od, he is
unworthy even to live. We respect the Roman Church, and if need be
would die in her behalf. But if she endeavors thus to ruin our country,
we shall resist her till the last drop of blood is shed." This document
was placed in the hands of Olaus Magni, brother of the proposed
archbishop, with orders to inform the pope of the evils to which the
Church in Sweden was exposed, and to use his utmost endeavor to secure
the confirmation of the bishops. The missive, however, never reached the
pontiff to whom it was addressed. Adrian was already dead and buried ere
the document was penned; and when the messenger arrived in Rome, he
found another pontiff, Clement VII., seated in the papal chair.[85]

The breach between the king and popery was now open. Gustavus had
actually flung down the gauntlet at the feet of Rome, asserting that if
officers satisfactory to him were not appointed by the pope, he would
take the duty of appointing them upon himself. Still he did not
relinquish hope that the breach might yet be healed; and on the 2d of
November he wrote again, this time requesting the pope to confirm the
election of Erik Svensson, a former secretary of Gustavus, to the vacant
bishopric of Abo. "And if your Holiness," wrote the king, "shall delay
in confirming the bishops-elect, we shall ourselves undertake the
restoration of our ruined churches, and shall have the bishops confirmed
by Him who is our High Pontifex, that His Church and religion may not be
injured through the negligence of the Apostolic See. Moreover, Most Holy
Father, we hear from certain men of Lubeck that one Francisco of
Potentia has returned from Rome to Denmark with arguments in
justification of that tyrant Christiern's massacre of our bishops, and
that your Holiness has rewarded him with the bishopric of Skara. If this
be true, the Apostolic See has done us and the Church a wrong equal in
enormity to that of the Danish king, and we shall by God's aid avert it
if necessary with our blood. Let not your Holiness fancy that we shall
permit foreigners to rule the Church in Sweden." At about the same time
with this letter the monarch, in writing to Johannes Magni, uses even
stronger language. After suggesting that Christiern has so impoverished
the Church that it is unable to send its bishops elect to Rome for
confirmation, he asserts that it is rumored the real cause of the delay
is that the Church has not been able to furnish the pope the customary
fees f