Page 35 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

THE SOLUTION 15
effectively the startled Swiss Guards must have lifted
bodily outside their ranks this impulsive pilgrim.
Mr. Ryken brought away from Rome still another
testimonial: "I, the undersigned, Apostolic Penitentiary
in the holy Lateran Basilica, and Prefect of the College
o[ Apostolic Penitentiaries, declare that Theodore
Ryken, a Hollander, who has dwelt in Rome for about
eight months is possessed of the Orthodox Faith and
that he is highly commendable for his piety, law'abiding
nature, excellent morals, and his frequent recePtion of
the Sacraments.
"Given at Rome in the aforesaid College of the Lateran
on the 22ndof. April, 1828.
John Anthony Pluck, Prefect as indicated above."
"Returning to Holland," Theodore Ryken tells us,
"I found conditions in regard to religion very wretched
through the opposition that they made there at the
moment to the good. There was little Prospect of gath-
ering young men for a project such as mine.
"I was advised to go to La Trappe. I said that I had
no mind for this. I was told that this inclination must
be founded on reason. This made me doubt. Another
suggestion was that God would perhaps in the mean-
while show me something else. In this hope I went to
Mont des Olives."
It is necessary to break in on the Ryken account to
say a word about "Mont des Olives." This monastery,
dedicated to Our Lady of La Trappe, was a recent
Trappist foundation transferred from Westphalia to
Alsace, then under the French flag. The Prior was Dom
Peter Klausener. More than likely Ryken had met him
at "Meer en Bosch" in 1823 when the Prior had spent
several days with Le Sage. The Prior at that time was
hoping to transfer his monks to Holland. Le Sage was