Tolerance and CharityLetter from the new Bishop of Alger
La Vérité de Lyon, on February 17th, publishes the following letter, that Monsignor Lavigerie, bishop of Nancy, appointed to be the archbishop of Algiers, wrote to the mayor of Algiers on January 15th:
“Mr. Mayor,
I have just learned, through the Moniteur, the official news of my promotion to the Archdiocese of Algiers, and although I cannot exercise any act of my ministry in the diocese, without having first received the mission and the institution of the Holy See, however I cannot remain insensitive to the painful accents that resound throughout France, and that reach us from the foot of the Atlas. The municipal administration of Algiers took the generous initiative of a public subscription, for the victims of the last earthquake. Allow me to send my donation through you. You will find under this envelope a sum of a thousand francs: that is all my poverty allows me to do, but this little I do at least with all my heart.
I want this sum to be distributed equally, and without distinction of races or cults, among all those that have been struck by the plague. If later, not all should not recognize me as their father, I claim the privilege of loving them as well as my sons. I took as the motto of my episcopal arms a single word: charity! and charity knows neither Greeks, nor barbarians, nor infidels, nor Israelites; as the apostle Saint Paul says, he only sees the living image of God in all men! May I, if he calls me soon by his side, give to all, by my actions and by my words, the example, and the love of this virtue, that prepares all others. Please accept, Mr. Mayor, the expression of the sentiments of respectful devotion, with which I have the honor of being your humble and obedient servant.
Charles, Bishop of Nancy, appointed to the archbishopric of Algiers.”
The new Archbishop of Algiers announces himself by an act of charity, that is a worthy introduction; but what is even better, what will be especially appreciated, are the principles of tolerance by which he inaugurates his administration. Instead of anathema, it is charity that confuses all men in the same feeling of love, without distinction of belief, because all are the living image of God. These are true evangelical words. He does not speak of the Spiritsts, against whom his predecessor had thrown all the wrath of curses (See Spiritist Review, November 1863). But it is likely that if his tolerance extends to the Jews and to the infidels, it cannot make an exception to those that, in conformity with the words of Christ, inscribe on their flag: there is no salvation outside charity.
