THANKS TO THE DAWDLING OF THE MONSEIGNEUR, I HAVE NOT YET SEEN ANYONE

Eugene, who always was on the move, started to express his frustration that he had to wait for others to arrange the appointments necessary to begin the process of approbation –and so he took matters in hand.

I have nothing to tell you about our affair because, thanks to the dawdling of the excellent Monseigneur to whom you address my letters, I have not yet seen anyone. Perceiving however that his preoccupations made him always put off to the following day his accompanying me or preceding me to the Cardinals whom I wanted to visit, I presented myself at the door of Cardinal Pacca to announce my impending visit. I have also been to the address of Mgr. Mazio but did not find him in. I assure you that one gets weary at Rome more than at Paris.

Letter to Fr. Tempier, 3 December 1825, EO VI n. 209

Eugene’s dry sense of humor always makes me smile:

On my return, I visited the convent of the Basilian nuns, whose superior is Madam Baudemont. Their religious habit designed, I believe, by the good abbé Sambucy, their founder, seemed to me to be to be as ridiculous as it was ugly.

Eugene’s Roman Diary, 2 December 1825, EO XVII