9. Merry del Val to Scalabrini⁹

         Rome, February 13, 1904

Most Reverend Lord,

The Holy Father, to Whom I have reported the content of the letter you

sent me on the 3rd last, has learned with joy about your project to assign Father Francesco Beccherini to give conferences in Italy to interest clergy and laity in favor of Italian immigrants in North America and, above all, to kindle in the hearts of seminarians the fire of zeal that could entice them to run to the help of those poor immigrants in great moral and religious misery.

            His Holiness, in view of its goal, couldn’t but praise your project. While he has been kind enough to comfort Father Beccherini with the Apostolic Blessing, he has indicated that Your Excellency can provide him with a letter of recommendation to your colleagues in the Italian Episcopate so that they may facilitate the task you intend to entrust to him.

            If, as a result of Father Beccherini’s conferences, some seminarians would desire to go to the American missions, His Holiness wants that Your Excellency grant them permission only after they have been kept in your Christopher Columbus Institute the necessary period of time to prove the sincerity of their vocation.

            I gladly take this opportunity to confirm myself with sentiments of special esteem

Of Your Most Reverend Excellency Servant,

R. Card. Merry del Val