To the Archbishop of Turin, Lorenzo Gastaldi

IV, 2027

Having received a negative response to the request for admission of Salesian clerics to ordination, before seeking advice from Rome on how to proceed, he sets out some reflections and clarifies certain facts; in the event of a further refusal, he asks for the reasons.

Turin, 10 November 1874

Your Excellency,

I have been informed of Your Excellency's response regarding the refusal to admit our clerics to the upcoming ordinations at Christmas. You know how strict is the duty of a superior to provide for the good of his religious, which is also that of the Church, and you also know certainly in what cases an Ordinary may refuse such ordinations.

However, before asking Rome how I should proceed, I feel it is only right to share some of my thoughts with you, solely to avoid causing you further trouble and distress, which I have always sought to minimise, whatever may be said.

I asked whether I should or could make a declaration that I would not receive seminarians, in accordance with the terms I had the honour of presenting to Your Excellency, and I was not lightly rebuked. Finally, it said: ‘Go and read the Constitution of Benedict XIV, which begins: Ex quo dilectus; consult the declarations of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars Super ingressu clericorum saecularium in Regulares. 20 Dec. 1859. Consult also the replies given to the Bishop of Pinerolo on 3 May 1839, and you will have rules for your conduct.’

Nevertheless, I beg you to believe that none of the clerics expelled from the seminary in Turin to date belong to our Congregation, either as professed members or novices. Most of them came temporarily because they had been abandoned, but as soon as they were able to find accommodation elsewhere, they left. Others came to make the spiritual exercises in preparation for putting aside the cassock, as did the cleric Borrelli. However, they were all sent to seek the consent of Your Excellency, and their acceptance was likewise refused when consent was denied.

Please believe me when I say that I decided to accept those clerics temporarily in order to mitigate the acrimony of their relatives and friends, who never ceased to spew plagas against you, as if you wanted them to be abandoned by everyone.

That being said, I beg Your Excellency to admit our clerics to holy orders, as I have humbly requested. However, if you decide to continue with your refusal, I would ask you to at least write to me explaining your reasons, for my records.

Whatever the case may be, and whatever anyone may say about me, I can assure you that I have always striven to do good, to the best of my ability, for my ecclesiastical superior and for the diocese entrusted to him by Divine Providence, and in the hope of being able to continue doing so for the rest of my life, I have the honour of being able to profess that I am

Your Excellency’s

humble servant

Fr John Bosco