Page 33 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

Chapter 3
THE SOLUTION

rfi Hrooonr RvxrN DECTDED that this thousand-mile
journey to Rome would be a pilgrimage. He would
.,,1_
travel on foot and he would live on alms.
Taking his testimonials and perhaps little else, he
left Groningen late in May or early in June, 1827. He
might have hesitated if he could have foreknown that
what looked so simple would use up the next twelve
years.
Blessed in not knowing the future, Mr. Ryken pro-
ceeded to Rome. He can be placed there definitely on
September 30, 1827, {or on that date he was enrolled
at ttre Church of St. Augustine in the Sodality of Our
Lady of the Cincture, the Augustinian Secular Third
Order. The new sodalist signed his certificate of en-
rollment, "Theodoro Ryke."
Once settled in Rome, Ryken carried out the next
step in his prepared plan: he wrote the Holy Father.
Things were much simpler in those days: the Holy
Father wrote Mr. Ryken. His answer amounted to a
"non-placet." As Mr. Ryken tells it: "While in Rome,
I presented to Pope Leo XII a petition to receive alone
the approbation for this plan. Although this petition
was answered in writing by the Holy Father, approval
was not granted then. They said that I was still alone."
There was no short cut. Theodore Ryken had to
found the Brotherhood with the permission of the
bishop in lvhatever diocese he could, recruit members,
draw up a Rule, test out the Rule, win the approval of
the local ordinary for both the Brotherhood and its