Letter from Henri Loys to Urban VIII, 1641-05-02, Poitiers

Letter from Henri Loys to Urban VIII, 1641-05-02, Poitiers

Capuchins

Petitions for faculties

France (missions in)

Conversion

Letter from the bishop of Poitiers requesting that the Papal Bull, which the late Father Giuseppe of Paris had renewed on 21 February 1635, be continued, as had been the custom so far, in the following respects: a) the faculty of hearing confessions should be granted to all missionaries approved by the ordinaries and their superiors, as has always been done until now, since the beginning of their mission; now, however, they cannot do the 40th oration, nor can they summon the people, as before, to receive the sacraments of the Holy Eucharist, and to do penitence [reasons why this is not allowed any longer are not clear from the letter]; the one missionary hearing confessions is not enough for the thousands of people in the entire diocese; b) the "companion" (a secular or regular priest) assigned to the missionary/confessor, considering that he is approved by the ordinary and his superiors, should also have the faculty to hear confessions, so that he can relieve the missionary of some of his burden; c) the number of missionaries should be raised from 20 (not enough for such a big diocese) to 30 or 40; and d) the provincial of the Tours province should establish permanent missions (confessors) in five or six places that he (the bishop of Poitiers) would indicate, otherwise the Provincial can use the pretext that he does not have the faculty to do so, as he has done in the past. At the end of the letter, the bishop adds that "the Capuchin Fathers are the only ones who help me in the conversion of heretics, especially in the countryside." (f. 328v)

Additional comments

A CM house was established in the Richelieu parish of the Poitiers diocese in January 1638; evidently that did not make a huge impact on the diocese, from the bishop's perspective, at least as far as the conversion of heretics was concerned, since he seemed to consider the Capuchins as the only missionaries who were making a difference in the countryside.

Henri Loys

APF SOCG 83, 328r-v, 331v

1641-05-02

Addressed to Urban VIII

Original; signed; Italian

Italian

Letter

70

Origin: Poitiers

Destination: [Rome]