A Letter of Congratulation

In May, 1956, an original letter written almost 400 years ago was sold at auction in London for £640 ($1,792). The letter brought this high price because of its value as a historical document. Dated September 5, 1572, it is a letter of congratulation from Pope Gregory XIII to King Charles IX of France on the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Protestant Huguenots. That massacre began on August 24, 1572. A church bell tolled at 2 a.m. to give the appointed signal. The assassins, with white crosses on their hats and white handkerchiefs on their left arms, sallied forth to kill. Soon the people of Paris were called on to join in the carnage. “Kill every man of them—it is the king’s orders,” shouted the court leaders as they galloped through the streets and cheered the armed citizens to the slaughter. The Huguenots were butchered in their beds without regard to sex, age or condition. Many Catholics also fell victim to secret revenge and personal hatred and died by the hands of the Catholic assassins. The slaughter continued in Paris until September 17 and in the provinces until October 3. An estimated 50,000 Huguenots were killed. In Rome there was unbounded rejoicing. A Te Deum was sung by order of the pope; a salute was fired from the castle of St. Angelo; the bells rang, bonfires blazed. The pope ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of the event and sent Cardinal Orsini to convey in person his felicitations to the queen mother. In the letter of 1572 Pope Gregory XIII writes to the French king: “We rejoice with you that with the aid of God you have relieved the world of these wretched heretics.”—New York Times, May 29, 1956.