The English Benedictine Nuns in Rome:
To the Editor: Sir, — Bishop Brownlow is quite right in the quotation he makes from one of my letters to him in December, 1900. Could I have foreseen that such private correspondence would ever be made public, I should have sent him a second letter next day, explaining that, reconsidered the matter, I did not send to the Inquisition the communication to which I referred in writing to him, and which lay sealed on my table ready to be taken to its destination at the time his own letter wee posted. I enclose the proof of this statement to you, Sir, for your own satisfaction.
It is, however, perfectly evident that, even had the communication referred to in my letter to Bishop Brownlow been sent to the Inquisition, it could not have affected the position of the community. By December 1900, all the nuns except four had been dispersed and provided for by me as far as I was able, and the community was practically at an end.
The final decision of the Inquisition with regard to the guilty priests had long since been arrived at. As I said in my former letter, I have proof that as lately as last spring the Inquisition was unaware of my change of view. But even supposing it to have been aware, would such knowledge have justified it in countenancing the long campaign of persecution, petty it may be, but none the less cruel, of which others besides myself were made the objects?
Bishop Brownlow, who knows most of the facts, is surely joking when he suggests that motives of charity restrained the Inquisition from taking severe measures against me. Nor, seeing that it was unaware of my “apostacy,” is the supposition valid that on this account the Inquisition allowed the Augustinian, to invoke the aid of the Italian Courts in their attempt to recover the monastery.
Bishop Brownlow takes exception to what he calls my “sweeping assertion” that sad experience has convinced me that injustice and immorality are the rule rather than the exception in Rome. I am prepared to substantiate this, as well as the other assertions I have felt it my duty to make; though, Sir, I hardly imagine your columns to be open to statistics of the kind it would be necessary to produce.
It is perhaps needless to point out that neither Bishop Brownlow nor any other critic has been able to impugn the facts of my statement, and that, in default of better arguments, refuge has been taken in personal accusations.
I am, Sir, yours faithfully, L. A. M. PYNSENT. October 15th.
[GRO1138 Hennock]
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive
Referenced
GRO1138 Devonport: Lucretia Anna Maude Pinsent: 1857 – 1934