The result was severe penance, coupled with soul-searing reprimand,
and absolute prohibition of further original writing. His translation
of the Testament was confiscated, and he was commanded to destroy
all notes referring to it, and to refrain from making further
translations. His little room was searched, and all references and
papers which might be construed as unevangelical were seized and
burned. He was then transferred to another room for the remainder of
his seminary course, and given a roommate, a cynical, sneering
bully of Irish descent, steeped to the core in churchly doctrine,
who did not fail to embrace every opportunity to make the suffering
penitent realize that he was in disgrace and under surveillance. The
effect was to drive the sensitive boy still further into himself,
and to augment the sullenness of disposition which had earlier
characterized him and separated him from social intercourse with
the world in which he moved apart from his fellow-men.
Thus had Josè been shown very clearly that implicit obedience would at
all times be exacted from him by the Church. He had been shown quite
unmistakably that an inquisitive and determined spirit would not be
tolerated if it led to deductions at variance with accepted tradition.
He might starve mentally, if his prescribed food did not satisfy his
hunger; but he must understand, once for all, that truth had long
since been revealed, and that it was not within his province to
attempt any further additions to the revelation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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