George Matulaitis Journal

100 After lunch I went to see Monsignor Sapieha, 1 but did not find him at home and left my calling card. Then I went to the Via dell’ Olmata 16 to pay a visit to the Countess Ledóchowska, 2 hoping to find her sister Urszula 3 there, a religious who worked in St. Petersburg. I rang, but nobody answered the door. Later I learned that Sister Urszula had already left, and so I did not stop to visit the Countess again. In my free time, I visited the churches and prayed. I had prepared a report for the Sacred Congregation for Religious and some other documents and now I reconsidered my ideas and rephrased them better. November 17 Again I went to the Sacred Congregation for Religious and was admitted to the assistant who dealt with cases pertaining to religious men, Monsignor Caroli. 4 I explained the situation of our Congregation. 1) I had resigned my position as professor and inspector at the Academy of St. Petersburg and had gone to live in Fribourg, Switzerland. The reason: it had become clear that it was impossible to conduct a larger novitiate in St. Petersburg or in Russia generally, for this immediately attracted the attention of the civil authorities, especially if some of the candidates were priests. At Fribourg there were many priests and seminarians who had come to study at the University—even from Russia. Thus we could conceal ourselves more easily there, using the university as cover. So far the Russian government does not look askance at the University of Fribourg, although it hates Innsbruck 5 and is afraid of Rome. That is why I think we will be able to educate ourselves spiritually and intellectually in Fribourg much more easily and freely and then go back to Russia to take up our work there without any difficulty, as I already discussed this matter with some of the bishops. 1 Prince Adam Sapieha (1867-1952): worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State (1905-1911). Appointed Bishop of Kraków in 1911, and Cardinal in 1946. 2 Maria Teresa Ledochowska (1863-1922); foundress of the St. Peter Claver Society. Beatified in 1975. 3 Urszula Ledochowska (1865-1939): foundress of the Polish Community of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Agony; directed a boarding school for girls (1907-1911). Beatified in 1985. 4 Rodolfo Caroli (1869-1921): Undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation for Religious. Elevated to tit- ular Archbishop in 1917 and appointed Nuncio to Bolivia. 5 The University of Innsbruck in Austria was known for its connection with the Jesuits: they directed and staffed the Department of Theology, and Jesuit scholastics studied there. The Czarist government of Russia was determined to keep the Jesuits out of its territories.