I received this announcement with pleasure; not because I had again to be mixed up with monks, their intrigues, and their immoralities, but because it afforded the prospect of my getting out of Rome, in which I could no longer bear to reside. As soon as Brocchetti had gone out of the room, Father Olivieri added:
"You know Brocchetti is old, and his head does not serve him so well now; he is not so capable of conducting the business of the provinces. I have begged of him to let you have the management, not only of the visitations, but also of the direction of the monasteries, and the government of the province. He will remain in office pro formâ, and you will in reality act as provincial. So you will learn what may be your own office in future."
"I accept, willingly, this new charge," I replied, "to serve the Order, and to do what is agreeable to you, Father General, and to my good friend, the Provincial, Brocchetti, whom I revere as a father. With him I am certain I shall perfectly agree, and I hope I shall meet your wishes also. Such a charge is fraught with difficulties, but I am not of a nature to be daunted by them. On principle, I hate evil; I have pity on those who commit it, and I do all I can to lead them back to good. I am a sworn enemy to hypocrisy, and I would it were banished from society. I could never agree with that axiom of St. Bernard's: 'Would that my brethren were hypocrites!' Utinam fratres mei hypocritæ essent! No; rather would I there was not a hypocrite on the face of the earth; for hypocrites are liars who falsify the things of Christ, under the cloak of religion. We have many who pursue this system, and I assure you, Father General, that I shall make it my especial care to mortify and expose them: certainly, I will persecute these Jesuits."
At these words, the Father General laughed heartily. "You are right," said he; "persecute all the Jesuits you find among the Dominicans."
Our visit began with the monasteries of the "Campagna Romana;" thence we went into Umbria and Tuscany: returning, we visited those of Patrimonio di S. Pietro. To some of them the good Brocchetti accompanied me; but this he only did for a little relaxation, for he did not mix himself up in any business whatsoever; and, with the exception of making a short discourse at the opening and closing of each visit, he did nothing. The rest was left to me. I acted as visitor, with full authority; so much so, that many things I did not even think it necessary to mention to him. The good old man was daily at his prayers. Oh, what a holy man he would have been if his head had not been full of popish errors! He prayed even during the night; but instead of praying to God, he was praying to the saints, and lavishing his affections upon the mother of Christ, instead of turning them to Christ himself. Whenever I found him in his room, he was always repeating his rosary and the office of the Blessed Virgin. Once there arose an argument between us about fasting, for which he was a great advocate.
"I think you do not much like fasting," said he.
"No; to say the truth, I do not. A moderate fast may be very well as a sanitary measure, but I do not think it equally good as a moral system; especially as those who practise it, generally attach so much importance to it. Is it not true, my good Father, that you, for instance, every time you fast, indulge yourself in the belief that you thereby merit the grace of God? and yet you teach me the doctrine of St. Paul, which says, grace is such, precisely because it has no merit of works. Grace is a gratuitous gift. If, then, our justification be by grace, it cannot be by works. What will render you justified before God? certainly not your own works, but the works of Christ, the Just One, imputed to us, the unjust, by faith in Him alone. This is my doctrine, and I know it to be yours also. But yet you trouble yourself about works, and attach merit to the exercise of them. I do that which my faith suggests, and I attach no importance thereto. Precisely as a servant who does his duty obeys his master, and performs his will, without pretending that the master is therefore his debtor. Who dare say to the Lord: 'Here are my works, now give me thy gracious gifts?' I should be ashamed to offer to the Lord my fast, as a thing acceptable to Him, when the Scripture tells us that all the works of our righteousness are before the Lord as filthy rags: I endeavour to do what faith inspires, and to do it for duty's sake; and from no other motive."
Father Brocchetti was a great admirer of the Thomasine school, and inclining a little to Jansenism. He was a firm upholder of the doctrine of St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, that we are justified by grace through faith. Often, when we have been conversing together on religion, has he repeated these words to me:—
"Remember that grand maxim, which our school has always maintained against the Jesuits, 'We are justified by grace, through faith.' This is what does honour to the Dominicans, who follow the doctrine of St. Augustine and St. Thomas."
I observed to him that the force of this truth came from St. Paul; and that, if we had not had it through Divine revelation, we should not have been bound to believe it.