By Cardinal Louis-Edouard Pie

On December 8, 1849, amidst the last, joyous echoes of the solemn Te Deum, Louis-Edouard Pie, the young bishop of Poitiers—he was just 34 years old—took possession of his cathedral and of his diocese. From the altar, mitered, crozier in hand, he addressed his flock for the first time. He introduced himself with the same words with which his predecessor, St. Hilary of Poitiers, had stood firm before the Emperor Constantius, in the troubled and violent times of the Arian heresy: “Episcopus sum ego!”

I am bishop. That says all. I will be for you a father and a shepherd. I will love you as a father loves his children. I will guide and nourish you, as a shepherd guides and nourishes his flock. But a bishop is more than a father; he is more than a shepherd. As his name indicates, he is an “overseer,” always vigilant. From the observation post on which he has been placed, he observes, he ponders and, if need be, he cries out a warning against the danger. He is the sentinel of truth, the defender of the rights of God, the custodian of souls: these are sacred titles that entail inflexible obligations, responsibilities that cannot be declined.

I am bishop. If you expect me to be among you a man of peace, of conciliation, of condescendence, of charity, you are right to expect it. With the grace of God, I will be all that. But those are not my only duties, and circumstances might impose on me other obligations that you will be perhaps less prepared to understand.

As a bishop, I am among you the representative of the Divine majesty, the ambassador of God. If the name of the Divine King, my Master, is insulted, if the standard of His Son Jesus is not respected, if the rights of His Church and of His priesthood are ignored, if the integrity of His doctrine is threatened, I am bishop and I will speak out. I will raise my voice and speak out. I will raise high the banner of Truth, which is also the banner of the Faith, the banner of my God. Perhaps the weak will be startled, and perhaps others will be scandalized, but it doesn’t matter. I will speak out.

Peace is certainly the ardent desire of my heart, the inclination of my character. But the Holy Ghost has taught me that the love of Truth must go before any other love, even the love of peace. The recent experiences in the world have shown you how many calamities are brought about by error. Then, trust in my ministry, and respect my words and my actions even when you do not understand them. Allow me to work for you, even if sometimes in spite of you, remembering that from the top of the mountain the shepherd sees farther away in the horizon than the sheep quietly lying on the plain.