TRILOGY: Bk I (Jackass for the Hour), Ch 5

[[ HINT FOR READING : Many hints for the reason for translating AEternus ille caelestium come in chapter 4 and, now, this chapter. More will be seen in the Inquisition type trial later in the Book 1. This is by far the hardest of the chapters to read in the entire Trilogy. If you can make it through this, you've got it made. Whatever you think about it, come back for chapter 6. ]]

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TRILOGY: Bk I (Jackass for the Hour), Ch 5 follows further below. Be sure not to skip the hint immediately below. I’ve repeated it here in case someone didn’t get to its dedicated post.

MAJOR HINT FOR THE PLOT: UPDATED

These are the six rules of Saint Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, S.J., regarding textual critical redaction of the ancient manuscripts of Sacred Scripture many decades after the fourth session of the Council of Trent.

The rules are horrifically unscientific. CHECK OUT THE WORDS IN RED. Nota bene: the “regia” is the ancient Greek manuscript he and the commision of Cardinals used as a working document for this project, all at the behest of the Supreme Pontiff. The manuscripts he used from the Vatican’s Apostolic Library are all duly noted in the registers. Yet, he had more manuscripts available to him than this. This must be researched further. Yet, this research has become extremely difficult for reasons I cannot share… yet, at least… (that is, because of some circumstances in real life). What is important to remember here, for the sake of the plot in Book 1 of the Trilogy (which will carry us through some little bit of this drama) are the meaning of these rules as they stand here. It’s good to stare at these rules for a while before reading chapter 5.

•••—•••—•••

1. Quando plura manuscripta antiqua convenient cum vulgata latina: mutetur regia.

1. When many ancient manuscripts agree with the Latin Vulgate: the ‘regia’ is to be changed.

•••—•••—•••

2. Quando omnia manuscripta contra vulgata et contra regia inter se conveniunt: mutetur regia, sed in notationibus ratio reddatur.

2. When all manuscripts against the Vulgate and the ‘regia’ themselves agree: the regia is to be changed, but the reason is given in the notations.

•••—•••—•••

3. Quando vulgata non refragatur, et maior pars manusciptorum contraria est regiae; mutetur regia, et reddatur ratio in notationibus.

3. When the Vulgate does not oppose, and a major part of the manuscripts are against the ‘regia’, the ‘regia’ is to be changed, and the reason is given in the notations.

•••—•••—•••

4. Quando manuscriptum unum vel plura concordant cum vulgata, id annotetur in variis lectionibus.

4. When one manuscript or many agree with the Vulgate, it is to be noted with the variant readings.

•••—•••—•••

5. Annotationes fiant ad finem uniuscuiusque capitis.

5. Annotations may be made at the end of each of the chapters.

•••—•••—•••

6. Quando clare apparet, aliqua verba esse addita ex alio evangelista, eorum non habetur ratio: ut v. g. Marci 8, Saturati sunt omnes, illud omnes translatum est ex Matth. 15 in graeco.

6. When it appears clear that other words have been added from another Evangelist, they will not be counted: so, e.g., Mark 8, Saturati sunt omnes, that omnes was transferred from Matthew 15 in Greek.

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TRILOGY: Bk I (Jackass for the Hour), Ch 5

Double edged damage control

Carpe Diem walked into the room, his clothes inside out and back to front, shoes untied, and wearing a helmet. He rarely banged his head against walls until he was too dazed to continue, but wearing a helmet was part of him. He offered the last of a box of chocolate to any takers, though he then gave the chocolate to don Hash, who had taken the time to answer his questions. Don Hash was horrified to see that the nails of Carpe Diem’s fingers had been chewed down to their roots.

While this was going on, don Hash had begun to say: “The rules of Saint Robert Bellarmine for a scientific, textual critical redaction of the ancient biblical manuscripts…” But he paused in order to thank Carpe Diem, who then left the room, flapping his hands as he so often did. “I can’t believe I’m going to speak against a canonized Saint, a doctor of the Church no less…” said don Hash, hesitating, thinking of Saint Lawrence even while he prepared to burn with his words another saint of God, a bishop and doctor of the Church, no less.

“Don’t stop playing the oracle for us now, Hash,” prodded Cardinal Fidèle. “However innocent you want to be, you can still be as clever as a serpent for us.”

Don Hash looked at him, astounded. No one, since he was a little boy, had ever known more than the abbreviation of his name. “How was it,” thought don Hash, “that Fidèle has just given a perfect description of my full name?”

They all simply waited for don Hash to continue, so he said: “With all due respect for Cardinal Froben, Bellarmine’s rules for editing the biblical manuscripts weren’t much better than the purposely anti-scientific procedural rules published in whatever edition by the Council for Christian Unity.”

“With all due respect, indeed!” exclaimed Cardinal Froben. “I’m happy to have a canonised doctor of the Church on my side, not that there are ‘sides’, of course!”

“Bellarmine’s own rules,” Don Hash continued, “might have seemed to him to establish, in a textual critical manner, the words of Scripture in the way dogmatically insisted upon by the Council of Trent,” but he couldn’t have been more gravely mistaken. Perhaps he was distracted by the fact that his rules would have the benefit of appeasing the so-called Reformers, for, with these rules of his, he was playing right into their hands, whether he realised this or not.

“Well, I don’t play into anyone’s hands,” declared Cardinal Froben. “I know what I’m doing. Still, it’s good to have a saint on board!”

“At any rate,” continued don Hash, “Bellarmine did not follow Trent with his ad hoc procedural rules for his textual critical project, and the Protestants could not possibly have cared less about anything Bellarmine did. That saint’s double-edged damage control was just so much rubbish, doctrinally and scientifically. If the result were to have been accepted by the Holy Father, this double-edged damage control would have had to become a habit, a virtue, a ‘policy’… almost making those procedural rules part and parcel of revealed Truth, manipulating Sacred Scripture as they did. There would have been a new inquisition in which burning truth – as that which is not expedient to ecumenical unity – would be rewarded, even though there has never been any ecumenical progress made in this way, either then or now. I know all about burning…”

“You’re moving a bit too quickly there don…” Cardinal Fidèle interrupted, only to be interrupted himself.

“Burning, schmurning! What does Faith have to do with anything?” asked Cardinal Froben. “Reason and science have their own contributions to make. Don’t tell me that you are confusing Faith and reason? We’re scientists!”

“Confusing Faith and reason,” don Hash replied, “is what I’m accusing Bellarmine of doing. Any so-called scientists who effectively claim that the only sources of infallibility are the temporary hypotheses of scientific methodology have such an axe to grind that they are bound to rationalise their approach to Faith by way of perverting their scientific argumentation. This, by definition, is fideism, just inside out and back to front. Bellarmine was trashing an Ecumenical Council in favour of what he called science, but that science, starting by way of arbitrary negation, was hardly science. It was the rampaging tyranny of…”

“He was being a scientist,” stated Cardinal Froben, deadly serious, unable to add anything.

“Theology must always be reasonable, even though it depends on revelation for its subject matter,” said don Hash patiently. “Bellarmine artificially went out of his way to prescind from the Faith, rejecting the doctrine of an Ecumenical Council, incorrectly thinking that he had to do this in order to be play the part of the scientist. He was hoping to reform the thinking about the Faith by way of a scientific effort that had, as its purpose, not scientific truth, but the appeasement of the ‘reformers’. If he could scientifically demonstrate the Council to be wrong, perhaps that ‘appeasement’ would win them back to the Church.”

“Our age is an exciting time in which to live in just the same way!” concluded Cardinal Froben. “This is exactly what we are doing! But tell us, Hash, what was it that Bellarmine was doing in his rejection of Trent.”

“Wake up and smell the smoke!” exclaimed Cardinal Fidèle, knowing that the conversation was going too quickly for the group that he had brought together on that frosty morning in Lent. “Satan’s smouldering fires come to us even in the form of angels of light. Take an analogous case, if you must. In early controversy with Galileo, just when Bellarmine was working on his own prescind-from-the-Faith-by-trashing-Trent project involving the ancient manuscripts of the Sacred Scriptures, it is, of course, Bellarmine who opened the windows to let in what he thought was the fresh air of science choking the way in which, he ironically thought, too many in the Church fideistically looked at Scripture. He would have come close to suffocating the Church and the world with his ‘fresh air’, with his politically correct enthusiasm for a zero sum game of either an overly-literal approach to Scripture or a scientific activity understood as necessarily being inimical to the Faith.”

“Well, it’s true that Bellarmine was doing a favour neither to Faith nor to science,” said don Hash, “but your analogy with Galileo is not at all accurate.” With these last words he was citing the words that Cardinal Fidèle had used against him in his defence.

“How so?” asked Cardinal Fidèle, glaring at him.

“Bellarmine was ready to revise exegetical ‘insight’ in view of any true science that might be put forward by the likes of Galileo, or anyone else for that matter,” replied don Hash. “But with his procedural rules for his textual critical project, he was going against the Faith as expressed in a dogmatic proclamation in the first decree of the fourth session of Trent. He was interested in…”

“He was interested in unity!” Cardinal Froben interrupted. Unity is what is important. So what if Bellarmine wasn’t perfectly consistent? I’m not. But that’s a virtue at the service of the truth of unity. Are you so unforgiving?”

“Error is never consistent with itself; that is why it is error,” added don Hash. “Error leads to division; lack of unity is the result of error.”

“There is so much bitter irony,” said Cardinal Elzevir. “It is overwhelming.”

The room went silent, except for some slight hissing coming from the fire. “Dear Lord…” said don Hash into the dead silence of the room, staring into the last flames of the fire. He was certain that Bellarmine could not have been more mistaken. He asked Christ out loud: “Would I so easily be the one to light the fire, to burn the saints at the stake?”

It was Cardinal Fidèle who immediately answered: “I do not know the answer to that, yet, but, in this case, you have seen through the devil’s own work. The Holy See is necessarily the devil’s playpen. It cannot be otherwise. Yet, we do not give up in fighting the good fight.”

•••—•••—•••

“Then she asked me if I was a virgin,” said Jacinta, who was visiting Mater Ecclesiæ convent for the afternoon, and describing, during the community recreation, an unsolicited interview she had had some years before with a religious sister, who was the outgoing Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Marécage. “Somehow, she had found out that I was interested in the religious life. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I asked, suspecting the worst. She said, ‘If you don’t have experience, how can you expect to be married to the Church with religious vows of chastity? You have to get to know one person well in order to know the whole Church. You need to start dating immediately,’ she said, knowing nothing about me at all. ‘Instead,’ I said, ‘one must be nurtured by the fire of the Most Holy Trinity; otherwise, one prostitutes oneself to oneself, destroying others in the process, one after another.’ I’m happy to report that she’s long been replaced. Things are getting better. The Holy Spirit has not abandoned the Church. Step by step!”

•••—•••—•••

Cardinal Fidèle slipped the paper from don Hash’s hands, the one with the procedural rules of Saint Robert Bellarmine, saying, “Explain what Bellarmine wanted to do, Hash.”

“It seems that Bellarmine treated the Vulgate,” don Hash began, “not as a textual critical measure to be used for the discovery of the original words in the original language manuscripts – as much as this is possible – as Trent had envisioned it, but merely as something ‘precious’, something which could be disregarded for little reason.”

“Go on,” said Cardinal Fidèle.

“The Council Fathers of Trent knew that they didn’t have a textually critically established Bible, not for the Latin manuscripts for the Vulgate, nor the original language manuscripts in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic,” continued don Hash, who then repeated: “They knew that God would not abandon His Church, and judged that if one could establish the consistency of the usage of the Latin Vulgate in, for instance, the Liturgy, then one could use that more accessible source as a measure for the original language manuscripts, coming up with an exemplar of the inspired Scriptures: lex orandi lex credendi; the law of praying is the law of believing. The Scriptures were written in a lived Tradition of Faith taking its life in the liturgy.

“I think I’m beginning to understand,” said Cardinal Francisco, almost under his breath, the others having to strain to hear him. “I think I’m now beginning to understand that, for so many years, the abomination has been where it should not be. I’ve thrown the pearls to the swine, some of the individuals of those swine also going by the name Catholic, and with all of those swine now trampling upon the pearls, and…”

“And then turning on the members of the Body of Christ,” concluded Cardinal Elzevir. Meanwhile, Cardinal de Colines was wondering what interest he could possibly have in all of this.

“Does no one at all understand or live a desire for unity?” asked Cardinal Froben.

Don Hash continued: “Bellarmine was distracted, I suppose, by pastoral problems and administration, becoming embroiled in problems that were extraneous to his expertise. He didn’t have the time to understand the importance of methodology, thinking that it was all a matter of how many manuscripts had this or that reading – though with respect given to those of antiquity – instead of it being a matter of the Vulgate also being of service in the discovery of the textual critical extension of the words of the original language manuscripts.”

“A bit too heady, all that, for the purposes of unity,” said Cardinal Froben dismissively. “And, anyway, the Vulgate is not inspired. It’s just a translation, and we don’t even know what the Vulgate is. The Council Fathers of Trent begged the Pope to give them a definitive Vulgate, but it never came. There are too many manuscripts. Hah!”

“Go on, Hash,” said Cardinal Fidèle. “Never mind Froben. He has a conflict of interest.”

“I’ll be concise,” said don Hash. “It’s true that the Vulgate is a mere translation, but the Council Fathers of Trent, together with the Supreme Pontiff, posited a Magisterial judgment about Sacred Tradition, saying that, while it is true that the inspired words of Scripture in its original languages are now scattered in thousands of manuscripts, it is also true that God does not abandon His Church, but has provided that a particular version, in Latin, be used in various ways throughout the centuries, in a consistent manner, especially in the Sacred Liturgy, even during the offering of the Living Word of God Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the very life of the Church, to the effect that this very Latin Vulgate – inasmuch as any of its phrases, words and letters are known to have been used consistently in this way, regardless of how scattered this usage is in however many manuscripts from the beginning and only until 8 April 1546 – has become a kind of sieve or strainer into which one throws, in a scientific manner, the original language manuscripts.”

“That’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard!” cried Cardinal Froben, roaring with laughter. “You mix up science and Faith just as much as old ‘friend’ Bellarmine. Hah!”

“I’m not given to your Prinzip der Prinzipienlosigkeit, your Eminence,” don Hash replied. “The Scriptures were written by people of Faith for people of Faith, a fact which led the Council Fathers to do what they did. Faith and reason are never inimical. One must now prescind from the Faith to do anything. This does not shackle science; it frees science. Any usage of the Vulgate does not exclude scientific work on the original language manuscripts, but instead requires intensive work on those manuscripts. It might happen that a phrase in the original language manuscripts was copied only extremely infrequently, but that such a phrase is consonant with the consistent usage of that phrase in the Vulgate. Bellarmine rejects that phrase in the original language manuscripts, rejected the Vulgate, and goes for the most copied manuscripts. But we’re not Jehovah Witnesses with their wildly active printing presses, printing their own perversions of the Scriptures, claiming, after tens of millions of copies are printed, that might makes right. That’s just unscientific rubbish. Instead, it should be seen why the phrase was only copied a few times. One will find, in such circumstances that, again and again, the Council Fathers of Trent were right about God not abandoning the Church, and were right again that God’s providence involved a consistent usage of whatever phrase in the Vulgate throughout the centuries. This is a scientific project which demands a usage of reason which does not prescind from the Faith, even while the Faith never trumps true reason. Textual criticism hasn’t even begun. The inspired texts, scattered in so many texts, can be found, especially with the help of the Vulgate. God wants this of us now, but who is there to take up the challenge? The Protestants can help all they want. This is ecumenism, but the earthly Father of the Family of Faith, the Holy Father, decides on the results. Surely this is, in fact, why God permitted error by copyists, so that we would not be content with a Book, but would live by Faith and look to the earthly Father of the Family of Faith. This makes for unity.”

“Don’t forget. Bellarmine is a saint. I’m glad he’s on my side,” said Cardinal Froben. “Where did you say his tomb is? Maybe I can organise some ecumenical pilgrimages there in honour of five centuries of Lutheran contributions to Christianity.”

Carpe Diem walked into the room and started pacing from one corner to the other, listening intently, though not understanding anything he heard. He wanted to repeat something.

Don Hash asked, “Why entrust Revelation to decisions based on, as you said, what is merely ‘traditional’, pastoral, liturgical, apologetic, sociological, organizational, cultural, political, geographical, psychological, intellectual, attitudinal or even economic? Even the Lutheran project, the Nestle-Aland hack edition of a Greek of the New Testament was produced like this. It’s pseudo-science.”

“So, what is to be done with Bellarmine’s work… in practical terms?” asked Cardinal Fidèle, impatient with the proceedings.

“His work?” asked don Hash. “Do you mean that after all these centuries it’s actually been discovered? Do you mean you really have the result of his procedural rules, his Greek New Testament? I’ll tell you what’s to be done with it. When Monsignor Sens arrives, it must be burned.”

“Really?” asked Cardinal Fidèle. “Do you mean that?”

After some seconds, don Hash replied with intensity. “It is better to burn than to be burned. Why should it destroy people’s Faith?”

“I see you are eager to set fire to a saint. Is Bellarmine not like Saint Lawrence, your patron saint, who was burned to death?” asked Cardinal Fidèle, objecting with false pretense.

“How do you know he is my patron saint?” exclaimed don Hash. “And anyway, no, not in the least. I’m certain that Bellarmine was wrong, however great a saint and doctor of the Church he is. He simply didn’t know what he was doing. It is not Bellarmine himself that I would burn, please God, just his work. It would do great harm to the Church.”

“So, you wouldn’t burn him?” asked Cardinal Fidèle.

“No, please God,” repeated don Hash.

“What if the Pope commanded you to burn him or be burned yourself?” persisted the Prelate. The other Cardinals thought this was quite humourous. Don Hash did not answer. Cardinal Fidèle waited for some seconds, and, handing the paper back to him, then spoke some mysterious words: “The fire is almost out. Before burning anything substantial, like someone from America, try burning the paper in your hands.”

•••—•••—•••

At the same time, not far from Rome, Eliyahu’s commander handed him a plastic bag, saying, “Look at these before the pizza is served.”

Eliyahu dumped dozens of pictures of the commander’s recent wedding onto the table; he and the five other soldiers pored over them. They knew their commander was unorthodox in his methods, but was the best talent scout the Italians had. They expected the unexpected. After some seconds, Eliyahu said, “This one! He’s your brother, the enemy, a traitor. He should die.”

The others were apologetic, but the commander said, “My brother was among the pictures you saw tacked on trees going down the volcano, but with a beard and sunglasses! The lesson is…”

“Never trust anyone!” his trainees said together, expecting Eliyahu to be promoted.

•••—•••—•••

Just then, before don Hash could burn anything, the doorbell rang and Cardinal Fidèle motioned with his eyes for don Hash to open the door of his apartment. Monsignor Sens, who walked in as if he were under a cloud of suspicion, was ushered into the study. Carpe Diem stopped his pacing so that he could stare intently at the new arrival. Cardinal Fidèle said, expectantly, “You’ve gained quite a bit of weight, Sens.”

Monsignor Sens stopped dead at the entrance to the study. His boss, Cardinal Elzevir, was clearly upset at his presence. “Get over it, Elzevir,” said Cardinal Fidèle. “Invite him in.”

“Sens,” said Cardinal Elzevir with severity. “It seems you have divided loyalties.”

“Oh! Isn’t it wonderful, Georg! Maria has returned from the Abbey!” exclaimed Carpe Diem on behalf of Cardinals Elzevir and Fidèle, quoting the envious Baroness in The Sound of Music. Carpe Diem’s interruptions were triggered by his brain’s emotional associations.

Monsignor Sens involuntarily stepped back. “Elzevir!” exclaimed Cardinal Fidèle.

After a moment, the Cardinal Secretary of State calmly said, “Very well… Come forward.”

“Maria has returned!” repeated Carpe Diem, now twirling a piece of string above his eyes.

“Give Sens the paper, Hash,” instructed Cardinal Fidèle.

Monsignor Sens walked to don Hash and took it from him. Before he looked at it, Cardinal Fidèle said, “Throw it on the embers, Sens.” He did, and, after some seconds, it burst into flame.

Monsignor Sens removed his winter coat and gave it to don Hash, who immediately dropped it on the floor. The top of Monsignor Sens’ cassock was not buttoned, revealing the cause of his sudden weight gain, a large tome of obvious antiquity. He held it out to his superior, the Cardinal Secretary of State, who took it from him with some force. “Stand back, Sens, and clear these things off the coffee-table.” Cardinal Elzevir then opened the volume. The other Cardinals leaned over while Cardinal Elzevir read the ornate title page dedicated to Popes Damasus, Paul III, Sixtus V, Clement VIII and Paul V. He turned the folios one by one. Following the title page was a list of the same directions which Cardinal Fidèle had just asked Monsignor Sens to burn. The following pages listed the Greek and Latin manuscripts used for his new redaction. The rest of the volume contained Bellarmine’s own pseudo-revised version of the Latin Vulgate along with the pseudo-revised Greek text on facing pages. Each chapter concluded with textual critical notes as damage control appeasing those worried about the Latin text.

“It could have been the jewel of the Counter-Reformation,” said don Hash.

“Now, Hash,” said Cardinal Fidèle, “turn to the Gospel of John, chapter eight. What do you find there?”

Don Hash had been on the edge of his chair, straining to see the volume on the low table. He immediately went the few paces and went down on his knees. He turned the volume around. It was almost three quarters of a metre wide when opened. He turned to the first pages, and then to the Gospel of John. “It’s what I don’t find there,” replied don Hash. “There’s no mulier adultera. Even Bellarmine had the adulterous woman stoned to death, right out of the text, completely against everything Trent dogmatically indicated. Bellamine should have been burned at the stake…”

“My, my… aren’t you easy to agitate?” taunted Cardinal Fidèle. “Would you burn a canonized saint just so easily? I wonder what you would do with someone who wasn’t canonized, at least because he wasn’t dead… yet. Now, Hash, give the Codex to Sens.” Don Hash did so.

Cardinal Fidèle, with manifest determination, glared at Monsignor Sens and pointed to the hot embers. Monsignor Sens looked to his superior for confirmation, but Cardinal Elzevir, despite his talk about loyalty, was doing his best to look at the floor. Monsignor Sens looked back to Cardinal Fidèle, who continued to point to the fire. Monsignor Sens no longer hesitated, but just as he was about to lay the heavy volume on the embers, Cardinal Froben yelled, “Stop, Sens! Damn you, Fidèle! What are you doing?” Monsignor Sens hesitated again.

Cardinal Fidèle said, “I think you are right, Froben.”

“Right? I’m always right!” exclaimed Cardinal Froben.

“Give it to Hash, Sens,” commanded Cardinal Fidèle. “Your good example, however lacking in intelligence, is sufficient for him.” He did so, and, grabbing his coat from the floor, asked to be excused. He ran from the apartment and down into the street, finding solace in the night.

Cardinal Fidèle said, “Typical of the Secretariat of State. It’s too easy. Blind obedience is never a good thing. At least your obedience is not blind, Hash.” He again pointed at the fireplace.

“But I am blind,” replied don Hash, rising from his chair. “I am such a sinner.”

“Damn you, Fidèle! What are you doing?” protested Cardinal Froben, rising from his chair. But before he could be stopped, don Hash placed the historic work on the embers. Cardinal Froben tried to pick it up, but only succeeded in burning his hands. “Damn you! Damn you all!”

“Better to burn others than be burned yourself,” Cardinal Fidèle replied.

“Not others!” insisted don Hash, who remained standing. “I am not burning anyone. I’m only burning what could do great harm to the Church.”

“You haven’t burned anyone yet, Hash. Not to worry… You are learning,” said Cardinal Fidèle.

Don Hash couldn’t help thinking that he was, in fact, ‘learning’. “Saint Robert Bellarmine was a canonized saint,” he said. As the flames grew around the edges of the large volume, he added, “But he was wrong… dead wrong.” Don Hash was ashen, thinking of his question that morning: “Who would I be, the one burned or the one lighting the fire?”

Cardinal Fidèle had an almost imperceptible grin on his face. Cardinal Froben, furious, saw this, and loudly said, “You’re a fool, Fidèle. Do you not know what has just been done?”

“A great push for ecumenism!” exclaimed Cardinal Fidèle, “as you will see.”

“But Bellarmine should be the patron saint of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity!” insisted Cardinal Froben.

“Bellarmine was ahead of his time in the same way as Humanae vitae was in these times, and even more dangerous to the unity of the Church than was Paul VI’s encyclical letter,” replied Cardinal Fidèle. “Besides, you are only now about to learn the rest of the story.” He then said to don Hash, “Sit down.” Don Hash did so. After the Cardinal let some moments pass, punctuating in this way the thoughts of don Hash’s soul, he said, “Not to worry, Hash. You are correct to say that Bellarmine was wrong. In fact, he repented so dramatically that the event was cited in the process for his beatification just after his death.” Cardinal Froben also sat down, overwhelmed.

Don Hash had been watching the parchment folios of the codex curl up on top of the embers and burst into flame, one after another, but distracted himself from this and looked at Cardinal Fidèle, this time with mixed emotions. He had some hope for vindication on the one hand, but was sickened that he had just been used to burn what he now knew was proof of Bellarmine’s repentance. It would have been invaluable in promoting the Truth of the Council of Trent.

“Pope Paul V gave Bellarmine authority to convene official congregations of Cardinals to come up with a Greek New Testament with – as you say – some usage of the Vulgate,” explained Cardinal Fidèle. “But when it was ready, Paul V didn’t permit the volume to be published for an unknown reason, perhaps a vision, for, as Bellarmine himself then immediately said, ‘Veramente Iddio governava il Papa, e che era molto meglio quello, che Sua Santità haveva giudicato.’

“Truly God governed the Pope, and it was much better that, than that His Holiness would have judged… What a preface to the Thirty Years’ War!” exclaimed Cardinal Elzevir.

Cardinal Fidèle continued: “That’s the conversation Bellarmine and Padre Andrea had after concluding their audience with Pope Paul V. Tromp published the story in Biblica just when Pius XII published his biblical encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu. Tromp’s motivation was, well… Let’s just say that the 1940’s were turbulent times. We shouldn’t forget that Dolindo Ruotolo was just then being burned at the stake, so to speak, for sending out a letter against those he called modernists, who rejected Trent’s view of the Vulgate.”

“I read Ruotolo’s ‘letter’, Un gravissimo pericolo, hand delivered to Pope Pius XII by Cardinal Ascalesi according to the wishes of Ruotolo himself,” said don Hash.

“But that is not possible,” exclaimed Cardinal Elzevir. “All copies of that letter, A Most Grave Danger, were removed from the archives of chanceries and libraries and burned… all of them.”

“A Jesuit gave me a copy,” said don Hash. “The declaration Consta did condemn him for it, but the whole affair is very sad, with ad hominem rubbish coming from all directions, so much so that there was an emotional misinterpretation of what he was trying to say about Trent and the Vulgate. But he failed to clearly, fully present both decrees of Trent’s fourth session. When…”

“Burn that jackass’ letter in our presence!” commanded Cardinal Elzevir. “He called the Holy Office the apocalyptic whore of Babylon. He’s pazzo! Just the kind to get canonized. Damn him!”

“Leave Hash be, Elzevir,” said Cardinal Fidèle. “Soon he will burn more than just some paper.” With that, Cardinal Fidèle gave don Hash the other piece of paper which had been on the little table next to the telephone by his chair since that morning. “What do you see?” he asked.

“At first glance,” reported don Hash, with new strength, “it looks like a treasure map.”

“Take your time,” said Cardinal Fidèle. “I know you like running after the Holy Grail.”

•••—•••—•••

Just then, on the far side of the Mediterranean, a phone conversation was just concluding.

“I accept your invitation,” said Shaykh al-Hasan. I’ll soon be landing at the Airport.”

“I’m happy to be of service,” said Archbishop Ahan. “It sounds like historic cooperation. I’m only sorry that it will be disturbing the last days of your vacation before returning to Italy.”

“Do not feel sorry for me,” replied Shaykh al-Hasan. “Feel sorry for yourselves and for your children…. if we do not get what we want.”

“After meeting with the Imam at the University, perhaps we could see the Zoological Gardens or the Nile Aquarium,” offered the Archbishop with his ever conciliatory voice.

“I think I’ve had enough of certain kinds of animals,” said the Ambassador of Arāk. “I long for Kuh-e Karkas, but I will be going straight to Rome after I receive a guarantee.” With this comment, he hung up, leaving even Archbishop Ahan unsettled, which was not easy to do.

•••—•••—•••

After two minutes, don Hash said, “Unlike the rules of Bellarmine, these follow Trent.” After a moment he added, “Most people are so dismayed by the fact that the process of recopying the biblical manuscripts by hand down the millennia was not always exact, that they give up on inspiration and even Revelation as such. The person who wrote this analysis, instead, has such a love for the Liturgical Sacrifice of the Word of God, as he calls it, that he understood how it is that the Fathers of the Council of Trent could, as the Magisterium of the Church, appraise God’s historical guidance of the Church in Sacred Tradition, in the very Sacrifice by which Christ draws all to listen to the Word of the Father through, with and in Himself. The Council Fathers knew that it must be that if a text was to be found in the continuously read Latin manuscripts – for instance in the Lectionaries – then it could act as a guide for original language manu…”

“I see with your constant repetitions that you’re out to canonise the vernacular, vulgar, common, Latin translation of the Scriptures called the Vulgate, are you not?” asked Cardinal Fidèle.

“The Latin Vulgate is only a tool, however privileged by the Mass,” answered don Hash.

“Therefore?” asked Cardinal Fidèle.

“Therefore,” said don Hash, “only the Magisterium of the Church could and did make such an interpretation of Sacred Tradition in favour of Sacred Scripture. In comparison, what Erasmus did without permission, and even what Cardinal Ximenes did with permission, was insufficient.”

“But there were variants with the Latin manuscripts as well,” said Cardinal Fidèle, taunting.

“It was thought to be a small exercise,” responded don Hash, “to establish what the Church has used until 8 April, 1546… But today, the politically correct Nova Vulgata has interfered.

“Never mind the New Vulgate,” lamented Cardinal Fidèle.

“Instead,” interrupted Cardinal Froben, “the example of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity is to be followed. We need to suppress, I mean, bypass any overly complicated doctrine about ‘Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium,’ I mean ‘Word, Rule of Faith and Witness’… so that we can simply ignore the Latin Vulgate, and concentrate on the New Vulgate, which, for instance, for the New Testament, makes a fresh translation into Latin from the Lutherans’ textual critical conjecture of the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, their Novum Testamentum Graece. There are hundreds of deviations from the way the Vulgate would have helped to present the text. That is what we have done. That is the way they have authority over Scripture. It’s an in-your-face reversal of that conservatism which hurts ecumenism. We’re making sure all liturgical translations are made from it. We’re even going to stick it into the 1962 Missale Romanum. That should seal it as an expedient policy for ecumenism. It’s takes the scientific efforts of Erasmus and Luther to a new level, a more human level, to a Reformation within the Church. God cannot expect more than this. Saint Robert Bellarmine did the same thing. He repented of possible errors, but not of his method.”

“Instead,” interrupted don Hash, “he did repent of his method, for it was his method which necessitated his errors. What is written, instead, in this analysis of Trent” – holding up the paper just given him – “presents a way to drink from the Word of God. It’s the way to the Holy Grail. If the author of these rules is correct, the implications are truly historic. The whole of the Reformation can be reversed. There is a real chance for unity. The Pope’s approval of the New Vulgate was not as a definitive edition. It’s called new simply because it evades Trent.” As he said these words, his voice faltered.

“Go on, Hash. Don’t stop now,” chided Cardinal Fidèle.

“These rules are written in an almost brutally technical… American… English…” asserted don Hash. “It’s that of… Alexámenos.” The whole drama hit him at once, and he thought that he could guess his own fate and that of Father Alexámenos over the next months.

Cardinal Fidèle took the paper from him and gave it to Cardinal de Colines, who merely glanced at it, quickly passing it to Cardinal Froben, who held it with contempt. It was clear he did not want to know what was written there. “It’s an insult to ecumenism,” he said, passing it to Cardinal Francisco, who did not make a judgment. He gave the paper to Cardinal Elzevir; within moments, his face showed how deeply affected he was. Cardinals de Colines and Froben now regretted that they had not studied the paper more thoroughly. Cardinal Fidèle took the paper with what looked like a treasure map.

“It’s like Hash says, Fidèle,” said the Secretary of State. “If Bellarmine’s work had been published, it would have done great harm to the Church, but if Alexámenos were to publish, it would be a great good for the Church and the whole world. It would be an occasion for unity.”

“You do not know what you are saying,” said Cardinal Fidèle, holding the paper to the fire.

•••—•••—•••

Père Jacques answered the knock at the door to his suite of rooms in the seminary, already knowing who it was. “Come in, Leo,” he said. It was just after lunch. The whole student body, small as it was, accompanied Leo firstly to the chapel, and then to the Rector’s suite of rooms. Leo entered, but did not close the door. It was the first time Leo had been in these rooms since père Jacques had moved in. He was taken aback. It was like walking into a Kindergarten, a garden full of plants, but with an infantile air about it.

“How appropriate for you,” said Leo. “It’s a Kindergarten and the Garden of Gethsemane.”

“I prefer to think about it as the Garden of Eden,” said père Jacques. With that, he stepped up to Leo, took him by both shoulders, and kissed him on both cheeks.

Leo, wide-eyed, still had the presence of mind to ask, “Friend, do you betray me with a kiss?”

“I’m sure I’ve made my point then,” was père Jacques’ response. “Goodbye, Leo.”

While he was headed out the door, Leo noticed père Jacques’ toy voodoo doll, and said, “I notice you have one of the toy voodoo dolls that are sold in some of the shops here, but this one is missing its five needles. If you used them on a real person, you should just confess it to us now. I mean, you still haven’t changed your clothes, and they still have blood spattered on them.”

During this speech, père Jacques became uncontrollably enraged, and shouted, “Get out! Get out now! All of you! Just leave me alone! Leave… me… alone!”

The students were stunned into dead silence. None of them moved. It seemed that they didn’t even breath for a full ten seconds. They realized that they had just seen the demise of their rector and, perhaps, the seminary, now secondary to their concern about what happened the night before.

•••—•••—•••

As he held the paper toward the fireplace, Cardinal Fidèle said, “Would you like to do the honours, Froben?” He then added, “Don’t burn yourself again,” as Cardinal Froben, despite his age, jumped up. But just before he could take it from Cardinal Fidèle, Cardinal Elzevir protested.

This gave don Hash time to say, “I’ll accept that it was prudent to purge the Church of Bellarmine’s work – except that it’s proof of what he repented from – but why burn the notes of Alexámenos? His analysis points to the best of the counter-Reformation, to unity, to the Holy Grail of the inspired Sacred Scriptures, the Word of God speaking to us of the Logos, the Living Word of God.”

With that, Cardinal Froben snatched the paper from Cardinal Fidèle’s hands and gave it to don Hash, saying, “I do believe that the honour belongs to you, Hash.” Don Hash took it, but then simply stared into the flames. He thought of Father Alexámenos being ‘removed’. Forgetting all that he ever said about ‘freedom of conscience’, Cardinal Froben said, “Your disobedience betrays your soul, Hash.” With that, Cardinal Froben impatiently snatched the paper from him and tossed it into the fire, where, after some seconds, it exploded into flame. Those seconds seemed, for don Hash, to be packed with half a millennia of unnecessary division. The reality of all the blood and rancour from the Reformation onward now rushed upon him. He felt as devastated as he did empty, though still aware of the Lord working with his heart.

Seeing the questions on the face of don Hash, Cardinal Froben said, “Alexámenos is as much a fool as Pope Sixtus V. That Pope didn’t have to be burned at the stake. God took his life.”

“Explain yourself, Froben,” said Cardinal Francisco. “One can learn from mistakes. What is it that Sixtus V and this Alexámenos have done that is so wrong that we can’t learn from it?”

“Feel the heat of the flames!” Cardinal Froben replied. “Don’t forget that immediately upon the news of the death of Pope Sixtus V, Bellarmine successfully instigated the Cardinals to have any exemplars of Sixtus’ own revised Vulgate of 1590 collected from around Europe, so that they could burn them, so to speak, as soon as possible. Bellarmine knew that the Sistine Vulgate would have been an utter disgrace to the Church, so full of egregious errors was it, especially…”

“But Sixtus V wrote an eleven page bulla, making an ex cathedra decree,” said don Hash, “which stated that his New Testament fulfilled what Trent dogmatically inferred could be produced,” testing to see how much Cardinal Froben actually knew.

“AEternvs ille cælestium, yes,” said Cardinal Froben, surprising everyone with his erudition, “but your mistake is thinking that Insuper, the second decree of the fourth session of Trent, to which AEternvs ile caelestium refers, is more than just a disciplinary document, as if it were dogmatic.”

“What about the first full sentence on page seven of AEternvs ille cælestium?” asked don Hash, still testing. “It refers to the decree Sacrosancta, and if that first decree, also of the fourth session of Trent, isn’t dogmatic, there is no dogma at all in the Church.”

“You’re right,” replied Cardinal Froben, revealing that he was one of the few people in the world to have read that document. Not expecting that someone else had read it, Cardinal Froben felt himself to be under more pressure than he had ever known. He had never been quite so open about what he thought as he was going to be just now. He cleared his throat and repeated, “You are right. There is no such thing as infallibility. That decree of Sixtus V has convinced me sufficiently of that. Like the fourth session of Trent, it was full of excommunications for those who did not take what he said as an article of Faith declared by the successor of Peter to the universal Church. But he was dead wrong in every way.” He then added condescendingly, “I’m sorry if this scandalises you, Hash.”

“God took the life of Sixtus months before the bulla could come into effect,” said don Hash. “Instead of disproving infallibility, this confirmed the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Church.”

“What do you mean, ‘before it could take effect’?” asked Cardinal Froben. “He signed it.”

“Intra quattuor menses, eos, qui citra montes sunt, qui vero vltra montes, intra octo menses,” stated don Hash. “He dropped dead in six months.”

“Hah! He died more than a year later,” said Cardinal Froben triumphantly. “Obviously, you’ve never read Arcangelo Passionei, who, in 1754, condemned Bellarmine in favour of AEternvs ille caelestium of Sixtus V, despite Numbers 30,11-13 missing from his Vulgate, his Numbers 30,5.”

“May I speak freely?” asked don Hash.

Cardinal Froben waved his hands sarcastically.

“Your Eminence,” continued don Hash, “you reveal how much you read and how little you understand. With your friend of mistaken name, whether Prelate or Abbot, you fail to calculate time anno incarnationis Dominicae, in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord. 1590 began on 25 March. The kalends of March, when Sixtus published, was in 1589. It makes a difference.”

It took about three seconds, but then Cardinal Froben suddenly looked deflated, as if he had wasted a lifetime. But then, after another few seconds, his mind working overtime, he said with deadly precision, “What I’m trying to say, Hash, is that even if there is such a thing as infallibility, and even if Sixtus V had the right understanding of Trent, what he attempted to do was too dangerous. God doesn’t want it. God took Sixtus’ life before the decree came into effect, as you say, so that, according to your point of view, the Pope could never be wrong about an ex-Cathedra decision, I guess… and Sixtus would have been wrong… if he had lived. But he didn’t. What I’m saying is that the same is true of Alexámenos, who places himself in mortal danger.”

“Alexámenos is not the successor of Peter!” exclaimed don Hash.

“God doesn’t want what Trent wants, not in this day and age. Full stop,” insisted Cardinal Froben.

“Isn’t it interesting,” interjected Cardinal Fidèle, “that Sixtus V, on the one extreme, and Bellarmine, on the other extreme, were both taken out of the way. It’s too easy…”

“So, now that Bellarmine is out of the way, having been burned to death, so to speak,” said don Hash, “it is now the turn of the successor of Sixtus V in this matter: Alexámenos.”

“Correct,” said Cardinal Fidèle, “since Dei Filius of Vatican I and Leo XIII are long gone.”

“Alexámenos is only proposing a method consonant with the eternal truths set forth in Trent,” don Hash shot back. “He goes out of his way to protect the right of the successor of Peter to judge the textual critical extent of the words of Sacred Scripture. It is the Catholic Church…”

“That’s nice,” said Cardinal Fidèle sarcastically, “but that’s not Alexámenos’ problem.”

“Pray, tell,” challenged don Hash.

“It would not be popular to reject the fourth session of Trent in its first, dogmatic decree, nor would this ever be desirable. It was good, for its own time. Many have subjected the decree to centuries of reductionist interpretation, beginning in the sixteenth century itself.”

“Until now,” asserted don Hash, “for Alexámenos has answered all difficulties.”

“Almost,” said Cardinal Fidèle, “and almost is dangerous… He’s forgotten prudence. That’s the problem with Alexámenos.”

“But you said that…”

“What I said, Hash, was that Alexámenos has no idea about how to go about things. In this last stage of damage control for the Reformation, all hell has been unleashed. People do not think. Conformist emotions of political correctness coupled with the intoxicating effect of the abuse of power have resulted in a tyrannical policy of damage control. At the risk of sounding like Froben, I say that if Alexámenos’ study were published now, this would preempt an ecumenical solution for centuries to come. The strength of political correctness would simply exclude the possibility of any serious study of the fuller Truth of Trent. There would only be more division in the Church and the world, and we would risk more violence.”

“There would be a quicker road to unity if only Trent were forgotten by people like this Alexámenos, whoever he is,” confirmed Cardinal Froben. “Who is he, anyway?”

“Truth must sometimes be relegated to its proper time,” added Cardinal Fidèle. “And as for you, Froben, if one has no respect for the truth of the past, you also have no respect for the truth of the present. It is that attitude which breeds disunity and violence. Every truth has its time.”

Don Hash looked at Cardinal Fidèle and said, “What you said about Alexámenos’ study was “great harm to the Church. What could you have possibly meant?”

“I’ve just told you, Hash. Damage control rears its ugly head when least expected.”

“The action of damage control is not the same as an infallible statement,” retorted don Hash.

“But, once out of control, damage control is almost as definitive,” replied Cardinal Fidèle.

“With almost being the operative word, Fidèle,” said Cardinal Elzevir. “You seem to go from one side of the argument to the other. I want to know why you’ve rejected the study of Alexámenos, saying that it would do great harm to the Church. I see it differently, as does Hash.”

“Trent had its proper season,” repeated Cardinal Fidèle. “It may come back into fashion. But Alexámenos’ nostalgia for the beauty of that response is, at this moment in history, out of place, anachronistic, inappropriate for the needs of the Church today. There are other ways of doing the same thing. You do not know how much I regret that Alexámenos cannot see this. Not yet.” He was met with blank stares. “If something is ripped out of context, it can be dangerous, no matter how wonderful it was in its own time,” he continued. “At this time, his perspective on Trent would be dangerous to the unity of the Church. It may have its day again, but that is not today. Any push to reverse the ecumenical gains that have been made today must be abandoned.”

“Speak plainly,” demanded Cardinal Elzevir, “What is it that is to be left behind?”

“In one word, clarity. It must, at any cost, be avoided,” replied Cardinal Fidèle. “I know that you know what I mean by leaving clarity in the dust.”

Carpe Diem was sitting on the carpet behind the Cardinals, holding two more sets of bibles to his ears. The bibles were printed by various denominations. He interrupted, asking, “When God speaks, doesn’t He say something? It sounds all confused.”

“We can hear God’s clear speech, Carpe Diem,” replied don Hash, “if we use a good bible.” With that, Carpe Diem dumped the bibles on the carpet again and left the room quickly.

“Clarity is not an obstacle to ecumenism. This is all just too incredible,” said don Hash.

“We cannot afford clarity,” insisted Cardinal Froben. “No one wants the truth. Everyone has stoned the adulterous woman right out of Gospel of John. They don’t want to hear they are wrong, that the Pope is right. The Bible Societies even had the blessing and participation of Cardinal…”

“While you, Froben, throw that adulterous woman out of the Gospel,” interrupted Cardinal Fidèle, “you admit that you are wanting to make the Holy See into the Whore of Babylon. It is the Holy Spirit alone who has kept this adulterous woman in Rome’s New Vulgate, for now. But the relative note and the introduction to the volume infer that, in a following edition, she may be stoned out of the text altogether.”

Carpe Diem walked into the room, and began walking from corner to corner, again and again, holding an enormous tome on his head. It was an illuminated biblical codex from the ninth century, given to Cardinal Fidèle by a previous Pontiff. Carpe Diem had opened the volume at random and placed it over his head upside down, pressing the two sides of it to his ears, repeating again and again, “Polycarp, carpe diem! Polycarp, carpe diem!” He looked like a bishop being ordained, when a book of the Gospels is held over the candidate’s head in much the same way.

“Perhaps something ought to be done about this Alexámenos. Expedience is the lesser of two evils,” said Cardinal Elzevir, finally expressing his usual modus operandi.

“Bravo, Elzevir,” confirmed Cardinal Fidèle. “Many Popes praised the efforts in Froben’s office. You must know that even if suppression of the Truth is not the best way, it is the only way that the Holy Spirit has provided for us in these days. Trent may come back in fashion, but not now. We are not up to that standard. This is what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Churches.”

“Your romanità goes far beyond the usual political savoir-faire,” said Cardinal Elzevir with heavy sarcasm in his voice.

“Romanità doesn’t have to be Machiavellian, does it?” asked Cardinal Fidèle rhetorically.

Don Hash thought that, faced with choosing the lesser of two evils, there is always a third way, the only way… loving God’s will. “Surely, Alexámenos is not malicious!” he said.

“Naive is the word!” retorted Cardinal Fidèle instantly, annoyed. “I have all the respect in the world for Alexámenos. But we must listen to the signs of the times. Ecumenism of the lowest common denominator is the way to go… only for now, of course, in these, the worst of times. The Holy Spirit knows how to bring good out of evil; He guides ecumenism in this way with Froben.”

“We should have you over at the Council. Bravo, old man!” exclaimed Cardinal Froben.

“Froben,” said Cardinal Fidèle, “I repeat, Trent and the new way of damage control complement each other. Since damage control is, in the end, kept in control, and guided to go in a certain direction by the Holy Spirit, the approach of Trent may have its day again.”

Cardinal Froben just grunted, completely lost.

Cardinal Fidèle continued, “Hash, this way of the lowest common denominator is the way we are all going for varying reasons. It is not an evil, nor is the affirmation of it. It is simply nothing.” Cardinal Fidèle did not get a reaction, so he continued: “The fulness of the Truth, although not denied, is simply not presented, and this for the sake of unity, until our Lord intervenes and changes hearts. It is for this that we wait, with great anguish. This is my Agony in the Garden. For now, the only way to move forward, I hate to say, is with a defective edition of the Scriptures. The adulterous woman in the Gospel of John must be stoned to death, removed from the Gospel, though only for now.”

“Polycarp, carpe diem!” repeated Carpe Diem incessantly.

==========

Chapter 6 is coming soon…
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