Page 98 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

At dawn on June 30, members of the Paiia police called ai various
local Jesuit establishrnen~a, broke in, and bepan ejecting the priesta,
most of wbom were old and infirm. The pretect of police, Andrieux,
a Fr=-thinker hirnsell, supcwised the operation, and IeIt this descrip-
tion :
Tùe clearing oi ~he housm lasted a long time; it was a painful rnatier
lor those responeible for ita accompliahment. The police rnti wi~h pu.sive
re4amnœ, and had io iurn detenceless pBests inio the sireer; ihcir
prayerfui attiinde, tbeir celrn, rerigntrd enpreesion conirasted painfully wi~h
~he nee of pnhlie iorce.tzb)
That same moniing, almost at the sarne hour and in the same
mmner, thc wholeeale expulsion of the Jesuiis wa9 carried out across
France. They were thus purged on sehedule and almost without incident.
There were nurnerous touching and drarnatic scenes. For exarnple : in
Toulouse, a former army chaplain, ninety-year-old Fathcr Guzy wafi the
first Jesuit expelled. Bearing on his ehest the cross of the Legion of
Honour, he was helped out, while the gendarirres who knew the old
primt cried and ~aluted.(*~i

The firmness bordering on brutality wilh which the expulsion was
carried out, and the widespread reprobation it caused, placed the govern-
ment in au embarrassing situation. Within vinually a week, the Prime
Minister assumed a mollifying attitude, while a cenain number OC
prelates began to show conciliaiory inclinations.
By viflue of his position, the Archbishop oi Algiers, Lavigerie,
hsd good conlaets within governmental eircles, at the same time enjoying
a considerable reputation in the Vatican. He wae thue weil qualified as
a mediator. In June, he travelled to France: detouring through Rome,
where the Pontiff, seeing litrle chanee for the Jesuits, asked him to
endeavour to Bave the rernaining or der^.(^^' Froxn the moment of bis
arriva1 at Paris, Archbishop Lavigerie undertouk a series of confidential
conferences, particularly with De Freycinet.
On June 20, the prelate was able to inform the papal nunciu, Ctaeki,
that a iormula for solution of the impasse could be reached. The govem-
ment could overlook the lailure of the Congregations to apply for
authorization, if the Superiors would sign a Dechration disavowing
any intention of politieal hostility or opposition to the existing institu-
tions of the country.
This solution was iavoured initially. But, af ter consultatioiis with
Cardinal Guiben and having witnessed the expulsion of the Jesuits, the
Committee of Superiors iiiianimonsly rejected it. Arch bis hop Lavigerie

(26) L. Andrieux, Souvenirs d'un pr6Jer de police. 2 vola (Paris, 18851, i, 229.
Lecannei, 11, 63. Jesuit of Ioreign na~ionaliiy under the diplomaiic proieciion
of ~heir respective countriw were exempted [rom expulsion, at loast tempo-
rarîly.
cal) Ibid., TI, 66.