but I felt as if a thunderbolt had fallen upon me when I pronounced
the awful oath which is required from every priest:
"I will never interpret the Holy Scriptures except according to
the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers."

Many times the other students and I had discussed that strange oath.
Alone in the presence of God, my conscience had shrunk in terror
from its consequences.
But I was not the only one who contemplated its evidently blasphemous nature.

About six months before, Stephen Baillargeon, one of my fellow
theological students, had said to our superior, the Rev. Mr. Raimbault:
"One of the things which my conscience cannot reconcile is the solemn oath
we will have to take never to interpret the Scriptures except
according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers!
We have not given a single hour yet to the serious study of the Holy Fathers.
I know many priests and none of them has ever studied the Holy Fathers!

"In the name of common sense, how can we swear that we will follow
the sentiments of men of whom we know absolutely nothing,
and about whom, it is more probable, we will never know anything,
except by mere vague hearsay?"

Our superior gave a weak answer, but his embarrassment grew when I said:
"If you will allow me, Mr. Superior, I have some more formidable objections.
Would to God that I could say, with Baillargeon, I know nothing of the
Holy Fathers. But my regret is that we know already too much of the Holy
Fathers to be exempt from perjuring ourselves,
when we swear that we will not interpret the Holy Scriptures except
according to their unanimous consent.

"Please, Mr. Superior, tell us what are the texts of Scripture on which
the Holy Fathers are unanimous ?
You respect yourself too much to answer.
And if you, one of the most learned men of France, cannot put your finger
on the texts of the Holy Bible and say, 'The Holy Fathers are perfectly
unanimous on these texts!'
how can we dare to swear before God and men to interpret every text
of the Scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of those
Holy Fathers?

....the Church has constantly been filled with the noise of the controversies
of Holy Fathers with Holy Fathers.
Some say, with our best modern theologians, St. Thomas, Bellarmine and
Liquori, that we must kill heretics as we kill wild beasts;

...while many others say that we must tolerate them!
You all know the name of the Holy Father who sends to hell all the
widows who marry a second time, while other Holy Fathers disagree.

"Some had very different notions about purgatory.
.....If I cannot rely upon my private judgment when studying,
with the help of God, the Holy Scriptures, how can I rely on my private
judgment when studying the Holy Fathers?"