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# 37
A man of my size, probably
I
was raised Protestant, but I married a girl from a Roman Catholic family. After
38 years of marriage I know some details about Fathers. For centuries priests
have act as ‘lobbyists’, as we call them now. If somebody wanted something
done from somebody else, for instance he needed a license to build a house, he
invited the Father over for dinner. After some nice bites and sips, the matter
was brought up by the host: how to get a building permit without the hassle of
bureaucracy? Of course the Father offered to see what he could do, if the host
could help the church with a donation. The next time the Father had dinner with
the Lord Mayor, he waited for the right moment to bring the building license into the conversation. A request from such a loyal and generous member of the
church could hardly be denied, so everybody was happy: the man who needed a
permit, the man who could do the Father a favour and the Father himself, for
having so many nice dinners with good wines and useful donations.
Mr the Intendant requests Father
Pibrac to give him the honour of having dinner with him tomorrow Sunday 23rd of
this week |
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Of course the priest too had to invite somebody for dinner: Father Pibrac
requests Monsieur Journee to honour him by joining him for dinner tomorrow
January 9 |
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Sorel Eseveun has the honour to see Father Pibrac on May 2, 1772 |
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The dinner
invitations were all obtained from the Sylvia Mann collection. She was an
avid playing card collectors who wrote several books about the subject.
However, she had no interest at all in the secondary use of her cards.
With the cards I got her hand written descriptions of the items. She
didn't even bother to translate the text on the reverse side: "Some
kind of manuscript", she stated. |
It is unknown were he lived and worked, but according to the invitations Father Pibrac must have been a qualified lobbyist. And about my size I guess.
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