O son of sin, straying child, pagan!
You wished — O man full of impiety and malice — to enter our holy dwelling, to be one of us, to put on our habit, to have your vile hair clipped, to carry the cross! And you wished it at the very hour, perhaps, when your soul was being ignominiously, disgracefully sold by public auction (at the new public auction rooms). You wished to introduce among us a body without a soul! A body whose soul was knocked down for 7 francs 50 centimes to Cogery of the London House; and the said Cogery, taking the said soul for an oyster and having found within it a great many unknown monsters, made a pâté of it which he sold for the exorbitant price of 4 francs to Mme Prodgers, who, having eaten it in company with Baron Roissard, her friend, and Miss Robenson, her client, found herself greatly indisposed, as did her guests, Baron Roissard and Miss Robenson. (It is to this pâté that the said Miss Crusoe owes in part her thinness. The other causes are unknown to us.
Fortunately for you, O bag of all iniquities! Fortunately for you, one of our brothers — one of those whose habit you wished to prostitute — passing by the sewers of the Paillon, saw your soul, which he recognised by the great quantity of blackness it contains, your soul making its way to the river along with the other filth, your soul in a state to make one shudder!
Our brother devoted himself; he went in up to his neck in the mud and heroically pulled out your unworthy soul, which was already on familiar terms with its companions in misfortune — he pulled it out, therefore, and brought it to our blessed dwelling, where at present it is shut up in the wood-box of the Superior.
You will not get it back except by coming to fetch it yourself, barefoot, bare to the waist, and administering to yourself along the way blows of the stirrup-strap on your shoulders, your back, and lower still. You must in addition make a public act of contrition before the convent, fast for three days, receive a severe admonishment from Brother Ardigo (it was he who saved your soul — need I say it?), and then accomplish a pilgrimage to Lourdes in company with the worthy Brother Ardigo, who will guide you in the path of good as he formerly guided you in the path of evil... We counsel you, poor straying child, to make haste and accomplish the small formalities aforesaid; you perhaps do not know that a body without a soul is surrendered to all the temptations of the Evil One, as a ship without a rudder is surrendered to all the storms of the Ocean!
Make haste, O unfortunate remnants of him who was Émile d'Audiffret, and the Lord will have pity on you... perhaps!
The monk brothers of Cimiez
January 1876, Cimiez.
O fils du peche, enfant egare, paien ! ... Les freres moines de Cimiez / 1876 Janvier, Cimiez.