This year was so full of events interesting to Father Ignatius, that there is no leading one round which others may be grouped to head the chapter. He expected to be called to Rome towards Easter; he had even written to the General, and had received letters to that effect. The object of this visit will be best understood from the following extract from a letter written at this time, dated from 13, Garnault Place, Clerkenwell, London:—
"I am here on a mission with Father Gaudentius, and as we have not yet great press of work, I will write to tell you of an important feature in my prospects for the present year. It is, that I am going to Rome about Easter. About the time I saw you last I wrote to the General, saying that I thought this would be a good step. After that I thought no more about it till the other day a letter came from him, in which he approved the proposal; and so, after a mission which we are to give at St. George's from the first to the fourth Sunday in Lent, I propose starting. I shall be, I expect, about four months absent. I propose begging my way there, through France or Germany, which will make the journey last a month or six weeks; then, after stopping six weeks or two months in Italy, to make acquaintance with our Senior Fathers, and inform myself, as much as possible, of all the ways and spirit of our congregation (of which, of course, now I am very ignorant), I hope to bring back the General with me to make a visitation of his flock."
Before giving the mission in St. George's, he wrote to his sister, Lady Lyttelton, to tell her of his intended journey to Rome, and of a visit he would pay her before starting. Herladyship was then in Windsor Castle, and we shall give her reply, as it shows the genial affection that always existed between them, and at the same time accounts for his not having gone to Windsor in his habit, as was often supposed.
"Windsor Castle, Jan. 28th."My Dear Brother,—I am very much obliged to you for your kindly telling me your plans, and giving me a hope of seeing you before you go to Rome. The period you mention as the probable one for your mission at St. George's, will most likely be the very best for me to see you, as we shall probably remove to London about the middle of February, and remain till after Easter; so I shall look forward with much pleasure to an occasional visit. I am much obliged to you for telling me of the intended change in your dress. I should never have guessed its probability, having erroneously believed it simply illegal; but I find that was a mistake. You will, I hope, not wonder or blame me, if I beg you to visit me at my own little home, No. 38, St. James's Place, and not at the Palace, when you are looking so remarkable. I don't want to figure in a paragraph, and so novel a sight in the Palace might lead to some such catastrophe. A day's notice of your visit will always enable me to meet you, and Caroline and Kitty, and probably others of those that remain to me of my ancient belongings, may thereby sometimes get a glimpse of you, though we should be always able to have ourcozein a separate room. I almost wish you would take me under your cowl to Rome. How I should like once more to see the Colosseum (and to learn to spell its name), and the Vatican! but hardly at the cost of a long journey, either."Fritz and Bessy [Footnote11] are coming here next Thursday on a two days' visit to the Queen, and when I have seen them I will tell you of their plans. I suppose they will be at Althorp till after Easter. Believe me, my dear brother,"Very affectionately yours,"S. Lyttelton."
[Footnote 11: Lord and Lady Spencer.]
When Father Ignatius went to St. James's Place to pay the visit arranged for in this letter, he experienced some difficulty in getting as far as his sister. The porter who opened the gate did not know him, and was, of course, astonished to see such a strange figure demanding an interview with his mistress. He would not let him in until he got special orders from Lady Lyttelton herself. Father Ignatius used to contrast this servant's mode of acting with that of another who admitted him once to Althorp. This last servant did not know him either; but seeing he looked tired, he took him into his lodge, got him some bread and cheese and a glass of ale for refreshment. By-and-by the Earl passed, and was highly amused at seeing George regale himself with such satisfaction on the servant's fare. The servant made some apologies, but they were quite unnecessary, for Father Ignatius never forgot his kindness, and used to say that he enjoyed the porter's pittance far more than the viands of the "Big House," as he used to call it.
Father Ignatius was seldom at home up to June, when he went to visit our religious in Belgium, who were subject to his jurisdiction; he had given a mission in Garnault Street, a retreat to our religious in Aston Hall, a mission in St. George's, Southwark, a retreat to nuns in Winchester, a retreat to people in Blackbrook, and a retreat in Sedgley Park. On his return from Belgium he remained in London, and preached in different churches, besides giving a retreat to the people in Winchester, and visiting several Protestant ministers, until the mission in Maze Pond. This was so badly attended that he used to preach in the courts, beating up for an audience. In giving an account sometimes of the visits above mentioned, he used to tell about an old minister he and another of our fathers once called upon. This gentleman suffered from gout, and was consequently rather testy; he had a lay friend staying with him at the time of the two Passionists' visit. He called the fathers idolaters, and insisted, right or wrong, that our Lord used the word "represent" when he instituted the Blessed Sacrament at the Last Supper. It was in vain that all three tried to convince him of his mistake. When, at last, the passagewas pointed out to him, and that he had assured himself, by inspecting title-page and royal arms, that the Bible was a genuine authorized version, he was so far from giving in that, like the wolf in the fable, he immediately indicted them on another plea. This incident Father Ignatius used to recount to show how far ignorance hindered the removal of prejudice.
His Roman plan fell to the ground in the beginning of July, when he received a letter to announce the coming of Father Eugene as Visitor-General to England. Father Ignatius went to meet him to Tournay, and escorted him to England, where his passing visit became a fixed residence to the present day. This happened towards the end of July. Father Ignatius then gave retreats to the priests in Ushaw College, to the nuns in Sunderland, and came to London to arrange about our taking St. Wilfrid's from the Oratorians. He went through all this before the end of August, and was in Carlow on the 4th of September, to give two retreats at the same time to the students of the College and the Presentation nuns.
On the 8th of September he went to Thurles. The Irish bishops were assembled there for the most important synod held since Henry VIII.'s proposals were rejected. The synod was held to make canons of discipline, and laws for the newstatusthe Church had gained in Ireland. The rough-and-ready ceremonial that had to be used in times of persecution was laid aside, after it had done good work in its day, and one more systematic was decreed for the administration of the sacraments. Here the Irish prelates were assembled, and Father Ignatius thought it a great opportunity for opening his mind and stating his views to Ireland by letting them known to her hierarchy. His account of the visit to Thurles is thus recorded in his journal:—
"Sept. 8.—Mass at 5. Railway to Thurles at 6½. Put up at the Christian schools. Dined there at 4. Saw the Primate, &c., at the College. Begged of the bishops, &c.
Tuesday, Sept. 9.—Mass at 6, at the Monk's Altar. Begged on from the bishops. At 10, the great ceremony of concluding the synod, till 2. The Primate preached. Dr. Slattery sangmass. I walked in the procession. At 5, dined with the bishops, &c., at the College. Made a speech after dinner on the Crusade."
After his visit to Thurles, he came back to Carlow and gave a retreat to the lay students in their own oratory. He then went off on a begging tour through Kildare, Carlow, and Kilkenny. Whilst in Kilkenny he went to look at the old cathedral (now in Protestant hands); hisciceronewas a very talkative old woman, who gave him a history, in her own style, of the crumbling worthies whose names he deciphered on the different monuments. One account she told with especial gusto: the last moments of an old lady "of the Butlers." This old lady, according to thecicerone'saccount, had once been a Catholic, and on her death-bed wished to receive the rites of the Church. She was told that if she died a Catholic, those to whom her property was willed would be disinherited, and that the property would pass over to others. She hesitated some time on hearing this announcement, and after a few minutes' reflection expressed her decision as follows, "Oh, well; it is better that one old woman should burn in hell than that the family of the Butlers should lose their estate." She died shortly after —a Protestant. Father Ignatius used to say that he never was more surprised than at the manner of his guide as she concluded the climax of her narrative. She seemed to think old Granny Butler's resolution showed the highest grade of heroic virtue and self-sacrifice.
In Carrick-on-Suir he says: "Made the best day's begging in my life up to this, £50." He then went to Tipperary, Cork, visited all the convents and priests, came to Birr, spent an afternoon with Lord Ross and his telescope; begs in Limerick, Drogheda, Newry, Dundalk, Ardee, Castle-blaney, Carrickmacross, Londonderry, Strabane, Omagh. When he was in Omagh there was a tenant-right meeting, and he went to hear Gavan Duffy. He begs through Dungannon, Lurgan, Enniskillen, Ballyshannon, Clogher. He then came to Dublin, from which he paid flying visits to a few convents, and to the colleges of Maynooth and All-hallows. He returned to England on the 17th of November;and, during his two months' tour in Ireland, he had preached seventy-nine sermons, on the conversion of England chiefly.
He heard of the re-establishment of the hierarchy in England while travelling in Ireland, and one of his first acts, on returning to London, was to pay his respects to his old friend, the new Cardinal. This year we were put in possession of St. Saviour's Retreat, Broadway, which has been the noviciate of the order since. St. Anne's, Sutton, was also colonized about the same time. Father Ignatius gave a mission in Glasgow during this Advent, and brought two young priests with him to train into the work of the missions. One of them was Father Bernard, and he gives wonderful accounts of Father Ignatius's labours. He slept but about four hours in the twenty-four, and was all the rest of the time busy either in the confessional or on the platform, with the exception of the time he took to eat a hurried meal or two.
In going through Liverpool on his return from Glasgow, in his habit, a crowd gathered round him to hoot and insult him. In his journal he says: "I got two blows on the head," for which he took good care to thank God. The year is concluded by preaching in Dublin, and giving therenewalretreat to the Sisters of Mercy in Birr.
Any one that will glance over this year of his life, and see him perpetually moving from place to place, will certainly think he had little time to himself. It was about this time that he made the resolution of never being a moment idle, a resolve he carried out to the last. During this year and the preceding he was occupied in translating into English Da Bergamo'sPensieri ed Affetti. The greater part of this book, which was published by Richardson, under the name ofThoughts and Affections on the Passion, was translated by Father Ignatius, on railway stations, while waiting for trains, in every place, before or after dinner, in intervals between confessions, in all kinds of out-of-the way places; and so careful was he to fill up every moment of time that we see noted in his journal his having done some of Da Bergamo in the fore cabin of the steamer that took himfrom Holyhead to Kingstown. He wrote it mostly in pencilling, on the backs of envelopes, scraps of paper of all sizes, shapes, and quality; so that it was nearly as difficult to put those sibylline leaves in order and copy from them as it was to translate, if not more so. Besides this he wrote a number of letters; and his letters were no small notes with broken sentences, but long lectures on difficulties of conscience, written with a care and consideration that is perfectly surprising when one reflects upon his opportunities. He used to say that no one should ever excuse his not answering a letter for want of time: "If the letter is worth answering we ought to get time for it, for it becomes a kind of duty." He certainly had no time to spare or throw away, but he had always enough for any purpose in which charity or obedience could claim him. His days were indeed full days, and he scarcely ever went to bed until he had shaken himself out of nodding asleep over his table three or four times. No one ever heard him say that he was tired and required rest; rest he never had, except on his hard bed or in his quiet grave. If any man ever ate his bread in the sweat of his brow, it was Father Ignatius of St. Paul, the ever-toiling Passionist.
We find Father Ignatius, at the beginning of the year 1851, begging in Ireland. It was not his custom to go regularly from house to house; he preferred collecting people together, and addressing them, and, if this were not practicable, getting permission from the priests to speak to their flocks on Sundays and festivals. He wanted prayers more than money, and he was delighted that the plea of begging justified his moving about, and gave him a kind of faculty to preach on his favourite topic, "the conversion of England." Oftentimes the spiritual interfered with his temporal interests, as when an Irishman, who was about to give him an alms, refused it as soon as he spoke about England. Strange enough, Father Ignatius thought England-hating Irishmen the very best subjects to practise his art of persuasion on. He thought them true souls, sensitive of their wrongs, and valued them far more than those who lauded England through lack of patriotism.
He met many adventures during this begging tour in Ireland. In one parish, the priest promised to allow him to preach to his congregation on the Sunday, and collect from them. The priest did not seem to possess indifference to earthly things, or generosity either, in a very high degree; for, when Father Ignatius came to his place on Saturday, his reverence told him that he intended to claim the collection in the church, whilst Father Ignatius might stand at the door and beg for himself as the people were going out. Father Ignatius thanked God, and was content, only remarking that, with the priest's permission, he would preferto hold his hat under a large tree that grew near the church-door, instead of at the door itself.
He preached at the last mass, and never said a word about where or when he was to receive the people's offerings; the collection was made by the priest, and a most miserable one it proved to be. Father Ignatius held his hat under the tree, and, since the day in Carrick-on-Suir, never had such a collection. It was a marvel to him; he could not account for it, and he was the more surprised when he compared notes with the parish priest after all was over. He found out the solution of the mystery that same evening. It seems that, on Saturday, he told a respectable lady in the neighbourhood of the priest's decision. She, without telling him a word of what she intended doing, went home, sent her servant through the village, and collected twelve stalwart active young men; she harangued them on what the priest was about to do, and sent them all off to different parts of the parish to tell the people of it, and also of the spot where Father Ignatius would receive their offerings. The people had reason to think their pastor was a little fond of money, and their indignation at his proceeding helped to increase their liberality.
He begged at this time in Borris O'Kane, Limerick, Ennis, Gort, Galway, Loughren, Ballinasloe, Mullingar, and preached 101 sermons since the previous 5th September. His begging tour ends in Dublin, about March, where he begins a new campaign of what he terms "his crusade."
He preached some controversial lectures in Dublin, dined and talked with Dissenting ministers, wrote a little newspaper controversy, and had a meeting in the Rotundo. This very active kind of work did not seem to suit his taste or spirit, and he changed very soon to another and a more congenial one—the conversational mode of advancing the Catholic cause.
He visited the leading men both in the Establishment and in the offices of State, and the conferences he held with them are so interesting that we shall relate a few of them in his own words. The extracts are taken from letterspublished by him in 1853, in theCatholic Standard, nowThe Weekly Register:—
Interview with Lord John Russell.One day early in February, 1850, I had been on an expedition down to Westminster. I look back on all my walks during a certain period, that is, while I was constantly wearing my Passionist habit, asexpeditions. Indeed they were eventful ones in their way. I was returning through Parliament Street; and having an hour to dispose of, as I passed by Downing Street, I thought I would now try, what I had long thought of, to have a conversation with the Premier. I asked, "Is Lord John Russell at home?" The messenger [query?] who came to the door looked at my figure with some surprise, then said, "Yes, sir, but he is engaged at present?" I said, "Will you be so good as to say to him that Lord Spencer's brother would wish to speak with him?" "Walk in, sir," he answered; and to my surprise, I must say, I found myself at once in a waiting-room, and five minutes later was introduced to Lord John. He rose to me, and kindly pointed to a chair. I said, "Do you remember me, my Lord?" "Oh, yes," he answered. I then proceeded: "I hardly know whether what I am now doing is wise or not; but I will explain my reason for asking to see your lordship and you will judge. You are aware, probably, that it is now some twenty years since I became a Catholic. Ever since that time, my whole mind has been bent on leading others to the same faith, and, in short, on the conversion of this country to Catholicity. For this end I have endeavoured, as far as it was possible, to move all Catholics throughout the world to pray for the conversion of England. I have also spoken with as many as I could of the leading men among the clergy of the Church of England and among Dissenting ministers, to move them also to pray that God would bring this country to unity in the truth wherever he sees it to be. I am almost always received agreeably on these occasions; for all seem to agree in what I think cannot be denied, that if there is anything whichthreatens ruin to the power and prosperity of this country it is our religious divisions." His lordship here, without speaking, intimated, as I understood, his assent to this last sentence; but interrupted me by asking more particularly: "What do you propose to Dissenters?" "The same," I said, "as to Anglicans; I conceive this prayer is proper for them all alike." ... I proceeded: "Among Catholics I find myself constantly met by the objection, that if they came forward openly, as I wish them to do, it would offend those in power in England. I answer them, I am convinced it would not; but in order to satisfy others rather than myself, I have at last thought it well to come to the first authority and ask. I will remark to your lordship why I say this. Among all Catholics, I am particularly intent on moving the Catholics of Ireland to undertake this cause. I first went to Ireland for the purpose in 1842. Now I look upon it as certain, that if the Irish had then undertaken, as I wished them, to pray for the conversion of England, and had persevered in that work out of charity, they would not, in 1848, have thought of making pikes against England; and this would have saved our Government some millions of pounds, perhaps. Pikes are well enough in their place, but I consider that charity would not have prompted the making of them on this occasion. Again, I will say that my favourite individual object in Ireland is to enlist in my cause your lordship's illustrious correspondent, Dr. M'Hale; and it is my opinion that it would improve the style of his letters if there were introduced into them some expressions of charity towards England." Lord John slightly smiled, and then proceeded with his answer, as follows: "In answering you, I beg to be understood that I do not speak as a minister; but I will tell what I think as an individual. The entire liberty which exists in this country for every one to think as he pleases, and to speak what he thinks, makes it appear to me difficult to conceive how a reunion of all the different religious opinions could be effected. That is at least a distant prospect. But anything which would tend to a diminution of the spirit of acrimony, and of the disposition of people of opposite opinions to misrepresent one another's views, mustdo good." Then he added, in a very pleasing tone: "And I will tell you, that I consider the body to which you belong is the one which suffers the most from such misrepresentations." I said then: "After hearing your lordship's answer, given with such kindness, I am quite happy at having come; and I think I may infer from what you have said, that you perfectly approve of my proceedings, for the tendency of them entirely is to remove the misapprehensions which exist, on both sides, of the others principles. I am convinced that Catholics generally have a mistaken idea of what respectable Protestants are; and there is no doubt Protestants are very widely wrong in their opinions of Catholics. I am working to counteract this error on both sides."
To this he did not reply; and as I had gained all that I desired, I rose to take my leave, and said: "I frequently say to persons with whom I have had conversations like this, what I will now say to your lordship, that I do not promise secrecy concerning them; but I request, as a favour, that if they should ever hear of my making what they consider an improper use of anything that they have said, they would call me to account for it." On this sentence, likewise, he made no remark, but added again: "I repeat once more that I have not spoken as a minister, as I do not think this is a matter with which I have any concern in that character." I replied: "I understand you, my Lord; yet I will say that it appears to me, that I have reasons to have addressed your lordship in your public character." His lordship smiled, slightly bowed, and I withdrew.
Interview with Lord Clarendon.I am very happy at finding myself with my pen in hand, to give an account of my interviews with another distinguished member of our Government; at least, as far as what passed bears on the subject of these letters, the enterprise of England's conversion:—I mean Lord Clarendon, while he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. His lordship and I were formerly fellow-collegians and friends at Cambridge;but from the year 1819, when I left Trinity College, we never saw each other till November 13, 1850, when I had an audience from him at the Viceregal Lodge in the Phoenix Park, at Dublin. When I had been in Ireland in 1848, the thought had crossed my mind that I should be pleased to have a conversation with him, but I put it away as a strange idea, not worth entertaining. In 1850, I returned to Ireland, and starting from the Synod of Thurles, at the beginning of September, I had what I would call my grand campaign among the Irish people. From the beginning of September to the end of April, I preached 170 sermons to them on the enterprise of the conversion of England, which at that time I used to call theCrusade for England; besides a number, past reckoning, of addresses to convents and schools, and private conversations to the same intent. This career was interrupted in the middle of November, when I came for six weeks to England. As I was approaching Dublin to cross the water, my strange idea revived, but its aspect was more inviting. The result of my visit to Lord John Russell had been so encouraging, that I wrote to Lord Clarendon, and asked permission to pay him my respects, as I passed through Dublin. He sent me a very kind answer to the place which I had pointed out, naming an hour on the day named above—half-past one, November 13—at which time I was introduced into his private room at the Lodge. One of his first remarks was that circumstances were greatly changed with us both since our last meeting. Indeed, they were, as any one would have said who had seen him as George Villiers, of St. John's, and me as George Spencer, of Trinity, walking together in our college gowns, at Cambridge, and now should see him in his grand Viceregal Palace, and me before him in my poor Passionist's habit; and is it not something to be looked upon with satisfaction, that we should now have a conversation for an hour and a half, of which, though the matter was something far more weighty than what would very probably have occupied us then, the tone which he gave to it was such, that one might have supposed our familiar acquaintance had never been interrupted? The conversation was throughout very interesting to me;but this does not seem to me the time nor the place to relate what passed, excepting those passages which bore directly upon my present subject.
I do not remember how, in the course of it, Lord Clarendon was led to say: "I see in the papers that you have been preaching in several places." I answered: "Yes, I have; and the principal object of my asking for this interview with your lordship, was to tell you the subject of my preaching, and to ask what you think of it. I am preaching to the Irish people a crusade for the conquest of England."
I am not clear whether it was before saying these words, or after, that I related to him the conversation I had had with Lord John Russell in the same way in which it was given in my last letter. However this might be, I perfectly remember the way in which he replied. He appeared at the first moment to be surprised; then fixed upon me one rather searching look; and then deliberately said: "Taking the view of things which you do, I think you are right."* * * *Lord Clarendon, knowing that I was next day to start for England, concluded by most kindly expressing a wish to see me again, when I should be passing at some future time through Dublin.
After six weeks I returned to renew my circuit in Ireland, and returning to Dublin about the middle of January, though I had no reason particularly for wishing to speak again with Lord Clarendon, I considered that it was in some way a duty of propriety to ask for an interview, as he had been pleased to request it at the close of the first visit. Accordingly, after some time for reflection, I wrote him a letter to this effect, and he appointed me half-past eleven on Saturday, February 8, 1852. This time it was in Dublin Castle that I saw him, being ushered into his private room through the muskets, bayonets, and other arms—not ancient pieces, for curiosity, as at Alton Towers, but arms of the most modern style, ready for use—with which the hall and great staircase seemed to me as though wainscoted throughout. I apologised soon after entering at taking up so much of his time; and again somewhat later I offered towithdraw, however interesting was the conversation to myself. He answered, "Oh, no! I am very glad to see you. They will soon tell me of Sir Thomas Reddington being come for business: till then I am free." I will now relate only one or two passages of this conversation, as being, I conceive, of peculiar consequence to my present purpose. I was saying something of my continued endeavours to move the Irish to pray for England, and I suppose remarking that this must have a salutary effect on the feelings of the people. He said with an incredulous smile: "And do you think the Irish pray for England?" "I have no doubt whatever," I answered, "that a great many do, but it is as yet nothing to what I desire to bring them to." With a still more incredulous look, he added: "Do you think they pray for England at Maynooth?" "Well, my Lord,' I only know that whenever I visit Maynooth the superiors appoint me a time for addressing the students assembled (he looked evidently pleased at hearing this); and will you listen," I continued, "to a sentence of one of my half-hour's addresses to them? I began it without well knowing what I was going to say; but when I had finished I said to myself, I have said one good thing at least which I shall one day turn to account. It was soon after the publication of Lord John Russell's Durham letter. I said to them, 'Will you allow me to offer you one word of advice? You will just now be tempted most probably to say some violent things; especially some violent things of Lord John Russell. Now I would ask you, Do you know Lord John Russell? I suppose one and all would tell meno. The advice I was going to offer is that you should not speak evil of what you do not know.'" Lord Clarendon said: "Did you say that?" I said: "Yes, my lord." He added emphatically: "Thatwasgood." After I had risen to leave him, I said: "My Lord, I have been often citing your Excellency, since our first conversation, as one of those who entirely approve of my proceedings." "What do you mean?" he quickly answered. "Did I not tell you I would shed the last drop of my blood to stop the progress of your religion?" "I perfectly remember that," I said; "what I mean is that you approved of my way ofacting, considering what I am." "Oh," he replied, "I understand you. If every one acted as you do, we should have nothing to complain of." This conversation lasted from three-quarters of an hour to an hour.
Interview with Lord Palmerston.I am sometimes reminded of a story I heard of a groom, who had to show off one of his master's horses, which he wished to sell. Among all the other good qualities for which he had praised the animal, as he stood behind him in the stable, being asked by the intended purchaser, "What do you say of his temper?" he had just answered, "Oh, he is as quiet as a lamb," when the horse kicked out, struck the poor groom full in the pit of the stomach, and drove the breath out of him. But he must stand to his text, and with wondrous promptness he was just able to utter, "Ach— playful toad!" So I will have our poor people hoped for, prayed for, borne with and loved, with all their effigy burnings, with all their meetings to hear Dr. Cumming or Mr. Stowell, with all their awful Popery sermons, and, moreover, with the two or three thumps on the head, and other pieces of genteel treatment which I met with myself, while I walked about in my habit, before the Derby proclamation gave me some time to breathe again.
After this preface as an apology, if it is one, for my last sentences of last week, and for standing tomytext, in spite of all that can be urged, I proceed to another of my narratives, which, if not the most interesting and important in my eyes, is not the least so; and, after which, in reply to such as might mention some of the English rudenesses to us, and say to me, "What do you say to that?" I would just say, "What doyousay to this?"—I mean my interview with Lord Palmerston.
Through the month of May of the year 1851, I was engaged to preach evening lectures in one of the London chapels, and I had my days to devote in a great measure to the pursuit, so inconceivably interesting to me, of conversations with leading people on my great topic. I was atthat time greatly debilitated, and could walk but very little, and to relieve me, therefore, as well as to enable me to make the most of my time, a generous friend, who was interested in my proceedings, furnished me with means to go from house to house in a cab. One of these bright forenoons, I turned into Carlton Gardens, and asked to see Lord Palmerston. I was not an entire stranger to him, any more than to the other two noble persons of whom I have already written. It will not be foreign to my purpose to relate how my acquaintance with his lordship had been formed. May I venture to call it a friendship? It was at the close of a long run with Lord Derby's stag-hounds; I mean the grandfather of the present earl, I think in 1821; we finished, I think, twenty-four miles from London, and I was making up my mind for a long, tedious ride home on my tired horse (for I was not up to having second horses and grooms in my suite on those occasions), when Lord Palmerston, who was likewise in at, not the death, but the taking (I forget the proper sporting term) of the stag, understanding my case, and knowing me by sight, though I think till then we had never spoken, gave my horse in charge to his groom, and took me home with himself in a post-chaise. For the short remaining time of my being known as a young man about town, as we met at one party or another, Lord Palmerston continued to accost me with a kind word, to which I had good reason, it will be allowed, to respond in the best manner I knew how. At the close of the London season of 1822 I made my bow, and withdrew from that stage to prepare for taking orders, and, except an interview of a few minutes in 1834, we had never met till I appeared before the now far-famed and, by many, dreaded Foreign Secretary, with my Passionist habit and sandalled feet for a private audience. Like what Lord Clarendon said in the Park Lodge, Dublin, I might have said here, "Great changes, my lord, since we first spoke together!" On this occasion, however, no time was spent in mere conversation. I had called, as I have said, in the forenoon. His lordship had sent me a message as being busy, requesting me to call again at two o'clock. On entering his private room, I foundhim engaged in looking over what seemed official papers, which he had upon his knee, while we spoke, though without the least sign of impatience or wish to get rid of me; but I saw that what became me was to enter on business at once without waste of time or words. I do not remember all the words which I used in this interview so well as what I said to Lord John Russell and Lord Clarendon. The position was not now so new and striking to me. I think I began without any kind of apology; for his lordship's looks gave me no feeling that any was needful or expected. I said, "that in coming to speak to his lordship on this subject, I had not so much in view to ascertain more and more that there was no danger of what I proposed causing offence to our Government, as I thought what I had heard from others was sufficient proof of this; but I wished to put as many of our public men as I could meet with in possession of all my intentions and proceedings, in order that if, at last, I succeeded, as I hoped, in moving the Catholics to be interested about them, and these matters came before the public, they might know from myself in person what I really intended, and might be enabled, if they thought well, to do me justice." This was the substance of what I said to him. Having thus concluded, I awaited his answer, which was about as follows:—"As you wish to know what I think of your doings, I must say I do not by any means agree with you in considering it a desirable result that this country should again be brought under subjection to Rome. I do not profess to take my view from the elevated and sublime ground on which you place yourself; I mean, I speak not with reference to religious interests, but to political; and as a politician, when we consider the way in which the Pope's government is opposed to the progress of liberty, and liberal institutions, I cannot say that I wish to see England again under such influence." Thus far, I do not mean to say, that what I heard was anything agreeable to me. Neither the matter nor the tone were agreeable to me. There was something sarcastic in his tone. And does that suit my purpose? it may be asked. I answer, "It does very well." Could it be expected that he would speak very agreeably and favourablyof the end I told him I was aiming at? If he had, that would, I conceive, have just thrown a doubt on the sincerity of what he said immediately after, in a tone simply and perfectly agreeable, on the effect likely to result immediately from what I was doing: and this was: "But as to what you are doing, as it must tend to conciliate Catholic powers towards England, what have I to say, but that it is excellent?" or some such word expressing full and cordial approbation. After this, he went on with some remarks on the establishment of the Hierarchy, which, of course, were in accordance with what he had, I think, been saying a few days previously in Parliament, complaining of it as offensive and injurious; but on this part of the conversation I need not dwell, as it had no bearing on the subject which I had proposed to him. With regard to that, my impression on leaving him was this: that he had listened with attention to what I had said, had at once perfectly understood me, had answered me so as to make me perfectly understand him on the subject simply and openly, and that what he had said was entirely satisfactory to me. I could wish for nothing more; except, of course, what St. Paul wished for in the presence of Festus and Agrippa. I then rose: so did he; then shook hands with me, and most kindly thanked me for having renewed our old acquaintance. To the account of this conversation with Lord Palmerston, I will add, that I asked, in the same bright month of May, for an interview with Lord Derby. He requested I would rather explain myself in writing: which I did; and received in answer from him a most condescending and kind letter, in which, while he asserted his own steadfast adherence to the Church of England, he declared his opinion that no one could reasonably find fault with me for exerting myself as I did to advance what I believed to be the truth.
Besides these interviews just recorded in his own words, he had several others with minor celebrities. He met some Protestant bishops; among the rest, Dr. Blomfield, whom he tried to move to praying for unity. Dr. Blomfield promised. Some of the bishops refuse to see him, andothers are "out" when he calls. He had an interview with Dr. Cumming, and the doctor's account of it did not eventually serve to raise that gentleman in the estimation of honourable or sensible people. He records in his journal being sent away ignominiously by Baptist and Methodist ministers, and, after one of these rebuffs, on May 24, 1851, he got so fearful a mobbing, when coming along the Charter House in London, that he was nearly killed. Had not some good shopkeeper opened his door for him, and helped him to a cab by a back passage, he believed he would certainly have fallen a victim to the fury of the crowd.
The day after this adventure, he assisted in Warwick-street at the ordination of his Grace the present Archbishop of Westminster, as sub-deacon.
He is a few months on the Continent again in this year. He preaches in French through Lille, Liège, Maestricht, Aix-la-Chapelle, always upon "the crusade." Before arriving in Cologne he had his address translated into German, in order to be able to speak to the Prussian children and people upon his favourite theme. As he was walking through Cologne one day, he accidentally met his brother, Lord Spencer. Lord Spencer wondered at the figure approaching him, and thought he recognized the features. At length he exclaimed, "Hilloa, George, what are you doing here?" "Begging," replied Father Ignatius. Those who knew them were much gratified at seeing the earl and the monk having a little friendly chat about old schoolboy days. Both seemed a little embarrassed and surprised at first, but after a minute or two they were quite at home with each other.
He prepared a petition for the King of Prussia, who was visiting Cologne, requesting an audience; but, after waiting patiently a few days, he writes in the journal: "The King is come and gone, but no notice of me. I must be content withRex regum." He received a letter from Father Eugene a day or two before this, summoning him home to England for our Provincial Chapter, and his tour terminates on the 21st August.
At the Provincial Chapter, Father Ignatius was chosen Rector of St. Joseph's Retreat, The Hyde. It was also arranged that before proceeding further with his projects and schemes for prayers and unity, he should submit them to the RomanCuria. He accordingly starts for Rome on September 4, and arrives at the Retreat of SS. John and Paul on the 13th. We shall let himself relate the events and success of this expedition.
"I went on then, taking occasions as they were offered me to move Catholics to interest themselves in it till September, 1851, when I went to Rome. I had other reasons for going; but it might well be expected that what mainly interested me was to recommend the cause of England's conversion in the centre of Catholicity, and to obtain from the Holy See sanction and authority for pursuing this end as I had been doing before, or in whatever way would be deemed preferable. I was four months and a half at Rome, with the interruption of a fortnight, during which I was engaged on a mission in the country with some of our Fathers. My affair had to be transacted, as may be supposed, chiefly at the Propaganda, where the affairs of all Catholic missions are managed and directed, much in the way that our Board of Admiralty directs all the naval operations of this country, but under entire dependence on his Holiness and obedience to him—the secretary of the Propaganda, Monsignor Barnabò, having regularly once a week, that is, every Sunday evening, an audience of the Pope, to make him reports, and to receive his orders. For the first six weeks or two months I felt my footing at the Propaganda more or lessdoubtful and precarious. I did not gain much attention. This was mortifying; but I see, and I saw it then, to be right. The Propaganda is a place where all Catholic schemers and projectors in matters of religion try to get a hearing—as our Admiralty is besieged, I suppose, by all who think they have an important proposal to make for naval enterprise or improvement. They must be kept at arm's length for a time, till it is judged whether their ideas are worth attending to. It was on the 1st of November that it happened that I dined at the College of Propaganda, and sat next to Monsignor Barnabò, who made me a remark about in these words: 'Surely if you can convert England, we should gain half the world—or all the world,' I forget which. I answered, 'Well, Monsignor, and why not try?' Nothing more was said then; but it seemed to me as if this was the turning-point of my fortunes at Rome. Certain it is, that from that time Monsignor Barnabò, in the midst of all his pressing affairs, was invariably ready to listen to me at the office or at his own house, read through all my long memorials, spoke for me to the Pope whenever I asked him, and gained me what I asked on this matter, had my papers printed free of cost at the press of the Propaganda, &c. It had been told me previously by one of the minutanti (under secretaries) of the Propaganda, Monsignor Vespasiani, that my proposals would be looked upon more favourably, if England were not mentioned as the only object of interest. He adverted especially with great feeling to the case of the Greeks, of whom he spoke as possessing genius and capacity for such great things, if they were only reunited to the Church. At his suggestion I drew up, in concert with one of our Fathers, a paper of proposals for an Association for the Conversion of all separated from the Church, giving reasons, however, as I do in the little paper of admission to our Association, why we should direct our immediate aim at the recovery of those nations which have been separated from the Church by heresy or schism, and why, among these, England should still be regarded as the most important and leading object. This document was read by Mgr. Barnabò, who ordered 5,000 copies to be printed by the press of thePropaganda—rather, he told me, to order as many as I wished, as well as of another shorter paper containing an invitation to prayer and good works for the conversion of all separated from the Church, but especially of England. This shorter one was prepared at the express desire of the Cardinal-Vicar of Rome, and distributed by his order through all the religious houses of the city. To pass over other details, it was on the 26th of November that I received a letter of recommendation, addressed by the Cardinal-Prefect of Propaganda to all Bishops, Vicars-Apostolic, and Superiors of Missions in the world, desiring them to receive me favourably and to assist me in my designs to the utmost of their power. The words in Latin at this part of the letter are the following:—'... Proindeque illum sacrae congregationis testimonialibus hisce literis instructum esse volumus, ut omnes Episcopi, Vicarii Apostolici, et Missionum Superiores benigne illum excipere, ac pro viribus piissimis ejusdem votis favere haud omittant.' As I have not this letter at hand while writing, I quote this part from memory. The former part, of which I have not the words by heart, expresses why this recommendation was to be given me; namely, because my zeal for promoting the Catholic faith, especially among my people of England, was highly to be commended. Now, if the Propaganda should have ever heard anything true about how I carried on my ordinary duties in England, they could only have heard that I had not incurred suspension, though I might have deserved it; and that, in comparison with my brother priests in our great towns, for instance, what I had done for religion must be put down as next to nothing. The only thing on which they could ever have heard me spoken about as remarkable must have been my exertions, which, against my wishes, I must certainly concede to have beensingularlyactive and persevering in calling people's attention to the object of theconversion of Englandand to prayers for it.
"I was surprised at receiving this letter; but I was not satisfied with it: it sharpened my appetite to get more. I returned to the Palace of the Propaganda to give thanks for it, and then asked for a special letter to the Prelates ofIreland. I do not here enter into details about this: I intend, if permitted, explaining all which regards this subject in some letters addressed especially to the Irish people, in theTablet. I mention it here only to quote from this second letter the words in which is explained more particularly the idea which was formed at the Propaganda of the object which they were recommending. They call it 'Opus quod Reverendus Pater Ignatius promovere satagit, ut nempe Catholici pro Acatholicorum, praesertim Angliae, conversione veluti agmine facto, ferventiori jugiter ratione preces fundant ....' which I thus translate: 'The object which the Rev. Father Ignatius is engaged in promoting, namely, that Catholics should, as it were, form themselves into an army set in array, and with continually increasing fervour pour forth prayers for the conversion of non-Catholics, but especially of England." Now, I do not know how these documents may strike others; but it seems to me that if, after having taken a journey to Rome on purpose to plead my cause there, and after having received letters like these in answer to my appeals, I was just now to relax in my zeal to promote prayers and good works for the conversion of Protestants, but especially of England, this would be not falling into the views of the Holy See, as some seem to think it would, but rather showing indifference and almost contempt for them, and repaying with ingratitude the great favours which I have received. I must reserve to another letter some account of my interviews with his Holiness in person."I am, Sir, your faithful servant in Jesus Christ,"Ignatius Of St. Paul, Passionist."
Here is the account of the audiences he had with the Pope on the subject of prayers for the conversion of England. It is taken from his letters to theCatholic Standard:—
Audiences With Pope Pius IX.I beg to give an account of what passed upon the subject of the conversion of England in the audiences I was allowedby the Holy Father. They were three. The first was on September 16, 1851, three days after my arrival in Rome; the second, December 23; the third, January 30, 1852, the day before I left Rome. It was on my return home in the evening after that last audience that I met Mgr. Vespasiani, the prelate whom I have before named as one of the Minutanti of the Propaganda, the first person in office at Rome who gave full and attentive consideration to my proposals. This was on the 14th of October, 1851. Full of satisfaction as I was, I expressed to him anew my gratitude for that favour, adding that now I was leaving Rome, I felt as if I had nothing more to ask. All was gained. Such, indeed, were my feelings then. He kindly accepted my acknowledgments, and seemed to sympathize in my satisfaction, but looked incredulous as to my having nothing more to ask, and with a smile, said something to this effect, "You will want plenty more; and, when you desire, you will command our services." I suppose he was right. My feeling was then, and I conceive it was well grounded, that, as far as regarded the mind of his Holiness, I had gained all, on the subject which most engaged me, and which I am now pursuing; and I felt as if in having reached this point all was done. So, I trust, it will prove in time; but I see plainly enough there is work to be done before the mind of the Holy Father will be carried out; others must be moved to correspond with it. I must explain myself by stating facts. In my first two audiences, I think I may say that the principle was approved by his Holiness, that Catholics might be moved all through the world to engage in the enterprise of converting England; but that he must not be represented as caring for England exclusively, as he was father to all. There was no objection here expressed to my being specially interested for my own country. On the contrary, the Pope agreed to, and approved of, my continuing to urge the Roman people to join in this cause, as well as pursuing the same object in Austria, whither I told him I was going, and elsewhere. In my second audience I said to him: "Holy Father, may I repeat truly here what I am saying outside? I am openly stirring the people of Rome to a third conquest of England.Rome conquered England once, under Julius Caesar, by the material sword. Rome conquered England a second time, more gloriously, under St. Gregory I., by the Word of God. I am calling on Rome to undertake this conquest again, under Pius IX., when it will be a vastly more important one than heretofore, and by means more glorious and more divine, because referring more purely the glory to God, being chiefly holy prayer." The Pope did not speak in answer to this appeal; but, if I rightly judged, his manner and looks expressed his acceptance and approval of the idea better than words could have done. However, though I might say I had succeeded as well as I could have expected in these first two audiences, the second of which I looked upon as final, as in it I had taken my leave of his Holiness, there was yet something wanting. I was preparing to leave Rome not quite satisfied, though I knew not how to better my position. I will relate how the happy conclusion was brought round. My departure was unexpectedly delayed in order that I might assist at a mission to be given by our fathers, in the town of Marino, on the Alban mountains, which was in the diocese of the Cardinal-Vicar, at whose request the mission was given. I went to the mission, not so much to work, as to see, and hear, and learn for myself; but the crowd of penitents was such, that during the last week of it I gave myself entirely to the confessions; and having no part in the preaching, I never did such a week's work at confessions as that. I returned to Rome alone on January 18, to prepare for my departure, leaving the other Fathers to begin a second mission at Albano; and it struck me my week's work for the Cardinal-Vicar need not be altogether its own reward. I visited him the next day, as to make a report of the mission, which was highly satisfactory. I then said, "I have done a heavy week's work for your Eminence, and I come to claimil mio stipendio(my pay)." "And what," said he, "is that?" "A few minutes' patience," I replied, "to hear me again on the cause of England. I want Rome to be effectually moved." "But," said he again, "what can we do? I have distributed your papers. I will recommendit again; what more do you want? Perhaps the Pope could suggest something; go to him again." I answered, "I have had my final audience, and received his last blessing. Can I go again?" "Oh, yes. Go; you may use my name." I went straight to the Vatican, and Monsignor Talbot placed me, according to custom, in a saloon, through which the Pope was to pass at three o'clock, to take his daily drive. I told his Holiness what had brought me again before him. I had received recommendations to all the world, but I was particularly intent on moving Rome. "Surely," he said, "that is the most important place. Write me a memorial, and we will consult over it." I lost no time in doing so. In it I dwelt on two objects; first, I entreated the Holy Father to take such measures as he might in his wisdom think fit, to move all Christendom to undertake the recovery of the nations which had been lost to the Church, and specially England. And with regard to Rome, I stated the case thus. I had received from the congregations through which his Holiness intimates his pleasure to the whole Church, an earnest recommendation to all Bishops to support me to the utmost of their power in my enterprise. Was it to be conceived, I asked, that the Bishop of the first See was alone excluded from this recommendation? Surely not; and therefore in the name of his Holiness, as head of the Universal Church, I appealed to his Holiness as Bishop of Rome, and entreated that he would give an example to all other Bishops, how a mandate of the Holy See ought to be obeyed. It was not for me to offer directions how this should be done; but if I were to make a suggestion, I would ask that a Prelate should be named, with an authority to engage the help of other zealous ecclesiastics, and with them to instruct the people of Rome in the importance and beauty of the work, and to engage them in it with persevering zeal. I took this memorial to the Cardinal-Vicar, who read through the latter part with me, and said, with an air of satisfaction, "That will do; that will do very well"—promising to present it to the Pope. I begged him to say besides, that the Prelate I had in my mind was Monsignor Talbot. This was on January 23. On the 26th, MonsignorBarnabò told me that all had been favourably received. I thought I had nothing to do but to arrange with Monsignor Talbot what he might do, and for this purpose I went on the 30th of January to see him, accompanied by one of our Fathers. I had bid him farewell, when my companion said, "May we see the Pope?" I was rather annoyed at this: the sight of the Pope intended was merely to be once more placed in his way as he would pass one of the saloons: and I felt it would be unreasonable and intrusive for me to be seen there again; but I thought it would be selfish to disappoint my companion, who had sacrificed so much of his time to gratify me, and I said nothing. We were, therefore, taken into the saloon, as it was just the time for the Pope's drive. There, however, we waited one quarter, two quarters, three quarters of an hour. I concluded, what was the case, that the Pope was not going out, and expected presently to be told to go away. Instead of this Monsignor Talbot came and beckoned us into the Pope's private room, where he was sitting in the window recess perfectly at his ease, and received us with these words addressed to me:—"Well, Father Ignatius, we have done something now." "Indeed, Holy Father," said I, "this is true. I see this work now in the way to become the most favoured of all, entrusted, as it is, to a Prelate who has his time so disposed that one week he is free to work, and the other he returns to attendance on your Holiness to make his reports, and receive new instructions." "Not only so," replied the Pope, "there are four of them. He has but one week entirely engaged with me; besides the one out of four wholly free, he has but two or three hours every day on duty in the other two. But remember, I will not have England alone thought of." "Holy Father," I said, "this alteration has been made. The undertaking is for all separated nations; England being proposed only as the most important point of attack, on several accounts. I beg, however, to ask that the term heretics may not be used as the general designation of those we pray for. I do not confess to wilful heresy before my conversion. I do not confess for this sin for my countrymen at large." "Ah! what say you?" answered the Pope; thenhe reflected for a moment and graciously bowed. In accordance with this request, in my letter from the Propaganda the term is nothaereticorum, butacatholicorum praesertim Angliae. I went on: "Holy Father, I ask one more favour. Cardinal Fornari has agreed, if he is named by your Holiness, to accept the charge of Protector to this work." "What need of this?" answered the Pope; "I have desired the Cardinal-Vicar to recommend the work to Rome, and Cardinal Fornari is a Roman. Is that not enough?" "Holy Father," I replied, "what is requested is, that he should be empowered to act in it as Cardinal." After another pause his Holiness again graciously bowed and said: "Well, be it so." Thus the discourse on this subject terminated: and, if I have intelligibly explained myself, will it not be allowed that I had reason to go home satisfied, in the reflection that the work of the conversion of Protestants, but chiefly England, was now erected—as far as regarded the part which the holy Father had to take in it—into what may be almost called a congregation in the Holy City, to be composed of prelates and ecclesiastics, of whom the first active member was among his Holiness's domestic attendants; and the Cardinal Protector was one of the most distinguished of the Sacred College, who in his first conversation with me declared his most lively interest in England, as having himself, as Professor in the Roman Seminary, directed the studies in Theology of Cardinal Wiseman, and four others, now Bishops in England, besides two deceased. I must close this long letter with one more fact, which came to my knowledge, bringing home to me the consoling conviction, how deeply the heart of our Holy Father is interested in the great work. When I was in Paris, this cause of England was ardently taken up by a gentleman noted for his Catholic zeal, a distinguished merchant in Havre. On my leaving Paris he begged me to give him a letter of credentials, that, in his mercantile travels, he might in my name interest Bishops and other leading personages in our favour. In November last he enclosed me a letter he had received from the Vicar-General of Nantes, to whom he had applied to recommend this object to his Bishop. It was in theseterms: "I will gladly perform your commission, and I have no doubt his Lordship will comply with your wish; the more so that, returning from Rome a few days back, I have brought to him a message to the same effect from his Holiness. In my first audience the Pope said to me: 'Tell the Bishop of Nantes, from me, that I desire he will pray, and cause others to pray, a great deal for England. The position of the Church in that kingdom interests me deeply; I am always thinking of it.' In my second audience the Holy Father repeated to me the same words, and in a tone of feeling such as I can never forget. I am convinced this subject occupies his mind continually." Is it, now, to be supposed that the Holy Father is averse to English and Irish Catholics praying especially for England, and praying much for it? Is it not, on the contrary, to be inferred from these statements, and those of my last two letters, that it would console his heart to see them devotedly engaged in the work? I think this is the conclusion to which we shall all arrive, and that this happy result may in due time—and why not soon?—be abundantly realized.
He says in another letter:—
"I begin with repeating again the words of St. Jerome to Pope Damasus: 'He who gathereth not with thee scattereth,' and I renew my declaration that if I thought that by exerting myself to move the Catholics of England and Ireland, and, in general, of all the world, to the enterprise of gaining England, my country, back to the faith of our fathers, I was not working in accordance with the mind of his Holiness, I should not dare to proceed. Will my dear Catholic brethren meet me with the assurance that if it appears by facts that this enterprise is according to his mind, they will heartily devote themselves to the cause and help us?
"It seems to me still, as it always did, impossible to conceive how these efforts, carried on as they are proposed to be, in perfect accordance with devoted loyalty to the State, and in a spirit of ardent charity towards our fellow-countrymen, should not be gratifying to the Church of God and to its Head. Many times have I repeated in sermons to the Irish people during the days of the troubles of his Holiness:'You have joined with noble generosity in assisting the Holy Father by subscriptions of money, you have entered fervently into prayer for him, will you not do one thing more to console him? Let him hear that you are determined that my country, with its great resources and power, shall once more be his.' This was, I think, a reasonable natural suggestion.
"It was, accordingly, a surprise to me, and at the same time a pain, when I was told by one, about the beginning of the year 1851, that his Holiness was become almost averse to our efforts in behalf of England; as on being applied to for some new indulgence for certain prayers for England, he would not grant the petition unless Italy was comprehended in the intention of the prayers. Another said positively that the Pope would give no more indulgences for prayers for England. These things were said, as so many more things have been said, apparently in a half-joking tone, to mortify me in what is known to be a tender point. "Well, everything may turn to account for good, if we pay attention. These remarks helped to stimulate me to ascertain perfectly what the truth of the case is, and they now give me occasion to explain publicly some of the facts on which the matter has to be judged.
"In May, 1850, a student of the English College at Rome, just ordained, went to receive the Pope's blessing before his return to England. He presented a crucifix to his Holiness, and begged for an indulgence of 300 days for whoever kissed this crucifix, and said a Hail Mary for the conversion of England. The Pope sat down and wrote with his own hand at the foot of the petition, that he granted 300 days' indulgence for those who should offer a devout prayer, as for instance a Hail Mary, for the conversion of England. When this was reported to me, as there appeared some kind of ambiguity in one expression of the Pope's writing, I wrote to Monsignor Talbot, begging that he would ascertain from his Holiness whether we were right in interpreting the sentence as granting the indulgence generally without any reference to the crucifix. The answer was, 'Yes.' Evidently then, at this time, the Pope was disposed to grant more in favour of England than he was asked. How arewe to account for the seeming alteration in his dispositions? One way is to suppose that the Pope had ceased to wish prayers to be made for England. Monsignor Talbot, when I saw him at Rome in September, 1851, gave me another reason. 'The Pope,' said he, 'is determined he will give no more indulgences for England. People seem not to care for them. No account is made of them. Let them first show they value what they have.' No authority, on such a point, could be preferable to that of Monsignor Talbot, who spends his life in personal attendance on his Holiness; and according to him, the Pope did, in a tone of some displeasure, refuse one or two such requests, the displeasure was not because people prayed too much for England, but because they did not pray enough, and on this account, did not deserve any more encouragement. This view I maintain with the more confidence, inasmuch as after that displeasure had been expressed, a petition was made on March 9, 1851, by some English ladies in Rome for a plenary indulgence to be gained once a month by those who should daily pray for the conversion of England: it was granted as stated in our admission papers. I infer from this, that if only the Holy Father perceived that the Catholics of England were really in earnest in the cause, there would be no bounds to the liberality with which he would encourage them; but no one likes to go on giving favours to persons who seem not to value them; and he who has the dispensing of the favours of Almighty God from the treasuries of the Church, must not consent to their being undervalued.
"But now, it will be asked, what encouragement did I myself receive from his Holiness during the four months and a half that I spent in Rome, as a kind of representative of this cause of the conversion of England? I need not say that, in going to Rome, I was desirous to move all hearts there to an enthusiastic devotion to this enterprise, as I had endeavoured to do in Ireland, in France, in Belgium, and Germany. I fain would not have lost an occasion of preaching in churches, addressing religious communities, the children of schools, wherever I could find them assembled. I did not expect, however, to be able at once to run such a career inRome, as in ordinary towns, and I was greatly satisfied with what was allowed me. Whatever difficulty or check I might have met with, it came not from his Holiness. The proper authority to apply to in this case was the Cardinal-Vicar; that is, he who administers the very diocese of Rome as the Pope's Vicar-General. He at once agreed to my visiting convents and schools, and exhorting them to the great work; but for preaching in churches, there must be, he said, express sanction from the Pope. The Holy Father was consequently consulted by Monsignor Talbot, and answered that he had no objection, but left it to me to make arrangements with the rectors of the churches. The number of monasteries and schools in which I made my allocutions on the conversion of England, is past my remembrance. Almost day by day, for about two months of my time, this was my leading pursuit. I wish it to be clearly understood that all this time I spoke all that was in my mind with as complete freedom from reserve as I am known to exercise here. To the authorities in Rome, who are not wanting in vigilance, all must have been known; and one word from them of objection to the subject, or to my manner of treating it, spoken to my superiors, would have at once stopped me. The number of churches in which I spoke was not so great. I used generally to ask leave myself to address convents and schools. I saw that it would not be becoming to offer myself thus to speak in churches at Rome; but among others I may mention particularly, that I preached by invitation, in English, in French, and in Italian, in those of the large and frequented churches S. Andrea della Valle, S. Luigi de' Francesi, and S. Andrea della Fratte; and the Pope himself spoke to me of this last discourse in a tone of satisfaction. He would not have been opposed, as far as could be observed, if, instead of three churches, I could have made up a list of three hundred.
"Another means I took for moving the Roman people was, by the papers printed for me by the Propaganda, of which I spoke in my last letter. The first of these was thus headed:—'Association of Prayers and Good Works for the Conversion of those who are separated from the Holy Catholic Church, but especially of England.' Before thiswriting was printed, I gave a copy of it to Monsignor Talbot, to lay before the Pope. He returned it to me, with this addition in his own hand:—
"'His Holiness has deigned to grant to this pious work his special benediction."'George Talbot, Cameriere Segreto."'Nov. 15, 1851.'
"To this is appended the petition presented for me by Monsignor Barnabò, for the extension of indulgences, as follows:—
"'Most Blessed Father,—Ignatius of St. Paul (Spencer), Passionist, Provincial Consultor in England, prostrate at the feet of your Holiness, states that, being desirous of extending the Association of Prayers already existing for England, in favour of all those who are separated from the Holy Church, and being sensible that a fresh spiritual attraction is necessary in order to move all the faithful to enter on this holy enterprise, most humbly implores your Holiness, that you would be pleased to extend the three hundred days' indulgence already granted by your Holiness to whoever prays for the conversion of England, to this new work, and moreover grant one hundred days for whatever good work may be done in favour of this Association.'
"Monsignor Barnabò reported, that though the Pope adverted to his former declaration, that he would give no more indulgences on this account, he granted this petition in the most gracious manner. The date of this grant is Nov. 16, 1851.
"It is evidently intimated here, that while granting his sanction to the extension of the enterprise, he renewed his sanction to it in its original form. I must here conclude, and defer again to another letter what I promised before, that is, some account of what passed in the audiences to which I myself was admitted by his Holiness."
An incident happened towards the end of Father Ignatius's audiences with the Holy Father, highly characteristic. Father Ignatius had made arrangements for a begging tour in Germany, and intended to inaugurate it by trying whathe could do in that line in Rome itself. Our General forbade him to beg of his Holiness, and Father Ignatius had made up his mind before to do so. After the prohibition he began to doubt whether it was binding, as the Pope was a higher superior than the General. He consulted an astute Roman theologian on his doubt, and the answer given was, "Lay the doubt itself before the Pope."