Father Gavazzi's lectures in New York

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PKKSKNTHl) BY

FATHER GAYAZZrS

Preface

This sketch of Father Qavazzi's life and career seemed to be called

for from the interest excited by him, during his short stay in New

^York. It will likewise be necessary for those who have not followed

^ 'his lectures, to explain the nature of his mission and the motivea

"^ which actuate him.

^^: Gavazzi, a man of liberal feelings and generous impulses, from his

'^ earliest years, deeply felt the state of bondage both social and

yr\ political, in which the Italians were kept. Actuated by these feel-

-ings, he strove to disco ter the cause, and soon, came to the conclu-

^ sion, that the ignorance in which the people were kept, the bigotry

and superstition in wliich they were encouraged, were the causes of

their social and political debasement.

Profoundly versed in the various systems of the Church of Kome, Gavazzi soon discovered its falsehood, its utter want of principle, its culpable indulgence, its cowardly threats— he saw that through this deceitful code, miscalled religion, the people were ignorant, voluptuaries were maintained in a position to insure the temporal and despotic power of those who governed them, he knew that instead of seeking to civilize and enlighten, the Priests sought to mislead and enslave.

This conviction led Gavazzi to another, namely, that a religion entailing such consequences, could not be the religion of God ; he studied the scriptures, he beheld the truth and he proclaimed it. . The regeneration of Italy is his object, to give the people confidence in themselves, in Heaven, and not in their priests, to instruct them, to civilize, that they may rise and claim the right of every individual, liberty of conscience and freedom of action. Tliis is the aim of his crusade, nobler far than that crusade undertaken to free the holy sepulchre, for it is to free the souls of miUions frpm

X PREFACE.

eternal bondage, and give the people their share in ths prosperities

of life, monopolized by a privileged class and specially by the dissolute clergy of Rome.

The publishers of the present Life of Gavazzi have received the following letter from the Father, and have made the corrections alluded to, which have been furnished them in manuscript. The present may therefore be considered as the most complete and authentic biography yet published of this extraordinary man.

''New York Hotel, April I2th, 1853.

"To Messrs. De Witt & Davenport.

" Gentlemen : — I understand it is your intention to publish my life, as compiled by Campanella and Nicolini — for which I have given you authority. Although I ought to remain neutral in such an affair as this, you must allow me to rectify some errors which exist in these works — especially in that portion which concerns the recent troubles in Italy. Besides correcting these errors, it is my maxim that justice should be given to all, even to one's enemies; therefore it is that I send you these corrections — and also that the American public, whatever they may think of my life, may be assured that all the facts connected with it are correct, and that nothing in it is false.

" Your obedient servant^

" Alessandro Gavazzi."

Table Of Contents

PAGC

PREFACE 9

CONTENTS 11

Introduction

The Publishers of the present volume feel that they have a right to congratulate themselves on offering so interesting and valuable a work to the American public. The fii'st edition of the " Life" of Father Gavazzi, which was published by itself, met a most favorable reception, and was sold in immense numbers, at all the Father's lectures, and by the trade throughout the country. This little memoir has been extended, and the events brought down to the present time, and the whole is now incoi'porated in the present volume, as a suitable introduction to the Lectures.

Besides the regular course of ten Lectures, this volume contains a brief sketch of the Addresses in the Italian language, made by Father Gavazzi to his countrymen in New York, every Sunday evening, during the course of his English lectures. The publishers had at fii'st intended to insert these Italian lectures, in extenso ; but they discovered that this would occupy too much room, and would bring the price of the work beyond the point at which they had decided upon as being most favorable to a wide and unrestricted circulation.

The sketches of these Addresses, which we furnish, present all their main features — while the regular Course, in English, are a well-considered digest of the whole body of facts, observations, arguments, and conclusions, upon which the reverend Father founds his mission.

But it would be unjust to ourselves if we should omit the confession, that the report and publication of these Lectures has been a work of uncommon difficulty. In the first place, the reverend Father, who is a natural child of eloquence, sometimes forgets, in the impassioned portions of an address, that he is speaking in a foreign language, which often fails him at the very crisis, and compels him to resort to gesticulation and silent but expressive face-workings, in order to communicate even the general form of his idea. Of course, all this it is impossible to report — and sometimes the m^re words alone would convey no idea whatever to the American reader. Then, of course, those inexplicable and detestable irregularities which make the English language a sort of gi'ammatical chaos, could not possibly be conquered by the reverend Father ; and his English, as all who have heard him will admit, was sometimes understood with great difficulty. Our Mr. Leland — the most accurate and faithful of phonogjaphers — was at first in dismay, and about to abandon in despair the task of reporting the Lectures. Still — ^the Father kept no notes, and avowed the utter impossibility of his writing out his Lectures. But we had undertaken the task, and did not mean to be driven from it by any ordinary difficulty. A lady, perfectly familiar with both the English and Italian languages, and who, by a long residence in Italy had acquired a perfect knowledge of all the facts, i)laces, and circumstances alluded to by the lecturer, was induced to become the amanuensis of the phonographer. Thus, the Lectures were written out entirely by her, from the dictation of the phonoglkpher, who preserved the exact words and Bounds uttered by the reverend father. From these, which of themselves would have been sometimes unintelligible, a report of the Lectures has been constructed which, it is believed, does justice to the ideas and arguments of the reverend Father, without sacrificing anything that was novel 9r characteristic in his style.

The Father was himself fully aware of the great difficulty of reporting his Lectures fairly, and thus giving the public a correct representation of his ideas and arguments. The object to which he has devoted his life, is one of the noblest and most important that can inspire ambition ; and it was of the first consequence that there should exist some means of presenting his thoughts and ideas, without perversion or mutilation. In the brief and hasty sketches of his Lectures in the morning papers, this object was not always attained; and sometimes these sketches were so far from conveying the real meaning of the Father, that, as will be seen, he himself alluded to the matter, disclaimed the newspaper reports, and requested the public who did not hear him, to wait until a correct report of his Lectures should appear. We have already mentioned the pains we have taken to make this work worthy Df the occasion ; and, although from the very nature of the case, absolute literal accuracy may not have been at all times possible, yet we are quite certain that these pages present, in all essential particulars, the ideas, the facts, the arguments, and the condusions of Father Gavazzi himself, upon the momentous questions which form the topics of his Lectures.

Had the Father been one of those ordinary characters whose profoundest convictions never excite meir possessor to entlmsiasm, a better way, perhaps, would have been to write the Lectures in Italian, then translate them into English, and so read them to the audience. But Father Gavazzi is wholly incapable of so mechanical, so ignoble, a process as this. He is a true orator ; and, carried away by his subject, himself, and the occasion, it is impossible for him to confine himself to a part, conned and learnt by rote, like an actor. The secret of the power of eloquence is in the sincerity and earnestness of the speaker ; and it is almost impossible to associate the idea of sincerity and earnestness with the cold reading of a cold manuscript. No — although these Lectures, as they were extemporized by the speaker, laboring under an inadequate knowledge of our language, and frequently baulked in the middle of a sentence, for want of a word — although these Lectures, notwithstanding all the pains and care expended upon them, may still be here and there imperfect, they will be more effective than the most carefully studied treatise.

A few words respecting the mission of Father Gavazzi, especially his visit to America, will not here be out of place, llie following is translated from a notice in Italian :

"Father Gavazzi's mission is to preach a crusade against the power of the Pope, because Popery is inimical to the liberty of the people ; therefore his mission is political rather than religious ; therefore this courageous and fervent missionary deserves our respect and admiration for the unflinching daring with which he throws down the gauntlet to this allpowerfiil enemy of all civil and religious freedom — Popery.

" It is a difficjiilt work ; for the political influence of Rome is so mixed up with its religious power, that to attack the one seems like destroying the other. It is not to be hoped that he will completely succeed in his mission ; but it will be a great step gained, and he will be essentially benefitting mankind should he only succeed in revealing the anti-liberal tendency of Popery, and the dangers which under its influence would threaten the Constitution of our flourishing Republic.

* Beware,' says Gavazzi, ' the Papist Church, with slow and measured steps, without noise, without vain boasting, is every day encroaching; and so it will go on, till, being sure of its power and position, it will arise, throw off" the mask, and everywhere proclaim its doctrines ; then farewell to your Republic, farewell all political freedom, all liberty of conscience, farewell all individual security ; farewell, in fact, to all those glorious privileges and institutions of this noble and magnanimous nation.'

" There is but one way to check its ever-increasing power — impoverish it. Let a law be passed forbidding priests or religious institutions to hold lands, or to inherit ; impoverish the Church of Rome, and it dies ; for to this sect, of all others,

* riches are power.'

" Yet it must not be imagined that Gavazzi is either an apostate or a sceptic. He belongs not to the church of the Pope, but he has declared that he is neither a follower of Luther nor of Calvin, but simply a disciple of the Catholic Church founded by St. Peter, free from all the errors, lies, and abuses of the present Church of Rome.

"Whilst defending* political liberty j6.-om the inroads of Popery and Jesuitism, Father Gavazzi seeks to efface the petty differences of dogma, or of ceremonial, and strives to enlist all the followers of Chiist under one banner, bearing on it but one title, the proudest of all, that of Christians."

In the Lectures of Father Gavazzi, here presented, the whole ground of Popery and its influence upon political freedom is ably reviewed. Gavazzi is the very apostle of freedom — for that he lives. It is evident that he has deeply and carefully studied the philosophy and practical working of our government, and that he deeply loves and venerates it. If, then, he sometimes appears to speak with too great severity of Popery, its evils, and its dangers, we must remember that his whole soul is engaged in this work, and that everything is to be forgiven for the sake of the intense love he entertains for our government and our institutions. May we only hope that his warnings do not come too late ; and that, plunged in the excitement of business and ambition, our people vdll not allow the influence of his words to cease as his voice dies away upon the ear.

THE LIFE

FATHER GAVAZZI

The family of Gavazzi may be said to belong to history. His paternal grandfather was born of Italian parents, in Portugal, and at an early age was nominated Yice- Chancellor of his adopted country. The illustrious career which seemed thus opened to him was destined, however, to be of very brief duration : his name was included in the list of the proscribed by the Marquis of Pombal, and, abandoning titles, wealth, and renown, he repaired to Bologna. Here his merits were speedily recognised, and the Senate raised him, with the title of Proconsul, to the highest dignity which can be conferred on a citizen. The maternal grandfather, Patuzzi, was president -of the Court of Appeal in the same town : he was a man of singular, rather than vast attainments, of an incorruptible integrity, and known among his fellow citizens, as was Aristides of old, by the honoured appellation of the just. Inscribed on his tomb are to be seen the words " Uomo giusto" — an epitaph more glorious in its laconic simplicity than the longest record of warlike triumphs. Gavazzi's father filled successively the offices of judge in his native town, peacemagistrate at Forli, Professor of Law in the university of Bologna, and was moreover one of the chief advocates for the Papal States, and a bitter enemy of the Jesuits.

These family details have been given, not with any false idea of blazoning to the world Gavazzi's lineage, but rather to show that nobility of birth did not with him entail the necessity of supporting the cause of oppression and of opposing every social improvement. His generous spirit lightly threw off these trammels, and it is to himself rather than to ancestral accident that the lustre of his name is due.

The subject of this brief memoir was the second of twenty children. His remarkable talents, which displayed themselves at an early age, were sedulously cultivated by his father, and bore their fruit in timely season. . .

At the age of sixteen he took a step, the motive of which it is difficult to divine^ — he became a monk of the Barnabite order. How came it that he, a man of strong mind, of lofty and impatient spirit, of f fervid passions, could voluntarily take caste with a race of weaklings, become a slave to prescribed ordinances, and subject himself to that monotonous ordeal from which the most vigorous intellects have scarce escaped unscathed ? True it is that the Barnabites are somewhat more liberal in their views, and less rigorous in point of discipline than other monkish orders, but these modifications are necessarily of trivial effect where the system is inherently vicious. There is a terrible uniformity in the views of the Roman Catholic priesthood, however various its sects ; and blind submission to superstitious dogmas— the subjection of reason to faith— still remain the lessons inculcated on its members. Especial pains are taken with the secular portion of the community, since they are most exposed to the temptation of freedom of thought. We repeat then, that it is difficult to conjecture what induced a man of Gavazzi's mould to become a priest. There ai-e certain secrets which a man locks up in his own heart, or reveals only to a chosen few who sacredly keep the trust reposed in them. Being unable then to assert aught positively upon this point, we at least deem it incumbent upon us to show, from extrinsic evidence, that the objects which determined his choice were lofty.

Let us digress for a moment to consider the heterogeneous elements which compose the Roman Catholic priesthood. It often happens that the priest comes from the lowest walks of life. His poor parents, stung by ambition and a superstitious pride, pinch and spare to give their son the necessary education ; and after certain preparatory initiations, the victim of bigoted prejudice finds himself a priest, he scarce knows how or why. Frequently the motive is baser still. In place of ignorance, it is a mere monetary calculation : a priest's pay is sufficient to maintain his family, and .the money laid out in his education is considered in the light of a profitable investment of capital. Sometimes again, moved by the same sordid motives, a family which has suffered reverses of fortune dedicates one of its number to the priesthood, in hopes of securing one of the splendid prizes (the scarlet hat or other lucrative honours) which this career offers, and thus regaining the influence of which circumstances have deprived it. A more dangerous element is to be found in those who, having been educated at the charitable charge of the bishops and other magnates, enter, from a necessary gratitude, the clerical profession. They become the blind instruments of their patron's will — spies, or, if need be, the ready executors of any iniquitous design. Charity is the cloak which covers a fiendish compact, whereby they are bound, body and soul, to those who reared them.

Here and there, from amidst tonsured priests, rises a patrician head : the sub-divided patrimony was insufficient to maintain family vain-glory : hence this strange apparition. Disappointed ambition, blighted affections, or a morbid distaste for the world and its vanities, often drive men to this as a last resource.

There is in truth something so avowedly anomalous, so contrary to nature, in the position of a Roman Catholic priest, that when by some rare accident one of them rises from the crowd of his fellows, making himself conspicuous by the elevated freedom of his thoughts, by his power of mind or by the vastness of his learning, the question runs from mouth to mouth, *' how became he a priest ?" Assuredly not from choice : and vain conjectures are wasted in endeavouring to explain the curious problem. Far be it from us to deny that there do not exist some noble instances of men who, feeling the sacred nature of theii mission, undertake the laborious duties which a conscientious spirit imposes upon them with a cheerfulness and abnegation which cannot be too highly praised. Renouncing, perhaps, not without many a weary sigh, the sweet pleasures of social life, they address themselves with courageous simplicity of heart to their task ; they till with unwearied zeal the most stubborn soils, and scattering with open hand the sacred seeds of truth that the fruits may be reaped by others, look for no reward save that arising from the consciousness of having benefited humanity. These are the true servants of God, and they shall not be forgotten in the day of reckoning.

If now we look at the points already touched upon in Gavazzi's character — his determined energy, freedom of thought, and the noble generosity of his nature ; if we review his laborious works, which have subsequently borne abundant fruit, and reflect that he sprung from a family in which wisdom and probity were hereditary virtues, it is with a full and pleasurable conviction of its truth that we assert his choice of the priestly function to have been untainted by motives of family aggrandizement, of superstition, or self-interest ; there was no place in that vigorous spirit for morbid sentiment, — the hypocrite and he had nothing in common— and in adopting the career ot priest he sought only to consummate a self-imposed sacrifice— that of denying all to himself the more largely to benefit his fellow men. His after life proved that he had not underrated his powers of selfimmolation : hatred and persecution, punishments, every bitterness which the bigotry of the Roman priests and prelates could devise, served not to turn him from his purpose, but he held on his way, toiling bravely m behalf of others, and fulfilling that which he deemed to be his mission, with a generous devotion which esteemed obstacles but as incentives to renewed efforts.

Gavazzi had then entered upon a conventual life and was subjected to the dreary discipline of the no- Titiate. Much valuable time was idly spent in the usual superstitious observances, while the hours of study were devoted to the folios of Roman Catholic aivmes, from whose pages are drawn the sophistical weapons by which maxims of more than dubious wlf • ^1 ^""^ M ^? ^^PP?^'*ed and made good against heretical assailants. The Bible is rarely seen in the priest's hand, or, if it be used, the edition is one in wiiich the text has been garbled and disfigured by xtomisn comments. ^

+niw^^/J^ ^^^ *^^^ ^^^^ of impediments the keen intellect of Gavazzi cut its way. He advanced in knowledge with rapid strides, and so great had his literary attainments become in a few years, that at the Jq 01 twenty he was selected to fill the professorial chair ot rhetoric and belles-lettres in the public College of Caravaggio, at Naples. It was a strange sight to see this man, surrounded by pupils of nearly equal years, listening with a veneration paid generally to old a^e .^V ?v^^ lessons of wisdom which fell from his youthtul lips ; to see him confidently accepted as their guide to all that is great and sublime in the recrions ot literature and art, and recognized as the aesthetic judge, whose decisions were final. That it required

22 LIFE OF FATHER GAYAZZI.

not only talents of a very high order, but also infinite tact, adequately to fill this post, must be obvious on reflection. A young man instructing youth — the teacher and the learner almost on a par as regards age — yet was severity so tempered by discretion, and friendship so divided from familiarity, that the love and respect alike of his scholars were gained by Gavazzi. He thus gave indications at that early age of that influence over his fellow-men, which in his subsequent career developed itself in so extraordinary a manner, until at length it became the moving cause of a revolution as generous in its objects as it was unfortunate in its issue.

The time now approached when he was compelled to repair to Arpino, for ordination, and so well had he succeeded in winning the affections of all during his stay at Naples, that his departure was a signal for a general sorrow : the young felt that they had lost a father ; those of riper age a brother ; none had not lost a friend.

At Arpino, it is the custom of those preparing for ordination to lead a life of scrupulous retirement, to pass their days in solitary meditation, and to prepare their mind by spiritual exercises for that life of denial to which those who become monks are bound by their vows. But this space, usually dedicated to quiet thought, oftener, however, to dull inactivity, was not left unfilled by Gavazzi. According to a known law in the priesthood, a monk has no will save that of his superiors; and in obedience to higher commands, Gavazzi went forth to preach in Terra di Lavoro and Calabria.

Young as he was, the might of his eloquence had already marked him out for the preacher's office, (a highly honoured function in the Church of Rome, whose aim ever is to seek power through the passions) and the result showed how well the selection had been made* Gavazzi's journey through Calabria was a veritable ovation. Attracted by the magic of his oratory, the people flocked in crowds to hear a man who seemed to them inspired, and when he returned, at the expiration of a year, it was with the reputation of a consummate orator.

After being ordained, he went to Leghorn, and received a scholastic appointment as teacher of belles-lettres, but his stay in that town was short. He encountered the envy of rival professors, and having moreover- incurred the suspicion of the authorities, was forced to quit the place.

And here let us pass in brief review the condition of those who undertake the instruction of youth in a despotic country. No profession is more arduous, or calls so often for the jealous interference of the powers that be : the cause is clear. A love of liberty and, a detestation of tyranny are the lirst deductions which youth draws from the study of history, ancient and modern. We have little experience here of that enthusiastic temperament, of that spiritual exaltation, which, acting like a species of moral drunkenness upon the excited minds of men tyrannically governed, causes them to see in every instance of patriotic devotion narrated in the pages of the past some parallel with the present, which induces them to seek or form for themselves an opportunity of imitating the deeds of those heroes who, by a sublime self-sacrifice, gave up their lives to save their country. There is something contagious in the passionate fervour of youth : and the master kindling up afresh at the fire which himself has created, rises above the dull realities of life, forgets the dire necessities of subordination, and gives fluent utterance to doctrines which grate harshly on the ears of those who draw but one distinction between man and man, that of master and slave. Under a despotic government, the system of espionage is nowhere more strictly carried out than in the schools: spies are to be looked for among brother professors, nay, often among the pupils themselves : words are watched and reported, and an imprudent outburst of patriotic eloquence is followed by dismissal from office, if indeed the offence be not more severely punished. Such was the fate of Gavazzi at Leghorn. He was a man of too much note to escape suspicion : a most rigid surveillance was exercised over all that he said or did ; and it was intimated to him, shortly after his arrival, that he could no longer hold office as an instruotor of youth under pain of incurring a high penalty. He accordingly left Leghorn, and, abandoning the teacher's post, resolved to dedicate himself henceforward entirely to public preaching. If his newly selected avocation gave him greater scope for the display of his powers, and the furtherance of his ends, it also brought with it fresh dangers, toils, and persecutions.

He had now chosen the chequered career of a man who goes forth to do battle for a great cause ; — if he had his hours of triumph, those of bitterness followed hard upon ; if he gained warm friends, he made also inveterate enemies ; he was adored as a hero by some, while others found no title too vile whereby to designate him.

The Jesuits showed themselves his most implacable foes, and unscrupulously employed every weapon which a fierce hatred could supply to crush him. But they had to deal with no ordinary opponent in Gavazzi. In vain they sought to dismay a man to whom fear was unknown ; — armed with the panoply of truth, he singly stood his ground like some brave warrior against a host of assailants, he fought a good fight, and, speaking or silent, still remained the victor. Banishment to him was but a change of place ; and with every new arena, new triumphs came.

The reader who is not versed in Italian customs, and the policy of the Roman Catholic Church, will have some difficulty in understanding how an open field is afforded to the preacher to communicate his sentiments to the people without let or hindrance. A word then on the position of those whom we may style the sacred orators of Italy. The low status which Italy occupies in the scale of nations is chiefly due to those foolish and oppressive laws which weigh down all freedom, political or religious, and yet, by a curious inconsistency or oversight on the part of those who framed these tyrannical restrictions, an extraordinary degree of immunity is granted to those who, wearing the priest's robes, dedicate their talents to public preaching. The preacher-priest is least of all men exposed to authoritative interference, if he use but common prudence. If he attain but a modicum of oratorical renown, this slender fame becomes his safeguard ; the people take up his cause ; public opinion declares in his favour ; a brief delay suffices to save him from persecution, and the law having made no provision to meet the case, even the dreaded implement of espionage falls powerless upon his protected head. It was the consciousness of these privileges which decided Gavazzi to launch himself in a career Avhich enabled him to speak the language of truth without fear of molestation, if he were but moderately cautious in his choice of words.

Scarcely had he entered upon his pilgrimage, ere he was surrounded by eager crowds of listeners. The lessons which he preached to them were, to fear God, honour, virtue, and love their country. That his theme was ever the worship of that which is great and good, need scarce be told to those of our readers who have heard him speak in this country, but they have yet to learn what fruit followed his labours. If it be true that the greater the gathering of men, the greater is the harvest, then assuredly much was reaped. Multitudes flocked to hear him preach, but he cloyed them not with honeyed words ; he tickled not their ears with the soft blandishments which draw a fashionable crowd to hear some popular preacher hold forth. No. Gavazzi's eloquence was of a different stamp — it was the manly eloquence of the servant of the Lord striving to inculcate upon Ms hearers minds, in plain and forcible language, thoso " eternftl truths that perish never." Piedmont was for ten years the principal theatre of his pious labours, and the towns of Asti, Alexandria, Vercelli, and Turin, were successively visited by him in the fulfilment of his mission. The seeds which he sowed fell upon no unfruitful soil ; none heard him without being edified, and the love and respect of all followed him whithersoever he went. He was twenty-five years of age, and already in the full tide of his reputation, when he commenced his daily preaching during the season of Lent at Piacenza, and he continued these sermons annually from this time forward during the remainder of his stay in Italy, visiting in their turn all the principal towns.