Jean-Marie Blas De Robles - Where Tigers Are at Home

“If I weren’t sure that it would offend Alexander’s natural modesty,” he told us, “I would call this monument ‘Osiris Resuscitated’ & everything would be expressed with sublime concision.”

Two weeks later Cavaliere Bernini had enough sketches of elephants for the project to be submitted to the Supreme Pontiff, who accepted it unreservedly & our sculptor immediately set out in search of a suitable block of marble in the quarries of Florence. As for my master, he burned the midnight oil even more so that he could finish the work that was to accompany the erection of the monument.

It was, therefore, in February 1666, at the same time as Bernini’s magnificent sculpture was revealed to the public, that Obeliscus Alexandrinus appeared, a little book in which my master once more displayed his profound knowledge of Egypt & its hieroglyphs. Naturally it contained a translation, with commentary, of the Egyptian text, but also an ideal reconstruction of the great Temple of Isis in Rome, the building to which the obelisk had originally belonged. Not wanting to repeat what he had already dealt with at length in his Obeliscus Pamphilius & Œdipus Ægyptiacus , in this work Kircher limited himself to restoring & interpreting numerous objects from his museum & emphasizing the importance of Egyptian cults in ancient Rome. He finished by elaborating in detail the symbolism of the monument itself in the way it demonstrated to the whole world the achievements of the Supreme Pontiff in upholding and diffusing the Christian religion. May this obelisk of the ancient sages , my master wrote, erected to make the glory of thy name shine out, go to the four corners of the globe & speak to all of Alexander, under whose auspices it has been brought back to life!

In those days Rome, thanks to the Vicar of Christ & his missionaries, cast its glorious light over the whole world, as Heliopolis had done in the past. And I can assure you, dear reader, that the dedication & genius of Athanasius Kircher were not without having played a part in its success.

Grueber having left us to return to Austria, Kircher continued to work on his book about China. Father Heinrich Roth was invaluable for his knowledge of India & of Sanskrit , the language of the Brahmins, but my master very soon admitted to me that his dry conversation made him miss that of Grueber more every day.

It was during this period that we received a very alarming letter from Father Ferdinand Verbiest, the auxiliary closest to Adam Schall in our Peking mission. Kircher was deeply affected by the sad news it contained. Several times the disappearance of Adam Schall, an old friend whom he had in his youth sincerely hoped to accompany to China, moved him to tears of sadness. Sadness which sometimes gave way to sudden outbursts of rage.

“Just think, Caspar,” he would cry, “our most eminent priests, men who are the glory of religion & the most difficult sciences, these men bear without shrinking the many torments inflicted on them by the fiendish ignorance of the pagans, they go with a smile on their faces to the most horrible martyrdom, resolved to die for the faith & the future of the world, & what is their reward?! The oblivion they suffer would itself be profoundly unjust, but to add vilification to that, & calumny! How can we not be outraged when we hear Jansenists, Dominicans & even some Franciscans, who know nothing of the rites & customs of the Chinese, accuse the members of our Society of propagating idolatry & take it upon themselves, from the depths of their comfortable ignorance, to berate the true apostles of the faith?! If religion has been given to men in order to save them, then it must be made hospitable … Have these Arnaulds, these Pascals & other cheap imitation Catos ever saved one single soul from the claws of Lucifer? They have not, for they are like importunate flies that settle on any rich food, attempting to tarnish the luster of the most perfect & the most genuine things & constantly blackening that which is very pure & very beautiful with their insolent chatter & the blackest of malicious gossip! How long must we continue to suffer the despicable arrogance of these nonentities?!”

Then he would calm down, suddenly overcome with the memory of his friend again, & would reread, a frown on his face, the tragic account of Father Verbiest.

Informed of what had happened in the Peking mission, Father Paul Oliva, the eleventh Superior General of our Society, immediately appointed Father Verbiest to replace the late lamented Adam Schall. As we shall later see, he never had cause to regret that important decision.

A few days, dark days to tell the truth, passed without my master appearing to get over these misfortunes. He seemed to have lost interest in our work in progress and immersed himself in prayer & meditation. I was beginning to fear seriously for his health, when he appeared one morning with a smile on his lips, as if he had been fully restored.

“The Lord be praised!” I exclaimed, clasping my hands, full of joy to find him thus disposed. “Indeed, for without Him we are nothing & we must certainly see His will in the sudden light that has illuminated my mind.”

But as he was about to confide the nature of this revelation to me, the surprise visit of the young King Charles of Spain was announced. He was scarcely five years old & accompanied by his mother, Maria Anna of Austria, the widow of Philip IV who was governing the Empire until her illustrious son came of age. Although we knew that they were in Rome to present the royal child to the Supreme Pontiff, we were far from imagining he would visit us. But my master was not especially surprised, as the reputation of his museum was such that it attracted even crowned heads.

They appeared accompanied by several richly appareled duennas, the Jesuit Father Nithard, recently appointed (thanks to the favor of the Queen Mother) Inquisitor General & Prime Minister, & his nephew, Don Luis Camacho. The latter was only thirteen, but had a precociously lively mind and was justly the pride of his uncle.

Kircher was quite right about the reason for their visit & with him as guide the whole party spent a long time going around the galleries of the museum. The young king amused himself in a very devil-may-care manner with the skeletons, mummies and stuffed animals, grabbing everything within reach with a fidgety clumsiness without anyone in his entourage thinking to remonstrate with him & almost ruined several invaluable exhibits. My master was seething inside & he was very grateful to Don Luis Camacho for gently pulling the little brat away every time he was about to do irreparable damage.

A little later, when we were gathered in the great gallery for an improvised collation, the Inquisitor General asked Kircher for details of the recents misfortunes suffered by our missions in China. My master gave him Father Verbiest’s letter to read & the conversation quickly came round to idolatry, then to the points of doctrine criticized by the Chinese.

“Very good,” said Father Nithard, “but may I ask you another favor? My nephew here hardly ever has the opportunity to assess his knowledge by comparison with an intelligence such as yours & I would be happy to see him face up to you on this question. Whatever the result, it will be a lesson in humility & very profitable for him & I do not doubt that he will learn much from it.”

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure, Father. I have observed him just now & have formed a high opinion of his abilities. Having said that,” he went on, turning to young Don Luis, “allow me to treat you as Socrates did Phaedo & deliver you of a truth you possessed without being aware of it. This, I assure you, is not a simple whim on my part, but an example of something that has gladdened my heart ever since God saw fit to give me the gift.”