BCCCAP00000000000000000001722

REFOCUSING ON MGR ANASTASIUS HARTMANN 645 But Fr Irenaeus' case was proving to be a different kettle of fish. He had equipped himself with a medical certificate by way of justifying his negative re– sponse to the orders of his superiors to join the ranks of his confreres in Mala– bar38. But instead he was decided on straightaway returning to Europe even though Mgr Hartmann had advised him to first follow the directives of his su– periors and then to request the superiors for permission to .return home. De– spite its appearing a roundabout route, it offered greater scope of success. From Malabar meanwhile Bishop Bernardine was pressingly asking Mgr Hart– mann to induce Fr Irenaeus to accept his transfer to Malabar. Mgr Hartmann was trying in other ways too to make Fr Irenaeus change his mind. Neverthe– less, without mincing matters he made the Carmelite General know that to his mind soft-pedalling on the question would have greater effect on Fr Irenaeus than confronting him head-on. Mgr Hartmann's letter to Fr Irenaeus (Docu– ment IV) was intended to be for the disinclined missionary a yet further spur to respect the mind of his superiors. In plain words he was being told that the Vi– cariate was no longer in need of his services and that it was time for him to find his rightful place. Nevertheless since it was a matter of conscience for him, he had the full freedom instead of moving to Malabar as his superiors had di– rected, to leave for Europe. Mgr Hartmann's was not an iron hand in a velvet gluve 39 . Even a cursory study reveals that the Document V could have appeared in the eyes of the Carmelite Fathers rather irritable in style and too matter-of-fact in content. Mgr Hartmann's "order" took shape in the natural course of things then developing in the Vicariate of Bombay. Some of the Carmelite Fathers in India believed that they had been fraudulently deprived of their Vicariate 40 and 38 Monumenta Anastasiana, III, 375, Mgr Hartmann to Cardinal Fransoni, Bombay 2 April 1855: "Pater Irenaeus iam diu liber est, et probabiliter hoe mense in Europam proficis– cetur". 39 Monumenta Anastasiana, III, 380, Mgr Hartmann to Cardinal Fransoni, Bombay 12 April 1855, gives the information that Fr Irenaeus left Bombay on 8 April 1855 through the Cape of Good Hope (via Promontorii Bonae Spei). 40 Monumenta Anastasiana, III, 381, Mgr Hartmann to Cardinal Fransoni, Bombay 12 April 1855, adds a post script: "Ipsa epistola iam terminata, reverendo patri W. Steins, Soc. Iesu, super Carmelitarum conatum verba feci ac eminentiae vestrae illustrissimae litera ex– hibui. Ille non solum attonitus fuit, sed declaravit, se in Bombay collegium habere non posse, nisi tale attentatum pro semper abscinderetur, eo quad dumtaxat collisiones nutri– rentur; notum insuper esse, quantum Carmelitani se Societatis introductioni opposuissent et quanta difficultate praepositus generalis missionem ac collegium acceptavisset. Eidem epis– tolam patris Andreae, Carmelitarum ministri generalis iussu seu approbatione scriptam... [sic]

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDA3MTIz