Letter from [John] Walker to [William] Lesley, 1668-04-17

Letter from [John] Walker to [William] Lesley, 1668-04-17

Scotland

Mission reports

Conversion

Copy of a letter from [John] Valchero [Walker] to William Lesley. He writes to have understood from Tomasse Lumisden, [Thomas Lumsden] that PF intends to appoint him as prefect of the Scottish mission. He has no ambition to join the mission, as he was displeased upon hearing that things are not going well. The truth is, he writes, that were it not for the great affection that the Scottish Catholics have for him, he would have gone to England, where he was invited to lead a more quiet life. He is old and suffers from the cold winters, but he is ready to obey PF if the cardinals want him to stay in Scotland. The two Irish missionaries [Mark and Francis MacDonnell?] have finally arrived, however, they are in a very bad physical condition, and are in need of both money and the "ornaments" necessary for celebrating mass. He furthermore writes that he has heard that six missionaries "of St. Isidore" [see also APF SOCG 308, 303r, 305v (database item 349)] are about to join the mission, but in his opinion two at the time are enough, as they need to have provisions for at least the first year. He describes the need for books, and explains that although he does not agree with [Alexander] Winster that it is necessary to have exact orders from PF as to what books to buy, he nonetheless asks the procurator to consider obtaining these orders, because new books would do much good. He notes that an English version of "il Spondano" [Henri de Sponde, Spondanus] would be needed, in order to counter the great ingnorance of many (especially with respect to Church history), and bring them to conversion. The letter dated 17 April 1668.

Additional comments

[John] Walker

APF SOCG 308, 354r-355r

1668-04-17

Addressed to [William] Lesley

This item belongs to a compilation of copies that were made at the same time. The compilation includes database items 351-359 and 368 (APF SOCG 308, 345r-362v). On f. 362v, which is the last page of the compilation, a notation reads: "Lettere venute da Scotia, 1668".

Italian

Letter

354

Origin: [Scotland]

Destination: [Rome]