"Holy Father,--As it has pleased God by His divine providence so to ordain, that in His Church, under His Son, Jesus Christ crucified, all those who should believe in Him and be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, should recognize one universal and Catholic Church as Mother, whose commandments together with the ten of the law we should keep under pain of damnation, it is requisite that each one who aspires to eternal life should fix his eyes upon her. I, therefore, who am born of kings and relatives all baptized in her, as I myself also was, and what is more, from my infancy, unworthy as I am, have been called to the royal dignity, anointed and consecrated by the authority and by the ministers of the Church, under whose wing and in whose bosom I have been nourished and brought up, and by her instructed in the obedience due by all Christians to him whom she, guided by the Holy Spirit, has elected according to the ancient order and decrees of the primitive Church, to the holy Apostolic See as our head upon earth, to whom Jesus Christ in His last will has given power (speaking to St. Peter of her foundation on a living rock) of binding and loosing poor sinners from the chains of Satan, absolving us by himself or by his ministers for this purpose appointed, of all crimes or sins committed or perpetrated by us, we being repentant, as far as in us lies, making satisfaction for them after having confessed them according to the ordinance of the Church. I call my Saviour Jesus Christ to be my witness, the Blessed Trinity, the glorious Virgin Mary, all the Angels and Archangels, St. Peter, the pastor, my special intercessor and advocate, St. Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Andrew and all the holy apostles, St. George and in general all the Saints of Paradise,--that I have always lived in this faith, which is that of the universal Catholic Church, Apostolic and Roman, in which being regenerated, I have always had the intention of doing my duty to the holy Apostolic See. Of this, to my great regret, I have not been able to render due testimony to your Holiness, on account both of my detention in this captivity and of my long illness; but now that it has pleased God, my Holy Father, to permit for my sins and those of this unfortunate island, that I (the only one remaining of the blood of England and Scotland who makes profession of this faith) should, after twenty years of captivity, shut up in a narrow prison and at last condemned to die by the heretical States and Assembly of this country, as it has been to-day signified to me by the mouth of Lord Buckhurst, Amias Paulet my keeper, one Drew Drury, knight, and a secretary named Beale, in the name of their Queen, commanding me to prepare to receive death, offering me one of their bishops and a dean for my consolation (a priest that I had, having been taken from me long before by them, and held by them I know not where); I have thought it to be my first duty to turn me to God, and then to relate the whole to your Holiness in writing, to the end that, although I cannot let you hear it before my death, at least afterwards, the cause of it should be made manifest to you, which is, all things well considered and examined, their dread of subversion of their religion in this island, which they say I plan, and which is attempted for my sake, as well by those of their own subjects who obey your laws and are declared enemies (and who cause me to be prayed for as their Sovereign in their churches whose priests profess duty and subjection to me), as by strangers, and specially by the Catholic princes and my relations, and who (so they say) maintain my right to the crown of England. I leave it to your Holiness to consider the consequence of such a sentence, imploring you to have prayers made for my poor soul, and for all those who have died, or will die, in the same cause and the like sentence, and even in honour of God. I beg you to give your alms and incite the kings to do likewise to those who shall survive this shipwreck. And my intention being, according to the constitution of the Church, to confess, do penance as far as in me lies, and receive my Viaticum, if I can obtain my chaplain, or some other legitimate minister, to administer to me the said Sacraments; in default of this, with contrite and repentant heart, I prostrate myself at your Holiness' feet, confessing myself to God and to His Saints, and to the same your Paternity, as a very unworthy sinner and one meriting eternal damnation, unless it pleases the good God who died for sinners, to receive me in His infinite mercy among the number of poor penitent sinners trusting in his mercy--imploring you to take this my general confession in testimony of my intention to accomplish the remainder in the form ordained and commanded in the Church, if it is permitted me, and to give me your general absolution according as you know and think to be requisite for the glory of God, the honour of His Church, and the salvation of my poor soul, between which and the justice of God, I interpose the blood of Jesus Christ, crucified for me and all sinners, one of the most execrable among whom I confess myself to be, seeing the infinite grace I have received through Him, and which I have so little recognized and employed; the which would render me unworthy of forgiveness if His promise made to all those who, burdened with sin and spiritual woes coming to Him to be assisted by Him, and His mercy, did not encourage me, following His commandment to come to Him, bearing my burden in order to be relieved by Him of it like the prodigal son, and, what is more, offering my blood willingly at the foot of His cross, for the unwearied and faithful zeal which I bear to His Church, without the restoration of which I desire never to live in this unhappy world.
"And further, Holy Father, having left myself no goods in this world, I supplicate your Holiness to obtain from the very Christian king that my dowry should be charged with the payment of my debts, and the wages of my poor desolate servants, and with an annual obit for my soul and those of all our brethren departed in this just quarrel, having had no other private intention, as my poor servants, present at this, my affliction, will testify to you; as likewise how I have willingly offered my life in their heretical Assembly to maintain my Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion, and to bring back those of this island who have ignorantly gone astray (to wit, themselves); protesting that in this case I would willingly deprive myself of all the title and dignity of a Queen, and do all honour and service to theirs, if she would cease to persecute the Catholics; as I protest that that is the end at which I have aimed since I have been in this country, and I have no ambition or desire to reign, nor to dispossess any other for my personal advantage, as by illness and by long afflictions I am so weakened that I have no longer any desire to trouble myself in this world except with the service of His Church, and to gain the souls of this island to God; in testimony of which, at my end, I do not wish to falter in preferring the public salvation to my personal interests of flesh and blood, which cause me to pray you,--with a mortal regret for the perdition of my poor child, after having tried by all means to regain him,--to be a true father to him, as St. John the Evangelist was to the youth whom he withdrew from the company of robbers; to take, in short, all the authority over him that I can give you to constrain him, and if it pleases you to call upon the Catholic king, to assist you in what touches temporal matters, and especially that you two may together try to ally him in marriage. And if God, for my sins, permit that he should remain obstinate, I knowing no Christian prince in these times who works so much for the faith, or who has so many means to aid him in the bringing back of this island, as the Catholic king, to whom I am much indebted and obliged, being the only one who aided me with his money and advice in my needs, I, subject to your good pleasure, leave him all that I can have of power or interest in the government of this kingdom if my son obstinately remains outside the Church. But if he finds he can bring him back, I desire he shall be aided, supported and advised by him (the king of Spain) and my relations of Guise, enjoining him by my last will to hold them, after you, as his fathers, and to ally himself by their advice and consent, or in one of their two houses. And if it pleased God, I would he were worthy to be a son of the Catholic king. This is the secret of my heart and the end of my desires in this world, tending as I mean them, to the good of His Church and to the discharge of my conscience, which I present at the feet of your Holiness, which I humbly kiss.
"You shall have the true account of the manner of my last taking, and all the proceedings against me, and by me, to the end that, hearing the truth, the calumnies which the enemies of the Church wish to lay upon me may be refuted by you and the truth known, and to this effect I have sent to you this bearer, requesting your holy blessing for the end, and saying to you for the last time à Dieu. Whom I pray in His grace to preserve your person for long, for the good of His Church and your sorrowful flock, especially that of this island, which I leave very much astray, without the mercy of God and without your paternal care.
"Fotheringay, 23rd November, 1586."
She adds a postscript and signs herself,
"Of your Holiness the very humble and devoted daughter
MARIE,
Queen of Scotland,
Dowager of France."
Her letter to Mendoça is written in a freer and clearer style, and is, I think, a truer picture of her thoughts, as they spontaneously form in her mind, than that to the Pope.