Les Misérables, page 148
CHAPTER III--MOTHER INNOCENTE
About a quarter of an hour elapsed. The prioress returned and seatedherself once more on her chair.
The two interlocutors seemed preoccupied. We will present a stenographicreport of the dialogue which then ensued, to the best of our ability.
"Father Fauvent!"
"Reverend Mother!"
"Do you know the chapel?"
"I have a little cage there, where I hear the mass and the offices."
"And you have been in the choir in pursuance of your duties?"
"Two or three times."
"There is a stone to be raised."
"Heavy?"
"The slab of the pavement which is at the side of the altar."
"The slab which closes the vault?"
"Yes."
"It would be a good thing to have two men for it."
"Mother Ascension, who is as strong as a man, will help you."
"A woman is never a man."
"We have only a woman here to help you. Each one does what he can.Because Dom Mabillon gives four hundred and seventeen epistles ofSaint Bernard, while Merlonus Horstius only gives three hundred andsixty-seven, I do not despise Merlonus Horstius."
"Neither do I."
"Merit consists in working according to one's strength. A cloister isnot a dock-yard."
"And a woman is not a man. But my brother is the strong one, though!"
"And can you get a lever?"
"That is the only sort of key that fits that sort of door."
"There is a ring in the stone."
"I will put the lever through it."
"And the stone is so arranged that it swings on a pivot."
"That is good, reverend Mother. I will open the vault."
"And the four Mother Precentors will help you."
"And when the vault is open?"
"It must be closed again."
"Will that be all?"
"No."
"Give me your orders, very reverend Mother."
"Fauvent, we have confidence in you."
"I am here to do anything you wish."
"And to hold your peace about everything!"
"Yes, reverend Mother."
"When the vault is open--"
"I will close it again."
"But before that--"
"What, reverend Mother?"
"Something must be lowered into it."
A silence ensued. The prioress, after a pout of the under lip whichresembled hesitation, broke it.
"Father Fauvent!"
"Reverend Mother!"
"You know that a mother died this morning?"
"No."
"Did you not hear the bell?"
"Nothing can be heard at the bottom of the garden."
"Really?"
"I can hardly distinguish my own signal."
"She died at daybreak."
"And then, the wind is not blowing in my direction this morning."
"It was Mother Crucifixion. A blessed woman."
The prioress paused, moved her lips, as though in mental prayer, andresumed:--
"Three years ago, Madame de Béthune, a Jansenist, turned orthodox,merely from having seen Mother Crucifixion at prayer."
"Ah! yes, now I hear the knell, reverend Mother."
"The mothers have taken her to the dead-room, which opens on thechurch."
"I know."
"No other man than you can or must enter that chamber. See to that. Afine sight it would be, to see a man enter the dead-room!"
"More often!"
"Hey?"
"More often!"
"What do you say?"
"I say more often."
"More often than what?"
"Reverend Mother, I did not say more often than what, I said moreoften."
"I don't understand you. Why do you say more often?"
"In order to speak like you, reverend Mother."
"But I did not say 'more often.'"
At that moment, nine o'clock struck.
"At nine o'clock in the morning and at all hours, praised and adored bethe most Holy Sacrament of the altar," said the prioress.
"Amen," said Fauchelevent.
The clock struck opportunely. It cut "more often" short. It is probable,that had it not been for this, the prioress and Fauchelevent would neverhave unravelled that skein.
Fauchelevent mopped his forehead.
The prioress indulged in another little inward murmur, probably sacred,then raised her voice:--
"In her lifetime, Mother Crucifixion made converts; after her death, shewill perform miracles."
"She will!" replied Father Fauchelevent, falling into step, and strivingnot to flinch again.
"Father Fauvent, the community has been blessed in Mother Crucifixion.No doubt, it is not granted to every one to die, like Cardinal deBérulle, while saying the holy mass, and to breathe forth their soulsto God, while pronouncing these words: _Hanc igitur oblationem_. Butwithout attaining to such happiness, Mother Crucifixion's death was veryprecious. She retained her consciousness to the very last moment.She spoke to us, then she spoke to the angels. She gave us her lastcommands. If you had a little more faith, and if you could have beenin her cell, she would have cured your leg merely by touching it.She smiled. We felt that she was regaining her life in God. There wassomething of paradise in that death."
Fauchelevent thought that it was an orison which she was finishing.
"Amen," said he.
"Father Fauvent, what the dead wish must be done."
The prioress took off several beads of her chaplet. Fauchelevent heldhis peace.
She went on:--
"I have consulted upon this point many ecclesiastics laboring in OurLord, who occupy themselves in the exercises of the clerical life, andwho bear wonderful fruit."
"Reverend Mother, you can hear the knell much better here than in thegarden."
"Besides, she is more than a dead woman, she is a saint."
"Like yourself, reverend Mother."
"She slept in her coffin for twenty years, by express permission of ourHoly Father, Pius VII.--"
"The one who crowned the Emp--Buonaparte."
For a clever man like Fauchelevent, this allusion was an awkward one.Fortunately, the prioress, completely absorbed in her own thoughts, didnot hear it. She continued:--
"Father Fauvent?"
"Reverend Mother?"
"Saint Didorus, Archbishop of Cappadocia, desired that this single wordmight be inscribed on his tomb: _Acarus_, which signifies, a worm of theearth; this was done. Is this true?"
"Yes, reverend Mother."
"The blessed Mezzocane, Abbot of Aquila, wished to be buried beneath thegallows; this was done."
"That is true."
"Saint Terentius, Bishop of Port, where the mouth of the Tiber emptiesinto the sea, requested that on his tomb might be engraved thesign which was placed on the graves of parricides, in the hope thatpassers-by would spit on his tomb. This was done. The dead must beobeyed."
"So be it."
"The body of Bernard Guidonis, born in France near Roche-Abeille, was,as he had ordered, and in spite of the king of Castile, borne to thechurch of the Dominicans in Limoges, although Bernard Guidonis wasBishop of Tuy in Spain. Can the contrary be affirmed?"
"For that matter, no, reverend Mother."
"The fact is attested by Plantavit de la Fosse."
Several beads of the chaplet were told off, still in silence. Theprioress resumed:--
"Father Fauvent, Mother Crucifixion will be interred in the coffin inwhich she has slept for the last twenty years."
"That is just."
"It is a continuation of her slumber."
"So I shall have to nail up that coffin?"
"Yes."
"And we are to reject the undertaker's coffin?"
"Precisely."
"I am at the orders of the very reverend community."
"The four Mother Precentors will assist you."
"In nailing up the coffin? I do not need them."
"No. In lowering the coffin."
"Where?"
"Into the vault."
"What vault?"
"Under the altar."
Fauchelevent started.
"The vault under the altar?"
"Under the altar."
"But--"
"You will have an iron bar."
"Yes, but--"
"You will raise the stone with the bar by means of the ring."
"But--"
"The dead must be obeyed. To be buried in the vault under the altar ofthe chapel, not to go to profane earth; to remain there in death whereshe prayed while living; such was the last wish of Mother Crucifixion.She asked it of us; that is to say, commanded us."
"But it is forbidden."
"Forbidden by men, enjoined by God."
"What if it became known?"
"We have confidence in you."
"Oh! I am a stone in your walls."
"The chapter assembled. The vocal mothers, whom I have just consultedagain, and who are now deliberating, have decided that MotherCrucifixion shall be buried, according to her wish, in her own coffin,under our altar. Think, Father Fauvent, if she were to work miracleshere! What a glory of God for the community! And miracles issue fromtombs."
"But, reverend Mother, if the agent of the sanitary commission--"
"Saint Benoît II., in the matter of sepulture, resisted ConstantinePogonatus."
"But the commissary of police--"
"Chonodemaire, one of the seven German kings who entered among the Gaulsunder the Empire of Constantius, expressly recognized the right of nunsto be buried in religion, that is to say, beneath the altar."
"But the inspector from the Prefecture--"
"The world is nothing in the presence of the cross. Martin, the eleventhgeneral of the Carthusians, gave to his order this device: _Stat cruxdum volvitur orbis_."
"Amen," said Fauchelevent, who imperturbably extricated himself in thismanner from the dilemma, whenever he heard Latin.
Any audience suffices for a person who has held his peace too long. Onthe day when the rhetorician Gymnastoras left his prison, bearing inhis body many dilemmas and numerous syllogisms which had struck in, hehalted in front of the first tree which he came to, harangued it andmade very great efforts to convince it. The prioress, who was usuallysubjected to the barrier of silence, and whose reservoir was overfull,rose and exclaimed with the loquacity of a dam which has broken away:--
"I have on my right Benoît and on my left Bernard. Who was Bernard? Thefirst abbot of Clairvaux. Fontaines in Burgundy is a country that isblest because it gave him birth. His father was named Técelin, and hismother Alèthe. He began at Cîteaux, to end in Clairvaux; he was ordainedabbot by the bishop of Châlon-sur-Saône, Guillaume de Champeaux; he hadseven hundred novices, and founded a hundred and sixty monasteries; heoverthrew Abeilard at the council of Sens in 1140, and Pierre de Bruysand Henry his disciple, and another sort of erring spirits who werecalled the Apostolics; he confounded Arnauld de Brescia, dartedlightning at the monk Raoul, the murderer of the Jews, dominated thecouncil of Reims in 1148, caused the condemnation of Gilbert de Poréa,Bishop of Poitiers, caused the condemnation of Éon de l'Étoile, arrangedthe disputes of princes, enlightened King Louis the Young, advised PopeEugene III., regulated the Temple, preached the crusade, performedtwo hundred and fifty miracles during his lifetime, and as manyas thirty-nine in one day. Who was Benoît? He was the patriarch ofMont-Cassin; he was the second founder of the Sainteté Claustrale,he was the Basil of the West. His order has produced forty popes, twohundred cardinals, fifty patriarchs, sixteen hundred archbishops, fourthousand six hundred bishops, four emperors, twelve empresses, forty-sixkings, forty-one queens, three thousand six hundred canonized saints,and has been in existence for fourteen hundred years. On one side SaintBernard, on the other the agent of the sanitary department! On one sideSaint Benoît, on the other the inspector of public ways! The state,the road commissioners, the public undertaker, regulations, theadministration, what do we know of all that? There is not a chancepasser-by who would not be indignant to see how we are treated. Wehave not even the right to give our dust to Jesus Christ! Your sanitarydepartment is a revolutionary invention. God subordinated to thecommissary of police; such is the age. Silence, Fauvent!"
Fauchelevent was but ill at ease under this shower bath. The prioresscontinued:--
"No one doubts the right of the monastery to sepulture. Only fanaticsand those in error deny it. We live in times of terrible confusion. Wedo not know that which it is necessary to know, and we know that whichwe should ignore. We are ignorant and impious. In this age there existpeople who do not distinguish between the very great Saint Bernard andthe Saint Bernard denominated of the poor Catholics, a certain goodecclesiastic who lived in the thirteenth century. Others are soblasphemous as to compare the scaffold of Louis XVI. to the cross ofJesus Christ. Louis XVI. was merely a king. Let us beware of God! Thereis no longer just nor unjust. The name of Voltaire is known, but notthe name of César de Bus. Nevertheless, César de Bus is a man of blessedmemory, and Voltaire one of unblessed memory. The last arch-bishop,the Cardinal de Périgord, did not even know that Charles deGondren succeeded to Berulle, and François Bourgoin to Gondren,and Jean-François Senault to Bourgoin, and Father Sainte-Marthe toJean-François Senault. The name of Father Coton is known, not becausehe was one of the three who urged the foundation of the Oratorie, butbecause he furnished Henri IV., the Huguenot king, with the materialfor an oath. That which pleases people of the world in Saint François deSales, is that he cheated at play. And then, religion is attacked. Why?Because there have been bad priests, because Sagittaire, Bishop of Gap,was the brother of Salone, Bishop of Embrun, and because both of themfollowed Mommol. What has that to do with the question? Does thatprevent Martin de Tours from being a saint, and giving half of his cloakto a beggar? They persecute the saints. They shut their eyes to thetruth. Darkness is the rule. The most ferocious beasts are beasts whichare blind. No one thinks of hell as a reality. Oh! how wicked peopleare! By order of the king signifies to-day, by order of the revolution.One no longer knows what is due to the living or to the dead. A holydeath is prohibited. Burial is a civil matter. This is horrible. SaintLeo II. wrote two special letters, one to Pierre Notaire, the other tothe king of the Visigoths, for the purpose of combating and rejecting,in questions touching the dead, the authority of the exarch and thesupremacy of the Emperor. Gauthier, Bishop of Châlons, held his ownin this matter against Otho, Duke of Burgundy. The ancient magistracyagreed with him. In former times we had voices in the chapter, even onmatters of the day. The Abbot of Cîteaux, the general of the order, wascouncillor by right of birth to the parliament of Burgundy. We do whatwe please with our dead. Is not the body of Saint Benoît himself inFrance, in the abbey of Fleury, called Saint Benoît-sur-Loire, althoughhe died in Italy at Mont-Cassin, on Saturday, the 21st of the monthof March, of the year 543? All this is incontestable. I abhorpsalm-singers, I hate priors, I execrate heretics, but I should detestyet more any one who should maintain the contrary. One has only toread Arnoul Wion, Gabriel Bucelin, Trithemus, Maurolics, and Dom Lucd'Achery."
The prioress took breath, then turned to Fauchelevent.
"Is it settled, Father Fauvent?"
"It is settled, reverend Mother."
"We may depend on you?"
"I will obey."
"That is well."
"I am entirely devoted to the convent."
"That is understood. You will close the coffin. The sisters will carryit to the chapel. The office for the dead will then be said. Then weshall return to the cloister. Between eleven o'clock and midnight, youwill come with your iron bar. All will be done in the most profoundsecrecy. There will be in the chapel only the four Mother Precentors,Mother Ascension and yourself."
"And the sister at the post?"
"She will not turn round."
"But she will hear."
"She will not listen. Besides, what the cloister knows the world learnsnot."
A pause ensued. The prioress went on:--
"You will remove your bell. It is not necessary that the sister at thepost should perceive your presence."
"Reverend Mother?"
"What, Father Fauvent?"
"Has the doctor for the dead paid his visit?"
"He will pay it at four o'clock to-day. The peal which orders thedoctor for the dead to be summoned has already been rung. But you do notunderstand any of the peals?"
"I pay no attention to any but my own."
"That is well, Father Fauvent."
"Reverend Mother, a lever at least six feet long will be required."
"Where will you obtain it?"
"Where gratings are not lacking, iron bars are not lacking. I have myheap of old iron at the bottom of the garden."
"About three-quarters of an hour before midnight; do not forget."
"Reverend Mother?"
"What?"
"If you were ever to have any other jobs of this sort, my brother is thestrong man for you. A perfect Turk!"
"You will do it as speedily as possible."
"I cannot work very fast. I am infirm; that is why I require anassistant. I limp."
"To limp is no sin, and perhaps it is a blessing. The Emperor Henry II.,who combated Antipope Gregory and re-established Benoît VIII., has twosurnames, the Saint and the Lame."
"Two surtouts are a good thing," murmured Fauchelevent, who really was alittle hard of hearing.
"Now that I think of it, Father Fauvent, let us give a whole hour to it.That is not too much. Be near the principal altar, with your iron bar,at eleven o'clock. The office begins at midnight. Everything must havebeen completed a good quarter of an hour before that."
"I will do anything to prove my zeal towards the community. These are myorders. I am to nail up the coffin. At eleven o'clock exactly, I am tobe in the chapel. The Mother Precentors will be there. Mother Ascensionwill be there. Two men would be better. However, never mind! I shallhave my lever. We will open the vault, we will lower the coffin, andwe will close the vault again. After which, there will be no traceof anything. The government will have no suspicion. Thus all has beenarranged, reverend Mother?"
"No!"
"What else remains?"
"The empty coffin remains."
This produced a pause. Fauchelevent meditated. The prioress meditated.
"What is to be done with that coffin, Father Fauvent?"
"It will be given to the earth."
"Empty?"
Another silence. Fauchelevent made, with his left hand, that sort of agesture which dismisses a troublesome subject.
"Reverend Mother, I am the one who is to nail up the coffin in thebasement of the church, and no one can enter there but myself, and Iwill cover the coffin with the pall."
"Yes, but the bearers, when they place it in the hearse and lower itinto the grave, will be sure to feel that there is nothing in it."
"Ah! the de--!" exclaimed Fauchelevent.
The prioress began to make the sign of the cross, and looked fixedly atthe gardener. The _vil_ stuck fast in his throat.
He made haste to improvise an expedient to make her forget the oath.
"I will put earth in the coffin, reverend Mother. That will produce theeffect of a corpse."
"You are right. Earth, that is the same thing as man. So you will managethe empty coffin?"
"I will make that my special business."
The prioress's face, up to that moment troubled and clouded, grew sereneonce more. She made the sign of a superior dismissing an inferior tohim. Fauchelevent went towards the door. As he was on the point ofpassing out, the prioress raised her voice gently:--
"I am pleased with you, Father Fauvent; bring your brother to meto-morrow, after the burial, and tell him to fetch his daughter."
