With a convulsive fit of laughter, he replied: “Yes; it is just it. If we cannot take away the soul of the poor woman out of the flames of purgatory, we will, at all events, eat a fine sucking pig!”
The other thirteen priests filled the room with laughter, to show their appreciation of their host’s wit.
However, their laughter was not of long duration. With a feeling of shame and uncontrollable indignation, I pushed away my plate with such force, that it crossed the table, and nearly fell on the floor, saying, with a sentiment of disgust which no pen can describe: “I would rather starve to death than eat of that execrable dish; I see in it the tears of the poor man; I see the blood of his starving children; it is the price of a soul. No! no, gentlemen; do not touch it. You know, Mr. Curate, how 30,000 priests and monks were slaughtered in France, in the bloody days of 1792. It was for such iniquities as this that God Almighty visited the church in France. The same future awaits us here in Canada, the very day that people will awaken from their slumber and see that, instead of being ministers of Christ, we are vile traders of souls, under the mask of religion.”
The poor curate, stunned by the solemnity of my words, as well as by the consciousness of his guilt, lisped some excuse. The sucking pig remained untouched; and the rest of the dinner had more the appearance of a burial ceremony than of a convivial repast.
By the mercy of God, I had redeemed my cowardice of the day before. But I had mortally wounded the feelings of that curate and his friends, and forever lost their good-will.
It is in such ways that God was directing the steps of his unprofitable servant through ways unknown to him. Furious storms were constantly blowing around my fragile bark, and tearing my sails into fragments. But, every storm was pushing me, in spite of myself, towards the shores of eternal life, where I was to land safely a few years later.
Chapter XLVII.
LETTER FROM THE REV. BISHOP VANDEVELD, OF CHICAGO—VAST PROJECT OF THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE RICH VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PRAIRIES OF THE WEST, TO RULE THAT GREAT REPUBLIC—THEY WANT TO PUT ME AT THE HEAD OF THE WORK—MY LECTURES ON TEMPERANCE AT DETROIT—INTEMPERANCE OF THE BISHOP AND PRIESTS OF THAT CITY.
On the 15th of December, 1850, I received the following letter:
Chicago, Ill., Dec. 1st, 1850.