A BRAVE FRENCH BISHOP

New Zealand Tablet, 5 September 1912, Page 49

A BRAVE FRENCH BISHOP

While Portugal continues to persecute the Catholic Church, her elder and stronger sister Republic loses no opportunity of giving her a lesson in tyranny from the banks of the Seine (says the Paris correspondent of the Catholic Standard and Times). Another French Bishop has been put on his trial. This time the trial is not on the common charge of denouncing unclean school manuals, nor the frivolous one of flying the Papal flag, but on the more important count of not having delivered up to the liquidators title deeds to the extent of 900,000 francs, which the pious dead had left to the poor and helpless of the diocese of Digne in care of its chief pastor. A few years ago, during the .discussion in the French Chamber of Deputies on the separation law, the late Bishop of Digne felt his end was nigh. Calling to his side one whom he believed would succeed him, he entrusted to his care the patrimony of the charitable institutions of the diocese, 900,000 francs, which no human law dare touch. And this is why Bishop Castellan, the successor in question, stands in a dock today . But the French Government did not know the mettle of the prelate from whom they had vainly tried to extract the moneys which he had sworn to defend, as the court procurator found to his cost at the last session of the famous trial. ' ‘Your first duty,’ said the insolent lawyer, turning to the Bishop in the course of his final speech, ‘should have been to provide _ for the consignment of the valuables that had been given to you by your predecessor. In a flash the Bishop was on his feet. ‘ You speak to me,’ he said in cold, cutting tones, looking the lawyer in the eyes. ‘ How dare you draw down such a subject ? Anyhow, know that I have made by official visit to Rome, and I have given to the Sovereign Pontiff an account of my stewardship. There, sir, is my duty as a Bishop.’ And the crowd in the court, good, bad, and indifferent Catholics as they were, broke into applause, and the judge, threatening to clear the building, postponed giving his sentence until July 11. In order to forestall cooked versions that may possibly find their way abroad by means of the Masonic network that covers the face of Europe, it is advisable to give the Bishop’s speech delivered in court. ‘ Through deference to the tribunal, as well as a duty in conscience,’ said Bishop Castellan, I think myself bound to explain certain facts on which during the trial I thought advisable to observe silence. In the accusation formulated against me there is mention of a mandate that I had violated, of valuables that I

had put to uses other than those for which they were intended.

'* Now, when I came to Digne I had a mandate, but one far different to that spoken of by the officials of the Government. As Bishop elected by the Holy See I did not receive investiture from the State. My mandate came from the Pope alone. He made it a duty for me to defend the property of the Church and to oppose every attempt made against it. This mandate I solemnly swore on the day of my episcopal consecration to faithfully fulfil. I have done my best to fulfil it, and I shall do so until the end.

‘ With regard to the officials of the Government, I can ask them without fear: Have you deposited anything with me or invested me with any mission ? From them I received nothing; I have nothing therefore to restore. If certain things of value recognised as pertaining to my predecessor have come into my hands, the fact is not due to confidence of the. State administrators. They have vainly tried to prove that the sums demanded of me were of the kind of goods belonging to the episcopal household. Neither their nature, their destination, nor their origin warranted them to be considered as such. They were deposits placed under the guardianship of religion, which I should use for pious and charitable ends, that could not be confounded with the belongings of the episcopal income. These valuables should not be handed over either to administrators or representatives of the State. Besides, no man can impede a Bishop from rising above considerations of simple legality that are always more or less contingent. ... I must simply declare that my mission is to preserve for their destination the goods of the Church. Had I given them into other hands,should have been guilty of an abuse of confidence. Thus I feel persuaded I have not violated the civil law and I incur no penalty.’ The Catholic Times states that Mgr. Castellan, Bishop of Digne, and his Vicar-General who were brought before one of the courts on the charge of having wrongfully appropriated ecclesiastical property have been acquitted. All the French courts are not servile instruments of the Government.