"Why, they say they pull together in that respect; but I do not believe it," replied the Cardinal.
It is indeed notorious how the worship of saints increases, as well as the fame of their miracles. The priests and the bishops favour the practice alike. The Cardinal, although he appeared to disapprove of this affair of Saint Philomena, was only instigated by his desire to pay greater homage to other saints, whose repute he was more interested in advocating. But what can be advanced in favour of these proceedings, when it is seen that the greatest saint in the Romish Church is that of whom the greatest lies have been invented? They only are true saints, who, without any of these pretensions, died, according to the old Latin phrase, in osculo domini; they alone are those whom God acknowledges as such, and whom we may hope to meet in heaven.
During my stay at Capua, before the termination of Lent, a certain Monsignor Lasteria, Bishop of Zante and Cephalonia, came on a visit to Cardinal Serra. He was a native of Capua, and had formerly been the Cardinal's secretary. The object of his visit was, apparently, to solicit the good offices of the Cardinal with the Propaganda, to obtain leave for him to resign the bishopric he held; possibly with a view of obtaining a translation to some see in the dominions of the King of Naples. The Cardinal had broached the matter to the Propaganda some time before, but the grand difficulty appeared to be the providing another bishop for Zante and Cephalonia. I was applied to on the occasion, and asked if I knew of any fit person whom I could recommend to this bishopric, which was a difficult post to fill, as the Romish Church was there placed between the Anglican and the Greek Church. The Cardinal repeatedly urged me to name some one of my acquaintance, to present to the Propaganda, instead of Monsignor Lasteria.
I was wearied by these frequent applications, and one day briefly told his Eminence that I had neither a Titus, nor a Timothy to propose; hoping that after such an observation I should be no more troubled on the subject. But not many days after he came to seek me with a very satisfied and condescending air.
"I hope," said he, "that you will acknowledge the will of God in the proposition I am about to make you. The holy Father, on the recommendation of the secretary of the Propaganda, has signified his approval of your succeeding Monsignor Lasteria yourself, in the bishopric of these two Ionian Islands; and besides which he invests you with the office of Vicar Apostolic of Corfu. He observed, however, after having spoken very favourably of you, that he could not compel you to accept this office in a foreign country, but at any rate, if it did not please you, it need only be for a short time, as he should, himself, be better satisfied to have you in Rome."
"Many thanks to your Eminence, as well as to the Pope, and to the secretary of the Propaganda. This office, which in the time of the apostles was very desirable, according to the words of St. Paul to Timothy,[81] is now no longer so; at least, not in my eyes. Indeed, such as the episcopacy is in our day, I would counsel no man to accept it: far less would I accept it myself. My objection does not apply alone to the see of the Ionian Islands, but to every bishopric whatsoever, belonging to the Church of Rome. The laws and general usages connected with them are such that I could never conform myself to them, either as regards practice or precept. I wish it therefore to be understood that I do not refuse a poor bishopric, in the hope of obtaining a rich one; it is the dignity itself, the prelacy that I object to: what I consider therefore as a dangerous acquisition, I am by no means disposed to possess."
"Come, take three days to consider of it. Your refusal is too hasty, you ought to reflect before you decide. Offer up your prayers, these three days, to the Lord and the most holy Madonna, that they may enlighten you."
"Well, I will wait three days, and offer up my prayers to the Lord, and at the end of that time I will communicate the result to your eminence."
A few hours after the expiration of the allotted period, the Cardinal came to me again, to know my decision.
"Everything," I replied, "strengthens me in the resolution I have already expressed to your Eminence, of declining to accept the bishopric. I look at what is true in the office, and at what is false. The duty of a bishop is essentially that of a shepherd; as the one leads his flock to pasture, so the other conducts his people into the way of truth. But the shepherd has become the doctor. He has, and very inappropriately, assumed a command, an authority, a jurisdiction, a power which usurps dominion: yet He who said to Peter, 'Feed my sheep, feed my lambs,' also said to him, and to all the apostles, 'Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you.'[82] Now the office of a bishop at the present day is totally opposite to what it ought to be. By a bishop, we understand an ecclesiastic who, in consequence of possessing a dominion, has authority and a right to command; which right it is pretended he receives from Christ, through the apostles. But it is evident that the apostles themselves never had such right. And what are our present bishops? Shepherds? Would to God they led their flocks to the pastures of truth, to the holy Word! If any one in the present day were to fulfil his duty as bishop, according to the original signification of the office, he would soon be at issue with Rome, from whence all the scandal proceeds, and which stigmatizes as innovations any return to the customs and observances of the early times of Christianity."