THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 495, 6 October 1882, Page 9

THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS.

(Correspondence of the Catholic Review.) Thb Paru Journal — not a particnlarly religious journal, I am sorry to say— gives a charming picture, full of feeling and truth, of the Archbishop and his coadjutor who adorn the unhappy country which at present is very prolific of personages of quite a different character. Have your ever put your foot in the Archiepiscopal palace ? Have you read " Les Miserables " of Victor Hugo ? Well, the house of Mgr. Guibert bears a singular resemblance to the house of Mgr. Bienvenu, the bishop in "Les Miserables." Mgr. Guibait is the Bishop of the miserable of Paris. Mgr. Guibert is simplicity under the purple, charity under the mitre and finesse mingled with simplicity. iMgr. Guibert is also patriotism. At Tours, during the invasion he certainly did not go to meet Garibaldi a* has toea lyingly and stupidly related, but entertained M. Cremieux and his comrades of the Delegation at the bishopric, which was, so far a cruel tribute enough paid to thehanlness of the times. But the prelate and the Israelite lawyer both belonged to the church of the intellect and got on well together. When the Delegation beat a retreat to Bordeaux, the shepherd remained alone at the head of his flock to meet the invader. One day two peasants, surprised with their guns still smoking in their hands, were going to be shot. Mgr. Guibert succeeded in obtaining their pardon from the commander of the German troops. •' It is on condition, " said the latter, " that you preach submission to your diocese. " "I am a priest, " the Bishop replied, firmly, " but lam a Frenchman. As a priest I can only tleplore the evils of war ; as to blaming the defence of the country by her children, you need never ask it." A little later, a war idemnity of 5,000,000f. was imposed by the Prussians on the city of Tours. Now there remained only a few hundred thousand francs in the municipal treasury. The Bishop wrote to the Prince Imperial of Germany, who happened then to be at Tours, and after considerable correspondence the sum was reduced to eleven hundred thousand francs, and this the inhabitants were dispensed from paying by the signing of the armistice. "At that time, " says the Cardinal, with the sly smile which is the only vengeance that he sometimes allows himself, "the republicans discovered that Bishops might still be good for something." Does not thig prelate, intervening between the conqueror and his prey, recall to you the holy Pope, Leo the Great, stopping Attila at the gatea of Rome? The successor of the martyrs Aff re, Sibour ard Darbois, in spite of himself— for it required the reiterated pressure of M. Thiers to overcome the resistance opposed to the modesty of Mgr. Guibert— is anythiug but a grand seigneur. It is not his fault if the house he lives in, is vast and noble of aspect. He has converted his state dining-room into a chapel where, at one time, bride and bridegroom come to have their union blessed, at another, be gives confirmation to poor little children brought up by chaiity. He does not even enjoy the fine gardens of the palace ; the birds are the masters there without meeting with any distuibauce from him. He does nothing but pray, work and give. There is no longer a sentinel as formerly at the door of the archbishopric, and instead of a Swiss there is an old gate keeper with her little children. This great house, where everything appears to sleep exci-pt virtue and alms, has the placid and recollected aspect of a convent in the provinces whose locks have not yet been picked by our rulers. The immense reception-parlors on "the ground floor are never opened ; they are, as if they were not. The two or three rooms on the 6ecDnd story which the Archbishop occupies are hardly more magnificent than the interior of Mgr. Myriel, of " Lps Miserables." Were it not for the baluster of the stairs in wrought iron, and in the entrance hall two beautiful Gobelin tapestries — the one representing the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, the other, the Vocation of Si. Peter, after Raphael— it would be impossible to find anything in this dwelling that speaks to the eye ; but everything there speaks to the soul. It is there that Mgr. Guibert, still green under the snows of four score, and Mgr. Richard, his coadjutor, rival each other in selfdenial. The Arcbishop of Larissa dwells in a room with which the humblest cuie would hardly be satisfied. He has, however, one luxury ;it is his library. His books are what he loves best after his poor and sick, whom he visits unceasingly. The health of Mgr. Richard is delicate, but he overworks himself, carried away by a zeal without bounds. After his last recovery M#r. Guibert said to him scolding him mildly with that light southern accent which adds a caress, and, as it were, a perfume to his words : " My dear friend, when I asked you for my coadjutor it was that you might soon succeed me ; but if you continue to abuse your strength, it is you who will go before me, and you will cover us both with ridicule. " The only luxury which Mgr. Myriel would allow in his home was neatness ; that takes nothing from the poor, Victor Hugo makes him Bay. On the other hand, he had cou verted his carriage into alms. The three thousand francs which the council-general had voted him for the expense of his carriage and visitations, went to the suprojt of the orphans and f .undlings ; and the sick in the hospital ate, •fuder the form of beef soup, the food of the absent horses. * His stable, too, has been a great care to Mgr. Guibert He would have wished to have it as deserted as his reception- parlors. But he had to rtßign himself to keep a hoise. The successors of the Gondis, Noailles, Beaumonts, and other prelates of illustrious birth, goes out in a one-horse carriage, and regrets that he cannot go on foot like the lowliest of his curates. The coachman of his Eminence succeeded, however, one day, by dint of the skilfullest diplomacy, in getting another horse into the stable. The introduction of the horse of Ulysses and his accomplice, Binon, into the walls of Troy was less difficult. " The solitary nag of the Archbishop was becoming too old ; really a successor was badly wanted ; there was inhumanity in making him work. In short, Monseigneur must consent to the purchase of a horse. " The coachman thought he bad coaqaered.

" What shall we do with the old one ?" said the Cardinal. " We shall keep them both if your Eminencejpermits, and they will be less fatigued when harnessed together." " I see what your are coming to," returned the Archbishop, laughing. " You want to force me to keep two horses, to-day. A little later, and, if I let you have your own way now, you would compel me to take a groom. No, no ! keep the new horse and lead the old one to the Little Sisters of the Poor. They can make good use of him when they are travelling from door to door to get food for their old people." Take away his poor from the Archbishop of Paris, and with his hermit mode of life he could easily do with less than M. Roche would allot him Take away from the poor the revenue of their Archbishop, and where are they to go to get a crust ? At what door shall they knock ? At the Elysee ? Oh, good heavens.! none of them would ever dream of it. At the archbishopric two or three hundred begging letters arrive every week. The budget of the Archbishop of Paris is the budget of those who have none themselves. Some years ago, his revenue was nibbled at to the extent of 5,000 francs, he alone perceived it. By redoubling his economy he made up for the deficit. He gives unceasingly and yet he will not leave any debts. His financial motto is th« : Neither debts nor savings." His family have been forewarned that it will not inherit anything from him except the memory of hid chanties. He will try, however, he says, to leave enough to bury him. Every morning he begins the day by meditating on death . He was born at Aix five years after M. Thiers. He is of the same age as Victor Hugo. His spirit dwells in eternity ; his heart belongs to suffering humanity. In the midst of the little folk, the humble, the delegates of the Catholic circles, he beams with good humor. This it the army of which he is general. The most unhappy and most despised are hu guard of honor. He is affable and gay, with a benevolent gaiety like a ray of sunlight for the sick. One can recognise the days when he has been most extra vant by the contentment which then illumiues his features. His only large personal expense is the income of 10,000 francs a year he allows his coadjutor. But the angel of charity loses nothing by this ; Mgr. Richard considers what he receives only as a trust, a trust he abuses by giving much more than he receives. Thus there reigns between these two accomplices a rivalry without truce which will end only with the death of one of them.