Lamy of Santa Fe Read Online Free PDF Page A

Lempdes—there Lamy was able to disclose his intentions without meeting obstacles. Even so, saying a final goodbye was hard in his weakened state after the recent illness which had followed upon his great decision. But affairs had been set in train, there was no time either to grieve, or to ease what must be done, for the date had been set when the young Auvergnats were to meet their new bishop at the Sulpician Seminary in Paris.
    So it was that they were northbound in the Paris diligence before word of their flight became general. Friends were astounded, and Machebeuf’s father, the leading baker of Riom, was enraged as well as hurt when the young priest who had seen the fugitives waiting for the coach before dawn hurried about town with his news. But by then nothing could be done to reverse matters. Lamy and Machebeuf reached Paris safely, reported to the seminary at number 120 rue du Bac, where they were received with “paternal and affectionate cordiality,” and settled down to await the bishop of Cincinnati.
    They found a remarkable population of missioners on the alert—eight priests preparing to depart for China, Cochinchina, and Tong-King in Siam. Other parties had already gone to the Orient, and still others would follow. According to seminary gossip, the endurances awaiting in China made those expected by the Auvergnats destined for America seem less formidable. It appeared that priests going to the Asian kingdoms would be obliged, in order not to be noticed, to wear Chinese garb, and smoke a pipe four feet long all day, and never be seen to read the breviary, and use a small stick of ivory for a fork, and sleep on the floor with a simple mat for a bed—all this in addition to the chance of persecutions rumored to be far worse than any elsewhere. It was comforting news, of a sort, to send to the home villages left behind near Clermont. Meantime, Lamy and Machebeuf took from their bundles their supply of heavy Auvergnat mountain cloth. They first had it dyed black, and then ordered cloaks made from it, with extra linings of black cashmere for warmth in unknown America.
    In a day or two Machebeuf heard from his sister at home that their father was inconsolably chagrined that his son should have left home without taking leave.
    â€œVery dear Papa,” he wrote at once, “let me assure you that it was not through indifference or lack of consideration for you, but in reality through obedience to the Superior of the Seminary, who enjoined upon me the most inviolable secrecy. In the face of all the longing which I had to tell you goodbye, he insisted that the interview would be too painful for both of us.… The sacrifice was great for me, but my course was marked out and I had to hold to it.
    When Bishop Purcell arrived in Paris from Bordeaux, he learned that one of his recruits was in disgrace at home, and wrote on his behalf.
    â€œDear Sir,” he addressed the elder Machebeuf, “my heart feels fully the sorrow that the departure of your dear son for the missions of America has caused you,” and went on to speak of a father’s love which on occasion must include sacrifice. Begging him to forgive his son, the bishop offered an august consolation.
    â€œIt was in this manner,” he wrote, “that the great Apostle of the Indias, St Francis Xavier, passed the house of his parents without saluting them, to go to a barbarous land much farther away than ours,” and he closed by assuring the baker of Riom that he would love his son for him, who would pray for him and render him blessed on earth and in heaven by the souls who would be saved by his ministry. Then, “pray for him, and for me,” concluded Purcell. Full forgiveness came from Riom in early July, along with a gift of five hundred francs to the young Father Machebeuf, who reported that the bishop was delighted. It would be possible to go to America with a lighter heart.
    Purcell was a large-natured