14.  Scalabrini to Rampolla²³

Piacenza, May 25, 1893

Your Eminence,

The very serious charge you made known to me in your letter of April 4th, “accusing some missionaries,” hurt me deeply, even though I had every reason to believe it without foundation. I wrote immediately to the Provincial of the missionaries themselves – a pious, prudent, and wise man, imbued with unabashedly and eminently Roman principles – who, in turn, answered me with the letter which I am dutifully forwarding to you along with this one.²⁴

            I then had all the registers of the Motherhouse examined, in which are recorded all the objects and books the members bring with them when they enter the Institute and all those given to them when they leave for America. Well, then, Your Eminence, I am pleased to assure you that no member brought with him the unfortunate booklet you refer to. In fact,

the Superior of the house declared to me in the most emphatic way that he never heard any of them mention the booklet explicitly or implicitly, a sign they never even heard of it.

            I have every reason to believe that to my missionaries are often attributed the questionable ideas and bad behavior of priests who have fled to America, who, for their own reasons, boast about the institute in Piacenza and usurp its name. Card. Simeoni of holy memory ascertained this more than once and told me so himself.²⁵

            Whether the person who made the accusation did it with good intentions, by mistake, out of malice or selfishness or for some other reason, only God knows. One thing is certain: that calumny always achieves something, and God forbid that it has achieved something even this time.

            At any rate, if you have at hand concrete information on this matter, please share it with me and tell me in what part of America, in what city these deplorable ideas have spread. On my part, I am ready and determined to immediately call back the guilty ones and expel them from the Congregation.

            But Your Eminence knows better than I that general accusations brought against an organization with phrases like some, certain ones, serve no good purpose. I look forward to a reply for my own information.

With personal best wishes and the deepest veneration, I remain,

Your most devoted and obedient servant,

John Baptist Scalabrini, Bishop of Piacenza