The final step of the approbation process was to present the brief, a document to be signed by the Pope. Eugene hoped to get this done before Easter, but had fallen into the hands of a petty bureaucrat monsignor who prevented the case from going forward. Eugene\u2019s frustration is evident as he lets off steam to Tempier:<\/p>\n
\nThe brief of which the text lies soporifically on the desk of Mgr. Capaccini, whom I cannot budge either verbally or by writing\u2026<\/strong><\/h5>\n
This is a misfortune which puts me off until after Easter, perhaps even for the signature of the brief. In the meantime, I am continually making useless trips which weary both mind and body. For if this blessed Mgr. Capaccini had taken the text to Arch. Marchetti in the course of the week, they would by now be putting the finishing touches to it and the Pope would be signing it tomorrow\u2026<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2026 My dear, we have to look after ourselves. Mgr. Capaccini decidedly does not wish to move. Yesterday I climbed up to his third floor apartment for nothing. His servant advised me to return this morning at seven o\u2019clock but the embarrassed valet told me his master had left for an audience with the Pope. I took care not to believe him, it was not true. You can imagine what that means when, after having been told yesterday evening that I should return this morning, I found this fine response ready for me. This Mgr. Capaccini is a Prelate di mantellone, that is, second class, an adventurer who makes himself out to be someone because he is employed at many things\u2026. and as he apparently has other matters on hand, deliberately neglects ours without troubling himself about the wrong thus done to us.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
I will spare you all the other trips that I have already made this morning, and those which I am going to make soon before my sorry dinner, so as not to throw in the towel, and try, even with little hope, every means in order to get the better of this devious man whose dealings I will quietly speak of only after I have got my chestnuts out of the fire …<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2026 So once more we see our affair going forward but Holy Week is too close for us to hope that it will be expedited before Easter. I will count myself very fortunate if the Pope can sign it before then, because I am always fearful he will fall sick and when the Holy Father so much as takes to his bed, that makes a delay of two or three months.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 16 March 1826, EO VII n. 230<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 Karl Marx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The final step of the approbation process was to present the brief, a document to be signed by the Pope. Eugene hoped to get this done before Easter, but had fallen into the hands of a petty bureaucrat monsignor who … Continue reading