I had previously bathed it with tears of admiration, faith, – and [also] shame at finding myself so far from these heroic Christians, born yesterday and yet today the example and glory of the Christian world.

I should have written, as is customary, to the Councils of the Work of the Propagation of the Faith to speak about our different missions, but following the preaching of our anti-slavery crusade, I was completely exhausted.

Talking about foolishness, all of you must be very careful about what you write in letters. You cannot imagine the harm you have done through one of your letters, which was published without my knowledge by Father Charbonnier, which stated that food for the Fathers and the children in Equatorial Africa costs next to nothing once they are settled in their mission posts.

These are statements which must be verified very closely, since they could ruin our Society making its superiors out to be heartless men devoid of wisdom