S. Andrew Avellino, first biographer of Blessed Paul Burali: The Ambassadorship to Spain and the Inquisition in Naples. (1)
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The Ambassadorship to Spain and the Inquisition in Naples. (1)
A lively controversy had flared up between the city of Naples and the Viceroy, who ruled on behalf of Spain. It involved sending an ambassador to King Philip II to ask him not to implant the Inquisition in the Neapolitan kingdom and not to confiscate the property of heretics, but to leave it to the legitimate heirs.
City and Viceroy could not agree on the name to be appointed. The ambassador, whom the city liked, did not like the Viceroy, and the one who elected the Viceroy was not liked by the city. In the end the choice fell on our Don Paolo, who garnered everyone’s approval. But he (out of a thirst for annihilation) wanted to exempt himself from the task and then resorted to Pope Pius IV, who imposed it on him by obedience through a special Brief. He could not escape the Pontiff’s command. He would have liked me as a traveling companion, but the Superiors did not give permission, since I was the Novice Master. Father Don Pietro Caputo and Mr. Lucio Boccapianola, my spiritual son, went with him, from whom I was told the following.
When Father Don Paolo Burali arrived at court, he was received by the King with festive honors. The festivities were more solemn than if the Grand Duke of Florence or another great lord had arrived. All the men of the court exclaimed. “Here is the mirror of humility.” (For he had refused the bishoprics offered to him by the King).
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Prayer
O God, who manifested in Blessed Paul Burali the multiform and admirable ways of your call to Christian perfection, grant us the comfort of his heavenly protection to follow you wholeheartedly. Through Christ our Lord. Amén.
(there is a little silence to ask for the grace that each one carries in his heart)
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be
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Thought of Blessed Paul Burali:
“Religious life is the surest way to live well and happily; it is a most solid garrison of peace, a sure guarantee not to fear what everyone fears, that is, the extreme day of death.”
Q. P. R. D.