Cardinal Zelada said that, when he was in the Conclave, another Cardinal sent him an artichoke, which he presented to another Cardinal, who passed it on to a third, until it came back to Cardinal Zelada. After this had happened six times the latter terminated its travels by throwing it out of the window, but not before it had cost him twenty-five crowns. For it is customary when a Cardinal makes a present to a “confrère,” to give at least two sequins to the secretary of the donor, or to some other member of his household.
Of the innumerable friars secularised by the Emperor Joseph II., only two hundred have proved fit to be employed as parish priests. The nuns of the convents destroyed by his Majesty had permission to enter other convents if they voluntarily chose to continue a monastic life. Scarcely any of the German nuns have confined themselves a second time, and only one in Lombardy, who has come to Rome for that purpose. The Pope has allowed her a few days to see the city.
The King of Spain has been very anxious of late for the canonisation of a lady who died about a hundred and fifty years ago. Two miracles are necessary for this purpose, and only one could be proved to have been performed during her lifetime. It was therefore proposed to supply the other by the fact of her body having remained uncorrupted for such a length of time. Accordingly the tomb was opened, in order to ascertain whether the body had been preserved naturally or by being embalmed. Unfortunately, it crumbled into dust as soon as it was exposed to the air, which was held to be decisive against her sanctity. The King, however, was so determined to have his way, that he caused a second congregation to be convened, but the result has been as unfavourable to his wishes as before.
It is said of the Duke de Chartres (afterwards Duke of Orleans, commonly known as Philippe Egalité), that he was “paresseux sur mer, poltron sur terre, polisson partout.”
Two instances of the cruelty practised in convents came under the Countess de Château Dauphin’s personal knowledge. One was of a friar belonging to one of the mendicant orders at Turin, who was chained under the cellar-stairs for ten years, fed upon bread and water, and kept in a most shocking state. The other was of a friar who was confined for twenty-five years in a room of a convent near her country house, where he was deprived of the sight of a single human being—his food being passed to him through a hole. Through the Count’s influence he was at length set at liberty, and permitted to walk about the convent.