"From what you say it appears you are not contented with your present situation; you are like the Israelites who sighed after the leeks and onions of Egypt."
"I confess to you, Padre Generale, that with your permission, and that of the pope, I should be most delighted either to return to Viterbo, or to leave Rome, and go to any other city, to do all you wish."
"Well! this is curious! What a pretty figure I should make, undoing all that I have done! What would the pope say? What would the cardinals whom we have visited say? Even the monks would find something to say, if you were no longer the Rector whom I have appointed."
"As to the monks, you need not trouble yourself about them: they have already murmured enough that I am placed here. Accustomed as they have been to see only aged men called to the office, they do not like my being where I am; they would indeed be very glad if I remained no longer. I could easily, through the aid of the pope or the cardinals, find means to resign, without any blame accruing to your reverence."
At this moment we were interrupted. Several days passed before I again saw the Superior, who then received me with great coldness. This man had, as is well known, a remarkable talent for preaching, so that he passed for the finest orator of his time. The Jesuit Finetti and the Franciscan Pacifico of Brescia were certainly inferior to him. Proud of the applause he continually received, Father Jabalot daily expected to be elevated to the dignity of the purple, so much so that amongst his friends he himself spoke of it as certain and near at hand. Father Velzi, another Dominican, the Maestro of the Sacred Palace, had been created a cardinal a short time before; everything, therefore, encouraged our General in the belief that he too was one "infieri," for so in Rome are those called who are about to be made cardinals, or who so flatter themselves. Consequently, he immediately assumed an air of dignity and patronage. Such was this Father Jabalot; bulky in person, gentle in his manners, he was already prepared for the cardinal's hat. To those who congratulated him he mildly answered with downcast eyes, and a modest smile of internal approbation; and when any one spoke of his high attainments, of his claims to the office, of the ornament he would be to the sacred purple, "Stavasi tutto umile in tanta gloria,"—he was humble amid so great glory.
The good friar was well aware that I was not one of those who pay court to cardinals, real or expectant. He knew very well that he could not make a tool of me to advance his ambition; that on the contrary, eschewing all ambitious views myself, I should have been a continual thorn in his side; in fact, he saw he had gained nothing by having brought me to Rome; and I think he repented having done so. However that might be, he was determined to try a last expedient. "Perhaps," said he, "you do not like to be the principal of a college, since the office is one of very great responsibility; and accustomed as you are to have your time at your own disposal, you may find it too great a confinement. If this be all your difficulty, I can easily rectify that point; I have other posts to offer you, which perhaps you may like better: for instance, the office of librarian at the Casanatense is vacant, and I can give it you, if you would like it; in fact the pope, only the other day, speaking of you, told me that he should be pleased to see you in that post. I am persuaded he would be delighted if I mentioned to him that you had made the exchange. You shall have three days to turn it over in your mind, and then you can give me your answer."
"My answer," I replied, "is ready this moment, if you will permit me to give it; I have no need of ruminating on the matter to come to a decision. It is not the office of Principal that is the difficulty with me; on the contrary, that is the very one in which I feel I could do some good. But I find it impossible to live in this Roman monastery, where there is nothing but opposition, contrariety, and dissension. Suppose, for a moment, I should wish to reform any abuses that might exist in the college, I should be sure to encounter a war of persecution, as has ever been the case. My predecessor has not yet recovered from the effects of his attempt in that way. Above all, there is one thing in which I feel the great necessity of alteration, and that is, in the course of study. We are barbarians with our scholastic theology; it is that of the middle ages; it is horrible! Aristotle is taken as the expositor of the Bible; his works, with those of Pietro Lombardo, are the two text books of Thomas Aquinas. In Christian schools the apostle should explain the philosopher. The famous motto of the Platonists, 'Ipse dixit,' has its counterpart in the motto of the Thomasines, 'Ut ait philosophus et Magister sententiarum.' Now, Father General, does this appear to you to be the proper way to explain theology, which is the science of reasoning upon, and drawing conclusions from, the principles of Divine Revelation,—that is to say, from the Holy Scriptures, since there is no other revelation than what they set forth?"
"But our Order has always held this system of instruction; our theology has always been that of St. Thomas Aquinas, which is authorized by the Church; and whoso has ever deviated from his doctrine, said Pope John XXII., has always been suspected as to his faith (fuit semper de fide suspectus). How would you think then of introducing any reform in such matters? Certainly, all the lecturers and masters would to a man rise against it. For my part, I cannot see why the system hitherto adopted should not be still pursued: our Order has been always distinguished for its theologians, and this distinction they derive from the study of the 'Summa Theologiæ' of St. Thomas Aquinas. Take this from them, and it would be like taking the sun from the universe; all would be darkness."