menu_book Chapter 41

part three chapter ten of garcia moreno by guston berth this libravox recording is in the public domain recording by maria the true christian piety in a great statesman in the midst of the political agitations and so-called progress of modern society would seem to be a singular thing the st louises st edwards or st ferdinand's are out of place on the thrones of constitutional kings or presidents of republics garcia moreno knew this well but triumphed over this prejudice as over every other in spite of the fashions of the day of the rage of the freemasons and his own absorbing occupations he never forgot that for a man to succeed in regenerating a people he must first sanctify his own soul the piety which animated him and made him ascend daily nearer to god was fed by the three great theological virtues faith hope and charity he was not only a man of faith but of that earnest and living kind which we rarely meet with in these days he attributed this great gift not only to the solidly christian education given him by his mother but to having had the sons of catholic spain as his ancestors we must add however that his own studies fortified this virtue in his soul for if imperfect science as bacon says alienates men from religion true science springs them back to it

as a philosopher full of logic and good sense as a theologian thoroughly well versed in the history and dogma of the church as well as with an intimate knowledge of holy scriptures he often with a word pulverised the objections of false philosophers and had nothing but contempt for the shallow and superficial brains who were taken by their specious fallacies one day when he was speaking of the islands of galapagos he discussed the whole question of the epochs of creation the order assigned by moses to the evolutions of the globe and the deluge in relation to newly proved geological facts and that was such erudition science and logic that all his hearers were amazed no one was more struck than monsignor vanatelli the apostolic delegate who was present during this discussion marino looked upon the syllabus as upon the credo for nations who did not desire to perish and could not understand the pretensions of those who talked of saving the world or eliminating their saviour his extraordinary clearness the perception of spiritual matters was obtained by a daily meditation on the divine mysteries in spite of his innumerable occupations he devoted half an hour each day to this practice

the gospel text was the ordinary subject of his mental prayer and he knew it by heart the imitation of jesus christ was also his constant companion on his journeys as well as at home after his death a worn copy was found in his pocket given him by a devoted friend on september twenty fourth eighteen sixty the day of the taking of st teresa is said one day to have exclaimed oh if kings would but pray for half an hour every day the face of the earth would be changed perhaps garcia moreno was the first head of a state who realised since st teresa's days the wish of her apostolic heart certainly he was the only potentate in this century who has so completely changed the face of his country thus cultivated and developed by study and meditation his faith became a living action revealed to us by feelings which pope benedict the fourteenth declared heroic the deep conviction of the grandeur of god contempt of earthly goods courage in the midst of tribulations constancy in works undertaken for the glory of god the public and courageous confession of his belief and the punctual and joyous practice of the duties imposed upon him by faith such was his daily life to all objections difficulties and impossibilities garcia moreno would answer invariably with his favourite words god never dies god is and that is enough what is impossible to god

what prime minister has ever inserted a paragraph of this sort in his message to the chambers among the great blessings which god in his ineffable mercy has bestowed upon our country i reckon that of being once more reassembled under his protection and under the shadow of that peace which he has preserved for us who are nothing who can do nothing and who but too often repay his paternal goodness with monstrous ingratitude again when speaking of the acts of his administration if i enter into these details it is not for my own honour but to give glory to him to whom we owe all and whom we adore as our redeemer our father our saviour and our god this continual realization of the greatness of god filled his soul with a sovereign contempt for earthly things hence his absolute disinterestedness his joy at being able to pour gold and silver into the laps of the poor the sick the widows and the orphans hence also his patience and trials no complaint ever passed to his lips he would sometimes say if my enemies pursued me for any criminal act i would ask their pardon and try to amend but if they hate me for wishing to preserve to my country that most precious of treasures faith and because i have always shown myself a faithful and obedient son of the church i have nothing to answer except god never dies

when accused of hypocrisy on account of his public religious practices he replied hypocrisy consists in acting differently from what one believes real hypocrites therefore are men who have the faith but who from human respect do not dare to show it in their practice any grave infraction of the commandments of god or any public scandal would sadden him terribly one day when a case of gross immorality was brought before him he exclaimed you give me more pain than if you were to announce to me an eruption of codopaxi from this vivid faith proceeded two other virtues hope which he threw itself at the feet of god to implore his aid and charity by which he gave his heart entirely to our lord this man so inflexible before tyrants was as simple as a little child on his knees before god as a boy as we have before mentioned he wished to consecrate himself to the service of the altar during his holidays which he generally passed at monte christi and in his brother's house who was the vicar of the parish he was continually found praying in the church the rest of his time was spent in study in his own room his resolutions and the rule he had laid down for his daily life we find written in his own hand on the last page of his invitation it will give some idea of his intimate union with god

every morning when saying my prayers i will ask specially for the virtue of humility every day i will hear mass say the rosary and read besides the chapter of the invitation this rule and the annexed instructions i will take care to keep myself as much as possible in the presence of god especially in conversation so as not to speak useless words i will constantly offer my heart to god and principally before i am beginning any action i will say to myself continually i am worse than a demon and deserve that hell should be my dwelling-place when i am tempted i will add what shall i think of this in the hour of my last agony in my room never to pray sitting when i can do so on my knees or standing practice daily little acts of humility like kissing the ground for example desire all kinds of humiliations while taking care at the same time not to deserve them to rejoice when my actions or my person are abused and censured never to speak of myself unless it be to own my defects or faults to make every effort by the thought of jesus and mary to restrain my impatience and contradict my natural inclinations

to be patient and amiable even with people who bore me never to speak evil of my enemies every morning before beginning my work i will write down what i have to do being very careful to distribute my time well to give myself only to useful and necessary business and to continue it with zeal and perseverance i will scrupulously observe the laws of justice and truth and have no intention in all my actions save the greater glory of god i will make a particular examen twice a day on my exercise of different virtues and a general examination every evening i will go to confession every week i will avoid all familiarities even the most innocent as prudence requires i will never pass more than an hour in any amusement and in general never before eight o'clock in the evening this rule of life unveils the soul of garcia moreno those who knew him best bear witness to with what conscientiousness and even scrupulous fidelity he acted up to it he never omitted any pious exercise in camp or in his hurried journeys he would kneel in some hut or corner of his tent or in the woods and say the rosary with his aid to camp or any one else who was present however long and weary might be the distance he had to go he always found means to hear mass on sundays and feast-days and often served it himself in the place of the indian or other person whose business it was

sometimes when he had travelled on horseback for two or three days and nights together he arrived at his home worn out with fatigue but he never would go and rest till he had heard mass a german professor of the polytechnic school who during the long years past at quido had known the president intimately and who had often been with him to his hacienda writes he always edified me more than i can express by his goodness his simplicity his charming yet serious amiability and above all by his deep and fervent piety in the morning when the hour drew near for mass he would go to the chapel prepare the vestments and serve the mass himself in presence of his family and the inhabitants of the village if you could only have seen him with this tall and commanding figure his noble features his white hair his military air and yet the expression on his face of the ardent faith and loving charity with which his whole soul was filled you would understand the respect and veneration felt by every one for this man who was truly one after god's own heart this same edifying sight was renewed in the evening surrounded by his family his servants and aide-de-camp the president read the night prayers to which he added a pious reading of some book on which he would often comment by expressing the love and confidence in god with which his whole heart was filled

on sundays and feast-days he would explain the catechism to the servants and assist at all the offices of the church with the greatest respect accompanied by his wife and son on great solemnities he would attend the cathedral officially in uniform surrounded by his ministers and all the civil and military dignitaries his noble dignified and recollected demeanour and his pious and sustained attention during mass edified all who saw him he exacted the like respect for all religious ceremonies from those around him and any one who was wanting in it was certain not to escape a grave reproof on the occasion of a jubilee which exacted the attendance at three processions to gain the indulgence it was observed to him that owing to the pressure and importance of his work he could demand a commutation of the decree god forbid he exclaimed i am nothing but a poor christian like the rest and he followed the three processions between his wife and child and bareheaded in spite of the burning sun he made a like answer to the superior of a religious house who to spare him a quarter of an hour's walk offered to send him as confessor my father he replied it is the duty of a sinner to go and find his judge and not for the judge to be running after the sinner his great devotion was for the blessed sacrament to which he paid daily visits kneeling with the greatest devotion before the altar

he went to communion every sunday and often in the week as well if the host was being carried to a dying person he used to consider it an honour to escort it bearing a lighted candle or torch in the midst of his people when corpus christi came he would put on his general's uniform and all his orders and seizing the banner walk first before the days as a servant announcing the coming of his master while his officers who held the canopy used to shelter themselves under the shade of the wall the president walked boldly on in front in spite of the tropical sun and when implored to put on his hat to avoid a sunstroke he protested that never would he cover his head before his god his tender veneration to our lady we had before mentioned but to belong to her more particularly he entered into a congregation which a jesuit had established at quito composed of two classes persons of rank and workmen he insisted on being enrolled among the latter and to the objections raised simply answered you make a mistake my place is among the people he made a point of assisting regularly at all their meetings proud of wearing the medal of mary among his dear workmen and they delighted at having their beloved president amongst them

when pius the ninth solemnly proclaimed st joseph patron of the universal church and raised his feast to one of obligation garcia moreno at once established it in ecuador where it was celebrated with the greatest solemnity besides the holy family the people of ecuador have a special devotion to blessed mariana of jesus a native of their country and called the lily of quito the first time garcia moreno was president he restored her chapel which had fallen into decay to which her relics were transferred in eighteen sixty five and afterwards placed in the magnificent shrine in eighteen seventy three he added one more act to perpetuate the reign of god in his country and that was to consecrate ecuador by an official decree to the sacred heart he proposed it first to the bishops at the third council of quito who received the idea with enthusiasm garcia moreno then submitted it to the chambers who voted it without one dissenting voice this decree of a nineteenth century parliament is too curious not to be inserted here considering that the third council of quito by a special decree has consecrated the republic to the sacred heart of jesus and placed it under his defence and protection and that it is right for the representatives of the nation to associate themselves with an act which will ensure the safety and prosperity of the state

the congress decrees of the republic thus consecrated to the sacred heart shall adopt it as its patron and protector the feast of the sacred heart as a civil feast of the first class shall be celebrated in all the cathedrals with the greatest possible solemnity while to excite the zeal and piety of the faithful in each large church an altar shall be raised to the sacred heart in which at the cost of the state shall be placed a stone commemorating the present decree soon after at the same day and hour the feast was celebrated in every church of the republic garcia moreno attended it officially in the cathedral with all the civil and military authorities after the archbishop had pronounced the act of consecration in the name of the church garcia moreno repeated the same formula in the name of the state never had the people assisted at a more touching sight or one dearer to the heart of our divine lord some members of the congregation filled with enthusiasm wished to erect a church in quito specially consecrated to the sacred heart but others opposed it thinking that it might eclipse that of our lady of mercy the patron of the republic garcia moreno being consulted said smilingly to the objectors do you think then that our lady is jealous of her son it took ten years however of struggle and difficulty before this temple was erected before concluding this chapter we must say a few words of the apostolic spirit of garcia moreno

had he been a priest he would have been another fain francis saviour but even as a layman his burning thirst for souls was visible in every act of his life the reign of god and the souls of men that was his fixed idea the one ambition of his noble heart the motive of all his public and private labours when he went into the country the peasants relate that he went to see them all sparing neither rewards to the good nor corrections to the bad he used to explain christian doctrine to the ignorant say the rosary with us all prepare us for confession and communion explain the gospel to us and insist upon our all going to mass peace and charity in abundance then reigned among us for the mere presence of our excellent master seemed to drive away all evil he had invited some irish labourers from the united states to manage certain large saw-mills which he had set up on his first visit having carefully examined their work he invited them to an open-air dinner and then questioned his guests about the religious customs of their country ending by asking them if they knew any hymns to our lady the irishman sang with a will you love the blessed virgin then in your country asked the president oh yes with all our hearts well then my children let us kneel down all together and say her rosary that you may preserve in loving and serving god

this was done amidst the tears of the poor fellows who never forgot his kindness and condescension his deal suggested to him the most ingenious methods of winning souls to jesus christ he had a friend at quito who was always ready to help him even with large sums of money whenever he needed them but who never approached the sacraments it is a custom at quito that at the end of the month of mary the faithful offer our lady instead of flowers their good resolutions for the future in writing marina asked his friend one day whether he had done this his friend understood the illusion and wanted to escape wait a moment the president exclaimed i myself have offered her a beautiful bouquet and as usual you must bear the cost of it you know my purse is always open to you replied his friend may i reckon upon you certainly well i have promised the blessed virgin that you will go to communion with me the last day of her month you see that without you i could not offer my bouquet the poor man greatly embarrassed said he had very odd ideas and that an action of such importance needed great preparation that is the reason i have told you beforehand replied garcia moreno

touched by his intense anxiety for his soul his friend left him but only to go into retreat for some days and when the close of the month of mary came he was found kneeling at the altar by the side of the president who was perfectly overjoyed at the success of his scheme he was equally happy when the papers announced any important conversion in any part of the world glory to god and the church he wrote in eighteen seventy four for the number of important conversions which have lately taken place especially those of lord ripon lord bury and her majesty the queen-mother of bavaria such examples cannot fail to exercise a great influence on all right-minded protestants we have given our readers a faithful picture of the inner life of this great statesman and are disposed to ask where shall we find his equal save in the lives of the saints chapter ten