 |
| Monseigneur Jean-Joseph Gaume |
First, the quote I saved years ago:
If, snatching away the mask of the Revolution, you asked her, "Who are you?", she would say to you: "I am not what they believe I am. Many speak of me, and very few know me. I am not Carbonarism conspiring in secret, nor riots roaring in the streets, nor the change from the monarchy to a republic, nor the substitution of one royal dynasty for another, nor a temporary disturbance in public order. I am not the howls of the Jacobins nor the furies of the Mountain, nor the fighting on the barricades, nor the pillaging, nor the arson, nor the agrarian law, nor the guillotine, nor the drownings. I am not Marat, nor Robespierre, nor Babeuf, nor Mazzini, nor Kossuth. These men are my sons - they are not me. These things are my works - they are not me. These men and these things are transitory things, and I am a permanent condition.
"I am the hatred of every religious and social order which Man has not established and in which he is not king and God together; I am the proclamation of the rights of man against the rights of God; I am the philosophy of rebellion, the politics of rebellion, the religion of rebellion; I am armed nihilism; I am the founding of the religious and social state on the will of Man in place of the will of God! In a word, I am anarchy, for I am God dethroned and Man put in his place. This is why I am called Revolution: it means reversal, because I put on high that which should be low according to the eternal laws, and I put low what should be on high."
Now the passage I discovered in Italian in Ove Siamo? Studio Sugli Avvenimenti Presenti, 1870 and 1871 (pp. 260-261):
Non c'illudiamo; la liberazione di Parigi non è una disfatta per la Rivoluzione. La Rivoluzione è un principio, un'idea, una potenza; non si uccidono le idee colla polvere. L'idea non può esser dominata che dall’idea. Certo la Rivoluzione incarnasi in alcuni uomini; ma questi uomini non sono la Rivoluzione. Se l’interrogate, vi risponderà: Marat, Robespierre non eran me, Mazzini, Garibaldi, i Comunisti son miei figli, miei soldati, non son me. Essi muoiono ed io vivo; abitano in determinati luoghi e io son dappertutto. Tutte le lingue, io le parlo; ed ogni eco del mondo risponde alla mia voce. Io son lo Spirito del male che va soffiando oggidì nel mondo e l’arma contro Dio.
Lo Spirito del male non può esser vinto che dallo Spirito del bene. Diciotto secoli sono, da chi mai l’abominevole tiranno dominatore del mondo fu cacciato dal suo impero? dallo Spirito del bene, dallo Spirito Santo, solamente da lui. Anche oggidì non può esser vinto da nessun’ altra potenza.
Finally, my translation:
Let's not fool ourselves; the liberation of Paris is not a defeat for the Revolution. The Revolution is a principle, an idea, a power; you don't kill ideas with gunpowder. The idea cannot be dominated except by the idea. Certainly the Revolution incarnates itself in some men; but these men are not the Revolution. If you question her, she will answer: Marat, Robespierre were not me, Mazzini, Garibaldi, the Communists are my children, my soldiers, they are not me. They die and I live; they live in certain places and I am everywhere. All languages, I speak them; and every echo in the world responds to my voice. I am the Spirit of evil that is blowing through the world today and the weapon against God.
The Spirit of evil can only be overcome by the Spirit of good. Eighteen centuries ago, by whom was the abominable tyrant, ruler of the world, driven out of his empire? By the Spirit of good, by the Holy Spirit, by him alone. Even today it cannot be defeated by any other power.
If anyone knows the source of the original quote attributed to Gaume (if legit) please let us know, it would be greatly appreciated.
~ Giovanni di Napoli, October 8th, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory
* For a short biography see Jean-Joseph Gaume at newadvent.com
