our new-born establish-ment. Fr. Papetard is continuing his collections in Spain, and I hope he will gather enough soon to build us a seminary more appropriate to the work than the one we have now.

I will not cease, Eminence, to recommend our seminary to your benevolence. It is from the success of this seminary, and of our Congregation, that we can hope for really great good in Africa. I pray God to make them develop and Your Eminence to facilitate this development in every way. Without it, we personally can give our lives to the last breath, but it will be very little compared to what the Church can expect from a Society of priests devoted to whatever most difficult tasks the Holy See can entrust to them in Africa.

Shall I tell you, Eminence, in this regard, that I am disappointed you have not seen your way, up to now, to meet our need for some privileges which would clearly show the great interest that the Holy See has in our enterprise. And which would encourage the subjects who may have some desire to join us, while facilitating the means of doing so. I have had to refuse several priests who offered themselves, but without giving sufficient guarantees. On the other hand, there are others who have all the required qualities but have not obtained permission from their Bishops, I will mention, among others, the young men from Grenoble, whose names you have; they only long for the moment when they will be allowed to join our Congregation. I am disappointed; finally, that Your Eminence has not yet obtained from the Holy Father the indulgences I requested in my last letter, to be a reward and encouragement for the Spanish (p248) faithful, who were so generous for the foundation of our seminary. Let us hope that God is reserving these consolations for me later on.

I recognise that it would be very useful if I could stay on longer in Lyons. But it seems more useful to go to Free Town, to see things for myself and try to organise this new Mission well, at the risk of having to come back after a while, to see how things are in our dear seminary, the direction of which I am leaving in the excellent hands of Fr. Planque, whom you know

Although the Sierra Leone Mission is in English territory, the French government has just granted free passage for me, one priest and a lay brother, on a State frigate which is to set sail one of these days. So I am leaving Lyons the day after tomorrow. The S.C. will be able to write to me, I think, direct to Free Town, or through the African Missions Seminary, Lyons.

It only remains for me, Eminence, to recommend this new Mission to your good prayers, and to ask you to please implore a special blessing from the Holy Father for it and for our seminary. I have the honour of being...

M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

vic. apost. of Sierra Leone.

Lyons, 17th February 1859·

[249]

DOCUMENT 43: To Cardinal Barnabo

Free Town, Sierra Leone,

25th May 1859

Eminence,

Although I have not received any letter from the Sacred Congregation-for a long time now, I hope you have received those I had the honour of writing to you at various dates, among others the one informing you of the departure of our first missionaries for Sierra Leone in November of last year and my own departure from Lyons in February this year with another priest and another lay brother.

After a long and difficult voyage, in which we very nearly lost our lives. I arrived at Free Town on the 14th of this month. Thus, there are six of us here at present : two lay brothers, three priests, and myself. Two others will come to join us, I hope, in November. I have found very few Catholics here. The climate having been much worse than usual this year, many have died, and among the leading people(p250) at that. Before my arrival, the consul of Spain and his vice-consul both died in the space of a month.

We have rented a house, and we say Holy Mass in a room there. Meanwhile, in Free Town alone and its environs, there are more than thirty Protestant churches and chapels served by numerous ministers and an Anglican bishop.

Calling at Gorée and Dakar, I met the worthy missionaries of the Holy Ghost and the Sacred Heart of Mary. Indeed I spent almost a month with Mgr. Kobès, and we discussed at great length about the sad state of our Holy Religion in these parts. Later on, I will have the honour of letting you know my fears and hopes for the success of the missions here, which should, I think, be established at several points in Africa. Let it suffice, in the meantime, to say that a truly Catholic heart feels humiliated here, in the face of the activity of Protestantism and its successes which, however imperfect, are nevertheless real, and of a nature to block Catholic evangelisation more and more.

Let us face it, the difficulties will be enormous. The bad climate, the very extent of the countries which ought to be simultaneously attacked, the countless diversity of languages, the unfortunate antecedents put down by the Protestant ministers at almost every point where the missionaries will necessarily have to start, the excessive cost of living at these same points: these reasons and many others prove that if we want to have a reasonable hope of any success worthy of our holy Cause, we will need both plenty of men and plenty of money.

Still I will not go back, Eminence, on what I had the honour of stating to you, face-to-face or in other letters: I am confident that the newly-founded Congregation of the African Missions seminary could well become, in the hands of the S.C. of Propaganda, one of the instruments of God's mercy for this great Work. But, permit me to say it Eminence, to do that it will need to receive powerful encouragements from the Holy See, and to be the object of its tender solicitude. Perhaps I personally am the cause of the sort of coldness I thought I noticed from the Sacred Congregation towards us. If so, I pray you, Eminence, to forget my mistakes and think only of the unhappy peoples of Africa. Jesus Christ died on the cross for them too. (p251) For them and for their salvation I desire to live and to die however unworthy be my sacrifice to be united to the divine Sacrifice of Calvary.

I pray you, please accept my...

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Vicar Apostolic of Sierra Leone.

Free Town, Sierra Leone, 25th May 1859.

P.S. (3rd June). As the mail-boat is not to leave with this letter for a few more days, I have time to inform Your Eminence of the great trial and the great calamity the Lord has just sent us. Fr.Riocreux, the young priest just arrived with me from France, died yesterday, Ascension Day. I am heart-broken. He was a priest full of good health, talents, piety, zeal; and the Lord has snatched him from us at this first hour, before he even had time to put his hand to the plough! His design is impenetrable. Let us adore them.

2. P.S. (6thJune). The hand of God weighs still heavier on us and seems to want to wipe out all our plans. And still it seems to me they were all made only for His greater glory. Fr. Bresson, one of the two missionaries left to me, died yesterday, Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, three days after Fr. Riocreux. This latest blow can have the most deadly consequences, not only by making it impossible at this time to do what we had planned at Free Town and environs, but most of all by the bad effect it can produce on the minds of the young aspirants at the Lyons Seminary

If the good Lord spares myself, I will write to Your Eminence what I think might be done to lessen that effect, as soon as I have (p252) received from Your Eminence some lines showing your sympathetic interest in our difficult undertaking.

This awful double trial, should it discourage us? I think not. And while a breath is left in me, I still will hope for the success of the African Missions seminary. May I be able to say to the Sovereign Judge when He calls me (maybe it will be tomorrow) that I have, on my side, done everything, everything that was in my power to do.

The frightful epidemic raging here at the moment seems to be quite out of the ordinary. They say there has not been one like it for 17 years, and to get worse, you would have to go back 27 years. Proportionately, the Europeans are the most numerous victims . The Protestant bishop has just died. Nearly all our Catholics are going,

In case this letter does not arrive by the ordinary post, I am sending a duplicate through the Lyons seminary.

3.P.S. (the 18th), the post is going tomorrow. The hand of God is weighing heavier and heavier on us. My other travelling companion, Brother Gratien, died on Whit Monday. The other brother is leaving for France. I have been very ill myself, Only today have I been able to get up. They say the danger is over. I am overwhelmed with sadness, weariness and fever. A few days ago we were six. Now we are two, the excellent Fr. Reymond and myself, May the will of God be accomplished. It is very painful to see the demon of heresy so triumphant. For our misfortunes are very good luck for the Protestant sects, who were greatly worried at our arrival.

And now, if God preserves my life, what ought to be done? I await your advice.

(p253)

DOCUMENT 44 : To Fr. Planque

Freetown,

18th June 1859

Very dear Fr. Planque,

May God's holy name be blessed! His ways are impenetrable.

Let us adore them and submit. As for the pain caused us by the calamities He has sent us, I trust he will not be offended at it, provided it be without murmuring. What I can say is, it is beyond measuring. Of the six that we were a few days ago, we are now only three. And soon two. For I am definitely sending Brother Eugène back to France. Fr. Reymond is writing you the details of all that, for I haven't got the strength to do it, having been laid low by this cruel fever on Sunday evening. Only today am I able to stay up a little longer, and I am taking the opportunity to write you these few lines.

Believe me; I really thought I was going to follow our dear confreres because from the start, the symptoms were the same as the terrible malady that snatched Fr. Riocreux and Brother Gratien away from us. The first was flying away to Heaven on the evening of Ascension day. Then, on the Sunday within the Octave, he was followed by Fr. Bresson. And on Whit Monday, when I myself was already confined to bed, Brother Gratien passed away. What a terrible blow, for a start!

(p254)

True, everyone agrees that this year has been altogether excep-tional, that there has been nothing like this kind of mortality for more than 26 years. But all the same, isn't this going to cool off vocations remarkably? Here are all my plans shattered, for the moment. There is absolutely nothing we can do except wait for help to arrive. In spite of all this, I will go alone, next month if possible, on a journey to Dahomey, to see if it might not be better to found a centre there. Ah! if only Fr. Borghero and Fr. Brossard could come out immediately, what a help they would be!

As for the Brothers, do not send us any unless they are rock solid. The example of Brother Eugène has been a mighty lesson. Out here we need men who are not only pious but perfectly obedient, never interfering in what doesn't concern them, men without ideas of their own but ready to do purely and simply what they are told, without any reflections on it or wanting to do better with their own moves ... Otherwise they are a real nuisance and no help at all.

Well, that's quite a long letter for a man who has been busy doing nothing for the last eight days except taking medicine after medicine. I can't write any more ; I never thought I would write this much.

I'd like very much to write to the Ursulines and the Carmelites, but impossible!

I am sending a few personal things which may be important to the relatives of our dear departed ones. The death certificates, which are issued by the consulate, may not be ready until next month.

I hope Fr. Reymond is sending you fuller details. I am over-whelmed with sadness and utter weariness!

+M.M.J. de Marion Brésillac, bishop of Pruse,

Vicar Apostolic of S. Leone.

Freetown, 18th June 1859.
(p255)

III BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONOLOGY

This chronology is meant to help the reader "situate" the isolated events mentioned in the foregoing documents with more precision; it has no ambition to be a life of the Founder or a work of art. Just to be as brief and exact as possible.

(p256)

Biographical Chronology

1813 - 2nd December at 9 in the morning: Birth of Melchior Marie Joseph de Marion Brésillac at Castelnaudary in the French department of Aude and in the diocese of Carcassonne. First child of Pierre Raymond Gabriel Gaston de Manon Brésillac, Engineer, Special Superintendent of the Midi Canal, husband of Jeanne Francoise Marie Georgette Dominique Josephine de Marion Gaja, a distant cousin.

The Marion Gaja family home where he was born is in the parish of Saint Jean Baptiste; on Impasse Delaporte (then called Rue du Port de Dins). The exact site of the house is not quite certain. General Henri Laperrine, Fr. de Foucauld's friend, was also born there, it seems, in 1860·

The Marion family can be traced back to the beginning of the 15th century. It distinguished itself in the service of the King of France and the Church. From 1422 to 1800 ten Marion had given their lives in the priestly ministry or in religious orders During the French Revolution, Melchior's father and all his uncles were among the emigré nobles, in Spain and Holland. One uncle, Pierre Marie Jullien, fell at the age of 18, shot by Pichegru's troops at Bois-le-Duc in Holland.

(p257)

5th December, Melchior baptised in Saint-Jean-Baptiste's.Godfather: his maternal uncle, Melchior de Marion Gaia; godmother, Jacquette Villenouvette née Cousinhis paternal grandmother, represented by Josepha de Marion Gaja née Montserrat, his maternal grandmother.

Melchior spent his childhood and adolescence at Brésillac, at the Domaine du Fort, until about 1827; then at Lasserre de Prouilles. His father was his only tutor. He taught him until he was ready for post-secondary studies

1832-1834 - Rhetoric and Philosophy at the minor seminary of Carcassonne, now Saint Stanislas School, 77, rue Aimé Ramon.

1834-1836 - Started the study of Theology while also tea-ching Science at the minor seminary.

1835 - 13th June, received tonsure from Mgr. de Saint Rome Gualy, bishop of Carcassonne, who was later to confer all the other Orders on him

1836 - 28th May, minor orders. In October he entered the Major Seminary full time. There he certainly must have known David Boilat, Arsène Fridoil and Jean Pierre Moussa, sent there by Mother Javouhey from Senegal and ordained priests in Paris by Mgr. Affre in 1840

(p258)

1837 - 20th May, Saturday of Quarter Tense of Pentecost: ordained sub-deacons

1838 - 9th June, Saturday of Quarter Tense of Pentecost: ordained deacon.

22nd December 1838 - Saturday of Quarter Tense of Advent: ordained priest. In the chapel of the Bishop's Palace, not in the cathedral like the preceding ordinations.

Appointed curate at the parish of Saint-Michel at Castel-naudary.

1840 - Retreat "of election" at Aix-en-Provence directed by the Novice Master of the Avignon Company of Jesus.

1841 - Became second curate at Saint-Michel

3rd May, invited by bishop to preach for the Propagation of the Faith at Carcassonne cathedral. He made such an impres-sion on the bishop that he obtained permission - already three times refused - to join the Paris Foreign Missions Seminary immediately.

2nd June, Left Castelnaudary for Paris without seeing his parents. He only sent farewell letters to them by a friend.

9th June, arrived at the Foreign Missions Seminary.

19th July, Jean Luquet, sub-deacon from Langres diocese, arrived there. They became close friends

(p259)

1842 - 28th March, set out from Paris for the missions, having made a departure Retreat, though it was not the custom then.

12th April, at 4 p.m: embarked for India at Paimboeuf, on board the "Pauline".

3rd July, evening: landed at Mauritius Island.

5th July, morning: left the island on the "Caroline".

24th July, at 11 a.m: disembarked at Pondichery. Welcomed by Mgr. Clement Bonnand, Vicar Apostolic of the Coromandel Coast

1843 - 19th February, began an eight days' retreat before leaving for the interior. Says he knows enough Tamil to begin confessions and preaching.

28th February, set out for Salem to begin his actual missio-nary work.

March-June, apostolic tour in his district, with several returns to Salem.

August-December, another tour. At Kulavirampatty, on the 9th August, received the news of the martyrdom of his confreres Mgr. Imbert and Frs. Maubant and Chastan in Korea; it took place on 21st September 1839. He immediately wrote to the Paris Foreign Missions Seminary, asking to be sent to Korea to take their place

1844 - 8th January, set out for Pondichery to take part in the Synod. Fr. Jean Luquet, though less than a year in India, had contributed a lot to the preparation for it.

18th January, opening of the Synod.

(p260)

3rd February, Mgr. Bonnand appointed Marion Brésillac superior of the Pondichery college-seminary. Marion Brésillac believed he could not accept. The Vicariate's Council main-tained the appointment. He then asked for six more months to perfect his Tamil. This was refused. The Synod's decisions on the formation of Indian clergy had to be implemented without delay.

15th February (approx), he began moving into the college seminary.

21st May, Jean Luquet embarked for Paris and Rome, armed with full powers from his Vicar Apostolic to deal with the Holy See and settle the questions arising out of the Synod. He went determined, above all, to promote the cause of a secular Indian clergy

1845 - Towards the end of February, trouble broke out at the college-seminary, arising from the "Malabar Rites". Marion Brésillac offered his resignation as superior. It was not accepted.

Meanwhile, at Rome, Luquet was working hurriedly at subdividing the ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as a long-term pre-paration for the coming of an Indian episcopate. Reckoning that he had to present the Sacred Congregation with a candidate for Coimbatore without delay, he informed the Paris Seminary that he could not afford to wait for the "terna"begun by Mgr.Bonnand (p261) for this post; instead, he was presenting Marion Brésillac as the candidate. Which he did, in a very laudatory canonical document

6th May, Gregory XVI appointed Marion Brésillac titular Bishop of Pruse and Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore.

19th May, Jean Luquet was proposed to the S.C. of Propa-ganda as titular Bishop of Hesebon and Co-Adjutor to Mgr. Bonnand at Pondichery.

29th June, Mgr. Bonnand received from Rome the announce-ment of Marion Brésillac's appointment. (It was the day of the Episcopal ordination of Mgr. Charbonnaux, the new Vicar Apostolic of Mysore). But he did not give the news to Marion Brésillac until the next day 30th June, at 8 p.m.

8th September, Episcopal ordination of Mgr. Luquet at Rome. He never returned to India. There he was called "a mitre-snat-cher in the Roman bureaucracy ... a beardless pontiff who sits himself down on bishops' thrones without ever having done a thing to deserve one ".

26th September, Marion Brésillac, also a target of the anti- Luquet feelings, wrote to the S.C. of Propaganda refusing the episcopate. He sent his Bulls of Appointment back to Rome via the Paris seminary. There all this mail was held for a while He stayed on at Pondichery as superior of the seminary-college.

23rd November, publication at Rome of the Apostolic Instruc-tion Neminem Profecto, addressed to all Heads of Missions. It was none other than the bold Luquet who provided its main theme - the Local Clergy - with his "Light on the Synod of Pondichery" Luquet had gathered a great part of his (p262) documentation for it from research done along with Marion Brésillac when they were at Paris

1846 - In the beginning of the year, the Directors of the Paris Seminary sent to Mgr. Luquet (still at Rome) Marion Brésillac's letter of refusal and his Bulls of Appointment. But Luquet did not hand them on to the S.C. of Propaganda Fide. Propaganda maintained Marion Brésillac's appointment as Bishop and re-sent the Bulls to him. Jean Luquet wrote urging his friend to accept. Marion Brésillac put the question to a council of eight confreres. Seven voted that he should accept. So he finally decided to do so

11th August, he informed Propaganda that his Episcopal ordination would take place on the 4th October, the Solemnity of the Holy Rosary.

15th September, he began the preparatory Retreat for the ordination

19th September, left Pondichery with Mgr. Bonnand for Karumattampatty, where the ordination was to be done. Mgr. Charbonnaux met them at Salem.

4th October, Episcopal ordination by Mgr. Bonnand, assisted by Mgr. Charbonnaux and Mgr. Martini o.c.d., Titular Archbi-shop of Chyrra and Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly. Fr. Canoz s.j., Vicar Apostolic elect of Madurai, was present.

End of December, pastoral visitation of the Nilghiri Hills at Ootacamund.

(p263)

1847 - January-May, he lived at Karumattampatty. On the 5th April, wrote to Propaganda presenting a sort of foun-dation-charter for a seminary in his Vicariate

End of May, journey to Verapoly by stages: Coimbatore, Palaghat, Melarkulu, Vadikanchery, Trichore, Paliport. To assist at the Episcopal ordination of Mgr. Bernardino Baccinelli o.c.d., Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Quilon.

22nd June, the S.C. of Propaganda replied that his project for a seminary was in perfect accord with the instructions of Neminem Profecto.

24th June, Marion Brésillac got to Trichinopoly for the Episcopal ordination of Mgr. Canoz s.j. He travelled there with another missionary on a make-shift raft, down the Bavery and Cavery rivers. They had not the money for a palanquin

29th June, Episcopal ordination of Mgr. Canoz.

6th\- 11th July, return to Karumattampatty by a decrepit horse and trap bought on the spot for 150 rupees Stayed on at Coimbatore, the centre of the Pro-Vicariate, although it had no church or decent accommodation.

Start of October, Thanksgiving Mass at Karumattampatty for the first anniversary of his Episcopal ordination.

1848 - Visitation of the Palghat district. Return to Karu-mattampatty. Then almost permanently at Coimbatore until October.

8th October, left for Pondichery, sent for by Mgr. Bonnand to help prepare for a new Synod.

October-November, various Committee and Council meetings to work out the agenda etc.

(p264)

1849 - I5th January, Marion Brésillac began preaching the preparatory Retreat for the Synod at Pondichery. Took no direct part as he no longer belonged to that Vicariate. Returned to Coimbatore. Travelled often to Karumattampatty and visited various sectors of his Pro-Vicariate.

1850 - 3rd April, the Pro-Vicariate of Coimbatore was raised to a Vicariate and Marion Brésillac appointed Vicar Apostolic.

End of July to 5th September, another journey to Verapoly along with a few of his seminarians

1851 - I3th May, Marion Brésillac replied to the circular of Pius IX (of February 1849) asking the views of Bishops and their people about defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He declared that he had no doubt that Mary was conceived without sin, but he could not see the usefulness of proclaiming this truth an article of faith

12th June, he signed an important document on the Malabar Rites and the problems they caused to pastoral administration in South India. This was for the S.C. of Propaganda; they had requested him to write it

End of July to beginning of October, Mgr. Bettachini, Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna, called at Coimbatore and took him to Ceylon

1852 - 12th January, signed another document on the Malabar Rites, in reply to a circular from the S.C. of Propaganda (p265) to the Bishops of South India dated 21st October 1851

1853 - 30th January, the S.C. of Propaganda informed Fr. Barran, Superior of the Paris Foreign Missions Seminary, that Mgr. de Brésillac was authorised to go to Rome, to explain viva voce to the S.C. and the Holy Father the reasons causing his repeated requests to resign, ever since 25th October 1849.

26th- 30th October, he gave a Retreat on Faith, Hope and Charity to the seminarians at Karumattampatty After it, a few were ordained to tonsure and minor orders.

31st October-9th November, returned to Coimbatore. Left for Rome. At Calicut on the 20th, Mahai 24th, Mangalore 3rd December, Bombay 1st January 1854.

1854 - 14th January left Bombay on the "Semiramis". It was so cramped that he had to stay on the bridge day and night.

Ist February, some days at Aden. Visited, heard confessions and confirmed Tamil-speaking soldiers.

6th February, left Aden on the "Bombay". On the 9th was passing the line of Mecca, on the 12th Mount Sinai.

13th February, landed at Suez, crossed the desert to Cairo. Visited three Catholic bishops: Greek, Armenian and Coptic

I7th-24th February, at Alexandria Mgr. Guasco, Vicar Apos-tolic, eventually got him a free passage on the French national mail-boat, the steamer "Salamander".

(p266)

2nd- 13th. March, to Naples, by way of Rhodes, Malta and the Straits of Messina.

14th March, arrived at Naples about 7 a.m. Stayed there until 17th April, at the Chinese College. Visited the Cardinal Archbi-shop, the Daughters of Charity (Sr. Guireau, their Mother Superior was from Castelnaudary) and the hospital Sisters of Besancon. During Lent, he gave some sermons for Franco-phones in the city. These were rewritten here and there, and published at Paris in 1855.

19th April, Wednesday: Arrived in Rome for the first time, by the Via Appia and Porta San Giovanni. Stopped off at the Carmelites at San Pancrazio, known from India. There he ran into Mgr. Martini, Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly.

20th April, called in at Saint Peter's; brief prayer. To the S.C. of Propaganda; met nobody because the weekly "congresso" was on. Left. Went to see Mgr. Luquet, now a sort of hermit ignored by all, living with a French family, friends of his.

21st April, saw Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect, and Mgr. Bar-nabo, Secretary, at Propaganda. Barnabo urged him to put his ideas on the Indian problem in writing. "I didn't promise and I didn't refuse. Thought I should get to know the situation - and the man - better, before committing myself'

25th April, Tuesday: long conversation (2 hours) with Mgr. Barnabo. He came away very satisfied.

26th April 1854, celebrated the Eucharist at the tomb of Saint Peter in the Vatican.

Early May, Mgr. Barnabo asked him for a report on the Syro-Chaldean Rite Christians in India Marion Brésillac took the opportunity to go a bit outside the subject and to advance (cautiously, to test the water) some points-of-view which he later elaborated further, about the Missions in India.

(p267)

7th May, at Saint Peter's for the beatification of Germaine Cousin, his compatriot.

8th May, at 10 o'clock, private audience of half- an-hour with Pius IX.

11th-14th May, pilgrimage to the Santa Casa at Loreto, going by Civita Castellana, Narni, Spoleto, Foligno, Settempera, Santi Severini, Recanati. Accompanied by Mgr. Bettachini, Oratorian, and Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna.

24th May, at first Vespers of the Ascension in the Sistine Chapel.

25th May, solemn Mass in Saint John Lateran's in the presence of the Pope. Ascension Thursday.

24th June, Mgr. de Brésillac signed the Report on India and on the Foreign Missions Society (Mission Document I here). The S.C. of Propaganda did not like this Report, especially the part about the Malabar Rites. Indeed the Cardinal members had no chance to read it; the Pope did not allow it to be circulated to them. All they got was an oral summary by Mgr. Barnabo.

End of July, second audience with Pius IX. "I was very satisfied with the Holy Father's replies. He seemed to really understand the gravity of these problems and the necessity of doing something about them"

1st August, an audience with Mgr. Barnabo left him very pessimistic. "Not only have I no hope left of getting any real good done in India. I cannot even see how I could continue to exercise the sacred ministry in that unhappy land. As for achieving anything to help the Missions in general, or just to help our dear Congregation, it is now out of the question ".

12th August, third audience with Pius IX. "No need to say that Pius IX was, as always, kind and fatherly. But about my (p268) own problems he said only one word, which confirms my conclusion that there is no hope

20th August, Marion Brésillac left Rome at 7 p.m. In the stage-coach with him was Fr. de Lannurien, founder of the French Seminary [in Rome] and a few seminarians.

21st August, arrived at Civitavecchia at 4 a.m. and immedia-tely embarked for Toulon.

22nd August 1854, arrived at Toulon at 8 p.m. and set out for Marseilles by stage-coach.

23rd August, arrived at Marseilles at 5 a.m. Visited Notre Dame de la Garde and the Cathedral. Brought some news of the OMI in Ceylon to Bishop Eugene de Mazenod who, however, was too busy to see him, writing last-minute letters to the Oblates in America. At 2 p.m. left by train for Montpellier. Arrived at 7 p.m. Left for Carcassonne by stage-coach at 8 p.m.

24th August, arrived at Carcassonne 11 a.m. Called at the Petit Serninaire but met nobody he knew. All on holidays.

26th August, Saturday: left for Castelnaudary at noon. Welcomed by his father (died 1861) his mother (d. 1868) and his sister Bathilde (d. 1909).

27th August, his sister Felicie (d. 1895) and her husband arrived On Thursday 31st his brother Henri came (d. 1891).

3rd September, Sunday: Preached at Saint- Jean-Baptiste's Castelnaudary, the church where he was baptised.

4th-16th September, visiting: his brother Henri at Lasserre-de-Monestrol, his cousin Raymond at Lascourtines, his sister Felicie and her husband de Ranchin at Garric.

(p269)

24th September – 1st October, preached an Octave in prepara-tion for the Feast of the Holy Rosary at Saint-Michel's, Castelnaudary.

5th-17th October, family visiting: Lascourtines, Pamiers, Lasserre-de-Monestrol. At Toulouse he received a visit from his cousins, Louis and Augustin de Brésillac.On the 15th he preached at Saint-Etienne's Cathedral, Toulouse, at the Archbishop's request. On the 15th, at the request of his brother Henri, he sat for a portrait, to be given to his elderly father

18th October, stopped at Bordeaux [on the way to Paris].

19th October, arrived at the Foreign Missions Seminary, Paris. Gave the Superior, Fr. Barran, a copy of the Report presented to Propaganda on 24th June 1854.

He stayed there, at Rue du Bac, at least until the following April. His presence had the community asking some questions, which the Seminary Directors were not able to answer clearly

14th December, another letter to Mgr. Barnabo asking to be relieved of the Vicariate Apostolic of Coimbatore and to retire to the Holy Land

1855 - 11thJanuary, a letter to the Ministre de l'Instruction Publique et des Cultes, Paris, would seem to indicate that he had approached the French Government "to be of some service to my countryWas he asking for a diocese in France?

(p270)

Certainly not, if we accept the word of Mlle. Blanchet in her memoirs: "Some friends of the family [at the end of 1854 and the beginning of 1855] got the idea of making some moves to have him appointed a Bishop in France. And not without some success. But that was not his ambition. It was never the desire of his heart. "I just wish", he exclaimed one day, with a tone of vehemence which those who had the good fortune to hear him have not forgotten - "I just wish they would make me a Bishop in France. I would resign the next day. That would show them! I am not interested in all that. It is to the work of the Missions that I want to give my whole life

January or February, preached an Octave in the church of Notre-Dame-des- Victoires, Paris

18th March, in an audience granted to Mgr. Barnabo, Pius IX accepted Mgr. de Brésillac's resignation, after making sure that he would have enough to live on. (The Foreign Missions Seminary had committed themselves to pay him a pension of 1,500 F as long as he had no other means of providing for himself). Mgr. Barnabo informed Mgr. de Brésillac in a letter of 27th March 1855The administration of Coimbatore was covered by Fr. Metral, appointed pro-Vicar by Mgr. de Brésillac before leaving India.

20th April (approx), he retired at the Capuchins' in Versailles, I, boulevard de la Reine. There he lived completely in retire-ment suffering from inaction and discouragement, as his corres-pondence shows The Novice Master there was Fr. Domi-nique, a fellow country man and a classmate at the Carcassonne Minor and Major Seminaries.

1855 - 3rd May, sermon for the Work of the Propagation of the Faith

26th May, as from this date, in letters to Mgr. Barnabo, we can see the vague outline of new missionary endeavours taking shape in the mind of Marion Brésillac. Some of the important letters are given in Part II of this book: Foundation Docu-ments.

1 st to 8th June preached an Ordination retreat at Soissons Major Seminary

4th August, Mgr. Vérolles wrote to Mgr. Bonnand. Said he would be glad to have Mgr. de Brésillac replace himself [Vérolles] as Vicar Apostolic of Japan

11th September, Mgr. Luquet, passing through Paris, wrote to Marion Brésillac proposing a new mission to him, one offered to Luquet himself in Northern Europe, aimed at the creation of a Vicariate Apostolic in Iceland We do not know what the Founder did about this offer.

13th October, before leaving Versailles to spend a few weeks with his family, Marion Brésillac wrote to Mgr. Barnabo that he was coming to Rome in December, to try to get a decision out of themIt was at Versailles, through the Capuchins, that he first heard of Mr. Regis, the Marseilles trader. He called to see him on his way to Rome, and formed the idea of starting a Mission in Dahomey (now Republique Populaire du Benin). See his Report (Foundation Document 5) in this book.

End of December, arrived at Rome. Stayed at the French Seminary, then at via degli Ibernesi in the former Irish College.

1856 - 4th January, he signed his Report on Dahomey (see above). This cannot be considered the "foundation charter" of (p272) the SMA, for it shows no intention whatsoever of founding a new institute

15th January: By this time the idea of a new institute can be seen for the first time, in his letter to Mr. I'Abbé Vian, a priest of Toulon diocese whom he had known at Carcassonne and who later became a "failed" SMA candidate. In this letter we even find the exact name: "Society of African Missions

Also in January: the S.C. of Propaganda Fide paid for printing a Notice on the new Society

30th January, Fr. Leon des Avranchers, Capuchin, former missionary in the Seychelles, wrote to Marion Brésillac urging him to join him in founding new missions on the East Coast of Africa This contact came to nothing. Fr. Leon believed that the only way to be a good missionary was to be a religious. This was not at all the idea of Mgr. de Brésillac

Still in January, he met the Blanchet family at Rome. Later he often stayed at their house in Paris, at 31, rue de Londres. Mlle. Blanchet has left some very interesting personal memoirs about him

Marion Brésillac spent all of Lent 1856 at Rome, taking part in the ceremonies at Saint Peter's for 2nd February, Palm (p273) Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. On Holy Thursday he was there with l'Abbe Perreyve, a French deacon

25th March, sermon at Saint-Louis des François, followed by a good collection

10th April 1856, he left Rome.

12th April, arrived at Toulon. Stayed with the Marist Fathers, where he got to know the Superior General, Fr. Favre.

20th April, Sunday: Preached for the African Missions. Here starts the first of many journeys, preaching and collecting all over France, until he left for Sierra Leone in 1859.

After Toulon he went to Hyères, Brignoles, Lorgues, and Mar-seilles. He had hoped to enact the official foundation of the Society of African Missions at Marseilles. But he would need at least three members, including l'Abbe Vian It did not happen. He went on to Draguignan, Fréjus, Cannes, the islands of Lerins, Grasse, Antibes, Nice, Castellane, Digne, Sisteron, Forcalquier, Manosque, Aix-en-Provence. Back at Marseilles again, he received a letter from a young Professor of Philosophy at Arras Seminary, one Fr. Augustin Planque. He had been drawn to the African Missions by an article in "1'Univers

From Marseilles he pushed on to Nimes, There he had hoped to meet Fr. d'Alzon, but he was away for several days. Then on to Avignon.

14th June, he arrived at Lyons, about 6 p.m. Went to stay with the Marists, at 4 montée Saint-Barthélemy,

His collections all through Provence (South) had brought in only a few thousand francs. River floods had recently ravaged (p274)

(map)

Principal cities and towns where Marion Brésillac preached and collected for the African Missions, 1856-1859. As can be seen, he covered a great part of the country. And to each of these centres should be added 5, 10, 15 other towns or cities in the locality. It would be impractical to try to show 150-200 places in a map of this kind. But we made sure to include his home town, Castelnaudary, near Carcassonne (p275) the Rhone Valley and many parts of Provence. He had to suspend his collecting.

17th June, Mass at Notre-Dame de Fourviere.

21st June, he was writing from Lyons to two different people: "The more I travel the more convinced I am that here is where we should first establish ourselves ... I would like very much to make it the city of Lyons. That is partly why I am here

24th June to 5th July, retreat at the Grande Chartreuse [Carthusians]. He came away with a contribution for his work.

29th July, returned to Lyons after a pilgrimage to La Salette. 29th July 1856, he bought a property from the Carmelite Sisters comprising two houses at 9, Chemin de Sainte-Foy for 34,000 F. He could only pay down 3000 F when signing the contract. These two houses have recently been demolished to make way for a big building at present called "Les Terrasses du Levant" at n° 25 rue Sceur Bouvier in the Lyons commune. It is only a few hundred yards from the present Provincial House of the Sisters of Notre-Dame des Apôtres (NDA or OLA).

Cardinal de Bonald, archbishop of Lyons, invited him to preside at the close of the priest's retreat. "It will be good for your work", he said.

4th August, left Lyons for Marseille. There he met Mr. Régis, to go into practical details about the mission to Dahomey.

Resuming his preaching and collecting, he left Marseilles for Montpellier, Beziers, Carcassonne, Castelnaudary, Limoux, Mirepoix, Lasserre-de-Monestrol (with his family) and Tou-louse.

4th September, he was present at the laying of the first stone for the Monastery at Prouilles, near Fanjeaux. It was a restora-tion of the one founded by Saint-Dominic. There he met the famous Lacordaire.

End of September, while with his family he received two letters (of 1st and 24th) from one Abbé Labatut, inviting him to help (p276) restore the Augustinian Order in France, as Lacordaire had just done for the Dominicans. The restored Order would undertake to set up a double catechumenate at Marseilles, one for boys and one for girls; they would also welcome children from overseas, give them religious instruction and primary education, and teach them a trade. The project was backed by Mgr. Dupuch, bishop of Algiers. We do not know what reply Mgr. de Brésillac gave to these letters

27th September, continued "on the road" by Albi, Castres, Rodez, Villefranche-sur-Rouergue, Saint-Geniez, Mende, Marvejols, Langogne, Le Puy. At Le Puy the Bishop invited him to stay a week and rest. On to Yssingeaux, Monistrol.

28th October, arrived at Lyons about 5 p.m.

29th October, Moved into the house bought in July. "Almost the absolute necessities of life were still lacking

2nd November, preached at Saint-Irenée, the parish church of the new house.

6th November, arrival at Lyons of Fr. Augustin Planque, his future successor, who was to be at the head of the African Missions for 48 years, and the Founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles in 1876. He came up to Sainte-Foy on the 7th.

9th November, Preached at Saint-Niziers, Lyons.

8th December 1856: The official date of the Foundation of the Society of African Missions. The Founder asked the S.C. of Propaganda to consider it so. (See Document 18).

19th December, Left Lyons for a new collecting tour, along with Fr. Reymond, who had come on the 16th November. Stopped at Dijon and at Sens, where he celebrated pontifical Midnight Mass.

(p277)

27th December, Arrived at the Blanchets' house in Paris

28th December, Went to see Fr. Schwindenhammer, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, 30 rue de la Poste.

31st December, Rev. Riocreux, a new candidate, arrived at Lyons.

1857 - 3rd January, Mgr. de Brésillac went directly to the Archbishop's Palace in Paris as soon as Archbishop Sibour's body was brought back there, after the assassination in the church of Saint-Etienne du Mont. He was left alone with the (p278) body to pray for a few moments, while they were trying, amid some confusion, to get a room ready for the lying-in-state.

10th, At Notre-Dame de Paris for the funeral.

January, some time between the 24th and 31st, Visit to Napoleon III to try and get some subsidies. Not given

During this stay in Paris he launched a Ladies' Committee, with Mme. Blanchet and her daughters, to help form an ongoing financial base for his work. Among the Ladies was Mme Ozanam. The Committee was later directed by Fr. Petetot, the restorer of Cardinal de Berulle's Oratory in France. Mgr. de Segur agreed to be Honorary President

In the first half of January, Fr. Papetard, whom he had met at Rome a year earlier, entered the Society of African Missions as an affiliated member. He had been an Army Captain in North Africa. At the siege of Constantine in 1837 he was hit in the chest, but was merely knocked over. For the bullet had been stopped by the Miraculous Medal he always wore, and on impact it had been moulded in the medal's image

15th February, Marion Brésillac left Paris for Lyons, via Toulouse and Pamiers. There he officiated at a female cousin's wedding. We know this from a correspondence with Fr. Planque.

8th March, Fr. Bresson, a new candidate, arrived at Lyons.

30th April, Marion Brésillac left Lyons with Fr. Reyrnond for another preaching and collecting tour, Mâcon, Beaune, Autun, Charolles, Paray-le-Monial, Moulins, and Clermont-Ferrand. There he preached at Notre-Dame-du-Port, probably on the 12th May. Stayed with the Capuchins, where the Guardian was Fr. Dominique, a country man of his. Then on to (p279) Riom, Nevers, Bourges (Ascension), Issoudun, Châteauroux, Argenton, Vierzon, Orléans, Blois (Pentecost).

2nd June, At Paris. 7th, Sermon at Vendôme.

21st June, Sermon to the Demoiselles de la Légion d'Honneur at Saint-Denis-en-France.

23rd June 1857, Left for Chartres with Fr. Riocreux, ordained priest at Lyons on the 6th. Preached at Chartres Cathedral next day, Feast of Saint John the Baptist. On to Nogent-le-Rotrou, Le Mans, La Fleche, Laval, Vitre, Rennes, Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan, Saint-Brieuc, Guinguamp, Lannion, Morlaix, Quimper, Lorient, Vannes, At Nantes the bishop, Alexandre jacquemet, formally prohibited him from preaching - the first one to do so, out of the thirty or so bishops that he had come across in his travels.

29th July to 1st August, Retreat at the Trappist Monastery of la Meilleraye. Then on to Angers. Not allowed to preach there. Then to Tours.

3rd-7th August, Stayed at the Blanchets' country house at Sully-sur-Loire

7th August, This evening or next morning, at Paris, he had an (p280) interview with Mgr. Kobès (Dakar) co-adjutor to Mgr. Bes-sieux. Continued his tour towards Noyon, Soissons and Laon.

18th August, Invited by the Bishop of Soissons, he was present at the coronation of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse.

20th August 1857, Back at Lyons.

20th September, He ordained a Capuchin to the priesthood there.

31st October, Off again, with Fr. Riocreux, to Chalons-sur- Saône, Louhans, Lons-le-Saulnier, Saint-Claude, Poligny, Ar-bois, Salins-les-Bains, Dôle, Besancon, Vesule, Lure, Belfort, Colmar, Strasbourg, Saverne, Sarrebourg, Luneville, Nancy. On the 29th November the Bishop of Nancy, Mgr. Menjaud, was not well, and asked him to do the ordination of deacons and sub-deacons at the seminary. This was his first time conferring these "major Orders" as they were called. On to Toul, Com-mercy, Bar-le-Duc, Verdun.

7th-8th December, Went to Paris to sympathise with the Blanchet family on the death of Mr. Blanchet

9th December, At Pierry, near Epernay. Then to Arcis-sur-Aube, Nogent-sur-Seine, Troyes, Bar-sur-Aube, Chau-mont, Langres. There, on 20th December, he visited Mgr. Luquet's mother and two sisters.

23rd December, Back to Lyons.

1858- 10th January, Sermon at Grenoble.

17th, At Vienne-du-Dauphiné.

27th January, on the road again with Fr. Reymond, to Thiers and Clermont-Ferrand.

27th January, At Paris with the Blanchets.

(p281)

7, 14, 21 February, Sermons at Rouen, Le Havre, Pontoise. 22nd February, Back towards Lyons with stops at Joigny, Auxerre and Tonnerre.

26th February, At Lyons. This Lent, for the first time, the Archbishop authorised him to collect in the diocese. He did Villefranche-sur-Saône, Boën, Montbrison, Sury-le-Comtal Saint-Genès-de- Terre-Noire, Rive-de-Gier, Bourg-Argental, Saint - Etienne.

21St March, In the course of an audience granted to Mgr. Barnabo, now Cardinal and Prefect of Propaganda, Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Sierra Leone, to comprise the present Republics of Sierra Leone and Liberia, and two-thirds of the Republic of Guinea (as far as the River Nunez) and confided it to Mgr. de Brésillac. The briefs of erection are dated 13th April 1858

Beginning of May, Left Lyons for Rome with Fr Planque. Went to Castelnaudary, Lasserre-du-Monestrol and Toulouse. Then to Marseilles to discuss with M. Régis.

2nd June, They arrived at Rome on the eve of Corpus Christi. The exact date of their audience with Pius IX is not known.

27th June, Fr. Borghero admitted as an SMA aspirant, at Rome.

3rd July, They left Rome with Fr. Borghero and embarked at Civitavecchia next day. Arrived at Lyons a few days later.

24th July, Mgr. de Brésillac, four priests and two brothers took the "Solemn Resolution" to work all their lives for the African Missions. The second edition of the "Fundamental Articles" is also dated 24th July 1858. (Documents 37 and 38 here).

End August-September, Marion Brésillac with his family at Lasserre-de- Monestrol, Castelnaudary, and Bagneres-de- Luchon and Toulouse.

(p282)

3rd September, Mgr. Luquet died at Rome, having suffered terribly for six months with cancer of the mouth. He was buried in the present French College Chapel, Via Santa Chiara. Marion Brésillac does not mention this in any of his writings. Did he know of it?

28th September, Returned to Lyons (probable date). He is supposed to have met the Curé of Ars about this time. But no evidence of any such meeting has been found in the Archives at Ars or at the African Missions.

1st October, The new Seminary Rule (Document 39 here) came into effect at the African Missions.

3rd October, Death of Brother Pierre Guillet. He was buried at Loyasse cemetery.

26 th October, Departure Mass for Fr. Reymond, Fr. Bresson and Br Eugene at Saint-Iréné Church.

27th October, They celebrated the Eucharist at Fourviere. In the evening, the neighbouring Ursulines served a farewell meal for them. Recitation of the Prayer for Travellers in the presence of the parish priest of Saint-Irenée and the Secretary General of the Propagation of the Faith. All the community went down to the Perrache railway station to see the missionaries off. Mgr. de Brésillac went on board with them.

28th October, They arrived at Marseilles and stayed with the Capuchins.

30th October, Pilgrimage to Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde.

3rd or 4th November, The first missionaries set out on the "Express" for Sierra Leone. "I accompanied them out onto the open sea, and gave them my blessing. I came back on (p283)the pilot's boat" That evening he was at table with Mgr. de Mazenod

He went from Marseilles to his brother's at Lasserre-de-Monestrol. Fr. Papetard met him with a good sum of money and three aspirants from Spain. These did not stay long.

19th November, Back to Lyons.

18th December, At Paris, to get what he could out of the Government for his departure and his expenses at Freetown, letters of recommendation, free transport for himself and those with him, travelling facilities on Navy ships along the West Coast, to visit as many ports as possible between Saint-Louis or Gorée and Gabon. He got all that he asked for, plus a ministerial passport

26th December, He had to give up a planned journey to Ireland, for lack of time

1859 - 3rd January, Celebrated Pontifical Mass at Saint-Etienne-du-Mont Church for the feast of St Genevieve.

13th January, Presided at the first Annual Assembly of the Holy Childhood Council in the Lazarists' Chapel, Paris.

16th January, Presided at pontifical Vespers in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris. The Abbé Perreyve paraphrased the psalm "Memento Domine David" for his intention

17th January, on this day (as planned during a brief meeting on the 13th) he should have met Mgr. Bessieux CSSp, Vicar Apostolic of the Two Guineas. But Mgr. Bessieux was pre-vented by illness from turning up. He had wanted to advise Mgr. de Brésillac against Freetown. If they had actually met, (p284) would Marion Brésillac have established the Mission some-where else

22nd to 28th January, on the road again, to Amiens, Arras, Lille, Cambrai. "I'm doing a quick tour of Belgium, to make my work known in the Seminaries" Visited Fr. Planque's mother and relatives at Chemy.

1st February, Personal farewell call to the Blanchets at Paris.

2nd February, Back to Lyons.

9th February, Farewell Mass at the Church of Saint-Irenée. 19th February, Left Lyons.

20th February, Celebrated Mass at Tours. Welcomed at the Archbishop's. Met Mgr. de Mazenod. Supper at Nantes. Stayed the night. The Procurator at the Seminary had every-thing ready for him,

21St February, Arrived at Lorient in the morning.

22nd February, At Brest. "We were very well received by the parish priest of Saint-Louis" They were there fifteen days at that.

10th March, Mgr. de Brésillac, Fr. Riocreux and Br Gratien went on board the "Danae".

11th March, She weighed anchor at 10 in the morning, but soon ran into bad weather and a real gale. Severe damage.

15th March, Ran for shelter and eventually made it to the bay of Torbay, near Dartmouth, England.

(p285)

16th March, in the morning, headed for Cherbourg, for extensive repairs.

18th March, Marion Brésillac celebrated Mass at Sainte-Trinite, Cherbourg.

23rd March, at eight in the morning, the "Danae" raised anchor and put to sea again.

7th April, Arrived at Gorée. Landed at Dakar. Welcome at Mgr. Kobès' mission.

20th-24th April, Mgr. de Brésillac celebrated pontifical ceremonies at Gorée; Mgr. Kobès at Dakar.

11th May, the "Danae" put to sea again. 14th May, Arrived at Freetown

15th May, Third Sunday after Easter: The missionaries celebrated four Masses, with a congregation of two people!

19th May, They moved to a somewhat bigger house.

21st May, Visited the Acting Governor of the Territory.

26th May, This morning, Fr. Riocreux fell ill...

29th May ... and also Fr. Bresson.

22nd June, at 8 p.m. Fr. Riocreux died, aged 27 years.

3rd June, Br Gratien fell ill.

5th June, at 5 a.m. Fr. Bresson died, aged 47 years.

12th June, Celebration of Pentecost.

13th June, Br Gratien died, aged 28 years. Mgr. de Brésillac began to have the same symptoms.

18th June, Feeling better. Wrote his last letter to Fr. Planque (Document 44 here).

19th June, Feast of the Holy Trinity. Not known whether he was able to celebrate Mass this day.

21st June, Fell ill again.

25th June, Saturday, at 1.20 p.m.: Mgr. de Marion Brésillac died, aged 46 years. The only eye-witness was M. Brémond,(p286) since Fr Reymond had been carried back to his sick-bed after giving Mgr. de Bresillac the Sacrament of the Sick. M. Bre-mond wrote: "At that moment he raised his eyes to heaven and, with earnestness I will never forget, he said: "Faith, Hope and Ch ... "I finished it for him: "Charity". "Thanks", said he, very faintly"

26th June, Sunday: At 9 in the morning, the burial of Mgr. de Brésillac, Mr. Brémond goes on: "The colony had lost the Protestant bishop the month before. The same public honours were given to our own Roman Bishop: The Governor and his Staff, a detachment of troops, the Consuls of France and America, and all the leading traders and inhabitants of the country, without distinction of religion, all accompanied our poor Bishop to his last resting place. In the short time he was here, he had been able to gain the respect of all. The Protestant Minister in charge of the diocese of Sierra Leone came and officiated at the graveside, saying some noble words that came from a Christian heart; and we all listened with deep emotion".

28th June, at 6 a.m. Fr. Reymond died, aged 36 years. Br Eugène had been sent back to France a few days before. There was no Catholic missionary left in Sierra Leone.
(p287)

EPILOGUE: THE TRIUMPH OF FAILURE

No human life, whatever its ups and downs, can be reckoned a failure if it was guided and sustained by an unshakable faith. Marion Brésillac faith may have come across as rather grim and austere; but of its strength and its depth there can be no doubt. Coimbatore and Freetown seem to have been a bit short of "marks of credibility" or special reasons for believing. If there were any, they were rather tenuous and hard to see. The Lord let it happen like that in order to test his faithful servant. The tears of the sower were there indeed, not much of the joy of the reaper. So, Marion Brésillac's faith may remind us more of Job than of Paul.

Be that as it may, the man who finds his joy in the law of the Lord and whispers it to himself night and day is like a tree planted by water streams, yielding its fruit in season, says the first Psalm. The fruits of the spirit are gathered in a later season; and later history must show them in the lands where Marion Brésillac struggled and agonised. (Here we will speak only of some of the fruits in India].

Already in 1858, on the 13th August, a Pontifical Brief empowered Mgr. Bonnand of Pondichery to make an Apostolic Visitation of all the Indian Missions. And on the 25th October that same year he was writing to Mgr. de Brésillac: "This visitation has been ordered so as to do the work of a general meeting or Council of all the Vicars Apostolic, which present circumstances make impossible... I am writing to you, My Lord, to ask you in the name of Religion to please give me all your views on reforming the administration of the Christian communities in India, under every heading. In 1856(p288)

Fr. Métral told me of a letter of yours: You said (if I remember rightly) that one word written by me could have changed everything and perhaps given us all a chance to exercise our ministry, at last, with freedom and unity, without having to harass this poor people unnecessarily, and in full security of conscience ourselves. Ah, My Lord! Please show me what has to be done and said in order to attain that objective ... and I will gladly comply. Now that the Holy See has ordered me to examine everything, I have mission and authority to speak. Finally, you wrote a Report for the Sacred Congregation Give me a copy, I pray you. I will make use of it only insofar as you tell me. I hope, My Lord, which you will respond fully to my requests..."

[In actual fact, Mgr. Bonnand hardly needed a copy of Marion Brésillac Report, for he had the gist of it already in his hand, written into the Secret Instructions from Rome accompa-nying his Brief of Appointment!]. For when we compare the two documents, we are struck by the resemblance, not only in the terms of reference but especially in the exact problems on which the Visitation is ordered to concentrate most particularly. There is more than coincidence here

(p289)

As regards the Paris Foreign Missions Society: Already in 1856, the S.C. of Propaganda was asking them to get their Rule approved by the Holy See. Moreover, the Paris Seminary sent out a circular to all the Vicars Apostolic, convoking a meeting of delegates, from each Vicariate and from the Paris Seminary, at Hong Kong in 1860. Its aim: to modify certain points in the Rule. Just what Marion Brésillac had been looking for in 1854!

But the Hong Kong meeting never took place. The first draft of a modified Rule was prepared in order to be presented on the occasion [and opportunity] of the First Vatican Council in 1870. The Draft envisaged a Superior General for the Society. But two Vicars Apostolic managed to block the revision process until 1875. It was only in 1890 that the text was approved by Rome. Definitive Constitutions date only from 1920.

Fr. Bricet, SMA Procurator General about 1900, wrote as follows: "Fr. Rousseille, when he was Procurator of the Paris Foreign Missions at Rome, invited Fr. Planque to stay at his place there. He [Rousseille] had been Superior at the Rue du Bac [HQ] and was Superior of the Philosophy House when he died. He had known Mgr. de Brésillac in India. He told our Fr. Superior (Fr. Planque) that in the end they had to bring in everything Mgr. de Brésillac had been advocating

Several members of the Paris Foreign Missions wrote from India and Europe saying how glad they were to see that Mgr. de Brésillac was successfully undertaking a new missionary work for Africa Others, however, looked with scepticism on the efforts of the ex-Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore. "I don't have much time for people with big plans and big ideas. I'm sorry for Mgr. de Brésillac, and especially for the people he had to lead(p290) [here], and most especially for those he will be in charge of in Africa

As for "the grave question of the Malabar Rites", it went on and on for a long time more. Only in 1940 did the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda abolish the Oath which the missionaries all had to take, ever since the days of Clement XII Certainly Marion Brésillac did not go quite as far as to advocate its abolition in so many words. But in his 1854 Report he made it quite clear how much this Oath, and trying to keep it, had become a torture to his conscience and too many others too.

Nowadays, the movement of Inculturation seems to be so self-evidently right, it goes without saying. But in those days, when "tolerating" local customs was the most they could envisage, it took an awful lot of courage to plead the cause of more toleration. That is just what Marion Brésillac did. Certainly, he wanted the Holy See to intervene, to clarify the situation and solve his doubts of conscience. (Whether this was a good idea is another matter. How could the Holy See clarify a situation from so far away?). But at the same time he argued for more kindly understanding for Indian customs which were not, he maintained, all superstitious. (And we know how sensitive he was on that point!). Anyway, this [advocacy of tolerance] was what Mgr. Barnabo took from his Report, took special note of, and reported to the Holy Father and the members of the Sacred Congregation

(p291)

Finally, we must note the fruit produced by his seminary at Karumattampatty in the Vicariate Apostolic of Coimbatore [starting with two of his seminarians ordained priests in 1859, a month before he died]. On the other hand, it was not until 1940 that the diocese of Coimbatore got its first Indian Bishop, Mgr. Francis M. Savari Muthu. He wrote to us on the 12th March 1959:

"Mgr. de Brésillac is a well-known personality, still well remembered here. Several monuments perpetuate his memory. I have heard senior missionaries saying he was a hundred years ahead of his time. He is a saint and a heroic model for missionaries. "

Eight years earlier, in the summer of 1951, the Bishop came to the African Missions chapel in Lyons, accompanied by Bishop Boisguérin of the Paris Foreign Missions, to pray over the remains of the founder of his diocese. What better example for the sons of Marion Brésillac, to invite them to do as much, and more as well?

Jean Bonfils, s.m.a.

1. L.G. p. 43 – 44

2. For the present English version, it has not been one of my aims to reproduce the style of the 1850s, nor that of the writer. He went in for convoluted sentences, sometimes a whole page long, which effectively hinder the reader from quickly grasping what he is getting at. Such a sentence (= a paragraph) can take four or five readings before the penny finally drops, and might end up as seven normal sentences in present -day English (which was my objective here).Nearly always, the writer's thought is quite thoroughly expressed in the French, however hard to get at times. But in just a few cases (in Mission Document 3 especially) I have frankly added a useful/necessary word or phrase for quicker understanding. Always, to respect the original, I have marked any conscious out-and-out additions [in square brackets].Anyway, dear Reader, my hope is that, as a result of my little efforts at de-complicating, these texts will be a fairly easy read in English.Bob HALES s.m.a.

3. Refs: AMA 2F 2, Vol. II, p. 240-243. (L.G., as usual, p. 436 gives a truncated and re-worked text).

4. APF: Letter e deceit della S.c. e bigliette di Mgr Segretario, 1854, p.616.

5. AMA 2F 13, p. 12.

6. See Introductory Note (I) preceding this Document.

7. See Introductory Note (2) preceding this Document.

8. See Introductory Note (3) preceding this Document.

9. Briefly, the Cardinal was saying: "If we don't mention something it must not [thereby] be taken as approved."

10. "Superstitious" : This term, already used above, is now applied to abstinence from bovine meat. Was there originally a Vedic taboo bringing religious sanctions to back up an economic purpose: to protect herds of cattle in a tropical climate where their survival was very precarious? There are certain indications that this was so. Or else was there some link with the cult of the Sacred Bull found at a certain period in the Mediterranean Basin and around the Indian Ocean? But this particular abstinence is without any mention in the "Laws of Manu"; and certain peoples of India do not practice it at all. In fact, for a long time now, it has simply become a quasi-physical aversion. For Marion Brésillac it was a "superstition".But someone can lose all faith in Hinduism or become a militant atheist, and still feel no less aversion for cow's meat and (if a Brahmin) for all meat, fish etc. Similarly, he can become a Christian and a Catholic priest, and still feel this same aversion. It must be remembered that in Hinduism it is practically impossible to disassociate religion and culture. A believer can change gradually or even radically at the level of Faith without any parallel change necessarily occurring at the level of cultural reactions and needs.

11. The caste of Thieves, centered in an area between Tiruchirapalli (Trichinopoly) and Madurai. Many were converted in the 19th and 20th centuries.

12. Travelling astrologers or deviners going from village to village. Mostly from the Kaller caste. They also functioned as priests without, however, belonging to the priestly caste, which was Brahmin.

13. Principles of fundamental moral theology enabling a perplexed conscience, in certain kinds of cases, to get itself out of a state of doubt.

14. Nagatali: from "nagam" (eternity) and "tali" (symbol of marriage; see note 26). Ceremony to celebrate the eternity of the marriage.Arassa maram: ficus religious.Araical vilacu: ceremonial lamp, used in religious as well as in civil cere¬monies.

15. The Sanskrit language is no longer used today, or even understood. But to every Indian it is still the religious language from the beginning of time; Even today, in the high-caste Christian villages, the catechist will know the prayers in Sanskrit and will recite them at ceremonies.

16. Pariah: the exact word is "parayan". In the last century it was often written "parea".

17. Jean de Britto: a Jesuit martyred on 4th February 1693. Beatified by PIUS IX on 29th September 1851, canonized by Pius XII in 1947. His feast is on 4th February. He had certainly practiced several customs subsequently condemned by papal documents.

18. For an idea of Bishop de Brésillac's relations with the Company of Jesus, see: AMA 2 F 2, vol. I., p. 595, 1092, 1094; vol. II., p. 71, 74; 2 F 3, p. 216,254,401,425,426,456,592,672,676,677,689 to 694, 737, 753, 933, 934,989,990,1015,1016, 1034,1262,1350,1351,1355, 1356,1400, 1547·liis remarks are more abrupt in the "Diary" (2 F 2), more nuanced in "Memories of Twelve Years on the Missions" (2 F 3).

19. Here he seems to forget the Christian communities of the West Coast: the numerous Brahmins of Goa and Mangalore, whose conversion goes back to the time of Saint Francis Xavier; and the Oriental Rite Christians of Kerala, who also say they are Brahmin in origin, though some dispute this.

20. This oath was abolished on 9th April 1940, "the obligation to observe the prescriptions of Benedict XIV being still maintained insofar as they have not been modified by the Holy See" (AAS 1940, p. 379).

21. We do not include this letter here. It would add no new element and would merely lengthen the already complicated exposition. References for the original can be found in Footnote I, ending.

22. "Filthy customs ... guilty of perjury ... muddy sources." \- Tr.

23. The precise aim of this questionnaire seems to be to push the missionaries into a corner: into recognizing that they had not been faithful to Clement XII's oath, which they had all taken. Marion Brésillac seems to be haunted by this oath. For he sees that he himself, although a bishop, has not been able to keep it.

24. He gives the widest possible meaning to "superstitious". Now even Caste itself is superstitious.

25. This is aimed at those of his confreres who do not eat beef and will not take a Pariah as a servant.

26. This underlies all the questions about meals and social relations. An idea which will come back again under several forms.

27. See note 36 and 37.

28. Not to eat beef is, for Marion Brésillac, a superstition.

29. Here he only hints at the question of admitting Pariahs to seminaries. He will come back to it in Question 51.

30. It seems that Marion Brésillac wants a head-on attack on this thorny question.

31. Again the idea of legal defilement.

32. Like the meals, the caste problem in marriages and related customs engages his attention.

33. The tali is a medallion on a saffron ribbon, worn by married women. During the marriage ceremony the groom ties it round the bride|s neck. She must wear it at all times. It is the sign of marriage. To tie the tali means: to marry. To cut the tali means to divorce or annul.

34. He returns to Question 20 and develops it. Since his time at the Pondicherry seminary he has wanted to attack this problem.

35. This expression is still used for "abstinence". Remember we are in a country which traditionally preaches vegetarianism.

36. Sandanam: sandalwood. The "puttu" is the little red dot which women paint on their forehead.

37. Oil baths are corrunon in India. It is the Europeans who were considered the dirty ones! On a pilgrimage, there is usually a ritual bath before entering the holy place. A tangible sign of the felt need for [spiritual] cleanliness.

38. A question still being disputed among missionaries in the 1950s. Ritual ceremonies on the occasion of the first menses.

39. Natural means of checking premature births.

40. So it is really this oath that is worrying Marion Brésillac's conscience.

41. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI divided the evangelization of the world between Spain and Portugal. Everywhere to the west of a line 100 miles (later 270) from the Azores was Spain's. Everywhere to the east was Portugal's this was the start of what the Portuguese called Padroado (Patronage). By it, Goa a Portuguese possession became the See of a bishopric in 1533, its jurisdiction extending from the Cape of Good Hope to China! In 155.8 Goa ceased to depend as a suffragan on Funchal in the Madeiras. Erected into an Archdio¬cese, it formed its own ecclesiastical province with the two dioceses of Cochin and Malacca. Other suffragans were added later: Macao in 1576 for all the Far East; Funay in 1558 for Japan; Cranganore in 1600 for the Saint Tho.mas Christians (Syro-Malabar); Saint Thomas of Mylapore in 1606; Mozambique in 1612.In 1690 Goa was given the dioceses of Peking and Nanking. From 1606 onwards the Archbishops of Goa held the title "Primate of the Orient". This is enough to show the importance of Goa in the history of the Missions.But then from the second half of the 17th century, the S.c. of Propaganda, anxious to rescue missionary initiative from the powerlessness and fluctuations of the Portuguese Padroado, began to send out Vicars Apostolic to Asia:Indians to the Indies and foreigners (especially French) to the Far East. These bishops depended directly on Propaganda and were completely independent of the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Portugal. It is easy to guess at the conflicts of jurisdiction that were to result!In r838 Gregory XIV, by the Bull "Multa Praeclare", explicitly suppressed the four Portuguese dioceses of Cranganore, Cochin, Mylapore and Malacca. He confided their territories to Vicars Apostolic and limited the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa to the actual Portuguese possessions in India. The Goanese priests belonging to the suppressed Sees and residing in the new territories now under Propaganda ignored the Bull entirely and continued their ministries without any reference whatsoever to the Vicars Apostolic. Their faithful followed them in this. The Goanese priests' opposition to the Holy See's envoys was called "the Schism of Goa". This was the label put on the situation. But except for a few border-line cases there was no real schism. Anyway the Holy See, trying to keep good relations with Portugal, did not go out of its way to clarify the situation. When appointing Mgr. Silva Torres as Archbishop of Goa in r843 Rome used diplomacy. The Bull of appointment omitted any mention of the new territorial situation. Unknown to Lisbon, Rome sent a private letter to Bishop Torres, ordering him to conform to "Multa Praeclare". Mgr. Torres found it very easy to exploit the situation as he liked. It was not until r886 that this conflict between the Holy See and Portugal came to an end. When Bishop de Brésillac came to Coimbatore he met some Goanese priests still stationed there.On all this, see: Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, T. II., p. r54 to 250.

42. Allusion to the Synod of Pondicherry, 1844; to the Instruction "Neminem Perfecto", 1845; and to the action of Mgr. Luquet at Rome after the Synod. See Chronology, end of 1844 into r 845, and notes thereon.

43. Here, the following information becomes pertinent: When Mgr. Pierre Brigot arrived at Pondicherry in 1777 there was no local clergy in the Mission of Madurai and Kamat. Since the General Seminary for the Far East was situated at Virampatnam, a few kilometers south of Pondicherry, his first idea was to send his local candidates there. He very quickly realized that this would not work; for the Indians refused to eat with foreigners or to have anything to do with Chinese or Vietnamese seminarians.So in 1778 he confided a few candidates to Fr. Busson, an ex-Jesuit who was running a small college. The seminary of Pondicherry was definitively founded in 1781 when Fr. Pierre Magny was appointed superior. The first local priest, Thomas, was ordained by Mgr. Champenois at Pondicherry on 24th December 1788 and the second, Philip, on 6th January 1789. In 1836 the seminary had 13 students: 2 theologians, I philosopher and 10 Latinists. At the start of the Synod of 1844 the Mission had four local priests still active. Three of these took an active part in the Synod. Apart from insisting on faster recruitment, the only new thing that the Synod brought in was the separation of the Major and Minor Seminaries, to allow the man in charge of the Major Seminary to give a better theological formation.

44. After the Pondicherry Synod, Marion Brésillac was appointed superior of the Major Seminary. He launched the construction of the new Seminary in November 1844. It was finished in February 1846 and blessed on the 19th March. At that time Marion Brésillac is mentioned as Bishop-elect of Pruse and Superior of the Seminary. Along with Fr. Jean-Marie Leroux, he had started reforms about the attitudes and relations of missionaries, local priests and seminarians. After the departure of Marion Brésillac for Coimbatore, Fr. Leroux tried to push these reforms to the hilt. He decided to take his meals with the seminarians. Result: a revolt by the Christians. The seminary had to be closed on 27th December 1847. It was re-opened at the end of January 1848 with only 17 students out of 24. The rest were dismissed. Fr. Leroux was replaced. Marion Brésillac here passes over these incidents in silence.

45. See Chronology, note 23. Between the erection of Coimbatore as an independent pro-Vicariate and the acceptance by Marion Brésillac - he had to be begged to accept the episcopate - Mgr. Bonnand sent his pro-Vicar Francois jarrige as temporary administrator to Coimbatore. It was Fr.Jarrige who opened the new Mission's seminary with four students on 21st January 1846. After Marion Brésillac's ordination as Bishop he gave most of his time to the seminary, at Karumattampatty, admitting students very quickly to tonsure and minor orders, according to a plan approved by Rome. First tonsured cleric, June 1847. Five more and a porter on 1st April 1848. Three more tonsured in the next four years. The first two sub-deacons were ordained by Mgr. Bonnand in June 1856 and the first two priests on 29th May 1859, a month before the death of Marion Brésillac at Freetown.

46. Which Vicariate? In 1854 India had two dioceses: Goa, erected in 1533, and Mylapore in 1606. These could [hardly] be accused of not having priests, for the Goanese priests were surely causing enough headaches! There were 15 Vicariates-Apostolic. Marion Brésillac could hardly comment on the Northern ones, for he did not know them. His position gave him contacts only with five: .Pondicherry, Mysore, Mangalore, Madurai and Verapoly. Of these, only Pondicherry and Verapoly have had a Bishop more than twenty years. He knows directly then there are local diocesan priests in Pondicherry, even if he feels that progress IS too slow there. It is true that Verapoly has none yet. So this must be the Vicariate he means. But why Vicariates in the plural?

47. The English Governor of Madras was merely following the example of Portugal, which made a point of recognizing only the Archbishop of Goa, and the example of France, which dealt exclusively with Bishop Bonnand, Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry. And Marion Brésillac's figures have to be corrected. Of the 15 Vicariates Apostolic in India then, five were in the Presidencies of Bombay and Calcutta, one in the kingdom of Hyderabad, one in the kingdom of Mysore (going into Madras a bit), two in the kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore - and only five in the Presidency of Madras. And one straddles Madras and French territory.

48. The Rule at that time made no provision for an over-all Superior. Authority was collegial and was held by the Superior of the Paris Seminary assisted by his Council and by the Vicars Apostolic. Every grave decision involving the future of the Society required a consultation of all these. This had been done some years before, in order to accept responsibility for the Mission to Korea.The Council at Paris was made up of Mission representatives who were also professors. In 1854 the representative for India was Fr. Jean Tesson, who had been a missionary at Pondicherry from 1827 to 1833 and had been appointed to France because of his scruples about the Oath on the Malabar Rites. One wonders if these scruples did not have an added effect on the perplexed conscience of Marion Brésillac.The Paris Council elected the Seminary Superior for a three year period, renewable. At this time he was Fr. Jean Barran. His first assistant was called "the superior of the aspirants". While the main responsibility of the Seminary Superior was the general affairs of the Society, the aspirants' Superior was directly responsible for the Seminary and the formation of the future missionaries.Obviously, in many cases, the Paris Superior with his Council had to make swift decisions for which it was impossible to consult the Vicars Apostolic. And these would complain of being presented with a fait accompli.

49. Marion Brésillac's language here is very vague. A few figures will put his statements into perspective. From lst January 1840 to 24th January 1854 the Foreign Missions Society sent 208 young missionaries to 19 Vicariates Apostolic (not counting the General College at Penang, nor the Procures). Out of this number, over the 14 years, eight had, fairly quickly, left the Society: two for health reasons; two to enter a religious Order; and out of the other four, two left the Vicariate Apostolic [of Coimbatore 1 during the episcopacy of Marion Brésillac,

50. Mgr. Bouchot, Vicar Apostolic of Malaysia, AMA 2 F 8, p. 140. (44) Mgr. Masson, coadj. South Tonkin, AMA 2 F 8, p. 666.

51. Mgr. Masson, coadj. South Tonkin, AMA 2 F8, p. 666.

52. Mgr. Bonnand, Vic. of Pondicherry, AMA 2 F 8, p. 682.

53. The Rule of the Society of Foreign Missions had this peculiarity: it was "ad experiment" ever since 1663 when the Society was founded. The first basic text dates from 1700. Since then, each new generation had brought in its own suggestions and corrections, with very severe tensions towards the end of the 18th century. A new edition was undertaken in 1830 and printed in 1847. This was the one in force when Mgr. de Brésillac belonged to the Society. But this text was not meant to be definitive either. It called for further experimentations and suggestions. And Marion Brésillac was later reproached for taking the matter to Rome without having consulted Paris. Let us also add here that the letters printed in the front of the Rule and signed by Louis and Napoleon were in no way presented as approvals of the Rule, but only as juridical recognition.

54. The complaint was general. Every Vicar Apostolic thought he was getting a bad deal in personnel, and that Paris did not understand his special difficulties. There were 19 Vicariates Apostolic to look after; and some of these, because of persecutions, continually required replacements. For the nine years after 1845, when it was erected, the Vicariate Apostolic of Coimbatore received: one new missionary in 1846, four in 1847, two in 1848, two in 1850, two in 1851, one in 1853 - a total of twelve young missionaries. The gaps of 1849, 1852 and 1854 correspond to the three periods of uncertainty due to the Vicar Apostolic request to resign. Once the situation has been clarified, three young men will be sent to Coimbatore in 1855.

55. In this effort at reforming the rules of the Paris Foreign Missions, Marion Brésillac mostly had to deal with Fr. Barran, Superior of the Seminary from 1851 until his death in 1855. After being professor of theology for five years at Arch, he came to the Foreign Missions in 1826. As he did not believe himself called to the apostolic life, he stayed on in Paris as director of the Seminary. Marion Brésillac said of him: "He always appeared to me very far removed from the spirit that founded our Congregation ... He would have made an excellent director for any seminary, other than the Foreign Missions" (AMA 2 F 3, p. 501).On 28th July 1852 Marion Brésillac had already sent all the Heads of Missions (Vicars Apostolic and Coadjutors who were, like himself, the Society's Major Superiors) a Draft for Reform which was not communicated to the Paris Seminary. The existence and the date of this Draft are known to us only from the reactions of Fr. Barran and the replies of the Heads of Missions. Out of 2 I, ten replied, including Mgr. Bonnand. Not all approved the details of the plan proposed without reservations, but all agreed on the need for reforms. Especially on the necessity of giving the Society a head, or at least of ensuring that periodical meetings would allow the Vicars Apostolic as well as the Paris Seminary Council to really exercise their collegial authority. If to these ten we add the views of two other Vicars Apostolic, known from other sources, [and the view of Marion Brésillac himself], we get a total of 13 "voters" out Of21 for a reform of the Rule.In spite of this, Fr. Barran wrote to the S.C. of Propaganda: "I can also affirm, on my side, that most of the Vicars Apostolic have made it known spontaneously to us, without any asking, that they do not want reforms from the Bishop of Pruse. And indeed that was the way we first learned that he had actually proposed this matter to the Vicars Apostolic of our missions"." Another of Fr. Barran's reflections: "... appointing him to re-organize a whole Congregation when he is unable to establish order in his own Mis¬sion (b)."(a) APF congressi Indie Orientali, 1855-1856, p. 308 v. (b) Id. 1852-1854, p.1069; also p. 1066.The correspondence received by Marion Brésillac from the Vicars Apostolic may be found in AMA 2 F 8, p. 140,401,608,646,653,663,666, 719, 721, 742. 2 F II, p. 13-26, 456,459. 2 F 7, p. 169. 2 F 3, p. 459·

56. For the younger readers: This is: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam: To the Greater Glory of God. - Tr.

57. Undated manuscript (a). Probably written after his return from India but before the actual foundation of the Society of African Missions, maybe when he was staying with the Capuchins at Versailles, between April and October 1855. The paragraph numbers are the writer's own. The writing is sometimes a mere jotting; hence the Editor is not quite sure of a sentence here and there. (Such places are indicated in the notes. - Tr.).

58. (a) AMA 2 F 5, p. 1-32, exc. p. 14 and 32.

59. Many of these Thoughts have already been published in French, quoted in some works on Marion Brésillac. But up to now there has never been a complete publication. An Italian translation has recently appeared: I miei pensieri sulle Missione, Mr. de Brésillac, Genova 1983, a cura di P. Bruno Semplicio.

60. In some of the Thoughts, the Founder is looking back over his own life, talking to one "Theophilus" who is none other than his younger self, engaging in a spiritual and pastoral "re-reading" of the twelve years spent in India.

61. It is difficult to indicate a logical arrangement for these Thoughts; they sometimes gives the impression of having been slapped down on the paper just as they came to him. We will confine ourselves to a few notes which seem indispensable for a better understanding of the text. As in the other documents, the punctuation has been adjusted in places for easier reading.

62. If they are residential bishops they have responsibility for a particular diocese. If they are in the Curia, the jurisdiction of their Congregation covers only the long established Churches, not the missions

63. Because the Church is "of its nature" missionary (Ad Gentes N° 2). Because it will always have to deploy the activities corresponding to that nature (id. N° 6) under pain of being false to itself. Because there will always be non-Christians to evangelise, given the demographic, cultural and religious evolution of mankind.

64. Already here we can see Marion Brésillac's very restricted use of the noun "missionary". This idea will be spelled out at greater length in N° 6- I 5 See also M.B. N° 3-25 and Spiritus 2I, p. 357 ss: "A l'apostolique, droit chez ces peuples", J. Bonfils.

65. Today we would say "pastoral care of the baptized" or "care of Christians".

66. Theophilus is not indicated exactly like this in the original, nor are his contributions so clearly marked off from those of Marion Brésillac (MB). As this part (up to about N° 24) is quite definitely written in the form of a Dialogue between MB and Th, I felt it would be pardonable to indicate the dialogue in a more immediately obvious way. - Tr...

67. The title "apostolic missionary" goes back to the I7th century. It belonged to the students of the Roman Pontifical Colleges and to other priests destined for the missions. It carried with it a certain number of privileges (especially liturgical) and a right of precedence over diocesan clergy and other priests. This right was not abolished until I924. The title itself has fallen out of use.

68. Emperor of Annam (Vietnam) 1820-1841. He started a severe persecu¬tion in which hosts of Christians and several missionaries died.

69. About 30 miles. - Translator.

70. According to Church Law, a parish is a community of Christians stably constituted within a particular church (Canon 515). The parish priest is the "proper pastor" of this community (Canon 519).

71. Another undated passage from Marion Brésillac has the same idea:"The life of the priest on the missions, especially the foreign missions, is obviously different from the life of priests in parish ministry or diocesan administration or managing church schools or directing privileged souls in the cloister. And yet his life participates in all of these. Because in places where there is as yet no canonically founded church, nor any hierarchically established local clergy, the Lord has nevertheless chosen some special souls and wishes them to be led in the ways of perfection. There are also ecclesiastical vocations to be sustained, directed and instructed ... In short, although it might be desirable that every missionary be able to say "Non enim misit me Christus baptizare sed evangelisare" \- Christ has not sent me to baptize but to announce the Gospel - nevertheless, in the present actual state of the missions, it is absolutely certain that many missionaries must often if not for all their lives, carry out the functions of pastors of souls - administering the sacraments, instructing the faithful, catechizing the children - more or less the same as pastors in their parishes.If the missions were everywhere what (in my view) they should be, then that portion of the ministry belonging to any priest "accidentally" in a case of necessity would be inherent to the work of missionaries [only] in places where the new Christian communities have not yet had time to develop into some form of church. In these cases the new church is only conceived rather than born. This interval can be very short. But it can also last long enough for a missionary to have to give a whole life-time to the painful delivery. And although I am personally convinced that it is impossible to prolong this interval more than the life-time of one man, without some error (often invincible) by the missionaries, still I will not make any "a priori" pronouncement about such-and-such a Mission where the European apostolic workers are still continually obliged to do the work of parish priests. I do not hesitate to say, however, that it is due to a very deplorable error that the majority of missionaries find themselves in a forced position of being generally anything but missionaries, to the great detriment of their own spiritual advancement and especially the salvation of souls outside Europe. (AMA 2 F 10, p. 364-368, published in Spiritus 21, p. 361).

72. Word not certain.

73. "Real" added to the original to bring out the over-all meaning. - Tr...

74. In the mid 19th century there were still some Gallican liturgical or para-liturgical customs surviving in France. French missionaries were tempted to bring these overseas with them. Marion Brésillac, opposed as he was to all forms of Gallicanism, would never celebrate Mass except in the Roman Rite (LG, p. 570; AMA 2 F 8, p. 865-870).It would seem here that Marion Brésillac considers "the customs of Rome" to be trans-cultural, the only ones that are universal and applicable every¬where. Is this position tenable? Is Rome not a particular church just as the others are? And just as particular as the others? Even though she does preside over the charity of all the others and her Pastor has been established by Christ to be the principle and foundation of the unity and communion of all the churches (Lum. Gen.13, 14, 22, 23; AG 22).

75. Here Ad Gentes 22, on enculturation, readily comes to mind.

76. Th. The speaker is not indicated in the manuscript, but Theophilus seems to fit the run of the argument. – Tr.

77. The original has "charite" here, but clearly it does not fit the sentence. "This" is more vague, but safer. The "dialogue" part is fading out here. TH will have no more to say. He will be forgotten until No 94, where he is just mentioned. – Tr.

78. "He should not be a new convert in case pride might turn his head". 1 Tim 3,6-7. JB translation. See its note 3 a. This context is not yet about the duties of a bishop.

79. The Code of Canon Law as we know it today (one book) did not then exist.

80. Word not certain.

81. Marion Brésillac is not fooled by the idealism of his own dreams. They reveal yet again how intensely his perplexed conscience yearned for clear and stable guide-lines.

82. This refers to the canonical situation of the Vicar Apostolic, who governs a church only in the name of the Pope (Canon 371, §1) while a diocesan Bishop enjoys ordinary, proper and immediate power over his church (Canon 381, §1). On the other hand, the Vicar Apostolic at that time enjoyed a certain number of wide-ranging faculties, required by his exceptional situation on the frontiers of the Faith and his distance from Rome.

83. "I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost." 1 Cor 9, 22. JB.

84. Sentence reconstructed to make sense in French.

85. A more complete theology of the Particular Church would have given a different slant to the need for Roman "proximity". What is desired today is a proximity that can create and maintain the communion of the particular churches, without making their own decisions for them.

86. Word not sure.

87. Word not sure.

88. My italics. - Translator.

89. The new Code foresees the progressive disappearance of benefices where they still exist (Canon 1272) and their replacement by a diocesan fund or endowment for the maintenance of priests (Canon 1274, §1). What Marion Brésillac always fought for was a fixed source of diocesan revenues. (See MB n" 37-40).

90. To be understood as indicated in note 4 above. Obviously, this does not rule out the possibility of finding some missionaries within the local clergy.

91. Sentence reconstructed to make sense in French

92. In the missionary ecclesiology of Marion Brésillac, top priority must be given to a local secular clergy. From various reports and documents by Mgr. Luquet, it is clear that he thought the only "true" clergy of a particular church is the secular clergy. Mgr. Bonnand and Mgr. Charbonnaux also took up this thesis in the Report on their Apostolic Visitation of the Indian Missions in 1859-1862(a). One of them even noted ironically: "mnonachi monachos gignunt" \- monks beget monks. Already in 1847 Marion Brésillac was writing that missionaries belonging to a religious Order would do immense good on the missions - "on condition ... that they are there, not to rule a Church but to cooperate in its building-up, in the spirit of their holy founders (b)". In other words, the religious should just be auxiliaries of the secular clergy, the "real" clergy. It is not so long ago that such theories were current in Belgium and France. Since the Council (Christus Dominus nò38) they are not tenable.(a) J. Weygand, Missions India rum Orientation S.C. de P. Fide concre¬ditae juxta visitation apostolic am 1859-1862, Budapest 1940.(b) L.G. p. 357 and MB nò 25 and 44 where the position is more nuance.

93. The words are quite clear in the manuscript, but they do not make any sense in French. The meaning is about 98 'Yo sure, from the context, so I give it as being what he evidently intended to write. - Tr.

94. See note 4.

95. This manuscript(a) is just a jotting, not at all finalized. The writer himself warns us of this at the start, and puts us on our guard against any negative effect it could produce on the reader. Indeed we have included only 151 of the manuscript's 22 pages, omitting the beginning and the end as being of less interest, taking the other documents in the present volume into account. Moreover, we felt the text needed Titles and sub-titles to be readable. The author had none except the sub-titles in Section 4, here printed in italics.

96. (a) AMA 2 F II, p. 337-359.

97. The document is equally difficult to date. In a previous selection (a) we thought we had it fixed between 1845-1850. Perhaps 1842-1846 is better, from two bits of internal evidence. On the one hand the writer says (in a passage not included here) that he has gone through the Indian villages; therefore after 1842. On the other, he speaks of "our Vicariate" as being (apparently) Pondichery; there¬fore not later than 1845 (when he was appointed to Coimbatore) or 1846 (when be was ordained bishop).

98. (a) FA, January 1959, p. 24 to 32.

99. To the greater Glory of God.Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your Name give the glory.

100. On the historicity of Saint Thomas's apostolate in India, see Cardinal E. Tisserant in DTC art. Syro-Malabare (English) col. 3089-3093.

101. Left unfinished in the manuscript, which has other similar gaps.

102. When Francis Xavier arrived in India, there was a bishop at Goa. There was also perhaps a Syro-Malabar bishop, who was apparently prevented from exercising jurisdiction by over-zealous missionaries. (DTC, same as note 2, col. 3099-3100).

103. Candidates: not in the manuscript. Put in by Editor.

104. See note 9 of Mission Document 2.

105. See notes 4 and 7 of Mission Document 2.

106. The rest of the sentence is illegible in the manuscript. _ Ed. This reference to "our Vicariate" is mentioned in note I as evidence of the date of the document. - Tr.

107. See note 22 of Mission Document 2.

108. See "Thoughts" n? 23-32, Mission Document 2

109. Letter of 6th August 1856 to Cardinal Barnabo, APF congress, Africa central 1848-1857, p. 1098. Copy not found in AMA.

110. we will follow the system of giving the date and the addressee at the top, even when the original does not do this. Original not found in APF. Copy in AMA 2 F I, p. 246 S5.

111. The French conclusion to this and other letters here is somewhat longer, more flowery and punctilious than the English. To include the whole lot word-for-word would wrongly convey a kind of exaggerated obsequiousness, whereas the writer is merely following the standard letter-writing conclusions of his time, place and language. - Translator.

112. Original not found in APF. Copy in AMA 2 F 1, p. 247 ss.

113. "When reasons of conscience forced me to give in my resignation as Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore, I was not brought to this step by any fatigue or disgust for the admirable work of the missions", he wrote to the President of the Propagation of the Faith, Lyons, on 19th February 1856 (APFL, 1856, Rome, Divers no 3).

114. Every man is a liar. - Trans.

115. Original not found in APF. Copy in AMA 2 F I, p. 368.

116. Here Marion Brésillac quotes from the letter, where Mgr. Barnabo implies that he had suddenly changed his mind [again] about his missionary commitment. AMA 2 F 13, p. 16.

117. Any change from my first idea. - Translator.

118. "In the aforementioned places where bishops and prefects apostolic have already been established."

119. Original not found in APF. Copy in AMA 2 F 1, p. 249·

120. APF Congressi, Africa Centrale, 1848-1857, p. II70 SS. AMA 2 F 5, p. 98-121 and 2 C 19, p. 1-7.

121. He seems to have spent three weeks there in 1849.

122. ) Previous Catholique efforts in Dahomey : Apart from the Potuguese [military] chaplains serving the Chapel of Saint John the Baptise of Ajuda (at the Ouidah Fort) as from 1680, and passing traces of ten Angolan priests as from 1844, we note the following dates before the arrival of the first SMA Fathers in 1861 : Ca)1644: Capucins of the Normandy Province arrived at Ouidah.1660' Spanish Capuchins went up as far as Allada (Arda'").1681; Fr". Celestin, a Capuchin from Brussels, arrived at Ouidah. (Juda(C). 1685: Fr. Gonzales François, a Dominicain from Provence, arrived at Ouidaand stayed about a year. .,1688: He returned to Ouida on 28th February and died there in 1689.(a) Labouret et Rivet, le royaume d'Arda et son évangélisation au XVIIe siècle, Paris, Institut d'ethnologie, 191, rue Saint- Jacques 5e, 1929, p. 17-18. (b) Id. p. 18-30.(c) Analecta Ordains Minorum Capucinorum, 1915, vol. XXXI. p. 327- 330 et 357-359.1704: A Mass was celebrates at the French Fort in Ouida (ª)1796: Fr. Urbain de Bastia, a Capuchin was appointed Prefect Apostolic of "the Kingdom of Dahomey" for 7 years'". Four missionnaires were sent out with him. These Capuchins never got there.N.B. None of these efforts lasted more than a year. (a) Cornevin, Histoire de la Republique Populaire du Benin, p. 253. (b) APF, Congressi, Egitto, Miscellanea, f. 325 v.

123. Around 1850 the Catholic community in Dahomey (on the coast to be exact) must have been about 2000. When Fr. Borghero arrived in 1861, he found some 800 names in the baptism register at Ouidah (a) and 496 at Agoue (b). If we include baptisms given in Brazil to people who later came back about 1830 and allow for deaths, we end up with nearly 2000.(a) AMA, 2 H 50. (b) E.M.A. 1939, p. 65·

124. "The King engages himself to give his protection to French missionaries who will come to establishment themselves in his states, to allow them complete freedom of worship, and to favour their efforts for the instruction of his subjects." \- Article 10 of the Convention of lst July 1851. (Cornevin, Histoire de la République Populaire du Benin, p. 281).

125. Article 10 is in the preceding note. The rest of the Appendix is not included in the present publication.

126. The Vicariate Apostolic of Dahomey (its name to be changed many times later) was actually erected as a distinct jurisdiction on the 28th August 1860 and confided to the "alurmnis memorati seminarii Lugdunensis pro missioni bus africanis" (to the Alumni of the said Seminary in Lyons for the African Missions). AMA 22995; 12/802.00.For everything concerning the change from Sierra Leone to Dahomey, see AMA, A. Planque, Lettre, vol. I.:- Lettres de P. Planque au Card. Barnabo du 27.9.1859, du 28.9.1859, du 15.10.1859, du 17·3.1860, du 15.7.1860, du 26.8.1860, du 24.11.1860;- Letters aux deux conseils généraux de la Propagation de la Foi, du 24.8.1860.

127. AMA 2 F I, p. 252 SS.

128. See Chronology, 30th January 1856.

129. See below, note 5 on document 37. The 1858 notice on the Society of African Missions, printed at Lyons by Marion Bresillac, describes the Society as "a society of missionaries specifically organized for the most abandoned places in Africa, always ready to respond to the needs of the moment and to use all possible means to go in wherever an opportunity presents itself..." (p. 19).

130. AMA 2 F I, p. 254 SS

131. APF congressi, africa centrale 1848-1860, p. I ss and 1848- 1857,p. 1011 ss Imprimatur from "P. Larco o.p., maitre des sacrés palais apostoliques" and "Mgr. Ligi Bissi, vice- gérant de Rome". An addition written in by Marion Brésillac says: "Apply to M. l'abbé Chaillot, Rome, place de Venise 115". See note 56, Chronology. (The titles of the two Imprimatur men above must have been In Latin or Italian. I just left them in French with "quotation marks."- Tr.)

132. "It was to shame what is strong that God chose what is weak by human reckoning." (1 Cor 1.27, JB condensed).

133. There were two Frs. Vian, brothers, whom Marion Brésillac was urging to join him. A letter from one of them later lets us know that they gave up the idea of helping to found the Society. (AMA 2 F I, p. 269 verso. Marion Brésillac's reply is on p. 270)

134. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, vol. V., p. 1038 ss. AMA 2 C 19, p. 8

135. Editor's underlining. This the first time that Marion Brésillac declares to the S.C. of Propaganda that he intends to found a new Institute. Later on (Document 17, November 1856 to Cardinal Barnabo) he will explain how this idea first came to him from Barnabo himself.

136. M. I'abbé Vian

137. Cardinal Fransoni replied to this letter on 29th February: "I highly commend Your Lordship's desire to establish the said Society, especially because missions of this kind can be usefully undertaken and can promise lasting fruit only if they are entrusted to an institute of priests who can succeed each other without interruption." AMA 2 F 13, p. 29.

138. AMA 2 F 1, P .176 ss. "Monsieur" or "M. l'abbe" was the standard form of address for French diocesan priests. "Mon pere" or "Pere" was for missionaries and other peculiar types. After this, however, I will begin to drop the distinction and just call them all "Father" or "Fr.". - Translator.

139. "Follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead." (Mt 8.22; JB).

140. "Keep running steadily (in the race we have started)." (Heb 12.1; JB).

141. Augustine Lemour, widow of M. Poupart, a great-aunt of Fr. Planque. She had taken him into her home at Lille as an adolescent, had paid for his schooling and helped the rest of the family financially. Fr. Planque had promised her to be at her death-bed. She actually died on the 8th December 1856, aged 89, just when Fr.Planque was at Lyons with Mgr. de Brésillac to consecrate the Society to Our Lady of Fourvière,

142. Fr. Planque had been admitted to the Foreign Missions Society by a letter from the Seminary on 19th April 1854. He had not entered because of the promise made to Aunt Augustine (4). He learnt in an article in "1'Univers" of 22-23 March 1856 about the foundation of the African Missions. It said: "Most members of the new Society (requested by Propaganda) are to go on the missions to the most abandoned regions of Africa. But a certain number will have to stay in Europe to correspond with the missionaries and provide for their needs." He applied to Mgr. de Brésillac, hoping in this way to be able to reconcile his two loyalties: to his aunt and to his missionary vocation.

143. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, vol. V., p. 1074 ss. AMA 2 C 19, p. 9.

144. AMA 2 F I, p. 182 ss.

145. In 1885 Fr. Planque was to write to Cardinal Alessandro Franchi, then Prefect of Propaganda: "During the time he (Mgr. de Brésillac) spent at Lyons, we were living in the closest intimacy. He often spoke to me of the spirit he wanted to give his little society." AMA Planque, Lettres, vol. II. Rapport de 1885.

146. In this letter Fr. Planque places himself at the disposal of Mgr. de Brésillac.

147. M. l'Abbe Vian.

148. The deacon is Rev Girerd and the sub-deacon either Rev Noché or Faure. All three from the diocese of Grenoble. Noché was the only one to enter the African Missions, in 1863 as a priest. He left immediately for Dahomey and died on 1st July 1864 at Porto Novo. He was the second member of the SMA (after Fr. Claude Vermorel) to take the Oath properly so called, on 19th November 1863.

149. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1087 ss. AMA 2 C p. II ss.

150. About a month afterwards, on 17th August 1856, Fr. Dominic, capuchin, a fellow countryman, wrote to him from Rome: "Yesterday morning I had the honour of seeing H.E. Cardinal Barnabo. He was altogether kind and charming. He likes you and esteems you with all his heart. But he thinks you have a bit too much of the "furia francese'(a)" in you. He will back your work whole-heartedly. But he wants to see it well established. He made a simile to express his attitude. He wants you to have a solid batallion of missionaries behind you, who can succeed each other without difficulties for the continuity of the evangelization of these poor countries in Africa. There would be gaps and interruptions if the missionaries were not numerous enough to replace those lost by death or other causes." AMA 2 F 13.(a) French impetuosity, impatience, wild enthusiasm. - Tr.

151. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1091 ss. AMA, 41941; II/501 (copy).As far as we know, these 1856 fundamental articles were never officially approved by the S.C. of Propaganda. Neither were those of 1858, nor the first constitutions of 1864. These were approved only by Cardinal de Bonald, archbishop of Lyons, to whom the S.C. of Propaganda had left this responsibility. The first pontifical approval (decretum laudis) is dated 1890 and is for the Constitutions presented at that time.

152. On 17th March 1860 Fr. Planque was to write to Cardinal Barnabo: "Mgr. de Brésillac often spoke to me of the Oath taken by the students of the S.C. of Propaganda. He told me several times that we must examine whether it "could be good to have the same Oath in our Society. Could Your Eminence kindly send me the formula and tell me what you think of this idea?" AMA, Letters du P. Planque.

153. AMA 2 F 1, p. 183 v. et SS.

154. AMA 2 F 1, p. 187 ss.

155. See note 5, Foundation document 9.

156. AMA 2 F I, p. 185.

157. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1141 ss.AMA 2 C 19, p. 16 to 19.

158. I get the general impression that, in purchasing power, I franc 1856 = £ 1 sterling 1986. - Tr.

159. Marion Brésillac, Frs. Planque and Reymond, and Rev Alba from Carcassonne diocese. He did not continue 11.

160. See note 5, Foundation document I I.

161. In actual fact this pension was later allocated to him until 30th April 1858. APFL no 39 bis (Sierra Leone no 130 bis) et AMA 2 F 18 and 2 F 5, p. 125 : lettre du 29 avril 1858 aux deux conseils de la Propagation de la Foi de Lyon et de Paris.

162. APF congressi, Ethiopia, Arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1166 ss; AMA 2 C 19, p. 19 ss.

163. Marion Brésillac, Fr. Planque and Fr. Reymond, The four others did not continue: MM. Genin and Garnier were dismissed less than a month later. Br. Jean-Baptiste and M. Alba left fairly quickly.

164. Fr. Riocreux.

165. AMA 2 F I, p. 274.

166. This aspirant did not continue. (As far as I could find out, he was no relation to the Marseilles ship-owner. - Tr.).

167. Probably Brother Jean-Baptiste. See note 2 on preceding Letter.

168. AMA 2 F I, p. 278 ss.

169. AMA 2 F I, p. 285 SS.

170. AMA 2 F 1, p. 285 ss.

171. M. Genin became an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and a missionary to the Sioux. Cf. letter from Fr. Devoucoux to Fr. Planque of 12.9. 1879.

172. A deacon from the Diocese of Lyons who had just entered.

173. MM. Genin and Garnier.

174. "It's not their number but their weight (or quality) that counts."

175. Probably for 6th January - Melchior. - Tr.

176. AMA 2 F I, p. 295 ss.

177. Marion Brésillac's brother-in-law, his sister Felicie's husband.

178. APF congressi, etiopia, Arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1238 ss and AMA 2 C 19,p. 21 ss.

179. Fr. Papetard. See Chronology, note 69.

180. APF congressi, Etiopia, Arabia 1848 1857, p. 1267 ss and AMA 2 C 19, p. 24 ss.

181. The S.C. was delaying because Mgr. Bessieux, Vicar Apostolic of the Two Guineas, whom it had consulted on the project of erecting a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction on the West Coast, was himself delaying in giving his opinion. In fact he does not seem to have ever replied, unlike Mgr. Kobes, his Co-adjutor residing at Dakar, and Fr. Schwindenhammer, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

182. AMA 2 F I, p. 323 ss.

183. "From one [example] learn how they all are." \- Tr.

184. The parish priest of Saint Irenée church made some "palaver" with the African Missions when it opened its chapel to outsiders. Cf. AMA 2 F I, P·319·

185. AMA 2 F 1, p. 329 ss

186. AMA 2 F 1, p. 335 ss.

187. APFcongressi,etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857,P. 1341 ss.and AMA2 C 19,p. 25 ss.

188. On 27th April, Cardinal Barnabo had written to Marion Brésillac that, in view of the difficulties which at present made a mission to Dahomey impossible, the S.C. was proposing another one to him, in Sierra Leone. But this letter had not reached its destination. AMA 2 F 13, p. 34 and 36; and 2 C 19, p. 26-27.

189. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1349 and AMA 2 C 19,p. 27 ss.

190. On 14th January 1856 Mgr. Barnabo had written to Mgr. Kobes to ask his opinion. He replied on 25th April 1856: "I consulted the Commandant-in-Chief of the Navy for the West Coasts of Africa, the highest French authority in these parts. He told me that the treaty [article ] in question (Art. 10 of the 1851 Agreement between King Guézo and France) is a mere private affair, with no official character. I think I should add also that, from my own knowledge of the way these treaties are made, and the small importance that the Blacks attach to them, the afore-mentioned Agreement, even if it were official, should not be counted on for much. So I do not think that the Article cited by Mgr. de Brésillac could serve as a foundation for establishing a mission in [the Kingdom of] Dahomey with any prudence." Mgr. Kobes then suggests consulting M. Regis of Marseilles and adds: "... The mission that seems to me most worthy of interest, the easiest to start, is Sierra Leone. Every day I get several requests from that colony for missionaries. I have just received a new demand from the Consul of Spain and Portugal residing at that post. I had hoped that the Dominican Fathers would take on that Mission, but I have heard no more about it since I left Rome. The Consul has just left for Europe, and he plans to go and explain his request to Your Eminence. I take the liberty of recommending it to you." Mgr. Kobes then concluded by expressing his joy at seeing new missionaries preparing to come to Africa. APF congressi, etiopia, Arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1060-1061.

191. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1350 and AMA 2 C 19, p. 28 s.

192. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1410 and AMA congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 1410 and AMA 2 C 19, p. 29.

193. APF congressi, etiopia, arabia, 1848-1857, p. 601, and AMA 2 C 19, P·30.

194. APF congressi, Congo, Senegal, 1841-1860, p. 605 ss and AMA 2 C 19, p. 31 ss

195. M. Brossard entered on 2nd Feb. 1858. Brother Gratien Monoyeur entered on 2nd March

196. APF congressi, Congo, Senegal, 1841-1860, p. 607 ss and AMA 2 C 19, P·33

197. AMA 2 F I, p. 373 SS.

198. AMA 2 A 1.00, p. 21-40 (French) and p. 60-75 (Latin). In the handwriting of Fr. Courdioux. This text does not seem to have ever been sent to the S:C. of Propaganda for approval. Not to be found in their archives.

199. The Latin has: "nigritantes populos",

200. The Latin has: "robur".

201. The Latin does not have this nice nuance. Just: "qui proponuntur directioni et regimini suorum fratrum."

202. This arrangement, making the heads of Missions (Vicars or Prefects Apostolic) to be Major Superiors of the Society, is copied from the Rule then in force in the Paris Foreign Missions (printed for the first time in 1847 p 44 nº 2) This type of hybrid government was to lead to difficulties from the very first years of the SMA between Fr. Planque and his missionaries. His correspondence with Frs. Borghero, Courdioux, and Verdelet etc. shows this. Later on, the regulations of the Holy See, valid for all missionary institutes was to clarify the relations between Mission heads and Institute Superiors: Apostolic Constitutions "Romanos Pontifices" of Leo XIII, 8th May 1881, Collectectanea SCPF, Tome II. nº 1552, p. 145 ss. And the Instruction "Quum huic" of the SCPF, 8th December 1929, AAS 1930, p. 111-115.

203. The Latin adds: " ... iis peractis, de communibus sodalitatis negotiis agetur."

204. On this matter of Mass stipends, another "palaver" was to arise between Fr. Planque and his missionaries. Fr. Planque, always a faithful interpreter of the Founder, demanded that this 1858 article be respected. Then he learned that in Dahomey "they have settled the problem of stipends and stole fees [unilaterally] among themselves". The problem was resolved only in 1864, with the Constitutions. The fundamental idea that Fr. Planque was fighting for was this: all Mass intentions belong by right to the Society, which then allows confreres some free intentions each month.Cf, AMA Lett PI. III, 82; II5; also 23085; 2/0; 1865. Lett PI. IV 55.

205. The Latin adds "vel in Hispania".

206. Something like what are today called associate members.

207. Mgr. Luquet published his biography. Also Fr. Pol de Leon, Editions Franciscaines, rue Marie Rose, Paris.

208. The binding force of this solemn Resolution was not necessarily perceived in the same way by all. Here is what Fr. Lafitte wrote to Fr. Planque from Dahomey on 3rd October 1862 : " ... I want to speak now of the return of missionaries when they judge it right not to stay on here any longer. According to you, the Mission cannot provide the money for their return. It seems unjust to you, and you put forward the famous solemn resolution that we made with the Gospel. If you knew what we all think of that resolution, you wouldn't talk any more about it. Just to make you sure about that, I will tell you now that no-one of us believes himself bound to anything, and everyone believes himself just as free as before. You speak of consulting Cardinal Barnabo. I do not see what the Cardinal has to do with this." Fr. Planque quoted this passage to Cardinal Barnabo himself in a letter of 2nd August 1863. And subsequently, at the express command of Barnabo, Fr. Planque recalled Fr. Lafitte to Europe "for the good of the Mission ... because of lack of respect towards authority ... and the Rule intended by Mgr. de Bresillac." Instead of going back to Lyons, Lafitte went to Puerto Real in Spain. From there he asked pardon of Fr. Planque. On the orders of Barnabo, Fr. Planque refused to re-admit him. "The Cardinal told me plainly that no way should I keep him in the Society." Planque to Noché 19th July 1864. See Barnabo-Planque Correspondence in AMA 1863 in 2/0 and Lettres Planque

209. AMA 2F 5, p. 34. In the Founder's handwriting, without a heading. Appendix" is the Editor's.

210. AMA 2 A 100, p. 3-9 (French) and 47-53 (Latin). The date is that of the Rule's coming into force.

211. Apart from a certain number of out-dated features, mostly in the form rather than in the substance, this Rule is inspired by a spiritual and ascetical tradition which has lost nothing of its relevance for today. To be convinced of this, one only has to read Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", nº 18, 19, and Decree "0ptatam Totius ", on the Formation of Priests. See also the recommendations of Saint Ignatius in the Spiritual Exercises, n° 24 to 44, 73, ect.

212. ) APF congressi, congo, Senegal, 1841-1860, p. 634 ss. and AMA 2 C 19, p. 40 ss.

213. Copy in NDA archives. Quoted by L.G. p. 556-557.

214. Title for ordination.

215. Admitted to the African Missions on 25th September 1858. Missionary in Dahomey from 11th December 1861 until 1872. Left the Society in 1875. When he died in 1898 he was parish priest of Saint Louis de la Guillotière, Lyons, and the parish of the African Missions.

216. APF congressi, Congo, Senegal, 1841-1860, p. 648 ss. and AMA 2 C 19,p. 44 ss.

217. In 1885 Fr. Planque, in his Report on the origins of the Society, wrote to the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda: "When he was preparing to leave [for Sierra Leone] I tried to talk him out of it, ceaselessly urging that I should be allowed to go first and that be should stay in France to consolidate his foundation and ensure its bases. I kept telling him that, if he should die, his work would perish with him. "No", he replied, "it will live; as long as there is a will to keep it going. And you shall be that will". I could make no head way with him about it. Before leaving for his Mission he went to Rome, and took me with him. Cardinal Bamabo was somewhat of my opinion, and he insisted on trying to get Mgr. de Brésillac to stay with his seminary. So much so that our Founder said to me : "Let's get out of here; for I can see that the Cardinal could end up by forbidding me to leave for the missions." (AMA Planque, Lettres, Vol. II.).

218. APF congressi, congo, senegal, 1841-1860, p. 599 S8. The three terrible P.S. are on p. 654, 655

219. "For the rest, God did not leave us without consolation in this great sorrow. Our Aspirants are firmer than ever in their resolution and I have received five new requests to join us, three of them from priests " \- Fr. Planque to Cardinal Barnabo, 26th August 1859. (APF congressi Congo Senegal 1841-1860).

220. On 20th June, Brother Eugène, 6th member of the SMA, went .back on Captain Vallon's "Dialmath" to Gorée and France. He left the Society and joined the Trappists at Aiguebelle. He died at Privas on 10th February 1905.

221. Mgr. de Brésillac's last letter to Fr. Planque. AMA II/OI5-7-1859; L.G., p. 587-588.

222. Brother Eugène, instead of doing his work, started preaching in Freetown for the instant conversion of the Protestants. Apparently the African sun was too strong for his head. He caused a lot of problems in a short time. – Tr.

223. All events and dates in this Chronology have been found or confirmed in the original documents or their verified copies kept In the Archives of the S.C. de Propaganda Fide, the Society of African Missions, Rome, and the Society of Foreign Missions, Paris. This having being said, we can have less footnotes; there will still be quite enough of them.

224. There are two spellings: Mgr.uses "Brésillac" for his name and "Brésilhac" for his village (in the canton of Alaire, the arrondissement of Limoux the department of l' Aude). He sometimes signs his name "M. (for Melchior) de Brésillac". But he mostly calls himself "de Marion Brésillac" (no hyphen); never "Marion de Brésillac".

225. Information provided by Rev Canon Guilhem, parish priest of Saint Jean-Baptiste, Castelnaudary, on 29th August 1942

226. Genealogies drawn up by M. Villain and slightly corrected by M. Joseph de Marion Brésillac, a second cousin of the Founder, on 1st December 1927· AMA 2F36.

227. On 7th May 1854, Mgr. de Brésillac was in Saint Peter's Rome for the beatification of Germaine Cousin. He was proud to note the possibility that his father's mother was related to the humble shepherdess of Pibrac.

228. His father had received clerical tonsure out of devotion, as was the custom then in noble families, from Jean-Baptiste Marie de Mailhé de Latour Landrey, bishop of Saint Papoul, one of the rare legitimate bishops (if not the only one) who continued to exercise his ministry during the Revolution's "Reign of Terror".

229. ) From Aveyron. A confessor of the Faith under the Terror. Sentenced to deportation. Served six months on the hulks at Rochefort. Became bishop of Carcassonne in 1824.

230. Not at Carcassonne as stated by Y. Bouquillon and R. Cornevin in "David Boilat le Precurseur" p. 39, Nouvelles Editions Africaines.

231. The Etat of the clergy in Carcassonne for 1837 has "Abbe de Bresillac" as a professor, without a P (for priest). So it seems he was still teaching at the minor seminary.

232. Up to 1841, see AMA 2 F 3, p. 8 to 56 and LG, p. 28 to 57. From 1841 to 1849 see AMA all 2 F 3 and LG, p. 59 to 403.

233. Jean Luquet was a colourful and enterprising personality. See R. Roussel, Un Précurseur: Mgr. Luquet, Langres, société historique et archeologique 1960; Bulletin des Missions Etrangères de Paris, Oct 1960, art. de J. Guennou; FA avril 1958, art. de J. Bonfils; AMA 2 F 2,2 F 3,2 F 6, 2 F 8 passim; LG, from 1843 to 1854, quotes Luquet nearly every page.

234. For more details on the crossing, seeAMA2 F 17, 493/77 and 2 F 3.

235. Born in 1796 at Saint-Maurice-sur-Dargoire (Rhône). Became Vicar Apostolic in 1836. Died in 1861. For Marion Bresillac's first stay in Pondichery, see AMA 2 F 3, p. 197 to 327 and LG 107 to 13I.

236. AMEP vol. 1000 F 436, letter of 8.8.1843, AMA 2 F 5, p. 455. These martyrs were canonised by John Paul II in 1984.

237. On the First Synod of Pondichery, see Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, vol. II., p. 259 ss and AMA 2 F 3, p. 585 to 653; LG, p. 189 to 199. On Marion Brésillac's time at the seminary/college, see AMA 2 F 3, p. 653 to 1058; LG, p. 189 to 266. During this time in Rome, the Jesuits were doing their best to block Luquet everywhere they could; they wanted the Indian local clergy to be religious, i.e. Jesuit. See Luquet's correspondence with Marion Bresillac, AMA 2 F 8, especially p. 81 and 204; and then a letter from Fr. Rotham, Father General of the Company of Jesus, to the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda Fide, and a document from Fr. Bertrand Superior of the Madurai Jesuits: APF congressi, indie orientali 1845-1846, p. 267 to 178, 756, and 1014 to 1016.

238. APF Congregazioni Generali 1845, P.39, vol. 967; Acta S.C. de Propaganda Fide quoted by Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, Tome II., p. 420-421 (giving a different view) and AMA 2 F 3, p. 886-887; LG, p. 248-249.

239. AMA 2 F 2, vol. I., p. 527.

240. Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, vol. II. p. 362

241. Schiarimenti sulle deliberazioni del Sinodo tenuto in Pondichery, etc., May 1845. SMA Archives 2 F 12 have a copy annotated by Mgr. de Brésillac,

242. Their correspondence 1845-1847 proves this. See AMA 2 F 8, Letters recues

243. The correspondence between Marion Brésillac and Luquet at this period is very interesting; AMA 2 F 8, p. 41,45,47,60,76,81,83,85,89.

244. At the end of this Retreat he made a Resolution to promote the establishment of a local clergy. LG, p. 288-289·

245. J.B., p. 35 to 40.

246. J.B., p. 39.

247. The journeys to Verapoly and Trichinopoly: see AMA 2 F 3, p. 1267 to 1367.

248. Published at Lyons in 1942 as "Retraite Missionnaire". This does not include the particular examines to be found in AMA 2 F 3, p. 1691 to 2103. Re-publication in 1985

249. AMA 2 F 2, vol. I., p. 1025 to 1053. From 1850 to 1854 this is the only document we have on Marion Brésillac, apart from his correspondence.

250. AMA 2 F 6, p. 379.

251. APF congressi, indie orientali 1851-1852, P.479 and 481; AMA 2 F II, p. 290 ss. The S.C. replied on 1st and 12th October. AMA 2 F 13, p. 14 and 15.

252. Mgr. Bettachini, Oratorian. In May 1854 they went together to Loreto

253. APF congressi, indie orientali 1853-1854, p. II43 ss; AMA 2 F II, , p. 317 ss. For all the year 1853, see AMA 2 F 2, vol. II. p. 48 to II6.

254. Published at Rome in Latin, ex typis S.c. de Propaganda Fide 1854. Re-publication in French, 1985.

255. The Coptic Bishop was Abu Karim, Vicar Apostolic of the Catholic Copts from 1832 to 1854 (according to Ghattas Dahdah, I copti e Roma, Osservatore Romano, 25th August 1945).

256. AMA 2 F 2, vol. II. p. 235.

257. Published in the review L'Orient Syrien, 2nd Qtr 1960, p. 197-224.

258. AMA 2 F, vol. II., p. 265.

259. AMA 2 F 2, vol. II. p. 266-267.

260. AMA 2 F 2, vol. II. p. 267.

261. From this sister, Felicie, are descended the nearest living relatives of our Founder.

262. Louis, a judge of the Civil Tribunal at Toulouse, and organiser of the Jeux Floraux, died in 1892. Augustin died in 1886.

263. The original, in pastel by Gabriel Durand, is now at the SMA Provincial House, 36; rue Miguel Hidalgo, Paris, and 19e arr. From 1923 to 1974 it was at our Chamalières house.

264. For the year 1855 the only documents we have on Marion Brésillac are his letters with Bamabo, Vian, Luquet, etc.

265. APF congressi, indie orientali 1855-1856, vol. IS, p. 332. This letter is dated the 14th December, and not the 12th as the copy has in AMA 2 F II, p. 463. From this 14th December 1854 to 27th March 1855, Marion Brésillac wrote three times to Mgr. Barnabo to try and get his resignation accepted by Pius IX.

266. Copy in AMA 2 F I A. Original in French National Archives

267. AMA 2 F 8, p. 865-870.

268. Published by Lecoffre et Ce., Paris, 1855.

269. AMA 2 F 13, p. 24.

270. Especially a letter to Mgr. Luquet on 11st June 1855, which he sent without a stamp, "because I'm poorer than you", he said. Photocopy in AMA 2 F I A.

271. AMA 2 F 8, p. 84I.

272. AMA 2 F 17, letter to Fr. Rodières of 10th June 1855.

273. AMA 2 F 8, p. 835.

274. AMA 2 F 8, p. 871 ss.

275. AMA 2 F I, p. 249.

276. J.B., p. 21, note 24·

277. AMA 2 F 1, p. 253 verso. Fr. Schwindenhammer, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, took umbrage at the name "Society of African Missions" as it could imply a sort of monopoly on the evangelisation of Africa, From the context of a letter to him from Marion Brésillac on 1st January 1857 it is clear that the name was imposed by Mgr. Barnabo and that our Founder made the same objection to Barnabo at the time. AMA 2 F 1, p. 280 ss.

278. AMA2 F 1, p. 254. We have two samples of these Notices. They differ slightly; probably for different kinds of "customers" They seem both to have been printed in 1856. AMA 2 F 1, p. 412.

279. AMA 2 F 8, p. 873 ss.

280. AMA 2 F 8, p. 876.

281. AMA 2 F 8 and 2 F 35. Souvenirs de Mile Blanchet. Edited in FA Oct 1959, p. 10-14.

282. Souvenirs de Mlle Blanchet

283. This sermon was printed along with the 1858 "Notice surla Societe".

284. AMA 2 F 1, p. 264.

285. The "Universe" for Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, 22-23 March 1856. Fr. Planque's letter is of 23rd May.

286. AMA 2 F I, p. 267 and 181 verso.

287. AMA 2 F 8, p. 902-905.

288. AMA 2 F 4, p. 52

289. Mlle Blanchet: "When at Paris, Monseigneur used to stay with my parents, at 31, rue de Londres. From there he went out to the neighbouring dioceses and came back. There we came to know him in the closeness of family life. He usually said Mass at the Trinite parish. And he would often be invited to various other churches, to officiate pontifically. For example, he presided at the feast day of Saint-Sulpice and of Trinité He also celebrated Midnight Mass at that parish in Christmas 1856. (Here she has got the date wrong, for Mgr. de Bresillac was at Sens that night. Perhaps it was Christmas 1858)."He was very insistent on following the Roman Rite. When someone came to invite him, he would smile and say: 'You don't know what you're letting yourselves in for. Because I'm very Roman. And as you Parisians are a bit Gallican, you possibly won't have all the things needed for a pontifical ceremony Roman-style?'. He would then go through some items, and they would promise to get them ..."Every evening at rue de Londres, we'd be together around the family table.Then everyone, starting with Monseigneur, would have to describe how he or she spent the day. He took an interest in everything that we were interested in. His conversation was bright and cheerful more often than not, sometimes with a mischevious dig at the ladies, who would parry his cracks as best they could. For example, he said there were no women saints canonised whose husbands had survived them. 'Because they all drive their husbands up the walls, and nothing but widow-hood can sanctify them afterwards.' Then it was up to the ladies to come up with an answer to disprove this, which wasn't easy, I have to admit."Usually, in the evening, Monseigneur would have his game of piquet with my father. The rest of us would be doing our work around the table. Fr. Reymond, his secretary, would be kneeling at the corner of the card-table, carving a piece of wood with his knife, making a lovely holy-water-font or something like that, for he was a real artist ... "

290. We still have his rough draft of the note to be handed to the Emperor. AMA 2 F I, p. 363.

291. AMA 2 F 8, p. 965; LG, p. 517-518

292. AMA 2 F 4, p. 58-59; LG, p. 508-509. The bullet, with the print of the Miraculous Medal on it, is in the SMA Archives, Rome.

293. Mille Blanchet: "When he was going around France, collecting, Monseigneur came to see us in the country, in Dauphine, near Grenoble, when we were staying with my father's people, and another time in the Loiret, my mother's country. At these family get-togethers, he was always simple and kind, cheerful and easy-going. He would follow the young people's games and even take part in the little childhood games of the youngest, always keeping his dignity and his gentle serenity unruffled by anything. So all hearts were drawn to him! He was very responsive to courteous behaviour, always grateful for any little courtesy done to him. As for the discourteous kind, he would just call on his "santa pazienza" and say no more about it."From a friendly remark, he would find some piece of saintly advice to give; from a yarn he would draw a good lesson. I remember one 6th August, the Transfiguration; we were strolling in the country of Le Loiret. He told us the yarn of the good old parish priest who made up a sermon for this feast on just three words: the people who figure themselves [to be important etc.], the ones Who dis-figure themselves, and the ones who trans-figure themselves ... There was quite a lot of food for thought in those three ideas."

294. ) "I cannot really speak out how much Monseigneur meant to us, that time after my father's death, taken away from us so suddenly, within a few days, in October 1857. It's too personal But I can say that the saintly Bishop was an incomparable friend to us during that painful time." (Souvenirs de M lle Blanchet).

295. AMA 2 F 13, p. 38 and 39.

296. Frs. Planque, Reymond, Riocreux and Bresson; Brothers Guillet andEugene. .

297. Mgr. Strebler (as a student) quoting Monnin, in FA 1921, p. 139·

298. Wednesday 3rd, according to AMA 2 F 4, p. 100; Thursday 4th, according to APF Congressi, Africa Centrale and AMA 2 C 19, p. 40.

299. AMA 2 F 4, p. 100.

300. LG,p. 540; Chautard,AupaysdesPyramides, Vine, 1914,P. 308.

301. AMA 2 F I, p. 407 and 421; 2 F 4, p. 101.

302. AMA 2 F I, p. 399.

303. AMA 2 F 8, p. 1I3 and FA 1921, p. 61.

304. Report by Fr. Planque to the S.C. of Propaganda Fide on 27th September 1859. APF Scrit rif. nelle congregazioni generali, vol. 986, fol. 570-574.

305. AMA 2 F 4, p. 101-102. The Seminaries of Tournai, Malines, Gand and Bruges, consulted by Fr. N. Douau, Archivist General SMA, in 1959, replied that there was no evidence of such a visit.

306. AMA 2 F 4, p. 103·

307. For these last weeks, up to 25th June 1859, see N. Douau SMA in Missions Catholiques, October 1962.

308. AMA 2 F I, p. 462 verso and APF congressi, congo, senegaL., vol. 7, p.660-665· There exists another account of Mgr. de Brésillac last moments, very slightly different from Bremond's. It is from P.J. de Seignac de Lesseps, French Vice-Consul in Sierra Leone, to Mgr. Kobes in two letters, 20th July and 18th August 1859. (AMA 2 F 35 and LG, p. 589).In my view it is better to accept Bremond's account. He was the only eye-witness. True, Mgr. de Brésillac was actually in the vice-consul's house, having been brought there a few days earlier for better care. But the vice-consul was ill at the time, and had to keep to his room. So his memory of the event may not be very exact.It is also of interest to read the testimony of Cdt. Vallon, lieutenant of a ship which called at Freetown on the 10th June and left on the 20th, five days before Marion Brésillac died. He wrote to Fr. Planque on 14th November 1859. (AMA 2 F 8, p. 1254 ss and LG, p. 593-596

309. Pierre Metral, born at Ugine (Savoy) in 1802. He was already in Coimbatore when it was made a pro-Vicariate. Superior of the Karumattampatty seminary in 1846. Pro-Vicar of Coimbatore in 1850. Died in 1857. Unaware of this, Rome appointed him Vicar Apostolic to succeed Mgr. de Brésillac.

310. Mission Document 1 in this book.

311. AMA 2 F 8, p. 1089 ss. This letter arrived just when Marion Brésillac was getting ready to leave for Freetown. He did not leave a copy of his reply. LG, p. 450.

312. Compare Launay, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde, Tome III., p. 352 and AMA 2 F II, p. 402-413. Part of Launay's text is included in LG, p. 447-449· J. Waigand in "Missiones Indiarum Orientalium S.C. de Propaganda Fide concreditae juxta visitation apostolicam 1859-1862" pays no attention to these similarities.

313. A note written on page 1 of Mgr. Luquet's "Schiarimenti", AMA 2 F 12.

314. Mgr. Bonnand, Mgr. Luquet, Fr. Albrand, Superior of the Paris Seminary. All in AMA 2 F 8, p. 926, 946 and 1044 respectively.

315. Fr. de Laouean, future Archbishop of Pondichery. Launay, op. cit., P·727·

316. AAS 1940, p. 379.

317. AMA 2 F 3, p. 265, vol. II.

318. See note 38 on Mission Document 1

319. This is not correct. Bishop Francis Savarimuthu (Francis Xavier Muthappa) (25 Dec 1949 - 23 Nov 1971) is the second Indian bishop of Coimbatore. The first one is Bishop Oubagaraswami Bernadotte (9 Apr 1940 - 5 Feb 1949).
