Letter CDLXXXIV. To Pope Eugenius III. On the same subject

[I am importunate for the pronouncing of a judgment]. For you know that I speak with great confidence to the heart of Jerusalem, nay, more, to the heart of him whom the Lord hath set as the warden upon the walls of Jerusalem; you yourself know the offences of that man going before the judgment; nor is your prudence unaware what such a person, so intruded and so reintruded, deserves. If anyone should have suggested any other course to you, whether I myself or an Angel from heaven, let him be anathema from Him whom he does not fear to contradict, the Lord whom you hear speaking among you. For He speaks both unto His people and upon His saints (Ps. lxxxv. 8): I speak of your brethren, if you think fit so to speak of your own mother’s sons, whom, as you know so well, their zeal for Him makes to pine away, because they see fearful things in the house of God, execrable things in His sanctuary. For behold how long they are afflicted and groan; they pine and almost wither away for fear and expectation. We beheld, and there was no helper: we cried aloud, and there was no one to hear. But blessed be the Lord, who has given to us a Pontiff who compassionates our griefs, and who cannot but grieve over the affection of Joseph. To him therefore the poor cry out from the ends of the earth: but let him free his brethren from the hands of those who seek their lives, nor suffer them to be sold to Ishmaelite merchants. May the Lord be with your heart that yoil may not turn away your ear from our sobs and cries; that your bowels of mercy may be agitated by the sighs of the hearts of your brethren, and that you may set free their souls from so great a hazard and from a lot so extremely bitter. For it is not a temporal loss nor anything earthy that we deplore, but the souls which are under our care, which were once purchased with a great price, not of corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the Blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (i S. Peter i. 15) and which it is not safe to give over to a new and shameless buyer. We entreat you then for His sake by whom souls are redeemed; yea, indeed His Blood itself cries to you from Heaven, that you should not leave the rod of the wicked over the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity (Ps. cxxv. 3). For He who cries out by us has bestowed power upon you, only let the will not be wanting. P'or even the Bishop of Tusculum, who, by the direction of your predecessor Pope Lucius, is acting as legate in that country, has already heard and ascertained (as we have been informed) of such great misdeeds committed by that man that, as it were, his nostrils are not able to endure their evil savour, if only the power to act was conferred upon him by his superior. This then is my request, my entreaty, this the desire of my heart, that you should bestow upon him plenary power to hurl down that idol without any subterfuge of appeal, if he shall find just and reasonable cause. I also supplicate your Excellency as before on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury, that he may be found worthy of your clemency in his just petitions, as well for the sake of his piety, as for your affection for me, in which he places great reliance. For he is a friend of our brethren, on whose behalf also I beg that his love for them may avail to obtain for him indulgence from you. Respecting other matters, how long will you hold our souls in suspense? We wait with quickened ears for your letters, but they do not come. I beg of you do not put off the matter from day to day. Make known to us both what you do and what you desire that we should do. May the Almighty God preserve you and multiply upon you His grace.¹