Abbe d'Aigrigny

“ Impressions of early youth are indelible, and this was the first time, since his return from America, that Gabriel found himself in presence of Father d'Aigrigny; and although he did not shrink from the resolution he had taken, he regretted not to have been able, as he had hoped, to gather new strength and courage from an interview with Agricola and Dagobert. Father d'Aigrigny knew mankind too well not to have remarked the emotion of the young priest, and to have endeavored to explain its cause. ”

“ My son will not recognize the Abbe Saint-Albin, on account of the irregular life which his mother, La Florence, has led. He fears being laughed at for acknowledging children so different. The Abbe Dubois was a chief cause, too, why my son would not acknowledge this son. It was because the Abbe, aspiring to the Cardinal's hat, was jealous of every one who might be a competitor with him. I love this Abbe Saint-Albin, in the first place, because he is attached to me, and, in the second, because he is really very clever; he has wit and sense, with none of the mummery of priests. ”

“ Father d’Aigrigny grew livid, and his brow was bathed in cold sweat. He asked himself with terror, if, at the moment of reaching the goal, the obstacle was going to come from Gabriel, in favor of whom all other obstacles had been removed. This thought filled him with despair. Yet the reverend father contained himself admirably, remained calm, and answered with affectionate unction: “It is impossible to believe, my dear son, that you and I can ever be separated by an abyss—unless by the abyss of grief, which would be caused by any serious danger to your salvation. ”

“ The few who survive can yet be recognized by their military air; almost all of them, however, have the gout.
When any noble family had many children, one was dedicated to the church; at first some benefice, barely sufficient to pay for the expenses of education, was obtained, and ultimately he became Prince, Abbe, or Bishop, as circumstances dictated.
This was the real Abbe; but many young men who disliked the perils of the Chevalier, called themselves Abbes when they came to Paris. ”

“ His lenten fare now let me share, I pray thee, Lord Abbot, in charitie!"
—"Though Simon the Deacon hath pulse in store, To our patron Saint foul shame it were Should wayworn guest, with toil oppress'd, Meet in his Abbey such churlish fare.
"There is Peter the Prior, and Francis the Friar, And Roger the Monk shall our convives be; Small scandal I ween shall then be seen; They are a goodly companie!"
The Abbot hath donn'd his mitre and ring, His rich dalmatic, and maniple fine; And the choristers sing, as the lay-brothers bring To the board a magnificent turkey and chine. ”

“ The deluded mob began to appreciate the ferocious cowardice of the action it had been about to commit. Not one durst go alone to strike the half expiring man. Suddenly, Father d’Aigrigny uttered a dying rattle, his head and one of his arms stirred with a convulsive movement, and then fell back upon the stones as if he had just expired.
Gabriel uttered a cry of anguish, and threw himself on his knees close to Father d’Aigrigny, exclaiming: “Great Heaven! he is dead!” ”

“ The monks bound themselves not only to recognize the prescribed order of succession, but further to substitute the primacy of the king for that of the pope. 'We affirm,' they said, 'that King Henry is the head of the Anglican Church, that the Roman bishop, falsely styled pope and sovereign pontiff, has no more authority than any other bishop; and we promise to preach Christ simply and openly according to the rule of Scripture and of the orthodox and catholic doctors.' A sign, a word from the State was sufficient to make the papal army pass from the camp of Rome to the camp of the king. ”

“ At one o’clock the Abbe des Forges arrived, and she made me sit down to dinner with them. This abbe was a pupil of the famous Bishop of Auxerre, who was still living. I talked so well on the subject of grace, and made so many quotations from St. Augustine, that the abbe and the devotee took me for a zealous Jansenista character with which my dress and appearance did not at all correspond. My sweetheart did not give me a single glance while the meal was going on, and thinking she had some motives I abstained from speaking to her. ”

“ And on this day also died the holy father Abba Gabriel, the sixty-seventh Archbishop of the city of Alexandria. This father became a monk in his early years in the desert of Scete, and he fought a great fight, and he devoted himself to the ascetic life for many years, with fasting, and prayer, and prostrations, and vigils, and hunger, and thirst; and he was humble, and simple, and loved to live by himself. One day there came into his cell a certain elder, whose name was Maximus to be blessed by him, and Gabriel prayed over him and he went forth to depart to his own place. ”

“ Archbishop and legate thought it politic to follow the ruling of Alberic to the end, and the parchment was handed to Abélard. And priest and prelate, monk and abbot, shamelessly stood around, whilst the greatest genius of the age, devoted to religion in every gift of his soul, as each one knew, faltered out the familiar symbol. ‘Good Jesus, where wert thou?’ Abélard asks, long years afterwards. There are many who ask it to-day.
So ended the holy Council of Soissons, Provincial Synod of the arch-diocese of Rheims, held under the ægis of a papal legate, in the year of grace [p. 161] 1121. ”

“ Those waters, which the magistrates would have desired to see motionless, were strongly agitated, and the Roman ship, already dismasted, might be suddenly engulfed. Almost every day some citizen, some woman, or even some monk, left the Church of the pope and entered the Church of the Gospel; or else some foreign Christian, who had forsaken everything to obey his conscience, entered the free city, principally by the gate of France. Those pious refugees were received like brothers. ”

“ Ailbe, Saint, Bishop of Emly in Munster (Ireland) ; d. about 527, or 541. It is very difficult to sift out the germs of truth from among the mass of legends which have gathered round the life of this Irish saint. Beyond the fact, which is itself disputed, that he was a disciple of St. Patrick and was probably ordained priest by him, we know really nothing of the history of St. Ailbe. Legend says that in his infancy he was left in the forest to be devoured by the wolves, but that a she-wolf took compassion upon him and suckled him. ”

“ Were several pious laymen banished to a desert, and were they, from not having among them a priest consecrated by a bishop, to agree in selecting one of their number, whether married or not, he would be as truly a priest, as if all the bishops of the world had consecrated him. In this way were Augustine, Ambrose, and Cyprian elected.
"Hence it follows that laymen and priests, princes and bishops, or, as we have said, ecclesiastics and laics, have nothing to distinguish them but their functions. They have all the same condition, but they have not all the same work to perform. ”

“ The partisans of Rome were amazed. They expected to see criminals endeavouring to dissemble their faults, and they met with confessors of Christ with uplifted heads and words of power. Desirous of counterbalancing these preachings, the Bishop of Augsburg ordered his suffragan and his chaplain to ascend the pulpit. But the Romish priests understood better how to say Mass than to preach the Gospel. "They shout, they bawl," said some. "They are stupid fellows," added all their hearers, shrugging their shoulders. ”

“ The Abbey of Aghamacart lies to the S. about 6 m. from Aghaboe, once very extensive, and now in ruins. At a distance nothing appears but the gloomy belfry; but the visitor soon arrives at an arch of good workmanship which opens into the body of the ruins, or rather into the remains of the chapel. There is, indeed, little to attract attention, were it not for a legendary tale, of a monk whose affection for a lovely nun was met with such reciprocity on the part of the lady, that gossip scandal would soon have spread her thousand wings. ”

“ His great fixed idea was to destroy the Roman papacy in England, not because of its errors, but because he felt that it robbed princes of the affection and often of the obedience of their subjects. 'If I grant my bishops what they ask for,' he said, 'in my turn I ask them to make oath never to permit any jurisdiction to be restored to the Roman bishop in my kingdom; never to call him pope, universal bishop, or most holy lord, but only bishop of Rome, colleague and brother, according to the ancient custom of the oldest bishops.' [108] All the prelates were eager to obey the king ”

“ The nunneries of Prez and Sopwell—cells of the Abbey—are stated to be little better than brothels. ‘The brethren of the Abbey, some of whom, as it is reported, are given over to all the evil things of the world, neglect the service of God altogether. They live with harlots and mistresses publicly and continuously within the precincts of the monastery and without.’
The Archbishop adds that he had warned the Abbot to cure these abuses before securing the papal commission. ”

“ But while those who had their hearts opened to the truth received with joy the words of the two chaplains, the monks, the priests, and all the friends of the papacy attacked them vehemently. ‘Heresy! heresy!’ cried a Franciscan named Scot; ‘Guillaume and Rough will carry the governor unto the devil.’ And all the monks and sacristans took up the cry, ‘Heresy!’ A man named Watson, of the household of the bishop of Dunkeld, composed a satirical ballad against the chaplains and the regent which had a great vogue. ”

“ Among these monks there were men of independent, perhaps of fanatical, character, whom no favors could gain over.
One of them, by name Peto, until then unknown, but afterwards of great repute in the catholic world as cardinal legate from the pope in England, [204] thinking that Forest had not said enough, determined to go further. Anne Boleyn’s elevation filled him with anger: he longed to speak out, and as the king and all the court would be present in the chapel on the 1st of May, he chose for his text the words of the prophet Elijah to King Ahab: The dogs shall lick thy blood. ”

“ Some monks had crept among his hearers, and Bilney, perceiving them, called out: ‘The Lamb of God taketh away the sins of the world. If the Bishop of Rome dares say that the hood of St. Francis saves, he blasphemes the blood of the Saviour.’ John Huggen, one of the monks, immediately made a note of the words. Bilney continued: ‘To invoke the saints and not Christ, is to put the head under the feet and the feet above the head.’ [145] Richard Seman, the other brother, took down these words. ”

“ And laughing he asked again: "Is she young and handsome, this abbess Meroflede?"
"Seigneur, I could not answer your question, never having seen her but from a distance and enveloped in her veils."
"If she envelops herself in her veils she must be ugly," put in Richulf, shaking his head doubtfully. "Are the lands of the abbey fertile? Has it many herds of swine? ”

“ The friars were astonished; their consciences told them that Gabriel's words were but too true, that a monkish life was not in conformity with the will of God, and that no one could dispose of their persons better than themselves.
FERMENT IN WITTEMBERG.
Thirteen Augustines quitted the convent together, and laying aside the costume of their order, assumed a lay dress. Those who possessed any learning attended the lectures of the university, in order one day to be serviceable to the Church ”

“ The Scottish Parliament was to open at Easter, and the moment was approaching. Instead of one there would be (so to speak) two parliaments. The party of the opposition, the earls of Huntley, Argyle, Murray, and Bothwell, a very great number of barons, knights, bishops, and abbots, met at Perth a week before the day of convocation, and having drawn up certain articles, they sent them to the regent and his council by the hands of the bishop of Orkney and Sir John Campbell, uncle to the earl of Argyle. Let the cardinal, they said, [161] be set at liberty; let the New Testament be interdicted ”

“ She is very lovely, Angelo, and will fetch a magnificent price, maid or no maid. I suppose it would be of no use attempting to pass her off at Algiers as a virgin? I am afraid the eunuchs belonging to the Dey's seraglio are too well experienced in these matters. Farewell. But I forgot I have informed her that she will be consigned to my sister, the Lady Abbess at the Convent of St Theresa. So you must for a few hours assume your old disguise of the abbess, which will deliver her to your enjoyment without trouble. May the saint you most approve of have you in his holy keeping. ”

“ The catholic members of the council, deserted by a perjured prince, felt themselves unable henceforth to oppose the torrent which was advancing with irresistible power. ‘All the catholics,’ says Sister Jeanne, ‘were sorely grieved.’ The pope blamed the bishop for abandoning his church, and reproached him for his cowardice. [401] ‘That miserable city, having lost its prince and pastor,’ said people in Italy, ‘will become the asylum of every villain and the throne of heresy.’ [402] But what caused so much sorrow to the papists was the source of immense joy to the evangelicals. ”

“ Abigail. O, rapturous answer! O, noble disciple of Æsculapius! The lips of the lone orphan will bless you; the tears of the lone orphan shall bless you; the smiles of the lone orphan—
Dr. A. Be calm, be calm. In what way can I assist you?
Abigail. You have beneath your roof a noble lady—
Dr. A. Eh?
Abigail. From a foreign clime. You hold her here in secret. Let me but get her name in my autograph album, and Abigail Alllove will die happy.
Dr. A. Noble lady? (Aside.) Another lunatic.
Abigail. Yes, the name of "The Duchess of Dublin." ”