It was indeed a matter that went
beyond us all.
"But the chief end of this letter is arrived at--Your Holiness asks
me to part with this boy. With the deepest regret at the rupture you
threaten to cause between myself and Holy Church if I disobey this
command, I must still utterly refuse to do so. So long as the child
looks upon me as a friend, so long will I be one to him. So long as
he will accept the shelter of my roof, so long shall he receive it.
I would rather break with a dozen Churches, a dozen forms of creed,
than be untrue to a child who trusts me! That is my answer to Your
Holiness, and in giving it I add the sincere expression of my sorrow
to cause you displeasure or pain. But I venture to pray you, Holy
Father, to pause and consider deeply before you eject me from the
Church for so simple and plain a matter. Let me as one who is
nearing the grave in company with yourself--as one who with yourself
must soon stand on that dark brink of the Eternal from which we see
the Light beyond--let me most humbly yet most earnestly point out to
you the far more serious things than my offence, which are
threatening Rome to-day. The people of all lands are wandering away
from faith, and wars and terrors are encompassing the land.
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