In the midst of the published criticisms against him Eugene shares with Henri Tempier:<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t get too upset at everything the culprits are staging against me; I would sometimes be tempted to shield myself even from the tiresomeness of having to know what they are plotting against me, taking no more part in human affairs.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
For himself, Eugene did not care about these attacks on his person, but they were linked with his office as a bishop and with the whole diocesan administration, and so he felt that a response had to be made.<\/p>\n
\nHowever, I realize that it isn\u2019t the moment to deliver the sanctity of my episcopal character and the honour of my ministry to the calumny of men who are out to condemn in my person the whole of the administration and the diocesan bishop himself.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
It seems to me that my uncle ought to make a public protest \u2026 But as always I leave my opinion to another\u2019s judgment and remain passive, with no anxiety and with no great effort. So you can go ahead freely; whether a strong stand is taken or nothing at all is done is a matter of indifference to me, for I don\u2019t care in the slightest for people\u2019s opinion.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 13&14 July 1835, EO VIII n 522<\/em><\/p>\n
Having officially left the diocese, the decision as to whether to respond or not was left to others – and Eugene was at peace with this, yet humanly it did weigh on him as he confided to his long-time friend, Forbin Janson.<\/p>\n
\nAs for myself, I am so weary of my fellow men that all my efforts go to arranging a place of solitary retirement, there to devote all my time to the business of my own salvation in the peace of a regular life divided between prayer and things I choose to do, no longer at the beck and call of all the people whose superior one is and who in actual fact are in a very real sense our masters.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Charles de Forbin Janson, 16 July 1835 EO XV n 178<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the midst of the published criticisms against him Eugene shares with Henri Tempier: I don\u2019t get too upset at everything the culprits are staging against me; I would sometimes be tempted to shield myself even from the tiresomeness of … Continue reading