m^ w ms^'^:^m ^^ w cy^: ST. LOUIS Catholic Historical REVIEW VOLUME l[I '-^X Saint Louis, Missouri Published by the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis 1921 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinois http://www.archive.org/details/stlouiscatholich03stlo 4023 C O N T E N T vS ARTICLES PACK The Old Cathedral Conference of St. Vincent de Paul Society Rev. Paul Schulte 5 Rummaging Through Old Parish Records. Historical Sketch of The Parish of Opelousas, La., 1 770-1903 Rev. B. Colliard 14 The Old St. Louis Calvary 1 793-1818 Rev. J. Rothenstcincr 39 The Beginning of Catholicity in Cape Girardeau, Mo. 1793 Rev. B. Pruente 50 The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 1689-1765 Rev. G. } .Garraghan, S.J I55 Life Story of Alexander Bellesime. A Hero of The .A.merican Revolution. A Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet 174 The Dawn of Missouri's History. 1540-1673 Most Rev. John Joseph Glennon, D.D 227 Some High Lights of Missouri History. 1541-1841 Rev. G. J. Garraghan S.J 232 Rummaging Through Old Parish Records. An Historical Sketch of Lafayette, La. 1821-1921 Rev. CItcrles L. Souz'ay, CM.-. D.D 242 NOTES Historical: Pp. 77-90 ; 181 -190; 295-310. Bibliographical: Pp. 91-105 DOCUMENTS Correspondence of Bishop DuBourg with Propaganda: Pp. 106-150; 191-222. Bishop Rosati's Diary: Pp. 311-369. ST. LOUIS CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW Issued Quarterly EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REV. CHARI.es I.. SOUVAY, C. M., D. D. ASSOCIATE EDITORS REV. F. G. HOLWECK REV. GlIvBERT J. GARRAGH^^^^j^^^^ REV. JOHN ROTHEJ»fSTp^^^ffigAp^[^^%. EDWARD BRO^Ur"^^ ^^^ Volume III JANUAItY-APEIL"fm''^""Number 1—2 PUBUSHED BY THE CaTHOUC HiSTORICAIv SOCIETY OF SaINT LoUIS 209 Walnut Street, St. Louis, Mo. CONTENTS PAGE Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis 4 The Old Cathedral Conference of the St. Vincent DE Paul Society Rev. Paul Schiilte 5 Rummaging Through Old Parish Records: Historical Sketch of the Parish of Opelousas, La. Very Rev. B. Colliard 14 The Old St. Louis Calvary Rev. John Rothensteiner 39 The Beginnings of Catholicity in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Rev. E. Pruente 50 An Appeal 76 Notes : Historical 77 Bibliographical 91 Documents from our Archives 100 Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Established February 7th, 1917 OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES 1920-1921 President — Most Rev. John J. Glennon, D. D. First Vice-President — Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G. Second Vice-President and Treasurer — Edward Brown Third Vice-President — Louise M. Garesche Secretary — Rev. Edward H. Amsinger Librarians and Archivists TRev. F. G. Holweck < Rev. Charles L. Souvay, CM., D. D. LRev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. Executive Committee ^ Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G., President Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. J. Tannrath, Chancellor Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. Rev. F. G. Holweck Rev. Martin L. Brennan, ScD. Rev. John Rothensteiner Rev. Edward H. Amsinger (^ Edward Brown Committee on Library and Publications r Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. I Rev. F. G. Holweck <( Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. I Rev. John Rothensteiner [^ Edward Brown COMMUNICATIONS General Correspondence should be addressed to Rev. Edward H. Amsinger, Secretary, 744 S. Third St., St. Louis, Mo. Exchange publications and matter submitted for publication in the St. Louis Catholic Historical Review should be sent to the Editor-in-chief," Rev. Charles L. Souvay, CM., DD., Kenrick Seminary, Webster Groves, Mo. Remittances should be made to Edward Brown, Treasurer, 511 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo. THE OLD CATHEDRAL CONFER- ENCE OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY Perhaps of all the charitable organizations of to-day none is so well known and so widespread as that of the St. Vincent de Paul So- ciety. Founded upon principles of charity laid down by the illustrious Saint whose name it bears, as a kind messenger, it has brought and is still bringing help and succor to the needy of every color and creed throughout the world. Far back in the sixteenth century there was born in Pouy, Gascony, France, Vincent de Paul, whose charity and love of the poor has counfounded the world. Led on by a true love of God which is best evinced in the love of neighbor, he devoted his best endeavors to the service of the needy and the afiflicted. Calling about him bands of noble men and women he formed them into Conferences and, through them, collected and distributed the necessaries of life to the starving thousands of Paris and its surrounding regions. It is his principles and spirit that have guided the Catholic Charities since his time. It was not, however, until May, 1833, that the organization that bears the name of St. Vincent de Paul was founded and elevated to its present high standing and efficiency. Frederick Ozanam, a brilliant young lawyer and author in Paris, called about him seven of his youth- ful companions and formulated plans for the organization of a society whose object should be to administer to the wants of the poor and thereby answer the taunts of an irreligious world which was proclaim- ing the death of the Christian spirit of charity. The rules then formu- lated upon the principles of St. Vincent are those by which our Con- ferences are governed today. The society quickly gained in member- ship; new Conferences were erected, so that today it can claim over two hundred thousand members, and there is scarcely a country upon the globe whose poor do not feel its kind and benevolent influence. Just twelve years after the inauguration of this noble work, Mr. Bryan Mullanphy returned from his studies in Paris, full of enthu- siasm for the achievements of the society in France, called together a few of the prominent Catholic laymen of St. Louis, and in the little school-house attached to the Cathedral, — a building destroyed in the great fire of 1849 — established the first council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in x\merica. In the minutes of this meeting we read that Mr. Mullanphy presided ; an election of officers took place. Dr. M. L. Linton was elected President; Bryan Mullanphy 1st Vice President; Dennis Calvin 2nd Vice President ; James McGuire Jr. Secretary and 6 REV. P. SCHULTE Patrick Ryder Treasurer. A committee was at once appointed to wait upon the Bishop to acquaint him with the establishment of the So- ciety and ask his approbation, which was gladly given in the following letter read at the meeting one week later. "Beloved Brethren : I have learned with great satisfaction, that you have formed yourselves into a society which takes its name from the apostle of charity, St. Vincent de Paul, and which has for its object to relieve the poor of Christ, whose spiritual or corporal wants may render them subjects for that charity which loves not in word and tongue but in deed and truth. I approve most warmly of your holy undertaking and hope that your society, which as I am informed, has been aggregated to the parent So- ciety in Paris, will be the means, with the divine blessing, of pro- moting the practice of Christian charity as successfully here as the other branches of that Society have proved themselves to be wherever they are established. I have read the rules you have adopted for the government of your Society, and most cordially approve them. They breathe a deep spirit of piety, and appear to be the result of much reflection and experience. They indicate the means most likely to render your united efforts efficient in aiding the poor. They are also well calculated to keep alive within you the spirit of holy fervor which will not permit you to grow weary of doing good. Invoking on you the Divine blessing, and cherishing the hope that God, who has inspired you to commence the good work, will enable you to accomplish it. I subscribe myself. Yours most devotedly in Christ, Peter Richard, Bishop of St. Louis." With the approbation of the Bishop obtained, their next step was to gain affiliation with the General Council in Paris. Accordingly on the 11th day of December 1845 the following application for aggrega- tion was forwarded to France. Dear Sir and Confrere : — A Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been established in the city of St. Louis under the approb- ation of the Most Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, Bishop of St. Louis, and under the spiritual direction of the Rev. Ambrose J. Heim. This Conference desires to be aggregated to the Society in Paris and thus secure the benefit of indulgences granted by our Holy Father to the faithful members of the Society. We have adopted your rules and regu- lations, also those of the Society in Dublin. All the members of the Conierence join in this letter." Their application was kindly received by the General Council in Paris which at once, forwarded the following communication which reached St. Louis early in April 1846. OLD CATHEDRAL CONFERENCE "Paris, Feb. 10. 1846. The letter which you wrote to us Dec. 15, 1845, and which announced to us the formation of a Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in St. Louis, gave us great joy. We hasten to ex- press it to you and to inform you at the same time that the General Council admitted your Conference into the Society on the second day of the present month (February). From that moment our new brethren are partakers of all the precious benefits and abundant indulgences which the Holy Pontiff has been pleased to grant our Society. Nor do we doubt but these great advantages will be a powerful encouragement for you in the way of charity which your zeal has opened before you. We give thanks to God for this favor which permits the humble family of St. Vincent de Paul to plant its root even in the New World. Even before he inspired you in the United States to establish the Conference, the admittance of which into our Society rejoices us today, from another part of that great conti nent, Mexico, we had also the happiness to receive new brethren. This we believe cannot fail to give you pleasure. At the same time other blessings were accorded to the Society in Europe, by the establishment of a Conferenc in Protestant Geneva, whilst the foundation was laid of our institution in the heart of Islamism at Constantinople. This consoling spectacle to which your piety adds in some de- gree by your welcome into the Society, causes you and us legiti- mate hope for the propagation of works of Christian charity ; that after your example they will be spread over the soil of America, where, since some years, the spirit and practice of the True Church find reception under such providential dispositions. We have confidence that our wish will be realized, when we consider what has been done around us. It will be a great honor to the city of St. Louis, to which religion already owes much, for having been the cradle of the work in North America. We beg you not to be sparing in your communications to us, concerning your Conference, All that interests you will be of interest to us. At the same time we shall try to send you all that may be of interest to you, also all the publications. It is this that will cement and fortify more and more the hearty and perfect union, which notwithstanding the great distance, must bind together all the divers branches of the great family of the Society. It is with delight theat we place here the foundation of that union which nothing will be able to change. In virtue of a Brief of the Sovereign Pontiff dated Jan. 10th 1845, a plenary indulgence is granted to those conferences newly received by the General Council. This Council has decided that this indulgence will be gained by the conference of St. Louis the Sunday after the first meeting after the reception of this letter. Greetings etc. Jules Gossin Pres. General." 8 REV. P. SCHULTE The exortation contained in the latter part of the letter was faith- fully carried out. Not only was there a frequent exchange of letters, but appeals from the Mother Council were promptly answered by gen- erous contributions from the Infant Conference in America. Many of these letters we have at hand. It was through them that the little band in St. Louis was directed and encouraged. On the first page of the records of the early meetings we find the following in the handwriting of Bryan Mullanphy: "We the undersigned desire to form ourselves into a Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri." Beneath this simple declaration there are to be found the signatures of more than one hundred spirited men who pledged their time and money to the relief of the poor. But these names were not subscribed or the deeds of charity performed to gain the applause of men, and we feel that their names together with the poor they aided, the distressed they relieved and the wayward they brought back to God are written by the Recording Angel in letters of gold in the Book of Life. As a list of CathoHc names in St. Louis as early as 1845 is a historical document of real value, we subjoin it in the note \ Still there are three ^ List of Bryan Mullanphy Dennis Galvin Thos. Anderson Patrick Ryder Martin E. Power John Everhart Jos. Masterson Jas. Maguire, Jr. J. J. Donegan John Byrne, Jr. George Ridinam G. A, Manning M. L. Linton J. Pelloux John Mclntire M. O'Keeffe J. C. Bury John Innis P. Slevin A. G. Heim John D. Mack John Beakey Wm. Doyle J. T. Higginbotham John Merrick Robt. S. Mitchell John Mullery S. Summerville early members of the Joseph Murphy Joseph O'Neill Wm. J. Mullin N. Tiernan Christopher Garvey Singleton I. Stako John Amend Bernard Slevin ]\lichael Coyle Jerry Sullivan John H. O'Neil P. Walsh James Regan Jeremiah C. Slattery Donat O'Laughlin Peter Byrne Patrick O'Brien Robert O'Riely Stuart Matthews Francis Saler John C. Degenhart John F. Mitchell John McEnnis John Haverty John Joseph Edmund P. Walsh James Conran C. Slevin Conference George Brein Joseph O'Neil Jacob Brookhouse M. Weis Thomas Foley Jos. E. Gorman Joseph Broeken James Rielly Rev. Father Badin John McFaddin John F. R. McEnnis Thomas Grey Wm .Wheeler Chas. F. Blattau Michael Kelly G. McGrade Rt. Rev. Dr. Barron Myles P. O'Connor James Verdin John Mulligan John Everhart, Jr. T. B. Bangaleyn Bernard Korkan Philip M. Sandon Owen V. Timon D. Rodier Andrew Breen H. Robinson OLD CATHEDRAL CONFERENCE 9 names placed there that can scarcely be passd over in silence. Those who bore them should be remembered and honored by posterity. Their lives are worthy of emulation. — The three I have in mind are Bryan Mullanphy, Dr. M. L. Linton ^ and Rev. Ambrose J. Heim. The name of Mr. Mullanphy needs no introduction to the people of St. Louis. Born to abundant wealth, educated in the best schools of America and Europe, he was in no way affected by pride or selfish- ness, but was filled with enthusiasm for all things Christian and char- itable. Witnessing the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Paris he was so moved by what he saw that, as he himself said, the feeling prompting him to establish a branch in St. Louis was irresistible. He was an accomplished French scholar, and it was he who conducted the correspondance for the newly established Conference here with the General Council in Paris. His purse was ever open and his generosity unbounded. It was due to him that there were no financial ailments in the infant days of the Cathedral Council. He was the "Good Angel" of the young society and regarded it with paternal kindness to the time of his death. Of his other philanthropic activities I shall say nothing here for they are already recorded in the history of the city. Dr. M. S. Linton was a native of Kentucky born in an humble position in life. Hard work and much sacrifice enabled him to attend the Transylvania University from which he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine. Not content with this he afterwards continued his studies abroad at Paris and Edinburg. Up to his thirty-third year he was a John Kremer Philip Fitzsimmons Thomas Murphy Timothy Slattery Christopher Pieper Frederick Kelly William Holtermann Augustus Laufkotter R. F. Barry (1851) Dr. L. B. Ganahl Louis Ottenad Tas. Duggan Kaspar Brinkmann Marshall P. San- guinette Jos. E. Elder John E. Fore J. C. Barlow Doctor Cornyse Hugh Ewing Wm. Linton James Ryan Christopher H. Shierman Peter Conklin (1856) John O'Brien Michael Lynch (1857) P.H. Heaman (1858) H. J. Spaunhorst Augustine Varty Francis Denning John S. Healy Graham S. Hughes J. Pillsbury J. Charleston George Killian James Riordan M. Mitchell D. G. Jones Stephen Moriarty Patrick Fox (1859) Wm. Dunning James B .Clancy Peter S. Dowling W. J. Brownson J. Gregory John O'Keefe Michael O'Fallon D. Provenchere (1860) Wm. Roche Patrick Lynch Wm. Crow Philip Karst David Breen Peter Barsle Christ. J. Caffrey 2 Dr. Linton wa.s the first editor of "The St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal" published by Dinnies and Radford. Monthly at $2.00 per annum. This was the first Medical Journal published West of the Mississippi. Cf. Catholic Cabinet, St. Louis, 1843, Vol. 1, No. 3. 10 REV. P. SCHULTE man of no religious convictions. In the year 1842 he was invited to fill a professorship in the medical department of St. Louis University. Two years later he became a Catholic and the following year was chosen as the first President of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He was a man of much learning and a ready writer. The sincerity of his religion and the spirit that animated his work in behalf of the poor is well shown in a poem which he wrote and read at one of the early meet- ings. I shall give but the first four verses : We are not here to secure Our ease or earthly gain We league together not to please The senses proud and vain, To dig for gold, nor dive to seek The treasure of the Main. We come together not to build The monuments of pride, To speed the rushing ships of trade Across the stormy tide, Nor set up banks which twice a year Large dividends divide. To wait upon the Lord of Heaven Within the prison wall, To shield from cold His sacred form, To answer hunger's call. And make His bed of sickness soft And share His sorrows all ; To seek Him out in squalid huts And miseries' wretched lairs, To whisper to Him words of hope, To charm away His cares. To soothe with genial wine and oil The bruises that he bears." He remained an active member of the Society until his death, 1872. Judge O'Neil, one of the charter members of the Cathedral Coun- cil, in a paper read in 1882, declares that it was to the ever attentive amiable and gentle Father Ambrose Heim. that the Society was much' indebted for its success. He was its first Spiritual Director, and each Thursday evening found him present. His reports were usually the longest, and his expenditures in behalf of the poor were invariably the greatest. To relieve distress, to assuage sorrow, to comfort and console the afflicted was the aim and the object of his life. He died in 1854, and above his quiet resting place in Calvary on a simple slab erected by the members of the Society we find written the terse vet eloquent epitaph : ■' Father Ambrose J. Heim "The priest of the poor." OLD CATHEDRAL CONFERENCE U The Society which these noble men founded was quickly put into operation. At the first meeting two visitors were appointed for each of the four parishes of the city. John Byrne and Dr. Anderson were appointed for St. Vincent's; John Everhart and Rev. Ambrose Heim for the Cathedral ; George Reidinam and John Ennis for St. Francis Xavier's; James C. Bury and M. O'Keefe for St. Patrick's. It was the duty of these to visit and report any cases of distress in the various parishes. It seems, however, that this system of relief proved too slow for the zealous members of our first St. Vincent de Paul Society ; so at the third meeting some two weeks later it was decided that a certain amount of the funds to be distributed each week was to be placed into the hands of one of the visitors for each parish and he was to use the funds for the immediate relief of the distressed, regardless of color or creed, to be found in his district. Full reports of expenditures were made at each succeeding meeting. This system continued for some months. In May of the following year Rev. John Higginbotham, an assistant priest at the Cathedral, was appointed as a committee of one to visit the Pastors of the various churches of the city to solicit their coopera- tion and ask them to be the distributors of the funds within their re- spective territories. From this time the Pastors assumed a more helping attitude and the Conference grew in numbers and activities. Dr. Linton served two years as President before giving way to Mr. Bryan Mullanphy who continued in the Chair until the Autumn of 1849. It was during the Summer of 1849 that St. Louis was visited by the terrible scourge, the Asiatic Cholera, and it was especially during this plague that the spirit of the St. Vincent de Paul Sodalists was sorely tried. They met the test courageously, and fulfilled their self- imposed duties faithfully; and none entered into the work before them with more zeal than the worthy President. Daily in the wards of the hospitals, amidst the dying and the dead and the infected poor and in all places where kind words and help were needed, this little band led by Judge Mullanphy went, prompted, as he was heard to say, by conscientious duty as member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. During the decade and a half following, the presidency was occu- pied by these worthy gentlemen: Dr. Linton, 1849, 1850, 1851; John Haverty 1852, 1853; John Bvrne Jr. 1854, 1859, 1860; Joseph O'Neil 1855; Francis Saler 1856; John Amend 1857; H. J. Spaunhorst 1858; Dr. E. H. Gregory 1861 ; James McGuire 1862. McGuire's name con- tinues in the records until 1878. The Cathedral Conference was the only one established in St. Louis until 1858, when Dr. L. Silliman Ives, a convert to the Faith, delivered a stirring lecture, in the Mercantile Library Hall, on the works of the Society and strongly urged the erection of more Con- ferences. As the result of his efforts St. Francis Xavier's Parish at once organized an independent Conference. This example was soon followed by others. Year after year witnessed the establishment of new Councils. At present our fair city boasts of seventy. 12 REV. P. SCHULTE With the multiplication of the Conferences and the establishment of the Particular Council in 1860, with Dr. T. L. Papin as its first President, the Cathedral Conference lost much of its importance. The number of its members was greatly decreased by transfers to other branches, and those members still remaining seem to have lost much of their zeal and gradually grew lax in their charitable activities. The Conference slowly declined and in the minutes of a meeting of the Particular Council June 28, 1878, we find recorded the first symptoms of its disintegration. "The Cathedral has $25.00 on hand, but at- tendance has fallen off greatly." This was followed by another even more discouraging report of Nov. 29th of the same year. 'The Cathe- dral has discontinued meetings, but has on hand $20.00." These two reports, though short, tell us a great deal. The Mother Conference was strugghng, dangerously near the death point, while her prosperous children indifferently looked on. The Conference struggled on, however, and a financial report of 1882, showing receipts and expenditures of more than $400,00, clearly indicates that it was far from defunct. On January 18, 1885, at a regular meeting of the Particular Coun- cil it was moved that "the Presidents of the Annunciation, St. John's, St. Mary's and the St, Francis Xavier Conferences be constituted a committee to extend their respective parochial lines for Conference purposes so as to join all territory in the Cathedral Parish not occu- pied at present by a Conference, and report such change of lines to this Council for approval." The following division was announced at the next meeting, Feb. 25, 1885, "St. Mary's Conference takes the territory from Poplar St. to Locust St. East of 2nd St. — Annunciation takes the territory from Poplar to Market St. and from 2nd to 6th St. — St. John's takes the territory from Poplar to Market, west of 6th St. — St. Francis Xavier takes the territory north from Market and West from 2nd." Records are lacking to show to what extent these neighboring Conferences actually carried on their work of charity in the districts mentioned. If this division accomplished nothing more, it at least aroused the parishioners of the Cathedral from their lethargy and a short time after we find the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the Parish in a flourishing condition with Mr. Cornelius Collins as its President. Mr. Collins resigned and was succeeded by Mr. Francis Fisher Nov. 20, 1890. The history of the next twenty-five years is a history of alternate enthusiasm and lethargy. We find in the minutes of the Particular Council for the meeting of Oct. 28, 1891. "Mr. McElrath reports through Mr. Quirk, the one remaining member of the Cathedral Conference, a debt of $15.00. The President announces that he would endeavor to reestablish this Conference." The following meeting the Cathedral reported with a membership of twenty. And thus we find recorded from time to time revivals only to be followed by periods of listless activity. Upon the death of Mr. Fisher, 1910, Mr. James L. Smith as- sumed the office of President of the Old Cathedral St. Vincent de Paul OLD CATHEDRAL CONFERENCE 13 Society. His reports to the Upper Council often ran something like this : "Pres. James L. Smith ; Secretary, James L. Smith, Treasurer, James L. Smith; Average attendance at meetings, 2. (Father Eugene Coyle the Spiritual Director usually attended). Number visiting the poor, 1. (Signed) James L. Smith." In the Autumn of 1915, Rev. J. J. Tannrath, having been appointed pastor of the Old Cathedral, called together the men of the parish and reorganized the Society, with Mr. J. P. Collins as President, Mr. Nicholas Laughlin Vice-President, to be succeeded within a few months by Mr. James L. Smith; Mr. Isaac Conran, Secretary; Mr. Patrick O'Donnell, Treasurer; Rev. J. J. Tannrath, Spiritual Director. Upon the death of Mr. Patrick O'Donnell, 1920, Senator Michael Kinney was chosen to fill the office of Treasurer. The Old Cathedral Con- ference today has twenty active members on its roster. Its spirit is the same that animated the young Council seventy-five years ago and its financial condition is better than at any time since it lost its "Good Angel" and founder Bryan MuUanphy. PAUL SCHULTE RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PARISH OF OPELOUSAS, LA. Opelousas is an Indian name — the name of a powerful tribe of children of the forest who lived there before the white man drew in upon them. Just what that name means, is to this day a moot ques- tion. The majority of the old inhabitants claim that Opelousa stands for "black leg man"; and in support of this contention, they appeal to a local tradition asserting that the Indians of the neighborhood had brown or black legs, in contrast to their rather light bodies. However this may be, the remarkable natural features of the place, its healthy location far above sea level, the wonderful fertility of its soil very early, it seems, attracted the attention of the Amer- ican aborigines, as they did attract later on that of the white man. Flowers in profusion, rural beauty, grassy lakes, beautiful bayous and majestic trees have always been there. There are evidences that the spot where the town now stands was once an Indian ' stronghold, perhaps the chief city of the Opelousas tribe. Mounds in the vicinity show that the savages used the present site as a favo- rite camping place and buried their dead in the adjoining hills. The first white settlement was made some two hundred years ago — the record of civilization beginning in 1716. Like a number of old towns on the Louisiana frontier, Natchitoches, or Arkansas Post, for instance, the town of Opelousas owes its origin to a mili- tary post, located near the spot where now stands the Academy of the Immaculate Conception. The relatively large garrison maintained from the beginning at this post shows the importance which the French governors of Louisiana attached to it. Before long people began to settle around the protecting walls of the post ; the garrison naturally patronized the little mercantile establishments clustering in the shadow of the Fort ; thus gradually a little village developed, and to this day the quaint capriciousness of the streets of Opelousas remains as a reminder that it grew at random and was never laid off as a town. The Indians, it is said, though belonging to the fierce Attacapan (i. e. "man-eaters") family, once so much dreaded, were now quite tame and friendly ; and many acres of the wonderfully fertile soil were placed under cultivation. When the fort was dis- mantled the soldiers were given the choice of returning to their 14 OPELOUSAS 15 homes or of remaining. Quite a number chose the latter alternative, took up a plot of land and started plantations. To these discharged soldiers many of the older families of Opelousas trace back their ancestry; others are descending from the enterprising early settlers who ventured to build their homes in the shadow of the stockade; yet others to unfortunate Acadians driven out from their northern homes in Nova Scotia, some of whom reached Louisiana after years of wandering and misery. ^ Did any priests minister in early years — at least occasionally — to the spiritual wants of the soldiers stationed at the Post? If any came, nothing is known of them. No record even speaks of any chapel existing within the palisades of the fort. Catholics these French soldiers were, no doubt; this does not mean, however, that the fort of Opelousas, any more than any other similar outpost, was garrisoned by the flower of Catholicity. The conditions which we know prevailed at the Post of Arkansas may well be regarded as typical. There no chapel was in existence for a number of years. The corruption of the French handicapped as much Father Carette in his ministerial work at the Post, as it has done his heroic prede- cessor. Father Davion. This ungodly spirit continued also after Father Carette was succeeded by Father Poisson. An old record sadly remarks: "At the fort there was no chapel, and no place where he could offer the holy sacrifice but a room open to all, even to the poultry, so that a hen once flew on the altar just as he was finishing Mass. Even this did not induce those in authority to erect a suitable chapel. His remonstrances actually led only to further derisions and mockery of religion." From the documents so far available, it appears well nigh cer- tain that, for many years after its establishment, the Post of Ope- lousas was destitute of all spiritual ministrations. To Father Joseph de Arazena, Pastor of Opelousas, we are in- debted for what is known of the beginning of organized Catholicity in that locality. True, there are extant some shattered remnants of parochial records of baptisms, marriages and funerals, antedating Father de Arazena's incumbency, and signed by Fray Luis del Burgo del Sto. Sepulcro, Fray Louis Maria Grumeau, O.P., and Father Gefrotin; but these early records were already in 1787 "in wretched state of preservation, being written on loose sheets of paper, and in danger of getting lost." Father de Arazena diligently gathered all that could be found of these hoary "papeles," and not only (did he preserve them with religious solicitude (they are now, and possibly since his time stitched together ; yet, as they are much decayed, they need handling with considerable care), but he translated them from French into Spanish and entered them in a large register. This pre- tentious looking tome, entitled. * In 1769 a party of Acadians bound for Louisiana was wrecked off the coast of Texas and taken to the presidio of Bahia del Espiritu Santo, now Goliad. After harsh treatment had been given some of the leaders, the party was sent overland to Natchitoches. Cf. Bolton, Athanase de Meziires and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier, 1768 — 1780, Vol. I, p. 131, 159, 173—174. 16 REV. B. COLLIARD ": LIBRO DE BAUTISMOS DE BLANCOS para el usso de esta Iglesia Parroqnial de la Imnuiciilada Conccpdon del PUISTO DE OPELUZAS, opens with a somewhat bombastic foreword, wherein the good Cap- uchin describes the work done by him to save the archives of the parish, arraigning severely, at the same time, his predecessors for their neglect. This parish church was founded in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and seventy, more or less, according to the information furnished by persons trustworthy and of well-known honesty. Don Carlos III (God preserve him!) being King of Spain, Our Holy Father Pius VI ruling the Church Universal ; Don Bernardo Galvez being Governor of this Province since the transfer of the same by the Most Christian King to His Catholic Majesty; and being Vicar General to His Lordship Joseph Santiago de Echevarria y Elguesua the Right Rev. Bishop of Havana, Jamaica, Louisiana and the Floridas, the Right Rev. Cyril de Barcelona, at present Auxiliary Bishop ; who, in the Visita- tion he made of this Colony in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, ordered expressly, as is shown by the Pastoral Letter pre- served among the papers of our office that each Pastor should keep the necessary books, and in the best possible condition : which order respect- fully and obediently, as it meet, on account of its conformity to the spirit of the Church, to reason and to the right method to be observed, we have adopted from the time we found it possible to have the necessary Registers, which are the present - in order that with greater clearness and distinction all the entries may be made, each one in the respective book, where they may easily be found in case of necessity: in like manner as we came across the few Records which were found here in wretched condition and on loose sheets of paper, exposed to the danger of being lost, as was the case of those of Father Valentin. O.M.C., the first pastor, whose writings we have not been able to see, though all diligence was used to find them; we have undertaken the work of copying over and translating herein in Spanish, which is the predomi- nating language among us, all these scattered records, to which trans- lation and copy entire faith and authority shall attach even more than to the originals, which are teeming with substantial defects, as may be realized by whosoever takes the trouble to consult them : we hope that God, for whom alone we undertake this work on behalf of the people, who will appreciate it all the more than they know it, will give us strength to pursue this painful task undertaken in order to remedy the defects of our predecessors : so that those who come after us shall have less trouble than he who. so to say, entered to clear up this land untilled and full of brambles. Opelousas March 15, 1787. Fr. Joseph de Arazena, O.M.C, Pastor. The good Capuchin rector certainly did excellent work in col- lecting, copying and translating the old scattered records of his pre- decessors, even though well might he have been more brief, and have made use of less stilted language in informing us of his titles to our gratitude. At all events, from the tangled maze of his words emerges one historical assertion of the highest importance : Opelousas was erected into a parish about 1770, and its first pastor was Father A word illegible. OPELOUSAS 17 Valentin, O.M.C. The good Father cites his authorities for the date of the foundation — they are clearly old inhabitants of the town, "trustworthy persons," he says, "and of undoubted honesty." We may Lake his M'ord for this information; all the more so that the report of Father Philibert Francis Watrin, S.J., to Propaganda (1765),^ which, though concise, aims at completeness, makes no men- tion of any Parish at Opelousas. It seems probable that, up to 1770, the settlement was for years an out-mission first of Pointe Coupee, and, later on, of St. Martin des Attacapas. The first church was, as may be expected, a plain, simple, little chapel, so small indeed that only a few people, it is said, could attend divine worship. This little chapel, dedicated to St. Landry, was built "on the Bayou" ; its exact location, however, has long been the object of much controversy. Father J. Frangois Raymond who was in the parish for thirty-five years, was much inclined to believe the church was situated in or near the present town of Washington. In support of this contention, he appealed to some information gathered, some sixty years ago, from some old people who had come from Nova Scotia (Acadians). Washington, in the old days, was called Negroville, for the reason that many negroes made their homes there. The name Bayou Tesson, associated with the first church, renders this opinion improbable, as the Bayou which bears that name runs through Opelousas and does not go as far north as Washington. Furthermore, the Register of Funerals bears for the year 1798 a note, written in Father Barriere's (1813-1817) character- istic hand, which reads as follows : During this year the present church was removed from the Bayou, (he spells "Baillou.") to the "Pointe a M. Tesson." Mr. Michael Prud- homme, a native of the neighborhood of Strassburg, France, donated gratuitously three arpents of land by forty in length, and Mr. Tesson, a native of Xaintonge, gave one. We find that the donation of land was made October 16, 1796; but Father Barriere either was misinformed, or expressed himself inaccurately as to its extent. Mrs. — not Mr. — Tesson's donation was one arpent wide by fourteen in length, and, continuing this picee of property were the forty arpents given by Prudhomme. The proba- bility is that the first church was located on the Bayou Tesson, at a very short distance from the present site; in 1798 it was moved to the point of the same name. If Father Valentin was the first permanent pastor of Opelousas, his sojourn in that parish was certainly very brief, for we find him, on April 19, 1772, at Arkansas Post, where he performed a baptism,* subscribing himself in the Register: "Fr. Valentin, Capucin Cur^ de • Archives of Propaganda. Scrittiire Referite nei Congressi. Codice I. America Set- tentrionale. Dal Canada all'Istmo di Panama. Dal 1673 a tto. il 1778. * Register of Baptisms of the Post of Arkansas. The entry is accompanied by the follow- ing note, written in the margin on July 9, 1786: "Collation6 par Nous, Fr. Louis Guignes, refigieux Franciscain cure de la Parroisse Ste Genevieve." 18 REV. B. COLLIARD la Paroisse de St. Louis des Illinois." He was then undoubtedly on his way to his new field of labor, as Unzaga's Report of the re- ligious conditions of Louisiana, dated July 11, 1772, mentions him as being in the "parish of San Luis de los Ilinnesses, at the place commonly called Pancorto." ^ As Father Valentin is recorded as being in the State of Louisiana as early as 1762, it is, therefore, quite possible that he served as chaplain to the post of Opelousas for some time before the erection of the latter into a parish. His successor was also a Capuchin, Father Luis del Burgo del Santo Sepulcro, or rather perhaps, Louis Dubourg, as he was a Frenchman, and belonged to the Capuchin Province of Champagne. He remained in Opelousas until his death which occurred in either 1777 or 1778; his body was buried in the first church on the banks of the Bayou Tesson. A Dominican friar succeeded him. Father Marie Louis Grumeau. In his first entry in the Parish Register (as copied by de Arazena), dated in 1779, he signs himself "Cur6," a clear evidence he was reg- ularly appointed. All his entries were made in French, in spite of the fact that the Spanish authorities had ordered all records to be kept in Spanish. It seems probable that Father Grumeau, at the same time as he was "Cure" of Opelousas, was also, at least for a while, in charge of the Parish of Pointe Coupee ; for his name appears in the records of that parish during the years 1781-1783. He, like his predecessor, died in Opelousas, and his remains were laid alongside of those of Father Luis del Burgo, in the miniature church on Bayou Tesson. Following Father Grumeau's death, the pastor of the Attakapas, Father Gefrotin,^ was placed in charge of the parish of Opelousas, on February 9, 1785. His last entry in the Parish Books bears the date April 16, 1785. The next incumbent was that Father Joseph de Arazena, O.M.C., already mentioned above, whose name appears for the first time in the Baptism Register on July 24, 1785. It seems he had succeeded Father Valentin as Parish Priest of St. Gabriel's, on February 25, 1781 ; and on November 12, 1784, we find him in charge of the Church of the Purisima Concepcion, at Mobile, Ala. His zeal in pre- serving valuable records which otherwise might have been lost or destroyed, has been sufficiently expatiated upon. His patient efforts to place the entries of his predecessors in correct chronological order were usually successful. When he had almost come to a close, how- ever, with the copying of the entries of 1782, suddenly he stumbled upon twenty or more of the preceding year. Here was for his pa- tience and love of order a sore trial ; for rather than to mutilate the huge tome of which he had already filled a score of pages with his » Louis Houck. History of Missouri. Vol. II, p. 306, n. 48. ° Ilis bantisinal name is unknown and never mentioned in his records either at St. Marti TJlle or at Opelousas. OPELOUSAS 19 large handwriting, he had to resign himself to enter these records after those of the following year. But he would not have us ignor- ant that this incongruity was due to no fault of his: Note — says he — that the entries are out of place; that we have well nigh broken our head — pucheramos la cabeca — in setting in order papers which could not be placed properly ; and that, let it be well understood from now on and for evermore, we are in no wise responsible for such incongruities ; also that we sacrificed enough of both our time and our patience in undertaking a work which should have been accomplished — evaquada — by others. St. Landry was, to this son of Spain, too French and plain a title for the parish : henceforth it was to be known as the Iglesia Parroquial de la hnmaculada Concepcion del Puisto de Opelnzas. So loyal was Arazena to his mother contry and to its laws regarding the discipline of the Church, that he actually felt he had to make excuses, in a marginal note to a marriage record, for having permitted the entry to be made in the French language : NOTE that the second last entry was made in French, contrary to our usual custom — contro miestra usso costumbre — , because at the time of the celebration of said wedding we were seriously ill, and conse- quently placed in the absolute impossibility of writing this act myself. Hence I was obliged to make use of the instrumentality of a person who was ignorant of our idiom, being compelled to accommodate myself to time and circumstances. This, however, is mere accident, and does not alter the substance of' the act, which I have signed. May 27, 1798, is the date of the last entry — the Record of a Funeral — made by Father de Arazena. Father Pedro de Zamora, his successor had already arrived. Father Zamora seems to be the first secular priest to have charge of the parish. He had accompanied the Marquis de Casa Calvo to Louisiana. A note in the Baptism Register gives us the date of his arrival : "I took charge," he says, "of this church of Opelousas on the fifth day of May, 1789." As his last written record was entered on June 24, 1801, his pastoral activity in Opelousas extended over the space of twelve years. It seems that after his departure from the parish he became a military chaplain ; at any rate John G. Shea mentions, as one of the last acts of the Very Rev. Thomas Hassett, that, "on the 11th of April, 1804, he gave faculties to the Rev. Peter de Zamora, who had been assigned as chaplain to a Louisiana regi- ment (of Spanish soldiers) on its way to Pensacola." "^ Father Zamora had a beautiful handwriting and kept a very exact record of the parish ; all his entries are perfectly legible and the ink is as fresh as if it was used recently, instead of upwards of one hundr'ed and twenty years. Among the marriages celebrated and registered by him, one is of particular interest for the early history of Grand Coteau, namely ' Historj' of the Catholic Church in the United States, Vol. II, p. 584 — 585. 20 REV. B. COLLIARD the marriage of Charles Smith, the founder of the last named parish, which on his account, was erected under the title of St. Charles. 1792. Monday, the thirtieth of April, I, Fr. Pedro de Zamora, have united in facie Ecclesiae, et coram testibus, Charles Smith, legitimate son of Leonard Smith and Isabelle Nil,^ natives of Maryland in America ; ^ and Mary Sancthi, ^° legitimate daughter of lorge ^^ Sancthi and Mary Cars, natives of America. I likewise conferred upon them the blessings of the Church in the presence of the witnesses whose signature is hereinafter, and who were the Sponsors of the above-men- tioned lady, who was baptized the same day, month and year.^2 p^. pg^ro de Zamora. *" (Said lady was born and raised in the Sect of Calvin) It was during his pastorate that the church was moved from its old location on the Bayou Tesson to the "Pointe a Tesson." Another notable event, which occurred during Father de Zam- ora's incumbency, is the first canonical visitation of the parish, made by Bishop Penal ver on October 23, 1796. Strange as it may seem, the Act makes no mention whatever of the Prudhomme- Tesson donation, which had been concluded just a week before (October 16) ; but it approves Father de Arazena's copy and trans- lation of hiiS predecessors' records, and declares them to have the same documentary authority as if they were the originals. A rule also is established in regard to marriages of non-Catholics : such marriages should be recorded, in the absence of a separate Book, in a section apart of the ordinary Marriage Register, with a cross reference at the proper place in the Record of Catholic marriages. It is ordered, moreover, that the names of paternal and maternal grandparents should be mentioned in all Baptismal records, — a regulation which, as we shall see later, was disregarded as soon as Louisiana was retroceded to France by the Spanish Crown. We subjoin here a transcript and English rendering of this important docimient : ^° Parish of St. Landry of Opelousas,^* October 23, 1796. In the course of the Visitation of this parish, were examined the three Books, to wit: of Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals, of • The name should be spelled 'Neal' or 'Neale'. • Be it remembered we are in 1792; Louisiana was then outside of the United States. " So writes Zamora; the name, however, as we know from better sources, was 'Sentee'. " Clearly 'George'. Zamora does not appear to have been at all familiar with English. " It is to be noted that no corresponding entry is to be found in the Register of Bap- tisms. " The original is in Spanish. '* Note that the change of title made by Father de Arazena (see above, page 19) is not taken into account by the Bishop, who very likely held that, great and edifying as might be the good Capuchin's devotion to the Immaculate Conception, it was not altogether according to knowledge. OPELOUSAS 21 the white people; and, besides, the books of Baptisms and Marri- ages of the colored people, and finally the book of Funerals of the same since the beginning" of the Parish, which seems to have been in seventeen hundred and seventy. Examination was made likewise of many acts, which were indited in the beginning of the afore- mentioned Books by Father Fr. Jose de Arasena, the late pastor, who noted how he had collected various old loose papers, which were written without order or serviceableness by his predecessors Father Valentin, O.M.C., Fr. Luis del Burgo del Sto. Sepulero, and F. Louis Grumo;^'* and notwithstanding whatever defects we have noticed in this manuscript, which defects may come, after all, from the originals, we wish to give these transcripts all authority, which may be attributed them by law, and is usually attached to such original papers, in all intents and purposes for which they may serve; the present Pastor Fr. Pedro Zamora shall continue entering the records as he has been doing the above, except that, in the bap- tismal records of white persons, he shall put also the family and Chris- tian names of the grandparents, unless the parties do not know them. We ordain him to mention in every Act the day, month and year of the same, without sending back to the preceding entry ; also to enter in a separate quire, when there is no special Book, the marriages of Prot- estants, making at the proper place in the Book for Catholic marriages, a cross reference to the entry by a marginal note destined to indicate by what disposition he does it ; and he shall continue to write them in this quire or Register after the record of the funeral of Andrew Mon- don, which, owing to forgetfulness he failed to register at the proper place, and added afterwards on a separate paper ; and we express to him at the close of this decree, by this note, the satisfaction we have had in examining the said books. The Bishop of Louisiana. By request of His Lordship the Bishop, Isidore Quintero Pro-Secretary and Notary. Among the noteworthy entries of Father Zamora in the Baptism Register, must be mentioned the Baptism of Charles Sallier, surnamed "le Savoyard". There seems, however, to be a discrepancy regarding this name, and Father Barriere, later on, inserted a note to the effect that it was not "le Savoyard," but a son of Charles Anselm Sallier, who was baptized by Father Zamora. Charles Sallier himself and a Mr. Pithon, came to Opelousas from Savoy : Sallier was then a very young boy. Lake Charles was named in his honor after his death. When Louisiana and the Floridas were dismembered from the Diocese of Havana and erected into a separate Church, Father Zamora thought it advisable to devote half a page in his close handwriting to the proceedings at the Cathedral of New Orleans. This entry not only was as elaborately worded, and the language as flowery as the occasion He always signed his name 'Grumeau'. 22 REV. B. COLUARD demanded, but the handwriting is made to harmonize with the text, and the initial R of the first word Reynando spreads itself magnificent- ly with a great flourish. The note reads in part as follows : In the reign of Sr. Don Carlos IV, King of Spain and of the Indies, the eighth year of his happy administration; the bark of St. Peter being steered by Our Most Holy Father Pius VI, in the twenty-first year of his Roman Pontificate; Sr. Don Juan Luis, Baron of Carondelet, Knight of St. John, Brigadier-General of His Majesty, being Governor of the Province of Louisiana ; was to the honor of God the parochial church of St. Louis of New Orleans erected into a cathedral, with all the rights appertaining thereunto.^^ . . . The first Bishop thereof is the Sr. Dr. Louis de Pefialver y Cardenas, who .... took possession of this Cathedral Church Friday> the 24th of July in the year 1795 . . ., since which time this colony became independent of the Bishopric of Havana, a thing which seems to us more convenient for our successors, for the reason that they may specify this circumstance in the Registers, just as we have begun to practice it. Important as the event was in itself, it was regarded perhaps more so by Father Zamora because of its bearing upon parochial archives. Under the Spanish regime, indeed, pastors were required to repeat in every entry their own names and titles, the name of the church and of the Diocese to which they belonged. Father Louis Buhot succeeded Zamora on July 4, 1801, and re- mained in Opelousas until his death which occurred on June 23. 1813. During his administration, Louisiana was ceded back to France, only to become shortly afterwards part of the United States. Buhot's joy of belonging to France once more was boundless,^^ and he devoted a special entry to this happy event. He writes in Spanish : "Aqui sc acaba lo q.l pertcnece al Gobienio Bspanol." i^ and adds in Latin : "Sic transit gloria miindi . . . " ^^ and on the following page he continues, in French : Here begins the French Government whose taking possession of this post on the i8th of December of this year 1803, has filled \vith joy the heart of all true Frenchmen who form the majority of fhe inhabit- ants of Opelousas. " This practically contemporary record of the erection of the church of St. I.ouis, in New Orleans, into the Cathedral of the new See, had it been known later, would have set to naught the pretensions of Father Anthony de Sedella. Rishop Du Bourg (Letter of January 30, 1826, to Archbishop Caprano, Secretary of Propaganda) strongly suspected either him or the Trustees of the Cathedral of having done away with the Bull of erection of the See. " It is difficult to reconcile Buhot's imrepressed feeling of joy with the statement of J. G. Shea {History of the Catholic Church in the United States, Vol. II. p. 582). that in reply to he circular of Hassett, of June 10, 1803. to the priests of Louisiana, to ascertain whether they wished to retire with the Spanish forces, or remain in Louisiana, Buhot declared he was for following the Spanish standard. In support of this assertion. Shea sends, in a footnote, to a letter of Buhot to Ilassett. in date of October 15. 1803. " "Here ends that which belongs to the Spanish Government." " "Thus passeth away the glory of the world." OPELOUSAS 23 That same day, December 18, 1803, a Baptismal record is entered in the French language, — the first since Fr. Gefrotin's time; and the practice was continued thereafter. With the use of the Spanish lan- guage in the Parish books was likewise discontinued at once the prac- tice recommended by Bishop Penalver of entering the names of the grandparents of the child baptized. ^° All this incensed greatly later on the ire of Father Barriere, who gave vent to his feelings in a few notes added in the margin of the Register alongside the patriotic entries of his predecessor. On Buhot's tearless farewell to the Spanish regime, he comments thus, also in Spanish : And here likewise ends the wise ordinance of the Right Rev. Lord Bishop in regard to baptismal entries. See p. 158 of the pJesent Reg- ister.2i Sic transit memoria Boni. " Barriere was consistent with his principles. After Buhot's death he reintroduced in the records the practice of entering the names of the grandparents, a practice which was continued to the last moments of Father Rossi's incumbency. But to return to Barriere's notes, he continues in French : What can have the French refugees to reproach the Spanish Gov- ernment with? Nobody ever intimated it was a crime for us to have a French heart, or to love our motherland ; only a few hot-headed fire- brands were repressed ; had they had their way we would have been surely thrown headlong from the happiness of peace which we were enjoying into the horrors of anarchy [I refer here to the year 1792 etc. 1803] from which we are fleeing! I speak only of Louisiana; I don't know whether any mischief was wrought elsewhere. We were expelled from our country. The government of Louisiana received us with open arms ! And, on the following page, commenting on Buhot's enthusiasm over the return of the French regime in Louisiana, Barriere, deter- mined on having the last word, adds : This electric moment was of short duration, happily for this coun- try: for Mr. Clement Laussat and his clique began very badly, and finally decamped incognito. No matter how intense the joy experienced by the author (Buhot) it ought never to have blotted out from his heart the tender memory of the sacred rights of so generous a hospitality. . . . . Tu quoqtte mi Bruthe. Buhot took sick in the summer of 1813, and died on July 23, at the age of forty-four. The following is the record of his burial, as found in the Book of Funerals : DOM LOUIS BUHOT, Pastor. In the year one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, on the twenty- fourth of July, was buried in the sanctuary of this Church, in front of the lowest step of the altar, the body of Dom Louis Buhot, priest and 2« See above, p. 21. " Barriere's cross-reference is to the Visitation Ordinance of Bishop Penalver. ** "Thus passeth away the memory of the good." 24 REV. B. COLLIARD Rector of this Parish born in the Province of Normandy, Diocese of Lisieux, deceased on the previous day in the house of Mr. Lastrape, at the age of forty-four or thereabout. In testimony v^^hereof I have signed, together with witnesses, on the twenty-ninth of the above- mentioned month and year. Gabriel isabey. Pastor of the Attakapas R[aphael] smith. Witness h. CARRIERES Later on Father Barriere added in the margin and below this entry this comment : It is worthy of note that out of six priests who in succession la- bored in this parish since its foundation, three died whilst exercizing the ministry here, and all three bore the Baptism :iame of Louis. This circumstance seemed to me to make a deep impression on Father Buhot during his last illness. "Two died here who were called Louis," he then said to me. "As my name is Louis, it is quite likely that I shall not recover." The first Louis was a Capuchin.^s who died in 1778; the sec- ond, a Dominican Friar,^* whose demise occurred in 1782; both were buried in the old church on the "Baillou," -^ which was the first church of the parish. The letters which he -^ received from his parents were dated from Danestal, Department of Calvados, near the river named La Touque. Mig.l Bernd.o barriere Priest Approved for the whole Diocese and at present in charge of this parish. Father Michael Bernard Barriere never styled himself pastor of Opelousas, btit clung to his formidable-looking title of "priest approved for the whole Diocese and at present in charge of this parish" ; how- ever, as he administered the parish, no matter with what title, for a period of well nigh six years (1813-1819), we may well be justified in giving him a place among the Rectors of St. Landry. He was no tiro, being on the Louisiana missions since 1794. Even before coming South, he had tasted for a few months missionary life in the wilds of Kentucky, wither he had come in company with Father Badin ; but, after four months he concluded he was unfitted for the ministry in the backwoods, and abandoning the field, he, in April 1794, set out for New Orleans in a periaguar'' For well-nigh twenty years he served in various parishes of the South, where he, no doubt, developed that love of order which shines forth in all his records, written in a large, very clear handwriting, and also that originality which transpires through the notes added here and there in the margin of his predecessors' entries, spreading at times an air of romance over the sternness of their official syle. We had already occasion above to cite some of these notes. On«» of the most lengthy and interesting is found on p. 90 of the Registet of Baptisms, in the margin of the Baptism record of Bridget (Brigida) Gradenigo and her twin-sister Eulalia Rousseau Gradenigo, under date •• Fray Luis del Burgo. ** Father Louis Grumeau. •• Barriere always spelled 'Baillou,' for Bayeu. •« Father Buhot. »' Shea. Op. cit., Vol. II, p. 455. OPELOUSAS 25 of January 17, 1789. John Gradenigo — or rather Don Juan de Gradenigo, as Barri^re styles him — , the father of these children, was under the Spanish government majordomo or president of the trustees of the church of the Immaculate Conception ; and in this capacity his name appears on the Church Register, January 31, 1796, as giving receipt of the church revenues to Father Zamora. Barriere's note (in French) reads as follows : All the persons mentioned in this book under the name of Grade- nigo belong to the same family, namely, the family of the same name in the Senate of Venice. This Don Juan de Gradenigo is the brother of Ambassadors. Senators, and others, in particular, of the V. Rev Gradenigo, Canon of St. Mark, Venice, who died seven or eight years ago. This is a fact absolutely beyond doubt, as my brother, who kept up a correspondence with Venice, used to serve as intermediary, sending me the letters which I handed to said Don Juan de Gradenigo. In 1356 one Juan Gradenigo was Doge of Venice (See Ecclesiastical History of Fleury, i2mo., p. 154). This worthy gentleman had travelled through all Europe and the two Americas, and, having come finally to Mobile, as he became en- amoured with the virtues and charms of Miss Kraps,^** of a German family, married her at Mobile and remained in this country. The Rev. Martin Duralde and myself were his intimate friends; still we never attempted to pry into the mystery of his emigration to Louisiana. He died here and was buried the first of March, 1809. A son, Antonio Donato, born to the couple in December 1781, was baptized at Opelousas on November 7, 1782. When he reached the years of his youth, Barriere again tells us, he was sent to relatives in Venice, probably to receive an education for which there was no op- portunity in Louisiana. But when Bonaparte — Barriere writes Bouena- parte — set out on his Egyptian expedition (1798), young Antonio Donato ran away from the City of Lagoons to follow the Corsican to the land of the Pharaohs. After this escapade, no news, except a vague report of his death, ever reached his anxious parents in Ope- lousas.2^ Direct descendants of John Gradenigo still reside at Opelous- as, and are numbered among the prominent families. Others settled in the neighborhood, and we find their names in the records of St. Martin, Grand Coteau and Lafayette. Romance of another kind — indeed of various kinds — is found in some other records. Under the date of July 29, 1797, Zamora had entered the record of the Baptism of "Nanzi Nikson" .-^^ jn the margin we read : This one was, I think, baptized twice; for I baptized her down Bayou Teche ;3i the mother's name is Choat.sz and the maternal grand- mother's. Sale 33 Holsten. Those people came (,Cela znentH) from Natchez, barriere. Priest. " The name is spelled 'Kreps' in various entries. " Barriere's note containing the story of Antonio Donato Gradenigo is dated 1814. »• The first name is evidently 'Nancy,' whatever may be the true spelling of the family name. We already remarked above that Zamora had a hard fight with English names. So •lie apparently had Barriere. " The text bears in characteristic BarriSre fashion, 'Baillou Tech.' " Probably 'Choate'. " Evidently 'Sallie'. 26 REV. B. COLUARD On April 18, 1814, Miguel Bernardo Barriere (for so he persist- ently signed himself, despite the fact he was a Frenchman) received the consent into matrimony of Hubert Le Jeune and Celestine Fonte- nau. A feature of this record strikes at once as a departure from the set protocolar formula: for mention is made in the act of the consent of the parents. The puzzle is solved on the next page, where on a separate paper, pasted on the Register we decipher these words scrawled by a hand as unskilled in writing as in spelling: We give our consent to Celes[tine] our daughter to marry Hubert Le Jeune and beg the Rev. Barriere to unite them in matrimony. Jacques Fontenaux Baptiste Jeansonne Rosali[e] ^* Jeansonne Jean Jeansonne Whereupon Barriere remarks : The girl had been abducted from her parents' house, though she was brought back and pardoned before the marriage ; this is why I required the parents' consent in writing and signed by them and two witnesses, who are the grandfather and an uncle of the girl. With such a stern and watchful guardian of the flock, who would not brook any trifling with the Church's Raptavc sit mulier nee parti reddita tutae, elopements — for the pardon besought by and granted to the girl clearly points to a case of elopement, rather than of actual abduction (raptus) — must have been rare ; still we meet a few months later, Jan. 22, 1815, with another case ; here as in the instance just mentioned, a paper pasted on the Register informs us that Elizabeth Le D^, widow of John Baptist Roujot, has given her consent to the marriage of her daughter Genevieve (spelled Jea7ie Vieve) to Lucas Fontenau, whom she pardoned for the abduction of her daughter. Paullo majora canamus. During Father Barriere's rectorship the Very Rev. William Louis Du Bourg, then Administrator Apostolic of Louisiana, made the visitation of the parish, inditing his Ordinance as usual in the Register of Baptisms : We, William Louis Valentine du bourg. Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana, Being actually engaged in the pastoral Visitation of this Parish of St. Landry of the Opelousas : approve the manner in which the Parish Registers are kept; regret to find the church property and the Rectory grounds so badly fenced, and the church itself in such a wretched con- dition in so far as the roof is concerned; urge strongly upon the Trus- tees to make without delay the necessary repairs. Given at Opelousas, on the 23d of October 1814. Wm. DU BOURG Adm. Apost. By request Mig.l Bernd.o barriERE Secret, ad hoc. ** The cross is the mark made by the person, who was unable to write her name; the name itself was written by the same hand which, penned the text. QPELOUSAS 27 The next day, October 24, the Administrator went to the house of Dr. Raphael Smith, brother of Charles Smith, of Grand Coteau, where he baptized Charles, a son of the Doctor, born October 10; the sponsors being Charles Smith and his wife Mary Sentee Smith, the future founders of the parish of St. Charles du Grand Coteau. From August 24 to October 5, 1817, all the entries made in the Parish books bear the signature of Don Flavins H. Rossi, who signs himself "Curate of the Church of St. Martin des Attakapas, in charge of the parochial Church of Opelousas." Father Barriere must have been engaged in another field of labor. Once more Rossi was in charge from December 27, 1817 to the end of June 1818, after which period are recorded fourteen Baptisms signed by Father Barriere and countersigned by Father Rossi "Cur6 desservant," that is, apparently "Pro-Rector." Nearly one more year elapsed ere Father Rossi was definitely appointed Pastor. His letter of appointment, dated from St. Louis, March 3, 1819, states that the parish had been vacant for some fifteen months. He was installed on May 2, 1819, as we learn from our oft-cited Baptism Book : In the year one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, on the second day of May, I, the undersigned, Gabriel Isabey, Rector of the -Parish of St. Martin of the Attakapas, by order of the Right Rev. Bishop of Louisiana, having betaken myself to the Parish of St. Landry of the Opelousas, have, in the presence of Messrs. John Baptist Jansonne, president (by interim) in the absence of Mr. J. Dupre, Luck Lesossier, Dupreton Dejean, Philip Richard and B. Vanhill, trustees of said parish constituted in assembly presided by one of them in the absence of the (ordinary) 35 president, read to them the document instituting canonical- ly the Rev. Don Flavins Joseph Rossy^s Rector of this Parish. After the reading of the aforesaid letter of institution, the said Gentlemen of of the Board of Trustees, both in their own name and in the name of the inhabitants whom they represent, have received said Don Flavins Joseph Rossy as their lawful Rector, promising and pledging themselves to vest in him all the rights and advantages accrueing from his office, in the same manner as they were vested in his predecessors. A transcript of the said letter of institution being entered, at my request, in the Parish Register, I have signed hereinafter, together with the President and members of the Board of Trustees. Two years later Bishop Du Bourg was once more in Opelousas for the canonical visitation of the Parish. He was coming from Grand Coteeau where he had held an anniversary for the repose of the soul of the late Charles Smith.^^ This canonical visitation took place March 11 (1821). The Bishop was accompanied by Father Louis Sibourd, his Vicar General, and the Rev. Marcel Borella, then assistant to Father Isabey, of St. Martin. The ordinances drawn up at the close of the visitation, shed some light on the actual condition of things in the Parish. " This word was added in the margin. " He always signed 'Flavius H. Rossi'; his second name was Henry, not Joseph. »' Died April 1, 1819. He is buried in the church of St. Charles du Grand Coteau, ia front of St. Ann's chapel. 28 REV. B. COLUARD On the eleventh of March one thousand eight hundred and twenty- one, I, the undersigned, Bishop of Louisiana, have made my Episcopal Visitation of the Church of St. Landry of the Opelousas, accompanied by the Rev. Louis Sibourd, my Vicar General, and the Rev. Marcel Borella, assistant-pastor at St. Martin of the Attacappas. I have con- firmed only some forty adults, the great distances preventing many others who have been prepared, to come for the ceremony. I have found a great deal of improvement in the dispositions of this parish; but ignorance is still causing much harm in it. This evil cannot be remedied except by means of the missions which may be eventually established in the places most distant from the church : but until it is possible to send another priest to relieve the pastor of part of his im- mense burden, it were useless to fix anything definitely in this regard. I recommend only to the pastor to visit as often as he is able the most distant places and to multiply there familiar instructions on the most important points of Christian Doctrine, particularly to the children. I have insisted vvith the Reverend Pastor, the Trustees and the parish- ioners assembled in the Church, that they should in earnest consider the ways and means of building a new church, of brick, and of such size as to meet the needs of so numerous a parish. I had the consolation of seeing in them the greatest zeal for this undertaking. I leave with the hope to see it soon under way. The parish Registers ought to be kept with greater care. 4. L. WM. Bp. of Louisiana L. SIBOURD. Vic. Gen. Marcel borelIvA, priest. It were unjust to understand the Bishop's comment on the ignor- ance prevaiHng especially among the inhabitants living at a distance from the center of the church, as a rebuke to the remissness in duty of the pastor. Since the foundation of the parish Opelousas had always been singularly blessed with spiritual shepherds who generously "spent and were spent" for their flock, f^ and Father Rossi was not the man to abandon this tradition of unquenchable zeal, and tireless apostolic rambles through the immense parish confided to him. But just imagine: One priest, and the territory to be covered reaching, even after the division of the parish, and the foundation of the church of Grand Coteau in 1819, from the Atchafalaya to the Sabine River, with the nearest priest to the northwest (there was none north), at Natchitoches, a distance, in straight line, of more than one hundred miles ! It must be acknowledged, though, that the prelate's stricture touching the care of the Register was far from undeserved. Father Rossi, at best, wrote wretchedly, and besides, his records exhibit very often evident signs of haste and slovenliness. How well he knew French, we have no means of ascertaining; but it is clear that he was often at sea when he had to record names pronounced in Creole fashion. Even his spelling of Christian names is frequently baffling. We cite at random: Celste (=Celeste; but this may be a mere case •» Just an instance, among others, revealed by the Baptism Register. A missionary ex- cursion, undertaken by Father Barriere towards the middle of November, 1813, resulted in no less than eighteen baptisms. By means of the entries, copied after his return home, we can follow the pastor, who, be it remembered, was no longer in the prime of youth, through the "Prairie Mamou," to James Campbell's, then to Mrs. Hall's, then again to Dennis Mc- Daniel's at the head of Bayou Chicot," hence to the place called "Baton Rouge" (this, of course, is not the well-known city of that name, on the Mississippi River, hut a spot on the outskirU of Prairie Mamou), then finally at Pierre Foret's, in tne "Praiiie Ronde." OPELOUSAS 29 of oversight), Juditte (= Judith), Magdalaine (=Madeleine), Giulien (==JuHen; the Italian spelHng of the name is here responsible), Elaisa (=Elisa), Jacente (== Jacinthe), Joacen (== Joachim; Rossi was influenced overmuch here by the Creole pronunciation), Silven (^ Silvain), Ortense (== Hortense), Ellene (=Hel^ne), Chaterine (= Catherine), Hirene (=Ir^ne), Ihon (=Ione), gemaux (=jum- eaux, "twins,"), Gfms (=James), Emon (=Ayinon), etc. Bishop Du Bourg had strongly urged the erection of a new church. Had he waited just a little more before leaving Louisiana for France (1826), he would have seen the complete fulfilment of his wish: for early in 1828, there stood, a little to the east of the old frame church, a beautiful new edifice, of brick, too, as the Bishop had suggested. The consecration of this new church was one of the delights experi- enced by Bishop Rosati, then administrator of the New Orleans Dio- cese, during the Visitation tour which he made in 1827-1828 through Louisiana. In his private Diary he penned at once this interesting account of the ceremony: 1828 March. Saturday. Said Mass in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, at 1. Grand Coteau. After breakfast we set out; our journey was made quite difficult by rain, which filled the whole prairie with water. At evening we reached, accompanied by Father Rossi, the Pastor, the rectory of St. Landry of the Opelousas. 2. Second Sunday in Lent. Said Mass in the church. Attended Solemn Mass in cope. Preached in French. Confirmed 54 per- sons who had received holy Communion. After Vespers, preached in English : The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him alone shalt thou serve. . . . These words are addressed to, this precept imposed upon, all creatures en- dowed with reason. . . . But to serve is repugnant to free men, to men enjoying independence; it seems to them debasing. . . . Americans, your freedom is a gift of God ; preserve it, fight for it, and defend it, if needs be, to the last drop of your blood. ... But shall you, because you are free, regard serving God as a demeaning of yourselves? This will be the subject of my ser- mon. Necessity of worship,, both interior and exterior ; of rev- elation, of one society which . . . 3. Monday. Said Mass in the church. Saw to the getting ready of everything needful for the consecration. We waited in vain for Fathers Rosti ^^ and Peyretti ;*« both were detained at home by sickness. »* Pastor of Grand Coteau. *• Pastor of Lafayette. He sent the following letter of excuses to the Bishop: Lafayette Parish, Vermillion Ville, March 3, 1828. Right Reverend Dear Bishop: I am extremely sorry that I am unable to go to Opelousas and be present at the grand ceremony of the Church, owing to my eyes, which are now swollen, and constantly watered with tears. The remedy I am making use of, however, does me a great deal of good. Still the satisfaction which I experienced on recovering my sight cannot outweigh the sorrow which I feel to be deprived of the pleasure to see Your Lordship again. In these circumstances I trust Your Lordship will kindly excuse my absence. I am, with the greatest respect Your Lordship's Most humble and obedient Servant Laurent Peyretti, Pastor. (Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery) 30 REV. B. COLLIARD 4. I consecrated to Almighty God, in honor of St. Landry, accord- ing to the rite prescribed by the Roman Pontifical, the Parish Church, which is entirely built of brick.^i Fathers Rossi, Pas- tor, and Bouillier, of the Congregation of the Mission, acted as assistant priests. An immense congregation was in attendance ; indeed last Sunday and today there were counted upwards of five hundred horses and thirty carriages around the church. A marble slab, put on the wall of the church, recalled to the generations to come the epoch-making event : TEMPLUM HOC. D.O.M. SACRUM. SUB INVOCATIONE. S. LANDERICI. PIA. CIVIUM. OPELOUSASIUM. LIBERALITATE. ERECTUM. SOLEMN!. RITU. AB. ILLMO. AC; RMO. D. JOSEPHO. ROSATL S. LUDOVICL EPO. ET NEO-AURELIAE. ADMINISTRATORE. CONSECRATUM. FUIT. IV. KAL.42 MARTIAS. ANNO MDCCCXXVIIL PAROCHIAM. REV. D. FLAVIO. ROSSL SENENSL REGENTE. ET. DD. L ANDREWS. L. GARRIGUES. FLAUGEAC. L DUPRfi. L M. DEBAILLON. B. VANHILLE. L. LESASSIER. ET. J. MIRAMOND. ADMINISTRAT0RIBUS.*3 The next day, Tuesday, March 5, the Episcopal visitation — this time rather a perfunctory procedure — took place, for the account of which we turn once more to the Baptism Book : Joseph ROSATi, by the Grace of God and of the Holy Apostolic See Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator of New Orleans. Having repaired to the Parish of St. Landry of the Opdousas for the Pastoral Visitation, we have been much gratified to see that, despite of the considerable expense caused by the building of the new church, the zeal of Rev. Father Rossi, Pastor of this Parish, was able to pro- vide for everything that is calculated to contribute to the majesty and splendor of divine worship. In consequence, we have found no reason for leaving any Ordinances, as everything is in good order. We are most delighted to leave here a sincere testimony of the satisfaction and " In the Register of Baptisms (Vol. VII) we read in this connection the following entry, written by the Bishop: Ego infrascriptus Joseph Rosati Congregationis Missionis Dei et Apostolicae Sedis gratia Episcopus S. Ludovici et Administrator Neo-Aureliae Parochialem Ecclesiant D.O.M. pia hujus Parochiae Opelousas liberalitate, atque indefesso Rev. D. Flavii Rossi zelo in honorem S. Landerici a fundamentis erectam, assistentibus RR. DD. Flavio Rossi Paroco, et Joanne Bouiller, solemni ritu, maxima populi frequentia, die IV Mensis Martii Anni MDCCCXXVIII Servatis omnibus a Pontificali Romano praescriptis consecra'A. In quorum omnium fidem, et ad perpetuam rei memoriam praesenlcs litteras manu nostra scripsimus atque subscripsimits eodem die et anno quibus supra. t JOSEPH Epus S. Ludovici Flavius Henricus ROSSI Parochus J. BOULLIER S.C.M. *^ Obviously an error: the te.xt should have been: IV. DIE. MARTII, or, beter, IV. NON. MARTI.4S, — March 4; as it stands the date indicated is, February 27. ♦' "This Church, dedicated to Almighty God under the invocation of St. Landry, erected by the pious generosity of the inhabitants of Opelousas, was solemnly consecrated by the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bp. of St. Louis and Administrator of New Orleans, on March 4, 1828: the Rev. Flavius Rossi, of Sienna, being Pastor, and Messrs. J. Andrews, L. Garngues- Flangeac, J. Dupre, J. M. Debaillon, B. Vanhille, L. Lesassier and J. Miramond, Trustees.' OPELOUSAS 31 pleasure which this Visitation has afforded us, not only on the score of what has just been mentioned, but yet much more by reason of the con- course of people in the Church, and the numbers of those who prepared to receive Confirmation, which we have administered, last Sunday, March 2, to 54 persons, and today, March 5, to 17. Given at the Rectory of St. Landry, March 5, 1828. 4. JOSEPH, Bp. of St. Louis. There was one more canonical visitation during Father Rossi's administration of the parish. Bishop Leon de Neckere visited Ope- lousas on August 25, 1831. This was to him lilce renewing old acquaint- ances, for seven years before, as a young priest in quest of health, he had been for a while at Grand Coteau (September 2 to beginning of November 1824), next door neighbor, as it were, to Father Rossi. Thirteen months later there is an entry by Father Rossi to the efifect that "the Right Rev. Leon de Neckere baptized on September 29, 1832, at the convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Grand Coteau Marie Xavier Athanais Chretien, of the parish of St, Landry, Ope- lousas." Bishop De Neckere was to fall less than a year later (Sept. 5, 1833) a victim to yellow fever. Of Father E. Rousselon's short term of incumbency (February 26 to April 21, 1840) there is nothing to say. He was succeeded by Father Jamey (April 14, 1840 to October 7, 1842). — One year after the latter's arrival at Opelousas, Bp. Anthony Blanc came to Opelousas (May 20, 1841) for Confirmation and Visitation of the parish. In the Act drawn up at this occasion, the Bishop expresses great satis- faction at the large number of persons conjfirmed (108), and requests the Trustees to purchase an ostensorium and buy a more decent chalice. We find in the Baptism Book under date of June 28, 1842, a lengthy entry recording the abjuration from heresy of Miss Sinette Perry, which took place at the Sacred Heart Convent in Grand Coteau. This is the first document in which Father Jamey styles himself Vicar General ; his appointment to this office must have been recent ; yet he remained in the parish until the following October. After this departure we find, first as Pro-Rector, and then, as Rector, Father Charles F. Morachini, who remained only four weeks. His place was taken (Nov. 13, 1842) by Father Desgaultiers who stayed only about six weeks, and whose last record bears the date of Dec. 25. For the next six weeks, until the middle of February 1843, the parish was without pastor. On February 17, appears for the first lime on the Parish Books, the signature of Father Raviol, who was left in charge until January 21, 1855. These twelve years were really the May-day of Record-keeping in Opelousas: the Parish Registers are then a delight to the eye. It was during Ra viol's time that the parish began to have assist- ants. In 1848 appears the name of Father Reminger; on January 8, 1850, that of Father Thirion, and on May 21, 1854, that of the Rev. A. Beaugier. As, the same year, the mission of Ville-Platte, hereto- fore a dependency of Opelousas, was erected into a separate parish, 32 REV. B. COLLIARD and Father Beaugier went there as the first resident pastor, the Arch- bishop being unable to send him a successor at St. Landry, the Rev. D. Hubert, S.J., from Grand Coteau came for some time to assist Father Raviol. Nine years had elapsed since the Ordinary of the Diocese had made the canonical visitation, when another took place. The record is signed, this- time, by " Hh Anthony Blanc, Archbishop of New Orleans," as the old Louisiana Bishopric had, meanwhile, on July 19, 1850, been erected into a Metropolitan See, and the Bishop raised to the archiepiscopal dignity. Insistence is made, in very strong terms, on writing in full, not in figures, the dates of the various entries ; and whilst compliments were paid to the trustees for their compliance with the last visitation's ordinance concerning the remonstrance, a pointed remark was added to the effect that "this now makes the purchase of a chalice imperative." In like manner the congratulations extended for the praiseworthy solicitude and care displayed by the Trustees in keeping the church in repairs, led to pointing out the wretched state in which the Archbishop had found the two houses which formed the Rectory. For the next thirty-five years the parish was in charge of the two brothers, V. Rev. Gilbert and Rev. J. Francois Raymond, both of whom had come from France in 1854. Father Gilbert's first entry appears January 30, 1855, and the last on March 10, 1866. Father J. Frangois, during these eleven years acted as assistant to his brother, and took charge of the parish from the time Father Gilbert was called to New Orleans until September 1889. The two brothers were men of great enthusiasm and undaunted energy. Hence theirs was truly for Ope- lousas an era of intense Catholicity, marked particularly by the foundation and development of Catholic education, the true soul build- er, in the old parish. To this end was every effort directed from the outset. At once an Academy for boys was put under way. The classes were taught at the Rectory until a special building could be erected. This was opened the following year under the name of St. Mary's Academy for Boys. The dormitory could accomodate thirty boarders and was taxed to its utmost capacity. Besides as many as forty day scholars were in attendance. Father Gilbert was President of the institution, with Father Frangois his assistant, and two lay teachers. The Academy was popular at once, because it afforded the boys of the parish a much coveted opportunity of receiving a commercial training at home. In due course the Academy expanded into a College whose influence has played a ;>art by no means inconspicuous in the development of Louisi- ana. Many men which have attained prominence in the professions or politics, men of no mean intellectual endowment and of deep-rooted and practical faith, received their education in the college. That an institution which proved to be such a potent factor in shaping the affairs of this section of Louisiana, should have cnmibled under the blast of adversity, is a sad ending to a beautiful story. It is to be OPELOUSAS 33 hoped that a new educational center in behalf of the young men will, some day not far distant, arise with the renewed vigor of youth from the ashes of the famous old Opelousas College founded by the saintly Father Gilbert Raymond. When St. Mary's Academy for boys had become an assured lact, and began to prosper beyond the most sanguine expectations. Father Gilbert Raymond cast about to find a suitable location for a Girls' Academy. Before long a piece of ground was purchased, and, in the fall of 1856, the Academy of the Immaculate Conception was opened under the direction of the Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross. The bright beginning of the institution, the sad days which came in the wake of the Civil War, and continued for many years after, until at last, with the erection of a new building, the old prosperity revived, make this history of more than threescore years read like an epic. The population of Opelousas had greatly increased since the days of Father Rossi, and the church built by the latter was now too small for the congregation.** To enlarge this sacred edifice was another of the works which marked the early years of Father Gilbert Raymond's pastorate. Not only was the building increased in length,*® but beauti- ful painting and frescoes adorned it inside, adding materially to its value. Nor should it be forgotten that, on the arrival of the two brothers, the parish of Opelousas, though several times already divided, still extended far and wide. Today flourishing parishes with magnificent churches and excellent schools, mark the places where the two apostolic priests and their assistants administered the sacraments in rude dwell- ings, or in little chapels, built gradually at various places as the result of the zeal inspired by their plain, simple sermons, which reached the heart of rich and poor, young and old, black and white. We just made in passing allusion to the assistants who shared in the two brothers' labors for the upbuilding of the parish. The records show the names of a number of priests, then young, who later made their mark in other fields to which they were transferred after having given the first fruits of their sacerdotal zeal under the care and guid- ance of the two brothers. When the latter arrived from France, in 1854, they were accom- panied by two seminarians, H. Picherit and Ren^ Pineau. Both were ordained in New Orleans in 1856, and sent to Opelousas to be broken into the harness. Father Picherit remained from January 17, 1856 to October 14, 1857; his companion Father Pineau was with him only a few months, from May to October 1856. Next we find on the records the names of the Revs. F. Joliet (January 15 to November 15, 1858) ; Charles Gutton (April 27, 1859 to September 22, 1860) ; Gon- nellaz (January 9, 1861 to February 21, 1862) ; Martin (M-y 11 to September 7, 1861) ; C. Rigollet (September 16 to October 13, 1863) ; R. Vallee (December 16, 1863 to August 11, 1864) ; G. Rouxel, later ♦* It measured 60 x 45 ft. * Forty feet; so that now the church was 100 ft. long by 45 wide. 34 REV. B. COLLIARD the Right Rev. Auxiliary of the Diocese (December 21, 1863 to Sep- tember 18, 1864) : Bishop Rouxel had quite an adventurous career dur- ing the nine months of his stay at Opelousas, having come in contact with the famous Jay Hawkers and the Home Guards on several occa- sins; A. Plotin (December 18, 1864 to October 22, 1865) ; J. B. Fraud (November 25, 1865 to September 22, 1868) ; A. Dubourg (January 1 to November 18, 1868) ; Al. M. Mehault (January 7—22, 1870) ; T. Guillet (February 22, 1870 to April 28, 1871) ; Crepin (April 3 to October 7, 1871) ; M. Brady (June 22, 1871 to February 13, 1873) ; G. E. Sauvageau (February 2 to April 15, 1873) ; J. Juhel and P. Vivet stayed only about one month each ; but they styled themsvclves "Vicaire"; E. Fraering (August 24 to November 24, 1873); P. L. Pensier (December 2, 1873 to February 28, 1879) ; J. Lavaquerez (May 14, 1878 to January 1879) ; A. Eby (April 26, 1879 to January 22, 1881) ; C. D. Erin, S.J., {ad interim, September 18, 1889 to January 27, 1890). Archbishop Blanc seems to have taken a special liking to Ope- lousas, for we find him at St. Landry's Church three years in succes- sion. After his visit in 1854, he again came to the place on Septem- ber 10, 1855 : this time the number of persons confirmed was 175. The Archbishop was, of course, delighted at this notable increase ; he also expressed his satisfaction to the trustees, for their having complied with the wishes manifested by him on his previous visit, and congratu- lated them for the zeal and activity displayed in enlarging the church. The Act drawn at this occasion mentions his first visit to Washington, where thirty persons were confirmed, and echoes the prelate's delight at the proposal to make an addition to the church of that place. One year later, September 1856, Archbishop Blanc was again at St. Lan- dry's. He gave confirmation to seventy-one at Opelousas, twenty-five at Washington, and seventy-four at the chapel "au Bois Mallet," which he visited for the first time. These repeated visits of the Archbishop are evidence of his inter- est in the thriving parish, and of the delight he experienced in witness- ing its rapid progress under the able administration of the Raymonds. Scarcely had twenty months elapsed since they had taken charge, and during this short space of time the church had been enlarged, the boys' and girls' schools founded and put in a flourishing condition ; the trustees vied with their priests in zeal and activity ; the church at Washington had doubled its capacity, and a chapel had been erected among the free mulattoes of Bois Mallet ; small wonder, then, that the good Archbishop had a special aflfection for Opelousas. The Act of the Visitation of 1856 closes the series of formal and lengthy records of Episcopal inspections. After spending several years in New Orleans as Vicar General, the Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond returned to his old parish in 1881, giving most of his time to St. Mary's Academy and teaching in the school, which was generally spoken of as "Father Gilbert's School." He was hale and hearty and took an active part in the affairs of the parish for a number of years. He loved outdoor exercise and did a OPELOUSAS 35 great amount of manual labor. In March 1889, while assisting in unloading freight from a wagon, his thumb was crushed between a box and the wagon. At first he gave the wound little attention ; but blood poison set in, and later on tetanus; and he died after a month of terrible suffering. The end came April 14, 1889, and cast a pall of gloom over the entire diocese. During all the time of his and his brother's incumbency, the temporal affairs of the parish were administered by a Board of Trus- tees, consisting of nine members, three of whom were elected annually. They had all the revenues accrueing from the pew rent and the ceme- tery, out of which they contributed $150.00 to defray the expenses incident to divine worship. The pastor had to be satisfied with the revenues from the jura stolae. This arrangement remained in force until the new charter, drawn up by archbishop Janssens, was adopted. Father Gilbert's brother, "Father Frangois," as he was affectionately called by the parishioners, owing to a disagreement with the trustees, was forced to resign less than a year after Father Gilbert's death. His last entry in the Parish records bears the date September 14, 1889. The memory of these two energetic and saintly pastors will be long treasured in the parish for which they labored so much. Father Gilbert Raymond was a born leader, with wonderful executive ability which enabled him to carry out plans which to his parishioners and others seemed simply visionary. After Father Francois Raymond's resignation the Rev. A. Du- bourg, a former assistant-pastor, and a nephew, it is said, " of the distinguished first Bishop of New Orleans after the cession of Louis- iana to the United States, was appointed Rector. He took charge of the Parish in January 1890, and remained until April 1895. For a few months no pastor was appointed, until at last Father John Engberink was transferred to Opelousas from the parish of Cameron, which he had built up from a wilderness. The career of this energetic priest is so perfect a model of missionary life in Louisi- ana, that we must pause a moment to relate it at some length. Father J. Engberink was born in Hasseloo, Holland, on July 14, 1855. Passing successively through the College at Oldenzaal and the Seminary of Kuilenburg, he finished his theological course at Rysen- burg, and was ordained in the cathedral of Utrecht on the 10th of August, 1881. It had long been his ambition to work as a missionary. Yielding, however, to the wishes of his relatives, he remained for nine years in his native country. Finally, in 1889, he was able to see the fulfilment of his desires, and came to Louisiana. After a short stay in New Orleans, he was sent to Napoleonville to learn French, and thence to Lake Charles to learn English. On May 18, 1890, he became the first pastor of Cameron. The people of Cameron hitherto depended upon occasional visits of the pastor from Lake Charles, seventy-two miles away, and the This relationship is, however, very doubtful. 36 REV. B. COLLIARD need of a priest was urgent. There was neither place to hold services nor home for the pastor. One Mr. Leboeuf, although not a wealthy man, gave a room in his home to the priest. This room, or rather cell — eight by ten feet — was not luxurious ; yet it was a welcome restful shelter to the missionary after his arduous duties. There were no rich members in the congregation, and the support of the church had to come from the meagre store of the people who, as a rule, were blessed with but a scanty share of the world's goods. An old storeroom was the only place where services could be held, unless, when the attend- ance was large, and the weather fair, the shadow of a majestic oak- tree near by was resorted to. The first step was to build a combina- tion church and rectory ; this was completed in 1892, and a little later an independent church-building was erected. By this time the mem- bership of the congregation had greatly increased ; and the protestant preachers who had numbered among their listeners many who actually were baptized Catholics, found their flocks so reduced by the return of these stray sheep to their rightful fold, that they had to look for new fields. A territory one hundred and sixty miles long and thirty-five miles wide constituted the parish of Cameron. The tireless Pastor, there- fore, by no means devoted his entire time and activity to the parish church itself : fifteen missions claimed and received their share of his attention and care. A fine chapel was built in Grand Chenier, and Mass was said in it for the first time on January 22, 1893. The next year (1894) Leesburg had likewise its place of worship, inaugurated on July 8. Three weeks later, a chapel was also completed and dedicated at Grand Lake. The result of these years of strenuous labor had been a w^onderful growth of church membership among the white people. But Father Engberink never forgot he had yet other sheep who were not of this fold and that should be brought in. His efforts to awaken the faith, so long dormant, in the simple souls oi the colored folks were rewarded. There was a relatively large settlement of colored Catholics at Cameron itself, while many more dwelt in the country and made long journeys to come to the parish church. Chapels were erected for the various settlements, and, before long, means had been found to build a church in the village for the exclusive use of the colored people. On July 7, 1895, Mass was celebrated for the first time in that new edifice. Such a devouring activity, the fatigues caused by long and con- stant rambles through the length and breadth of his immense parish, the terrible ordeals which the undaunted missionary had to go through, were bound to break even his iron constitution. He was on crutches when he received from Archbishop Janssens his appointment to St. Landry's church in Opelousas. He hesitated, as well he could : much as he had accomplished in Cameron during the five years he had labored there, he saw what was yet to be done ; then his knowledge of English and French was limited, and six years of privations and hard- ships had sapped the strength of his bulky frame; on the other hand the program of the work to be done in Opelousas, as traced by the OPELOUSAS 37 Archbishop was simply staggering: there was question of no less than building a new church and Rectory, erect new edifices for the existing educational institutions, revive the extinct Catholic college, and provide chapels for the remote districts. But the Archbishop knew of what mettle the man was made, to whose devotedness and energy he was appealing ; he insisted, and Father Engberink yielded to his entreaties. We need not retrace every step of the work accomplished. Suffice it to say that, with the single exception of the reopening of the Boys' College, the object of the worthy pastor's constant yearnings to his very last day, every point of the Archbishop's program was in due time faithfully and magnificently carried out. The new Rectory was ready for occupancy in the fall of 1900. Eight years later, on August 8, 1908, the Most Rev. James H. Blenk, Archbishop of New Orleans, was laying the corner stone of the new church ; and so actively was the work pushed that Mass could be said for the first time in the new edifice on the first Friday of April of the following year. The pews were sold for six months, and the returns were such as to show con- clusively that, despite its huge proportions (189 feet in length, 94 ft. in width at the transept and 74 in the body of the church) and its seating capacity of about 2000, the edifice was not any too large: in- deed not a seat is empty at the early Mass every Sunday, and again the church is well filled at the later Mass. And the wonder of it — a wonder of financial management — is that, contrary to the forebod- ings of many, inside and outside Opelousas, this new church has never been a drain on the resources of the parish ; Father Engberink's suc- cessors may look without anxiety at the parish exchequer, and devote their time and the revenues of the church to the upbuilding of the minds and hearts of the growing generations. Whilst work was going on for the new church — the laying of the foundations was started in 1903 — , the Marianite Sisters, under the guidance of the pastor, were fulfilling another part of the renovation program, and erecting a new Academy. During the Christmas holidays of 1906, the new quarters were occupied, and a new era, glowing with bright prospects of well-deserved prosperity, dawned for the old institution. Father Engberink fondled other plans, as we have seen. But his had already been more than a man's share in the work for the Catholic cause in the old parish. The Master whom he had served so zealously since his coming to Louisiana, called him, on June 16, 1918, to give the account of his stewardship. He was buried, as was meet, in the church which he had built, and upon his tombstone we read this in- scription : Here lies Very Rev. John Engberink Dean, pastor of St. Landrv's Church, a native of Hasselo, Holland, born Tuly 14. 1855, died June 16, 1918, in the 37th year of his priesthood. 38 REV. B. COLLIARD A true priest of God, he fought the good fight, he proved his zeal for the beauty of the house of God by building this church? (sic) and his love for his people by the sacrifice of his life. R. I. P. Wags — for there are wags at Opelousas — interpret the engraver's unfortunate introduction of the interrogation mark as a warning to his successors that there is still work to be done "for the beauty of the house of God." But the present, threshold of the future, is forbid- den ground to history. Here her pupils must lay down their pens. B. COLLIARD. THE OLD ST. LOUIS CALVARY Nothing that has ever happened on earth can be altogether ob- literated by the ravages of time. If an influence was ever felt, it has left its impression somewhere upon the customs and manners of the people, in the traces of character of some descendants of the actor, in some bend of a road or street, in some crumbling, yet all the more eloquent monument, in the dry dust beneath our feet, as well as be- neath the sheltering roof of the library, the garret and the cellar. In- deed God alone clearly recognizes the innumerable traces of past events ; but they are certainly present with us, though often hidden from view, or unnoticed, through our lack of insight, or experience to read them aright. Yet in His own time and in His own way the Spirit of Wisdom descends and hovers over the dry bones, over the accumulated dust and debris of centuries, and in a moment all is alive, and the image of a long-forgotten period of history rises before our astonished gaze. So it was with the buried civilization of the Chaldean empire, of Ninive, of Babylon, of Persepolis, and Troy and Pompei, and so we may hope that many a bright or dark picture of hoary anti- quity, now written nowhere but in the Book of Life, will be written on the pages of our histories, for our instruction, warning and edifica- tion. Now, to come from great things to small ones, it happened, through the courtesy of the late Hon. Walter B. Douglas, the highest authority among us on all matters concerning the early days of St. Louis and Missouri in general, that the writer of this article was enabled to catch an intimate glimpse of the village of St. Louis and its primitive life during the period of A.D. 1793 — 1818. Twenty-five years of village life, quiet, unobtrusive, kindly, joyous and sincerely, though perhaps not deeply, religious, became present to the imagination after the lapse of more than a century ; and the magic word to recall it from oblivion was a musty report of a trial, held before the Supreme Court of Mis- souri, in the March term, 1859, entitled "The St. Louis Public Schools vs. Greene Erskine" ^. This lawsuit was to decide the ownership of a lot in block 87, of the City of St. Louis, being a part of Survey 372, assigned, on March 19, 1844, by the United States to the inhabitants for the support of the schools. The lot under litigation fronts forty- four and a half ft., on the south side of Olive Street, between Third and Fourth, and runs back southward of that width twenty-six feet three inches. Such a law-brief, concerning a lot 44 by 26 ft., does not 1 Archives of the Missouri Historical Society. We quote from a transcript, and refer s paging. to its paging 39 40 REV. J. ROTHENSTEINER promise much historical information of an interesting kind ; yet in this case it is replete with just such historical hints as are the delight of the antiquarian. This is partly on account of the original use of this lot, partly on account of the local importance and interest attaching to some of the witnesses in the case. From the unanimous testimony offered, it appears that the northern half of the lot S7 of the village of St. Louis, contained for many years a so-called Calvary, that is, an elevation, natural or artificial, sur- mounted by a large cross, intended to represent the scene of the cruci- fixion of our Lord. This fact, in itself, is nothing extraordinary, as our Catholic forefathers, both in the Old, as well as in the New World, were in the habit of erecting such crosses in public as well as in private places. Witness the crosses erected by De Soto and his followers on a hillock near New Madrid in 1539 ^ by Marquette at Kaskaskia and elsewhere among the Illinois in 1673 ^, by Saint-Cosme and his com- panions near Cape St. Antoine on the Mississippi in 1699 *, and by many other explorers of the western wilderness. But this our cross has a special interest to the people of St. Louis. The village of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclede- Liguest and his stepson, Auguste Chouteau ^, who, at the time was only thirteen years of age. Young Chouteau also made the first plat of the incipient city. According to this, there were three streets in the village, running parallel with the river, the Rue Royale, now Main Street, the Rue de I'Eglise, now Second, and the Rue des Granges, "Barn Street", now Third. Our present Fourth Street occupies the site of the city- wall or stockade, which was flanked by towers and bastions. The streets running east and west were eighteen in number, nine on each side of the central block, devoted to the uses of the Church. The Church- block lay between Second and Third, Walnut and Market Streets, forming the very heart of the village. During the time we are writing of, it contained the old dilapidated chapel of logs built in Father Valen- tine's days and the presbytere of stone, erected shortly after the com- ing of Father Bernard de Limpach. Other buildings there were none on the entire block until the advent of Bishop Louis William Valentine Du Bourg, in 1818. The Cemetery occupied the space along Market Street from Second to Third. All the buildings faced the Rue de I'Eglise, that is. Second Street. All the original village blocks measured 300 by 240 ft. The sequence of the streets, from the church north- ward, was Market, Chesnut, Pine, Olive. Now it was on Olive Street between Third and Fourth, that the Calvary with its lonely cross was situated, with no dwellings, and only a few barns, near by. But the whole village lay within sight of the Calvary, as it occupied the highest 2 Cf. Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, p. 208. 3 Cf. Voyages and Discoveries of Father Marquette in Shea's Discovery and Explora- tion of the Mississippi River, p. 15. 4 Cf. Saint-Cosme's Letter in Shea, Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, p. 68. 6 Cf. Auguste Chouteau's Journal of the Foundation of St. Louis, in Missouri Historical Society Collections, Vol. Ill, No. 4 OLD CALVARY 41 point of ground within the walls, and its natural elevation had been enhanced by an artificial mound, eight or nine feet high and fifty feet square at the bottom, all enclosed with stone steps leading up to the base of the cross and forming a platform of about twenty-five feet. A little to the north, there was an opening in the stockade, the gateway to Florissant and the villages beyond. Just outside of the stockade, only some fifty feet distant, began the Common Field reserved for the general use of the inhabitants. Further on to the west stretched a roll- ing prairie studded with clumps of trees and covered with luxuriant shrubbery. The cross itself, made of cedar wood, was about twelve feet — according to some witnesses, twenty feet — high. The avenue of approach to the Calvary was on Olive Street which, within the memory of some of the ancients, had been a mere footpath and partly a gully. The usual size of a city lot was one-fourth of a block, or 150 by 120 ft. According to the plat made in 1804, the time of the Louisiana Pur- chase going into effect, the south half of block 87 was owned by San- guinet and Vasquez, the N.W. quarter by Brazeau, and the N.E. portion by Picard. There were no houses even in 1812 on the entire block, only three barns, and the Calvary. But what particular spot did the Calvary occupy? Facing Olive Street, as it certainly did, it must have stood between Picard on Third and Brazeau on Fourth Street, perhaps half-way ; for some witnesses give its location as about one hundred feet distant from the corner of Third and Olive. Whether Picard, or possibly Brazeau, originally set apart the fifty or more feet necessary for the Calvary, cannot now be determined ; according to one witness, "Alexis Picard consented to this cross being put there" ; certain it is that later on his heirs claimed the site after the cross had been removed about 1823. In confirmation of what has been stated so far, we will now hear the testimony of the sworn witnesses : Jacques Labie, seventy-four years old at the time of the trial, says : I know where the Calvary was : it was near the lot of Picard, west of it. Five or six months after the cross was put up, they made a procession, and after that the Governor ordered Picard to remove his fence. He said that it was too close to the cross. The cross was near Picard's lot. There was nothing there where the cross was, it was vacant in those times. Before l8i2 there was nobody (living) there : it was all vacant (land) : no streets there, all barn lots. I mean by 'vacant' that all these pieces of barn lots had only barns, but no residences before 1812. There was no Third Street (made as yet). The cross may have been 120 or 140 feet west of (what is now) Third Street, (p. 8). Thus far Mr. Jacques Labie. The father of our witness, Jacques Labie, is one of the signers of the order for building the second church edifice in the village, under Piernas and Father Valentine, in 1775. He was one of the prominent citizens of St. Louis, and his son, our wit- ness, was known to all. Other witnesses estimate the distance of the cross from Third Street at about 100 feet or less. But all are agreed that it was on the south side of Olive Street, between Third and Fourth. Indeed 42 REV. J. ROTHENSTEINER one witness places it on the roadway between Lacroix and Ruelle (Reilhe). — 'Tart of the Calvary was on the Lacroix lot," says Madame Ortiz, "the balance on the public roadway." This, of course, is a mistake, owing possibly to an accidental bend in the roadway at some time, which, we have seen, was but a gully, and which may have trenched on the block to the south, throwing the Calvary to the north of the actual roadway. In any case, all the other witnesses state positively that the Calvary was on the south side of Olive Street. Thomas H. West says: I do not think that the cross stood in Olive Street. Olive Street, in 1817, was passable, and the line of Olive Street was marked. Madame Labeaume's fence defined it, and there were houses on Olive Street, (p. 16). But this was after 1817, the date of Mr. West's coming to St. Louis, whilst the recollection of the former witness, Madame Elizabeth Hortiz may refer to any period after 1773, when she came to St. Louis from Vincennes. At an earlier date the Olive Street on the plat, and the actual Olive Street may not have followed exactly the same lines: this may have caused a slight confusion in the memory of Madame Hortiz, which was otherwise very good*'. One more testimony, that of John Pourcelli, seventy-five years old, will conclude this part of the argument : I know where the "old Calvary" was in St. Louis. To my knowledge It was opposite to where the (old) Custom House is now (1859) : it was on the south side of Olive Street. I saw this cross from my first recollection, standing there; it was used by Catholics, they went every year in pro- cession to that cross. I was ten years old when I first saw the space of ground occupied by the cross itself. The Calvary took about 25 feet on each side of the cross, in the way of steps on each side of it. It— that is, the cross— was twenty feet high. The last time I saw it was five or six years after the change of government. The nearest I saw anyone (living) to this cross, was on the other side of the street. Joseph Lacroix lived there, north of it. The street (Olive) was between Lacroix and this lot, and this cross street was the ordinary width they are now. The cross stood about 100 feet from Third Street, west; there was nothing on this lot between Third and the cross... there was nothing west of the Crucifix. . .This was an old cross. The steps were of stone, forming a base of about 25 feet square, eight or nine feet high. There were steps on either side (probably east and west), as the people had to step aside from Olive Street to go up. I passed there every day to go to the barn... They used the street after the cross was there. I never saw anyone live where the cross was, and do not know that they would have been permitted (pp. 4—5). _ John Pourcelli, the witness, was born in 1784, of John Pour- celli, a native of Provence, who came to St. Louis that very year. 6 Mayor William Carr Lane in his Message of 1823 spoke as follows: "The old streets 3 Jnl^^'" ^°'"f^''^at irregular. To straighten them, to make them parallel and cross at III rr a' ^"° *° reduce the squares to the same superficial contents would be to purchase M,e,Ho?"th/n"l %^a;u'.°^ ''""^' an enterprise that we are by no means prepared for. The question then IS, What are w-e to do? I answer, We can appeal to the intelligence of the Z t?rl.?=^. -"'^•, "^^' *°t'^^ venerable father of the city himself, and ascertain where inPt/c !! HthJ'^'"^ I "'^•'■'^- ^ ^^^""^ °^ *•"' because I know of no authentic record of their metes, widths, and bearings, and because encroachments upon them have been so great as not only to render them generally crooked, but in some of the cross streets to nearly ob- •truct tnem entirely. OLD CALVARY 43 It is noteworthy that the bulk of the earhest inhabitants were, Hke the founder himself, from southern France. Having now fixed the nature and the location, the quid and the vbi, of our St. Louis Calvary, we come to the questions, Quis and Quando, when and by whom was it erected. These two questions must be treated as practically one : for the erection of such a public monument could not have been accomplished except by public authority, civil and ecclesiastical. Under the Spanish and French regimes we enjoyed the union of Church and State. The Lieutenant- Governor and the Parish Priest constituted the highest authority; the erection of the cross in St. Louis must, therefore, be attributed to them. But their offices were filled in succession by a definite num- ber of well-authenticated persons. As already stated, St. Louis was founded in 1764 (February 14, or, as Hunt says, February 16). "In laying out the village," says Prof. S. Waterhouse, "with a wise provision for the spiritual needs of the colony, Liguest had reserved a block for religious use. On this site the first Catholic church was erected in 1770. It stood on the west side of Second Street, between Market and Walnut. It was built of upright logs, and the crevices were plastered with clay. The completion of this rude edifice was celebrated with popular rejoicing. On the 24th day of June, 1770, the church was dedicated by Father Gibault of Kaskaskia, with ceremonies of joyous solemnity" 7. This was done under the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana, Don Pedro Piernas, who had arrived in the spring of 1770. Two years later, in May 1772, there came to St. Louis the Capuchin Father Valentine. Both were Spaniards, whilst the founders and settlers of the rising city were French. The reason for this anomalous con- dition was that, a few months after the foundation of Laclede's village, the Treaty of Paris ceded the entire territory of Louisiana to Spain. As the Spanish power was rather slow and seemingly reluctant to establish itself, St. Louis enjoyed about five years of happy, hope- ful independence under the self -chosen Governor Saint-Ange de Bellerive, ^ the former commandant of Fort Chartres. During this interval the town received occasionally visits from Father Gibault, 7 The founder of St. Louis laid off the square where the Cathedral novj stands, for • Catholic church. On this square was buried Saint-Ange de Bellerive, the French Commandant, and Fernando de Leyba, one of the Spanish Commandants, and also his wife. The first prayer and first blessing were breathed by Catholic lips. Their hands reared the first altar, and they first sang the Exaudiat and the De Profundis (the Te Deum) in the jubilant voices, where now our great metropolis stands. They first stood upon heathen ground and con- secrated it to religion." Edwards. Gfeat West. St. Louis, 1860. 8 The pioneers of St. Louis, no doubt, imagined that they were building up a French city, and when Saint-Ange de Bellerive came over with his little troop of soldiers from Fort Chartres, he was joyfully received .-is Governor civil and military. His grants of land to the early citizens were readily confirmed by the Spanish authorities. Saint-Ange was a particular friend of the great leader Pontiac, and received a visit from him at the house of Mrs. Chouteau. Saint-Ange died September 26, 1774, and was buried by Father Valentin in the Catholic cemetery on Market and Second Streets. In his will he bequeathed 500 livres t« the church. 44 REV. J. ROTHENSTEINER then Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec, and the Jesuit Father Meurin. The church dedicated by Father Gibault in 1770 soon be- coming ruinous ^, the erection of a new one was begun towards the end of Father Valentine's administration in 1775, and completed in 1776^". On May 25, 1776, the first canonical pastor of the newly erected parish of St. Louis arrived from New Orleans, in the person of the Capuchin Father Bernard de Limpach, during whose in- cumbency the prehytere, or parish residence was built of stone, with dimensions 45 by 27 feet. Don Francisco Cruzat was now Lieuten- ant-Governor, as successor to Don Pedro Piernas, from May 1775 to June 17, 1778. Father Bernard de Limpach remained in St. Louis until November 1789, and was then succeeded by Father Ledru, a Dominican — also called Jacobin — who had withdrawn 'from Kas- kaskia "on account of the lawlessness prevalent there at the time." At Kaskaskia and Cahokia Father Ledru had acted by authority of the Bishop of Baltimore. In St. Louis he held jurisdiction from the authorities in New Orleans. On entering upon his new duties, Father Ledru wrote to the Bishop of Quebec that the Spanish government allowed him an annual salary of $1200. Bishop Carroll writes that he had heard evil reports concerning Father Ledru, and expresses regret at having given him even restricted faculties for the Illinois country ; but he makes no specific charge. Father Ledru left St. Louis in September 1793 and was succeeded by Dom Pierre Joseph Didier, of the Order of St. Benedict, who had been stationed since 1792 at Florissant, and officiated in St. Louis until April 1799. The Spanish Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Louisiana during this time were Don Ferdinand de Leyba, January 1, 1777, to June 20, 1780; Don Francisco Cruzat ^\ for a second term from September 24, 1780, to November 27„ 1787; Don Manuel Perez, from November 25, 1787 to July 21, 1792; Don Zenon Trudeau, from July 21, 1792 to August 29, 1799; to be followed by Charles Dehault de Lassus, the last of the line of Spanish Lieutenant-Governors of LTpper Louisiana, Now, as our St. Louis Calvary was certainly erected during the Spanish regime, the question arises : Under what Lieutenant-Gover- nor ; under what Parish Priest ? For an answer, we must go back to our Court record. We have already cited the words of John Pourcelli : 'T was ten years old when I first saw the space of ground occupied by the cross." At the time of this testimony John Pourcelli was seventy-four years old, consequently he was born in 1785 and was ten years old in 1795, during the time of Father Didier's pastorate in St. Louis, and the governorship of Zenon Trudeau. 9 The logs being placed end downwards on the earth quickly decayed and caused the superstructure to fall. The engineer Van den Benden, who was to rebuild the fortifications of St. Louis in 1799, declares in his report that the logs could not last longer than five years, and consequently advises that they be built of stone. 10 The plans and specifications of the church building of 1776 were reprinted in the Western Watchman, February 18, 1917. 11 There was a brief interval between the death of DeLeyba and the arrival of Cruzat, during which De Leyba's lieutenant Cartabona carried on the government. OLD OALVARY 45 Jacques Labie, who has been quoted heretofore in regard to the location of our Calvary, bears testimony also as to the date of its erection : I was born in St. Louis. I am seventy-four years old. I always lived in St. Louis until a few years ago. . .1 knew where the Calvary was. . .The cross stood on a little mound, the highest ground there, three or four feet high. This ground was selected on account of the ground being high... I saw the cross put there. I was seven, or eight, or ten years old. I saw the cross put there. By this testimony the date of the erection of the Calvary is fixed between the years 1792 and 1795, near enough to the date fixed by the testimony of John Pourcelli, to point to Father Peter Joseph Didier as the originator of the Calvary. This probability is raised to a certainty by the graphic description given by Madame Hortiz : I am ninety-two years old. I was brought to this city when I was but four years old,, during the time of Mr. Saint-Ange ; from that time on I have always lived here. I knew the elder Mr. Alexis Picard very well; he lived here from the beginning of the village and died here, about seventy-five years ago... He owned a barn-lot on the hill in St. Louis, on the hill where all the barns stood. He had a barn upon the lot and the lot was surrounded with a picket fence. I knew the barn well, having seen it while standing in rotten condition, and afterwards when it had fallen. The barn lot was oppo- site the old theatre on the hill. There was no theatre there at the time of the existence of the barn... I mean it was opposite the lot subsequently covered by the theatre. In the time of which we speak there was no street in that locality, there was only a pathway. The Picard barn lot and the common fields were side by side, they almost joined. The Calvary was on the roadway between Lacroix and Ruelle. The Calvary was not surrounded; it was a public place, an elevated cross, to which everybody went for devo- tional purposes. . .The cross was made of cedar-wood, placed on a stone wall and attainable by steps (pp. 5 — 7). Madame Elizabeth Hortiz, or Ortez, being our star witness, de- serves a more extended notice." She was Elizabeth Barada, born in Vincennes, September 27, 1764, and came to St. Louis in 1768, at the age of four years. Here, in 1782, she became the wife of John B. Hortiz, or Ortez, a carpenter from Beam in the Pyrenees, who had come to St. Louis in company with Laclede in 1764. Madame Hortiz died in 1868, having attained the remarkable age of one hundred and four years. Ortez and Cambas built the church that served the people of the village from Father Valentine's time until the coming of Bishop Du Bourg, about forty-two years. After these biographical data, let us return to our narrative at the most interesting part of Madame Hortiz' testimony, opening, in one brief sentence, a wide perspective of stirring events : "The Calvarj-- was built immediately after the French Revolution, and when a num- 12 There is an elaborate biography of Madame Elizabeth Ortez in Edward's Great West, which work seems to owe a good part of its historical information on the early days of St. Louis to the venerable lady, the only surviver of the days of Laclede, Saint-Ange and Pontiac. 46 REV. J. ROTHEiN'STEINER ber of French emigrants, among whom was a priest, came to the vil- lage." The French emigrants that came to the village were a remnant of the disappointed eight hundred French colonists and their famiHes that had come to America under the leadership of Marquis Lezay- Marnezia, the Count de Barth de Walbach, the Baron de Breteche and Pierre Charles De Hault de Lassus et de Luzi^res, "Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael," and many other gentlemen of lofty titles. The promoters of the colonization scheme, the Scioto Company ^^, took advantage of the naive confidence of the French colonists, and the French settlement at Gallipolis proved a vast failure. Many of the immigrants perished ; others drifted to the settlements on the Mississippi, especially to New Bourbon, about three miles distant from Ste. Genevieve, others again to St. Louis. One of their priests, in fact the spiritual head of the projected Diocese of Gallipolis, the Rev. "Peter Joseph Didier, Benedictine Religious of the Congregation of St. Maur, of the Royal Abbey of St. Denis, of the Order of St. Benedict," as he styles himself in the Baptismal Record of St. Charles Borromeo's church in St. Charles, was the very first priest of Madame Hortiz' account, coming to the village immediately after the French Revolution. This great outbreak of popular fury began in 1789; the royal family was executed in 1793, and among many other sacrileges, the ancient Abbey of St. Denis was invaded by a bloodthirsty mob, and the tombs of a long line of Kings demolished, and the ashes of the dead scattered to the winds. Father Didier was Procurator of St. Denis, and had incurred the special hatred of the revolutionists for having quartered the royal troops at the Abbey in 1789. He escaped a terrible fate by flight, and was barred from France by proscription. About 1790, the so-called Scioto Company, to found a colony on the banks of the river of that name, was formed by Joel Barlow and others, and a large number of French noblemen, that had been driven from their country, became interested and deeply involved in it. As they were, for the most part. Catholics, they desired to have a Bishop appointed by Rome for the projected colony. As the question whether the new settlement would be within the territory of the United States or not, was as yet undecided, the Propaganda, April 26, 1790, gave special powers to Dom Peter Joseph Didier as Superior of the Catholics of the French colony on the banks of the Scioto, with power to communi- cate faculties to other priests. "It was cautiously provided, however," says Shea, "that the powers granted for seven years were not to be used in the Diocese of any Bishop, and that, as all the United States were subject to the Bishop of Baltimore, if the French colony was es- tablished m the United States, Dom Didier was not to use his faculties, except with the express consent of Bishop Carroll." Father Didier came over, apparently with a party of immigrants who landed at Alexandria in 1790, and proceeded to Ohio: but, to quote Shea once more, "on reaching Ohio the poor immigrants found 13 Cf. Rev. T,aui-ence J. Kennv, S. J. The Gallipolis Colony, in Catholic Historical Ri- view, Vol. IV, No. 4. OLD CALVARY 47 themselves to be the victims of unprincipled land-speculators, who did not own the land they pretended to sell." A foundation, however, was made at Gallipolis, and Father Didier, after obtaining Bishop Carroll's consent to use his faculties, began his ministry. The dissatisfied sett- lers, in turn, seemed but little disposed to profit by it: prejudice poi- soned the minds of many, dissentions arose, Indian hostilities ensued, and the settlers began to scatter. At the close of 1792, Father Didier left Gallipolis for Florissant and St. Louis. On December 9, 1793, he became pastor of the parish of St. Louis and its dependencies, and la- bored there faithfully until May 16, 1799 the "pioneer Benedictine of this country," as Shea calls him". It was about the year 1795, as we have seen, and consequently it was by Father Peter Joseph Didier, the Benedictine, that the St. Louis Calvary was erected. As actual builder of the stone-steps leading to the cross, we have reason to consider Louis Van den Benden, a native of Flanders, and a civil engineer, who came to New Madrid from Gal- lipolis, and was appointed by Baron Carondelet to restore the fortifica- tions of St. Louis in 1797. But what was the purpose of this cross and of the so-called Cal- vary? The learned antiquarian Britton ^^ informs us, that our tasteful, pious ancestors had erected "for ornament as well as for edification, ten descriptions of crosses : 'first, preaching crosses ; second, market crosses; third, weeping crosses; fourth, street crosses; fifth, memorial crosses ; sixth, as landmarks ; seventh, sepulchral ; eighth, highway crosses; ninth, at entrance to churches; tenth, for attestations of peace'." Now, our cross may have been intended to serve several of these purposes, perhaps all of them except two : it surely did not mark the entrance to the village church nor the ordinary place of sepulture, both of which were at least four blocks distant, on Second and Market Streets; for the cross stood hard by the stockade that enclosed the tov/n since the Indian attack called ' le grand coup" of 1780. From the testimony given in our trial, it appears that it was visited by the people of St. Louis, "who were all Catholics," not only for private devotion, but also for public demonstrations and processions. As Jacques Labie states, "all the people in St. Louis were then Catholics, and they went every year there (to the Calvary) in procession." " Cf. Shea. Father Joseph Didier was born in Besancon, Franche Comte. He officiated in St. Louis from December 1793 to April 1799, during which period he baptized 220 whites, 79 negroes and 16 Indians. Among the latter I find this interesting entry: "In the year 1794, the 13th of April. Peter Joseph Didier, Religious Benedictine Priest of the Congre- gation of St. Maur, baptized Teresa Victori, of Indian origin, of the nation of the Pani« (Pawnees), about five years of age The godfather was Mr. Zenon Trudeau, Captain Com- mandant of the appointed Regiment of Louisiana and Lieutenant-Governor of the Western post of Illinois. The godmother was Mary Genevieve de la Marche, Religious Superioress of the ladies of Ste. Claire de Tours, who have signed this present with me the day and year above. peter joseph didier. The godmother was a high born lady driven from her cloister in France during the stormy days of the Revolution, and spending some years of her exile in St. Louis. What became of the good Sister? 16 Cf. William Goodman, Tft^ Social State of Great Britain during the Reign of th« Stuarts, Vol. I, 2S8. 48 REV. J. ROTHENSTEINER This annual procession to the Calvary probably was the Corpus Christi procession which is held in all Catholic countries with greatest pomp, if possible, in the open air, and was, no doubt, so held in early St. Louis. Solemnly wending its way north on Second Street, it turned west to the Calvary, then southward between the stockade and the fence of the common field to make a turn eastward at the Tower on Walnut, and proceeding along Walnut to Second, it arrived at its starting place on Second and Market. In that case, the three stations, or altars, would naturally have been at the church itself, at the Calvary, and at the old Spanish Fort or Tower on Fourth and Walnut. This conjecture may remind some of my readers of what Scharf says in his History of St. Lords relative to the affair of 1780 : "It was fortunate for the village that the attack by the Indians did not occur twenty-four hours earlier. The 25th day of May was a Catholic holy day. It was the festival of Corpus Christi. The day was spent in religious devotions and social festivities. In the afternoon many of the inhabitants went out into the fields to pick strawberries. Had the attack been made at this time, when the people were engaged in their holiday diversions, it might have resulted in the capture of St. Louis and the slaughter of its inhabitants" ^^. From its earliest days, as appears in the inven- tory of the church property left by Father Valentine ^^, the church of St. Louis possessed a monstrance, as used in processions of the Blessed Sacrament. At the installation of Bishop Du Bourg a dais or proces- sional canopy is spoken of as a thing of ordinary use ; and the people of the village were noted for their love of processions with religious pomp. So we can easily imagine the enthusiastic congregation march- ing along the streets I have mentioned, to the sound of the old beauti- ful songs in praise of their Eucharistic God, stopping at the temporary altars to receive the Benediction, and then returning to the Church, to spend the rest of the day in innocent diversions, on the church-square or along the river front. And now a last question : When was the cross taken down, and the Calvary destroyed? Madame Hortiz tells us : The Calvary was destroyed before the incoming of the Americans ; it was in existence, however, during the time of the Spaniards. The cross was going to decay, and was being hacked up and destroyed by the Indians, so the whites removed it to the presbytery. The cross was removed during the time of Mr. Delassus (that is. before 1804). Jacques Labie, however, declares just as positively that "the crucifix was removed after the consecration of Bishop Du Bourg," that is, after 1817. There was but one cross on the Calvary: when was it removed? To settle this discrepancy of these two ancients of the 18 Scharf. History of St. Louis, p. — . This account is based on Edward's Great IVest, pp. 264 and 365, and probably rests on the authority of Madame Elizabeth Ortiz. IT Missouri Historical Society, Spanish Archives. OLD CALVARY 49 village, we must appeal to one that came to St. Louis at a later date : Isaac A. Letcher, an American, states : I came to St. Louis in the spring of 1816; I recollect seeing the old Catholic cross in old times west of Third Street, when I first came here. I cannot designate the place ; it was not far from what they called the Tower. It was a little east of it. (/>. 13). It follows, therefore, that the life of the Calvary was prolonged to 1815 at least, the year of Bishop Du Bourg's consecration in Rome, and probably the year of his coming to St. Louis, early in 1818, a con- clusion that is confirmed by Francis Flandrin, born in 1789, who says : I am' sixty-one years old ; I was born in St. Louis and have lived here ever since; I remember the old crucifix or cross...! was very young when I first went there with the priests in procession... The cross was there in 1815 or 16; it stood on very high ground (p. 15). In addition to this, the testimony of Thomas H. West may be given : I came to St. Louis in 1817; I was familiar with a good many of monu- ments. I knew the old Catholic cross that stood on this block 87. The cross, then, was still in place in 1817. When was it removed or destroyed? Jacques Labie will tell us: It was thrown down in 1823 or 1824. The Bishop saved the cross ; he moved it to the old Cathedral. that is, the church erected by Bishop Du Bourg in 1820 on the site of the first church. What became of it after that, who can tell? During twenty-five years, the great cross of cedar-wood had been an inspiration, a source of comfort, a center of attraction in the vil- lage, calling the people's thoughts from their labors and pleasures to Him who died for their salvation. May it now live on in the memory of their posterity, as a symbol of the faith the bishops and priests and people of St. Louis strove so earnestly and successfully to plant in all the regions now comprised in the ecclesiastical Provinces of St. Louis, Chicago and Dubuque. JOHN ROTHENSTEINER 4023 THE BEGINNING OF CATHOLICITY IN CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI The settlement of Cape Girardeau dates from 1793. The name, originally applied to the "Big Bend" above the city, was derived, as is commonly accepted, from that of Ensign Sieur Girardot who from 1704 to 1720 was stationed with the royal troops of France at Kas- kaskia, or possibly from that of his son. The name last appears on the records at Kaskaskia, signed to a marriage contract in 1775. After resigning his position in the army, Girardot became a successful trader among the Indians. Yet, although his name became associated with the cape, the honor of having made the first permanent settlement is due to a French Canadian, Don Louis Lorimier. Lorimier was a re- markable man, and, could a complete history of his life be written, it would read like a romance; but all that is positively known of his career prior to his coming to Upper Louisiana is that he was born in the parish of Etienne, district of Montreal, Canada, in the year 1748. He came to Cape Girardeau early in 1793. Prior to his coming to Upper Louisiana. Lorimier had taken for his wife a half-breed Shawnee woman, named Charlotte Pemanpieh, supposed to have been a daughter of a Canadian officer of that name, aide-de-camp to Mont- calm. This greatly endeared him to the Indians, and, added to his ability and experience, gained him great power over, not only the Shawnees, but also the various other tribes with whom he came in contact. In 1795 he presented a petition to the governor-general, Baron of Caron- delet, for 8000 arpents of land at Cape Girardeau, fronting on Cypress Island, which was granted. At about this time, Spain thought it ad- visable to populate Upper Louisiana as a barrier to the English in Canada, and, accordingly, offered great inducements to settlers, espe- cially to those of the United States. She preferred the latter, since their prejudices against the British, which were strong at that time, rendered their attachment to Spanish interests more certain. To them lands were given gratuitously, and they were exempted from taxation. The extent of the concession was usually regulated by the wealth and importance of the settler, the size of his family and his ability to cultivate the land ; except for special services, however, it did not often exceed 800 arpents which is equal to about 680 acres. The only cost to the settler was the fees of office and the surveyor's charges, amounting to about $41. This, however, did not give a complete title. When the settler had actually inhabited, possessed, or cultivated the land for ten years, 50 CAPE GIRARDEAU 51 a confirmation was required. To secure this, it was necessary to certify the fact of possession for the required time to the proper officer at New Orleans, who issued a patent. Under these inducements, people from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and other States came to Upper Louisiana in large numbers. Of these the great majority located in Cape Girardeau District, which soon became the most compactly settled section in the whole province. This was doubtless due to the fact that here the settlers found a country most similar to that which they had left, and no prior settlement of the French prevented their securing the best land. This was in reality the first purely American settlement west of the Mississippi. In 1799 the population of the district was numbered 416 whites and 105 slaves. In 1803 a second census was taken, which showed a total population of 1206 whites and 180 slaves. Upon the settlement of the district, Louis Lorimier, while retain- ing his superintendency of Indian affairs, was made the civil and mili- tary commandant of the post of Cape Girardeau, and in this office, as elsewhere, he displayed great activity and good judgment. He con- tinued to hold this position until the transfer of the government to the United States, and was held in the highest esteem by the governor- general and the lieutenant-governor. He remained at Cape Girardeau until his death which occurred on July 26, 1812. His remains, together with those of his Indian wife, lie in that part of the old cemetery which he had donated to the Catholics of the city and vicinity. As has been stated, the settlement of Cape Girardeau was purely American, there not being more than five French families in the en- tire district. This accounts in great measure for the fact that among the first settlers there were few Catholics. Cape Girardeau was sur- veyed and laid ofT into streets and lots some time in February or March, 1806, by Bartholomew Cousin, and incorporated two years later. In 1813 Cape Girardeau County was organized. Louis Lorimier lived in a long low frame house, which he built three or four years before the town was laid out, on the lot now occu- pied by St. Vincent's Academy. His son-in-law, D. F. Steinbeck, lived on the corner, now occupied by the Sturdivant Bank until 1910, when he removed to Cape La Croix Creek. Joseph McFerron, an Irishman by birth and a man of superior education, was the first clerk of the courts of Cape Girardeau District. The town continued to grow and prosper until the organization of Cape Girardeau County, when it was dealt a severe blow by the removal of the seat of justice to Jackson. It did not assume a position of much importance until about 1835, when the great increase in the steamboat business on the Mississippi gave it a decided impetus, or, in modern parlance, a "boom." Its su- perior location soon made it the metropolis of Southeast Missouri and the shipping point for a portion of Arkansas also. On April 27, 1869, the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad Company was organized to build a road from Cape Girardeau to some point on the Arkansas State Line. The city of Cape Girardeau voted a subscription of $150.- 000, and the township of Cape Girardeau an equal amount. With this 52 REV. E. PRUENTE money the work of construction was begun, but through improvident management the funds were exhausted before a single mile of road was completed. For ten years the road was abandoned. The wood- work decayed, and the road-bed grew up to underbrush. In 1880 Mr. Louis Houck became interested in the road, organized the Cape Girar- deau Railway Company, and on condition of completing the road from Cape Girardeau to Delta, a distance of sixteen miles, by January 1, 1881, received a title to the property of the old Cape Girardeau & State Line Company. Mr. Houck, with characteristic energy, fulfilled the contract, and by August, 1881, had the road in operation as far as Lakeville, now called Advance, in Stoddard County, 12 miles beyond Delta. In 1882 the name of the company was changed to the Cape Girardeau Southwestern Railway Company, and the road extended to Brownwood, a distance of four miles. Besides extending this road, in course of time, to Williamsville on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and Hunter, he also built a branch road to Poplar BlufT and a road from Cape Girardeau to Caruthersville. His latest undertaking was the building of a road from this city via Jackson and Perryville to West Chester and Farmington. This part of the system is still in his possession, whereas the other portions have been acquired by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. The above mentioned failure of the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad Company resulted most disastrously to the city. The heavy indebtedness did not present ani inviting aspect to manufactures and other capitalists. The next decade, therefore, passed between hope and fear, and little progress was made. The opening of the Cape Girardeau Southwestern Railroad and the funding and gradual reduction of the bonded debt revived courage and the spirit of enterprise. It was, how- ever, the building of St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, the St. Louis- Memphis branch of this large system, that opened a new and wide avenue of activity and growth to the city and vicinity in 1904. Since then its population has grown from 4200 to about 12,000. Speaking of the efforts and institutions for education and learn- ing, we are brought into immediate contact with an event that was destined to become of vast influence on the ecclesiastical and educa- tional development of this region. This event is the establishment of a branch of the Congregation of Mission or the Vincentians, usually called Lazarists. In the year 1818, St. Mary's Seminary at The Barrens, in Perry County, was founded. It still flourishes as the Mother-house of the Vincentian Fathers for the western province of the United States. We may be permitted here to briefly state the facts that led to the establishment of the Congregation in our country. When, in 1808, Pope Pius VII, had raised the See of Baltimore into an archbishopric, the Most Rev. John Carroll, the first Archbishop of Baltimore, sent Rev. Wm. Du Bourg, who was a native of Bordeaux and a member of the Company of St. Sulpice, to New Orleans, CAPE GIRARDEAU 53 entrusting him with the administration of that diocese. The Archbishop did, however, not long delay to petition the Holy See to appoint Father Du Boiirg to fill the vacancy of that bishopric, and Pius VII, did in fact so nominate him. He did not, however, receive then the episcopal consecration. Father Du Bourg, subsequently, went to Rome, though with the intention of refusing the episcopal consecration, if he were not able to find in Europe a sufficient number of laborers, willing to assist him in the cultivation of his truly desolate diocese. Divine Provi- dence granted his desires ; he obtained the co-operation of the saintly Father De Andreis and some dther missionaries, as we shall present- ly see. Father Du Bourg came to Rome in 1815, and, in his efforts to at- tain the principal purpose of his journey, spoke urgently about the great needs of his vast diocese to Cardinal Li'tta, then Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda. His Eminence gave him some hopes of success, and meanwhile directed him to Monte Citorio, requesting, at the same time, the Vicar-General of the Congregation of the Mission, Father Sicardi, to provide him with suitable lodging. The first one to manifest an ardent desire to accede to the wishes of the Administra- tor of New Orleans and to follow him to his distant mission-field, was Father De Andreis, by whose personality Father Du Bourg had been deeply impressed in an interview. Thereupon, the Administrator en- treated Father Sicardi to give him Father De Andreis and two or three other priests of the Mission, besides a few brothers, to found a house of the Congregation and a seminary in Louisiana. Father Sicardi ex- pressed his deep regret that, on account of the then prevailing condi- tions, he was not able to comply with the Administrator's request. He emphasized especially the impossibility of dispensing with the services of Father De Andreis. Seeing that he could not gain the consent of the good old superior, Father Du Bourg resolved to address himself direct- ly to the Pope, and make him a formal petition on the subject. He concluded his urgent request with the words : "Holy Father, without the help of some priests, I feel that I shall have no longer strength to bear the formidable burden of a diocese, so vast that it is almost unlimited ; I shall, therefore, be obliged to resign it." The Pope con- soled him with the assurance that his request should be granted, and shortly after intimated to Father Sicardi that he wished him to accede to the appeal of the Administrator by giving him Father De Andreis and some others of his Congregation. But it was through the mediation of Cardinal Consalvi, the Secre- tary of State, that Bishop Du Bourg, who had been consecrated by Car- dinal Joseph Doria on Sept. 24, 1815, saw finally his persistent efforts crowned with success. The Holy Father deputed Cardinal Consalvi to settle the whole affair with Father Sicardi, Vicar-General of the Con- gregation. The venerable old man yielded to the wishes of the Pope, in which he saw the will of God. A memorable day was that of the 14th of Oc- tober, on which Bishop Du Bourg, surrounded by his little colony of missionaries, the Rev. Felix De Andreis, John Baptist Acquaroni, and 54 REV. E. PRUENTE Joseph Rosati ; Joseph Pereira, postulant priest, Leo Deys, a student of the Propaganda, and Anthony Boboni, a postulant lay brother, paid 'their respects to the kindhearted Pius VII, and asked his blessing. In taking leave from Rome on the 15th of December, 1815, Father De Andreis, whose heart was overjoyed at the happy issue of Bishop Du Bourg's efforts in behalf of the foreign mission was accompanied with three more recruits for the mission, a priest of that city, and two young men who aspired to 'the ecclesiastical career ; one of the latter, Mr. Dahmen, afterwards entered the Congregation. From Pla- centia he took with him Brother Martin Blanka. Meanwhile, Bishop Du Bourg changed his plan regarding the establishment of the Con- gregation in Louisiana. He concluded that the missionaries should not proceed to New Orleans, situated about a hundred miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, but 'to St. Louis, on the banks of the same river, about 1200 miles above. It was on this account that the first house of the Mission with its seminary was built within the present diocese of St. Louis. On the 22nd day of May, 1816, the eve of the Ascension, Bishop Du Bourg arrived at Bordeaux, accompanied by a band of young men, partly ecclesiastics and partly secular, aspiring to the sacerdotal dig- nity. The final arrangements for their journey were made with the master of a brig, called the Ranger; and everything being satisfactorily concluded, the missionaries embarked on June 12, 1816. Bishop Du Bourg who was obliged to remain in France for the affairs of his dio- cese accompanied them to the harbor, and while bidding them farewell, exhorted them in the most pressing manner, to be obedient in every- thing to Father De Andreis, whom he constituted not only superior of this band, but also his vicar and representative in all that related to the concerns of his diocese. The following are the names of those that accompanied Father De Andreis : Fathers Rosati and Acquaroni, boith priests of the Congregation of the Mission, Fathers Carretti and Ferrari, secular priests from the city of Port Maurice on the Riviera ; IMessrs. Francis Xavier Dahmen, Joseph Tichitoli, Leo Deys, and Casto Gonzalez, seminarists ; Brother Martin Blanka of the Con- gregation of the Mission ; and three young men who had some inten- tion of entering the Congregation as lay-brothers. They landed safe and cheerful at Baltimore on July 26. The Sulpician Fathers received the newcomers on the American soil with brotherly kindness. Father De Andreis has in his letters left a lengthy and touching account of the dangers and difficulties, encountered by himself and his companions on their journey to St. Louis. At Bardstown they received the welcome intelligence that Bishop Du Bourg, with some thirty priests, had arrived at Baltimore, from which place he was on his way to Louisiana. Upon his request Bishop Flaget of Bardsitown proceeded with Fathers De Andreis and Rosati and Brother Blanka to St. Louis. On horseback they had to travel over 300 miles. When Bishop Flaget was in St. Louis to prepare for the coming of Bishop Du Bourg and the missionaries, two deputies from St. Mary's of The Barrens, twenty-four miles from Ste. Genevieve, came to see him. They were CAPE GIRARDEAU 55 sent by the parish-priest, Father M. J. Dunand, (the last Trappist then remaining in Missouri), and, in the name of all the other in- habitants, amounting to 35 families ; and informed Bishop Flaget that they were sent to beg him to be their intercessor with Bishop Du Bourg on his arrival, that he might choose their parish for the foundation of the future seminary. They assured Bishop Flaget, who kindly listened to their representations, that this was the unanimous and urgent desire of all. They expressed their willingness to purchase for the said purpose 640 acres of land and to transfer it to the Bishop. While laboring for the good of souls at Ste. Genevieve, Father De Andreis had, near the end of 1817, the great satisfaction of re- ceiving his Bishop who came in company with Bishop Flaget. He ac- companied the two Bishops to St. Louis, where they made their formal entrance on the eve of the Epiphany, 1818, and were received with acclamations of joy. When the inhabitants of The Barrens, near the present town of Perryville, heard that Bishop Du Bourg, accompanied by several priests, had arrived in St. Louis, they sent delegates to re- new to him the request and the promises they had already laid before Bishop Flaget. Bishop Du Bourg, after having visited the place and ex- amined conditions, concluded to comply with the wishes of the good people. The first and principal care of the superior. Father De Andreis, whom the Bishop wished to retain in St. Louis, was to recall from Bardstown Father Rosati and his other missionaries whom he imme- diately sent to The Barrens for the double purpose of taking spiritual care of the colonists and of superintending and aiding by their per- sonal labor the building of a house of the community. The work was begun in the spring of 1818. The inhabitants of The Barrens were most generous wth their time and labor. Father Rosati became the first su- perior of the new house. Many of the priests whom Bishop Du Bourg had brought with him from Europe wished, very soon after their arrival, to enter the Congregation of St. Vincent. After due examination as to their calling and with the consent of the Bishop their evidently sin- cere desire was fulfilled. A heavy blow befell the young community when their first superior, the saintly Father De Andreis, passed away on October 15, 1820. His last act was to appoint Father Rosati his successor as superior of the American mission. The first mention which we find of religious work done in Cape Girardeau, is in a letter of Bishop Du Bourg to Father Rosati, written from New Madrid, on November 24, 1820, a few weeks after Father De Andreis' death. The Bishop was then on his way to Louisiana, and had stopped at New Madrid, to investigate the religious needs of that interesting old town. He dfrected the Superior of The Barrens to send a priest to that place three or four times a year ; here is what he suggested could be done at Cape Girardeau : He may go first to Cape Girardeau, and stop at Mr. Steinbach's, whose family are Catholic; there he will celebrate Mass for the little number of Catholics of that district. Thence 1 believe that at Cape Girardeau, too, they will contribute to defraying the expense of the Priest. 56 REV. E. PRUENTE The Bishop's wishes were complied with by Father Rosati, as we learn from a letter to Father F. Baccari, Vicar General of his Con- gregation, in Rome, written on May, 4, 1821 : Besides the sick calls and the confessions, Father Cellini has a French parish composed of seventy families, at New Madrid on the Mississippi River, at a distance of more than one hundred miles from the Seminary. He is going there three or four times a year, and remains four or five weeks every time Father Cellini started to go there last March, and will go again as soon as the church is finished. No express mention of Cape Girardeau is found in these lines ; but there can be no doubt that the journey was made, as Bishop Du Bourg had directed, with a stop at Cape Girardeau, and another at McCoy's house, half way between the Cape and New Madrid. Whether the project to return to New Madrid every three or four months was carried out after the departure of Father CeUini for Louisiana (July 1822), and by whom, we have no means of ascertaining. When, on September 1824, Bishop Rosati sent Father Odin and Mr. Timon on an extensive mission tour to New Madrid and through Arkansas, they very likely stopped on the way at Mr. Steinbeck's, though Father Odin, in his account of the journey, mentions a stop at Jackson and says nothing of Cape Girardeau ; but the three days which it took them to cover the distance suggest naturally a rest then at Cape Cruz on the way south ; and another at the end of October on the return home of the two exhausted missionaries. But whatever of these occasional visits in passing, never was a thought given in these early times to the establishment of a Catholic Mission in Cape Girardeau. The field ap- peared simply unpromising : outside of the Steinbeck home, there were not supposed to be any Catholics in the place. That is exactly the reply given to Father Edmond Saulnier, as late as December 2, I83I, when, on his way to Arkansas Post, he stopped for a few moments at the Cape: "I asked" says he to Rosati, "in several houses if there were any Catholics at the place ; I received a negative answer." This was true enough. For an account of the early steps of Catholicity in Cape Girardeau, we are indebted to a manuscript in the Archives of the Congregation of the Mission, written in August 1861, by one of the priests of St. Vincent's Church, at the Cape, and avowedly compiled with a view to preserving, ne percant, old odds and ends of papers recording the various events interesting the early history of the Parish. We subjoin now part of this manuscript, just as it is. Its sole merit — but this is great — lies in that it furnishes facts and dates, which otherwise would have long since been distorted, if they escaped the bottomless pit of oblivion. CAPE GIRARDEAU 57 God is zi'ondcrful in all his zvorks: We have only to follow the workings of divine Providence and observe attentively all His wonderful ways and the manner in which He accomplishes and brings out His designs in His own time to be convinced of this. The estab- lishment and progress of our holy religion at Cape Girardeau, state of Missouri, is a new proof that it is God alone who can and does turn everything to His greater honor and glory. Religious prejudice at Cape Girardeau was very bitter and the few Catholics who were at this place were so intimidated that they scarcely dared own themselves publicly as such. The place was the residence of the Spanish Commandante, himself a Catholic. There are yet living in the vicinity several of the relatives and lineal descendants of the old Commandante, but by intermarrying with Protestants they have all lost the faith and, as is always the case, they are the most bitter enemies of our holy religion. In the face of all this opposition our Lord had designs of mercy for this small but rising place. Let facts speak. In May 1828, the Rev. John Timon,i a priest of the Congregation of the Mission whose Mother-house was established forty miles north of this place in Perry County, Mo., was called by a man who as yet knew nothing of the Cath- olic religion and who was then under sentence of death at Jackson, the county- seat of this place. The culprit was in chains in a cell of the prison. While reciting to the prisoner the Apostolic Creed an outrageous attack was then and there made by a Baptist preacher on the Rev. J. J. Timon. Rev. J. J. Timon appealed to the public in behalf of the prisoner and stating that the poor man had a right to the services of any clergyman and said that he was there at the request of the prisoner.* 1 The Life of Rev. John Timon, later Bishop of Buffalo, was written and published by Charles G. Deuther, under the title: The Life and Times of the Rt. Rev. John Timon, D. D., First Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, Buffalo, N. F., 1870. Although the Author had communication of a number of Timon's papers, yet his treatment of Father Timon's Life, prior to his elevation to the Episcopacy, is not as complete as could be desired. 2 Bishop Timon, in his Diary of our starting the Barrois, narrates more fully the in- cident. "In the spring of 1828, Mr. Timon was called to Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., about thirty miles from the Seminary, to see a murderer, who was under sentence of death, but who refused to receive any clergyman. The priest started immediately, arrived at night fall, sought admission to the prison, but on various pretexts admission was refused until the Baptist minister, Mr. Green, editor of the village newspaper and all-powerful there, was ready, with a band of anti-catholic bigots, to enter into the prison with the priest. Mr. Timon appealed to the jailer for privilege of speaking alone and in private to the con- demned man on affairs of his own conscience. It was refused. The culprit lay on straw strewn over the clay floor in the dungeon, chained to a post fastened. Finding that he would only be allowed to speak in the presence of the hostile crowd, the priest laid down on the straw with the prisoner, and began in a clear and loud tone which all might hear, to expound to the poor man the truths of religion — the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, future Rewards and punishments, the Redemption and the Sacraments. The culprit who, up to that moment, had laughed at all religious teaching, seemed deeply affected; tears flowed from his eyes; and the priest, judging the first lesson to be sufficiently long, fatigued, too, by the journey over a rough road, without eating from early in the morning till nine at night, told the prisoner that he would end the instruction by reciting with him the Apostles' Creed. The condemned man said the Creed aloud with the priest, until both had recited the words, 'And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.' Green, the Baptist minister, then rushed and said: 'Do not deceive that poor man: do not make him lose his soul by teaching him the commandments of men.' 'Mr. Green,' said the priest, 'I am teaching him the Apostles' Creed. Do not you also hold that venerated Creed?' 'Oh!' he replied, 'but your Chudch is that idolatrous one that worships images and that gives to Mary the homage due only to God.' The priest replied: 'Mr. Green, not long since I preached in the Court House of this village on the very subject you now touch. I proved the charges against the ancient Church to be foul calumnies. You were present. I then called upon anyone, who could deny the truths which I announced, to come forward and show if there were any flaw in the evidence which I brought to prove that Catholics had been cruelly and most unjustly calumniated. You were silent. Surely that was your time, not this, when I am preparing an unhappy man who has sent for me, to aid him in meeting a death so certain 58 REV. E. PRUENTE In consequence of this attack and the appeal of Rev. J. J. Timon a religious discussion and controversy was held at the Courthouse in Jackson. The Hon. John D. Cook, judge of the circuit court, was appointed moderator.8 The Baptist preacher (Mr. Green) took as his assistant and associate Mr. G. D., circuit attorney of the district. After three hours' animated discussion the preacher and his assistant were completely dumbfounded. G, D., the assistant, first left the place. His principal soon followed and left the field to the Rev. J. J. Timon. The audience remained and the Rev. J. J. Timon in a discourse of half an hour drew his conclusions to the entire satisfaction of the audience. This was the first triumph for the Catholics at Jackson. Could it have been followed up great good could have been done. But labourers were wanting. The same day a timid Catholic made his confession in a room of the tavern. A Protestant had three of his children baptized. The Protestants who were, previous to this, at variance and disputing among themselves made peace and imited by the advice of their ministers to resist what they considered the com- mon enemy. Many were fully convinced of the truth of Catholicity. Mr. Ralph Dougherty had listened to the controversy and noted its consequences ; he was resolved for himself. Mr. H. S., brother-in-law of Ralph Dougherty being clerk of the circuit court, invited the Rev. J. J. Timon or any of the priests, when at Jackson, to make use of his house as their home. A few days after this the Rev. J. J. Timon without any opposition visited the poor prisoner whom he instructed and baptized, and the poor man was shortly after executed. From this time until 1832 little was done at the Cape. Some occasional visits were made to the family of Mr. L. Byrne, a good Irish Catholic four miles southwest of the Cape. This was the only place Mass was said in the vicinity for some years. Sept. 4th 1832. (Here I find no notes from 1828 to 1832). Mr. Dougherty sent Mr. Marvain on the 24th of September 1832 on express to the Barrens, Perry Co., to call the Rev. J. J. Timon to baptize said R. Dougherty. This being near the time of the exhibition and distribution of premiums at the College, Rev. J. B. Tornatore,* then Superior, could not con- sent to the departure of Rev. J. J. Timon at that time. and so near.' The minister. to meet him in the Court House after some vague and insulting charges challenged the priest 3use next day and to discuss before the public the merits of their respective religions. The priest accepted the challenge. The minister immediately claimed the privilege of saying night prayers, knelt with his myrmidons, and made a long extemporaneous prayer, in which, among the insulting things, he prayed thus: 'And, O God of mercy, save this poor man from the fangs of Anti-Christ, who now seeks to teach him idolatry and the vain traditions of men.' When he had finished, the priest, at the top of his voice, cried to the crowd that then filled the dungeon: 'Gentlemenj is it right that in a prayer to the God of Charity and of truth this gentleman should introduce calumny against the majority of Christians?' A deep silence proved that all felt the appeal. It was late at night; the Sheriff required all to leave the dungeon. On quitting it the preacher renewed his challenge, and it was arranged that meeting should take place in the Court House." ' "Each one was to speak only for half an hour at a time" (Timon's Diary). * Bom in Liguria, not far from Nice, in 1763, entered the Congregation of the Mission at Rome, on January 6, 1804; and after his novitiate, the completion of his studies and his ordination, was sent to Tivoli, where he remained only for a short time, the French occu- pation of the Papal States obliging all religious bodies to disband, and their members to return to their respective homes The fall of Napoleon once more opened to him the way to Rome, and he arrived at Monte Citorio March 1, 1815. After another sojourn at Tivoli, he was called back to the Eternal City to teach Dogma and act as Director of the Cont'itto of the Propaganda Students — the work, it will be remembered, of Father De Andreis before CAPE GIRARDEAU 59 The exhibition took place on the 26th of Sept. 1832. On the next day, the 27th, the Rev. J. J. Timon started for the Cape, where he arrived at dark, found Mr. Marvain, his wife and three children residing in Mr. Dougherty's house, and was informed that Mr. Dougherty was sick at his father's house, two miles below on the river. Father Timon took a small boat immediately and arrived at the elder Mr. Dougherty's and stayed there all night instructing Mr. Dougherty and family. Finding that Mr. Dougherty had been recently separated from his wife, the next morning early Rev. J. J. Timon started to see Mrs. Dougherty who resided at her father's house, Major B., to bring about, if possible, a recon- ciliation. Unable to accomplish his charitable design, Rev. J. J. Timon baptized here an infant child of Mr. R. Rougherty, which was then with the mother, and returned next day to the Cape., about twenty-two miles, and after due instruction baptized Mr. R. Dougherty and three of his children. The next day, at the Cape, in Mr. R. Dougherty's house he heard privately the confessions of the Marvain family, baptized a son of Miles Doyle, one of the first Catholic settlers. Then such was the prejudice of the place that he did not dare to say Mass publicly. So that the first time the Holy Sacrifice was oflfered at the Cape it was secretely and in the presence of only a few Catholics. In the month of October 1832, Mr. R. Dougherty took his three children, viz., two boys and a girl to the Seminary at the Barrens. The boys were placed in the College and the girl at the Sisters' School. Before Mr, R. Dougherty could obtain the consent of his wife to this arrangement he was forced to give a certificate in writing stating that Mrs. Dougherty, his wife, could at any time visit her children without molestation or any hindrance. But the prejudices of the mother were too strong to bear this. In November Mrs. Dougherty came to the convent.'' She had some men stationed around as guards. She persuaded the boys to leave with her and she took the three home. When the father heard of this he was furious. Rev. J. J. Timon Icept him tranquil for some time by letters ; but this state of things was too much for poor R. Dougherty. It preyed on his mind to think that he could not have the management and education of his own children. In the month of January, 1833, his excited mind having brought on frenzy, he made an attack on the house of Major B., his father-in- law, at whose house the children were kept. In the affray R. Dougherty was wounded and taken prisoner and confined in the jail at Jackson. Mr. R. Dougher- ty refused to have his wounds dressed or to hear any reason ; the only person that could have any control over the poor man, they said, was Father Timon. Con- sequently Mr. Evan Dougherty, the brother of the afflicted man, started to Perryville to see Father Timon. No sooner does the charitable Missioner hear of the trouble of his friend and child in Christ, than he starts for Jackson. On the 30th of January he arrives and finds Mr. Ralph Dougherty confined in the same cell with a man who was sentenced to death for murder. Rev. Father Ti- his departure for America — , and four years later (1820) Novice Master at Monte Citorio, where he remained only a short while, for we find him afterwards successively at Perugia, and once more at Tivoli. He was at Monte Citorio, and probably destined to the house of Civita-Vecchia, according to the wish of Pope Leo XII, when Bishop Rosati, who had long desired to have him for Superior at the Barrens, succeeded in obtaining him from the Superior General in 1829. He landed in New Orleans in April 1830, and reached the Seminary during the summer; there he received on January 6, 1831 his appointment to the office of Vice-Visitor of the American Lazarists, while Bishop Rosati maae him his Vicar- General. Relieved of the Superiorship at the Seminary in the fall 1837, he continued to reside there, teaching theology with great success until his death, at a ripe old age. 8 "Bethlehem" the house of the Sisters of Loretto at Perryville. 60 REV. E. PRUENTE mon succeeded in calming Mr. R. Dougherty, and as soon as he had his wounds dressed and procured comfort for Mr. Ralph Dougherty, Father Timon turned his attention to the unfortunate man who was to be executed the next day. This poor fellow had come to the sad conclusion to die drunk. Father Timon com- menced to talk to the prisoner, but found him so much under the influence of liquor that all advice was lost on him. He was not capable of being instructed. Father Timon had all the liquor removed from the jail and requested the jailer not to let any more enter the jail that night. The next morning before day, Father Timon sent to the sheriff and obtained the keys of the jail, and entered the prison before any liquor could be brought to the culprit. This poor man now listened attentively to the instructions given by the holy priest. He was greatly moved. The light of hope and confidence in the mercy of God entered his soul. He professed his belief in Jesus Christ, was filled with sorrow for his past errors, shed an abundance of tears. Fr. Timon continued with the poor man and baptized him about an hour before he was led to execution. Oh ! the mercy of God to come to the help of this poor man in his very last hour ! Father Timon now returned to Mr. Ralph Dougherty and succeeded in calm- ing him completely. He then went to Major B., affected a reconciliation, ob- tained Mr. Dougherty's release from prison and persuaded Mr. R. Dougherty to absent himself for a time from the scene of his troubles (Jan. 31, 1833). Mr. Dougherty consented and went to New Orleans, where his health and mind was completely restored. January 31st 1833, the old Mr. Dougherty, father of Ralph Dougherty, made his confession and was received into the Church. He became a fervent Catholic. Father Timon was again called to the Cape on the i6th of February 1833. On the next day he baptized the family of Mr. Jeremiah Able, the son-in-law of the old Mr. Dougherty and on the i8th of the same month, baptized at Jackson Paul Dougherty, oldest son of Mr. Sanford, Mr. R. Dougherty's brother-in-law.^ Previous to Mr. Ralph Dougherty going to New Orleans, Rev. J. J. Timon prevailed on Mr. Ralph Dougherty to give up the youngest child to the care of its mother. During Mr. Ralph Dougherty's absence his father-in-law. Major B., pushed on a law-suit against Ralph Dougherty for more than $2,000.00. Ralph Dougherty not appearing to defend the suit, judgment was given against him, and all his property was levied upon.''' March 24th 1833. Mr. Henry Sanford, clerk of the circuit court, and brother- in-law of Mr. Dougherty, comes on express to the Seminary of the Barrens and relates to Rev. Timon all that Major B. had done during Ralph Dougherty's absence, stating that he, H. Sanford, had offered Major B. all of Mr. Ralph Dougherty's property, on which he, Major B. had already levied, if he would give a receipt in full for all his claims against Ralph Dougherty. This Major B. refused to do. Mr. H. Sanford here declared that he now saw plainly that Major b. intended to have Ralph Dougherty's property sacrificed at sheriff sale ; ' "Ralph Daiiglierty's conversion, followed by that of several members of the San- ford family in Jackson, alarmed the enemies of the Church. Mr. Dougherty became the object of persecution. In the interim the same missionary (Father Timon) had begun a, Mission in Cape Girardeau. For six months, on each visit, he would say Mass, very pri- vately at 6 A. M. and give Communion to a few converts; then at 9, he would begin catechism for all the children he could collect, and at 11, preach for the great many Pro- testants who flocked to hear him. This was done in Mr. Dougherty's house." (Timon's Diary). T "It is the most beautiful property in the County. The Seminary (this was true until 1893; now only a college is there) with its noble and spacious grounds, and the beautiful Church of St. 'Vincent stand on part of it" (Timon's Diary). CAPE GIRARDEAU 61 that, at sheriff sale for cash, and with Major B's influence, the whole property would not in all probability bring more than fifteen hundred dollars, and that Mr. B. would keep the execution open for the balance in order to persecute Ralph Dougherty and imprison him when he pleased. Mr. H. Sanford pressed the Hev. Father Tornatore, then Superior at the Barrens, to purchase the whole property, which he, H. Sanford, offered for the cost and suit about twenty-five hundred dollars, stock and all on the farm. The gentlemen of the Seminary, thinking it wrong to profit by the misfortune of Mr. Ralph Dougherty, they gave Mr. H. Sanford a promise that they would purchase the property if Mr. Ralph Dougherty could do no better, but advised Mr. Sanford to remove the lien on the property and that then, when Mr. Ralph Dougherty was free from force, they would purchase the property at a fair valuation. Mr. H. Sanford returned to Jackson to make arrangements. On the 28th of March Mr. H. San- ford returned to the Seminary with Mr. Ralph Dougherty, who had lately re- turned from New Orleans. Mr. Ralph Dougherty is very anxious to dispose of his property and being no longer forced by the suit of Major B., the gentlemen of the Seminary enter into arrangements with Messrs. Sanford and Dougherty, and finally conclude to take the property or land alone for thirty-two hundred dollars. The stock makes another and separate contract. Twenty-five hundred dollars is paid on the signing of the deed ^ and by the arrangement of Mr. Ralph Dougherty seven hundred dollars are to be retained by the Seminary for the education, board and lodging' of Mr. Ralph Dougherty's sons at St. Mary's Seminary. The Seminary takes possession of the house and property in the city of Cape Girardeau. The father of Mr. Ralph Dougherty, having sold his farms, the gentlemen of the Seminary agree to permit old Mr. Dougherty to live for a time on the farm, rent free. In April and May, Mr. Ralph Dougherty made frequent visits to the Semi- nary, lodging for many days at a time. During this time Mr. R. Dougherty made his first Communion and was confirmed. June 23rd Rev. Father Timon was called to the Cape by Evan Dougherty to see his brother Ralph Dougherty who was very ill. The good priest started immediately. He heard the confession of Ralph Dougherty and that of the old man Dougherty.^ Hearing that the widow H. Smith was alarmed on account of the cholera. Rev. Father Timon started across the swamp nine miles to visit this good family, consoled them and then returned by a circuitous route to Jack- son. It was dark when he arrived at Jackson. Here he was informed that old man Dougherty was dead.^** Rev. Timon although he had ridden on horseback all day, set out immediately for the Cape and arrived at the cabin on the Swamp farm two miles below the Cape. When he arrived there, after ten o'clock P. M., 8 Mr. Timon went to Potosi and negotiated with Mr. John Casey for a loan of $2,000. He went to St. I.ouis to negotiate it; and in passing by a village, Selma, got a rich pro- testant, Capt. J. N. White, to endorse the draft. When the Rt. Rev. Bishop [Rosati] first saw Mr. Timon, he showed anger at the purchase of which he had heard; but when he found that the purchase money had been found without calling upon him, he was much pleased" (Timon's Diary). 9 "Mr. Timon, returning from New Madrid, stopped at evening at the log-house of the aged Dougherty; as it was full of company, all protestant, the late convert walked out in the garden to unburden his conscience to his spiritual father" (Timon's Diary). 10 "He stopped there to refresh himself and to feed his horse, about 8 p.m. Just as he was starting to ride, as very commonly he had to do, all night, a messenger came to tell him that the old man had been struck with the cholera, and begged his spiritual father, to return. Through the rain, which began to fall, the priest hastened to the cabin, in the wild forest, which he had left a few hours before. Mr. Dougherty was already dead (Ibid). 62 REV. E. PRUENTE he found the old man Dougherty a lifeless corpse, still in the same bed in which he had expired, his wife and family sleeping by and around the dead body. There being no other bed in the house, Rev. Timon, exhausted with fatigue, took some rest on the same bed with the cholera corpse.^^ Early in the morning Mrs. Dougherty, the wife of Mr. Dougherty, became a Catholic and made her first confession with great compunction and to the great edifica- tion of all present.i2 Father Timon arranged everything for the decent inter- ment of Mr. Dougherty, and on his return to Jackson visited and consoled many cholera patients. Near Jackson, Father Timon administered the sacraments to Mrs. Green, who. to the great surprise of all, recovered. The daughter of Mrs. Green, though yet a Protestant, declared to the neighbors that she had been cured by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. She declared that as soon as Father Timon finished the prayers, her mother had no more pain and re- covered in a few hours her usual health. On the 6th of July, 1833, at the request of Mr. Samuel Morton, Rev. Father Timon raised and dressed an altar in the brick house in the rear of Mrs. Ellis' house, where Mr. Morton then resided. In this place, Rev. Timon said Mass. Very few Catholics present. He gave the Holy Communion to Mrs. Morton. This is the first time Holy Communion was given publicly at the Cape. July 7th 1833. Rev. Timon was busily occupied until late at night to arrange an old frame warehouse which stood near the river in front of our house, the former residence of the Spanish Commandante. Having finished and decorated a neat altar and seats for the congregation, the candlesticks and the altar were presented by Mr. Miles Doyle. The next day, July 8th. Rev. Timon celebrated Mass publicly and preached to a large congregation, most Protestants. He was heard with great respect and attention ; and could Rev. Timon have remained here, or some priest speaking the English language fluently, all prejudice would have been removed ; but for many years those stationed here were foreigners, very holy and zealous men, but not well understood. The old frame house served as chapel for some years. Father Timon before leaving made arrange- ments to build a good log house at the farm in the swamp, lately purchased from Mr. Ralph Dougherty. The contract was concluded with the Major. The same day Rev. Timon baptized Mr. Jeremiah Able and wife. The Rev. Father Timon went every six weeks^^ to preach at the Cape and say Mass at the frame 11 "The forest was intensely dark, the rain began to fall in torrents: it was impossible for the priest to resume his journey; it was midnight. The convert (Mrs. Dougherty) kindly prepared a place for him to take his rest; the company had to sleep on the floor; the only bed in the house was occupied by the corpse. It was pushed up against the wall, a clean sheet spread near it, and the Missionary was invited to share the bed of the dead man. He did so, and slept soundly" (Ibid.) 12 The Diary states that Mrs. Dougherty's conversion, instruction, confession, and bap- tism took place in the evening, as soon as Father Timon arrived at the house. For, imme- diately af*er stating that, on reaching the Dougherty cabin, he found the old man "was already dead" (See Note 8 above), he goes on to say: "The priest said some prayers, and a few words of exhortation. The aged wife of the deceased then declared that she would wish to become a Catholic. After instructing her, as there was but one room, the Mis- sionary requested the company to withdraw, and shelter themselves the best they could, for a few minutes. During that stay he heard the confession of the mourning wife, as she knelt against the bed on which lay her husband who had just breathed his last. The com- pany was then called in, and the old lady was baptized sub conditione, and expressed her great consolation at being a member of the true Church." Then follows in the Diary the account of the preparations for sleeping the rest of the night, as in Note 9. 13 "At first once in three months, then once a month, Mr. Timon rode down from the Barrens, said Mass .preached and catechized, with very happy results in dissipating the prejudices of the people" (Ibid). CAPE GIRARDEAU 63 chapel. He had the consolation to have always a large audience. Many chil- dren came to catechism and were baptized. From this time the Gentlemen of the Seminary began to purchase lots in the Cape, and land near it, for fair prices. Poor Ralph Dougherty during the following winter, because again deranged in his mind, though the Seminary had purchased all his stock on the farm — the poor man claimed them again, and to avoid trouble and litigation, little by little the cattle were given up to Mr. Ralph Dougherty, and the seven hundred dollars left for the education of Mr. Ralph Dougherty's children was reclaimed and drawn for by himself and his mother. This sum was paid again, for peace sake, for there was no obligation to pay it. Add to this, the Seminary gave Mr. Dougherty more than another hundred dollars in different ways. (During the remainder of this year nothing particular is mentioned in the kind of journal before me). October 1835 — Singular Coincidence — In October, Very Rev. J, B. Tornatore went down very unexpectedly to the Cape, taking with him Rev. J. J. Timon.^* No priest was expected at this time.i'* Shortly after their arrival ^^, Mr. William Watson ^^ called on Father Ti- mon, requesting him tc visit his mother-in-law, who was very ill, even danger- ously ill. To the enquiries made by the priest Mr. Watson replied that neither he, nor his wife, nor his mother-in-law, nor any of the family were Catholics. The Rev. Father Timon started immediately to visit the sidk person, but did not take with him the holy oils or ritual. He found the sick chamber thronged with the children and grand-children of the patient, all Protestants. After con- versing with the sufferer for some time, instructing ber and finding in her all the proper dispositions, for God had touched her heart, and she professed a firm belief in Jesus Christ, and firmly believed in all the holy truths explained to her, Mr. Timon seeing that no time was to be lost, as the person was in great danger, he left the room saying that he would soon return to administer the good lady all the Sacraments necessary for her present situation and to receive her into the Catholic Church. As Rev. Timon left the room Mrs. W. Watson, daughter of the sick woman, followed him and said: "Sir, there is something extraordinary in all this. My mother has never been in a Catholic church, she never but once heard a Catholic priest, she knows nothing of the Catholic doctrine, yet she has for months past been expressing a desire to be- come a Catholic,i8 and she frequently requested those near her to send for a priest. Last night, in a dream or vision, she said a man, clothed like you are now, entered her room and gave her what I believe you call a crucifix to kiss ; at the same time an interior voice said to her, 'Do what this person tells you. and you shall be saved.' She immediately begged of us to send to the Seminary for a priest. But not thinking it necessary, and as it was very inconvenient, 14 Their purpose was to complete some arrangements regarding the deeds of the property. 15 Because this trip to Cape Girardeau was made about only two weeks after the regu- lar visit. 16 The two priests had reached tlie Cape at dusk. Mr. Wm. Watson called on Father Timon half an hour later fTimon's Diary). IT "One of the most respectable citizens of the place" (Ibid.); he was some years later, elected Mayor of Cape Girardeau. 18 The Diary adds here: "Yet she has thought for months that she hears a voice say- ing almost continually to her: 'If you want to be saved, you must become a Catholic' She often related this to us, and begged us to send for you; but we thought it only a childish freak of a wandering mind, and we refused." 64 REV. E. PRUENTE we declined and tried to put her off. But she could not be pacified, and was just repeating and urging the same request, when we were informed that you had arrived." Rev. Father Timon hastened to procure all that was necessary for the administering of the sick. As soon as he entered the room of the patient, he pre- sented the crucifix to her. All present were struck and observed with what fervor and emotion she pressed the crucifix to her lips. The instructions were made aloud for the benefit of the large company present. The old lady was baptized sub conditionc ; her confession was heard, and in the course of the next day, at her earnest request, all the sacraments were administered to her. She died that night in peace and joy, edifying all around her by her patience and the great confidence she expressed in the mercy of her crucified Savior. Her name was Esther Bradl)', widow of Solomon Thorn.^^ The next morning two of her married daughters brought their children to be baptized. It will be seen in the sequel that all the persons in the room at the time — ten or twelve persons — became Catholics. ^o April 9th 1836. The first colony was sent from St. Mary's Seminary to settle at the Cape. It consisted of Rev. John M. Odin,-'i Mr. J. B. Robert,- a Postulant, with Harry, his wife Minty and their child Juliana. ^^ Under the 19 "The priest enquired something about her antecedent life, and was told that she had always been distinguished for charity to the poor and sick. It was this, no doubt, that drew down a special mercy on her last end" {Ibid.). '"' "Many years after (1840), when there was a fine stone church of St. Vincent on the same spot, the Right Rev. de Forbin-Janson confirmed the last convert of that family" a bid.), 21 John Mary Odin, born February 25, 1800, at Ambierle, then in the Diocese of Lyons, France. After his classical studies first at Verrieres, he entered the Seminary of I'Argentiere for his philosophy, and thence the theological Department at Alix, where he received subdeaconship in 1821, and decided, early in the next year to enlist for the American Missions. Arrived at the Barrens in August 1822, with five companions, he completed there his theological studies, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Du Bourg, May 4, 1823. Meantime (November 8, 1822) he had entered the Novitiate of the Lazarists. After his Ordination he remained at the Seminary, occupied in teaching and in the care of the parish. After his short stay at the Cape, he went back to the Seminary, which he left in 1840 for the Texas Missions. He was made, March 6, 1842 Vicar Apostolic of Texas, the title being changed a few years later into that of Bishop of Galveston. In 1861 Bishop Odin was transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans. In 1869 he went to Rome to attend the Vatican Council, but falling sick in Rome he left the Eternal City for his natal home in Ambierle, where he died in May 1870. There has been published in French a life of Bishop Odin: Vie de Mgr. Jean Marie Odin, Missionaire Lasariste Archeveque de la Nou- velle-0 deans. Paris 1896. 22 Like Bishop Odin, John Baptist Robert was a native of the Diocese of Lyons, and born in 1800. He came to America in 1835 with a number of French and Italian ecclesiastics brought by Father Odin. The following year he entered the Congregation of the Mission. It was very likely to learn English he was sent to the Cape at the same time as Father Odin. He was ordained by Bishop Rosati in 1839 and remained at the Barrens, where he worked as assistant pastor until his death, February 4, 1835. See Catholic Cabinet, Vol. II, p. 704; United States Catholic Maijasine and Monthly Review, April 1845 p. 270. 23 "Heavy rains made all the creeks so high as to necessitate swimming. There was much difficulty. Mr. Timon swam across on horseback, examined, found a less difficult pass, recrossed, and brought over Mr. Odin and the company. All had to remain over night at Jackson, ten leagues from the Seminary. Early in the morning the Visitor (Father Timon; he had been appointed in 1835 Visitor of the Lazarist Province in America) started to say Mass, according to appointed time, in Cape Girardeau: the rest, who were much fatigued, remained to t.nke breakfast. He (Father Odin) reached the Cape, twelve miles distant, at 11 a. m., during the Mass. Mr. Timon introduced Mr. Odin to the congregation as their future pastor, and alluded, as far as the well known humility of Mr. Odin permitted, to the virtues, learning and zeal of the pastor whom God gave them, and to the great services he had already rendered to religion, with hopes that Providence prepared for Cape Girar- deau through him still greater blessings" (Ibid.). To the above details must be added the following, which shows vividly one of the outstanding features of Father Timon's character, — the man of decision: "Some persons," goes on the Diary's narrative, "of bad and impure life had, w'ithout riven asking permission, located themselve's in an out-house; nor could the Visitor get them out by process of law that might require one or two months' time. He consulted Protestant friends skilled in the law and who already leaned to Catholicity: by their advice, and by them under his authority, the house was pulled down whilst the inmates had gone visiting; and thus Mr. Odin was saved from annoyances and responsibility." CAPE GIRARDEAU 65 charitable and zealous administration of Rev. Odin, the Congregation began to assume a form at the Cape. The Protestants were impressed with love and respect for the holy priest. The name of St. Vincent de Paul was given to the new and rising congregation. When Rev. Odin arrived at the Cape, the inhabit- ants generally manifested great satisfaction on seeing a priest stationed among them. The number of Catholics was but small. The families then known as belonging to the Church were those of Nicholas B. Miles, nine persons in num- ber; Mrs. Nathan and her son-in-law, eight persons; Mr. Marto and two chil- dren (all the above recent immigrants from Maryland) ; Bernard Layton and family, five in number; James B. Hagan's family, seven in all; the widow Marvin's, four in number, lately from Perry County ; John Mattingly and family, four in number, lately from Kentucky; Miles Doyle, an old resident of this place, who left Ireland when young; John Roach, who had to fly from Ireland, being a United Irisman (this man's brother, a priest, was shot by the Orange men; John was kneeling on his coffin to be shot when his reprieve came from the King) ; Mrs. Hannah Smith, eleven in family, from Maryland ; Jeremiah Able and his mother-in-law, converts, six in number at Jackson; Mrs. Sanford and three children; two daughters of Nathan Vanhorn who were converted and baptized at Bethlehem Convent whilst at school there ; the widows Atwell and Green; John Corvelle, nineteen in family, which makes altogether eighty-seven Catholics at the Cape and environs, consisting of adults, children and servants. Every Sunday the small frame chapel was crowded, and frequently on great festivities it could not contain all that came from a great distance. 2* Those of different denominations composed the greater number of the audience. They expressed a great desire to hear the word of God explained by the priest; so much so that even when a Protestant preacher held meeting in the school house, many preferred going to the Catholic chapel. They always acted with becoming decorum and listened most attentively to the explanations of holy tenets and ceremonies. Prejudices so deeply rooted in this place semed to die away grad- ually and even the most strict amongst the different sects declared publicly that it would be useless for them to erect a meeting house"^ as the Catholics would soon draw all the population to their church. However, two years later, they built a Baptist meeting house, which, by the way, has seldom had any regular minister, and this same meeting house has served for every kind of meetings, political speeches, railroad meetings, etc., and it is used by all sects indiscrimi- nately. Rev. Odin was beloved by all and was welcomed whenever he presented himself, and religion was sure to be the topic of conversation wherever he went. 24 Very early a new church was seriously contemplated. On June 14, 1836, Father Odin wrote to the Visitor: "Mr. Alton will not be able to undertake building our church. Mr. Johnson's house will keep him busy until the month of September, and then he has to build a bridge over at Cape Cruz.... Try, therefore, to contract with Valerio. It would be most desirable that steps were taken at once. Our chapel is absolutely too small. A Frenchman from Louisiana, Mr. Gourrier, is decided to settle at the Cape.... He subscribed $50.00 for the church; Mr. Mattingly, $25.00; Bishop Rosati has promised $100.00, and the $112.00 of Card. Weld, will furnish us, together with the old subscription, nearly $800.00. I think that, without appealing to Protestants we shall gradually find the funds needed. Once the building is under way, we will have more courage to ask. Some persons whom I went to see told me they had no confidence in subscriptions, and that they would con- tribute when they see the work begun" (Original in Catholic Archives of America, Univ. of Notre Dame, Ind., Case Lasarists, L. 28). 25 That it was not so from the outset, is gathered from the above quoted letter of Odin to Timon: "The Anabaptists, thanks to the instructions of Mr. Green, have taken new courage, and again are talking of building their meeting-house." 66 REV. E. PRUENTE Mrs. Ellen Atwell, an old lady from Maryland, who had not seen a priest for thirty-three years, availed herself of the opportunity, made a general con- fession, received Holy Communion and continued faithfully to approach the Sacraments until her death. The following year many attempts were made to induce her to abandon her religion and join some sect; but she remained tirm and grateful to God, who had once more given her the chance and means to dis- charge her religious duties. Mr. John Roach, the Irish refugee, had long resided in this neighborhood, and although he made a profession of the Catholic faith and was an able and warm defender of his faith, yet he had not approached the Sacraments for more than forty years; he was moved by the good example, returned to his duties, made a general confession and became a fervent and exemplary member, frequently walking five miles fasting to hear Mass and approach the Sacraments. The Catholics in general were very fervent and reg- ular in frequenting the Sacraments. Mrs. Sarah Erving, daughter of the aforesaid Mrs. Atwell, had been bap- tized in her infancy, but had no recollection of having ever seen a priest; she came for instructions and, after due preparation, made her fiiSt Communion. During her long illness, which terminated her earthly career, she gave great edification by her lively faith, patience, resignation to the will of God. Her holy death made a great impression on all who witnessed it. The catechism was regularly taught every day, when some few children presented themselves. On Sunday the catechism was taught once for the white children, and a second time for colored persons, who manifested a great desire to be instructed, and many became good Catholics. These attended in great numbers. Rev. Odin visited occasionally the few families scattered about the country at Jackson, Moses Byrne's family across the big swamp. Dr. Golden at Commerce, etc. The family of Moses Byrne have all fallen off and have no religion. There were about twenty persons of different ages belonging to Prot- estant families baptized by Mr. Odin, and many others were preparing when he was recalled to the Seminary on Nov. 3, 1836. A few months before his de- parture, a few more Catholic families came to reside at the Cape, viz., Mr. John Doyle whose wife was not a Catholic, Thos. B. English, George Boarman and some few others. Father Odin was succeeded by the Rev. John Boullier^s and Rev. John Rosti.27 Brother Daniel Harrington accompanied them to take charge of the ^ John Bouillier was born at Roanne, in the Diocese of Lyons, of a well-to-do family, on September 12, 1801. He was studying theology in the Diocesan Seminary when, a band of volunteers being formed for the American Missions, he joined it, and came to the Barrens in March 1824. Shortly after, he begged admittance into the Congregation, was received the 7th of December 1825, and was ordained a few months later. He was then sent to Old Mines, where he worked with great success, remaining until 1831, when, after his father's death, he had to go to France to settle his family affairs. After his return he stayed again for a while at Old Mines. On leaving Cape Girardeau, he was stationed at Donaldsonville, La. About 1850, owing to the precarious condition of his health, broken down by twenty-five years of missionary labors, he was sent back north, and later on, called to the Mother-House, in Paris, where he died. — His letter of appointment to Cape Girardeau is dated November 13, 1836. 27 Was one of the young Milanese who, at the ijivitation of Bishop Du Bourg, came to America in company with Father Rossetti. He was then twenty years of age. Some time after coming to the Barrens (January 5, 1819), he joined the Lazarist Community, made his novitiate under Father Rosati, continued his studies and was ordained in October 1821. He first was sent to Lower Louisiana, on account of his frail constitution, and was, some time later (1836) appointed Pastor of the Parish of Grand Coteau, and Director of the House of the Ladies of the S. Heart in that parish. He remained there until 1833. He died at the Barrens the 14th of January 1839. CAPE GIRARDEAU ^7 swamp farm. John Hutcheson and family, together with some work hands for the farm arrived the same day that Mr. Odin left the Cape. The number of Catholics began to increase. Rev. John BouUier repaired the house and garden in a very neat manner. He conciliated to himself the respect and esteem of all the inhabitants of the city and vicinity. Rev. Boullier began to make prepara- tions for the erection of a new Catholic church when he was called to the Semi- nary at the Barrens. February 2nd 1837. During this year 1837 the Cape was visited from time to time by Rev. Timon as formerly. It was on one of these visits that Mrs. Sarah Watson, wife of Wm. Watson, in consequence of what she had seen and heard at the death of her mother, as related above, applied to Father Timon, who was at the Cape on a visit of charity, to be received into the Catholic Church. Her request was granted; she was instructed and baptized by Father Timon that same day, and after some time made her first Communion. She has always persevered and remained a fervent Catholic. This family has been the constant friend of priests, and was of great assistance to our Missionaries in the com- mencement at the Cape. It was these good people who took care of the chapel and of the priests when sick. They still live near the church (Sept. 23, i86t). March 17th 1838. Rev. John Brands^s was sent to the Cape to replace Rev. John Boullier. The number of adults, viz., those who had made their first Com- munion was, at Cape Girardeau and vicinity, forty -three; of those who had not made their first Communion about the same : in all about eighty-six persons. April 2nd 1838. Mary, the wife of Mr. John Doyle was baptized suh con- ditione, and on the same day, Easter Sunday, she made her first Communion. April 29th 1838, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, gave confirma- tion at the Cape to ten persons, among whom were three converts, viz., Mrs. Doyle, Mrs. Wm. Watson and Mrs. Garaghty.29 This is the 'first time Confirma- tion was administered at the Cape. April 30th 1838, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Rosati laid and blessed the cornerstone of the new church, assisted by the very Rev. John Timon, the Revs. Brands and Rosti. A very numerous assemblage of people of all denominations were in attendance and behaved with great respect ^ Came to America from the Mother-House in Paris together with Peter Doutreluingne, Van Cloostere, Lefevcre: all were recruits secured by Father De Neckere during his sojourn in Europe. He made his vows on the 10th of December 1829, being then twenty-five years of age. After his Ordination he was missioned to Old Mines, with his fellow-countryman Father Doutreluingne. " He had come to the Cape on the 26th. His Diary informs us in detail of all that happened during the five days he stayed in the new parish: "April 26. Thursday. At half past three in the morning we arrived at Cape Girardeau (he was coming by steamboat from St. Louis). I went at once to the house of the Con- gregation of the Mission, where the Revs. Brands and Rosti are stationed, together with Brother Harrington. Said Mass in the private chapel of the house. After dinner we went on a walk, and tried to find a site where to build the church, but could not determine on any. Saw Mr. Doyle. 27. Friday. Said Mass in the chapel of the house. A 8 o'clock p.m. Father Timon comes from the Seminary. 28. Saturday. Said Mass in the same place. Examined various sites inside and outside the town; and finally chose for the church to be built a place near the house where the priests of the Congregation are living. Mr. Gibbony donated twenty feet of land alongside the plot where the church is to be erected. 29. Second Sunday after Easter. Said Mass at 6 o'clock in the chapel. At 10 o'clock, we went to the church. Father Brands said a low Mass, after which and the singing of the Veni Creator Spiritus, I spoke in English on the Sacrament of Confirmation, and administered the same to ten persons, among whom were three converts; concluded with some advice on perseverance. At 3 p. m., Singing of the Vespers, and Sermon by Father Timon." 68 REV. E. PRUENTE and attention. The Bishop preached a long sermon, in which he explained the meaning of the ceremonies used at the blessing and laying of the cornerstone.so Mr. Andrew Gibony, not a Catholic, gave the breath of twenty feet of the two lots adjoining ours for the purpose of building the church thereon. On the same day the Bishop baptized the wife of Miles Doyle and rehabilitated their mar- riage. May 1st Rev. J. Rosti left the Cape, and a short time after the Rev. John Alabau was sent as companion to Rev. J. Brands, but remained only until the feast of St. Vincent, July 19, 1838. May 29th 1838. Rev. J. Brands crossed the big swamp to bury Moses Byrne. He found there a large number of people collected for the occasion. Before going to the burying ground, Fr. Brands explained the meaning of the ceremonies performed at the funeral and the doctrine of Purgatory and prayers for the dead, and, after having returned to the house, he gave an explanation of the principal points of the Catholic doctrine. This lasted about two hours. All were attentive and pleased. He here baptized the youngest son of Mr. Byrne and two of his grandchildren. The people of this neighborhood were opposed to the Protestants, and particularly displeased with the Methodist preachers who had ben among them, and, being well pleased with what they had heard of the Catholic religion (this was the first time they had ever heard a Catholic priest), they requested Rev. Brands to return among them and preach. To this he agreed and promised to visit them from time to time. August 29th, Mr. Brands being across the swamp, he preached there for the third time, and hearing that a neighbor of Mrs. Byrne, named John Calhoun, was dangerously ill, and remembering that said gentleman had already listened to the instructions with great interest, and that he had even asked for books to instruct himself, Father Brands went to visit Mr. Calhoun and found him so well disposed and instructed by reading the books lent to him, that, after exhortations, he baptized the good man that same night, and next morning left the sick man very much comforted and resigned. He also baptized at this time a grandchild of Moses Byrne. "" "April 30. Monday. Sail Mass in the same place. At 11, preached to the people on the blessing of the first stone; then, putting on the pontifical robes, we went to the place where the church is to built, and with the customary ceremonies I blessed the first stone, and placed it in the foundations. As a testimony there«f, I enclosed in a glass vial, put into the stone, a paper with the following inscription: The 30th of April of the year of the Incarnation 1838, the 62nd of the declaration of American Independence, under the Pontificate of Pope Gregory XVI, Martin Van Buren being President of the U. S., Lilburn W. Boggs Governor of Missouri, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosati Bishop of St. Louis, assisted by Very Rev. John Timon, V. G. of the Diocese, and Visitor of the Cong, of the Mission, and of Revs. John Rosti and John Brands, C. M., solemnly blessed this corner stone of the Church to be built to Almighty God under the invocation of St. Vincent de Paul in the town of Cape Girardeau, and placed it in the foundations in the presence of a great concourse of people. In the same hollow of the stone was also placed the last issue of the following news- papers: Catholic Advocate, Cape Girardeau Patriot and Western Advocate, and in the glass had also been put a small silver coin of the United States minted last year. N. B. — The church will be 36 ft. wide, 69 long and 24 high; it is to be of stone." The next morning, at 6 o'clock the Bishop left Cape Girardeau. CAPE GIRARDEAU 69 October i8th, Father Brands baptized James Jones, who had instructed him- self in the Catholic faith. About a year after, this good man died in fine dis- positions and gave great edification during his sickness. — R. I. P. October 22nd 1838. Our day school, named St. Vincent's Male Academy, was opened with only a few scholars. Mr. M. Flinn was the first teacher. October 23rd. The Sisters of Loretto from Bethlehem Convent, Perry County, arrived at the Cape, seven in number, with six boarders whom they brought with them. The Sisters were lodged in our house, where they remained until July of the next year. The priests removed to the small house on the opposite side of the street, which had been lately purchased from Mr. Jones. In July the Sisters removed to the house purchased for them from Mr. J. Doyle. The good Sisters commenced their school in the new house with as little human prospects as we had commenced our school for boys. Many of the citizens were still very much prejudiced against us. John McLane, a Presbyterian preacher, did all in his power to oppose our schools, and for this purpose he opened a school for boys and girls. However, his preaching and teachiiig so much dis- pleased the people., that he lost all popularity and had, after some time, to give up his school and pulpit. Both our schools increased gradually and were the cause of great good in the way of removing prejudice. November 2nd, Rev. Brands, at the request of Mr. John Doyle, paid a visit to the family of Mr. S. Glascock. Two of his children were very ill. Mr. Glas- cock permitted the children to be baptized. One of the children died in a short time and is now in bliss. The family of Mr. Glascock were strong Methodists, but since the death of their child they inclined to the Catholics. During this year four marriages have been rehabilitated, and several chil- dren of Protestants have ben baptized. The number of Paschal Communions at the Church of St. Vincent, Cape Girardeau, was thirty-five. Three of these were first Communions. At the station of Jackson, where Mass was celebrated once a month, the number of those who had made their first Communion was fourteen, of those who had not made it, eighteen ; thirty-two in all. The number of adults and communicants at the station Tiwopity Bottom was fourteen, of non-communi- cants, thirteen; in all twenty-seven. Paschal Communions in all the Missions were fifty-one. During the year there had been but five deaths in the three places, viz., three adults and two children. 1839. The number of adults in the Congregation of Cape Girardeau at the commencement of this year was fifty-eight ; of these many had not made their first Communion. The number of communicants at Jackson was twelve : those who had not made their first Communion, eighteen ; Paschal Communions, nine. At Tiwopity Bottom twenty-two communicants ; four first Communions. So that in the three places the Paschal Communions were seventy-five. The deaths at the three places were ten; two children and eight adults. Number of mar- riages, five. January nth 1839. Mr. Wm. Watson, son-in-law of Mrs. Esther Thorn, above mentioned, became very ill, desired to be received into the Church. Rev. Father Brands, after instructing him, heard his confession and baptized him sub conditione. He recovered, and remains a fervent and exemplary Catholic yet. (August 24, 1861). 70 REV. E. PRUENTE February 3rd 1839. Rev. Brands was called to the farm of Mrs. Smith, where he instructed and baptized several persons of color, some children and adults. Ov^ing to the opposition of the parents, and not to cause trouble to the children, some were baptized privately and remained Catholics until of age to act for themselves. Of these many persevered. New Church finished at Cape Girardeau. July 21 st 1839. Bishop Rosati of St. Louis consecrated the new church, a neat stone building with cut stone front and a neat steeple. There were as yet no pews and only a few benches. There were more than five hundred persons assembled from every direction and of all denominations. Whilst the ceremonies were performed with closed doors, the very Rev. John Timon addressed the large assemblage in the open air on the meaning of the ceremonies of the consecration and dedication of the church, then proceeding in the interior of the church. He also preached an appropriate sermon during the Mass in his own happy and eloquent manner. A handsome collection was then taken up, which would have been much greater, had it been previously made known. 3i Solemn Vespers were sung in the even- ing and the Benediction given with the Bl. Sacrament. Here again the very Rev. Timon preached. His discourse was on a moral subject and very moving; all were deeply impressed with the necessity of leading a holy and moral life. On this day Rev. Timon baptized a child of Mr. J. Morrison and a son of Nicholas Doyle. Mr. John Hutcheson's son was also baptized. July 22nd, the Rt. Rev. Bishop gave Confirmation to six persons,^^ three of whom were converts. Mr. Wm. Watson, on this same day, made his first Com- munion and was confirmed. On this same day Mrs. C. Massey, a daughter of Mrs. E. Thorn, being moved by the conversion of her mother and by the ser- mons of the preceding day, applied to be baptized, but as she was not sufficiently 31 Here again we may supplement this short account by the lengthy entry of Bishop Rosati in his Diary, The Bishop, who had celebrated the feast of St. Vincent de Paul at the Barrens, and started, with Father Paquin at three o'clock that afternoon, arrived at the Cape about noon of the 20th. Here is now his narrative of the events of that memorable day: "In the morning at half past five, I came with all the clergy to the chapel where, on the day before, had been brought and enclosed in a nicely adorned Reliquary, the relics of St. Paul and St. James the Lesser, Apostles, St. Vincent de Paul, Confessor, and St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr, which were to be placed in the altar to be consecrated; and whilst the clergy recited the seven penitential Psalms, I put on the pontifical vestments, and, accompanied by the Very Rev. John Timon, Vicar General of the Diocese and Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission, Assistant Priest; Rev. Bartholomew Rolando, C. M., Deacon; Rev. Michael Calvo, C. M., Subdeacon; the Revs. J. B. Tornatore, Joseph Paquin, Francis James Burlando and Jerome Cercos, C. M., master of ceremonies, and Rev. James Fontbonne, we went in procession to the doors of the Church, erected to Almighty God by the priests of the Congregation of the Mission of the American Province. This church is entirely built of stone; it was completed within the space of fourteen months, the corner stone being laid by myself on the 30th of April last year. All the rites prescribed by the Roman Pontifical outside and inside the church being performed, I dedicated and consecrated it, together with the main altar in which I reverently enclosed the afore-mentioned Relics. Said Relics were carried by Rev. Hippolytus Gandolfo and Rev. Michael Demenech, priests of the Congregation of the Mission, Mr. Thomas Burke, Deacon C. M. and Mr. John Cotter Subdeacon, C. M., all in dalmatics. Various offices were performed also by Rev. John Brands, C. M., Rector of the Parish, Rev. Peter Doutreluingne, C. M., Rev. Eud. Estany, C. M., Messr.s. Michael Collins, Deacon C. M., Nicholas Stehle, Subdeacon C. M.. and John Broyderick, Cleric C. M. The Consecration finished, I blessed also the Sacred linen and the ornaments of the altar. Whilst I was performing the sacred rites, inside the church and with the doors closed, the Very Rev. John Timon addressed the large assemblage of people who had come to the ceremony from town, and from the neighborhood on both sides of the river, many of whom were non-Catholics; he explained these rites, brought forth their mystical meaning, and vindicated them from protestant calumnies. Finally, putting on the Pontifical vestments for Mass, I celebrated solemnly, the Revs. P. Doutreluingne and E. Estany assisting as Deacons of honor." 32 The Bishop, in his Diary, says seven persons. CAPE GIRARDEAU 71 instructed, this was postponed. She prepared and after full instructions she was baptized some weeks later. Sept. 8th, Rev. Brands visited a poor family living in one of the houses belonging to the Congregation. They were living in great misery. Some pious ladies visited this poor family and gave them food and clothing. The next day the mother, who had been well instructed whilst at the Convent in Kentucky, was baptized with her two children. The mother and infant died a few days after. September 15th 1839. Rev. J. Brands, by permission of the very Rev. J. Timon, blessed the chapel of St. Francis of Sales, and the grave-yard attached to it, in Tiwopity Bottom, Scott County, Missouri, about two hundred persons present. They were all pleased with the two sermons preached by the Rev. J. Brands on the occasion. Every time Mass is said at- that place, the number of persons present is large, and all are respectful and very attentive. Rev. Mr. Brands baptized Mary J. Rourke, a boarder at the Convent; this was at the request of her father who was an Irishman, living at Ft. Adams, Miss. Mr. Wm. Byrne, son of Moses Byrne, residing across the Big Swamp, was very ill, and though a man grown, had not been baptized. Rev. Healy, in the absence of Rev. Brands, went and baptized Mr. Byrne. November loth 1839. Rev. Brands, having previously instructed the two elder daughters of Silas Cook and his niece, baptized them, and also the daugh- ter of Dr. Thos. Byrne. — December 4th 1839, Rev. Mr. Brands, having heard that old Mrs. Gibony was very ill, went to visit her, and in the course of con- versation found that she had been a very strict Methodist, but she was not satis- fied in mind. Rev. Brands instructed her. He soon found that she had been reading our books and was a Catholic at heart. She expressed a desire to be baptized a Catholic. The following day, Mr. Brands baptized her sub conditione, heard her confession, and gave her Holy Communion and Extreme Unction. She lived only a few days, and was very patient and edified all by her holy death. She departed this life in the eightieth year of her age. — December 12th Mr. Brands baptized two children of Andrew Gibony at the request of their mother. Since the consecration of our church and now that we have services regu- larly, and that the service is performed in every way conformable to the rites of the Church, prejudices are greatly removed. Many express a desire to be- come Catholics, and conversions are very numerous, and our schools, notwith- standing the constant opposition, are gaining in public estimation, and the num- ber of scholars is daily increasing. 1840. The number of communicants this year at Cape Giral deau is sixty- nine, of non-communicants eighty-two ; communicants at Jackson sixteen, non- communicants thirty-three ; at Tiwopity Bottom twenty-five communicants. The number of first Communions at the three places is nineteen. Number of Easter Communions at Cape Girardeau seventy-six, at Jackson eleven, at Tiwopity Bottom thirty-seven; total one hundred and twenty- four. Wonderful increase in a few years ! Mr. John Atwell, wife and child, all converts, are baptized by Father Brands at their own request. This good family had been long convinced of the truth of the Catholic Religion, but the edifying death of a relation obtained for 72 REV. E. PRUExNTE them the grace to overcome all human respect, the great cause of many not act- ing up to their convictions. Many others were encouraged by this good example. P^eb. 14th. Elizabeth Johnson, a daughter of J. Curry Watson, had, not- withstanding her conviction of the truth, always deferred being baptized; but falling dangerously sick, she sent for the priest and was baptized with her child. A lady present wished to be baptized, but not being instructed she was put off until the 8th of March. She was then baptized together with a son of Chas. Thorn of Illinois. Mr. C. Thorn is a son of Mrs. Esther Bradly, mentioned be- fore. He is also desirous to be baptized; also his sister, Mrs. Thompson. March Sth^s 1840. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Rosati arrived here accompanied by Rev. J. Odin, on their way to New Madrid, and as the Bishop was to start shortly for Europe, Rev. Brands requested him to give confirmation at the Cape on their return trip from New Madrid. The 5th of ApriP* was appointed for this day. Rev. Brands prepared all those whom he could collect together. On the appointed morning, eleven persons were present, six of whom were to make their first Communion. But the Bishop being detained on his way, they were disappointed, for that day all heard Mass and went to Communion and kept themselves in readiness for the arrival of the Bishop. The good Bishop arrived during the night.^^ Word was sent immediately to all and they came early the next day to the church. The Bishop, although much exhausted with fatigue, said Mass, confirmed all and gave them a very touching discourse. Among the eleven confirmed were six converts. April 19th 1840 being Easter Sunday, we had twenty-two Communions at early Mass, the greatest number ever had at one time in this place. Among these were three converts who were not prepared to make their first Communion on the first of April. — April 3rd Rev. Brands was called for by a sick woman in the Big Bend, who had never seen a Catholic priest and was totally ignorant of the Catholic Religion. He instructed her and baptized herself and child. May 24th, Mrs. Matty, who could not be notified in time of the Bishop's, arrival, made her first Communion with one other at the Convent. — June 14th, Mrs. Hancock, who was baptized on the eighth of March, but was till now deterred from complying with the duties of her religion, by the persuasions of the enemies of our religion, and given up by the Catholics as a lost sheep, she overcame all these temptations and approached the Holy Table for the first time, and was ever after a fervent and zealous Catholic. July 8th. His Grace, Charles Augustus Mary Joseph de Forbin Janson. Bishop of Nancy and Toul in France, who, for political reasons, being a relative of Charles X, has been exiled by Louis Philippe of Orleans from his diocese, and is now making a tour of the United States as a Missionary, arrived here at midnight accompanied by Rev. J. Timon. His main object was to see this place and to start from this place for St, Loliis by the first steamer, as he was to give Confirmation on the following Sunday at Carondelet, Mo. But as some 33 This is certainly a mistake. The Bishop's Diary, recording day by day the life of the prelate, is, of course, absolutely reliable in every detail. On March S, Bishop Rosati was in St. Louis, which he left the 21st for Kaskaskia, thence for the Seminary where he arrived on Monday March 23, in the afternoon. He left the Barrens on the 26th, and the same evening reached the Cape. 34 This is scarcely exact, as may be concluded from the following note. If the con- firmation took place one day later than the date appointed, the arrangements must have been made for April 1st. 35 He arrived on April 2, at 3 a. m. on the steamship Joel Pitt; the confirmation took place at 7 o'clock; and at 3 p. m., the Bishop departed on the Bowling Green for St. Louis. CAPE GIRARDEAU 7Z persons had been disappointed by the sudden arrival of Bishop Rosati and were not ready then for confirmation, Bishop Janson consented to remain and to give confirmation at this place after a few hours' rest. He celebrated Mass for those to be confirmed, and gave them a very touching instruction in French, which Rev. Brands interpreted in English. The good Bishop gave Benediction of the Bl. Sacrament in the evening. — July 17th. Those who had been confirmed went to Holy Communion. They were eight in all and all converts. Eliz. J. Johnson and H. Pikley made their First Communion. The good Bishop paid several visits, and edified by his amiable and zealous manner all those with whom he conversed. His description of the Holy Land and the holy places at and around Jerusalem, which he had lately visited, made a very great impression on all, hearing these things from an eye-witness of all he related. Rt. Rev. Janson started the next day for St. Louis. August 28th. Mrs. Jane Glascock, the wife of Scarlet Glascock, after full instruction was baptized sub cond'itionc, made her first Communion. Our holy Religion made great progress and the zealous Rev. Brands was very much esteemed in this place. During the minth of May, 1841, Rev. Mr. Brands was sent to Ste. Genevieve, where obedience called him. The cause of this change was to make place for the novitiate of the Lazarists in this country.^^ April 20th 1841. It would seem that our Lord has in His goodness great designs for Cape Girardeau. All is arranged to remove the novitiate from the Barrens to the Cape. On the 20th of May, 1841, early in the morning, all was prepared after an early Mass and breakfast. The baggage-waggons were started, and Rev. Paquin, Superior of the Seminary at the Barrens, Rev. T. Amat as Master of Novices, with Rev. J. F. McGerry and Rev. John Larkin as novices and three lay-brother novices set out on horse-bade. All arrived safe at the Cape the same day. We found Rev. Timon on the spot ready to receive us with Rev. Brands and Collins. All was soon arranged and a chapel prepared in the old house near the church. In a few days after our arrival here, we were joined by Rev. Mr. Andrieu and Mr. Patrick Morrison, novices from the Seminary of La Fourche, Parish of Assumption, La. There were now two priests, two students and three brothers in the novitiate. At this same date last year, Mr. McGerry was alone in the novitiate. Since this date, the number has always been on the increase. All the exercises of the novitiate were most exactly followed. Rev. H. Figari was Superior of the house. From this time the ceremonies of the church were per- formed with greater solemnity and the service was well attended. In the year 1842 the same house was destined to be a preparatory Seminary for those who had a desire to embrace the ecclesiastical state. Rev. Mr. Domenech was made Superior of this institution, and Rev. J. Rolando Master of Novices. The day school and the preparatory Seminary were prospering. During this year it was decided to build a College for seculars of Cape Girardeau and then remove the novitiate and litttle Seminary to the Barrens. The bricks were prepared during this and timber for the new College. ,^6 "From Cape Girardeau the Missionary stationed there had gone several times on a Mission to Cairo; a post had been fixed there, with vestments, etc. In the summer of 1840, throucrh the influence of the Visitor with Hon. E. K. Kane and C. P. Menard, Mr. Halbrock, the agent, gave a lot there for a Catholic church, and commenced building a neat frame one, at his own expense" (Timon's Diary). 74 REV. E. PRUENTE In the spring of 1843 as early as the frost would permit, the stone founda- tion was commenced. The basement story, eight and a half in the clear, and the walls four feet solid masonry with cut marble front one hundred feet long by fifty wide, three stories above the basement. This building was carried on without any interruption, was roofed in November 1843 and in May 1844 the College was nearly finished; but as Rev. H. Figari had told in March, when he was in Louisiana, that the College would remove to the Cape in May, the groc- eries for the year were landed at the Cape ; consequently it was resolved by Rev. H. Figari to set out for the Cape and take possession of the new College. The refectory was not floored or plastered, no doors made, no benches or desks prepared, not a bed or a bedstead in the house. The order to pack was given, a large number of wagons engaged: beds, books, clothes, etc., were soon in boxes, and on Monday morning, at three o'clock, the line of march commenced. Rev. H. Figari started at the head, the collegians, to the number of seventy-five, in wagons, followed. Then the professors and the prefect. Rev. McGerry, on horseback, brought up the rear. All started in great glee, the band playing lively airs as we passed through Perryville. During the morning all went on very cheerfully. At twelve-thirty, all halted at a creek half way, where we had an abundant dinner of cold ham and cold roast beef. All did justice to the dinner. Rev. H. Figari and a good number set off early, leaving the prefect to see to the provisions and to bring up the rear. Some began to lag behind and lost their wagons. This caused the last wagon to be crowded and overloaded; conse- quently our march was retarded, and when about two miles from the Cape, we were caught by a severe thunder-storm. The rain fell in torrents and we were all drenched to the skin. It became so dark that the drivers could no longer see the road. They were forced to take the horses from the wagons, and the Collegians had to proceed on foot about a mile, when we came to a poor log- house where we took shelter. But as our provisions were still behind, we had to content ourselves by making a large fire in the cabin and dry ourselves by the fire. All were cheerful and made the best of our position for the night. As soon as they were dried, all, from fatigue, were soon sound asleep on the floor. The horses were better off, for they had a good barn to protect them from the storm. Early next morning we were moving by time and all in good spirit. Some thirty-five of us set off for the Cape, where they arrived dirty and fatigued for breakfast, which was provided for them by Rev. H. Figari at the house of the Novitiate 'near the church. During the day, mattresses were arranged on the floor in the spacious dormitories of the new College. The iron bedsteads from Pittsburgh did not arrive for more than a week; the priests' rooms were not furnished. They had to sleep for some eights on pallets on the floor. The doors were not as yet made for the rooms, but after some weeks all was in order. The classes commenced on the Friday after our arrival. Desks were made rapidly and chairs procured for each student. The number of scholars increased every day. All was going on prosperously. This was a season of continual rain. The river began to rise rapidly in June, and continued rising until the first of July. Such an overflow of the Mississippi had never been seen. It passed the banks and overflowed all the low lands. The water was from eight to ten feet in the Big Swamp. In front of the College the river was eight miles wide and the body of water in the swamp was from CAPE GIRx\RDEAU 75 three to six miles wide and eight to ten feet deep. The College being on high ground had nothing to fear. Our College farm in the swamps was all under water for more than three weeks. All the fine crop of corn and potatoes lost; the fences swept away; many hogs lost and some horn cattle. When the water subsided, it was too late to save anything. For this season all that could be done was to repair the fencing around some fields and sow wheat and grass for the next year. This was done. Now comes the want, the consequences of the overflow. The bad effluvia from the deposit left by the overflow caused great sickness. There were at one time after the vacation in September more than forty persons sick with chills and fever or bilious fever. For some weeks there were not five persons in the house well enough to nurse the sick. The prefect, Rev. McGerry, and Brother Baigese were the only persons not sidk. Good Mr. Figari had the chills every day and as soon as the fever abated was busy assisting to comfort the sick. Two physicians were in constant attendance. Happily we had no deaths. As the cold weather set in the sickness abated, but this had for some time a bad effect ab- road. However, in time it was found that the Cape was more healthy than many other places in the Valley of the Mississippi, and far more healthy im- mediately on the bank of the river than at some distance from it. The students were pleased with the location, and the boys from the South were willing to come to the Cape : as the country around was not much settled, this left plenty of game which afforded them much amusement on days of recreation. The remainder of the Diary is from now on concerned with the life in the College of Cape Girardeau during the next few years. The pages which we have cited, simple and unadorned, constitute a record which the Catholics of Cape Girardeau may well be proud of, as it shows how, in the space of fifteen years, a fervent little flock grew gradually out of nothing despite of the hostility of bigoted ignorance, and the apathy of widespread indifference. With these healthy signs of vigor exhibited from its very cradle, the later progress of the Church at "the Cape" cannot be an object of surprise, and there is reason to hope for ye't greater development. E. PRUENTE AN APPEAL HISTORICAL MATTER DESIRED by the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Books and pamphlets on American History and Biography, particularly those relating to Church institutions, ecclesiastical persons and Catholic lay people within the limits of the Louisiana Purchase ; Old newspapers; Catholic modern papers; Parish papers, whether old or recent: We zvill highly appreciate the courtesy of the Reverend Pastors who send us regularly their Parish publications; Manuscripts ; narratives of early Catholic settlers or relating to early Catholic settlements ; letters : In the case of family papers which the actual owners wish to keep in their possession, we shall he grateful for the privilege of taking copies of these papers; Engravings, portraits, Medals, etc ; In a word, every object whatsoever which, by the most liberal construction, may be regarded as an aid to, or illustration of the history of the Catholic Church in the Middle West. Contributions will be credited to the donors and preserved in the Library or Archives of the Society, for the use and benefit of the members and other duly authorized persons. Communications may be addressed either to the Secretary, or to the Librarians of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis, 209 Walnut Street, St. Louis, Mo. 76 NOTES HISTORICAL We recorded a year ago (Vol. II, p. 32) the foundation and or- ganization of the American Catholic Historical Association. Its first annual meeting was held in the New Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., at Christmastide, December 27—30, 1920. At the same time, in the same city and in the same headquarters was taking place the annual convention of the American Historical Association; and this shoul be understood to be no mere accidental coincidence, but a per- manent measure. For some years The American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Society, The Mississippi Valley Association, the Agricultural Society have had the custom to hold their meetings at the same time and place as the American Historical Association. It was felt long ago indeed that by this means, and the intimate relations thus created and fostered, a mutual understanding and gain must be the result. From the inaugural session in Cleveland, in December 1919, the American Catholic Historical Association had not a moment's hesita- tion to follow a precedent which experience had shown to result in "mutual assistance, mutual encouragement, a healthier scholarship on both sides, and a more careful appraisal of the past." The fields in which co-operation cannot help bring advantage are several. It has been justly remarked that "Medieval history with the Catholic Church omitted would be almost 'Hamlet' with Hamlet left out." May this ndt be said as truly of our early American History? Such an authority as Prof. Herbert Bolton, of the University of CaHfornia is so firmly convinced of it that he has made himself, as it were, the tireless Apostle of this idea. On other fields historical, political, social, friendly rela- tions are bound to be as fruitful of beneficial results for all con- cerned. To foster this friendly interchange of ideas. Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner sessions were provided for either separately, or jointly with other historical groups meeting at the same time. Thus, for instance on Tuesday, December 28, a Luncheon conference was held with the American Historical Association on the Opportunities of Historical Research in the City of Washington. The Luncheon was served in the Library of Congress and followed by a tour through the Library. Another Luncheon conference, the next day, afforded to the rnembers of the Catholic Association an opportunity for an exchange of views with 'the American Historical Association, on subjects pertain- 77 78 NOTES ing to Economic History (English and American) ; December 30, re- united once more such members of both organizations as were inter- ested in the History of the Far East, or of Latin America. Let us not omit, besides, the Smoker at the Cosmos Club, and above all, the invi- tation extended to the members of the Catholic Historical Association to attend the General Session of the American Historical Association. An idea of the variety, importance and timeliness of the subjects discussed in the various sessions held by the Catholic Historical Asso- ciation during these three busy days, may be gathered from the papers assigned to be read at these sessions : TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28: 1. Attitude of Science towards Religion from 1874 — 1920. Rev. Lucian Johnston, S.T.L., Baltimore, Md. 2. The Catholic Social Movement in France under the Third Republic. Parker Thomas Moon, M. A., Columbia University, New York City. 3. Benedict XV and the Historical Basis for Thomistic Study. Rev. Henry Ignatius Smith, O.P., Ph. D., The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 4. Opportunities in Historical Fiction. Michael Williams, National Catholic Welfare Council, Washing- ton, D. C. 5. The Catholic Church in Georgia. Rev. T. A. Foley, Savannah, Ga. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29: 1. The Compilation and Preservation of Church Historical Data. Rev. F. Joseph Magri, D.D., Portsmouth, Va. 2. Rise of the Papal States up to Charlemagne's Coronatioyi. Rev. Joseph M. Woods, S.J., Woodstock College, Woodstock, Md. 3. The St. Vincent de Paul Society as an Agency of Reconstruction. Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D.D., Kenrick Seminary, Webster Groves, Mo. 4. The Personality and Character of Gregory VH in recent Historical Research. Rev. Thomas Oestreich, O.S.B., Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, North Carolina. 5. The National Catholic War Council. Michael J. Slattery, LL. D., Philadelphia, Pa. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3O : 1. Sisters and the Care of the Ailing Poor in the United States. James J. Walsh. M.D., LL. D., K.S.G.. New York City. 2. Increase and Diffusion of Historical Knowledge. Rev. Francis J. Betten, S.J., St. Ignatius College, Cleveland. Ohio. 3. Idealism in History. Conde Benoist Fallen, New York City. 4. Religious Orders of Women in the United States. Sister Mary Agnes, Ph. D., Mt. St. Joseph Academy, Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio. 5. The Value of Mexican Archives for the Study of Missionary History. Herbert Bolton, Ph. D., University of California, Berkeley. Calif. Of the papers dealing with topics of general Church History, nothing need be said here, great as is their interest for Catholics at large. But papers such as that of Dr. Magri on "The Compilation and NOTES 79 Preservation of Church Historical Data" are too closely related to our own ends and purposes to be passed over without a word of comment. The writer rightly insisted that the announcements on Sundays and holydays contain extremely valuable data for history, and that, there- fore, contrary to superficial views too often entertained, their preserva- tion is very important. The custom of having the announcements written on flying sheets which afterwards were destroyed or lost, has played sad havoc with the attempts of historical students to get at details of the histories of parishes. Those who are living to-day what to-mor- row shall be history seldom realize how interesting and valuable ap- parently unimportant details may prove to be, even a few generations later. Every pastor in 'the land should be made to feel he is not only a maker of history, but also, by his very position, a contributor to the work of future historians. There should be impressed upon him the necessity for making brief, but permanent, records of important events in his parish history ; in this regard he can never be too complete, and he should distrust his judgment as to the passing and trivial nature of 'the items registered. His announcement books should be books, solid and substantial enough to stand rough handling and make preser- vation easy — for, as urged by Dr. Magri, these books, when filled, must be preserved in the parochial Archives. The expression 'parochial Archives' may sound pompous only to such as are not conversant with Ecclesiastical law. It is no product from the mint of history-hobby- ists: The law of the Church is imperative and clear on this point: The Parish-rector must have (habeat) a place for Records, or Archives, in which are to be kept the parish books (of Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, Funerals ,and the Liber Status Anima- rum), and also the letters of the Bishop, and other documents which reasons of necessity or of usefulness demand should be preserved. These Archives are to be submitted to the inspection of the Ordinary or his delegate, at the time of the Visitation, or at any other oppor- tune time ; and the pastor has the duty to watch religiously that their contents are kept from externs (Canon 470, §4). At the end of every year the pastor shall transmit to the Epis- copal Curia an authentic transcript of the parish Registers, except the Liber Status Animarum. (Ibid. §3). The Bishop shall see to it that, of the Archives of Cathedral, Collegiate or parish churches, also of Confraternities and pious places, an inventory or catalogue is made in double expedition, one copy being ke :t in the respective Archives, and the other in the Episcopal Archives (Can. 383 §1). The original Documents must not be taken out of these Archives, except in compliance with the rules laid down in Can. 379,— that is with the permission of the Bishop or of the Vicar General (and, it may be safely asserted, of the Pastor, in the case of Parochial Archives— can 379 deals with Diocesan Archives — ), and the Docu- ments should be returned after three days; to the Bishop (or the Pastor, in case of Parochial Archives) is reserved the faculty of proroguing this delay, but he should use this faculty but sparingly. Whoever borrows any Document from the Archives, should leave with the Chancellor a note signed by himself, attesting the fact (Ibid. §2). 80 NOTES Documents of parochial . . . Archives which need not be kept secret, may be consulted by anyone interested in them ; he may like- wise obtain an authentic copy of these documents, made at his own expense (Can. 384, §1). Diocesan Chancellors, Pastors, and other custodians of Archives must, in communicating documents, taking copies of the same, and giving these copies, observe the rules laid down by lawful ecclesias- tical authority; and in case of doubt, they should consult the Or- dinary of the place. A more complete, and wiser Code of rules for the formation and preservation of parish Archives could hardly be devised. Our readers will, no doubt, remember with what tireless zeal Bishop Rosati in- sisted, in every place where he made the episcopal visitation, upon the establishment, contents and proper care of these parochial Arch- ives. He counted on 'the information thus collected and garnered, and did not hesitate to request communication of whatever items were necessary to him for working out his reports. So we find him, in a circular of September 6, 1837, asking all the priests of the Diocese to send him for the first week of January 1838, together with their report of catholicity (population, Missions, numbers of infant-bap- tisms, adult baptisms, conversions, funerals, marriages, first com- munions, paschal communions), to state: 1° when the parish or mission had been founded or erected, when the church was consecrated or blessed; the list of the Pastors or priests attending the Mission, with the dates of beginning and close of the period of their incumbency. A little later, on January 26, 1839, in the Circular announcing the future Synod to be held in St. Louis on the third Sunday after Easter, a lengthy and detailed questionnaire was sent to every Pastor ; among the queries contained in this letter, we may single out the following, whose answer supposed the parish Archives to be complete and kept in good order : 6. Does the Church possess and real estate or any other im- movable goods? What are they? What is their extent? With whom is vested the title of ownership of the Church, the Rectory, the Cemetery, and other places? Are there any written deeds of the purchase or donation of these properties? — The Pastors are requested to bring these docu- ments when they come to the Synod. What the new Code of Canon Law indicates generally by the ex- pression, aliisquc dociimentis, necessitatis- vel utilitatis causa servandis, as contributing, together with the regular parish registers and the Episcopal letters, to make up the parish Archives, is, from the above, not hard to determine. Let tts mention a few items, without aiming at exhaustiveness : Maps of the Parish ; Charts and plats of the Church property ; Documents and deeds regarding the rights and goods of the Church ; even though Canon 1523, 6° recommends the practice of filing NOTES 81 the originals of these papers in the Diocesan Chancery, a certified copy of them should be preserved in the respective Archives. Copies of the decisions of the Court, in case of lawsuit regarding church prop- erty, naturally come under this heading. Official Acts regarding the Church and other parochial buildings (laying of corner stone, blessing or consecration; Canon 1158); contracts (for buildings, etc.; with teaching communities, etc.) ; Documents concerning foundations (Can. 1548) ; Letters of appointment of the Pastors and assistants ; Matrimonial dispensations ; Letters nc tifying the Pastor of the Parishioners' confirmahon, Marriage, S'lbdeaconship, religious profession (Can. 470 §2) ; Accounts of notable events happening in the patish (these might conveniently be entered in a kind of Parish Diary) and paper-clippings referring to the same; Announcement Books. Parish Periodical. Need we add that these Parish Archives should be stored in a place as immune from the eventuality of mishap as the locality may oflfer? A steel safe in a room of a frame house is no adequate pro- tection against one of the greatest agencies of destruction — fire. Why not, in brick or stone churches, provide near the sacristy a little room or vault for the purpose? This has been done lately in some new or re-modelled churches, and the practice ought to be recommended to pastors and church architects. What a wealth of historical material could be thus garnered in every parish, at the cost of very small trouble ! Nor will this stock of information remain idle ; occasions will arise quite naturally from time to time : a jubilee, an memorial festiv- ity, which will bring to light out of this storehouse part of the treasures it contains, to the great interest and delight of the listeners, for parish- ioners are always and everywhere keenly concerned about the lore of their parish. By all means let us gather and preserve religiously every bit of ore likely to yield some day were it only but a speck of the precious metal of history. Time's hand shows itself rough enough ; we must not continue, or help 'the havoc and destruction it has wrought ; we should snatch from its clutches whatever has so far escaped its ravages. For this purpose, in part, was, at the instance and under the patronage of the Most Rev. Archbishop, our Catholic Historical So- ciety of St. Louis, instituted. Its object, as stated in Art. Ill, of its Constitution, is "to collect and preserve materials of all kinds.... relating to the Catholic history of the Diocese of St. Louis and of whatever territories and places were at any time associated with St. Louis in ihe same Ecclesiastical division." Perhaps the verb, 'to pre- serve', in the above sentence has not been sufficiently noted. May we not, therefore, respectfully call the attention of those whom it may concern to this portion of our program? If the parish registers and other documents which they must keep, absorb all the space available for parish-archives, or if the inadequate protection afforded to their 82 NOTES local treasures makes them afraid of destruction and loss, let not that fear stop them from garnering solicitously; but let them remember we shall gladly preserve for them their historical treasures, as long as they will desire or deem useful. We seem to have drifted afield from the meeting of the CathoHc Historical Association in Washington : in reality we were but musing upon Dr. Magri's paper. Professor Herbert Bolton, of the University of California, needs no introduction to our readers, nor indeed to any- body in this country who is acquainted, however so slightly, with the history of Mexico and the Spanish settlements in the southwest section of the United States. His original researches have caused a practical re-wrilting of many pages of that history, and he has gathreed a store of materials which will renew and increase our knowledge of the early times of those regions. Though himself a non-Catholic, he is never tired of crying from the housetops that the history of North America for two or three centuries after the discoveries of Columbus is the history of the Catholic missions, and that practically three-fourths of the cities of this country have arisen lipon foundations laid by the missionaries who bore the torch of civilization at the same time as they carried the cross of Christ into the wilderness of this western hem- isphere. Let us hope that the painstaking and persevering efforts of such an enthusiastic and accomplished scholar will at last stir the unconcern of the authors of popular text books into filling the page too often left blank, or bringing sinews and flesh and stretching out skin over the dry bones which are doing duty for the history of these centuries. Meantime we, of St. Louis, from whose midst went forth, some eighty years ago, missionaries to resume the opera interrupta, will await eagerly the appearance of Dr. Bolton's forthcoming work dealing with the labors of the pioneer missionaries in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Would that the tire- less Professor had among us imitators girding Itheir loins for the task of unraveling for us the Catholic history of Louisiana in French and Spanish times. Though much nearer to us in point of time and space than the Padres who evangelized and civilized the southwest, are the early missionaries of Louisiana known as they should be? What do we know, for insitance, of Father Valentin, the first resident pastor of St. Louis; of Father Hilary; of Father Guignes? May we not without irreverence apply to Catholic History the words of our Savior in reference to His and his Apostles' work of salvation : "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few"? Too few, by far, indeed, especially when we ponder and meditate Dr. Lawrence F. Flick's statement that History's development in an age and in a people really is a fair criterion of the civilization of that age and people." "History as a Science" was the title of the Address delivered by the retiring President at the final Session of the Association. It was as inspiring as scholarly, and we are glad it has come out in pamphlet form, as it is deserving to be widely known. Leaving aside the considerations of the speaker on the nature of his- tory, and its scientific character and treatment, we may be permitted to NOTES 83 quote here a few lines more directly germane to our purpose in these pages and the work and aims of our own Historical Society. Intrinsically, history ranks with mathematics, medicine, and law in the fellowship of the sciences; but in development as a servant of mankind it has not kept pace with them. An explanation of this may be found in man's selfish nature and intellectual limitations. The value of history in the pursuit of happiness is equal to that of any of the other three, but the manner in which one can get that value is different. It comes to one as part of the whole mass of people in better government, better churchmanship, better society, and not as an individual, in more comfort, more pleasure, and more opportunity for self-advancement. Moreover the science of history does not lead to individual emolument, nor does its pursuit give a profitable avocation. It cannot even be followed successfully by an individual without the help of others. In its nature it is the work of many. One may put the grain in the bin, but many must garner the sheaves, thresh it from the straw and winnow out the chafif. It requires talent, patience, devotion, and a spirit of self-sacrifice, in the one who pursues it; enlightenment and understanding in those who encourage him. . . Since the masses are the beneficiaries of history, the masses should carry the burden of its making. There are few who can be historians; there are not many who even can be assistant historians; but every educated intelligent man and woman can be a helper; and even the humblest person can contribute his mite. For history in action organization is essential. Its field is in societies, colleges and universities. In societies congenial spirits meet, create an historical atmosphere, and help each other. Societies also attract those who cannot themselves produce history, nor even assist those who can produce it, but are interested and willing to hold up the hands of those who can. . . Here is an excellent plea for the existence of organizations such as ours. We cannot but endorse heartily, therefore, and make our own, the following words of Dr. Flick, which we make bold to use as an appeal (to the zeal of our co-members of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis for securing a larger membership : How shall the functions of our organization be performed? It takes money and men, women too, for such a programme. All of these are avaiilable, but they must be sought for in our large prosperous Catholic population. The first step is to get up a member- ship large and strong enough to give an adequate income for the work... Clergymen and ... laymen have joined our ranks; and many... of them would join if they understood the objects of the Society and were confronted with a programme which would appeal to them as worthy of their cooperation. Do we, of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis, lack such a programme? Article III of Ihe Society's Constitution, partly cited above, and that part of Article IV, which provides that the Society shall "take measures to procure original papers on subjects germane to its purpose; and, as often as convenient, publish or cause to be 84 NOTES published its transactions, papers, or works of historical value that may come under its control," are transparent enough. In just five years from now, St. Louis will hail the one hundredth anniversary of its erection into an independent Diocese. Is it not fitting that the date should be celebrated by something less fleeting than festivities, the memory of which scarcely outlasts the fragrance of the incense burned on this occasion? We want — would that be presuming too much? — that kind of memorial, which the poet declared aere perennius, for the work of the pen outlives all other human works: we want a History of Catholicity here in our midst, worthy of our Church and its founders, and its great past. "It takes money and men, and women too, for such a programme." Money, and men, and women, — all this is synonymous with greater membership. Money will permit to push actively the obscure work of quarrying the necessary materials, sifting them, dressing the stones as it were of the palace beautiful con- templated. To erect this palace, there must be the master mind of the architect coupled with the expert hand of the craftsman. ''Who shall find a valiant man?" Money cannot create him ; would that it could contribute to the thorough historical training of some young, energetic lover of our past, so as to render him capable of measuring himself with the task ! , , . The American Catholic Historical Association will follow the Am- erican Historical Association to St. Louis next winter. We shall, there- fore, be given the opportunity to judge its work and progress at closer range, and the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis will heartily exitend to it the glad hand of welcome, and contribute to make its meet- ing pleasant and successful. We subjoin here the list of the officers elected at Washington for the year 1921 : James J. Walsh, M. D., Ph. D., K. S. G., President; Rev. John J. Wynne, S. J., First Vice- President; Very Rev. M. S. Ryan, CM., D. D., Ph. D., Second Vice- President; Right Rev. Msgr. T. C. O'Reilly, D.D., V.G., Treasurer; Rev. Peter Guilday, Ph. D., Secretary; Miss Frances Brauner, Arch- ivist. The Executive Council includes the above mentioned officers, and, besides, Lawrence F. Flick, M. D., LL. D.'; Carlton J. Hayes, Ph. D. ; Rev. Charles L. Souvay, CM., DD. ; Very Rev. F. L. Gassier ; David J. Champion, Esq. From the pen of Very Rev. Victor F. O'Daniel, O.P., S. T. M., came forth a few months back, in a goodly volume of 473 pages, the Life of The Right Rev. Edzvard Dominic Fenzvick, O.P., Founder of the Dominicans in the U^iited States, Pioneer Missionary in Kentucky, Apostle of Ohio, First Bishop of Cincinnati. An earnest of the work had previously been given to the public in the form of three articles printed in the Catholic Historical Reznezv (V, p. 156 ff; p. 428 fif. ; and VI, 13 ff. respectively), so that the appearance of the volume was eagerly awaited. Father O'Daniel, indeed, had. years before the pub- lication of these articles, won a flattering reputation as a scholar and a writer ; his name alone is high recommendation ; we are not sur- prised, therefore, that the Most Rev. Archbishop of Cincinnati casting NOTES 85 about for a historian of that See, had no hesitation as to the choice of the person. The first Bishop of Cincinnati was the Founder of the Domini- cans in the United States: his Life, written by one of his spiritual sons, must naturally be a tribute of gratitude and love. Grati- tude and love, and admiration, however, do not mean necessarily a warping of the writer's judgement; and if we must distrust the ap- preciations of an enemy, because they are tainted by his prejudices, which lead the most guarded to put unfair constructions upon acts and motives, yet the reverse is often untrue : indeed the appreciations of an historian in close sympathy with his subject are all the truer, because a friend, knowing better the secret motives of action, can judge more justly. Being a grateful admirer of Bishop Edw. D. Fen- wick, therefore, qualified especially Father V. O'Daniel for his labor of love. Because it was to him a labor of love, he has spared no efforts in order that the picture drawn by his pen might prove in every point true to Hfe. Well might he make his own the words of the inspired writer: "As to ourselves, indeed, in undertaking this work, we have taken in hand no easy task, yea rather a business full of watching and sweat" (ii Mach. ii, 2y~). The Bibliography printed at the end of the volume, imposing at it looks, especially the list of manuscript sources consulted, may not impress perhaps the general reader; but to the critical reader, particularly if he chances to be acquainted with some of these sources, the perusal of the Life of the Right Rev. Edw. D. Fenwick is a dehght. Under every paragraph — we were about to say, every sentence, — he can detect the solid foundation of first hand docu- mentary information ; and he reads on the smoothly worked up nar- rative, being afforded all the while a constantly renewed enjoyment by the marshalling of the facts in powerful array, and the art with which the documents are weaved into the texture of the story. Still, as the volume is intended for the general cultured public, the author has refrained from loading the bottom of his pages with a stack of footnotes of no interest or use for his readers. The latter will thank him for not overpowering them by the formidable display of his un- doubted scholarship; whilst the historian, professional or otherwise, v/ill be flattered and pleased by this indirect invitation to recognize or divine for himself behind the screen of the text its rich and solid background. If we insist that in Father O'Daniel's work, maierlam superat opus, we do not mean for all that to belittle the outward merits of the volume: Neat appearance, clear type, careful print (we have noticed but two or three misprints in those four hundred and seventy pages), good paper; all these, which contribute to impress agreeably the reader, would not be worthy of mention, were it not that in the diffi- cult times during which the book went through the press, they repre- sent an achievement all the more remarkable that the price of the volume ($3.50 net) would almost make us forget the H. C .L. Father O'Daniel would accuse us of praising his book without having read it, were we to stop after these remarks. There are in it S6 NOTES a few — very few — blemishes; there are also some points on which, right or wrong, our judgment is at variance with his. The name of the Vicar Apostolic of London is given as Poyntner. Now this may be right, and we confess to never seeing any authentic signature of the English prelate. We have doubts, though, and still think the name was Poynter. So did always write our Bishop Du Bourg; so did write also our Bishop Rosati; so did read Carl R. Fish, in his Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and other Italian Archives; so did likewise read the secretaries of Propa- ganda when they annotated and filed his letters (at least in Vol. IV, of the Scritture Referite). Somebody is certainly here at fault; but wherever the mistake is, it is very venial. Venial, too, is it to give the Christian name Peter to Father Barriere, the first companion of Father Badin in Ohio and Kentucky: we have seen his signature hundreds of times, and it is always Migl Berndo Barriere. But these are petty flaws. Another is found in a footnote of p. 276, where the author speaks of Archbishop Marechal's "well-known strong anti-Irish bias." As it stands, the statement is materially perfectly ac- curate ; however, it is apt, we fear, to be misconstrued by the unwary. Archbishop Marechal's anti-Irish bias was not. it seems, the outgrowth of racial prejudice — he apparently had no objection against priests of English extraction — but rather due to actual circumstances: Gal- lagher, Browne, Carbry and a few other ecclesiastical trouble-mongers of the time were from the Emerald Isle; other priests from Ireland behaved, as if, to use a homely phrase, "they owned the Church in America" ; then again, the Archives of Propaganda afford abundant evidence of the tendency of the Irish clergy (in Ireland and Lisbon) to meddle with American ecclesiastical affairs, — a tendency which bad- ly jostled the nerves not only of the Archbishop of Baltimore, but of other prelates as well. A vexing question was almost regularly bound to arise, in these pioneer times, whenever the head of a Religious Order or Community was raised to the Episcopate : it came here between our Bishop Rosati and the priests of his Congregation, as it had come between Bishop E. D. Fenwick and the Dominicans. That, in these and similar cases, all parties were equally honest and working for an agreeable adjustment, is the unquestionable verdict dictated by the evidence brought forth : to state this is not to judge them charitably, but merely to be just. Now does not the historian of Bishop Fenwick strain somewhat the point when he describes the prelate, "pious, meek and just though he certainly was, rather too much inclined to get possession of the little property owned by his brethren" (p. 261, note)? The excuse adduced, namely, that "no doubt he was led to this by his straits, and felt that he was justified by the fact that most of what they had came through him," is, in the writer's mind, an extenuating circum- stance, but no complete justification. We know that the adjustment of these temporal matters caused Bishop Fenwick painful anxieties of mind ; not wishing to rely on his own judgment he consulted Bishop Du Bourg, who enjoyed the reputation of being a good theologian and NOTES 87 canonist. The answer of the latter is in the Catholic Archives of Am- erica (University of Notre Dame; Case: Archbishops and Bishops of New Orleans; the letter is dated April 22 — no year is given, but it is apparently i825) ; and the impression left upon us by this letter is that the Bishop of Cincinnati was rather inclined to scruple in his dealings with his Brethren of the Order over these temporal affairs. Be this as may, we must now turn to the "ungrateful chapter" wherein the writer, "much against his liking," has dwelt at some length on the "unpleasantness" between the Dominicans and the early missionaries of Kentucky. Fathers Nerinckx and Badin. The first draft of this chapter, as published in the Catholic Historical Review, pro- duced a painful impression of a number of readers who, how- ever, had never thought hitherto of taking sides in the controversy. Father O'Daniel who, in his laudable desire not to envenom the debate, had refrained from using to the full all the documents bear- ing on the case, does not seem to have heard the buzzing roused about his ears ; yet he has re- written in part and somewhat toned down this chapter and in this he has done well. We feel, however, he should have carried this work of revision and this toning down still farther. Let it be well understood : the reviewer is no advocate of the theory that history should pass over in silence, or relegate to an obscure background the unflattering side of the life or character of her heroes. To him Amicus Plato, Amicus Aristoteles, magis arnica Veritas. Unpleasantness there was: then let unpleasantness be told. Father O'Daniel repeatedly takes to task Nerinckx's first historian for his tampering with the texts ; we are with him in this : texts are texts, and should be respected. But in his love for truth, has he not forgotten a little the love for Plato and Aristotle ? A more sympathetic understanding of Plato and Aristotle, Nerinckx and Badin in this in- stance, would have rendered his hand more gentle and deft; whereas \ve are afraid he may actually have somewhat irritated the wound, in- stead of soothing the pain. Has he sufficiently considered that in- sisting as he does on certain details of the "unpleasantness," was like- ly, in spite of his expostulations, and contrary to his intention, to cause "shock or scandal"? There is, in the American Church, a re- spectable body, a large, zealous and efficient religious Community holding in the deepest reverence the memory of Father Nerinckx, their founder: was it necessary, was it opportune, was it considerate to shatter this natural and well-placed feeling of filial piety? Should the "vindication of good men who have been unjustly maligned" be obtained at the cost of throwing such "a shadow on the names of two ambassadors of Christ," as casts, all protests of the writer notwith- standing, "serious reflection on their character" ? The "unpleasantness" grew out of two causes: Nerinckx's sinister opinion of the English Dominicans at Bornheim and the Jansenistic rigorism of the two missionaries. That Nerinckx credited too easily and absolutely evil reports about the Fathers of Bornheim, and that the opinion formed too readily from these slanderous aspersions warped and poisoned his judgment concerning his new neighbors of 88 NOTES St. Rose's, is but too true. Whether during his sojourn in Belgium (1816 — 1817) he was better informed, we cannot say; but certain it is that, later on, letters of his give unstinted praise to the labors and zeal of the Dominicans in Kentucky and Ohio. When, in 1820, Father Nerinckx was again in Europe, there was for some time question of his returning to America in company with Father Hill and the colony the latter expected to bring along. These are indications not to be overlooked. Granted that the Belgian priest had been, at an early period, led into error by idle gossip, and for some time was swayed in his judgment by prejudice, the above are clear hints that he was big-souled enough to change his views on finding out his credulity had been imposed upon. We will grant, too, that Father Nerinckx' system of morality leaned towards severity, and, on that account, he must have been shocked at what he deemed laxity in the theology of the Dominicans. The Kentucky pioneers, good as they were, did not measure up with the charges of the Jesuits in Paraguay or even with the fervent Cath- olics of Belgium; and he missed the mark by adopting a Procustean rule untempered by a wise appreciation of time, place, persons and circumstances. Well does Maes bid us remember the indelible impression stamped upon Nerinckx' mind by the Revolution. While it has become the fashion to misname Jansenism the relative rigorism of the clergy of Continental Europe at the end of the XVIIIth century, as a matter of fact, Jansenistic doctrines had much less to do with the shaping of the current system of morality than the reaction against the baneful principles with which the French Ency- clopedists had saturated the minds. Every reaction is likely to go be- yond the extreme limits of the golden mean; this one did, and every clergyman educated in that atmosphere imbibed its spirit. An instance this we have in a paragraph of the famous letter sent by Bishop Flaget to the priests of Upper Louisiana, on February 8, 1816: "As the loca- tion of the See will mainly depend on the recommendation which we, Bishop Du Bourg and myself, will make, I am determined to oppose, with all my power, the selection of St. Louis, if it be true, what has been written to me, that a theatre was opened there." Shall we men- tion the sermon of the same prelate in September 1814, at Ste. Gene- vieve, Mo., against balls — "to the great astonishment of the dancers"? Fathers Nerinckx and Badin, just like Bishop Flaget, had read theology in those strong reaction times ; and in the case of the former, we may be pardoned to remind Bishop Fenwick's historian, that Dens — and Billuart — were then the oracles in the Belgian Seminaries. The English Dominicans, by their insular education, steered clear from the continental drift of the moral teaching of the times; but were the others so completely blamable? Were they responsible for the theo- logical training they had received? Are they, who were neither pro- fessional theologians, nor perfect, but simply good, earnest and zealous missionaries, to be censured because they were firm believers in the NOTES 89 absolute soundness of the theology they had been taught, and applied that theology in all its unbending sternness? We know, there were circulating in this connection stories, some weird, some rather ludicrous of strange penances, extravagant ab- stinences, and the like. Such as are well authenticated evince the in- disputed authority which the missionaries claimed over their flocks, but do not strike overmuch by their oddity. But are all the stories which gained currency well authenticated? We venture to say that everything would have gone much better, and a great deal of the "unpleasantness" been spared, had less credit been given on either side to interested meddlers. Should implicit faith have been attached then, and be attached to-day, to malcontent parishioners and penitents who had an axe to grind ? Then again, we know that Father Nerinckx, in particular, could never speak English decently, and was often mis- understood. Did not mayhap some of the spiciest stories in circulation originate from misunderstandings? At any rate, a thorough cross- examination of the zvitnesses, was in order. Until it is done we feel justified in maintaining an attitude of skepticism. To sum up, we shall say that a little more psychological insight would have, we are convinced, rendered the author more sympathetic to the dramatis personae, and enabled him to pen that chapter yet more deftly ; the unpleasantness could not be blotted out, but none of those implicated in it should come out with a blotch on his escutcheon. This long review of Father O'Daniels work will convince him, and our readers as well, of the importance which we attach to the volume. Even the long space we have devoted to criticism is an evi- dence of our appreciation. Mediocrity we cannot couple with his name ; this may be our excuse for seeming to require of him nothing short of perfection. In the statistics gathered by Bishop Rosati a. 1837 P. Van Assche, S. J., writes about S. Ferdinand's, Florissant, Mo. : "Regarding the establishment of this mission or parish, it seems, no priest resided here before 1821. Before that time, its administration was taken by the following priests: On June 5, 1792 began (viz. to baptize) Rev. P. J. Didier, and ceased (to baptize) Sept. 9, 1789. Nov. II, 1789, began: Rev. F. Lusson, Recollect; and ceased Oct. 15, 1804. 16, May 1806 began and left ofif Rev. J. Maxwell. Dec. 2, 1806 began: Rev. Flynn; and ceased Dec. 21, 1807. June 13, 1808 began the same Rev. J. Maxwell, and ceased the following day. Dec. 28, 1808 began together: the Rev. Joseph Dunand, P. Bern. Langlais, and P. Urbain, Trappists ; they left : Rev. Bern. Langlais and P. Urbain Nov. 29, 1811. Rev. Joseph Dunand left April 5, 1820. On Oct. II, 1 82 1 began: Rev. Charles Lacroix and ceased June 4, 1823. 90 NOTES On June 4, 1823 began : Rev. P. Vanquickenbome, S. J. ; he left Nov. 8, 1829. Nov. 8, 1829, began: Rev. Jod. Van Asche, S. J., and ceased May 18, 1835. May 18, 1835, began: Rev. Buschotts, S.J., and left Aug. 21, 1836. Aug. 21, 1836 again began : Rev. P. Van Asche. The Church of St. Ferdinand was consecrated Sept. 2, 1832." The same statistics contain the following notes on the parish of Old Mines, Mo., from the pen of Rev. Peter Doutreluingne : "As early as 1766 some families from the town of Ste. Genevieve settled in this place; in 1821 they built a small log church; the office of pastor (cure) was filled by the following priests: Rev. Pratte 1817 — 1822; then F. X. Dahmen 1822 — 1828. In the same year (1828) Rev. J. Bouillier was appointed the first permanent and residing pastor. In 183 1 he began to construct a bricmk church, which was con- secrated the same year. The Rev. Bouillier had the administration of this parish to the year 1836, when he was recalled." P. Christian Hoecken, S. J., from St. Charles, Mo., writes to Bishop Rosati, Sept. 4, 1835: "I attend the following missions : I. near Marthasville. 2. In New Boston, a German City (urbs!) the German com- menced to build it, 6 miles west of Marthasville.^ 3. Hancock Prairie, 6 miles from Missouri. 4. Near Columbia, near the river called Pursey. 5. Boonville, (Old Frain:ln) on the River. 6. In the City of Jefferson. 7. In the French village Cote-sans-Dessein. 8. About the little rivulet called "Bailey's Creek," three miles from the Missouri, 12 miles from the Gasconade. 9. Bourbeuse, 25 miles west (must be "east) of Bailey's Creek. 10. Washington, a German place. 11. Union, Franklin County. 12. About the rivulet, called "Mary-mac" (i. e. Meramec)." School children of McLean County, North Dakota, will finance the purchase of the site of Fort Mandan where Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the historic winter of 1801 — 5 with their expedition to the Pacific Coast. Each school will stage a drama- tization of the story as furnished by the County Superintendent of Schools, the receipt to be used to cover the purchase, and the children will then give the site to the State for a State Park. NOTES 91 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS : ACQR American Catholic Quarterly Review. Philadelphia, Pa. AD Acta et Dieta, published by the Catholic Historical Society of St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn. Am America, publ. weekly by the America Press, New York City. CHR The Catholic Historical Review, publ. quarterly by the Catholic Uni- versity of America, Washington, D. C. CP The Church Progress, St. Louis. FR The Fortnightly Review, St. Louis, Mo. HAHR The Hispanic American Historical Review, published quarterly, Baltimore, Md. HRS Historical Records and Studies, published by the United States Catholic Historical Society, New York. ICHR Illinois Catholic Historical Review, publ. quarterly by the Illinois Catholic Historical Society, Chicago, 111. JISHS Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, publ. quarterly by the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield. 111. LHQ Louisiana Historical Quarterly, published by the Louisiana His- torical Society, New Orleans, La. MHM Michigan History Magazine, published quarterly by the Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, Mich. MinnHB Minnesota History Bulletin, published quarterly by the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn. MoHR The Missouri Historical Review, publ. quarterly by the State Histor- ical Society of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. MVHR The Mississippi l^alley Historical Reviczv, publ. quarterly by the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Lincoln, Neb. PastBI Pastoral-Blatt, St. Louis, Mo. RACHS Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. publ. quarterly by the Society, Philadelphia, Pa. TISHS 'Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, publ. by the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, 111. WMH The JVisconsin Magazine of History, published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Menasha, Wis. WW The Western Watchman, St. Louis, Mo. Acadians. Expenditures of the Department of 'Poblacion y Amistad de Indios' in behalf of the Acadian families sent to Louisiana, 1767 — 1786. MVHR. VI, I, December 1919, pp. 392 — 395. Alleghany, Pa. Bishop Michael Domenec (1876 — 1877). Bibliography. CHR. VI, I, April 1920, p. 129. Alleman John George, O. P., Rev. A great Illinois Pioneer, by Rev. J. B. Culemans. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, pp. 208 — 222. Alton, 111. Bishop H. D. Juncker (1859— 1868) Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2, July 1920, p. 270. America. The Catholic Church in America in 1819, by J. Wilfrid Parsons, S. J. — CHR., V, 4, January 1920, pp. 301 — 310. American Catholic Historical Association, The, by Rev. Peter Guilday, CHR, VI, I, April 1920, pp. 3 — 14. American History. A Glance at some important Facts in Early American His- tory, by Marc F. Vallette. ACQR. XLIV, 175, July 1919, p. 387—411. 92 NOTES Arbre Croche, Mich. The Story of a Famous Mission, by H. Bedford Jones. MRM, IV, 2—3, April— July 1920, p. 596—607. Arkansas. Early Exploration and Settlement of Missouri and Arkansas, by Cardinal L. Goodwin* MoHR. XIV, 3—4, April— July, 1920, p. 385—424. German Emigration to Arkansas, by Rev. E. J. Weibel. FR, XXVII, 2i, November i, 1920. p. 322. Forty Years of Missionary Life in Arkansas, by Rev. E. J. Weibel. FR. XXVII, 1920, p. 54—56; 66—68; 82—84; 98—100; 114— 115; 130—132; 146—148; 164—166; 180—182; 196—198; 212—214; 228—229; 244—245; 260—261; 276—278; 290—291; 306—307; 322—323; 33^—339; 356—358; 372—373- Ashe, Thomas, His Description of the Osage Indians and of the Life of the people at Ste. Genevieve. MVHR, VI, 2, September 1919, p. 179. Austin, Tex. Minutes of the Ayutamiento of San Felipe de Austin, 1838 — 1841, by Eugene C. Barker, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, October 1920. Bad Axe. The Battle of the Bad Ave, in Historic Spots in Wisconsin, by W. A. Titus. WMH. IV, 2, December 1920, pp. 196—199- Badin. Fathers Badin and Nerinckx and the Dominicans of Kentucky, by Rev. V. O'Daniel, O.P. CHR. VI, i, April 1920, p. 15—45- Some Letters of Fathers Badin and Nerinckx to Bishop Carroll, by Rev. V. O'Daniel, O.P. CHR. VI. i, April 1920, p. 66—88. Baird James. Expedition to Mexico. MVHR. VI, 2, September 1919, p. 189. Baltimore, Md. Archbishop Eccleston. Bibliography. CHR. VI, i, April 1920, p. 130. Bishop Lawrence Graessel : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2, July 1920, p. 268. Archbishop Francis Patrick Kenrick: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2, July 1920, p. 270—271. Bapst John, S.J., Rev. and the Ellsworth Outrage, by Rev. Gerald C. Treacy, S.J. HRS. XIV, May 1920, p. 7—19- Bardstown, Ky. Bishop J. B. M. David: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i, April 1920, p. 128. Bishop Benedict J. Flaget: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i, April 1920, p. 132. Barron Bishop, in The Mission to Liberia. HRS. XIV, May 1920, p. 120—153. Beaubien. The Beaubiens of Chicago, by Frank G. Beaubien. ICHR. II, 3, January 1920. p. 348—364. Beauprez Peter F., Rev., Mission to Arkansas, by Rev. F. G. Holweok. CHR, VI, 2, July 1920, p. 157 foil. Beauregard G. T., Gen. A Sketch of, by his Son R. T. Beauregard. LHQ. II, 3, July 1919, p. 276—281. General Beauregard and General Blanchard in the Mexican War, by Hon. Milo B. Williams. LHQ. I, 4, April 1918. p. 299—302. Belleville, 111. Bishop J. Janssen : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2, July 1920, p. 269. Benoit Francis M. (1768— 1819), a St. Louis Indian Trader. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 179. Benton Thomas H. Recollections of, by John A. Oliphant. MoHR. XIV, 3—4. April— July 1920, p. 433-435- Black Hawk War. New Light on the. FR. XXVII, 5, March i, 1920, p. 74. Blanchard. Gen. Beauregard and Gen. Blanchard in the Mexican War, by Milo B. Williams. LHQ. i, 4. April 1918, p. 299—302. Bohemians. The— in America. FR. XXVII, 10, May 15, 1920. p. 151. Boise City, Idaho. Bishop A. J. Glorieux : Biblography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Booneville, Mo. MVHR. VI, 2, September 1919, p. 176. NOTES 93 Brackenridge Henry MVHR. VI, 2, September 1919, p. 180. Bradbury John. MVHR, VI, 2. September 1919, p. 180. Cahensly Peter Paul. Visit to Arkansas, by Rev. E. J. Weibel. FR. XXVII. 21. November i, 1920, p. 322. Campbell Thomas J., S.J., Rev. Eusebio Kino. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p. 353—376. Cape Girardeau, Mo. in 1818. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 176. Carroll John Bishop. The Appointment of Father John Carroll as Prefect Apostolic of the Church in the new Republic (1783 — 1785), by Rev. Peter Guilday, CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 204—248. Charleston, S. C. Bishop John England: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Chicago, Archdiocese of, Antecedents and Development, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. Ill, I. July 1920, p. 105 — 107. The Beaubiens of, by Frank G. Beaubien. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 348—364. How Catholics care for Delinquent Boys and Girls in, by Bishop A. J. McGavick. FR. XXVII, 23. December i, 1920, p. 361. Catholic Churches and Institutions in Chicago in 1868, by George S. Philips. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 369—370. The Chicago Catholic Institute and the Chicago Lyceum, by John Ireland Gallery. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 303 — 322. Bishop James Duggan: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Bishop Duggan and the Chicago Diocese, by George S. Philips. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 364 — 368. Archbishop P. A. Feehan: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Bishop T. Foley: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. The Irish in Chicago, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, p. 458—473. The Double Jubilee, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 5—42. Reminiscences of Early Chicago, by Bedelia Kehoe Garraghan. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 261 — 268. Chouteau Auguste. Expedition to Santa Fe (1815— 1817). MVHR. VI, 2. Sep- tember 1919, p. 188. Church. The Catholic Church in America in 1819, by J. Wilfrid Parsons, S.J. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p. 301 — 310. History. Our Earliest printed Church History in the United States. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 343—357- Cincinnati, O. Archbishop Wm. H. Elder: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130— 131. Bishop Edw. D .Fenwick : Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. The Most Rev. John Baptist Purcell, D.D., by Sister Mary Agnes McCann. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 172—199. Glamorgan Jacques. An Unknown Expedition to Santa Fe in 1897, by Joseph J. Hill. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 560—562. Cleveland, O. Bishop R. Gilmour: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. Bishop T. F. Horstmann: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1929, p. 269. 267—268. Cole Arthur Charles. Centennial History of Illinois. Vol. III. The Era of the Civil War, 1848— 1870. Review by J. B. Culemans. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 113— 117. 94 NOTES Collot, Gen. Collot Reconnoitering Trip down the Mississippi and his Aarrest in New Orleans by Order of the Baron of Carondelet, Governor of Louisiana, by Heloise Hulse Cruzat. LHQ. I, 4. April 1918, p. 303 — 328. Colonies. Occupation in the, by I^eone Garvey. Lorettine. XV, 4. December 1920, p. 2—4. Colonial Amusements, by Katherine O'Reilly. Lorettine. XV, 4, December 1920, p. 14 — 16. Period. Dress in the, by Ernestine Zavisch. Lorettine. XV, 4. December 1920, p. II— 13. Homes, by Jessie Hurley. Lorettine. XV, 4. December 1920, p. 4 — 8. Travel, by Ruth Mary Loftus. Lorettine. XV, 4. December 1920, p. 8 — 10. Colonization. Irish Colonization in Illinois, by George F. O'Dwyer. ICHR. Ill, I. July 1920, p. 73—76. Colter John. Exploration of the Headwaters of the Missouri. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 178. Columbia, Mo. First Settlement. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 176. Coppens Charles ,S.J.. Rev. Father Coppens' Recollections of Notable Pioneers. ICHR. IL 4- April 1920, p. 389—395- Cox Nathaniel. Letters of — (New Orleans) to Gabriel Lewis (Lexington, Ky.). LHQ. II, 2. April 1919, p. 179 — 192. Customs. Social Customs and Usages in Missouri during the last Century, by Mary Owen. MoHR. XV, i. October 1920, p. 176 — 190. Dallas, Tex. Bishop E. J. Dunne : Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. David J. B. M., Bishop: Bibliography CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 128. DeAndreis Felix: A Pioneer for God, by Ida M. Schaaf. Queens Work, August 1920, p. 205 foil. Dearborn. The Fort Dearborn Massacre. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 240 — 241. De la Hailandiere Celestine, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 128. De Linctot, Guardian of the Frontier, by George A. Brennan. JISHS. X, 3. October 1917, p. 323 — 366. De Mun Julius. Expedition to Santa Fe (1815— 1817) MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 188. De Neckere Hippolyte, S.J., Rev. HRS. XIV. May 1920, p. 10. Leon Raymond, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i, April 1920. p. 128, De Saint-Palais, Maurice de Long d'Aussac, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i- April 1920, p. 129. Domenec Michael, CM., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Donnelly Peter, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 163 foil. Pastor of Gravois (Kirkwood), Mo. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 166. Dominicans. Fathers Badin and Nerinckx and the Dominicans of Kentucky, by Rev. V. O'Daniel, O.P. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 15—45. Du Bourg Louis Valentine, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Dubuis Claude Marie, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Dubuque, la. Archbishop J. Hennessy: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268—269. Archbishop J. J. Keane: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Duden. The Followers of, by William G. Bek. MoHR. XIV, i. Octiber 1919, p. 29—73; XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 217 — 232; XIV, 3—5. April — July 1920, p. 436—458. Dufal Peter, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. NOTES 95 Duggan James, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Bishop Duggan and the Chicago Diocese, by George S. Philips. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 364—368. Dunne Edw. J., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Dupuy Ennemond, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 159. foil. Durier Anthony, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Eccleston Samuel, SS., Archbishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Education. Questions concerning Rural — , by Rev. Edwin V. O'Hara. FR. XXVII, 10, May 15, 1920, p. 152. Egan Michael, O.S.F., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Elder William H., Archbishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Ellsworth, Father John Bapst. S.J., and the Ellsworth Outrage, by Gerald C. Treacy, SJ.. HRS. XIV, May 1920, p. 7—19. England John, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Farley John, Cardinal: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Farnan John, Rev. A Link between East and West, by Thomas F. Meehan. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920, p. 339—347- Feehan Patrick A., Archbishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Fenwick Edw. D., O.P., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Fever River, 111., in The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. J. Rothensteiner. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920. Fink Louis M., O.S.B., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Fitzgerald Edward, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p, 132. Flaget Benedict J., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Flash, Killian S. Bishop: Bibliography, CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Florida. The War of 1812. Some Florida Episodes. LHQ. I, 4. April 1918, p. 330—332. Foley Thomas, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Forest John A., Bishop: Bibliography .CHR. VI, I. April 1920, p. 132. Fort Atkinson, Neb. Why Fort Atkinson was established, by Albert Watkins. Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days, July — September 1919. Fort Chartres. Two Hundreth Anniversary of Fort Chartres, by Gertrude Cor- rigan. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, p. 474—488. Fort Dearborn Massacre. ICHR. II, 2. October 1920, p. 240 — 241. Fox. A Bibliography of the Fox Indians, by Truman Michelson. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. November 19, 1919. Some General Notes on the Fox Indians, by Truman Michelson. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. October 4 and 19, 1919. Franciscans. The— in Southern Illinois, by Rev. Silas Barth, O.F.M. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 161 — 174; II, 3. January 1920, p. 328—338; II, 4. April 1920, p. 447-457; III, i. July 1920, p. 77—87. Franklin, Mo. Beginnings. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 176. Gallagher Nicholas A., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267. Galveston, Tex. Bishop P. Dufal: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Bishop C. M. Dubuis: Bibliography. CHR VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Bishop N. A. Gallagher: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267. Garrigan Philip J., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267. Gartland Francis X., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267, 96 NOTES Genet Edmond Charles. Isaac Shelby and the Genet Mission, by Archibald Henderson .MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 451—469. Gilmour Richard, ,Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267. Glorieux Alphonse J., Bishop. :Bibliography.. Ibid. p. 268. Grace Thomas, O.P., Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid. Graessel Lawrence, Bishop-Elect: Bibliography. Ibid. Grand River. Early Days on Grand River and the Mormon War, by Rollin J. Britton. MoHR. XIII, 4. July 1919, p. 388—398; XIV, i. October 1919, p. 89 — no; XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 233 — 247; XIV, 3 — 4. April — July 1920, p. 459—473. Gratiot Charles, Gen. Fort Gratiot and its Builder, by William L. Jenks. MHM. IV, 1. January 1920, p. 141 — 155. Gravois (Kirkwood), Mo. Father Peter Donnelly appointed Pastor. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 166. Green Bay, Wis. Bishop F. X. Katzer: Bibliography .CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Bishop F. X. Krautbauer: Bibliography. Ibid. Gross William, C.SS.R., Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid. p. 268. Guilday, Peter Rev. The American Catholic Historical Association. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 3 — 14. The Appointment of Father John Carroll as Prefect Apostolic of the Church in the New Republic (1783— 1785). CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 204—248. Hayes. The — Administration and Mexico, by Lewis. Soiithzvestern Historical Quarterly, October 1920. Heiss James A., Archbishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Hennessy John, Archbishop : Bibliography. Ibid. Henni John M., Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid. p. 269. Herculaneum, Mo., in 1818. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 176. Heslin Thimas, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Hierarchy. Titular Sees of the American — , by Bishop Owen B. Corrigan. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 322 — 329. History. Catholic Truth and Historical Truth, by Rev. William Henry Kent, O.S.C. CHR. VI, 3, October 1920, p. 275—293. Hogan John J., Bishop : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Holweck F. G., Rev. Beginnings of the Church in Little Rock, Ark. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 156— 171. Hughes John, Archbishop : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Hunt Wilson. MVHR. VL 2. September 1919, p. 181. Idaho. History of the State of — , by C. J. Brossman, Reviewed by Paul C. Phillips. MVHR. VI, i. December 1919, p. 427. ■ Bishop A. J. Glorieux: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. An Oregon and Idaho Missionary: Father L. Verhaag, by Rev. J. Van der Heyd^n. RACHS. XXXI, 3. September 1930. p. 229—242. Illinois. The Frontier State, 1818 — 1848, by Theodore Calvin Pease. Reviewed by Rev. J. B. Culemans. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p. 402 — 409. Centennial History of—. Vol. III. The Era of the Civil War, 1848— 1870, by Arthur Charles Cole. Reviewed by Rev. J. B. Culemans. CHR. VI, I. April 1920, p. 113 — 117. The Land of Men. Centennial Address, April 18. 1919, by Edgar A. Ban- croft. TISHS. XXIV. 1918, 31a. The Irish in Early Illinois, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 223—238; I, 3. January 1920, p. 286 — 302. NOTES 97 Irish Colonization in Illinois, by George F. O'Dwyer. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 73—76. in the Democratic Movement of the Century, by Allen Johnson. TISHS. XXIV, 1918, p. 3^-46. Virginia in the Making of Illinois, by H. J. Eckenrode. Ibid., p. 31 — 37. A Woman's Picture of Pioneer Illinois, by Mrs. Christiana H. Tillson. A reprint edited by Dr. Milo M. Quaife. Lake Side Press. Chicago. Pictures of Illinois One Hundred Years ago, Edited by Milo M. Quaife. Reviewed by Leila W. Tilton. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 286—287. The Franciscans in Southern Illinois, by Rev. Silas Barth, O.F.M. ICHR. 11, 2. October 1919, p. 161—174; H, 3- January 1920, p. 328—338; II, 4. April 1920, p. 447—457; III, I. July 1920, p. 77— S7. Immaculate Heart of Mary. A Sketch of the Work and History of the Sisters Servants of the— (1845— 1920), by Sister Maria Alma, C.I.M. RACHS. XXXI, 4. December 1920, p. 276 — 338. Indiana. The Interest Indiana holds in Historic Illinois, by Charles W. Moores. TISHS. XXIV, 1918, p. 64—73. Indians. Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities, by W. H. Holmes. Bulletin 60 of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War, by Annie Heloise Abel. Reviewed by Charles H. Ambler. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 578—579. The Use of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, by Melvil R. Gilmore. 33d Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A Bibliography of the Fox Indians, by Truman Michelson./oi^mo/ of the Washington Academy of Sciences. November 19, 1919. Some General Notes on the Fox Indians, by Truman Michelson. Ibid., October 4 and 19, 1919. The Potawatomi, by Publius V. Lawson. Wisconsin Arch-aeologist. April 1920. Industry. Labor and Industry in Missouri during the Last Century, by Lee Meriwether. MoHR. XVI, i. October 1920, p. 163 — 175. Ireland John, Archbishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Irish Colonization in Illinois, by George F. O'Dwyer. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 73—76. The Irish in Early Illinois, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 223 — 238; II, 3. January 1920, p. 286 — 302. The Irish in Chicago, by Joseph J. Thompson. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, p. 458—473. Janssen John, Bishop: Biblography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920. p. 269. Janssens Francis, Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 269 — 270. Jesuits. The Jesuit in the Mississippi Valley, by Lawrence J. Kenny, S.J. MVHR. July 1920, p. 135—143. journalism. A Century of — in Missouri, by W. W. Byars. MoHR. XV, i. October 1920, p. 53—73- Juan de Santa Maria, Father. The Martyrdom of—, by J. Lloyd Mecham. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 308 — 321. Juncker Henry D., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Junger Aegidius, Bishop: Bibliography. Ibid. Kain John J. Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid. Kansas. Bleeding — and the Pottawatomie Murders, May 24, 1856, by Edward P. Bridgman. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 556 — 560. 98 NOTES Kansas City, Mo. Bishop J. J. Hogan: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920. p. 269. Katzer Frederic X., Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 270. Keane John J., Archbishop: Bibliography. Ibid. Kearney. A Relic of the Kearney Expedition. FR. XXVI, 24. December 15, 1919, P- 372. Kellogg Louise Phelps. The Story of Wisconsin (1634 — 1848). VI. Politics and Statehood (1840— 1848). WMH. Ill, 4. June 1920, p. 397—412. Kelly Patrick, Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Appointment to Richmond (1820). Ibid, p. 259 — 260. Kenny Lawrence, S.J., Rev. The Jesuit in the Mississippi Valley. MVHR. July 1920, p. 135—143. The Mullanphys of St. Louis. HRS. XIV. May 1920, p. 70—110. Kenrick Francis P., Archbiship : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270 — 271. by Joseph M. O'Hara. RACHS. XXXI, 3. September 1920, p. 253—247. Letters to the Family of George Bernard Allen (1849 — 1863), Edited by F. E. T. Ibid., p. 175-214. The Kenrick — Frenaye Correspondence. Letters chiefly of F. P. Ken- rick and Mark Anthony Frenaye, Selected from the Catholic Archives of Philadelphia ; Translated, arranged and annotated as Sources and Helps to the Study of Local Catholic History. 1830— 1862. By F. E. T. Phila- delphia, 1920. Peter R., Archbishop: Bibliography. CHS. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 271. Kensington. Bibliography of the Kensington Rune Stone, by Rev. Francis J Schaefer. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 387 — 391. Another View of the Kensington Rune Stone by Rasmus B. Anderson WMH. Ill, 5. June 1920. p. 413 — 419. The Kensington Rune Stone, by Rev. Francis J. Schaefer. CHR. VI, 3 October 1920, p. 330—333- Kentucky. Fathers Badin and Nerinckx and the Dominicans of — , by Rev. V O'Daniel, O.P. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 15—45. Kino Eusebio, by Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, S.J. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p 353—376. His Name and Birthplace, by Rev. F. G. Holweck. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 372—381. Krautbauer Francis X., Bishop: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 271. Labor and Industry in Missouri during the Last Century, by Lee Meriwether. MoHR. XV, I. October 1920, p. 163 — 175. La Charette, the last Establishment of Whites on the Missouri in 1805. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 172. La Crosse, Wis. Bishop K. C. Flash: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Bishop M. Heiss: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Lafayette's Visit to Ohio Valley States, by C. B. Galbreath. Ohio Arch-aeological and Historical Quarterly. July 1920. Lafitte. The Controversy on Lafitte's Biography, by Caspar Cusachs. LHQ. Ill, I. January 1920, p. 100 — in. Lalande Baptiste. Trip to Santa Fe (1804) MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 186—187. Lamar Mirabeau Buonaparte. Biography of — , by A. K. Christizn.S outhivestcrn Historical Quarterly. October 1920. Las Casas. Was — the First Priest ordained in America? FR. XXVII, i. January I, 1920, p. 10. NOTES 99 Leavenworth, Kas. Bishop L. M. Fink: Bibliigraphy. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Lefevere Peter Paul, Rev., in The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. J. Rothensteiner. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, P- 396 — 416; III, I. July 1920, p. 61 — 72. Leopoldine Association. The — , the German 'Propagation of the Faith' Society, by Rev. Francis J. Epstein. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 88—92. Le Sueur Charles Alexandre, Artiste et Savant Frangais et Amerique de 1816 a 1839, by Mme Adrien Loir. Doctoral Thesis at the Uuniversity of Caen, France. Lincoln's Schooling and Pioneer Schools, by Rev. C. J. Schwarz. FR. XXVII, 4. February 15, 1920, p. 50— 51- Opposition to the Mexican War. FR. XXVII, 7. April i, 1920. p. 97. Lisa Manuel. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 177. Literature. A Century of — (in Missouri), by Alexander N. De Menil. MoHR. XV, I October 1920, p 74 — 125 Little Rock, Ark. Beginnings of the Church at Little Rock, by Rev. F. G. Hol- weck. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 156 — 171. Bishop E. Fitzgerald: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Louisiana. An address delivered before the Louisiana Historical Society, by Col. H. J. de la Vergne, April 30, 1919. LHQ. II, 2. April 1919, p. 174—176. The Admission of — into the Union, by Lillie Richardson. LHQ. I, 4. April 1918, p. 333—352. The Emblematic Bird of — , by Stanley Clisby Arthur. LHQ. II, 3. July 1 919, p. 248—257. Salaries of Curates and other Ecclesiastical Ministers of the Colony (1786 — 1787). MVHR. VI, I. December 191 9, p. 390. The Flags of — , by Milledge L. Bonham, Jr. LHQ. October 1910. The Constitutional History of the — Purchase (1803 — 1812), by Everett S. Brown. University of California Publications in History. Vol. 10. The Origin of the Name of — , by John R. Ficklen. LHQ. II, 2. April 1919, p. 230—232. Financial Reports relating to — (in Spanish times), by Charles H. Cunning- ham. MVHR. VI, I. December 1919, p. 381 — 397. Year Book of the La. Society Sons of the American Revolution for 1919 — 1920, New Orleans, 1920. The — Territory from 1682 — 1803, by Cardinal Goodwin. LHQ. Ill, i. January 1920, p. 5 — 25. ■ Treaty between the French Republic and the United States concernnig the Cession of — , signed at Paris, the 30th of April 1803. LHQ. II, 2. April 1919, P- 139—163. Women of the Sixties, by Florence Cooney Tompkins. LHQ. II, 3. July 1919, p. 282—285. McCann Mary Agnes, Sister. The Most Rev. J. B. Purcell, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati (1800 — 1883). CHR. VI, 2. July 19.0, p. 172 — 199. McKnight Robert. Expedition to Mexico. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 189. John. Trip to Mexico (1821 — 1822), Ibid. McMahon John, Rev., at Fever River, 111., in The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. J. Rothensteiner. ICHR. II, 3. January 1920. McNair Alexander, at Prairie du Chien, Wis. (1818), in A Journal of Life in Wisconsin One Hundred Years ago, Kept by Willard Keyes. WMH, III, 4. June 1920, p. 452 foil. 100 NOTES McQaid, Bishop. A Life of—, FR. XXVII, 8. April 15, 1920, p. 115. Manon Porcher. The Real versus the Ideal (Manon Lescault), by Victorin Dejan .LHQ. II, 3. July 1919, p. 307—317- Marquette. An Unrecognized Latin Letter of Father — , by Clarence W. Alvord. American Historical Reviciv. July 1920. University in the Making, by Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, p. 417 — 440. Marty Martin, O.S.B., Bishop. Life and Labors of — , by Rev. Ignatius Forster, O.S.B. Indian Sentinel. January 1920. Mazzuchelli, O.P. An Account of — , by John C. Parish. The Palimpsest. Octo- ber 1920. Medicine. One Hundred Years of — in Missouri, by H. W. Loeb. MoHR. XIV, i, October 1919, p. 74 — 81. Mexico. The Hayes Administration and — , by Lewis. Southwestern Historical Quarterly. October 1920. Shelby's Expedition to — , by John N. Edwards. Ibid., p. 11 1 — 144; XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 248 — 264. Mexican War. Lincoln's Opposition to the . FR. XXVII, 7. April i, 1920, P- 97. The War with Mexico, by Justin W. Smith. New York. 2 Vol, 1919. Reviewed by Herbert Ingram Priestley in HAHR. August 1920, p. 374 — 381 ; by Rev. J. Rothensteiner, in CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 368—372. Michigan. The French Period of Michigan History, 1634 — 1760, by Ina Mae Dupuis. Le Saulteur. 1920. State Teachers' Association Outline of Michigan History with References. MHM. IV, 4. October 1922, p. 765 — 775. The Mich. School Amendment and its Defeat, by Rev. F. J. Kelly. FR. XXVII, 22. November 15, 1920, p. 337. Tablets, Those, by B .M. FR. XXVII, i. January i, 1920, p. 11. Milwaukee, Wis. Archbishop J. A. Heiss: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Archbishop J. M. Henni : Bibliography. Ibid., p. 269. Archbishop F. X. Katzer: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 270. Minneapolis, Minn. History of the Church of St. Joseph, by Rev. Othmar Erren, O.S.B., Reviewed. FR. XXVII, 2. November 15 ,1920, p. 350. Mississippi. Voyage from St. Louis to Ste. Genevieve (1807). MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 171. Valley. The Jesuit in the , by Rev. Lawrence J. Kenny, S.J. MVHR. July 1920, p. 135—143. Missouri. Historical Articles in Missouri Newspapers: September 1917 — July 1918 inclusive. MoHR. XIII, 4. July 1919, p. 424—457; August 1918— April 1919 inclusive. MoHR. XIV, I. October 1919, p. 172 — 190. Early Exploration and Settlement of— and Arkansas, by Cardinal L. Good- win. MoHR. XIV, 3 — 4. April — July 1920, p. 385 — 424. in the First Years of the XlXth Century. MoHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p, 172. Population in 1820. Ibid., p. 174, 176. in 1820, by Jonas Vilas. MoHR. October 1920, p. 36 — 53. Constitution Making in — , by C. H. McClure. MVHR. July 1920, p. 112— 121. One Hundred Years of Medicine in—, by H. W. Loeb. MoHR. XIV, i. October 1919, p. 74 — 81. Labor and Industry in — during the Last Century, by Lee Meriwether. MoHR. XV, I. October 1920, p. 163 — 175. A Century of Journalism in — , by W. V. Byars. Ibid., p. 53 — 73. NOTES 101 A Century of Literature (in — ), by Alexander N. De Menil. Ibid., p. 74 — 125. The Development of Negro Public School System in — , by Henry S. Wil- liams. Journal of Negro History. April 1920. Social Customs and Usages in — during the Last Century, by Mary Celia Owen. MoHR. XV, i. October 1920, p. 176—190. Social Reform in — during the Last Century, by George B. Mangold. Ibid., p. 191— 213. The Travail of — for Statehood, by Walter B. Stevens. Ibid., p. i — 34. A Century of Transportation in — , by Edward J. White. Ibid., p. 126 — 162. History of Woman Suffrage in — , by Mary Semple Scott. MoHR. XIV, 3 — 4. April — July 1920, p. 281 — 384. Mormon War. Early Days on Grand River and the Mormon War, by Rollin J. Britton. MoHR. XHL 4- July 1919, p. 388—398; XIV, i. October 1919, p. 89 — 110; XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 233 — 247. The in Hancock Co., 111., by Herbert Spencer Salisbury, JISHS. VIII, 2. July 191 5, p. 281—287. Mullanphy. The Mullanphys of St. Louis, by Rev. Laurence J. Kenny, S.J. HRS. XIV. May 1920, p. 70 — no. Nashville, Tenn. Bishop P. A. Feehan : Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 131. Natchez, Miss. Concession of Ste. Catherine at the Natchez. LHQ. II, 2. April 1919, p. 164—173. Bishop W. H. Elder: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130—131. Bishop T. Heslin: Bibliography. Ibid., VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Bishop F. Janssens : Bibliography. Ibid., p. 269 — 270. Natchitoches, La. History of — , by Milton Dunn. LHQ. Ill, i. January 1920, p. 26—56. Bishop A. Durier: Bibliography. CHR. VI, I. April 1920, p. 130. Neale Leonard, Archbishop: Notes on. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 381—384. A Glory of Maryland, by M. S. Pine. Philadelphia Salesian Press. 1917. Reviewed by Lucian Johnston. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 113. Negro .American— Slavery, by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips. Reviewed by T. B. Moroney. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 255 — 257. The Development of the — Public School System in Missouri, by Henry S. Williams. Journal of Negro History. April 1920. Nerinckx. Fathers Badin and Nerinckx and the Dominicans of Kentucky, by Rev. V. O'Daniel, O.P. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 15—45. Some Letters of Fathers Badin and Nerinckx to Bishop Carroll. Ibid., p. 66—88. Nesqually. Bishop A. Junger: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. New Mexico. Spanish Colonization of — in the 17th Century, by Ralph E. Twitchell. Publications of the Historical Society of N. M., No. 22. Franciscans in — , by Rev. Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.S.F., Franciscan Herald. January 1920. New Orleans, La. (Historical Sketch), by W. O. Hart. LHQ. L 4- April 1918, P- 3S3—366. The Founding of—, by Delvaille H. Theard. LHQ. Ill, i. January 1920. p. 68—70. The Story of the Ancient Cabildo, by Charles Patton Dimitry. LHQ. Ill, i. January 1920, p. 57 — 67. a Treasure house for Historians, by Clarence Wyatt Bisham. LHQ. U, 3. July 1 91 9, p. 237—247. Bishop L. R. De Neckere: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 128. 102 NOTES Bishop L. W. V. Du Bourg: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 129 — 130. Archbishop F. Jannsens : Bibliography. Ibid., VI, 2. July 1920, p. 260 — 270. New York, Bishop J. Dubois; Bibliography. Ibid., VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Cardinal J. Farley: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 131. Archbishop J. Hughes : Bibliography. Ibid., VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. Northwest. The— Territory, by Charles A. Kent. JISHS. VIII. 2. July 1915, p. 26&— 280. Establishing the American Colonial System in the Old — ,by Elbert Jay Ben- ton. TISHS. XXIV, 1918, p. 47—63. The Footprints of Catholic Missionaries in the — . The Augustinian (Kala- mazoo, Mich.), January 31; February 7, 1920. Company. The, by Gordon C. Davidson. University of California Publica- tions in History. Vol. 7. Nuttall Thomas. His Western Travels. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 189. O'Daniel Victor, O.P., Rev. Fathers Badin and Nerinckx and the Dominicans of Kentucky. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 15 — 45. Some J^etters of Fathers Badin and Nerinckx to Bishop Carroll. Ibid., p. 66-^. O'Reilly Patrick, V. Rev., V.G. of Little Rock, Ark., in Forty Years of Mis- sionary Life in Arkansas. FR. XXVII, 14. July 1920, p. 212 — ^213. Oregon. An — and Idaho Missionary: Father L. Verhaag, by Rev. J. Van der Heyden. RACHS. XXXI, 3. September 1920, p. 229 — 242. City, Ore. Archbishop Wm. Gross: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Osage Indians. Description by Thomas Ashe. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 179- Mo. Laid off in 1819. Ibid., p. 176. War, by Robert A. Glenn. MoHR. XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 201 — 210. Ostlangenberg Caspar Henry, Rev., by Rev F. G. Hoi week. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 43—60. Palafox. Don Juan de — y Mendoza, Obispo de Puebla y Osma, Visitador y Virrey de la Nueva Espana. by Genaro Garcia. Mexico, Bouret, 1918. Re- viewed by Joachim Walsh, O.P. CHR. VI, 3. October 1920, p. 358 — 360. Paris Simon, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 166 foil. Parsons J. Wilfrid, S.J., Rev. The Catholic Church in America in 1819. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p. 301—310. Pease Theodore Calvin. Illinois, The Frontier State, 1818 — 1848. Reviewed by Rev. J. B. Culemans. CHR. V, 4. January 1920, p. 402 — 409. Penalosa Diego de. New Light on — ; proof that he never made an Expedition from Santa Fe to Quivira and the Mississippi River in 1662, by Charles W. Hackett. MVHR. VI, i. December 1919, p. 313 — 335. Philadelphia, Pa. Bishop M. Egan : Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 130. Archbishop F. P. Kenrick : Bibliography. Ibid., VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270 — 271. Pittsburgh, Pa. Bishop M. Domenec: Bibliography. Ibid. VI, i. April 1920, p. 129. Pocahontas, Ark., in Forty Years of Missionary Life in Arkansas, by Rev. E. J. Weibel. FR. XXVII, 16. August 15, 1920, p. 245; 17. September i. p. 260 — 261; 18. September 15, 276 — 278; 19. October i, p. 290 — 291; 21. November I, p. 3222—323; 22. November 15, p. 338—339; 23. December i, p, 356—358; 24. December 15, p. 372—373- Pollock Oliver, Patriot and Financier, by Margaret B. Downing. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 196 — 207. NOTES 103 Pottawatomi. The, by Publius V. Lawson. Wisconsin Archaeologist. April 1920. Bleeding Kansas and the — Murders. May 25, 1856, by Edw. P. Bridgman. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 556—560. Prairie du Chien, Wis. A Journal of Life in Wisconsin One Hundred Years ago, kept by Willard Keyes. WMH. Ill, 4. June 1920, p. 443 — 465. Purcell James. Expedition to Santa Fe (1802— 1805) MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 187. J. B., Archbishop of Cincinnati, by Sister Mary Agnes McCann. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 172 — 199. Publications. A List of Some Early American— (1733— 18909). RACKS. XXXL 3. September 1920, p. 248 — 256. Quivira. New Light on Don Diego de Penalosa; proof that he never made an Expedition from San Fe to Quivira and the Mississippi River in 1662, by Charles W. Hackett. MVHR. VI, i. December 1919, p. 313 — 335. Richard Gabriel, Rev., Last Will and Testament of. The Augustinian (Kala- mazoo, Mich.), August 21, 1920. Richard — Bole Joseph, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 166 foil. Richmond, Va. Bishop J. J. Keane: Bibliography, Ibid., p. 270. Bishop P. Kelly: Bibliography. Ibid. Rolle Charles, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. Ibid., p. 161 foil. Rosati Joseph, Bishop. The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. John Rothensteiner. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 175 — 195; n, 3. January 1920, p. 269—285; II, 4. April 1920, p. 396—416; III, I. July 1920, p. 61 — 72. St. Augustine, Fla. Bishop W. J. Kenny: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. St. Charles, Mo. in 1807. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 172. Ste. Genevieve, Mo. in 1807. Ibid., p. 179 in 181 8 Ibid., p. 176. St. Joseph Mo. Bishop J. J. Hogan : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 269. St. Louis, Mo. in 1807, according to Ashe. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 171, in 1807, according to Christian Schultz. Ibid. in 1820. Ibid., p. 175. incorporated as a City (1822). Ibid., p. 176. The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. John Rothensteiner, ICHR. II, 2. October 1929, p. 175 — 195 ; II, 3. January 1920, p. 269 — 285; H, 4. April 1920, p. 396 — 416; III, i. July 1920, p. 61—72. Bishop J. Duggan: Bibliography. CHR. VL i. April 1920, p. 129. Archbishop J. J. Kain: Bibliography. Ibid., VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Archbishop P. R. Kenrick: Biblography. Ibid., p. 271. St. Mary of the Lake, 111., University of, by Rev. D .J. Riordan. ICHR. II, 2. October 1919, p. 135 — 160. St. Paul, Minn. Bishop T. Grace: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 268. Archbishop J. Ireland: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 269. Saint — , Cyr Irenee Rev. in The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. John Rothensteiner. ICHR. II. 4. April 1920, p. 409 — ^416. Father, Missionary and Proto-Priest of Modern Chicago. ICHR. 11, 3- January 1920, p. 323—327. 104 NOTES Salt River, III. Father Peter Paul Lefevre at—, in The Northeastern Part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati, by Rev. John Rothensteiner. ICHR. II, 4. April 1920, p. 396—416. San Antonio, Tex. Bishop J. A. Forest: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 132. Saulnier Edmond, Rev. Mission to Arkansas. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 157 foil. Savannah, Ga. Bishop F. X. Gartland: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 267. Bishop W. Gross: Bibliography. Ibid., p 268. Scanlan John F. Necrological Notice. ICHR. Ill, 1. July 1920. p. no— 112. Schaaf Ida M. A Pioneer for God (F. De Andreis). Queen's Work. August 1920, p. 205 foil. Schoolcraft Henry R. MVHR. VI, 2. September I9i9,p. 185—186. Schultz Christian in St. Louis in 1807. Ibid., p. 179. Seattle, Wash. Bishop A. Junger: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Sioux. Life and Labors of Bishop Martin Marty, O.S.B., the Apostle of the Sioux, by Rev. Ignatius Forster, O.S.B. Indian Sentinel, January 1920. City. Bishop P. J. Garrigan: Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 267. Shelby's Expedition to Mexico, by John N. Edwards. MoHR. XIV, I. October 1919, p. Ill— 144; XIV, 2. January 1920, p. 248—264; XIV, 3 — 4. April — July 1920, p. 474—493. Isaac d htane7vVj BN9(69sn9$.w86o96y.HoVPal„V*a2pg, VUETETT Isaac and the Genet Mission, by Archibald Henderson. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, p. 451 — 469. Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, — A Sketch of their Work and History (1845— 1920), by Sister Maria Alma, C.I.M. RACKS. XXXI, 4. December 1920, p. 276—338. Slavery, American Negro — , by Ulrich Bonnell Phillip?. Reviewed by T. B. Moroney. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 255 — 257. Social Reform in Missouri during the Last Century, by George B. Mangold. MoHR. XV, I. October 1920, p. 191— 213. Spanish Fort, La. Historical Data of, by Joseph H. De Grange. LHQ. II, 3. July 1919, p. 269 — 271. Statistics. A Plea for Reliable Catholic—. FR. XXVII, 8. April 15, 1920, p. 113. Sullivan Roger C. Necrological Notice. ICHR. Ill, i. July 1920, p. 108 — 109. Swisshelm Jane Grey: Agitator, by Lester Burrell Shippee. MVHR. VII, 3. December 1920, p. 206 — 227. Trade Indian. The United States Factory Scheme for trading with the Indians. 1796— 1822, by Royal B. Way. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. 220—235. Routes. Past and Present, to the Canadian Northwest, by Frederic J. Alcock. Geographical Review, August 1920. Traders. The First Push Westward of the Albany—, by Helen Broshar. MVHR. VII, 3. December 1920, p. 228 — 241. Transportation. A Century of — in Missouri, by Edward J. White. MoHR. XV, i. October 1920, p. 126 — 162. Travel, Western — , by Harrow Lindley. MVHR. VI, 2. September 1919, p. p. 167— 191. Verhaag L., Rev. An Oregon and Idaho Missionary, by Rev. J. Van der Heyden. RACHS. XXXI, 3. September 1920, p. 229—242. Vincennes, Ind. Bishop C. De la Hailandiere: Bibliography. CHR. VI, i. April 1920, p. 128. Bishop M. deSaint-Palais: Bibliography. Ibid., p. 129. NOTES 105 Virginia in the Making of Illinois, by H. J. Eckenrode. TISHS. XXIV, 1918. p. 31—37- Visitation. Notes on the Foundation of the Monastery of the — Sisters in the United States. CHR. I, 3. October 1920, p. 381—386. War of 1812. Some Florida Episodes. LHQ. I, 4. April 1918, p. 330 — 332. Black Hawk. New Light on the—. FR. XXVII, 5. March i, 1920, p. 74. Civil. The American Indian as Participant in the — , by Annie Heloise Abel. Cleveland, 1919. Reviewed by Charles H. Ambler. MVHR. VI, 4. March 1920, P- 578—579. Mexican. Gen. Beauregard and Gen. Blanchard in the—, by Milo B. Wil- liams. LHQ. I, 4. April 1918, p. 299 — 302. Lincoln's Opposition to the — . FR. XXVII,7. April i, 1920, p. 97. Mormon. Early Days on Grand Rver and the—, by Rollin J. Britton. MoHR. XIII ,4. July 1919, p. 388—398; XIV, I. October 1919, p. 89—110; 2. January 1920, p. 233—247. in Hancock Co., 111., by Herbert Spencer Salisbury. JISHS. VIII, 2. July 1915, p. 281—287. Wheeling, W. Va. Bishop J. J. Kain : Bibliography. CHR. VI, 2. July 1920, p. 270. Wisconsin. The Story of — , (1634— 1848) VI. Politics and Statehood (1840 — 1848), by Louise Phelps Kellogg. WMH. IH, 4. June 1920, p. 397 — ^412, The Trails of Northern—, by James H. McManus. WMH. IV, 2. December 1920. p. 125—139. Early Life in Southern—, by David F. Sayre. WMH. Ill, 4. June 1920, p. 420 — 427. Woman Suffrage. History of the— Movement in Missouri, by May Semple Scott. MoHR. XIV, 3—4. April— July, 1920, p. 281—384. DOCUMENTS FROM OUR ARCHIVES CORRESPONDENCE OF BISHOP DU BOURG WITH PROPAGANDA Before continuing the regular series of the correspondence ex- changed between Bishop Du Bourg and the Congregation of Propa- ganda, we are inserting here a few letters, copies of which have reached us lately from Rome, that belong to the period already treated in these pages. These letters had either been overlooked by the Roman copyist, or are, for reasons sometimes hard to determine, placed in other Reg- isters than that to which they chronologically belong. To minimize as much as possible the slight disorder thus introduced in the series, we assign to these various letters numbers referring them to their regular place in point of time. Our readers, we trust, will pardon us this dis- order ; but they will be glad to understand, and see, by the results, that the work of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis, of securing at home and abroad the sources of our History, is going on uninter- ruptedly, despite the difficulties of the times. XIII. A. TO CARDINAL LITTA Prefect of Propaganda^ Eminentissimis Patribus Sacrae Congregationis de Propadanda Fide Ludovicus Guil. Du Bourg Episcopus Ludovic. in Foederatis Americae Sep. lis Statibus. 1. Humillime exponit nuper advenisse in superiores hujus Dioe- ceseos partes Rev. D.num Franciscum Celini,- alias Canonicum S.ti Spiritus Romae, nunc sacerdotem Congregationis Missionis, qui cum in illo Hospitali medicam artem didicerit, plurimum in his partibus Religioni prodesset, si sibi a S.ta Sede indulgeretur facultas praedictam artem exercendi, praesertim in agris et oppidis, ubi perdifficile est so- 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda. Scritture Refcrite net Congressi. Cod. 4. America Centrale: Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama. Dal 1818 a tto il 1820. Dociiin. 88. 106 DOCUMENTS 107 lertem medicum invenire, et ubi propter incolarum paupertatem, opta- bile esset ut gratis ministrarentur medicinae consilia. 2. Inter facultates Episcopis missionum concessas, restringuntur ad Catholicos tantuiii dispensationes matrimoniales. Cum vero R.mus Epus Bardensis, ea restrictione retentus, renuisset ad matrimonium duas partes admittere, quarum una erat catholica, secus vero altera, propter interveniens cognationis impedimentum, et de eo Sac. Con- gregationem certiorem fecisset, ab ilia reprehensus est nimiae rigid- itatis, qua factum erat ut ad judicem saecularem, contrahendi causa, se stetissent. Dubium inde oratori oritur, utrum revocata censeri debeat hujusmodi restrictio, quae procul dubio plurimis, iisque gravissimis difficultatibus, viam aperit. Dubium istud, eo potissimum confirmatur, quod nuper separatas facultates receperit orator, dispensandi super impedimento disparitatis citltiis, etiam pro matrimoniis ineundis ; et multo benignius erga Baptizatos procedendum sibi videtur quam erga infideles. Eminentissimis Patribus, cum summa reverentia et submissione se inclinat E.E. S.S. Humillimus et obsequentissimus servus + LuD. GuiL. Epus Ludov.s Sti Ludovici, in agro Missouriano Sup.ris Louisianae. die Junii 7.a 1819. TRANSLATION To Their Eminences the Cardinals of the S. Congregation of Propaganda, Louis William Du Bourg, Bishop of Louisiana, in the United States of America, 1. Most humbly represents that there arrived recently in the Upper portion of this Diocese the Rev. Francis Cellini- formerly Canon of the Holy Ghost, Rome, now priest of the Congregation of the Mis- sion. As this gentleman learned medicine in the hospital of the Holy Ghost, it would be of great benefit to Religion in these parts, if the Holy See would grant him permission to practice that art, especially in country districts and small villages, where it is next to impossible to find a competent physician, and where, owing to the people's pov- erty, it were to be desired that they could get gratuitously medical advice. ^ - Although Bishop Du Bourg always writes the name 'Celini.' the proper spelling is 'Cellini.' On Father Francis Cellini, see Rev. J. Rothensteiner : Chronicles of an Old Missouri Parish, St. Louis, 191 7, p. 14 and foil. 3 The reply of Propaganda, dated December 11, 1819 (See St. L. Cath. Hist. Review, Vol. I, p. 310-31 1) granted the permission requested. How true was the situation here described by Bishop Du Bourg in support of his plea, we learn from a long letter of Father Rosati to Father Baccari, Vicar General of the CM. in Rome, dated May 20, 1821 : "The sick-calls are very fatiguing. They are the province of Father Cellini, who very often restores to the sick bodily 108 DOCUMENTS 2. Among the faculties granted to the missionary Bishops, those concerning matrimonial dispensations contain this restriction: for Catholics only. Now, when the Right Rev. Bishop of Bardstown, act- ing on this restriction, refused to permit matrimony to two parties, one of whom was a Catholic, and the other not, owing to the presence of an impediment of relationship, the S. Congregation, advised of the fact, rebuked him for his excessive rigorism, which was the cause that the said couple went to get married before the judge. From that the petitioner is in doubt whether this restriction should be regarded as suppressed, for it most certainly gives rise to very many and very grave difficulties. This doubt is strenghtened still more by the fact that the petitioner received separate faculties to dispense from the impediment disparitatis culttis, even for marriages not yet contracted, and he is inclined to think that more leniency should be shown to bap- tized persons than to infidels. To the Lords Cardinals is humbly tendered the most profound expression of the respect and submission of Their Eminences' Most humble and obedient servant + Louis Wm. Bishop of Louisiana St. Louis, Territory of Missouri, in Upper Louisiana, June 7, 1819. 1820 XIX. A. TO THE CARD. PREFECT OF PROPAGANDA ^ Eminentissime Praefecte, Praesentium lator est Ill.mus D. Angelus Inglesi Romanus qui post longas peregrinationes Novam Aureliam appulsus, divino nutu se suaque Ecclesiae mancipare cum decrevisset. Sanctum Ludovi- cum se contulit, et post octo mensium probationem per quos admiranda health at the same time as the health of the soul, by means of the remedies which he dispenses gratis. He thereby renders a most important service to these poor people who would be utterly unable to call the Doctor, owing to the ex- orbitant fee of thirty, forty, and even fifty Dollars which they would have to pay if they called him only once from the nearest village" (The nearest Doctor was at St. Genevieve,twenty-four miles from the Barrens). This sad condition of things, partly coped wtih by the permission granted to Father Cellini, revived after his departure from the Seminary; and a few years later. Father Odin, writing to Father Cholleton, V. G., of Lyons, asked him to look for a good physician, who would be willing to settle at the Barrens. ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda. Atti di Congrcs^azione 1822 (June 3) extra Summarium. p. 927. This letter was written from St. Louis, on April 20 (1820), as we learn from the answer of Propaganda given on July 21 of the next year, and published in the Review^ Vol. H, p. 145-147. Father Inglesi, ordained on March 20, 1820, had started, a few days later, for New Orleans, whence he was to sail for Europe. Evidently the letter was intended to reach him before he set out from Louisiana; and no doubt it did, as he did not sail until May, at the earliest. DOCUMENTS 109 praebuit virtutis specimina, seque mihi arctissimo necessitudinis vin- culo devinxit, ad sacerdotium sub titiilo missionis rite promotus est. Quocirca Eminentiae Vestrae dubium proponere velim: = De promovendis advenis ad sacros ordines non satis inter Americanos prae- sules constat, archiepiscopo Baltimorensi aliter a caeteris sentiente. Hie enim juxta Constitutionem Innocentii XII, exigit decern annorum domicilium ; caeteri vero judicant satis esse si se Sacramento adstrin- gant, et nullum sit dubium de eorum manendi voluntate. Communiori sententiae viam aperuit fel. record. Illmus Joan. Carroll Arch. Baltimor. cui subscripsimus fere omnes harum provinciarum Episcopi, duobus rationum momentis nixi : primum est necessitas harum missionum, paupertasque tum ecclesiarum, tum candidatorum quae non sinit eos gravissimis sumptibus per tot annos probationis subjacere. 2.um est quod inter canonicos ordinationis titulos adnumeretur titiilus Missionis, videtur de eo perinde ac de titulis partimonii, bene- ficii ac paupertatis esse judicandum. — Cum igitur obtinuerit regula ut clericus alienae Diocesis possit legitime ordinari ab Episcopo Dioecesis ubi beneficium impetravit, ut Religionis vota nunquam-. . .quidem titulo Missionis dicendum? — Ad haec non parum roboris adjicere censemus, quod praefata Innoc. XII regula ad Catholica tantum regna dirigi videatur, et vix supponi possit eam fuisse tanti Pontificis mentem ut ad loca missionum extenderetur, ubi non sine gravissimis incommodis executioni mandari potest. — De hoc tamen sententiam S.ae Congr.is humiliter praestolamur, supplicantes ut si quid bona fide erravimus, nobis benigne condonet. Aliud est dubium, quod me summis difficultatibus implicavit, et de quo forsan scriptis mentem suam aperire renuet Sac. haec Congre- gatio. Verum ad meae conscientiae pacem satis erit si nullo me vitupe- rio afficiat. — Eminentiam Vestram latere non potest qua prudentia et longanimitate opus sit in administratione Ecclesiae Neo-Aurelianensis, ne forte cum abusus e medio tollere tentet Episcopus, auctoritatem suam contemptui exponat, et omnia evellat ecclesiasticae subordina- tionis et pacis germina. Inter varios autem abusus qui per longa hujus ecclesiae dissidia irrepsere, unus est qui plurimis SS. Pontificum constitutionibus ita adversatur, ut quo pacto silentium de eo servari liceret prorsus nescirem ; satius tamen judicavi in opportuniora temp- ora ipsius correctionem differre, cum mihi constaret banc in praesenti sine evidenti Religionis discrimine mandari non posse. — Liberorum muratorum conventicula adeo in florentissima hac civitate obtinuerunt, ut vix unum inter centum reperias qui iis nomen non dederit. Mos autem sensim invaluit ut mortuorum fratrum feretra in Ecclesiam adsportentur, et inde ad coemeterium. cruce et clero praecedentibus ducentur, societatis insignibus onusta. Huic intolerabili abusui locum dedit ignorantia, ne pejus quid suspicer,Patris Antonii dudum parochiae illius Rectoris, aliorumque ejusdem farinae sacerdotum qui ad haec postrema tempora ipsi in sacro ministerio assistebant. Nuper vero, cum, Deo Optimo favente, tres eximios presbyteros in eam ecclesiam inducere mihi prospere cesserit, repugnantibus illis contra flagrantem banc Ecclesiasticae legis infractionem, persuasi, ut manum ad os admoverent, 110 DOCUMENTS OGulosque clauderent, certo sciens ipsos, si vel verbum proferrent, protinus ejiciendos, sicque spem omnem praescindendam res in melius aliquando convertendi. — Prudenti hac agendi ratione contigit ut sibi generalem existimationem conciliaverint, spesque bona afifulgeat fore ut, remoto praesenti Rectore, possint huic et plurimis aliis malis con- venientem afferre medicinam. De his, caeterisque ad banc Dioecesim attinentibus Rev.dum D. Inglesi audiri velim, quippe qui Dioecesis statum et hominum mentes sagacius exploravit et multa scitu digna docere, aut summopere utilia suggerere pro sua prudentia valet. Hie, postquam Romae prospexerit, consilium iniit per varios Europae partes novas in pauperrimae ipsius missionis subsidium eleemosynas colligere et Novam Aureliam se quan- tocius restituere, ubi alteram Ecclesiam pro catholicis anglicae linguae erigere, me suggerente, statuit. — Postulationes etiam episcoporum hujus americanae Confederationis, de erectione duarum novarum sedium episcopalium Sac. huic Congregationi proferet. — TRANSLATION Your Eminence : — The bearer of this letter is the Illustrious Rev. Angelo Inglesi, who, coming to New Orleans after much travelling, and resolved to devote himself and all his goods to the Church, reported to St. Louis, and after a probation of eight months, during which he gave remark- able marks of virtue, and became attached to me by the closest bonds of friendship, was regularly ordained to the priesthood sub fitulo Missionis. In this regard I wish to submit a doubt to Your Eminence. In the matter of promoting strangers to Sacred Orders, there is no suf- ficient unity of views among the American prelates. The Archbishop of Baltimore follows an opinion different from that of others : for he. according to the Constitution of Innocent XII, requires a domicile of ten years ; all the others think it sufficient that the candidates bind themselves by oath, and that there be no doubt concerning their inten- tion to remain permanently. This common opinion was advocated first by the late Most Rev. John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore, and practically all the Bishops of this country adopted it, basing their view on the following two reasons : first, the necessity of these missions and, second, the poverty of the churches and of the candidates as well, which does not allow the latter to bear the considerable expenses entailed by so many years of probation. The second reason was that, as the titulus Missionis is numbered among the canonical titles of ordination, it would seem that it follows the same rules as the titles of patrimony, benefice, or poverty. Now as the rule is that a cleric of another Diocese may be lawfully ordained by the Bishop of the place where he has obtained a benefice, and that the vows of Religion never- .... [was it not natural] to conclude the 2 A word illegible. DOCUMENTS 111 same about the titulus Missionisf Furthermore we deemed it a strong argument that the aforesaid rule of Innocent XII seems to be laid down only for Catholic countries and that it could scarcely be sup- posed that that great Pontiff had ever in mind to extend this rule to the missionary countries, where it can be observed only with the greatest difficulty. However, we shall on this point wait humbly for the decision of the S. Congregation, and beseech it to pardon us if we made a mistake in good faith.^ There is another doubt, which has involved me in very great diffi- culties. Perhaps on this point the S. Congregation will not care to give its opinion in writing;^ but it will be enough for the peace of my conscience if no blame is expressed. Your Eminence is undoubtedly well aware of how much prudence and forbearance is needed in ad- ministering the Church of New Orleans, lest, when the Bishop endeavors to suppress abuses, he expose authority to contempt, and uproot every germ of ecclesiastical subordination and of peace. Now among the abuses which have crept in, thanks to the divisions which have so long troubled this Church, there is one which is so directly in opposition with many Constitutions of the Sovereign Pontiffs, that I do not see how I could keep silence about it. Yet I thought it better to postpone its correction until more opportune times, Avhen it was evident to me that I could not now proceed in the matter without putting certainly in jeopardy the interest of Religion. Such in this flourishing city is the popularity of the lodges of Free Masons, that you could find scarcely one man out of a hundred who does not belong to them. Now there has gradually developed the custom that, when one of the mem- bers of the Society dies, his coffin, covered with the insignia of the Society, is brought to the church, and thence to the cemetery, preceded by the cross and the clergy. The origin of this intolerable abuse is to be ascribed to the ignorance, not to say more, of Father Anthony, who has long been the Rector of this parish, and of other priests of the same ilk, who until recently were his assistants. But now, with the help of God, I have been able to put three excellent priests in that parish ; as these, of course, were loath to countenance this flagrant infraction to the law of the Church, I have told them to say nothing, and not to pretend to see anything, for I know for sure that, should they utter a single word, they could be at once thrown out, and so would all hope or remedying things be nipped in the bud.^ This policy of 3 It will be recalled that the answer of Propaganda was an unqualified refusal to admit the plea set forth here by Bishop Du Bourg. * The Bishop's surmise was right, if we are to judge from the fact that no documents from Propaganda that have been preserved say a word about this matter. 5 All this matter is dealt with at length in one of the letters of Father Mar- tial to his friend Billaud, at the French Embassy in Rome. As Father Martial was one of the "three excellent priests" placed at the Cathedral of New Orleans by Bishop Du Bourg, it cannot be without interest to learn the viewpoint of these priests. Thus he wrote on July 13, 1822: "Lamentations have been fre- quently addressed both by letters and by word of mouth to the virtuous Prelate (Bp. Du Bourg) who, whilst doing justice to the delicacy and true principles of 112 DOCUMENTS prudence has resulted in that they have won the esteeem of all, so that there is hope that, when the present Rector is removed, proper remedy may be applied to this and many other evils. Concerning these matters, and all the others touching this Diocese, I wish that Rev. Fr. Inglesi could be heard, as he is quite thoroughly conversant with the condition of the Diocese and public opinion here, and is able to tell many things worth knowing and to make prudent and most useful suggestions. When he has done in Rome, his inten- tion is to go through the various countries of Europe to collect new alms for helping this most poor mission, then to come back as soon as possible to New Orleans, where he has decided at my suggestion to start a new parish for English speaking Catholics. He will present also to the S. Congregation the petitions of the Bishops of the United States in favor of the erection of two new Episcopal Sees. his priests could not help, however, advising them to continue, in regard to mar- riages, baptisms and burials, what had been practised heretofore, and to follow the crying abuses already established, taking upon himself the responsibility in the matter of Decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs against freemasonry, duelling, concubinage, etc. Yet, despite of all this, conscience does not lose its rights, and very often one asks one'self : Are we building up, or pulling down. Religion in this country? For if, besides winking at dances, theatrical spectacles, dis- regard of fasting and abstinence, we must also bend on matters of discipline on which the decency of exterior worship depends, what will become of our ministry? .... Most of the people die without ever receiving the sacraments, and every single one of them is buried with the greatest pomp and noise, and the Church displays all her funeral luxury. You may not always be certain that the person was baptized, or you may have no doubt whatever but that he, or she, lived notoriously in concubinage. The Legislature permit themselves once in a while to pronounce divorce. The divorced parties marry again, at most before the civil magistrate; but the funerals always go the same way, and the priests are marched out. For usurers as well as for free-masons and apostates, the pomp is the same: Subvcnitc, Snncti Dei; occurite ,angeli, etc.; Non intres in judicium cum scn'o tuo, etc. For prostitute negroes and negresses, all the same. . . The trustees have that income for the Board: the priests are salaried by them, and must go on, even though they are murmuring and conscience protests loudly. Good Father Anthony consents to everything, never refused anything: who would act in opposition to such praiseworthy condescension? Hence he is beloved by everybody: his picture is everywhere, so great is the veneration in which he is held ..." — From the above it is easy to understand how it may have been stated that Father Anthony de Sedella himself was a free- mason— a mere gratuitous assertion, however. The position of Bishop Du Bourg in regard to free-masonry was made infinitely more delicate, difficult and intri- cate by the fact that his own brother was at that time most prominent in Lodge- dom: he it was indeed, if we are correctly informed, who organized the Grand Lodge of New Orleans, and was, for a number of years its Venerable. DOCUMENTS 113 XXVIII. A. TO CARDINAL FONTANA, Prefect of Propaganda^ R.mis et Dilectiss.is Fratribus et CoHegis meis Bardensi, Mauri- castrensi et Cincinnatensi me supplex adjungo ad postulandam denuo erectionem novae Sedis in oppido San-clarensi, vulgo Detroit in agro Michigan cum annexa administratione Agri Northwestensis, et ad pro- ponendos ad eam occupandam — 1° loco Rev.m Benedictum Fenwick, sacerdotem Soc. Jesu benemeritissimum, annorum circiter quadraginta duorum, qui nunc Charlestown Vic. gen. lis et praecipue Pastoris, sub Episcopo, muneribus fungitur. Huic, praeter insignem facundiam, spectatissimas virtutes, et perfectam utriusque idiomatis gallici et anglici, quae in memoratis agris aeque vigent, peritiam, specialiter suffragatur quod in Marylandia, uno ex Americae statibus, natus fuerit et educatus. 2" loco Principem Rnthenum Rev. D. Demetrhim Augustinum de Galitsin, sac. Cong.i, ut puto, nimis notum, quam ut in commendandi ejus virtutibus, sacrificiis et copiosa eruditione necesse sit immorari. Is, credo, quinquagesimum annum vix excedit. — In utrumvis horum ceci- derit S. Cong.is electio, certo scientes utrumque totis viribus Episco- patui repugnaturum, ut evitentur fastidiosae et periculosae [morae] necessarium censemus ut Brevi Electionis adjungatur Mandatum Apos- tolicum. In conferenda caeteris sacra ordinatione, in posterum inhaerebo tenori Constit.is SS. DD. N. P. Innoc. XII. — Ut secus facerem me hactenus moverat exemplum venerandi Arch.i Baltimorensis D. Joannis Carroll, aliorumque Americae Antistitum, qui, re ad trutinam vocata, et coram optimae notae theologis mature discussa indicarunt, Americae et Asiae missionibus applicandam non esse dictam Constitutionem, eo potissimum fundamento nixi, quod cum ex una parte tribus canonicis titidis Patrimonii, Beneficii et Paupertatis additus subinde quartus fuerit, nempe titidus Missionis, idem de isto judicandum censebant quod de caeteris potestatem exteros, saltem transmarinos, clericos ordinandi. — Ex altera vero parte, quod summa in his partibus opera- riorum inopia, evidens Religionis utilitas, et parvissimum, aut certe nullum, detrimentum quod ex paucis hujusmodi ordnationibus patie- bantur Europeanae Ecclesiae, fortissimam gignebant praesumptionem, consensus propriontm Episcoporum. — Quidquid sit, et licet vere&r ne scrupulosa legis observatio multis gravissimisque incommodis missio- nes nostras subjiciat, oraculo S.anctae Sedis firmiter obtemperabo. Accepi saecularisationem P. Francisci Em.lis Maynez et matrimo- niales dispensationes quas solicitaveram, pro quibus amplissimas Sac- crae Congr.ni refero gratias. Et Deum O. M. pro sospitate et longa 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda. Scritture Referitc nci Congressi. Cod. VII. America Centrale: Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama. 1821-1822. — This is the continuation of Letter XXVIII, of which we had only a summary, Vol. II, p. 148-150. 114 DOCUMENTS incolumitate Eminentiae Vestrae indesinenter deprecans, in amplexu sacrae purpurae me cum debita humilitate profiteer Eminentiae Vestrae Novae Aureliae die Febr. 8.a 1822 Obsequentissimum et addictiss.um famulum LUD. GUIL. DU BOURG Ep. Neo.-Aurel. Eminentissimo Card.li Fontana Praefecto S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide. TRANSLATION I unite with my Right Rev. Brothers and Colleagues the Bishops of Bardstown, Mauricastrum and Cincinnati, in humbly beseeching once more the erection of a new See in the town of St. Clair (Detroit), in the Territory of Michigan, to which should be added the administra- tion of the Northzvest Territory; and likewise in proposing for that See: In the first place, the Rev. Benedict Fenwick, S.J., a priest of great merit, about forty-two years old, who at present is Vicar General and Rector of Charleston, under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of that place. Besides his great eloquence, his uncommon virtues, and his perfect command of the two languages, French and English, spoken in the above-mentioned Territories, he has specially in his favor the fact that he was born and educated in Maryland, one of the States of Am- erica ; As second choice, the Russian Prince Rev. Demetrius Augustine de Galitzin, too well known, I think, to the S. Congregation to dispense me to expatiate on his virtues, the sacrifices he has made, and his great erudition. So far as I know, he is scarcely over fifty. We know for sure that, whichever of the two is selected by the S. Congregation, he will resist strenuously his elevation to the Episco- pate ; we are, therefore, of opinion that, in order to avoid fastidious and dangerous delays, the Brief of Election should be accompanied by a Mandatum Apostolicuui. In conferring sacred Orders ^ I shall henceforth conform to the prescriptions of the Constitution of His Holiness Pope Innocent XII. Heretofore I did otherwise, after the example of the venerable Arch- bishop of Baltimore, Most Rev. John Carroll, and of the other Amer- ican Prelates, who, after a thorough study and discussion of the matter before theologians of note, concluded that the said Constitution did not apply to America and Asia. What led them to this view was prin- cipally the fact that when to the three canonical titles of Patriiuonv, 2 This whole paragraph makes once more reference to the canonical ques- tion treated in the letter of April 20, 1820 (above), and is an answer to the reply of Card. Fontana on the Subject (See St. L. Cath. Hist. Review, Vol. II, p. 14S-147). DOCUMENTS 115 Benefice and Poverty, a fourth was added, namely the title of Mission, they thought that this title, just like the other three, implied for them the faculty of ordaining alien clerics, at least from overseas. On the other hand, the extreme scarcity of laborers here in this country, the evident utility to Religion, and the very little, if any, detriment caused to the Churches of Europe by these ordinations, which are not frequent, contributed powerfully to presume the consent of the Bishops of iUch candidates. However this may be, and although I am not without mis- givings that the scrupulous observance of the law may be the occasion of many and very grave inconveniences for our missions, I shall abide unswervingly by the pronouncement of the Holy See. I have received the secularization papers of Father Francis Em. Maynez, and the matrimonial dispensations I had solicited ; for these I wish to extend profuse thanks to the S. Congregation. Praying Al- mighty God unceasingly to keep Your Eminece in good health and to spare you a long time, I kiss the sacred purple and with the proper sentiments of humility sign myself Your Eminence's Most respectful and devoted Servant LOUIS WM. DU BOURG, Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, February 8, 1822. To His Eminence Card. Fontana, Prefect of the S. Congregation of Propaganda. XXX. A. TO THE CARD. PREFECT OF PROPAGANDA^ Eminentissime Praefecte, Etsi jam pluries Sacram Congr.m importunis forsan expostula- tionibus lacessiverim. ne in erigenda nova Sede pro Superiori Louisiana praecipiter ageret, quiescere non potest mens mea quin denuo idem argumentum refricem, donee certior fiam preces meas benignius accep- tas esse. Non parva siquidem res est de qua agitur, nihil certe minus quam tota subversio religiosi aedificii quod tanto cum labore in his regionibus coepit assurgere. Jam quippe notum feci Sacrae Congr. 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda. Att{ di Congreg,iazionc. 1823, p. 239. — There is reason to believe that, even though this letter bears the date, Octo- ber I, it is the same as mentioned by Bishop Du Bourg writing to Father Rosati. from St. Louis, on September 11 : "I have written again to stop the division of the Diocese, as premature. My letter is a very strong plea. It is the fruit of the most serious reflections : and my soul is much more quiet since I wrote it. A Coadjutor is, and will be for a long time, the only thing we need. Fortun- ately, even in case the division were already made, I am sure that Father B. would not accept the appointment." If this surmise as to the identity of the letter be founded, then we should conclude that the prelate gave himself some more time for reflection, since he decided to send his plea only three weeks after composing it. 116 DOCUMENTS talem esse in iis rerum omnium inopiam, ut ne vel una parochia uni sacerdoti sustentando sufficiat, et ut Episcopus sibi, suoque clero et seminario, ab inferioris Louisianae eleemosynis praecipue annonam hactenus traxerit. Quod si scindatur spirituale illud vinculum quo ambae partes sub uno eodemque Pastore nectuntur planum est protinus cessatura subsidia, et deficiente pane, tum Episcopum, turn inferiores ministros alio pro alimoniis se recepturos. — His, in diversis episto- lis latius immoratus sum, et fateor mihi admirationem facere quod Sacra Congr.o ne verbo quidem tam validam objectionem removere aut solvere tentaverit, praesertim cum ea semper mens Ecclesiae fuerit ut nunquam erigeretur Sedes Episcopalis, priusquam aliquo saltem modo Episcopali mensae provisum fuisset. Addidi etiam, quod, si differatur divisio, spes est bene fundata fore ut, decursu temporis, pos- sessiones quas in Statu Missouriensi ad mensam episcopalem acquisivi. quaeque hactenus exiguum valde proventum afferunt, ita fructiferas facere possin, ut novae Sedis sustentationi sufftciant. Interim vero toti Louisianae unum Episcopum abunde fore, si Coadjutorem laboris et sollicitudinis obtineat, quem nescio cur ipsi denegandum, cum aliis Epis- copis, hujusmodi opis minus indigis, promptius fuerit concessa. 2. be his, ut sibi melius placuerit, statuet Sacra Congregatio. Quod ad me spectat, ita persuasum habeo praefatam divisionem, in praesenti ren^m conditione, Religionis exitio versuram, ut consensum quem jam in id dederam penitus nunc revocem, paratus etiam pro totius jurisdictionis meae abdicatione apud Sanctam Sedeni postulare potiusquam praedictae Sedis erectioni manum utcumque praebere. Quam sane mentis meae determinationem confido non esse ambitioni aut pervicaciae tribuendam. Si solum considerare velit Sacra Congre- gatio nedum aliquid utilitatis mihi ex conservatione superioris Louisi- anae proveniat, nihil me ex ea nisi laboris et solicitudinis incrementum recipere, sed me urget Religionis utilitas, de qua, ut opinor, optima mihi subest opportunitas judicandi. His mature perpensis spero Sa- cram Cong., posthabita ad praesens proposita divisione, (salva semper institutione novae Sedis pro Alabama et Floridensi Agro) de Coadju- tore mihi quamprimum concedendo nunc solum cogitaturam. 3. Ad munus hoc implendum jam aetate nimis provectus, viribus- que fractus Rev. D. Sibourd. Quod D. Rossetti Mediolanensem iterata jam vice mihi ad Episcopatum proposuerit Sacra Congr., satis arguit ipsi minus notum fuisse hunc sacerdotem, Praeterquam enim ita cor- pore deformis est, ut ipsius aspectus risum Americanis moveret. pro- funda tum humanarum, tum divinarum literarum inscitia laborat, gallici et angli Idiomatum aeque rudis. - Sed quod pejus est, jam duobus retro annis, summo omnium nostrum dolore et molestia in vesaniam i)enitus actus est, se Regem Angliae sibi fingens, pudoris aeque ac Religionis aeque oblitus. Tandem post annum integnmi in hoc deplorabili statu exactum, mente partim recuperata, in patriam regredi voluit, ubi eum nunc incolumem appulisse confido. LUD. GuiL. Ep. Neo-Aurel. S. Ludovici in Statu Missouriano, Octob. 1. An. 1822. DOCUMExNTS 117 TRANSLATION Your Eminence: — Repeatedly I have bothered the S. Congregation with my import- tunate requests against precipitation on its part in the erection of a new Diocese in Upper Louisiana. Nevertheless my mind will not be at rest, unless I rehash once more the same plea, and until I have the certainty that my prayers are kindly heeded. The matter at stake is, indeed, of the greatest importance, as it entails no less than the com- plete downfall of the religious edifice which has begun to rise in that territory at the cost of so much labor. I have already told the S. Con- gregation that there is such a lack of everything, that not one parish can afford maintenance to a single priest, and that the Bishop has, thus far, drawn his support, and that of his priests and his Seminary, mainly from the offerings of Lower Louisiana. Should the spiritual bond which unites both parts under one and the same Pastor be severed, at once clearly the means of support will cease to be forthcoming; and for sheer lack of bread, the Bishop and the clergy will have to go else- where to get their support. I have dwelt at some length on this con- sideration in various letters ; and I must say that I wonder why the S. Congregation did not bring forward a single word to remove or solve such a strong objection; indeed I am wondering all the more, because the policy of the Church has always been never to create an Episcopal See before some provision at least was made for the Bishop's maintenance. I added, moreover, that, if the division were postponed, there was a well-founded hope that, in the course of time, the proper- ties which I have bought in Missouri for the Bishop's maintenance, and which hitherto have yielded only a very small income, might be made to bring revenues sufficient for the support of the new See. Mean- while, one Bishop is enough for the whole of Louisiana, if he can have a Coadjutor to help him in his labors and solicitude : why this help should be denied him, whilst it has been readily given to others less in need than he, I am at a loss to realize. 2. This affair the S. Congregation will settle as it pleases. As to me, I am so thoroughly convinced that this division at present, will turn out to the detriment of Religion, that I revoke absolutely the consent, I had given to it, and am ready to ask the Holy See to accept my resignation from all my jurisdiction, rather than to lend a hand in any way whatever to the erection of the intended new See. I trust that this determination on my part shall not be attributed to ambition or stubbornness. For if the S. Congregation but adverts to the fact, that my keeping Upper Louisiana, far from being to me of any kind of help, is, on the contrary, only a source of trouble and solicitude, it will understand that I am moved by no other motive than the good of Religion, which I am, I think, in an excellent position to appreciate. I hope that the S. Congregation, after mature reflection, will set aside the division now proposed (not, however, the creation of a new See for Alabama and the territory of Florida), and think only of giving me as soon as possible a Coadjutor. 118 , DOCUMENTS 3. To discharge this office, the Rev. Mr. Sibourd is now too old and impotent. As to Father Rossetti, from Milan, the fact that the S. Congregation has twice already proposed him to me as Coadjutor, is clear enough evidence that this priest is very little known to it. For, besides being disgraced by a bodily deformity that would make the mere sight of him an object of ridicule to our Americans, he is woefully devoid of all culture either profane or ecclesiastical, and incapable to speak either French or English. But there is still worse : two years ago, to the extreme sorrow and annoyance of us all, he be- came completely insane, believing he was the King of England, and forgetful of all rules of decency and Religion. Finally, after a whole year spent in this deplorable condition, as he partly recovered his mind, he wished to go back to his native country, where I trust he must, at the time of this writing, have arrived safely. + LOUIS WM. Bp. of New Orl. St. Loius, Mo., October 1, 1822. With this letter we resume the regular chronological order of this correspondence. XXXII TO FR. P. BORGNA, C. M. Assistant at the Cathedral, Nezv Orleans} Washington, le 27 F^v. 1823. Je viens de recevoir, Mon cher Ami, votre lettre du 21 Janvier. J'approuve votre voyage : mais ne venez pas me chercher ici, ou je ne serai plus. Je vous donne de loin ma benediction — partez en droiture, s'il est possible, pour Livourne, pour eviter les f raix ; voici les avis c|ue j'ai a vous donner. 1° Pour votre ame n'oubliez pas vos pratiques spirituelles, et in omnibus exhihe te sicut Dei mimstrum. 2° Dans I'int^ret de la Mission, voyagez incognito, autant que possible, point de quetes publiques. 3° Ne nous menez aucun pretre ; si ce n'est deux ou trois bons Missionnaires de votre Congregation, capables de relever Mr. Rosati. Vouz savez les qualites qu'ils doivent avoir : une grande douceur sur tout, point de rigorisme, et quelque chose d'engageant dans leurs ma- nieres. 1 Strictly speaking, this letter, as is clear from the subscription, does not belong to the Correspondence of Bishop Du Bourg with Propaganda. However its finds naturally its place here, as Father Borgna — though he did not go to Europe for that purpose — was to be the agent and spokesman of the Bishop with the S. Congregation, and he was directed to leave at least a copy of this letter with the Cardinal Prefect. He indeed left the original, which is now in the Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Refcrite nei Congressi. Codice 8. America Centralc. Dal Canada all Istmo di Panama. Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. DOCUMENTS 119 4° Faites connoitre au Card. Prefet par quels artifices ce mal- heureux Inglesi m'a s^duit moi, Mr. De Andreis et tous ceux, pretres ou laiques, qui lont connu ici. Dites que je reconnois mon erreur et la deplore; et que telle est la confusion et la dou eur ou cette triste d^couverte me plonge, que j'ai ^t^ tent^ plusieurs fois de solliciter de Sa Saintet^ la permission de me retirer pour pleurer cette faute ; que le seule crainte de voir mon Diocese perdu par cette demande m a re- tenu: mais que si Son Eminence juge, convenable de me decharger d'une place, dont je me suis rendu indigne par une si haute imprudence, ie suis pret a me d^mettre, et je lui en aurai la plus vive reconnoissance. Qui que ce soit qui vous parle cette triste affaire, ne craignez pas de desavouer ce malheureux imposteur, et de peindre la desolation ou il me plonge. ^. , , 5° Au milieu de ces grands sujets d'affliction, Dieu me manage des consolations extraordinaires, qui me font croire que mes fautes ont trouve grace devan lui, a cause de ma bonne intention. N en parlez a personne a la Louisiane, ni et Europe, except^ a votre Sup^rieur et au Card Prefet— La premiere est le succt^s de mes d-marches aupr^s du Gouvernement Am^ricain, pour I'Etablissement d une Mission in- dienne a Council Bluff, ou se trouve une garnison en grande partie catholique.— Le Gouvernement accorde $800 par an pour quatre Mis- sionaires, et il payera les % des fraix d'etablissement ainsi que de I'dducation des jeunes Indiens.— J'avois pens6 a donner cette Mission a Votre Compagnie, mais elle est et sera longtemps trop peu nom- breuse pour s'en charger. Les J^suites vont la prendre : ils me donnent a cet effet deux excellens Pretres et deux fr^res cat^chistes. Council Bluff est a peu pres a 1000 milles de I'embouchure du Missouri. Les Missionaires partiront sous deux ou trois semaines. — La seconde, qui a trait a I'Etablissement Episcopal a la N.lle Orleans, est la cession que viennent de me faire les dames Ursulines de cette ViUe de leur Convent Eglise et dependances, dont j 'aurai possession aussitot qu elles seront transferees.— J'ai obtenu a cet effet du Gouvernement main levee de touies ses pretentions sur le terrain de cet Etablissement. Vous sentez tous les avantages qu cette collocation donnera a I'Kveque. L'Eglise seule, qui, et abbatant toutes les cloisons et murs dont elle partagee, sera un grand vaisseau, lui sera d'une ressource infinie. — La grande maison offre tous les logemens necessaires pour College, Se- minaire, etc. Et vous imaginez bien que dans mes plans sur cet o]):ct, c'est sur votre Congregation que je fonde mes esperances. Voila par consequent pour elle magnum ostium apertum. — J'ai senti des lors la necessite de la renforcer, par tous les moyens, de bons sujets, capables de tout et en cela j'ai eu un succes qui passe toutes mes esperances et c'est la ma troisieme consolation. J'ai lieu de croire qu'avant ^six mois elle recevra une recrue de 5 ou 6 sujets au moins, peut-etre dix, presque tous formes, possedant bien I'anglois et le f rangois ; et ayant fait une partie de leur Theologie. La Providence m'a fait arriver ici pour y decouvrir une mine. Et afin que ceci ne soit pas une^ enigme pour vous, et pour les Superieurs, voici tout uniment ce que c'est. Les Jesuites se trouvant oberes d'une dette enorme qui les oblige a arreter 120 DOCUMENTS toute d^pense, ont r^solu de dissoudre leur Noviciat, compost de sept sujets flamands, dont plusieurs d'un grand m^rite; ils m'ont pro- pose de me charger de ceux, qui, dans rimpossibilit^ d'entrer dans leur Soci^t^, voudraient s'engager dans la votre. Ils se chargent de payer la d^pense de leut transport. J'irai demain ou apr^s visiter le Noviciat, et faire choix de 3 ou 4 des meilleurs. II y a dans un autre quartier un Pretre de cinquante ans, plein de talent et d'exp^rience dans la direc- tion et I'enseignement, qui m'a communique son desir d'entrer dans votre soci^te avec deux ou quatre excellens jeunes eccl^siastiques formes par lui a la vertu et aux sciences, tous avanc6s dans leur Th6o- logie. Ceci n'est pas encore aussi assure que I'autre ; mais je crois qu'il aura lieu. — Enfin quelques bons sujets, de mon Diocese, soit Pretres, soit S^minaristes outre ceux qui s'en sont d^ja ouverts a M.r Rosati, sont probablement prets a se r<^unir. Ces details convaincront vos Su- perieurs de Timportance de cet Etablissement, et de la n^cessit^ de faire un dernier sacrifice et hommes de m^rite pour le consolider. 6° Priez votre Sup^rieur de vous donner communication des let- tres que je lui ai fait passer pour la Propagande, avec priere d'en soigner et d'en presser les demandes. Une d'elles est la suspension de la divi- sion du Diocese. Vous savez aussi bien que moi que le diviser au- jourd'hui seroit d^truire au moins la partie Sup^rieure. J'ai demand^ 3 ans pour consentir a cette division. II ne vous. sera pas difficile de faire comprendre au Card.l Pr^fet, la necessity d'obtemp^rer a cette demande, ou il est bien Evident que loin d'avoir un int^ret personnel, je ne peux avoir qu'un surcroit de tres vives solicitudes. En tout 6tat de cause, ce seroit a la N.lle Orleans que je me fixerai comme le chef- lieu du Diocese, et le titre de mon Si^ge. On demandera peut-etre pourquoi je ne I'ai pas fait plutot. Vous en savez bien les raisons, et Dieu a permis que ces raisons existassent pour me mettre dans le cas d'aller preparer pour le Missouri et les quartiers Sup^rieurs la voie a I'dtablissement d'un Siege Episcopal, qui sans cela n'auroit jamais pu s'y dtablir, et au d6faut duquel la Religion auroit infailliblement p^ri dans cet immense quartier, lequel offre une si vaste et si int^ressante perspective a I'imagination meme la moins ardente. — Ma seconde de- mande etoit qu'on me donnat M.r Rosati pour Coadjuteur, en le con- tinuant chef de votre Compagnie jusq a ce qu'il put etre dignement remplace et cette quality. Le Diocese ne pouvant etre divis^ de long- temps, vous sentez par experience que j'ai absolument besoin d'un Coadjuteur dans I'intervalle, car I'absence de I'Eveque est le plus grand des maux sur I'un comme sur I'autre point et il ne pent etre a la fois sur les deux. Mon Coadjuteur rdsideroit au Seminaire, et d'oti il iroit de tems a autre visiter St. Louis et les autres paroisses. Si a r^poque ou tout sera pret pour r^rection du Siege a St. Louis, on veut y nommer M.r Rosati, je ne m'y opposerai pas certainement — apres tout si Ton craint de lui donner le titre de Coadjuteur, qu'on le fasse Eveque in partibus, et mon Grand Vicaire pour toute la Haute Loui- siane comme on a fait derni^rement pour I'eveque de Quebec. — Tra- vaillez aussi a cela. — Enfin ma troisi^me demande ^toit que la Propa- gande pourvfit a la dotation du Si^ge de la N. Orl. en faisant \in regie- DOCUMENTS 121 ment motive, pour obliger les Pretres employes dans le saint Ministere a payer a I'Eveque la dime de leurs revenus fixes et casuels, sauf le cas d'impossibili^ dont TE-veque seroit le juge. Vous savez que TEveque n'a absolument rien, que ce qu'il plait a nos bonnes Ursulines de lui donner, chose tres pr^caire et tres insuffisante pour ses pressans besoins, et pour ses charges multipli^es, pendant que la plupart des pretres jouissent d'un bon revenu. Dans ce plan de taxation d'un dixieme, chacun payeroit en proportion de ses moyens. II en est peu qui ne pus- sent facilement en ^conomiser un Dixieme. J'avois encore demande qu'on engageat les Ursulines a c^der leur Couvent a I'Eveque a I'^poque de leur translation. Mais elles ont pr^venu d'elles-memes cette de- mande. Je viens de recevoir I'acte de cette donation pour moi et mes successeurs, sign6 de toutes les religieuses vocales sans exception — P^n^trez-vous bien de tous les articles de cette lettre. Traduisez-la en Italien, pour la communiquer a qui de droit, et ne n^gligez aucune de- marche pour obtenir tout ce que je demande. 1° 3, au moins 2 Pretres de votre Congregation. 2° Suspension de la division de mon Diocese. 3° Nomination de M.r R. pour mon Coadjuteur, au moins pour mon grand Vicaire pour la partie sup^rieure du Diocese avec un titre Epis- copal in partibus. 4° R^glement pour la taxation d'un dixieme sur tous les revenus provenans du saint Ministere pour la Mense Episcopale de la N'lle Orleans. Faites — vous aider en tout cela par votre respectable Superieur, que je remercie des avis qu'il m'a donnas sur M.r Inglesi, et le renvoi d ucorps du Saint Simpliciiis Martyr. Malheureusement le batiment qui I'apportoit a et^ pris par des Corsaires et men^ a Porto- Rico. J'^crirai pour recouvrer cette sainte Relique. 5° Je viens d'avoir avis de Mr. Sibourd que Mr. Charles Devr. Rome de la Nouv. Orleans venoit d'^pouser sa niece Marie Therese Vion, sur une permission de la legislature, et qu'il n'avoit pas declare cette circonstance au curd (le P. Antoine), qui les a mari^s sans en avoir connoissance. Tachez d'obtenir dispense, ou meme au besoin sanationem in radice : car le manage est indissoluble au civil. Je compte absolument, mon cher ami, sur votre retour pour I'au- tomne, si Dieu vous conserve. Ce seroit manquer a tous vos devoirs que de nous faire faux bond, et vous auriez sujet de craindre d'avoir a en rendre un compte serieux au tribunal de Dieu ; car autant les suites de votre d-marche peuvent etre favorables a la Religion, autant votre defection lui seroit funeste. 6° Veuillez exposer aussi que les mariages entre Cousins ger- mains etant tres frequens dans ce Diocese, je suis presque a bout des cas pour lesquels j'ai la faculte de dispenser. Demandez en consequence une extension de cette faculte pour cent cas, si vous pouvez I'obtenir — au moins pour cinquante, qui seront bientot uses. Je repute que vous devez eviter de vous charger d'aucun autre sujet que les 2 on 3 ci des- sus designes pour eviter le frais car je suis fort en dette. 7° Et k propos de cela, informez S. E. le Cardinal Consalvi que j'ai reQu les mille ecus qu'il a charge Mr. Pointer Vic Apost. de Lon- dres de me faire passer; mais que je supplie instamment S. E. de m'envoyer par la meme voye les autres trois mille ecus, fesant I'appoint 122 DOCUMENTS de 4,000 que Sa Saintet^ a eu la bont(5 de m'accorder, et sur lesquels j'ai dii compter pour me lib^rer. J'ai eu I'honneur de lui en ^crire mais veuillez en presser I'execution. Car le terme de mes engagemens s'ap- proche. Je n' ai que jusqu'au mois d'Octobre de cette ann^e. II est done urgent de faire compter cette somme sans d^lai. Elle est destin^e a parf aire le payement des 2 f ermes de Florissant et de la Riviere des Peres, sur lesquelles doit reposer une grande partie de la mense Epis- copale de St. Louis. Je ne demande rien de cela pour le Si^ge qui doit me rester. Vous pouvez vous figurer les d^penses que j'ai deja fait pour cette partie sup. de mon Diocese, soit au S^minaire ou a St. Louis. Soyez extremement prudent dans vos communications. Mais n'ayez aucune reserve pour S.E. leCard Pr^f^t et pour votre Superieur. Donnez-leur a chacun copie en Italien de toute cette lettre, et si Son Em. vous demande I'original, remettez le entre ses mains. Allez vous prosterner en mon nom aux pi^s de Sa Saintet^, priez- le de me pardonner mes fautes, qui ont 6te I'effet de la surprise. Re- merciez le de ses bont^s pour moi et demandez lui Sa benediction pour moi et mon troupeau. Je vous donne la mienne de tout mon coeur, Mon tr^s cher ami, et je prie Dieu, qu'il envoye son ange pour vous accompagner eiintem et redeunttem. ■^ L. GUiL. Ez\ de la Noiiv. Orleans. Tachez de faire, sans d^penses, una gran raccolta de Crocifissi, Immagini et corone. Je crois qu'il sera tres sage de prendre un passe- port am^ricain. Je vous recommanderois aussi de revenir par New York dans la crainte des Pirates, quoique ce soit une augmentation de d^penses d'au moins 100 gourdes par personne. Mais le danger est trop inqui^tant pour que cette d^pense doive arr^ter pour s'y sous- traire, dussiez-vous vous rendre a Philad. par de steamboat, de la par la diligence a Wheeling, de la par steamboat a Louisville oh vous en trouverez un pour Ste. Genevieve. Je presume que vous serez bien aise d'emmener vos Mess, au S^minaire. J'approuve votre remplacement par Mr. Acquaroni jusqu'a votre retour. J'ai ecrit pour retirer Mr. Pottini au Seminaire, il y a d^ja au moins 15 jours; et j'ai pri^ Mr. R. d'envoyer Mr. Rosti a sa place. Sous peu j'aurai quelques pretres de plus pour renforcer les postes. Priez pour moi, mon ami Mon ame est plong^e dans I'amertume : mais mon courage se soutient. Dieu a permis mes fautes pour m'humi- lier. Que son Saint nom soit h6ni. S'il vut m'envoyer de nouvelles afflictions, aunquelles je m'attens, demandez-lui de soutenir en propor- tion mon courage et ma resignation. Mes compliments affectueux a vos chers Collegues. Je vous r^itere I'assurance de mon resp.x et bien tendre attache- ment. •f- L. GUIL. Ev . de la Nouv. Orleans. Ayez grand soin de cette lettre. Je crains vos distractions. Gardez- la sous clef, et ne manquez pas de I'emporter avec vous dans un porte- feuille. DOCUMENTS 123 TRANSLATION Washington, February 27, 1823. I have just received, my Dear Friend, your letter of January 21. I approve of your journey; but do not come to look for me here, where I shall not be any more. I give you my blessing from afar. Go straightway, if you can, to Leghorn, in order to avoid expenses. Here is the advice I have to give you. 1. For your soul, do not forget your spiritual exercises, et in omnibus exhihe te sicut Dei ministnim - 2. In the interest of the Mission, travel incognito, as much as you can ; no public collections. 3. Bring us not priests except two or three good missionaries of your Congregation, capable to relieve Father Rosati. You know the qualifications they must have: above all a great mansuetude; no rigor- ism, and something attractive in their manners. 4. Make known to the Card. Prefect by what artifices the notor- ious Inglesi magnetized me, and Father De Andreis and all, both priests and lay people, who knew him here. Say that I acknowledge my mistake and deplore it ^ ; and that such is the confusion and the sorrow into which this sad disclosure has plunged me, that I have been several times tempted to beseech His Holiness permission to retire in order that I may bewail this fault ; that the sole fear to see my Diocese lost by that request prevented me ; but that if His Eminence deems it fit to relieve me of a place, of which I made myself unworthy by such a great imprudence, I am ready to resign, and will be most thankful to him. Whoever speaks to you of this sad affair, have no hesitation to disown the wretched impostor, and to depict the sorrow wherein he has plunged me. 5. In the midst of those great subjects of affliction, God has kept in store for me extraordinary consolations, which lead me to believe that my faults have found mercy before Him, on account of my good intention. Do not mention this to anybody in Louisiana, or in Europe, save to your Superior * and the Card. Prefect. — The first is the suc- cess of my instances with the American Government in regard to the establishment of an Indian mission at Council Bluffs, where there is a military post made up mostly of Catholics. The Government grants $800 yearly for four missionaries; and, it will defray two-thirds of the outlay and of the education of the young Indians. It had been my 2 "In all things exhibit yourself as the minister of God," — an adaptation of II Cor. vi, 4. 3 The eyes of Bishop Du Bourg were finally opened upon the true worth of Inglesi at the end of January or the beginning of Fe'bruary 1823. Two letters of his to his brother Louis, at Bordeaux, the first dated February 6, and the second February 10, express his feelings when doubts had become impossible. From the sequel of this letter to Father Borgna, it appears that the communica- tions of Father Baccari, Vicar General of the Congr. of the Mission in Rome, were very instrumental in removing the scales from the prelate's eyes. * Father Baccari, 124 DOCUMENTS intention to give this mission to your Congregation ; but it is and shall be yet for a long time too poor in subjects to be able to take it. The Jesuits are going to take it ^ : they are giving me for this purpose two excellent priests and two lay-brothers to teach catechism. Council Bluffs is situated at about a thousand miles from the mouth of the Missouri river. The missionaries will start in two or three weeks. — The second consolation, which is about the Bishop's establishment in New Orleans, is the donation which the Ursuline nuns of that city have just made to me of their Convent, Church and dependencies, of which I shall enter into possession as soon as they move out. To this effect I have obtained from the Government withdrawal of all its claims upon that property. You may easily realize all the advantages which will accrue to the Bishop from that location. The church alone, which, when all the walls and partitions that divide it are pulled down, will be a spacious building, shall be for him an invaluable asset. The big house affords all the halls necessary for a college. Seminary, etc. And you may well imagine that in my plans about this matter, it is on your Congregation I am building up my hopes. Here is, therefore, for it magnum ostium apertum.^ — Hence I have realized fully how necessary it is to strengthen it, by all means, with good subjects capable of everything; and in this I have been successful beyond my most sanguine hopes: and this is my third cause of consolation. I have good reasons to believe that before six months, it will receive an in- crease of at least five or six, perhaps even ten, subjects, nearly all com- pletely trained, with a good command of English and French, and having read part of their Theology. Divine Providence brought me here to discover a veritable mine. In order that these words may not be a puzzle to you and your Superiors, here is in plain and clear lan- guage what I mean. The Jesuits, being overburdened by an enormous debt which obliges them to stop every expenditure, have determined to dissolve their Noviciate, which is made up of seven Flemish sub- jects,^ some of whom are quite remarkable; and they have proposed to me to take over those, who, unable to join their Society, would be willing to enter your own. They offer to pay transportation expenses. 5 We must conclude from this that the acceptance of the Indian Missions by the Jesuits in the Diocese of Bishop Du Bourg was previous to, and therefore independent from even the first thought of transferring the Noviciate from White Marsh to Florissant. This transfer came as a happy afterthought, virhich preserved for the Order a number of talented and very efficient subjects : we may say it followed soon after the writing of this letter, and probably as a resu.lt of thp visit to White Marsh which the prelate intended to make shortly: the Indian Missions had been accepted already, and the personnel, "two ex- cellent priests and two lay-brothers," apparently already designated. We should not be surprised, though, that the "two excellent priests" and the two brothers designated were no other than those who actually came. Fathers Van Quicken- borne and Timmermans, and Brothers De Meyer and Rysselman; for no doubt but that the closing of White Marsh was an affair decided some time since by Father Neale. ^ A great door opened." I Cor, xvi, 9 . ^ Jodocus Francis Van Asshe. Peter J. Verhaegen, John B. Elet, John B. Smedts, Peter J. De Smet, Felix L. Verreydt De Maillet. DOCUMENTS 125 I am going tomorrow, or the day after, to visit the Noviciate and pick out three or four of the best. There is in another quarter a priest, fifty years old, very talented and having much experience in spiritual di- rection and teaching, who communicated to me his desire to join your Society in company with two or four excellent young ecclesiastics formed by him to virtue and science, all quite well on in their Theo- logy^. This latter project is not yet as well assured as the former; yet I believe that it will be realized. Moreover, a few good subjects of my Diocese, some priests, some others seminarians, besides those who have already broached the matter with Father Rosati, are probably disposed to join also ^. — The above details will convince your Superiors of the importance of this establishment, and of the necessity to make a supreme sacrifice in men of merit to strengthen it. 6. Ask your Superior to communicate to you the letters which 8 Who that priest was is a matter of conjecture. The details given by Bishop Du Bourg do not permit us, however, to go very far afield. The priest in question had "formed to virtue and science" the two or four excellent eccle- siastics mentioned with him are possible recruits for the LazaristCommunity. Now in letters written some time before to Father Rosati, Bisoup Dti Bourg announced the following news: "Two excellent subjects, well on in their theology" (just the expression used in our letter to Borgna), are asking to be transferred to my Diocese and to be received in your Congregation. The one, a nephew of the late Bishop Egan, of Philadelphia, has been raised from early youth in the Seminary of Emmitsburg. . . He proposes another subject, an Irishman... full of humility, talent and knowledge, who is free to chose his own Diocese : his name is Purcell."( December 6, 1822) These two students of Mount St. Mary's are quite well known: the one was Michael D. Egan, who was president of the institution from 1826 to 1828; the other, John Purcell, the future Archbishop of Cincinnati. If Bishop Du Bourg meant to speak of these same young eccle- siastics— and this seems to be the case — we are bidden to look for the priest "fifty years old, very talented and endowed with much experience in spiritual direction and teaching" among those associated with Mount St. Mary's, Emmits- burg. This restricts considerably the field of research, for in 1822 — 1823, the teaching staff of Mount St. Mary's, besides several young men who were at the same time studying theology, included only Father Dubois, the President, and Father Brute. Father Dubois was just sixty and, therefore, is out of the ques- tion. Bishop Du Bourg was very anxious to have Father Brute come west, as we learn from a letter dated St. Louis, July 6, 1822 (Catholic Archives of Am- erica, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Case: Archbishops and Bishops of New Orleans) : "O ! would that I could see you at the head of this great under- taking" (the Indian Mission in Missouri) ! "I had requested Father Anduze to write to you about it. Your reply does not make me lose all hope. That reply was prudent. It was advisable, indeed, that you should wait until 1 were more explicit with you. You will answer now as your heart dictates. We shall, moreover, have occasion to converse os ad os... O God! what a beautiful harvest ! Send us, then, laborers worthy to gather it. I believe you are called to this work, my dearest brother, and, pray God to manifest to you his holy will, and am assured of your fidelity and promptness to fulfill it." We know that Bishop Du Bourg had put Father Brute an his list of desirable candidates for the Coadjutorship. Of course, if our surmise be right, the subject of going west was discussed between the prelate and the professor of Mount St. Mary's during the former's sojourn in Maryland. At any rate none of his expectations of bringing from the East new recruits for the Congregation of the Mission eventually materialized. ^ Among the priests, may be mentioned Fathers Anduze and Michael Portier, as we learn from various letters of Du Bourg to Rosati. 126 DOCUMENTS I sent him for Propaganda ^'\ with the request to take good care, and hasten the consideration of the petitions they contain. One of these is dealing with the suspension of the division of the Diocese. You know as well as I do that dividing it now would spell the ruin of at least the Upper portion. I have requested a delay of three years before I can consent to this division. You will find no difficulty in making the Card. Prefect understand how necessary it is to grant this request, which evidently, far from being inspired by personal interest, means for me only an increase of most grievous cares. At all events New Orleans is the place where I would establish the headquarters of the Diocese, and the title of my See. You may be asked why I did not do it sooner. You know very well my reasons ; and God permitted that these reasons should be in the way to place me in a condition that en- abled me to prepare in Missouri and the Upper quarters the way for the erection of an Episcopal See, which otherwise could never have been established there, and without which Religion would have surely perished in that immense quarter that opens before the most sober imagination the most interesting vista. — My second request was that Father Rosati be given me as Coadjutor, and that at the same time he remain as the head of your company until a worthy substitute may replace him in this office. As the Diocese cannot be divided for yet a long time, you may realize from your own experience that I need absolutely a Coadjutor in the meantime; for the Bishop's absence is the worst evil for the one as well as for the other portion of the Diocese, and he cannot be in both places at the same time. Thus my Coadjutor would reside in the Seminary, and from there would go from time to time to visit St. Louis and the other parishes. If, when everything is ready for the creation of the See of vSt. Louis, they wish to appoint there Father Rosati, I shall certainly make no objection. After all if they are afraid to give him the title of Coadjutor, let them make him Bishop in partihus, and my Vicar General for the whole of Upper Louisiana, as was done recently for the Bishop of Quebec. Work also for that. — Finally my third petition was that Propaganda should provide for the endowment of the See of New Orleans, by making detailed regulations obliging the Priests employed in the holy Ministry to pay to the Bishop the tithe of their revenues, both fixed and even- tual, except in the case of impossibility, of which the Bishop shall be judge. You know that the Bishop has absolutely nothing, save what our good Ursuline nuns are pleased to give him — a most precarious pittance, utterly insufficient for his pressing needs and his manifold burdens , whereas most of the priests enjoy a goodly income. Accord- ing to this plan providing for a tax of one-tenth, each one would con- tribute in proportion with his means. Very few are those who cannot easily save one-tenth of their income. I had also asked that the Ursu- lines be induced to hand over to the Bishop their Convent, when they were to move. But they anticipated this petition. I have just received 10 The letters in question were, as we learn from the explanations given hereafter, those of October i, and of December 6, 1822. DOCUMENTS 127 the Deed of this donation signed by every single one of the nuns having right to vote. Make yourself thoroughly conversant with each one of the articles of this letter. Translate it into Italian, that you may communicate it to mhovi it may concern, and leave no efforts untried to get what I am asking for: 1° Three, or at least two Priests of your Congregation 2° Putting off the Division of my Diocese. 3° Appointment of Father Rosati as my Coadjutor, or at least as my Vicar General for the Upper part of the Diocese with the title of Bishop in partibus. 4° Regulation for a tax of one-tenth on all the revenues accrueing from the holy ministry for the support of the Bishop of New Orleans. Enlist for all this the co-operation of your respectable Superior, whom I thank for the information he gave me about Fr. Inglesi, and for sending the body of St. Simplicius, Martyr. Unfortunately the vessel which brought it was captured by corsairs and taken to Porto-Rico. I shall write to recover this holy Relic. — I have presently received advice from Father Sibourd that Mr. Charles D. Rome, of New Orleans had just married his niece Marie Therese Vion with the permission of the legislature, and that he did not manifest this circumstance to the pastor (Father Anthony), who married them without knowing it. Try to get the dis- pensation, or even, if needs be, the sanatio in radice: for the marriage, before the civil law, is indissoluble. — I reckon absolutely, My Dear Friend, on your coming back for the fall, if God preserves you. To fail us would be a breach of duty, and you would have reason to fear that you have to give a serious account of that before the tribunal of God : for your failure would be as harmful to Religion as the con- sequences of your journey may prove beneficial to it. — 6° Please represent also that marriages between first cousins being very frequent in this Diocese, I have almost exhausted the number of cases for which I was empowered to dispense. Ask, therefore, an extension of this faculty for a hundred cases, if you can obtain it, or at least for fifty, which will be soon exhausted. I repeat that you must avoid accepting any other subjects but the two or three mentioned above, to cut down expenses, for I am deeply in debt. — 7° And in this connection inform His Eminence Card. Consalvi that I received the thousand scudi which he commissioned Mr. Poynter, Vicar Apostolic of London, to forward to me ; but that I beseech earnestly his Eminence to send me through the same channel the other three thousand scudi, completing the 4,000. which His Holiness kindly granted me, and on which I have been reckoning to extricate me from debt. I had the honor of writing to him about it, but please push the speedy execution of this affair. For my notes are coming near to maturity : I have only now until next October. It is urgent, therefore, that this money should be forwarded to me with- out delay. It is destined to complete the payment for the two farms of Florissant and of the River des Peres, on which in great part will rest the support of the Episcopal See of St. Louis. I ask nothing of that for the See which is to remain to me. You may figure out the ex- penses I have already incurred for that Upper portion of my Diocese, either at the Seminary or in St. Louis. 128 DOCUMENTS Be extremely cautious in your communications. But have no reticence with His Eminence the Card. Prefect and your Superior. Give them both a copy in Italian of all this letter, and if His Eminence asks for the original hand it to him. Go and prostrate yourself in my name at the feet of His Holiness ; beg him to pardon me my faults, which were caused by surprise. Thank him for his marks of kindness towards me, and ask his blessing for myself and my flock. I give you my own blessing with all my heart, My very Dear Friend, and pray God to send His holy Angel to accom- pany you euntem et redeuntem. ^^ 4- L. WM. Bp. of New Orleans. Try to get, without expense, una gran recollta de crocefissi, Im- magini e corone?- I think it will be wise for you to get an American passport. I would recommend also that you come back by way of New York, for fear of Pirates, although this may mean an increase of ex- penses of at least one hundred dollars per person. But the danger is so serious that this expense must not stop you, in order that you may be safe, should you have to go to Philadelphia by steamboat, hence to Wheeling by stage, thence again by steamboat to Louisville, where you will find another for Ste. Genevieve. I suppose that you will be glad to take yourself your gentlemen to the Seminary. I approve of Fr. Acquaroni taking your place until you are back ^^ I wrote a fortnight ago, at least, to have Father Potini recalled ^* to the Seminary ; and I asked Fr. Rosati to send Fr. Rosti in his stead. Before long I shall have a few more priests to reinforce the parishes. Pray for me. Dear Friend. My soul is plunged in bitterness ; still I keep up courage. God permitted my faults to humble me : blessed be His Holy Name. If he wishes to send me new afflictions, which I am expecting, ask him to uphold my courage and resignation accord- ingly. My affectionate compliments to your dear colleagues. I renew here the assurance of my respectful and most tender at- tachment, 4- L. wM., Bp. of New Orleans. Take good care of this letter. I am afraid of your distractions. Keep it under lock and key, and do not fail to take it along in a wallet. 1^ "Going and coming back." 12 "A great supply of crucifixes, holy pictures and rosaries." 13 Father J. B. Acquaroni was then temporarily stationed at St. Michael's, La. 1* The letter in question, to Father Rosati, was written from Washington, D. C, on February 6, 1823 : "Few are the letters from La Fourche which do not give me an occasion to regret that I sent Fr. Potini there. This young man lacks decorum and docility, and you would do me a great pleasure if you took him from there and send Fr. Rosti instead Kindly write to him, without mentioning my name, that you request him to come up to the Seminary to make his retreat, that you think it necessary he should come to enjoy the home atmosphere, and that you are sending Fr. Rosti to take his place during his absence." (Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery). DOCUMENTS 129 XXXIII BISHOP DU BOURG TO THE CARD. PREFECT OF PROPAGANDA ' Eminentissime Praefecte, Priusquam ad Dioecesim meam, permittente jam aeris et viarum conditione, iter rursus aggrediar, aequum est ut Em.am V.am de ratio- nibus quae me hue duxerunt doceam, simulque de pluribus negotiis quae ad majorem Dei gloriam hie feHciter concludere mihi datum est, paucis certiorem faciam. 1° Moniales S.tae Ursulae, Novae Aureliae, octoginta et amplius abhinc annis, a Regimine Gallico, cui tunc Louisiana suberat, dono acceperant certam quantitatem soli, in medio Civitatis, in quo subinde munificentia Christianissimi Regis Lud.i XV amplum exstructum est Monasterium. Duobus autem retro annis, syngraphico errore contigit, ut Gubernium Americanum, tertiam circiter hujus possessionis partem tanquam suam vindicaret ; licetque pluries scripto a Monialibus f uisset reclamatum, nullam jurium suorum recognitionem acceperant. Consi- Ho igitur jurisperitorum ad banc generalis Regiminis arcem devenire operae pretium duxi, ut quod litteris expediri non potuerat, vivae vocis argumentis explicare conarer. Est siquidem solum illud tanti valoris ut nihil ad restitutionem ejus procurandam omittendum judicarem. Quod, juvante Deo, mihi optime cessit. 2° Ad haec, cum, amplificata et in dies crescente Neo-Aurelia- nensi civitate, coactae fuissent Moniales sinere ut per clausuram suam duo ducerentur vici publici, quo ita coarctatum evasit Monasterii sep- tum, ut sine magno convenientiae et valetutinis detrimento in eo longius degere, attento illius climatis ardore, magnoque numero familiarum, turn Religiosarum, cum educandarum et ancillarum, vix possent ; ideoque a me veniam postularent aliud Monasterium in apertiori, longe- que salubriori loco aedificandi ; Timens ipse ne, quoniam a priori Gubernio possessionem banc, speciali fini applicandam, gratis accepe- rant, si quando illam desererent, Regimen Americanum eam in integ- rum sibi jure arrogaret, necessarium duxi, priusquam Monialium preci- bus obtemperarem, politici regiminis consensum ad translationem, et aonationis confirmationem solicitare. Quod utrumque ipsis, me pos- tulante, benignissime concessum est. 3° Hoc ubi resciverunt gratae Moniales, propria sponte mihi et successoribus meis in Sede Neo-Aurelianensi dono dederunt aedificia quae nunc occupant, Monasterium sciHcet, cum suis dependentiis, et satis amplam ecclesiam, in meam possessionem deventura statim atque novum, quod jam molitae sunt, Monasterium ingressae fuerint. Haec tandem erit solidissima Sedis Neo-Aurelianensis fundatio, cui si addatur decima pars proventuum omnium Sacerdotalium, de quo jam 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda. Scrittiirc Rcferite nei Congrcssi. Codice 8. America Centrale. Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama. Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. 130 DOCUMENTS in antecedentibus epistolis Sacram Cong.em allocutus sum, nihil amplius deerit quot dignitati et independentiae illius sit necessarium. 4° Ad fovendas catholicas missiones inter numerosas tribus indi- genas, quae juxta oras Missouri fluminis longe lateque vagantur, ob- tinui quoque a Gubernio annuum octingentorum nummorum subsidium cum promissione progressivi augmenti, et addita insinuatione, gratum Regimini fore, si Patres Societatis Jesu missiones illas aggrederentur, quippe cum omnibus notum esset, quam feliciter olim, in variis orbis partibus, in sylvicolarum institutione insudaverint adhuc quod inter Missourii populos tenerrimam superesse eorum memoriam. Notatu certe dignum mihi visum est, quod heterodoxorum Procerum de hac re sententia tam apprime concordet cum judicio SS.mi D.ni N.i qui cum a me, dum Romae essem, audivisset relationem status meae Dioe- ceseos, statim prophetica voce subjunxit : Adjimge iihi Patres Socie- tatis, quorum perutilem in illis Missionibus experieris operant . 5° Divina autem Providentia contigit ut eodem temporis articulo superior Societatis Jesu in Marylandia, numero sociorum et aere alie- no gravissime pressus, serio cogitaret de minuendis quocumque mode provinciae istius oneribus. Statim igitur atque audivit de longinquis illis Missionibus nee non et de politici regiminis voto, mihi obtulit duos e suis Patribus, septemque juniores cum aliquot coadjutoribus, ad eri- gendum circa ripas Missourii Seminarium, in quod illarum cura devoN veret. Scit Em.a V.a quantum per septem annos laboraverim ut Socie- tatem Jesu allicerem, firmissime persuasus me vix alio modo opem un- quam afferre valiturum turn infidelibus sylvicolis, turn numerosissimis illis colonorum turmis, qui ad Missourii ripas ex variis Foederatae Americae partibus indesinenter confluunt. Facile igitur judicabit Em.a V.a gratissimam auribus meis fuisse hujusmodi propositionem. Ad consolidandam vero illam fundationem, nee non ad praecavenda mala quae in posterum ex variis collisionibus oriri possint, necessarium duxi Concordatum cum Societate inire, cujus exemplaria duo nunc Sacrae Congr.is et Patris Generalis judicio remittuntur. Post paucos dies itineri se accingent praedicti Missionarii, quibus Ego ut viam sternam. protinus S.um Ludovicum redibo, inde Novam Aureliam, parvo temporis intervallo, descensurus. Cum summa reverentia me profiteor Em.ae Vestrae Baltimori, martii 29, 1823 Humill. et obseq. famulum + LuD. GuiL. Ep. N<;o Aurel. Em. Cardinali Praefecto Sac. Congr. de Propaganda Fide. TRANSLATION My Lord Cardinal : — Before setting out for my Diocese, now that the weather and the condition of the roads make travelling possible, it is meet that I should set forth the reasons which brought me here, and that I should briefly DOCUMENTS 131 mform Your Eminence of several affairs which I have happily settled here ad majorem Dei gloriam. 1° The Ursulines of New Orleans had been given, over eighty years ago by the French Government, to which Louisiana then be- longed, a tract of land in the midst of the City, on which later on, thanks to the munificence of the Most Christian King, Louis XV, they had built a large Monastery. Two years ago, however, as a conse- quence of a clerical error in the deed, the American Government claimed back one-third of the property. Although several times the nuns entered a reclamation in writing, their claim received no acknowl- edgement. I was advised, therefore, by the lawyers to come to the seat of the Federal government, and thought it my duty to do so, in order to discuss the matter viva voce, since no headway could be made by let- ters. This piece of property, indeed, is so valuable that I deemed that no effort should be spared to have this wrong righted. And, God help- ing, I have been successful. 2° Moreover, as the city of New Orleans is daily growing, the Nuns were forced to let two streets be pierced through their premises ; this so reduced the private grounds of the Monastery, that the Nuns could remain there no longer without great inconvenience and detri- ment to their health, owing to the warm climate, and the numbers of the inmates. Nuns, pupils and maids. They, therefore, asked me to build another Monastery in less cramped and much more healthy quar- ters. However, I was afraid that, as they had been given this prop- erty by a former Government for a special purpose, if they left it, the American Government would claim it all back. For this reason I deemed it necessary, before granting the Nuns' request, to solicit the Government's consent to the transfer and the confirmation of the donation. Both petitions were, at my request, graciously granted. 3° When the Nuns got word of that, in their gratefulness they spontaneously made donation to me and my successors in the See of New Orleans, of the buildings which they now occupy, namely the Monastery with its outbuildings, and quite a large church. I shall enter into possession as soon as they move to the New Monastery, which is already started. This will at last put the See of New Orleans on a most solid footing ; and if, to this is added the tax of ten per cent on all the parochial revenues, of which I spoke in some of my previous letters to the S. Congregation, nothing more will be desired for the dignity and independence of this See. 4° To develop Catholic Missions among the many Indian tribes which roam far and wide along the banks of the Missouri river, I have likewise obtained from the Government an annual subsidy of eight hundred dollars, with promise of an increase in proportion to the development of the work ; and a hint was given me that the Govern- ment would be pleased to see the Fathers of the Society of Jesus take up these missions ; for everybody knows what success in the past rewarded their labors for the civization of the savages in various parts of the world, and that a tender remembrance of them has survived among the Missouri nations. It appeared to me quite a remarkable 132 DOCUMENTS coincidence that the opinion of our Protestant Government men echoes so well that of His Holiness : for, when I was in Rome and described to him the condition of my Diocese, he at once, as moved by the spirit of prophecy, added : "Get the Fathers of the Society ; you will find their work most useful in those Missions." 5° Now, by a stroke of Divine Providence, it happened that just at that time, the Superior of the Society of Jesus in Maryland, over- burdened by the number of his men and by debts, was thinking serious- ly of lightening, by any means, the burden of that Province. No sooner had he heard of these far away Missions, and of the wishes of the Government, than he offered me two of his Fathers, with seven young men and a few lay Brothers, to start on the banks of the Missouri a Seminary, that would take charge of these Missions.- Your Eminence is well, aware of the efforts which I had made for seven years, in order to bring over the Society of Jesus,^ as I was all along firmly convinced that this was for me the only means that could enable me to help not only the infidel Savages, but also the numerous bands of farmers who are unceasingly moving to the banks of the Missouri from various parts of the United States. Your Eminence may then easily realize how pleasant to my ears was this proposal. However, to consolidate this foundation, and forestall all evils which might arise later on from 2 This transaction, which meant so much for the future Diocese of St. Louis, is rehearsed full length in the above-given letter to Father Borgna. Two weeks later Bishop Du Bourg wrote, from Georgetown to his brother Louis.at Bordeaux : "For such an undertaking [the Indian Missions], I needed men having a vocation for this function; and I had almost given up the hope of ever iinding any, when God, in His infinite goodness, brought about one of these incidents of which He alone can calculate and direct the consequences. The Jesuits of whom I am speaking to you had their establishment in Maryland, and finding themselves in extremely straitened circumstances, were on the point of suppressing their No- viciate, when I obtained this pecuniary encouragement from the Government [$20O. a year for each of the four Missionaries who were to work among the Indians]. They seized this occasion, and offered me the whole Noviciate, Mas- ters and Novices, to take them over to Upper Louisiana and start there a nursery of Indian Missionaries. Had 1 been given the choice, I could not have desired anything better. Seven young men, all from Flanders, filled with talent and the spirit of St. Francis Xavier, already well on in their studies, ranging from twenty-two to twenty-seven years of age, with their two excellent Masters and a few brothers: that is what Providence has at last granted me." {Annalcs dc la Propagation dc la Foi, tome I, fasc. 5, p. 38). How the heroic little band "with- out purse and scrip," came on foot from Whitemarsh, Md., to Florissant, and accommodated themselves to the poor and narrow log-house which awaited them, is graphically told in a later letter of the Bishop. The contract with the Rev. Charles Neale, Superior of the Jesuit Mission of Maryland, was signed on March 19, 1823. For the beginnings of the Florissant house, see Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., St. Regis Seminary — First Catholic Indian School, in The Catholic Historical Reviczv, January 1919, p. 453 foil. 3 Already in a letter to Cardinal Fontana, dated February 24, 1821 (Review, Vol. II, p. 136), Bishop Du Bourg remarked: "For some time past I have been thinking, for this paramount work of charity [the Indian missions], of the Fa- thers of the Society of Jesus, and have left no stone unturned in order to secure some of them. In this regard I was greatly aided by His Holiness, who went so far as to write to the Superior General with a view to indorye my wishes. But hitherto our efforts have proved unsuccessful." DOCUMENTS 133 various misunderstandings, I have deemed it necessary to make a Contract with the Society:* herewith are two copies of this Contract, submitted to the judgment of the S. Congregation and of the Father General. These Missionaries are going to set out in a few days. To pave the way for their coming I am going forthwith to St. Louis ; whence, shortly after, I will go down to New Orleans. With the most profound respect I sign myself Your Eminence's Most humble and obedient Servant + Louis Wm., Bp. of New Orl. Baltimore, March 29, 1823. XXXIV PROPAGANDA TO BISHOP DU BOURG ^ No. 29 Illme ac Rme Domine Satis comperta esse arbitror Ampd.ni Tuae magna dissidia, et contentiones, quae Philadelphiae jamdiu excitatae sunt aedituorum causa, ac praesertim contumacis Presbyteri Hogan, qui, spreta Epis- copi autoritate, ejusque censuris, Parochialia munera exercet, et cathe- dralem Ecclesiam, ejecto Episcopo, invasit, quo factum est, ut Summus Pontifex ilium a fidelium communione secreverit. Donee aeditui potestatem, quae Episcoporum est, in Ecclesiis sibi arrogaverint, nun- quam fore sperandum est, ut ordo, et pax reflorescat.Quamobrem Rmus Dnus Conwell Philadelphiensis Episcopus ad tot, ac tantas perturba- tiones vitandas censet, non aliam posse reperiri viam, quam nova aedi- ficanda Ecclesia, quae ab aedituis nullo pacto dependeat. Verum sub- sidia desunt, quibus tam salutare opus perfici possit, neque a Phila- delphiensibus ea quaerenda esse arbitratur, ne aeditui constituantur, qui jus in Ecclesiam sibi vindicent. Quare consilium cepit implorandi pietatem, ac studium aliorum Episcoporum, qui erogatam a Fidelibus sibi subjectis opem ad novam exstruendam Philadelphiae Ecclesiam benigne conferre velint. Cum agatur de domo Dei, reparandisque scandalis, quae Ecclesiam illam misere angunt ; plurimum sanecom- mendanda erit Catholicorum Antistitum sollicitudo, si curam, operam- que suam in re tam sancta sint'praestituri. Quare dum fore confido, ut Ampd.o Tua pro ea, qua fervet, charitate piis Philadelphiae votis libenter obsequi velit, D.O.M. precor, ut eamdem diutissime servet, ac sospitet Ampd.nis Tuae Romae ex Aedibus S. Congnis de Propda Fide Die 19 Aprilis 1823 Uti Frater studiosissimus H. Card, consalvi Pro-Praef. Petrus Caprano Archiep.us Iconiensis Secret. us * The original of this contract, written by Bishop Du Bourg's own hand, and signed by him and by Father Charles Neale, S.J., is in the Archives of the Archdioc. Chancery of St. Louis. 1 Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. 134 DOCUMENTS TRANSLATION Right Reverend Sir: — Your Lordship is, I suppose, well aware of the great troubles, and of the disputes which have been rife for some time back in Phila- delphia," and are due to the Trustees, and, still more, to the contumacy of Father Hogan, who, in defiance of the Bishop's authority and cen- sures, exercises the pastoral ministry in, and has possessed himself of, the Cathedral, from which the Bishop was ejected: all which obliged the Sovereign Pontiflf to excommunicate him. As long as the Trustees arrogate to themselves over the Church the power which belongs to the Bishops, there can be no hope to see order and peace flourish again. For this cause, the Right Rev. Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, thinks that, in order to prevent many and grave disturbances, there can be no other way than to build a new church free from any dependence on Trustees. But the money necessary to carry out this excellent plan is lacking, and the prelate does not deem it expedient to get it from the people of Philadelphia, for fear that a Board of Trustees be con- stituted who would claim rights over the church. He therefore repolved to beseech from the piety and zeal of the other Bishops that the latter ask contributions from the faithful of their Dioceses and kindly for- ward these contributions to him for the building of that new church in Philadelphia. As it is question of the house of God, and of repair- ing the scandals which afflict that Diocese, the Catholic prelates will do a thing most worthy of praise, if they lend their help in behalf of so holy a cause. Trusting, then, that Your Lordship's well known charity will readily fulfil the pious wishes of the Bishop of Phila- delphia, I pray Almighty God, to grant you length of days and health. Your Lordship's Most devoted brother H. Card, consalvi, Pro-Pref. Rome, Palace of the S. Congreg. of Propaganda, April 19, 1823. Peter Caprano, Archbp. of Iconium, Secretary. XXXV PROPAGANDA TO BISHOP DU BOURG^ No. 30 Illme, ac Rme Dne. Adjectum huic meae epistolae Amplitudo Tua accipiet Breve Apostolicum quod Litteris diei 5. Julii me quamprimum ad Te missu- rum promiseram. Cognosces ex eo SSmum Dominum N.rum revocasse, ac abrogasse Litteras Apostolicas diei 13. Augusti 1822, quibus Ala- bamae, et Mississippi Status R. P. D. Joseph© Rosati Electo Episcopo 2 On the Schism of Philadelphia, see John G. Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States, Vol. Ill, p. 224 and foil. — A whole volume, the 5th (should be properly Vol. 6), and part of another, the 7th of the Scritture Re- ferite nei Congressi, in the Archives of Propaganda, are made up of the docu- ments referring to this Schism of Philadelphia. 1 Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. DOCUMENTS 135 Tenagrensi tanquam Vicario Apostolico administandi committebantur, itemque illas 21. Januarii 1823, quibus Floridae Vicariatui illi adjunge- bantur. Erit Tibi praeterea pergratum eumdem Electum Tenagrensem Episcopum Amplitudini Tuae Coadjutorem destinari. Intelliges tandem Luisianam totam etiam de Sanctitatis Suae sententia intra triennium in duas Dioeceses esse dividendam, quaeque respiciunt ejusdem R. P. D. Rosati siiccessionem. Restat nunc, ut donee aliud a Sancta Sede constituatur, res omnes eo loco considerentur restitutae quo erant ante diem 13. Augusti 1822. ac 21. Januarii 1823,. ita scilicet, ut Alabamae, et Mississippi Statuum iterum Archiepiscopus Baltimorensis spiritualem curam gerat, illamque per Te tanquam per suum Vicarium Generalem prosequatur exercere, Tibique iterum subjectae Floridae censeantur. Rebus ita compositis confido fore ut animo tranquillo esse possis, et propter illud, quo praestas animarum salutis procurandae studium, novos quotidie apud vos faciat Religio progressus. Precor interea Deum, ut Amplitudinem Tuam diu sospitem, ac felicem servet Amplitudinis Tuae ' Romae ex Aedibus S. Congnis de Propaganda Fide die 19. Julii 1823 Uti Frater studiosissimus H. Card, consalvi Pro-Praef. R. P. D. Ludovico Gullielmo Du-bourg Novae Aureliae Episcopo S. Ludovicum Petrus Caprano Archiep.us Iconien. Secret.us TRANSLATION Right Rev. Sir:— Your Lordship will find herewith enclosed the Apostolic Brief which I promised, in my letter of July 5,^ to send you without delay. You will see by it that the Holy Father has revoked and abrogated the Apostolic Letter of August 13, 1822, whereby the States of Ala- bama and Mississippi were confided to the administration of Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop-Elect of Tenagra, as Vicar Apostolic; also the letter of January 21, 1823, whereby the Floridas were added to that Vicariate. You will be pleased, moreover, to see that the same Bishop- 2 This letter of Card. Consalvi, dated July 5, 1823, is not extant, and it may be safely asserted that it was not an official letter of Propaganda, but rather a private note of the Cardinal to acquaint Bishop Du Bourg with the results of the meeting of Propaganda held on June 9. We give here a copy of the minutes of this interesting meeting, as they are found in the Register of the Atti di Con- gregasione for 1823. "doubts : I. Whether the Congregation should adopt the instance of Bp. Du Bourg to the effect, namely, of revoking the Decree and the Brief whereby Father Rosati was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama? II. If so, whether he should be made Coadjutor to Bishop Du Bourg? III. Whether a Bishopric should be established in Florida, to which Ala- bama is to be joined? And if so, IV. Who ought to be appointed there, whether Father Enoch Fenwick or Father Simon Brute? V. What consideration should be given to the project of the Archbishop of 136 DOCUMENTS Elect of Tenagra is appointed your Coadjutor. Finally the same Brief will inform you that, likewise by decision of His Holiness, the whole of Louisiana is to be divided within three years, into two Dioceses ; and also of what concerns the Rev. Rosati's right of Succession. On the whole, then, until the Holy See makes new provisions, everything is to be understood to stand as it did before August 13, 1822, and January 21, 1823; that is: the States of Alabama and Mississippi are again under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Baltimore, who will continue to exercise this jurisdiction through you as his Vicar General ; the Floridas likewise are returned to your own jurisdiction. This arrangement will, I trust, remove your anxieties so that your zeal for the salvation of souls may daily work out new conquests for Re- ligion. Meanwhile I pray God for your Lordship's continuance in good health and happiness. Your Lordship's Most devoted brother H. Card, consalvi Pro Prefect. Rome Palace of the S. Congr. of Propaganda, July 19, 1823. To the Right Rev. Louis William Du Bourg, Bishop of New Orleans. St. Louis. Peter Caprano, Archb. of Iconium, Secretary. Baltimore in regard to Mississippi and Alabama, if Father Rosati is made Co- adjutor of Bp. Du Bourg? VI. And what consideration to the other project of Bishop Flaget, namely that Alabama be given to administer to the Bishop of Carolina, and Mississippi to that of New Orleans? DECISIONS : To I. Yes, with a restriction. The restriction is, that the S. Congregation deems it necessary that Louisiana be divided within three years into two Dio- ceses, St. Louis and New Orleans being made respectively the Episcopal Sees. To n. Yes, with a restriction. The restriction is, that it is decided that Father Rosati is designated to be the Bishop of one of the two Episcopal Sees of Louisiana. To in. Yes qualified. The qualification is that the State of Alabama, to- gether with that of Mississippi, should be administered by a Vicar Apostolic, until it has been seen definitely where the Episcopal See is to be established. To IV. Answer deferred ; and upon both of them, or even upon others, if there be other likely candidates, accurate informations, and reasons why the one should be preferred rather than the other as Vicar Apostolic with Episcopal dignity, should be asked from the Archbishop of Baltimore and from the Nuncio in Paris. To V. Provided for above. To VI. Sufficiently provided for. J. Card. Fesch, Ponens. In the audience of June 22, 1823, petition was made for the repeal of the Brief whereby Father Rosati had been appointed Vicar Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, also of the other whereby Florida was added to the same Vicariate Apostolic. Petition was made likewise about the appointment of Father Rosati as Coadjutor of Bishop Du Bourg. Decree issued and letters written to Bishop Du Bourg and to Father Rosati on July s, 1823." DOCUMENTS 137 XXXVI ARCHBISHOP CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda TO BISHOP DU BOURG^ Illme, ac Rme Dne Dne Pne Colme SSmus Dominus Noster Leo PP. XII. edidit Bullam indictionis Anni Sancti, itemque in sua ad Summum Pontificatum exaltatione Encyclicam Epistolam ad omnes Patriarchas, Primates, Archiepiscopos, Episcopos &c. &c. Utramque ad Amplitudinem Tuam mittendam con- tinuo curavi, turn quod sciam tibi gratum futurum ipsam anni Jubilaei Bullam legere, tum etiam quod pro tua erga Sedem Apostolicam veneratione summaque pietate, qua praestas intelligam tibi jucundis- simum fore Petrum per Leonem Episcopos alloquentem iterum audire, ac singularis ilia sapientiae, ac Religionis plena documenta quae iis litteris continentur accipere. Adjectum igitur huic epistolae exemplum duplex reperies tum Bullae, tum Encyclicae litterae, ac precor Deum ut Amplitudinem Tuam diu sospitem, ac felicem servet. Amplitudinis Tuae Romae ex Aedibus Sacrae Congnis de Propaganda Fide die 15. Junii 1824. Observantissimus Famulus PETRUS CAPRANO Archiep.us Iconien. Cong, de P. F. Secret.us R. P. D. Aloysio Guillelmo Du-bourg £piscopo Novae Aureliae Sanctum Ludovicum TRANSLATION Right Rev. and Most honored Sir: — His Holiness Pope Leo XII has issued the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, and an Encyclical Letter to all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, &c., at the occasion of his elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate. I have at once directed that both be sent to Your Lordship, because I know you will be pleased to read the Bull of the Jubilee, and have no doubt, being aware of your veneration and ufrnost reverence for the Apostolic See, that it will be most agreeable to you to hear once more Peter speak to the Bishops through Leo, and to receive these remarkable utterances so full of wisdom and piety, which are contained in these Letters. You will find herein enclosed, therefore, two copies of the Bull and of the Encyclical Letter, and I pray God to keep Your Lordship yet many years in good health and happiness. Your Lordship's Most respectful Servant PETER CAPRANO, Archbp. of Icouium. Secretary of the S. Cong, of Propaganda Rome,^ Palace of the S. Cong, of Propaganda, June 15, 1824. To the Right Rev. Louis William Du Bourg, Bishop of New Orleans, St. Louis. 1 Original in Archives of the St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. 138 DOCUMENTS XXXVII ARCHBISHOP CAPRANO Secretary of Propaganda TO BISHOP DU BOURG^ Illme, ac Rme Dne Dne Pne Colme Accepi Amplitudinis Tuae litteras Novae Aureliae scriptas die 10. Maji quibus de Philadelphiensi dissidio loquens affirmas tibi illius extinguendi opportunam viam videri, Episcopum R. P. D. Conwell adducere, ut duos Sacerdotes qui plurimum gratia, et auctoritate apud ilium, valent, quibusque consiliariis maxime utitur, a se dimittat. Prae- teriisti tamen Sacerdotum illorum nomina mihi indicare. Erat autem omnino necessarium ea referre ut cum Episcopo ea de re tractatio suscipi posset. Ea igitur nomina ubi indicaveris, quid opportunum factu videbitur, poterit constitui. Interea vero non possum quin tibi significem mihi valde difficile videri Episcopo persuadere, ut ejusmodi consilium suscipiat. Oritur autem ea difficultas ex iis ipsis quae Tu de Sacerdotibus illis scripsisti. Si enim ii maxime possunt apud Episcopum auctoritate, et gratia, sique idem utitur illis veluti consil- iariis suis, nonne difficile magnopere erit illi persuadere ut a se prorsus eosdem dimittat? Neque vero certum arbitror, etiamsi Episcopus illos a se removeat futurum ut concordia restauretur. Praetereo hoc pro- missum reperiri in Epistola, quam dicis Hogan Sacerdotis successoris, qui certe caeteroquin Inglesius ille famosus non erit. Parum enim spei afferre posse Epistola ilia videtur, quam ipse affirmas Episcopo valde esse injuriosam. Dicam tantummodo, generatim, etiam timeri jure posse, ne homines Episcopo inimici, cum Sacerdotum illorum remotionem obtinuerint, promissa non sint servaturi. Sed haec tantum eo scripta a me fuisse credas, ut scias quae mihi difficultates in hoc negotio obversentur animo, De re ipsa enim agemus postquam respon- deris nomina describens Sacerdotum quos removendos judicares. In- terim enim laudans vehementer Amplitudinis Tuae studium ut res Ecclesiasticae Philadelphiae tandem aliquando componantur, precor Deum ut Amplitudinem Tuam diutissime sospitem, ac felicem servet. Amplitudinis Tuae Romae ex Aedibus Sac. Congnis de Propaganda Fide die 24 Julii 1824 Observantissimus et devotissimus Petrus Caprano Archiep.us Iconien. Secret.us TRANSLATION Right Reverend and Most honered Sir: — I am in receipt of Your Lordship's letter written from New Or- ^ Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. DOCUMENTS 139 leans, on May 10/ wherein, speaking of the troubles in Philadelphia, you state that, in your opinion, the proper way to put an end to these troubles, is to persuade the Bishop, the Right Rev. Conwell, to rid himself of two priests, who enjoy his friendship, have great influence upon him, and are his principal advisers. You forgot, however, to give me the names of these two priests. Still mention of these names was absolutely necessary in order that the matter be broached with the Bishop. When you send them, it will be possible to determine the proper course of action to be followed. Meanwhile I cannot help tell- ing you that it appears to me very hard to persuade the Bishop to do as you suggest. The difficulty arises precisely from what you say about these priests. For if they have a great influence with the Bish- op, and enjoy his friendship, and if they are his advisers, will it not be indeed most difficult to persuade him to remove them? Furthermore I do not think it by any means certain, that, even if he removes them, concord will be restored. This promise is made in the letter which you say emanates from Hogan's successor, who can be no other than the notorius Inglesi.^ But I must leave that out of consideration ; for this letter, which you yourself declare to be very insulting to the Bishop, can hold out but scant hope. I shall say only, on general principles, that there is reason to fear that the enemies of the Bishop, when they have obtained the removal of these priests, will not keep their promise. My sole intention in writing this, pray believe me, is simply to let you know the difikulties which arise in my mind in connection with this affair. On the matter itself we shall take a decision when we have your answer indicating the names of the priests who, as you think, ought to be removed. Meanwhile, appreciating fully the zeal of Your Lordship for the settlement of the affairs of the Church in Phila- delphia, I pray God to keep Your Lordship yet many years in good health and happiness. Your Lordship's Most respectful and devoted Peter Caprano, Archbp. of Iconium, Secretary. 2 This' letter, so far, has not been found ; it is possibly among the Documents forming Vol. S of the Scritture Referite net Congressi in the Archives of Propa- ganda. 3 "Hogan finally . . . proposed to resign. The trustees accepted his resigna- tion and proceeded, in the very face of the Brief of Pope Pius VII, to appoint as pastor of St. Mary's Church an unworthy adventurer. Rev. A. Inglesi, who had imposed upon Bishop Du Bourg, and whose career had been fully exposed at Rome. But he came to Philadelphia with means, and had many paintings and other valuables, the fruit of his European collections for Louisiana. He had secured the support of the Sardinian consul at Philadelphia, and pleased the trustees. Ashley, Meade, Sullivan and their comrades did not even go through the form of presenting him for the Bishop's approval, they assumed the right to elect and institute." I. G. Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the U. S. Vol. Ill, p. 248. Two pages further on. Shea remarks the trustees had found Inglesi "not suited to their purposes." Here is a point of history yet to be cleared up. 140 DOCUMENTS XXXVIII BISHOP DU BOURG TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO Secretary of Propaganda} Illme ac Rev.me Domine, Hue jam duobus abhinc diebus redux appulit dileotus in X.to noster D. Borgna, a quo, praeter varias extraordinarias facultates, quas ut nova Sacrae Congregationis in me fiduciae pignora suscepi, audii etiam, quod mihi longe multo acceptius, effusam Amp.is V.ae in me -voluntatem, ejusque desiderium sit quam saepissime ipsi non solum de Dioecesis mihi commissae statu, sed etiam de variis quae in Foed- erata America ad religionis bonum spectant, mentem meam fiducialiter aperirem. Nil sane mihi pergratius accidere poterat, post infaustum errorem, quo Sacrae Cong.is et V. Amp.is bonam opinionem demeritus fueram. Equidem jam mihi in acerbissimo dolore multam consolationem attulerant humanissimae vereque paternae literae, quibus Pater Sanc- tissimus jussit me bono animo esse, mihique plane immerita dedit existimationis honorisque testimonia. Si quid cordis mei vulmus curare valeret, huic certe medicinae cedere debuisset ; sed imis visceribus manet infixum telum, quod, ut opinor, sola mors possit extrahere. Non idee tamen minus gratum Amp.i V.ae pro tenera in me solicitudine sensum foveo ; sed si quid apud ipsum valeo, si quae in ipso compassionis vis- cera, iterum rogo ut meae abdicationi apud Sum. Pontificem faveat, meque sinat onus declinare cui humeros jam dudum novi esse impares. Quoniam tamen aliqua adhuc me premunt debita, pro variis Ecle- siae contingentiis contracta, primum precor ut dignetur Amp.o Vestra jubere, ut quantocius mihi persolvantur mille scuta, quae solvenda adhuc remanent ex quatuor millibus mihi a Sanctae record. is Pio VII Summo Pont.e concessis, quaeque jam duos et amplius annos impa- tienter expectavi. Ita enim fiet ut mens mea partim saltem incipiat re- spirare. Non diffiitebor tamen, cogitanti mihi de mea abdictione, non me- dicos subintrare timores de futuro meae Dioeceseos statu. Scio enim quot calamitates viduatae Ecclesiae impendunt, sive ex diuturna Pas- toris carentia, sive etiam ex incongrua successoris electione. Non tarn cito obliviscar Philadelphiam, post decessum primi sui Praesulis Rev.mi D. Egan, per octo annos viduam remansisse, et post tot annos novum ad ipsam missum Epum, qui, utcumque virtute et doctrina polleret, ea tamen carebat hominum, locorum et institutionum notitia, sine qua prudentissimus quisque gravissimos errores vitare vix possit. Infelix certe nostrarum regionum conditio, ubi nullus Ep.us sperare potest f ructus laborum suorum post mortem suam esse duraturos ! Hac sola consideratione facile sentiet Amp.do Vestra f rangendum necessario esse etiam Apostolicum spiritum. Ut quid enim laboribus consumar, qui * Original in Archives of Propaganda. Scritturc Refcrite nei Congrcssi. Cod. 8. America Centralc. Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama. Dal 1823a tto. il 1826. DOCUMENTS 141 tarn cito vel orbitate Ecclesiae meae, vel institutione ineptis successoris destruantur? Huic duplici malo facillimum tamen mihi videretur obviam ire, prudenti et apto electionum systemate. — Non hujusmodi mihi videtur esse electio, seu potens praesentatio per Episcopos pro- vinciales aut nationales : 1° quia cum sint a se invicem immensibus terrarum tractibus dissiti, nee adunari possunt, nee facile in unam mentem convenire. 2° quia vacantis Ecclesiae necessitates ut plurimum ignorant. 3° quia, ut jam docuit experientia, nimium tempus in coUi- gendis eorum sententiis teritur ; 4° quia saepe evenire potest ut tot sint praesentati quot Praesentatores ; inter quos proinde nulla apparet ratio cur unus aliis praeponatur. His difficultatibus non dubito retardatam hactenus electionem Bostoniensis Epi ; nee mihi occurrit quomodo tandem terminus his dilationibus ponatur. Fateor non iisdem regulis subjici posse electiones Episcoporum pro Diocesibus jam creatis, et pro novis creandis Sedibus ; neque etiam easdem obtinere posse in omnibus prioris categoriae ; idtoque adaptan- dum mihi videretur systema variis qui occurrere possunt casibus. — Cum simplicitate cordis Amp.i Vestrae quae puto utilia fore propo- nam. — 1° Si agatur de nova creanda Sede, vel de electione Epi pro Dioe- cesi in qua vel nullus vel valde exiguus est clerus, Metropolitanus cum duobus Episcopis suae provinciae, quorum unus sit ille a cujus juris- dictione novum territorium separatur, per literas, ni aliter fieri possit, conveniat. Archiepus scilicet a praedictis fratribus suis sententiam petat, et Romam mittat schedulam praesentationis in qua singulorum vota exprimantur: nisi forte melius fore judicetur ut Episcoporum sibi responsa suae epistolae adjungat, ut facilius perpendere possit Sac. Cong.o praesentatorum merita. — 2° Si agatur de.Dioecesi jam existente, ubi clerus saltem duo- decim sacerdotibus confletur, statim post decessum vel abdicationem Episcopi, convocetur clerus per Vicarium Generalem ; et post solemne triduum in invocanda S.ti Spiritus luce absumptum, ad scrutinium secretum procedat, Romamque sine mora transmittantur nomina horum trium qui majorem obtinuerint sufTragiorum copiam, cuilibet adjun.do numerum votorum quae ipsi favent. 3° Quod si Episcopus quilibet Coadjutorem a Sancta Sede petierit, velim eum in ipsius delectu eodem modo procedere, et puto facilem se praebendam Sacram Congregationem in concedendis Coadjutoribus, quia sic praecurritur tantis malis. Hac methodo procedendi in electione Praesulum consultum mihi videtur tum celeritati, quae nullibi magis quam in his regionibus est necessaria, tum etiam bono et prudenti Episcoporum delectui. Favet quoque ipsorum auctoritati, quae cum tota in conscientia et amore sub- ditorum est fundata, eo firmior et salubrior erit, quo ipsi majorem partem in eorum electione nacti f uerint ; demum et conformior est ve- teri Ecclesiae praxi, et magis accommodata spiritui temporum et loco- rum, institutionibusque civilibus quae Rempublicam istam regunt. Tollit proinde e medio vanas illas contra Romanae Ecclesiae Despotismum cavillationes, etsi revera nihil ipsius auctoritatis detrahat. 142 DOCUMENTS Quidquid de hac propositione judicaverit sive Amp.do Vestra sive Sacra Congregatio, puto me in ea submittenda muneri meo satisfecisse, nullumque incurrisse vituperium. Est et alia quaestio valde intricata, de qua timendum est ne fa- cilius in mentem eatur temporalium administratorum. Ipsi scilicet jus Patronatus allegantes, facultatem reclamant praesentandi quemlibet sacerdotem rite ordinatum ad pastorale officium, cum obligatione ex parte Episcopi instituendi eos qui sibi hoc modo a laicis propositi fuerint. Administratores Ecclesiae S.ae Mariae Philadelphiensis, in confirmationem dictae praetensionis, allegant jam judicatam rem fuisse a Pio VII in causa Ecclesiae Norfolkiensis. — Utrum tale decretum existat, aut quis sit ipsius tenor, prorsus ignoro. Certe sentio nihil excogitari posse, quod disciplinae Ecclesiasticae et Episcoporum auc- toritati magis aversetur quam hujusmodi concessio ; eaque vigente prorsus caducos fore omnes sacrorum Praesulum conatus ad fidei mo- rumque depositum custodiendum. Ita enim eveniet ut factiosi homines, artibus perfidis, in quasque parochias, suae farinae sacerdotes obtru- dant, qui cum sic instituti fuerint, turbulentis factionibus nixi, Eccle- siam impune scandalizabunt et haereticis ludibrium facient. Haec sane si probatione indigerent, plus quam satis exemplo ipsiusmet Philad.is schismatis fuerunt demonstrata. Valeat quidquid valuerit in regnis catholicis jus illud Patronatus, ubique sane plenum periculis, at saltem in illis, legum Ecclesiasticarum, imo et civilium auctoritate ali- quatenus moderatum ; hie vero, ubi nulli legum f raeno improba con- scientia subjicitur, plane subversionem esset cujuscumque disciplinae. Aliunde vero longe distare mihi videtur administratorum nostrorum conditio a conditione fundatorum. Neque enim ipsi, nee ipsaemet Congregationes quas repraesentant, merito dici Ecclesiarum fundatores possunt, tum quia solent et ipsi Protestantes et exteri multum adjuvare m novis creationibus, quae generaliter ope subscriptionis fiunt, tum quia non sufficit Fabrica sed requiritur competens dotatio ad acquiren- dum jus Patronatus ; nullibi vero, quod sciam, in his statibus, existit Ecclesia dotata, nisi in hac civitate Novae Aureliae, ubi dotatio et fabricatio Eccl.ae Cathedralis factae fuerunt ab uno individuo, qui utramque Hispaniarum Regi subjecerat, Regalique Patronatui annex- erat. Aequum sane est ut Episcopi in instituendis Pastoribus multum opinioni fidelium consulant, in eoque mihi videtur Ep.us Philad.is im- prudenter egisse cum Rev.dos Harold et Ryan, publico odio obnoxios, contra notam mentem plurimorum saltem et maximae inter alios auctori- tatis laicorum, Ecclesiae S.ae Mariae praeficere mordicus voluit. Si mitius et consultius in eo se gessisset, si sepositis illis duobus, alios morigeratos et nulli adhuc infensos sacerdotes elegisset, ccrte scio schismatis flammas eum brevi compescuisse, nee unquam eo processis.se laicos ut jus illud Patronatus sibi vindicarent. Into puto etiamnuin conciliatoria hujusmodi zna unitateni facile posse restitui. — Utut sit, nolim tamen, schismatis unius abolendi causa, introduci disciplinam, quae schismatum ubique fons fieret uberrimus. DOCUMENTS 143 De erigendis novis Episcopalibus Cathedris in Detroit, St. Louis, Vincennes, et Mobile, in quibus nunc Sacrae Congregationis attentio- nem versari testatur Rev.us D. Borgna, libera quoque quod sentio de- promam. Nihil sane desiderabilius et Religionis augmento magis con- ducivum quam hujusmodi Episcoporum multiplicatio ; sed periculo earn fore puto, nisi novis Ep.is competens ad victum assignatio fiat. Propria experientia didici quam deploranda sit conditio Episcopi in novis istis regionibus, ubi omnia creanda sunt, et desunt apud lideles sive media sive voluntas eum adjuvandi. Quod ad me spectat, si vel decimam aerumnarum partem quae me in meo Episcopatu afflixerunt, praevidere potuissem, nunquam adeo gravi oneri coUa flexissem. Mea tamen conditio aliquanto tolerabilior est multorum aliorum. Vellem igitur antequam de his erectionibus statuatur, novorum Praesulum mensae consultum esse. Pernecessarium quoque, meo quidem judicio, erit novas Metropoles erigere, et cuivis eum tantum adjungere suflfraganeorum numerum, qui, sine gravi incommodo, saltem singulis quinquenniis in Synodum conve- nire possit. Certe sufficiet oculos in Mappam Americae Foederatae conjicere, ut perfecte intelligatur omnino impossibile esse Episcopos citra Alleganenses montes constitutos Baltimorum convenire. Mea igi- tur sententia foret, ut Cincinnatensis sedes in Metropolim erigeretur; a qua penderent Bardensis, Vihcennensis et Detroitensis, utpote in medio earum posita, — et ex Louisiana separata conflaretur Provincia, uno Archiep.o et saltem duobus, ad praesens, suffraganeis Ep.is con- stans : nimirum Novae Aureliae, S.ti Ludovici ad septentrionem, et Mobile versus orientem. Nisi haec fiant, Ep.orum unio et in eamdem sententiam consensio, Synodorumque Provincialium institutio, tam necessaria ad stabiliendam uniformem disciplinam, prorsus impossibiles evadent. Hac etiam nova Metropoleon divisione multo facilior fieret, juxta praedictum systema, Episcoporum electio. Haec omnia, Ill.me ac Rev.me D.ne, cum omni animi demissione, proposui, existimans me, etiamsi falcem in alienam messem misisse videri potuerim, a superbiae tamen aut ambitionis nota facile absolven- dum, qui in eo voluntati solummodo V.ae Amp.is obtemperaverim. Ita in omnibus ad obediendum sibi, Sacraeque Congr.i paratum inveniet Novae Aureliae, Jan..i 29, 1825, Humillimum et gratissumum fam.m ■f LuD. GuiL. Ep. Neo-Aurel. Ill.mo ac Rev.mo DD.o P. Caprano, P. S. — Quamquam fortassis grave Amp.i V.ae esse possit iterum audire, et mihi certe multo gravius esse debeat iterum loqui de famoso Inglesi mei tamen muneris, et E^jiscopalis mansuetudinis esse duco, quasdam de eo recens acceptas notitias Romam transferre. — Audivi scilicet a duobus praeclaris sacerdotibus, qui eum Philadelphiae invis- erunt infelicem diris remorsibus agitatum ad omnia paratum esse ut in gratiam Ecclesiae rediret. Huic nuntio etsi non penitus confidens, quia tandem notae mihi sunt hypocritae artes, tamen motus misericordia, nee desperans de conversione Peccatoris, ad ipsum scripsi ut mihi 144 DOCUMENTS cordis intima patef aceret, offerens mediationem meam apud communem omnium Patrem, ut ipsi aperiretur ostium Poenitentiae et reconcilia- tionis. Accepto ab eo brevissimo response, quo se gratum et obedien- tem profitetur, rescripsi non sufficere mihi generalem hujusmodi pro- fessionem, sed requiri, ut, agnita longa errorum suorum serie, petat poenitentiam, et se paratum testetur ad claustrum ingrediendum, ut in eo, ad nutum Summi Pontificis, tamdiu commorandum.quamdiu neces- sarium judicetur ad sinceritatem emendationis suae comprobandam. Si mihi satisfecerit, cogito optimum fore si in Italiam redierit, etiam mutato nomine, et in antiquas partes, ubi ignotus latere possit, con- fugiat, obtenta prius Summi Pontificis licentia. — In medio tot faci- norum de quibus accusatur, duo tamen sunt quae spem ipsius conversi- onis dare possunt. — l.um quod schismati Philad.i nomen dare re- nuerit ; 2.um quod Missionibus generatim magnam opem contulit, promovendo et modis omnibus excitando Institutionem Societatis in adjutorium Missiomim quae Lugduni in Galliis, eo potissimum movente, originem cepit, et subinde ad praecipuas Galliae, aliarumque quarum- dam regionum, civitates mirifice propagata est. Amp.m Vestram precor ut ista Sanctissimo D.no nostro exponat, mihique quamprimum agendi in tam delicato negotio, ^ praescribat. Interim enixe apud Deum pro sospitate et felicitate vestra rogans, cum summa veneratione et afifectu iterum me subscribe Amp.is V.ae Devotiss. famulum. + LuD. GuiL. Ep. Neo-Aurel. Novae Aureliae Jan.i 29.a 1825 Ill.mo ac R.mo D.o D.o Petro Caprano Archiep.o Icon.si Sac. Congr. de Prop. Fide a Secretis TRANSLATION Most Reverend Dear Sir: — Two days ago our dear Father Borgna landed here. ^ From him I received various extraordinary faculties, which I look upon as new tokens of the confidence which the S. Congregation places in me ; I 2 One word missing. 3 Father Philip Borgna, CM., of Saluzzo, in Piedmont, had come to America in i8i8, being then only a theological student, together with Mr. Anthony Potini, CM., also a scholastic, and Father Francis Cellini, who had just been received at Monte Citorio ; they had sailed from Leghorn in company with the Rossetti band. Landing at Philadelphia in the first days of October, the three, leaving behind their Milanese travelling companions, started at once for the West, and reached the Seminary at the Barrens on January 5, 1819. There Mr. Borgna and Mr. Potini continued their theological studies, the former being ordained to the priesthood in St. Louis, on March 19, 1920, at the same time as Inglesi. After his ordination he returned to the Barrens; but, as his health soon began to give anxieties, he was first sent to St. Louis (July 1820) and, a few months later (beginning of September), to New Orleans, where he was stationed at the Cathedral. When yellow fever broke out at the end of the summer. Father Borgna vied with his confrere Father Andrew Ferrari, in his devotedness to the stricken people. It is said of him that he daily administered the last sacraments to upwards of thirty. persons. Both were attacked by the terrible disease: Father Ferrari, after a few days' illness, died on November i ; Father Brogna recovered, DOCUMENTS 145 heard also, and this was much more welcome, what affectionate inter- est Your Grace manifests towards me, and that you wish me to fre- quently open my heart candidly to you, not only concerning the con- dition of the Diocese entrusted to my care, but also touching the vari- ous objects which have bearing on the good of religion in the United States.* Nothing certainly could afford me greater pleasure, after the miserable mistake by which I had well deserved to lose the good opinion that the S. Congregation and Your Lordship had of me.^ I must add that in my bitter sorrow, I had received much comfort from the very kind and truly paternal letter by which the Holy Father bade me be of good cheer, and gave me marks of esteem and honor which were absolutely undeserved. If anything could cure the wound of my heart, that is certainly the kind of medicine which would do it ; but the missile remains imbedded in the inmost depths of my heart, and I think that death alone will be able to remove it. I am none the less thankful to Your Lordship for your tender solicitude in my behalf ; and, if I have any persuasive influence with you, and if you yourself have any com- passion of me, I beg you once more to further my resignation with the Sovereign Pontiff, so that he may let me lay down a burden which, I have realized long ago, my shoulders are unable to bear.^ but suffered much for some time of the after effects of the malady, so that it was deemed advisable to send him back to Italy in the hope that the air of his native country would completely restore him. Bishop Du Bourg readily granted him a leave of absence (letter of February 27, 1823, from Washington), entrust- ing to him a number of delicate negociations in Rome, while Father Rosati through him sent back to Rome the Brief of his apiKtintment to the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, and begged him earnestly to plead the reasons of his (Rosati's ) refusal of the burden. Borgna sailed from New Or- leans on the lOth of April, 1823, and after some time spent in Paris, in Turin and with his family near Saluzzo, he arrived in Rome towards the end of the year. Meanwhile Propaganda had, on the representations of Du Bourg and Rosati, cancelled the latter's appointment, and sent a new Brief making him Coadjutor to Bishop Du Bourg (See above. Letter XXXV, p. 137). Borgna was resolved, at any rate, to set aside his Superior's commands to follow in this matter the dictates of his conscience, and therefore, work for the promotion of Rosati. He remained in Italy until the fall of 1824, and then came back to New Orleans. * The reader has already noticed no doubt, that for some time past, Du Bourg's correspondence with Propaganda was carried on mostly with the Secre- tary of that Congregation. ' This is evidently an allusion to the unfortunate Inglesi affair. ® These words seem to suppose that the Bishop had already, in a previous letter, offered or tendered his resignation. There was question of resigning in the letter sent from St. Louis on October i, 1822, in which the prelate made such a strong plea against the division of the Diocese; but this can scarcely be regarded as a downright request to be allowed to lay down the burden: it was rather a kind of respectful ultimatum as muc^h as an ultimatum may be respect- ful : "if you are determined to divide," he said equivalently, "then take me out." But there is a letter — which so far has escaped the researches made in the Propa- ganda Archives—^, written probably from Washington after the Bishop's eyes were finally opened on the true worth of Inglesi ; this would be the most likely occasion where the prelate offered — and perhaps tendered — his lesignation. The allusion just made before to this — for him — very humiliating affair render this surmise probable. 146 DOCUMENTS However as I have still a few debts/ which I contracted for vari- ous emergencies in connection with the Church, I first beg Your Lord- ship to deign give orders to have forwarded to me the thousand scudi which remain still due of the four thousand granted me by Pope Pius VII of holy memory, and for which I have been impatiently waiting for two years and more. This indeed will permit me to begin to breathe more freely. Now I will not conceal the fact that, when I am thinking of resigning, no small fears concerning the future of my Diocese come up to my mind. I know, indeed, to what calamities is exposed a Church without Pastor, either on account of the long vacancy of the Sec, or on account of the choice of the wrong successor. I cannot forget so soon how Philadelphia, after the demise of its prelate, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Egan, remained unprovided for eight years, and after such a long time was given a Bishop who, no matter what his virtues and science, was lacking in that knowledge of men, places and institutions, without which the most prudent man can hardly avoid falling into the most grievous mistakes. Most unfortunate certainly is the condition of this our country, where no Bishop can hope that the fruit of his labors will survive after his death ! This consideration alone, Your Lord- ship may readily realise, is bound to break down even the staunchest apostolic spirit. Why indeed should I be utterly spent in labors, as in a very short while, either the vacancy of my See, or the choice of an unfit successor will cause the ruin of whatever these labors succeeded in achieving? It seems to me, however, that this twofold calamity may be easily remedied, namely by a prudent and proper system of Epis- copal elections. Such does not seem to me to be the choice, or strong recommenda- tion of the Bishops of the Province or of the whole country: because, 1° these prelates being separated from one another by immense ter- ritories, can neither assemble themselves, nor even easily come to a unanimity of opinion ; 2° they, most of the time, are not conversant with the wants of the vacant See; 3° experience shows that too much time is wasted in gathering their opinions ; 4° it may often happen that as many candidates are presented as there are prelates presenting them ; and in this case it is hard to see what motive may determine the choice of one candidate rather than of another. It is owing to these difficulties, I am sure, that the election of a Bishop for Boston has been thus far delayed ; and I do not see indeed how these delays could be put to an end. I grant that episcopal elections for Sees already in existence can- not be governed by the same rules as elections for new Sees to create ; nor even can the same rules be applied uniformly for filling Sees of the former category. Hence, I should think that a method should be adopted which could adapt itself to the various cases that may occur. ^ There was in St. Louis the Montmorenci debt ($6,000.00) about which see Review, Vol. II, p. 200 and foil., and there were several debts in New Orleans. DOCUMENTS 147 In all simplicity I shall presently propose to Your Lordship what I deem to be useful. 1° In the case of a new See to erect, or of the election of a Bishop for a Diocese where there is practically no clergy, or a very small clergy, let the Metropolitan confer, by letters, if they cannot do otherwise, with two Bishops of his province, one of whom ought to be the Bishop of the Diocese to be dismembered. That is, let the Archbishop ask from his Brother-Bishops above mentioned their pro- posals, and send to Rome a list of presentation in which the votes of each be specified; unless indeed he deems it better to forward with his letter to Rome the answers of the Bishops, so that the S. Congreg. may more easily weigh the merits of the various candidates. 2° In the case of a Diocese already in existence, and where there is a clergy of at least twelve Priests, let the clregy, immediately after the demise or resignation of the Bishop, be convoked by their Vicar General, and after three days devoted to invoking the assistance of the Holy Ghost, let them take a secret ballot, and at once forward to Rome the names of the three who obtained more votes, mentioning after each of these names the numbers of votes obtained. 3° In case of a Bishop who asked the Holy See for a Coadjutor, I should like the same course to be taken for the choice of the Coad- jutor; and I believe that the S. Congregation should show itself will- ing to grant Coadjutors, because this prevents many evils. This mode of proceeding in the election of Bishops seems to me to secure not only speed, which is nowhere more necessary in this matter than in this country, but also good and prudent choices. It will also contribute to the authority of these Bishops, which, as it all rests upon the conscience and love of the subjects, will be the more firm and beneficial, because the subjects had a greater part in the choice ; more- over, it is more in conformity with the ancient practice of the Church, and better adapted to the spirit of our times and places, and to the civil institutions which govern this Republic. Finally it does away with the vain cavil against the Roman Church's despotism, whilst real- ly detracting nothing from that Church's authority. Whatever Your Lordship may think of this proposition, at all events, I consider I am, in submitting it, discharching my duty and incurring no blame. There is another question, one most intricate, on which I am afraid there might be danger of yielding too much to the opinion of the Trustees. Alleging the jtis patronatus, they claim the privilege to present for the pastoral office any priest duly ordained, with obligation on the part of the Bishop to confer canonical institution on the candi- dates thus proposed by laymen. The trustees of the Church of St. Mary, in Philadelphia, in support of that pretension, allege that the matter was adjudicated by Pius VII in the cause of the church of Norfolk. — Now whether such a decree was actually issued, or what is its tenor, I don't know. At any rate my opinion is that nothing can be conceived more contrary to the discipline of the Church and to Episcopal authority than a concession of this nature ; and as long as it 148 NOTES is in force, utterly unavailing will be all the efforts of the Bishops to safeguard the deposit of faith and morals. For it will happen that a clique will, by means of evil schemes, succeed in thrusting upon every parish priests of the same ilk, who, once canonically instituted, relying on the support of turbulent factions, will with impunity scandalize the Church and make it a by-word to non-catholics. Were proof of this wanted, more than is needed is offered by the Schism of Philadelphia. Be the value of the jus patronatus as it may in Catholic countries, — and no doubt everywhere danger lurks in it, — in such countries, at any rate, it is somewhat checked by the authority of ecclesiastical and civil laws ; but here, where no legal restraint is put on evil consciences, it means no less than the upsetting of all discipline. At all events, there seems to me to exist a vast difference between the condition of our Trustees and that of the Founders. For neither the Trustees, nor the congregations they represent, can rightfully be called the founders of the churches : because, as a rule, Protestants and persons not belong- ing to the parish contribute to the new constructions, which usually are erected by means of subscriptions ; then again, the fabrica — the build- ing,— does not suffice to confer the jiis patronatus : there is, moreover, required a competent endowment. Now nowhere, that I know of, in these United States, is there in existence a church endo7ved, except in this City of New Orleans, where the endowment and the building of the Cathedral were the gift of an individual, who made both subject to the King of Spain, and to the Royal Patronatus. Of course, it is reasonable that, in appointing Pastors, the Bish- ops should have much regard for the opinion of the faithful ; and in this connection, I think that the Bishop of Philadelphia did not act with all desirable prudence when he insisted on appointing to St. Mary's, against the well-known sentiment of the majority of the /Uity, and of those of them who enjoy the greatest authority, the Revs. Harold and Ryan, who were the object of popular dislike. Had he acted in this affair with more mildness and consideration, and, leaving aside those two, had he selected other priests of good standing and unsympathetic to no one, / know of certain knowledge he would have in a very short while quenched the flames of the Schism, and that the laity would never have gone so far as to claim the exercise of that jus Patronatus. Nay even, I am of opinion that, even now, such a course zvould easily open again the way to unity. However this may be, still I would not wish that, in order to put an end to one schism, a discipline should be introduced which would prove everywhere a prolific source of schisms. Touching the erection of new Episcopal Sees in Detroit, St. Louis, Vincennes and Mobile, in which, Father Borgna tells me, the attention of the S. Congregation is now engaged, I beg to state freely, here too, what I feel. Undoubtedly nothing is more desirable, and better calcu- lated to bring about the progress of Religion, than increasing the num- bers of Bishops ; but this increase may, in my opinion, prove a danger, if nothing is fixed in regard to the decent support of the new Bishops. My own experience has taught me how deplorable is the condition of NOTES 149 a Bishop in this new country, where everything has to be created, and where the faithful lack either the means or the wish to help. As far as I am concerned, had I been able to foresee one-tenth of the worries which have afflicted my Episcopate, never would I have accepted the burden. And yet my condition is somewhat more bearable than that of many others. That is why I would that before any decision be arrived at in regard to the creation of these Sees, provisions be made for the support of the new Bishops. It will be likewise absolutely necessary, according to my judgment, to erect new Metropolitan Sees, and to assign to each one only such suffragans as may, without grave inconvenience, assemble in Council, at least every five years. A mere glance at a map of the United States is sufficient to understand perfectly that it is quite impossible for the Bishops west of the Alleghanies to convene in Baltimore. I am of opinion that Cincinnati should be made a Metropolitan See, with Bards- town, Vincennes and Detroit as suffragans : Cincinnati is quite central in regard to these ; Louisiana should also constitute a separate Prov- ince, consisting of the Archbishop and, for the time being, two suf- fragan Bishops, that is New Orleans, St. Louis to the North and Mobile to the East. Unless this is done, the union of the Bishops and their agreement is one opinion, and the institution of Provincial Synods, so necessary for the establishment of the unity of discipline, will be rendered quite impossible. This new division of Ecclesiastical prov- inces, moreover, would make much easier the selection of Bishops, according to the present system. All these suggestions. Right Reverend and Dear Lord, I have made in all humility, judging that even though I may seem to put my sickle in another's harvest, yet I may be easily absolved of all suspicion of pride or ambition, for in this matter I would not have any other rule than the wish of Your Lordship. Thus will you and the S. Congrega- tion find, ever disposed to obey in everything, Your most humble and grateful Servant + Louis Wm. Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, January 29, 1825 To the Most Rev. P. Caprano, Secretary of the S. C. of Propaganda, P. S. — Although it may be burdensome to Your Lordship to hear, and it should be still more burdensome to me to speak again, of the notorious Inglesi, yet I deem it a duty of my office and of Episcopal mansuetude to communicate to Rome certain news which I have lately received about him. I heard from two excellent priests who went to see him at Philadelphia, that the poor fellow is stricken with bitter remorse and ready for anything that may restore him in peace with the Church. Although I did not give unreserved credit to this informa- tion, because at last I have come to know his hypocrisy, still, moved with pity and yet hoping for the sinner's conversion, I wrote to him to open his heart to me, offering my mediation with our common Fa- ther, in order that the door of penitence and reconciliation might be 150 NOTES opened before him. I received from him a very short answer, in which he makes profession of gratitude and obedience. Whereupon I rephed that such a general profession was not sufficient, but that he should acknowledge the long series of his errors, ask penance, and declare himself ready to enter a monastery, where he would remain, at the Sovereign Pontiff's will, as long as would be deemed necessary to test the sincerity of his conversion. In case he returns a satisfac- tory answer, I think that it would be best for him to return to Italy, even under an assumed name, and seek refuge in some out of the way place where he may hide himself unknown to all, after obtaining, of course, the Sovereign's Pontiff's leave. Among so many crimes which he is accused of, there are, however, two things capable of giving hope of his conversion : the first is, that he refused to take sides with the schism of Philadelphia ; the second that he did a great deal for the Missions at large, by promoting and stimulating the Institution of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, which was launched in Lyons, France, chiefly at his instigation, and has since spread wonderfully through the largest cities of France and of some other countries. I beg Your Lordship to explain this to our Holy Father, and to prescribe to me, at your earliest convenience, how I should act in so delicate a matter. Meanwhile, praying God earnestly for your health and happiness, with the greatest respect and affection I subscribe myself Your Lordship's Most devoted Servant + Louis Wm. Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, January 29, 1825. To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano Archbishop of Iconium, Secretary of the S. Cong, of Propaganda. VS^^WK*' ST. LOUIS CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW Issued Quarterly EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REV. CHARIvES L. SOUVAY, C. M., D. D. ASSOCIATE EDITORS REV. F. G. HOIvWECK REV. GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN, S. J. REV. JOHN ROTHEN3TEINER EDWARD BROWN Volume 111 JULY 1921 Number 3 PUBUSHBD BY THE CaTHOUC HISTORICAI, SOCIETY OF SaINT IvOXJIS 209 WaivNut Street, St. Louis, Mo. CONTENTS PAGE Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis 154 The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. 155 Life Story of Alexander Bellesime A Hero of the American Revolution A Sister of St. Joseph, of Carondelet 17 A An Appeal 180 Notes • . . . . 181 Documents From Our Archives 191 Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Established February 7th, 191 7 OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES 1920-1921 President — Most Rev. John J. Glennon, D. D. First Vice-President — Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G. Second Vice-President and Treasurer — Edward Brown Third Vice-President — Louise M. Garesche Secretary — Rev. Edward H. Amsinger Librarians and Archivists Executive Committee Rev. F. G. Holweck Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G., President Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. J. Tannrath, Chancellor Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. Rev. F. G. Holweck Rev. Martin L. Brennan, Sc D. Rev. John Rothensteiner Rev. Edward H. Amsinger [^ Edward Brown Committee on Library and Publications f Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. I Rev. F. G. Holweck ■{ Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. I Rev. John Rothensteiner (^ Edward Brown COMMUNICATIONS General Correspondence should be addressed to Rev. Edward H. Amsinger, Secretary, 744 S. Third St., St. Louis, Mo. Exchange publications and matter submitted for publication in the St. Louis Cathouc Historical Review should be sent to the Editor-in-chief, Rev. Charles L. Souvay, CM., DD., Kenrick Seminary, Webster Groves, Mo. Remittances should be made to Edward Brown, Treasurer, 511 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo. 154 THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS I. THE POTAWATOMI Of the Indian tribes that shared the ministrations of the earHer Jesuit missionaries of the Middle West none have filled a larger place in American history than the Potawatomi. The earliest known habitat of this interesting Algonquin folk was the lower Michigan peninsula. Driven thence by Iroquois invaders, they settled on and about the islands at the. mouth of Green Bay, Lake Michigan, where they were met about 1632 by the adventurer, Jean Nicolet, the first white man to reach Wisconsin. Later on they moved south, displacing the Miami and holding both "shores of Lake Michigan from about Mani- towoc (44°) on the West around to about Grand River (43°) on the East and Southward to the Wabash, comprising territory in Wis- consin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, with some fifty villages, in- cluding those on the sites of Milwaukee, South Bend, (St. Joseph) and Grand Rapids." ^ Of Algonquin stock, the Potawatomi were allied in blood, lan- guage, manners and character to the Ottawa and the O jib way or Chippewa, with whom they seemed to have formed originally a single people.^ The Potawatomi or "fire-makers," "people of the fire-place," may thus owe their name to the fact that they separated from the other two 1;ribes and built a new fire, in other words, set themselves up as an independent tribe. They were hunters and fishers, tilling the ground but sparingly and this for a meager harvest of maize. They were a fighting race and, in consequence, frequently at war 1 James Mooney, Catholic Encyclopedia. The spellincr of Indian tribal names, except in cited passages and documents, will conform to Government usage as adopted in Hodge's Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. 2v., Washington, 1912. (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30). In most Indian tribal names, as in Pota- watomi, Kansa, there is only one form for both singular and plural. It may be noted that the recognized form "Potawatomi," which is of rather uncommon occurrence in printed literature, popular usage sanctions the spellnig "Pottawatomie," as "Pottowatomie" Countv Kansas, is emo'oved bv Fatlier De Smet in a letter written from Council Bluffs, August 20, 1838. Richardson and Chittenden's De Smet, 1; 160. 2 Hodge, op. cit.. 2: 289. "According to the tradition of all three tribes, the Pota- watomi, Chippewa and Ottawa were originally one people, and seemed to have reached the region about the upper end of Lake Huron together. Here they separated, but the three ha^'e sometirnes formed a loose confederacy, or have acted in concert and in 1846, those removed beyond the Mississippi, asserting their former connection, asked to be again united." 155 156 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. with the other tribes and with the whites. They supported the French against the English in the great struggle between the two powers for Canada and the West and under Pontiac continued the fight against the English until 1765. That picturesque hero, the son of a Chippewa mother and an Ottawa by adoption, is called in a contemporary docu- ment, "great chief of all the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomies and of all the lakes and rivers of the West." ^ When, in July, 1767, Pontiac concluded a treaty of peace at Oswego with Sir William Johnson, it was in presence of the chiefs of the Potawatomi as of the Ottawa, Huron and Chippewa tribes. In the Revolutionary War the Potawatomi made common cause with the British and again in 1812 a part of them at least, under the leadership of Tecumseh, took up arms once more against the Americans. It is a curious fact that this tribe, when the opportunity came, ranged itself with the enemies of the United States. Between the Potawatomi and the early Jesuit missionaries numer- ous links of assiciation were formed from the first entrance of the latter into the Middle West. Jogues and Raymbaut, the first Jesuits to reach the upper Michigan peninsula, met certain members of the tribe at the celebration of "the feast of the dead" in the Huron coun- try in 1641. At AUouez's mission of Le Saint Esprit on Lake Superior the Potawatomi were frequent visitors. Here Marquette made their acquaintance and in 1674, on his last trip to the Illinois country, he had some of their tribesmen in his party. In 1669, Allouez opened the mission of St. Irancis Xavier, near the head of Green Bay, Wiscon- sin, for the neighboringPotawatomi, Sauk, Foxes and Winnebago. But the most considerable of the Potawatomi missions was that of St. Joseph on the river of the same name which empties into Lake Michigan near its south-eastern corner. Founded in 1689 by the re- sourceful Allouez, it continued to be served by resident or visiting Jesuit missionaries down to the suppression of their Order. It stood near a fort of the same name on the St. Joseph River, which connects by a short portage with the Kankakee and Illinois Rivers, and became for that reason a favorite Lakes-to-the-Gulf route for the early French explorers and voyageurs. The site of the mission-buildings lay a few miles north of the Indiana state-line and close to the town-site of Niles in Michigan. A Miami village, one of the three belonging to the tribe, was in the immediate neighborhood of the mission and shared with the Potawatomi the ministrations of the Jesuits. This accounts for the circumstances that St. Joseph's is sometimes described in the Relations as a miami mission. The last of the older Jesuit missionaries in the west were Fathers Marie Louis Lefranc and Pierre du Jaunay, stationed at Mackinac till about 1765, and Father Pierre Pothier, who died at the Huron mission opposite Detroit in 1781. They were the last of the Society to visit the Indians on the St. Joseph. By the treaty of Greenville in 1795 the Potawatomi agreed to sell Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 157 to the United States a tract of land six miles square lying at the mouth of the Chicago River. Here was destined to rise in later years the great metropolis of the West and the fourth largest city in the world. On August 7, 1826, only thirty-one years later than the treaty of Green- ville, occurred the first election in the history of Chicago. The names of the voters on this occasion, thirty-five in number, indicate that fully three-fourths of them were Indians and mixed bloods. The names include those of Daniel Bourassa, Antoine Ouilmette, Francis La- Framboise Sr., Francis LaFramboise Jr., Joseph LaFramboise, Claude LaFramboise, Joseph Pothier, Jean Baptiste Beaubien, Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson.* A few more years passed away and the anomalous position of the Potawatomi as property owners in the commonwealth of Illinois came to an end. By the treaty of Chicago, concluded September 26, 1833, and ratified February 21, 1835, the united bands of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi sold to the gov- ernment the remnant of their holdings in Michigan, Indiana and Illi- nois, 5,000,000 acres in all, receiving in consideration one dollar per acre and in addition, a grant of 5,000,000 acres of land on the north- east side of the Missouri River.^ To this new home, represented roughly on the map of to-day by the westernmost third of the state of Iowa, the Indians agreed to move immediately on the ratification of the treaty.® In 1835 a delegation of Potawatomi under the conduct of a Mr. Gordon visited the Iowa reserve. They found it more remotely situated than they had anticipated and rather uncomfortably close to the Sioux and other bellicose tribes of the Upper Missouri.^ In consequence of the unfavorable reports of the prospectors the emigrant bands of * Andreas, History of Chicago. 5 The text of the Chicago treaty of 1833 is in Kappler, Indian Affairs and Treaties, 2: 402. A discussion of its terms and of the circumstances which attended its signing may be read in Milo Milton Quaife's Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673 — 1835, (Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1913) 348 — 368. The Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi, closely related in blood and language, were grouped together under a government official desig- nation as the United Nation. However, as an Indian agent at Council Bluffs observed, the designation was a misnomer, the fact being that the group of Indians described col- lectively as the United Nation were almost exclusively of Potawatomi stock. Reports emanating from the Indian Department at this period distinguished carefully between the United Nation (Council Bluffs Potawatomi) and the Potawatomi of Indiana (St. Joseph and Wabash bands), who were settled during the period 1837 — 1848 on the Osage River reserve. The Council Bluffs Potawatomi also went frequently by the name of the Prairie band, while their kinsmen of the Osage River reserve were called Pota- watomi of the Woods {Potawatomi des forests). In 1848 both Osage River and Council Bluffs reserves were abandoned and the two sections of the Potawatomi tribe gathered on a common reserve on the Kaw River, a few miles above Topeka. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his report of November 28, 1848, refers to the United Nation or Coun- cil Bluffs Potawatomi as "the Chicago Indians." 6 "Boundaries. North by a line running due east from the sources of the Little Sioux River to the Western boundary of the Sac and Fox country, as established by the treaty of Prairie du Chien; west by the Little Sioux and Missouri Rivers; south by the State of Missouri; east by the divide between the waters of the Des Moines, Skunk and Iowa on the East, and those flowing into the Missouri on the West. Extent: 5,000,000 of acres by treaty commensing in latitude 40° 30 'N, where the boundary of the state strikes the Missouri, that river washes the western border of the country of the "United Nation" for a distance of not less, probably, than ninety-five or one hundred miles. The average distance from the Missouri to the divide which forms the boundary of the Sac and Fox country may be about the same." 7 The Annual Register of Indian Affairs within the Indian (or Western Territory). Published by Isaac McCoy, Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Indian Territory, May, 1836, p. 20. 158 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, SJ. the "Chicago" Potawatomi or United Nation, as they were officially designated, on leaving Illinois and the adjacent states, took a south- westerly course that brought them towards the junction of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers and even beyond the latter stream into the Indian country proper.^ It was not until 1837 that the "Chicago Potawatomi finally reached and settled down on their proper lands. Two detach- ments of them arrived that year by Missouri River steamboat at Coun- cil Blufifs, followed not long after by the main body of the nation, who marched up the east bank of the Missouri from their first halting places in the neighborhood of Fort Leavenworth and the Blacksnake Hills. ^ The last parties of the United Nation to join their fellow- tribesmen on the new reserve arrived in 1838.^° II. NEGOTIATING WITH GOVERNMENT. In the course of his western prospecting trip of 1835 Father Van Quickenborne, S.J., made his first acquaintance with the United Na- tion. The meeting was a providential one, for it was to lead ultimately to the establishment of a Catholic mission in their midst. "I had the consolation of falling in with a party of Pottawatomies sent by their nation to inspect the new lands which the Government had given in exchange for the old. The Pottawatomie, Chippewa and Ottowa Nations having inter-married on a large scale, go at present under the name of the United Nation of the Chippewas, Ottowas and . . Pottawatomies. Under this name they have made a treaty with the United States Government that obliges them to go and reside on the left bank of the Missouri a little above the Kickapoos. They were formerly dispersed over a vast territory out of which have been carved the states of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Our Fathers had several posts among them, two of which, St. Joseph and Arbre Croche are still in existence.il The last named prospers highly. Frequent men- tion is made in the Annates de la Propagation de la Foi of the mission as also of the virtues of the tireless missionary who presides over it. In the deputation I met were several Catholics, one of them being the chief (of the nation). 12 They told me it would be highly bene- 8 The first emigration of the "Chicago" Potawatomi took place in September, 1835. Cf. Illino-is Catholic Historical Review, 1; 164. 9 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1837. The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs containing reports from the various agents and sub-agents was not issued separately at this period but was embodied in the series of Senate Documents for the respective years. 10 Report of the Comtnissioner of Indian Affairs, 1840. According to the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the emigration of the "Chicago Indians" (i. e. the United Nation of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potowatomi began in 1835 and terminated in 1838. The entire number of Indians removed to the Council Bluffs agency prior to 1840 was 2,734. 11 Th,; Potawatomi Mission on the St. Joseph River, founded in 1689 by the veteran missionary, Claude Allouez, stood on the river-hank, a few m'les north of the Indiana- Michigan line and close to the town-site of Niles, Michigan. The mission was reopened in 1830 by the venerable Father Stephan r>adin and a large number of converts made among the Indians. 12 The Potawatomi met by Father Van Quickenhorne in 1835 were of the group of "Chicago" Indians, w^o were assigned the Council Bluff reserve uiuler the treaty of 1833. The Catholic chief that figures in the missionary's account was evidently Billy Caldwell, i)rincii>al business chief of the tribe. lie was retnited *o be the son of an English army officer and a Potawatomi woman, and was attached to the Indian hero, Tecumseh, in the capacity of secretary, fighting with him nt the baitle of the Thames in which the latter perished. He was known during his residence in Chicago under the soubriquet of "S'auganash" or Englishman. THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 159 ficial to them to have a mission in their new country, that they could not all go to Arbre Croche, that the lands assigned them by govern- ment were their only means of subsistence that there the annuities would be paid and the protection of the government secured to them. Once the mission was established other Catholic Indians would come and join them. Friends of ours in a position to judge impartially of the real condition of things far from challenging these reasons for the mission in question supply new ones. According to them, we should thereby render a distinct service not only to the natives, but to the en- tire Catholic Church of the United States." ^^ In September, 1835, Van Quickenborne was in Washington to secure Government subsidies for his projected Kickapoo and Pot- awatomi schools. His petition of September 17, addressed to the Secretary of War, was referred by that official to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Herring, who replied on the 22nd of the same month, granting an appropriation in favor of the Kickapoo school, but refusing the one asked for in behalf of the Potawatomi school. "In regard to a school among the United Nations of Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies : The treaty of September, 1833, which was ratified in February, 1835, provided for the appropriation of seventy thousand dollars 'for purposes of education and the encouragement of the domestic arts.' In accordance with the wishes of these Indians, this sum has been in- vested in stock. This stock bears an interest of five per cent, of which the first payment will be made in January next. As the sum must be expended west of the Mississippi, the Department considers it proper that the interest which shall accrue prior to the settlement of these Indians in their own country shall also be invested. As the emigration will not probably be completed within two years, no definite arrange- ments will now be made for the application of this fund. At a proper time the Department will determine what part of it shall be applied for the support of schools, and what part to the other objects, indicated by the general clause, 'the encouragement of domestic arts.' The wishes you have now expressed on the subject will then be respectfully con- sidered.1* The Kickapoo mission and school became a reality in 1836 and Father Van Quickenborne while residing there again came into contact with the United Nation. He visited them in their camp on the east bank of the Missouri opposite Fort Leavenworth, where on January 29, 1837, he baptized fourteen children of the tribe, all under four years of age. The first child to receive the sacrament was Susanna, daughter of Claude LaFramboise and a Potawatomi woman, and she had for godfather the business chief of the tribe, William Caldwell, the Sauganash of early Chicago history. Caldwell stood sponsor for two other infants. Other sponsors on the occasion, their names duly recorded in the Baptismal Register of the Kickapoo Mission, were Claude LaFramboise, Toussaint Chevalier, Joseph Chevalier, Francis Bourbonnet and Michael Arcoite. As a matter of fact, though the cir- cumstance, if he knew it, could scarcely have impressed him as par- ticularly significant, the missionary had before him a group of ex- 13 Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, 9: 161. 14 Missouri Province Archives. 160 REV. G. J. GARRi\GHAN, S.J. citizens of Chicago, some of whose names appear on the poll-book of the election of 1826, the first in the history of the metropolis.'^ Father Van Quickenborne died August 17, ,1837, without having realized his plans for a Potawatomi mission. But the project was not suffered to lapse. Father Verhaegen, Superior of the Missouri Mis- sion, of the Society of Jesus, wrote under date of August 5, 1837, to the Secretary of War : "While at Washington in September 1835, the Rev. Mr. Van Quickenborne soHcited the favor of forming an establishment among the Pottawatomies and stated what the Society would be able to effect towards the accomplishment of the benevolent views of the Govern- ment for their civilization. The application was then premature. I be- lieve it is no longer so. Permit me therefore, dear Sir, to renew the petition which was then made. I am ready to send to fhem two rnis- sionaries with a teacher. General Gaines held lately a council during which the subject of this my application was discussed by the chiefs and the principal men of the nation; they expressed a great desire to have a Catholic establishment among them and they will shortly send you a petition detailing the grounds on which they base their appli- cation.^® Col. Benton promised me to lay before the Department several questions on which I consulted him. I trust, dear Sir, that actuated by the earnest desire which the Government has always manifested for the welfare of the Indian, you will have the goodness to consider the subject." ^^ The petition of the Potawatomi chief reads as follows : "To his Excellency, the Secretary of the War Department: The petition of the undersigned chief and warriors of the Pot- tawatomie nation respectfully represent : 1. That in the course of a few months everything necessary for their permanent location in their new lands will be procured and that agreeably to the benevolent intentions of the Government they are disposed to better their situation by the introduction of the domestic arts and education among them. 2. "That a school being necessary for the instruction of their children, they wish to see one established among them with the least possible delay. 3. That they desire this school to be conducted by missionaries sent to them by the Catholic Missionary Society of Missouri, because many of the nation have embraced the Catholic religion and will by this arrangement be enabled to enjoy the comforts of their religion. 15 Father Van Ouickenborne's baptisms among the Potawatomi near Fort Leaven- worth in January, 1837, were entered by him in the Kickaf^oo Mission Register now in the Archives of St. Mary's College, Kansas. The location of the Potawatomi camp was within the limits of the triangular strip of land along the east bank of the M'ssouri subsequently known as the Platte Purchase. Though this tract was not included in the reserve assigned the Potawatomi by the treaty of 1833, the Indians on leaving Chicago were conducted thither by the contractors in charge of the emigration, presumably be- cause the Indians could not be induced to occupy their Iowa lands, which reports had led them to believe to be undesirable. The Potawatomi, however, were never anything but trespassers on the Platte Purchase and were compelled at length (1837) to vacate it and move up into their officially assigned reserve in southwestern Iowa. See Babbitt, Early Days at Council Bluffs, Washington, 1916, p. 26. For data concerning the religious status of the "Chicago" Potawatomi, see Illinois Catholic Historical Review. 1: 156. 16 Brigadier-Gener.il Edmund Pendleton Gaines, 0777—1849). hero of the war of 1812 and of the Indian wars in Florida. Father Verhaegen had formed an acquaintance with him in St. Louis. 17 Files of the Indian Bureau. Washington. Thomas Hart Benton, U. S. Senator from Missouri, 1821 — 51, had sever.nl years earlier become associatevl with the St. Louis Jesuits through his efforts to obtain for St. Louis University a township of land to serve as a basis for an endowment fund. See St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, 1: 99. THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 161 4. That the common feeling of the nation is in favor of the CathoUc clergy, who, speaking the English and the French languages, can fully second the execution of the plan which the Government pro- poses to itself for the amelioration of their nation." Signed in the presence of B. D. Moon, Capt. ist D. Wa Bon Su Wm. McPherson PjErish La Claire B. Caldwell [Ten signatures] B. R. Hunt, Agt. Fountain Blue on the Ea^t Side of the Missouri near Council Bluffs. 12th September, 1837.18 The Potawatomi petition duly marked with the crosses of the chiefs, was sent to Father Verhaegen, who in turn transmitted it to the Secretary of War ^^. Months passed by bqt no answer came from Washington. Meanwhile, Father Hoecken, of the Kickapoo Mission, was advised from Council Blufifs that the Indians were anxiously awaiting the missionary The materials for a church were at hand. A tract of land was promised to the Fathers and the old fort, now the government issue house, offered to them for a residence by the commanding officer. Col. Kearney. The author of the Annual Letters for 1837 notes that everything as far as and but one blacksmith and his assistant a half-breed. They cannot supply near all the wants of the Indians, and their shop and buildings are in bad condition, the Government having furnished no means for the erection of these buildings. ..... The principal reason of these people not progressing farther in civilization is ardent spirits, which are kept along the line of the state of Missouri, and conveyed into the Indian country by the half-breeds. The whiskey trade has increased double this season and cannot be prevented by your Indian agents, unless they can have aid from tlie Government. The Indians will sell anything for liquor; not infrequently bartering off his horses, guns and blankets for whiskey. This practice is increasing rapidly, and the ruin of the nation is certain unless a stop can be put to the introduction of spirituous liquors." Report of Peter Cooper, Oct. 2, 1841. For Father Verreydt's testimony on this subject, see \nfra. p. THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 169 abominable stuff arrive daily from the settlements, and along with it the very dregs of our white neighbors and voyageurs of the moun- tams, drunkards, gamblers, etc., etc. Three horses have been brought to the ground and killed with axes. Two more noses were bitten off and a score of other horrible mutilations have taken place. Two women are dangerously ill of bad usage." 29 In a letter written in July, 1839, to a Carmelite nun, Superior of the Orphanage in Termonde , Belgium, Father De Smet's native town, the missionary recurs to the topic of the Indian's fatal weakenss for liquor. "Our congregation already amounts to about 300. At Easter we had fifty candidates for the first communion. I recommend, in a very special manner, these poor Indians, that they maintain their fervor. The dangers and scandals which surround them are very great. I have remarked in one of my preceding letters that one of the principal obstacles to the conversion of the savages is drinking. The last boat brought them a quantity of liquors. Already fourteen among them are cut to pieces in the most barbarous manner, and are dead. A father seized his own child by the legs and crushed it, in the presence of its mother, by dash- ing it against the post of his lodge. Two others most cruelly murdered an Indian woman, a neighbor of ours, and mother of four children. We live in the midst of the most disgusting scenes. The passion of the savages for strong drink is inconceivable. They give horses, blankets, all, in a word, to have a little of this brutalizing liquid. Their drunkenness only ceases when they have nothing more to drink. Some of our neophytes have not been able to resist this ter- rible torrent, and have allowed themselves to be drawn into it. I wrote an energetic letter to the Government against these abominable traf- fickers. Join your prayers to our efforts to obtain from Heaven the ces- sation of this frightful commerce, which is the misery of the savages in every relation." *° In the same letter from which the preceding extract is cited Father De Smet tells graphically of the sinking of a steamer within sight of Council Bluffs with considerable supplies on board for the missionaries and the Indians. "First, I will narrate to you the great loss that we experienced towards the end of April. Our Superior sent us from St. Louis, goods to the amount of $500, in ornaments for the church, a tabernacle, a bell, and provisions and clothes for a year. I had been for a long time with- out shoes ,and from Easter we were destitute of supplies. All the Potawatomi nation were suffering from scarcity, having only acorns and a few wild roots for their whole stock of food. At last, about the 20th of April, they announced to us that the much-desired boat was approaching. Already we saw it from the highest of our hills. I pro- cured, without delay, two carts to go for baggage. I reached there in time to witness a very sad sight. The vessel had struck on a sawyer, was pierced, and rapidly sinking in the waves. The confusion that reigned in the boat was great, but happily no lives were lost The total damage was valued at $40,000. All the provisions forwarded by Govern- ment to the savages were on board of her. Of our effects four articles were saved ; a plough, a saw, a pair of boots and some wine. Providence was still favorable to us. With the help of the plough we were enabled to plant a large field of corn; it was the season for furrowing. \Ve are using the saw to build a better house and enlarge our church, already 29 From a letter to a "most dear friend" dated Potawatomi Nation. Council BluflFs. December 1839. Text in Richardson's and Chittenden s De Smet, 1. 171. 30 Richardson and Chittenden's De Smet. I; 184. 170 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. too small. With my boots I can walk in the woods and prairies without fear of being bitten by the serpents which throng there. And the wine permits us to offer to God every day the holy sacrifice of the Mass, a privilege that had been denied us during a long time. We therefore returned with courage and resignation to the acorns and roots until the 30th of May. That day another boat arrived. By that same steamer, I received news from you, as well as a letter from my family and from the good Carmelite superior." 3i On April 29 Father De Smet took passage on the St. Peter's, a steam-boat of the American Fur Company, then making its annual trip to the Yellowstone to carry supplies to the Indians and bring down their furs in return. He had planned to visit the Yankton Sioux in their village some 360 miles above Council Bluffs, in order to do a little missionary work among the tribe and attempt to establish re- lations of amity and peace between the latter and the Potawatomi, who ever since their arrival at Council Bluffs had lived in mortal dread of their bellicose neighbors to the North. To his great delight Father De Smet found on board the boat an old acquaintance, the mathematician and scientist, Jean Nicolas Nicollet, whom the reader will recall as the gentleman who lent his services to Father Verhaegen on the occasion of the latter's visit to Washington to secure Govern- ment approval and aid for the Council Bluffs Mission.^^ M. Nicollet was then on a scientific excursion to the region of the Upper Missouri, fol- lowing a trip of scientific exploration and research, which he had made the preceding year to the sources of the Mississippi with great suc- cess. Accompanying him were Lieutenant Fremont, the future "Path- finder," and Charles A. Geyer, a German naturalist of considerable distinction in the scientific world. Father De Smet had a very high re- gard for the ability and scholarly attainments of Nicollet, but not more than the facts seemed to warrant. "His work will be a treasure for the literary world. He is a very deeply learned man and a liberal Catholic at the same time, who examines his subject on the spot and spares neither time nor pains nor his purse to go to the bottom of the matter he writes upon. He made a present of several instruments, thermometers, barometers, compass, etc., to take observations during the summer, to aid those he was making in the upper country."^^ 31 Id. I; 184. Richardson and Chittenden conjecture that the wrecked steamer was the annual boat of the American Fur Company to the mouth of the Yellowstone. Though its name cannot be identified from the list of Steamboat wrecks on the Missouri River in the Annual Report of the Missouri River Commission for 1897, >t was very probably the Pirate reported by the St. Louis Republican under date of May 6. 1839, as having been snagged and lost seven miles below Council Bluffs. It would appear that the boat was subsequently raised. 32 Cf. note 21. 33 In a"Report intended to illustrate a map of the Hydrographic Basin of Upper Mississippi River, made by J. N. Nicollet while in employ under the Bureau of the Corps Topographical Engineers'^ (Senate Document No. 237, 26th Congress, 2nd session), Nicol- let testifies to the accuracy of the barometric observations taken by Father De Smet at Council Bluffs. "The station at Camp Kearney, Council Bluffs, was occupied by the vener- able missionaries, Rev. Messrs. De Staet and Verreydt. I furnished them with a barometer, well compared with that of Dr. Engelman at St. Louis, and my own and delivered it at their missionary-station in good condition, Mr. De Smet, with whom I had passed some days of travel on the Missouri, soon made himself acquainted with the manner of taking observations; and proved it. in furnishing me with a four-month series, made with a care that the most scrupulous examination could only confirm and embracing the period between the 17th of May and 17th of September. 1839, an interval during which I was exploring the Northwest." THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 171 Having in the course of the voyage instructed and baptized on board the steamer a woman and her three children and heard the confessions of a number of voyageurs bound for the Rocky Moun- tains, Father De Smet arrived May 11 at the Yankton village. Here he met the Yankton chiefs and warriors in council and was hospitably entertained by them at a feast, at which he took occasion to discuss with them the principal object of his visit, the establishment of a durable peace between them and his spiritual children, the Potawatomi. His efforts met with success. He persuaded the Sioux to make pres- ents to the children of the Potawatomi warriors they had killed and to agree to visit the Potawatomi and smoke with them the calumet of peace. In the evenng of the same day on which the council was held he explained the Apostle's Creed to the Indians and baptized a great number of their children. His mission thus accomplished, he seized the first opportunity of returning to Council Bluffs, making the down- stream voyage in the only craft he found available, a dugout, or hollowed-out log, ten feet long by one and a half wide. Guided by two skilful pilots, and travelling from four o'clock in the morning to sunset, the frail bark covered the 360 miles to Council Bluffs in three days.^* From the baptismal and marriage registers of St. Joseph's Mis- sion we are able to gather data concerning the ministry of the Fathers during the three years that the Mission was maintained. The baptisms during this period numbered 308. The first recorded is that of Cath- erine Bourbonne[t], a Potawatomi, on June 9, 1838. She is the first person whose baptism at Council Bluffs is attested by documentary evidence. All baptismal entries up to February 8, 1840, are in Father De Smet's handwriting. Caldwell, the principal business chief of the nation, was god-father to John Naakeze, baptized December 29, 1838, at the age approximately of 102. The last baptism in the mission register is in Father Eysvogel's hand and bears date July 17, 1841.^*^ The first entries in the marriage register are dated August 15, 1838. On that day Father De Smet joined in Christian wedlock Pierre Chevalier and Kwi-wa-te-no-lue, and Louis Wilmot [Ouilmette] and Maria Wa-wiet-wo-kue.^° As may be readily surmised, these are- the earliest certified marriages in the annals of Council Bluffs. The mar- riage ceremonies performed by Father De Smet at the Mission num- bered 20 in all, the last being dated January 5, 1840. After a stay of several months at the Novitiate whither he had returned from his Indians, broken down in health, Father Christian Hoecken, the found- er in 1838 of the Catholic Mission among the Osage River Potawatomi, 34 Richardson and Chittenden's De Smet. 1: 190. 35 The Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Council Bluffs Mission are in the Archives of St. Mary's College, St. Mary's, Kansas. While stationed at Council Bluffs, Father De Smet baptized the Omaha chief Logan Fontanelle, then a child, and his mother, daughter of the Omaha chief. Big K\k. Richardson and Chittenden's De Smet, 4: 1532. 36 Louis Wilmot (Ouilmette) discharged for a while the duties of government inter- preter for the Council Bluff sub-agencv. His relative, Antoine Ouilmette, whose name is perpetuated in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette has been reputed Chicago s earliest white settler, having settled there according to his own account in 1790. 172 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. was attached to St. Joseph's Mission in the summer of 1840. Four marriages are credited to him in the marriage register of the Mission, the earliest dated August 6, 1840 and the last January 28, 1841. In the summer of 1839 there arrived at Council Bluffs two young Flathead braves, who were making the long journey from their home- land west of the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis for the purpose of securing Catholic missionaries for their tribe. The zeal of Father De Smet was at once aroused and, disappointed as he was over conditions in the Potawatomi reserve and the prospects of future missionary labor in that quarter, he eagerly offered himself to answer the signal of spiritual distress that came at this opportune moment from the re- mote Nothwest. Father Verhaegen, the Jesuit Vice-Provincial in St. Louis, having determined to ascertain first what were the prospects held out by ithe new missionary field thus opened up to his Order, dis- missed the Flathead delegates with a promise that a missionary would be depatched to their tribe on a prospecting trip early in the coming spring. Father De Smet was commissioned to undertake this trip, ar- riving in St. Louis from Council Bluffs the last day of February, 1840. His status as resident missionary at Council Bluffs thus came to an end and he entered upon that period of intensive missionary effort on behalf of the Oregon Indians with which his career is most closely identified. Father De Smet left Westport at the mouth of the Kansas for the Rocky Mountains in April, 1840, discharged satisfactorily the purpose of his visit to the Flatheads, whom he found eagerly awaiting the advent of Catholic missionaries, and returned home by the Mis- souri River, making a stop in November at Council Bluffs where he found that during his absence conditions had taken on a more dis- couraging aspect than ever. "The very night of our arrival among our Fathers at Council Bluffs, the river closed. It would be in vain for me to attempt to tell what I felt at finding myself once more amidst our brothers, after hav- ing travelled 2,000 Flemish leagues, in the midst of the greatest dangers and across the territories of the most barbarous nations. I had, however, the grief of observing the ravages which unprincipled men, liquor-sellers, had caused in this budding mission. Drunkenness, with the invasion of the Sioux on the other hand, had finally dispersed my poor savages. While awaiting a more favorable turn of events, the good Fathers Verreydt and [Christian] Hoecken busy themselves witH the cares of their holy ministry among some fifty families that have had the courage to resist these two enemies. I discharged my commission to them from the Sioux, and I venture to hope that in future there will be quiet in that quarter." 37 In the summer of 1841 the situation at Council Bluffs from the view-point of missionary endeavor continued to be distinctly discourag- ing. Writing in July to Father Van Assche at Florissant, Father Ver- reydt dwells on the conditions which were to result in a few weeks in the definite abandonment of the mission. "Our people here like us very much; but they do not want to listen to our good counsel. Getting drunk is the only fault they have; otherwise, we would live here in a Paradise. But now, in the condition 37 Richardson and Chittenden's De Smet, 1: 358. THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF COUNCIL BLUFFS 173 they are, it is indeed very disagreeable to live among them. As you are at home in the charming business, could your Reverence "not give me a means to make fellows here sober men and sober women ; for women, as well as men, get tipsy whenever they have a chance. Oh, my friend', it looks very bad to see these poor creatures often like hogs wallowing in the mud. I think you have done very well not to have come out to these frontier places, where almost everbody is trying to delude and impose upon these poor creatures. Liquor is brought in here with whole cargoes, which reduces our Indians to extreme poverty, which is, as you know, the mother of all vice. Such is our position here. You may of course pray hard for us all. We cannot help it; patience will not cure the evil ,1 fear." 38 The United Nation or the Prairie Potawatomi had thus signally disappointed the hopes once entertained of their advancement in the ways of upright and Christian living. On the other hand, their kinsmen of Sugar Creek, the Potawatomi of Indiana or the Forest Potawatomi, were steadily advancing to the condition of an orderly and edifying Christian community. The conclusion was accordingly reached to abandon Council Bluffs as a center of resident missionary endeavor and transfer the Fathers stationed there to Sugar Creek. In pursuance of instructions received from St. Louis, Fathers Verreydt and Christian Hoecken, together with Brothers Mazzela and Miles bade farewell to Council Bluffs in Augtrst, 1841 and journeyed to Sugar Creek, which they reached on the 29th of that month. Thenceforth the Iowa Pota- watomi were without spiritual aid except for an occasional visit of Father Christian Hoecken from Sugar Creek. In April 1842, the latter administered four baptisms at Council Bluffs. In November 1844, he administered twenty more at the same post, all to Indians or half- breeds. In May, 1846, he was again with the United Nation, baptizing on this occasion thirty-eight infants and a dying squaw. This was ap- parently the last visit of a Catholic priest to Council Bluffs before the closing of the Potawatomi reserve.^'' Two years later the Indians were removed to their new lands on the Kansas River assigned them under the treaty of 1846, where they were united with the Sugar Creek di- vision of the tribe and came again under the spiritual care of Jesuit missionaries.*" GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN, SJ. 38 Verreydt to Van Assche, July 2, 1841. 39 Liber Baptismonim. 1838—1850 (Archives of St. Mary's College, St. Mary's, Kansas). Richard Smith Elliott, Indian Agent at Council Bluffs, in his Notes Taken in Sixty Years, p. 180, records his having "solemnized the first civil marriage in all Southwest Iowa." The parties to the marriage were the half-breed. Joseph LaFramboise, United States interpreter for the agency, and a Miss Labarg[e]. "The Priest [Father Hoecken] had made his annual trip in May and about ten months would elapse before he would come again." 40 According to Babbitt, Earlv Davs in Council Bluffs, 57, the Catholic mission-property at the time application was made" for the entry of the town-site of Council Bluffs became the subject of a controversy between Mrs. S. T. Carey and the Catholic ecclesiastical authorities. The evidence adduced in the long-drawn out controversy before the Indian Office and the Land Department is on record in the files of the Indian Office (Case No. 139. Potawatomi file, No. 40-L). Father De Smet, when questioned on the subject in 1867 could give no definite information. "All I could learn on the subject is: Several years after the last missionary among the Potawatomies left that location, he was applied to by the Cath- olic Bishop of Dubuque and ceded to him all the right to the Mission-claim. ' Ktchardson and Chittenden's De Smet, 4: 1534. LIFE STORY OF ALEXANDER BELLESIME A HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Dear to the heart of every American is the career of a man who has figured prominently in the affairs of this great nation, but dearer still is the life of one whose noble deeds in behalf of our country were unexcelled, and who yet remains hidden by his close association wnth great personages. The life story of Alexander Bellesime, a friend of the Marquis de Lafayette, his companion and aide-de-camp during the American Revolution, is an instance where the heroism of the private is overshadowed by the military achievements of his superior officer. Our hero was born, August 9, 1756, in the vicinity of Bordeaux. His father, Jean Bellesime, was a wealthy landlord, his vineyard being one of the most extensive in this section of France. Admiral Bellesime of the French Fleet was his uncle and the young Alex- ander imbibed much of his patriotism through association with this uncle, whom the boy took as a model. When the war for American Independence began, Bellesime was on board a French man-of-war. His love of liberty and justice could not but reach out to the strug- gling colonies in the distant West and on learning that a vessel was being fitted out by the Marquis de Lafayette, he immediately offered his services. From their first meeting, Lafayette and Bellesime be- came friends. Both were young, neither had completed his twentieth year . Their college days had not been spent together but their edu- cational developments were similar. Bellesime attended the military college at Paris and his attainments were equal to his opportunities. He became proficient in six foreign langiiages, his favorite among these being the Italian. Much of the friendly intercourse between Bellesime and Lafayette was carried on in this tongue. The same spirit that animated the Marquis de Lafayette towards the struggling colonies also aroused the sympathy of Bellesime. They were eager to draw their swords in behalf of freedom. They considered it the happiest moment of their lives when they were ready to serve her. It was on April 24, 1777, that Lafayette's vessel, the "Victory", came in sight of the American shore. The voyage had been danger- ous and stormy. When nearing the harbor at Georgetown, South Carolina, they were attacked by a British cruiser. A fight ensued and in the melee Lafayette was thrown into the sea. But Bellesime 174 LIFE STORY OF ALEXANDER BELLESIME 175 had seen the accident, and to jump after his friend to rescue him was the work of a moment. This incident was the beginning of a series of heroic actions that testify to his unselfish character, his quick bravery, and, his sincere love for "His General." The English cruiser was overcome and the French vessel, bearing the Marquis and his companions, landed safely at Georgetown, South Carolina. At first they were taken for a party of the enemy, but when their identity had been established, that they were volunteers to the American cause, they were received with great joy and enthusiasm. The hopes of the disheartened people of Georgetown were revived and new life was infused in the American patriots. In order to procure horses and carriages the victorious party sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, whence they proceeded by land to Philadelphia, where Congress was then in session. The Marquis, in the name of his volunteer com- panions, among whom was the German veteran. Baron de Kalb and a French Major, Gamet, who was also an aide-de-camp of Lafayette, offered their services to the United Colonies. After some hesitation Congress accepted these brave men. The first engagement of La- fayette and his two aides was at the Battle of Brandywine. Lafayette showed such skill and courage in this battle that his name became famous. The British determined to capture "the boy" as they called him, and left nothing undone to carry out their plan. It was after this first battle and while directing a body of Americans with whom Washington had charged him, that the hero of this story again saves the life of Lafayette. A British Officer detecting the Marquis had succeeded in getting behind him, and with drawn sword was ready to strike the fatal blow. In an instant, Bellesime was at his side. He threw the sword from the murderous hand and amid firing of bullets unsaddled the English officer and again saved the life of his friend. This was the second testimony of devoted love given by this aide-de-camp, a love that ever existed. At the close of the campaign of 1778, Lafayette deemed it his duty to return to France to place himself at the disposal of his govern- ment, and to exert himself in behalf of America by his personal con- ference with the French ministry. He wanted Bellesime to accom- pany him, but our hero, out of sympathy for the struggling nation, gave this characteristic answer: "You, my dear Marquis, can do much for America while in France, I could do nothing, then let me remain where I may give to America all that is mine to give, rny life." In Lafayette's absence, Bellesime served for a short time in General Sullivan's regiment, but when Rochambeau came to the aid of the colonies he was made sergeant, a position he held until his return to Lafayette's service. This favor he asked, and after some hesitation Washington gave the desired permission. So it happened that Lafayette and Bellesime were again together at the siege of Yorktown. After a long and skillful campaign in Virginia, the army suc- ceeded in tiring out Cornwallis, who at last took up a position at Yorktown, where he expected to receive supplies and fresh troops. 176 A SISTER OF ST. JOSEPH OF CARONDELET Lafayette saw what might be done if timely aid could be obtained, for he knew that a French fleet was on its way to America, and if it were possible to have it enter Chesapeake Bay, Cornwallis would be cut off by sea, and by the maneuvering of the American Army, Lafayette could prevent a retreat through the Carolinas should they attempt to do this. After giving an account of these conditions to Washington, Lafayette with great skill held Cornwallis in at York- town. Rochambeau arrived with re-enforcements and Washington came from Philadelphia with his army. Without further hesitation the siege began. Lafayette charged the breastworks. It was in this final action that our hero gave the last testimony of love and affec- tion to his revered Marquis. While encouraging his troops, Lafay- ette's charger was struck by a cannon ball ; horse and rider fell to the ground, Bellesime, with his usual alertness was at his General's side. He raised the Marquis and assisted him to mount his own horse. In this action Bellesime received several wounds which were supposed to be mortal. He was carried from the field and hastened to the camp where relief could be given to the sufferer. This battle ended the war for Independence, and Lafayette or- dered his sick and wounded to be gathered on board a French vessel that they might be quickly transported home where necessary care and treatment could be given them. To an old French surgeon he gave orders that his "brave aide-de-camp," as he always called Bellesime, should have every attention and comfort, for he had been more than a friend to him. In case of death he ordered that a decent burial be given him. According to a letter written by Bellesime, he states, "the doctor worried with me for a while." The vessel landed at New Orleans for medical supplies, the doctor thought it best to leave the wounded hero here for he had little hope that the sufferer could live to see the French shore. Another physician was given charge, and the vessel set sail for France with the other wounded soldiers, leaving Bellesime at New Orleans, which was close to the newly liberated colonies. The report made by the surgeon on arriving home was that Bellesime, Lafayette's friend, had died. Sorrow filled the heart of the Marquis at this news for he loved this self-sacrificing companion as a brother. But death did not call the hero, on the contrary, his condition improved and he finally settled in St. Louis, then a growing town of the Louisiana Territory. He married an orphan girl, Mary Waters, whose parents had been killed by the Indians. She was of English descent and was born in Detroit. A French merchant, Provenchere, adopted and educated her. Few families were as happy as that of Bellesime. Twelve children graced the home and it was a favorite rendezvous for the elite of St. Louis, and for ladies and gentlemen of rank, living in New Orleans. Hospitality was a characteristic of the Bellesime home where everyttody came with joy. the visit being saddened only by the thought of having to leave. From the Rocky Mountains to Santa Fe, from Detroit to New Orleans, Bellesime was known. His nickname, "Old Eleckson", was LIFE STORY OF ALEXANDER BELLESIME 177 familiar to all. He was the first to establish a tavern and wagon- yard in St. Louis. This accomodation for farmers and voyagers was erected on Spruce and Myrtle Streets. Farmers, mountaineers, and boatmen loved and venerated him for his defence of liberty and justice. His strong personality, happy disposition and true Christian sentiments endeared him to all with whom he became acquainted. He had a tender love for music, and his old French flute often lulled his little ones to sleep. It was his delight to relate to his children, stories of his friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette, how after some hard-fought battle or a long march, they would seek a shade in Liberty's forest and there pipe some sweet French melody, a melody of home, that it might be borne across the great blue sea to those dear and loved ones there. Few knew this dear old hero's history, and not until 1824 did his real identity reveal itself. The Marquis de Lafayette had arrived in the United States on a national visit. From his first landing the hearts of the Missourians were elated with the hope that the Great General would gratify them by visiting their state, then the most distant and the youngest member of the Union. They forwarded a message, a kind and pressing invitation to General Lafayette to pay St. Louis a visit. Lafayette's answer filled them with delight as he declared that it would be his happiness to visit his former country- men and the land once owned by his loved France, but now the home of his dearest friends. Many days were spent in preparation, and at last the time had arrived when they could honor him who was more than a French General of the American Revolution. The sleepless night passed and when the happy day dawned more than half the population of St. Louis was about the steamboat landing, eager to catch the first glimpse of the boat that would bring them their venerated guest. After long hours of anxious waiting the ves- sel bearing the Marquis was seen. It glided close to the Illinois shore until opposite the sandbar on Duncan Island when the prow slightly turned toward the standing throng. What stillness ! What rebounding heart throbs were concealed lest a sound should break the solemnity of the silence ! There was one old heart which was beat- ing faster, one fond love which was stronger, and one dear soul more eager to clasp "His General" to his heart than that vast multitude could tell, and that one was Bellesime, our hero. The boat began to slacken speed for landing, Lafayette walked to the railing and waved the Stars and Stripes, while a shout such as the hills of St. Louis had never echoed before rose from the once silent throng and continued until the boat reached the bank. A com- mittee escorted the Marquis to the carriage prepared to convey him to the Chouteau mansion on Market Street. The honored guest could not recognize individuals in that vast multitude nor was he expecting a meeting with one of his Victory companions. Bellesime's tear-dimmed eyes gazed on in silence and a whisper echoed "Forgotten." Could this be possible? And then with a resolution animated by the hopes of clasping his dear Marquis 178 A SISTER OF ST. JOSEPH OF CARONDELET again to his heart, he resolved to tell the committee who he was. He approached Captain Miles and revealed his identity. The Cap- tain informed Lafayette that an old gentleman, Bellesime by name, lived in the city and claimed to have been his companion on the Victory. For some time Lafayette thought, then he said it could not be possible, it must be an imposter, for his loved Bellesime had died in New Orleans in 178L However he told the committee to bring the old man to him, he would gladly receive him. A messenger hastened to Bellesime and told him what Lafayette had said. "Well," said Bellesime," if Lafayette believes me to be an impostor, I will not go, I owe nothing to the Marquis de Lafayette." A second mes- senger was sent to insist upon the old man's coming and though his proud heart was pricked to the very core, he finally yielded to the entreaty and allowed the messenger to escort him to the reception. Bellesime requested that he might be introduced to Lafayette as a stranger. Mayor Lane brought in the old man and made the formal introduction. Lafayette and Bellesime shook hands. Lafayette stepped back, then the old gentleman spoke. "General, have you for- gotten the combat with the British cruiser on the coast of Carolina?" Before Bellesime could utter another word Lafayette threw his arms around his companion and with entreaties begged him to forgive his incredulity. The scene was pathetic. The audience gazed on in silence, fearing a cheer would be a choked sob. The two heroes conversed together for some minutes in Italian. The Marquis in- vited Bellesime to accompany him in reviewing the cavalry troops which were drawn up in line to honor the visiting hero. Proudly did old Bellesime take his place beside his loved Marquis. After the survey of this splendid demonstration of military training, a banquet was served. It had been prepared by the members of the Masonic Lodge, of which association Lafayette was then a member. Bellesime was eagerly pressed to accept an invitation to be present at this reunion, but being a devout Catholic, he declined. Lafayette would not allow insistence, for he well knew the love of Faith that ever existed in his companion. But before departing, a short private interview was held between the two. Lafayette begged his old friend to accompany him back to France. His father's estate was without an heir and this great fortune would be his if a personal claim were made. Bellesime thought of his motherless children, some were young, and, reflecting on their need, he told the Marquis that his care for these children would be a greater inheritance than his father's estate. The Marquis asked Bellesime to accompany him to Washington where he could establish his claim with the govern- ment for services in the army. The generous lover of Liberty again refused, saying, "I gave my services to Liberty, I desire no re- compense." This hero, forgotten by all, died August 13. 1833. For three days his remains lay in state. The people of St. Louis and sur- rounding country were notified by a proclamation from the Gover- nor of Missouri calling them to the burial of the friend of Liberty LIFE STORY OF ALEXANDER BELLESIME 179 and a companion of the Marquis de Lafayette. He was buried with military honors from the St. Louis Cathedral. The Grays accom- panied the remains to the old North Cemetery, where all paid their last respects to the dear old hero of the American Revolution. True to his God, faithful to his adopted country, Bellesime there awaits the final call of Him who does not Forget. A Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. AN APPEAL HISTORICAL MATTER DESIRED by the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Books and pamphlets on American History and Biography, particularly those relating to Church institutions, ecclesiastical persons and Catholic lay people within the limits of the Louisiana Purchase ; Old newspapers ; Catliolic modern papers ; Parish papers, whether old or recent : IVe zvill highly appreciate the courtesy of the Reverend Pastors ivho send us regularly their Parish publications ; Manuscripts ; narratives of early Catholic settlers or relating to early Catholic settlements ; letters : In the case of family papers which the actual ozvners zvish to keep in their possession, we shall be grateful for the privilege of taking copies of these papers ; Engravings, portraits. Medals, etc; In a word, every object whatsoever which, by the most liberal construction, may be regarded as an aid to, or illustration of the history of the Catholic Church in the Middle West. Contributions will be credited to the donors and preserved in the Library or Archives of the Society, for the use and benefit of the members and other duly authorized persons. Communications may be addressed either to the Secretary, or to the Librarians of the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis, 209 Walnut Street, St. Louis, Mo. 18a NOTES Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Secretary's Report for 1920-1921 At the last Annual Meeting of the St. Louis Historical Society all. the old officers were elected for another term, with the exception of the Secretary and the Treasurer, to which offices Rev. Edward H. Amsinger and Mr. Edward Brown were respectively elected. Ow- ing to ill-health and pressing business causing their absence from the city some of the officers were not able to attend all the meetings of the Society and the Executive Committee, but still they discharged their duties very faithfully and gave sufficient notice ahead of time, when they foresaw that they would be prevented from being present. The attendance of the membership at large at the regular meetings was not nearly so large as we feel it should have been. An average of about ten persons attended each meeting. On a few occasions a few more were present. Still some progress was made. The membership grew very considerably in numbers and our collections have been enriched by quite a few donations, the Library Committee reporting additions at every meeting. At the September meeting Father Ro- thensteiner read a very interesting and instructive paper on "The Old St. Louis Calvary and Cross." At the November meeting a highly interesting and very timely paper by Rev. Paul C. Schulte of the Old Cathedral about the first St. Vincent de Paul Conference founded in the United States and entitled : "The Old Cathedral Con- ference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society," was read by Fr. Rothen- steiner. At the January meeting Fr. Rothensteiner read some ex- tracts from the correspondence of Rev. Hilary Tucker, which fur- nished some very interesting information about this zealous priest's ministry in and around Quincy, Illinois, about 100 years ago. At the March meeting, which, however, was postponed till April 6, on account of Holy Week, Fr. Brennan gave an informal talk on "the History of the Earth as written by itself," treating the different strata of the earth's crust as so many historical records of its forma- tion. Unfortunately, the publication of the Society's periodical, The St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, was delayed several times, which, as last year, may be attributed, at least in part, to the still unsettled conditions of the times. It is the purpose of the Catholic Historical Society to treat of the religious and social influences, that have 181 182 NOTES gone out from St. Louis as a center from the days of the earliest dis- coveries to the present time, which will soon belong to the past and as such be history also. The Society therefore should make a strong- appeal to the interest and support of the educated classes in St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding country. If more lively interest in the great historical past of our city and state could be aroused and better financial support secured, the Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis would no doubt attain the object of its existence more effectively and do monumental work in the historical field. Edward H. Amsinger, Secretary. Financial Statement. Year Ending May i6, 1921. Receipts. Balance on hand May i, 1920. . .$ 98.75 Membership Dues 435-00 Proceeds Sale Vol. 1 168.00 Advertising 65.00 Subscriptions for "Review" 159.00 "Review" Copies sold 18.62 Donations 11 s.oo Diburserncnts. Printing "Review" $ 797.31 Binding Vol. 1 115.00 $1,059-37 Ptg. Leaflets Miss. Val. Assn Stamped Envelopes . Printing Cards Exc. on Remittances By Balance 20.75 4.00 22.26 5.50 1-55 9300 To Balance on hand May i6th, 1921, .$93-00 $1,059-37 Edward Brown, Treasurer. Librarian's Report The Committee on Library and Publications begs to report the following additions made to our collections. I Archives Since the last report published in the July-October Number of the Review, we have been able to procure the following documents : Badin, Stephen Theodore, Letter to the Card. Prefect of Propaganda, Rome, November 10, 1826. Du Bourg, Bishop, To Card. Prefect of Propaganda, St. Louis, April 20, 1820. To Card. Fontana, Pref. of Prop., February 24, 1821 (completed). To same. May 8, 1821 (completed). To same, February 8, 1822 (completed). To same, St. Louis, October i, 1822 To same, Baltimore, December 6, 1822. To his brother Louis (Bordeaux), Washington, January 24, 1823, To same, Washington, February 6, 1823. To Rev. Philip Borgna, CM., Washington, February 27, 1823. To the Card. Pref. of Prop., Baltimore, March 29, 1823 (completed). To Archbishop Caprano, Secretary of Propaganda, New Orleans, January 29, 1825. To same. New Orleans, July 26, 1825. To the Bishops of the United States 4, 1825. To Card, della Somaglia, Prefect of October 6, 1825. Natchitoches, L^., Octaber Propaganda, Natchitoches, NOTES 183 To Archbishop Caprano, New Orleans, January 26, 1826. To same. New Orleans, Jantiary 30, 1826. To same, New Orleans, February 17, 1826 (resignation). To same, New Orleans, February 27, 1826. To same, New Orleans, March 10, 1826. To same, Havre (France), July 3, 1826. To the Cardinal Nuncio of the Holy See in France, Paris, November 15, 1826. To the Card. Prefect ot Prop. Montauban, May i, 1827. To Card. Cappellari, Prefect of Propaganda, Montauban, September 18, Marechal, Ambrose, Archbishop, To the Card. Prefect of Propaganda, Balti- more, Augus.t 25, 1825. Martial, Auguste, Rev., To Billand (Rome), July 13 — August, 1822 (very im- portant for the description of religious condition in New Orleans) To same, New Orleans, October i — 20 — November 2, 1822. To same, New Orleans, December 3, 1822. Rosati Joseph, Rev., To Father Baccari, V. G. of the Cong, of the Mission, Rome, St. Genevieve, May 6, 1823. Besides these documents procured fi^3m the Archives of Propa- ganda, an Anonymous Donor sent from Arcadia — the postmark and the nature of the documents sent do not permit our thanks to go astray if we address them to Father Wernert — on January 29, 1921, the Permit issued by the Health Department of St. Louis for the transfer and burial of the body of Rev. Francis Schreiber, deceased, at the Ursuline Convent at Arcadia on June 20, 1905, and buried in the Priests' Lot in Calvary Cemetery. It may be in order to mark here that still other documents are daily expected from Rome. Among them are a number of Letters of Father De Andreis which, so far as is known, were heretofore con- sidered lost and could not be used by his historian. A copy of these letters is extant in a somewhat unexpected place — the old Jesuit Fund of the Biblioteca Vittorio Emmanuele. The archivists are glad to state that, whilst the collection of the Letters of Bishop Du Bourg at the Chancery was, three years ago, re- ported to contain "146 letters and documents," this collection, by means of copies obtained from various sources, amounts now to 212 numbers. It may be estimated that further research will enable the collection to reach the total of about 250 numbers. But the documents yet to be procured will, in all likelihood, add little in the way of new historical information. Indeed we make bold to say that the historical importance of the topics treated in our recent additions to this fund is such, that it affords any willing worker the possibility of treating with all desirable completeness the history of the American Episcopate of that prelate — that is much more than what should logically form Part II of a History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. — It is perhaps also worthy of notice that of all these documents a typewritten copy has been taken, which will dispense workers from handling the now centenarian originals, and preserve these originals from the wear and tear inseparable from frequent perusal. 184 NOTES II Library The last report of additions to our Library is printed in the St. Louis Catholic Historical Reviezv, Vol. II, No. 4, October 1920. Since that time most of the increase of our Library has been in the way of exchanges with the publications of various Historical Societies. We thus get regularly the following: Acta et Dicta, published by the Catholic Historical Society of St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn. The Catholic Historical Revieiv, publ. quarterly by the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. The Fortnightly Reviezv, St. Louis, Mo. Historical Records and Studies, published by the United States Catholic His- torical Society, New York. Illinois Catholic Historical Reznew, publ. quarterly by the Illinois Catholic His- torical Society, Chicago, 111. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, publ. quarterly by the Illinois State Historical So'Mety, Springfield, 111. Louisiana Historical Quarterly, published by the Louisiana Historical Society, New Orleans, La. Michigan History Magazine, published quarterly by the Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, Mich. Minnesota History Bulletin, published quarterly by the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn. The Missouri Historical Review, publ' quarterly by the State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. The Mississippi Valley Historical Reviezv, publ. quarterly by the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Lincoln, Neb. Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, publ. quarterly by the Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, publ. by the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, 111. The Wisconsin Magazine of History, published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Menasha, Wis. The Hispanic American Historical Reviezv, published quarterly, Baltimore, Md. The Michigan Historical Commission have not only sent us the Magazine they issue, but also two volumes published by them: 1. The Michigan Fur Trade, by Ida Amanda Johnson. Lansing 1919, to which is annexed The Pcre Marquette Railroad Company — An His- torical Study of the growth and development of one of Michigan's most important Railway Systems, by Paul Wesley Ivey, Ph.D., Lans- ing, 1919. 2. Life and Times of Stevens Thomson Mason, the Boy Governor of Michigan, by Lawton T. Hemans. Lansing, 1920. Among the accessions are not mentioned works sent for review, which, accord- ing to a fair custom, remain the property of the reviewer. Ill Our Reviezv A third part is expected to this Report, dealing with the Society's publication, the St. Louis Catholic Historical Reviezv. All here present may easily follow its progress, and conclude for themselves that like NOTES 185 all things mundane, it has its ups and downs, even, it would seem at times from the irregularity of its appearance, more given to downs than ups. I do not speak here of its financial support : your treasurer has as- sured us that if it does not coin money, it however succeeds in making both ends meet. My concern presently is merely with the editing of it. Much against our liking we had to unite once more two numbers into one, so that you have at hands a double number. I need not say I firmly hope that this is the last time. But to any one who might, because he does not realize exactly the existing conditions, have been inclined to censoriousness, I may point out the cold fact that the Editor of said Review is of all the members of the Society the one on whom by far the greater and heavier part of the work done in the Society devolves. Contributors — too few, but they are most willing — do their share, to be sure ; but his remains the lion's share, and it is of such a nature that very little of it can be conveniently done by anyone else. Now all this, of course, must come out of his spare time, for his duties as a priest, as a community man, and as a professor must come first and are not allowed to be neglected. This I say, and please take, not as an apology, but as an earnest invitation extended to all to help in the work. Our little Review has, I may say without false modesty, won at once a flattering place among similar publications in the apprecia- tion of those who know : we cannot afford to lower its standard of excellence. Nor are we minded to do so. But let me say confidently : The more will be working — ^there are so many ways to help — the bet- ter the chance of doing good work. No fear here that "too many cooks spoil the broth'': if efforts are properly co-ordinated, the fin- ished product will be all the more satisfactory. We need a greater subscription list: many may co-operate; we need more contributors; more workers to share in the editorial labor — infomiation, notes, proof-reading, etc. Charles L. Souvay, CM. With this issue ends the series of letters exchanged between Bishop Du Bourg and the Congregation of Propaganda. This series, as our readers have not failed to notice, is incomplete ; but as it is, it affords most valuable information both for the history of this Prelate and for that of the Church in these parts. Whilst, of course, efforts will continue to be made to recover the missing numbers, there is every reason to believe that their loss detracts little from our knowl- edge of the period. We propose to begin with our next Number, the publication of a document still more important for our history, a copy of which is one of the most precious treasures of our Archives — the DiaVy of Bishop Rosati, so often referred to in the pages of this and other Reviews. Bishop Rosati kept, indeed, two Diaries : the one, which he entitled Ephemerides Privatae, by far the more complete; and the 186 NOTES other, where he entered all the official acts of his Episcopal admini- stration. The Ephemerides Privatae is the Diary which we intend to publish. It is contained in three large books, measuring each 12^ by 8 in. Vol. I extends from the time of Rosati's Consecration, March 25, 1824 (it rehearses briefly, though, the story of the negotiations with Rome in regard to his elevation to the Episcopacy, since the arrival of the Brief appointing him to the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama), to June 4, 1829. This volume, unfortunately is incom- plete and mutilated, and, no doubt, went originally to July 31, 1831. A space of more than two years, therefore, is now missing. — The sec- ond Tome goes from August 1, 1831, to December 31, 1836; and the third, from January 1, 1837 to December 31, 1840. There can be no doubt but, on January 1, 1841, Bishop Rosati must have commenced a fourth volume, and continued it until shortly before his death (September 25, 1843) ; but so far no trace of this volume has ever been found, and no mention of it is made in the Inventory of the "effects" contained in his room at the time of his death. Of the three tomes extant, the first and third are in the Archives of the Roman Procurator of the Congregation of the Mission in Rome ; the first bears on the outside, the name of Felix Rosati, our Bishop's nephew, by whom it was given to the Roman Lazarists. The second volume belongs to the Archives of the Chancery of St. Louis. In this Diary, the orderly Prelate entered faithfully every day the happenings of that day, even when they belonged to the ordinary routine, like saying Mass, going to Confession, hearing Confessions, letters written and received, Conferencs to the Seminarians, Con- ferences to the members of his Congregation, etc. We have, there- fore, in these pages an accurate account of all the details of his life and activity : that is why this document is of immeasurable historical value for the period it covers. It may be added that it is invaluable also for the insight it aiTords us into the mind, heart and character of the good Bishop. All the entries are made in Latin, as was common enough with the American Bishops of that time, and was quite natural with a man to whom Latin was like a second mother tongue. Contrary to the practice adopted so far in this Review of giving the original text of the Documents published, we shall print only an English translation of the Diary. Notes will accompany and explain or complete the text when necessary. It goes without saying that when the wording of the original is of special importance, it will be given in the Notes. Centennial History of Missouri (the; Center State) hy Walter B. Stevens. St. Louis, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1921.— These five volumes of imperial octavo, compiled as a memorial of the NOTES 187 centennial of Missouri's statehood which we celebrate this year, we owe to the indefatigable industry of Mr. Walter B. Stevens, who in various publications issued during the last twenty years has made the field of Missouri state history during the American period peculiarly his own. Only the first two volumes of this work are to be described as history in the ordinary acceptation of the term ; the last three are entirely taken up with biographical sketches of living Missourians. It is regrettable that this feature, however useful in its way for purposes of reference as a state-wide Who's Who, should bulk so large in a work that is meant to tell on a broader scale than has hitherto been attempted the story of Missouri's greatness. No doubt this is a plan often resorted to as a means of financing elaborate and expensive pub- lications which might otherwise never see the light of day; but it is a plan that we are not accustomed to associate with any noteworthy or valuable contribution to the literature of history. One feels by contrast the greater dignity of the course followed by the Illinois Centennial Commission under which Professors Buck and Alvord brought out their scholarly volumes, the latter's "Illinois Country" being in particular the most readable and definite treatment of the subject since the days when Parkman gave to the world his classic volumes. Mr. Stevens does not conceive his subject as a dramatic whole, which it is, with beginning, middle and end and with the dramatic elements of progressive incident, suspense and climax. His method is discoursive and topical, not consecutive. His book is not a gradual- ly unfolding narrative which one has to read entire before he gets the complete story. It is a succession of more or less isolated, independent chapters dealing with all the varied phases of Missouri life, political, social, education, religious and economic. The method has its advan- tages, no one will gainsay. Highly interesting topics that enter into the background of Missouri history, such as taverns, trails, tracks, waterways, family life and customs, are dealt with in separate chap- ters and with a satisfying wealth of detail that cannot fail to engross the reader's attention. What one desiderates is a connected story. No one who wishes to follow the successive steps by which Missouri ad- vanced from the pioneer conditions of a frontier state to the great commonwealth she is to-day will find a guide to his punpose in this elaborate work. The chapters we turn to with especial interest are those dealing with the religious history of the state. Of these there are only two. Chapters V and XXX. In Chapter V, "Worship in Woods and Cab- ins," no mention is made of the Catholic Church, the chapter being taken up entirely with the pioneer experiences of the various Prot- estant denominations. In Chapter XXX the beginnings of organized Catholicity under Bishops Du Bourg and Rosati and its subsequent development down to what is taken to be an historical landmark in the growth of the Church, the laying of the corner-stone of the new St. Louis cathedral, are sketched, but in brief and summary fashion. The account, such as it is, is restricted almost entirely to the history 188 NOTES of the Catholic Church in St. Louis, no information being supplied concerning the organization and growth of the Catholic dioceses of St. Joseph and Kansas City, if we except the few paragraphs on pioneer Catholicity in Kansas City. Mr. Stevens has not, we are con- fident, willingly begrudged the Catholic Church any of the credit which is justly hers in the upbuilding of our commonwealth; but he has failed none the less to realize the greatness of her historic role in the development of the state with the result that the treatment accorded her in the work now before us cannot but be regarded as inadequate. At the same time numerous cordial tributes to the character and in- fluence of Catholic ecclesiastics make it clear that the deticiencies of Mr. Stevens' work in the aspect under consideration arise from lack of adequate information and not from any prejudice or ill-will against the Catholic Church. The following lines which he writes on Arch- bishop Kenrick may be cited. "The extraordinary growth of Catholi- cism in St. Louis, the theological strength of the clergy, the thousands of conversions of residents, not so much from other churches as from the mass of the indifferent, are better understood when the example and precepts of Peter Richard Kenrick are known." Numerous inaccuracies occur in the narrative, some of which may be pointed out. Father Rosati and his party did not accompany Bishop Du Bourg from Europe, (1:966). The prelate followed ihem a year later (1817). Moreover, Father De Andreis and not Father Rosati was in charge of the party of ecclesiastics who left Bordeaux in 1816. "St. Louis [in 1825] was a diocese with one bishop, three secular priests, five Lazarist fathers, one Jesuit, fourteen ecclesiastical stu- dents, five Jesuit scholastics and from 11,000 to 12,000 laity." As a matter of fact, there was west of the Mississippi in 1825 only one diocese, the undivided diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, with two bishops, Bishcxp Du Bourg and his coadjutor, Bishop Rosati. Moreover, there were within the limits of that diocese at the period mentioned, besides six Lazarists, two Jesuit priests. Fathers Van Quickenborne and De Theux, six Jesuit scholastics, and a number of secular priests certainly in excess of three. Father Van Quickenborne, when he assisted at the consecration of Bishop Portier in 1826, was not "the chancellor of the little college of Jesuits." Father Van Quick- enborne's college, later St. Louis University, opened its doors only in 1829. "The church in St. Louis has reason to be grateful that Rosati stood so firmly by his attachment to this city" (1 :968). This sentence, in reference to Bishop Rosati's reluctance to go to New Orleans as bishop, conveys a wrong impression. It was not a merely natural preference for St. Louis as a place of residence that induced Rosati to take the stand he did. His health had never been good, while he was in the South, and he dreaded the loss of physical vigor and effi- ciency in the ministry if required to live there permanently. More- over, he feared that he might not be a persona grata to the people of New Orleans. The paragraph on early Catholicity in Kansas City( 1:988) is replete with inaccuracies. Father De La Croix visited the Osage in NOTES 189 1822 not 1820. Purporting, it would appear, to quote from Garraghan's Catholic Beginnings in Kansas City, Mr. Stevens writes, "Father De La Croix in his report mentioned that he found a 'handful of Creole settlers at the mouth of the Kansas River.' " No such statement occurs in Father Garraghan's work. His actual words are in an op- posite sense. "That he [De La Croix] visited a handful of Creole settlers at the mouth of the Kansas has been asserted, though on what evidence does not apear'' (op. cit., p. 24). "Later, in 1834, came Fa- ther Roux, etc." Father Roux arrived at Kawsmouth in 1833. "Father Bernard Donnelly succeeded Father Roux in 1846" (1:989). Mis- leading. Father Roux returned from his mission on the site of the future Kansas City in 1835, the place being visited later by several Jesuit missionaries, among them Father Point, who resided there five months. Father Donnelly was rather the successor at Kansas City of these visiting Jesuit missionaries. Attention may be called to some further misstatements of fact that have come under the reviewer's notice. Judge Wilson Primm's exiplanation of the origin of the name of the River des Peres, quoted without any apparent suspicion as to its correctness, bristles with mis- takes. "A number of the religious order of Trappists or Monks from Canada had, under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec, Canada, settled at Cahokia in what is now St. Clair County, Illinois" (1:106). The Trappists in question came not from Canada, but from France, whence they emigrated first to Kentucky and later to Florissant, which they left to settle not in Cahokia, but alongside of the Big Mound on the Collinsville Road in Madison county, Illinois. These Trappists were never resident on the River des Peres, the name of which is rather to be connected with the Jesuit missionaries who lived with the Kaskaskia Indians at the mouth of the river in the opening years of the eighteenth century, as Father L. J. Kenny, S.J., has con- clusively shown. (Cf. St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, April, 1919). The "first free school west of the Mississippi" is said to have been established by the Unitarians in St. Louis in 1836 (2:15). As a matter of fact free schools were established by Mother Duchesne first at St. Charles in 1818 and later in the 'twenties at Florissant and St. Louis. A parochial school for boys attached to St. Charles Borromeo Church, St. Charles, Mo., was opened as early as 1829. The first medical school in St. Louis was not the one connected with Kemper College (2:68). This distinction belongs to the first medical school of St. Louis University, established in 1836. Kemper College began its medical department only in 1840. There is no evidence that Secre- tary Calhoun opened correspondence with Bishop Du Bourg at St. Louis touching the education of Indian boys (2:15). The first church in St. Louis was erected in 1768 not in 1776 (1 :968). Misprints have been noted as follows: Castuc for (^asto (Gonz- alez), 1:966; Teagre for Tenagra (1:968); Classene for Claessens (1:512); Achenil for Acheul (2:6); Ande for Aude (2:7). 190 NOTES The illustrations, most of them from the rich collection of the Missouri Historical Society, are numerous and well-chosen and are a real attraction to any lover of Missouri history. All in all, while not to be placed in the same category with Mr. Houck's splendid contrib- utions to the pioneer history of the state, Mr. Stevens' volumes will furnish a vast range of highly interesting reading matter for that very numerous class of persons to whom high standards of historical scholarship are not a matter of deep concern. DOCUMENTS FROM OUR ARCHIVES BISHOP DU BOURG'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH PROPAGANDA. XXXIX TO ARCHB. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} 111. me ac R.me Domine, 1° Sempronius et Julia, contracto coram civili judice matri- monio, subinde vero legislativa auctoritate divortio separati, ad novas nuptias convolare cupiunt. Julia, catholica, ad Episcopum pro facul- tate nubendi confugit, allegans judicatum prioris Conjugii nulHtatem, ratione disparitatis ctiltus. — Sempronius quippe, nullius Religionis sequax, declarat se nusquam, quod ipse noverit, Baptismum in uUa secta suscepisse. Idemque testatur ipsius Avunculus, quocum a juventute, demortuis Parentibus, commoratus est. Quid tunc Epis- copus? Numquid potest fieri ut inscius ipse, inscioque avunculo, in infantia nempe, baptisatus fuerit, etsi nullum hujus indicium reman- eat? Ab Amp.ne V.a promptam et decisivam dubii istius solutionem supplex efflagito. II. E decern casibus ad quos limitata fuit concessa mihi facul- tas dispensandi super impedimento affinitatis in primo gradu laterali, quinque jam, infra octo a concessione menses, absumptis, pro amplia- tione ejusdem facultatis supplico. — Semel enim concessa ab Epo hujus- modi Dispensatio necessitatem quandam inducit in quocumque ejus- dem generis casu indulgendi, ne ignaris aut male affectis ansa de Epi partialitate conquerendi. et in Religionem ipsam invehendi, praebea- tur. Ad hoc, cum ejusmodi matrimonia legibus civilibus permissa sint, negante Ecclesia, periculum imminet ne partes ad judicem, vel pseudo-ministrum confugiant, ut jam plurimis, maximo Religionis de- trimento, evenit. Elapsi fere sunt decem anni a concessi mihi in Decennium gene- ralibus facultatibus. Iterum igitur pro earum renovatione postulo et fausta omnia Amp.ni V.ae adprecans Cum summa veneratione maneo Dominationis V.ae Illme ac Rmae Novae Aureliae Julii 26.a 1825 Humills. ac devotissmus famulus + LuD. GuiL. Epus Neo-Aurelianensis Ill.mo ac Rmo DD. Petro Caprano, S. C. de Prop. Fide secretario, Romam. 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. 191 192 DOCUMENTS TRANSLATION Most Rev. Archbishop: 1° Sempronius and Julia, after contracting marriage before the Judge, were afterwards divorced by the Legislature and desire now to marry again. Julia, who is a Catholic, applies to the Bishop, alleg- ing that the former marriage has been declared null and void, owing to disparitas ciiltus.. As to Sempronius, who belongs to no religion, he declares that, as far as he knows, he was never baptized in any sect. The same is attested by his uncle, with whom he has lived from his early youth after the death of his parents. What is the Bishop to do? Alay it not be that, unknown to himself, and unknown to his uncle, Sempronius was baptized in infancy, though no evidence of it is extant. Please Your Grace to give me promptly a definite answer to this doubt. 2. Of the ten cases to which was limited the faculty granted me to dispense from the impediment of relationship in the first degree in collateral line, five already within eight months have been used ; hence I beg for an extension of this faculty to more cases. For once the Bishop grants such a dispensation, he is morally obliged to grant it in similar cases, in order that he may not give to the ignorant and to the evil-minded reason to complain of his partiality and to attack Re- Igion on this score. Add to this that, as such marriages are lawful in the eyes of the civil law, if the Bishop refuse, there is danger that the parties will go to the judge, or even a so-called minister, as has already been done by many, to the utmost detriment of Religion. Ten years have almost elapsed since I received the Decennial general Faculties. I therefore beg for their renewal ; and with my best wishes to Your Grace, with the profoundest respect remain Your Grace's Most humble and devoted Servant + Louis Wm., Bp. of New Orleans. New Orleans, July 26, 1825. To the ]\Iost Reverend Peter Caprano, Secretary of the S. C. of Propaganda, Rome. XL TO CARD. DELLA SOMALIA, Pro-Prefect of Propaganda^ Eminentissime Domine Pro-Praefecte, Acceptis Sac. Cong.nis litteris, quibus jubeor ad Neo-Eboracensem sedem, Rmi D. Connolly morte viduatam, eos proponere quos maxime idoneos judicaverim. ad illani ex miserabili statu quo redacta est, ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scrifture Refcrite nei Congrcssi, Cod. 8, America Centrale. Dal Canada all' Istnio di Panama, Dal 1823 a tio il 1826. DOCUMENTS 193 erigendam ; nulla adjecta mora, mentem meam denuo aperiam. Denuo, inquam ; quia jam occasione translationis Rmi D. Cheverus a Boston- isensi ad Montalbanensem Cathedram, opinionem meam hac ipsa de re Sac. Cong.ni praesignificaveram. In eadam scilicet sententia, quam turn propugnavi, permaneo, nempe uniendas esse sub uno capite Neo- Eborac. et Boston. m Ecclesias, tum propter earum propinquitatem, qua fit ut duorum dierum spatio ab una ad alteram perveniri facile possit — tum quia utraque paucis congregationibus constat, Bostoniensis praecipue, quae vix duas vel tres, easque permodicas, extra urbem numerat, cujus proinde Episcopus 'vix a simplici Parocho discernitur. Haec quoque ab initio fuerat mensven. mem. Archipraesulis Joan. Carroll, uti pluries non solum Sac. Cong.ni, sed et nobis familiaribus suis significavit, quae quidem praesenti experimento vide- tur satis superque confirmata ; nemini quippe nostrum dubium est nullitatem Dioecesis Bostoniensis praecipuam causam fuisse, cur Revmus D. Cheverus suae ab ea translationi manus ultro dederit. His adjuciendum puto quod, cum ex una parte lugenda experientia com- pertum sit, adventitios Praesules, etsi aliunde optimos, nondum tamen Americanis moribus, legibus ac usibus assuefactos, detrimentum potius Ecclesiis nostris quam utilitatem adferre ; ex altera vero, cum ad tot, sive jam erectas, sive in posterum erigendas in his Statibus sedes im- plendas, perpauci in Americano Clero adhuc existant, omnibus illis dotibus ornati, quas Apostolus enumerat, quoque in his regionibus multo magis necessaria sunt, quam forsan in alia quacumque, Epis- coipalis ordinis decus postulare videtur, ut, solum in casu verae mani- f estaeque utilitatis, novae erigantur cathedrae ; et si quae sint inter erectas, quae sine gravi incommode, immo potius cum majori Epis- copatus decoro, aliis uniri possint, uniantur. Quod attinet ad designationem Candidatorum, repetendum duco quod in praefata Epistola Sac. Cong.i affirmabam, vid. omnium quos usquam noverim, sacerdotum, longe aptissimum, et ut melius dicam, unicum vere et modis omnibus aptum, mihi videri Rev.m Bened. Fen- wick, 45 circiter annos natum, Societati Jesu plurimis abhinc annis mancipatum, alias Neo-Eboraci Pastorem, dein Charlestonii Vicarium generalem, subinde Carmelitis discalc. Sanctimonialibus praepositum, nunc Praesidem Collegii suae Soc.tis Georgiopoli in Marylandia. Hie praeterquam incomparabili prudentia et animorum tractandorum sol- ertia, spectata pietate, raraq. facundia ornatus ab omnibus agnosci- tur, duobus praesertim titulis ad sedem Neo-Eborac. praeferendus videtur: 1° utpote nativitate Americanus, quae res omnium opinionum et voluntatum, inter tot extraneas partes quibus infausta ilia Dioecesis miserrime distrahitur, ipsi conciliare summopere apta est. 2° quia in ea ipsa civitete tot amicos jam numerat quot civitas habet incolas, nulla facta distinctione sive religionum sive nationum. Necdum enim e memoria hominum excidit, quanto studio quantaq. efficicia vineae illi per plurimos annos adlaboraverit, et quot salutis fructus ex ea reportaverit, inter quos insignis fuit trium sectae angl. Ministrorum ad gremium S.ae Matris Ecclesiae conversio, duorumque ex his ad 194 DOCUMENTS Sacerdotium provectio. Sed quod majus est, agrum ilium spinis et vepribus consitum susceperat excolendum, et paucorum annorum spation in amoenissimum hortum mutaverat. Disctssit heu ! et iterum exortae spinac siijfocavernnt ilium. Quid mirum quod morigerati omnes et Religionis studiosi ilium votis omnibus reclament? Unico impedimento irretitam viedo R.di Ben.ti Fenwick promotionem. So- cietatis sc. voto, quo dignitatibus Eccl.ae renunciavit : sed hoc facilt, mandate apostolico ,potest dissolvi. Nova certe non erit hujusmodi dispensatio ; nee puto earn unquam ob graviora momenta f uisse con- cessam. Hie profecto, nisi aliter jussus, sisterem. Cum vero mihi in man- datis sit duo vel amplius proponere, inter quos, quem maximo pro- baverit, unum Sacra Cong.o seligat, 2° loco Rev.m. Principem Demetrium Aug. De Galitzin designabo, virum satis jam Sac. Cong.ni ob eximias ipsius dotes, spectandum, quam ut meis encomiis egeat. Provecta tamen ipsius aetas, ad sexa- gesimum, ni fallor, attingens, infirma valetudo, origo extranea, et pauca, ut puto, magnarum civitatum experientia, totidem ipsius nomi- nationi obices adferre possunt. 3° loco : Rev.m. D. McGuire, Hibernum sacerdotem, dudum Sac. Ces. Maj. Viennae concionatorem, nunc Pittsburgi in Pennsylvania Missionarium, de quo, etsi cum ipso nulla mihi necessitudo intersit, optime tamen sentio. Fateor nihilominus me adeo extraneis factionibus quae utram Neo-Eborae. et Philad.sem Ecclesias hucusque ver- terunt, esse perterritum, ut propter ejus originem, licet aliunde meri- tissimi, provectionem ejus pertimuerim. 4° Idem dicam de Rev. do D. Power ejusdem nationis, a pluribus annis S.ti Petri Neo-Ebor. Pastore, et nunc, ni fallor, Dioecesis, sede vac. administratore, qui apud omnes, quos audierim, optimam famam obtinet. His, cum mandatis Sac. Cong.nis plene satisfactum putem, nihil superest quam ut D. O. adprecam ut Em.am Vestram diu sospitem servet ac felicem, Me, cum omni reverentia, in sacrae purpurae am- plexu, subscribam, Eminentiae Vestrae Humillimum et obsequent.um famulum + LuD. GuiL. Du BouRG, Ep. Neo-Aur. Natchitoches, in Louisiana in decursu Visit, eplis — die Oct. 6.a 1825. TRANSLATION Your Eminence : I received the letter of the S. Congregation' directing me to pro- pose for the See of New York, bereft of its Bishop the Right Rev. Connolly, the candidates I deem most capable to raise it from the miserable condition into which it is sunk. Without delay I shall ex- 2 This letter is not extant, at least in the Archives of the St. Louis Chancery. DOCUMENTS 195 press once more my opinion on the matter. I say, once more, for at the time of the transfer of the Right Rev. Cheverus from the See of Boston to that of Montauban, I already made known to the S. Con- gregation what I thought on this subject.^ 1 am still of the same opinion which I then advocated, namely that the two Churches of New York and Boston ought to be united under one and the same head, both on account of their nearness, which pennits to go easily from the one to the other in two days, and because the one aad the other are made up of few parishes, Boston especially, which has only two or three, and these very small, outside the city, so that its Bishop is hardly more than an ordinary Pastor. Such in the beginning was likewise the view of the late Archbishop Jno. Carroll, which he ex- pressed repeatedly not only to the S. Congregation, but also to us his friends ; and the present experience, it seems, has more than confirmed this view. None of us indeed has the least doubt that the small- ness of the Diocese of Boston was the chief cause why the Right Rev. Cheverus lent a most willing hand to his transfer from there. I think I ought to add, too, that, on the one hand, as a sorrowful experience has made it evident that Prelates from abroad, even though otherwise excellent, but as yet unfamiliar with American practices, laws and customs, have proven rather detrimental than useful to our Churches; and, as on the other hand, to fill so many Sees, either actually in ex- istence, or to be erected later on, there are as yet very few American priests adorned with all the qualifications enumerated by the Apostle, and perhaps much more necessary in this country than anywhere else, the dignity of the Hierarchy seems to demand that new Sees should not be created except in cases of true and evident utility; and if, among those already in existence, there are some which may be united, without grave inconvenience, and perhaps even to the greater dignity of the Episcopate, then they should be united. In regard to the designation of Candidates, permit me to repeat here what I said in the afore-mentioned letter to the S. Congregation, namely, that of all the priests I know, by far the most suitable, or better still, the only one truly and all around suitable, seems to me to be the Rev. Benedict Fenwick : he is about 45 years of age, has belonged for a number of years to the Society of Jesus, was at one time Pastor of New York, then later Vicar General of Charleston, and afterwards Superior of the discalced Carmelite nuns, and is now President of the College of his Society at Georgetown, Maryland. His incomparable prudence and skill in dealing with men, his remarkable piety and rare eloquence are acknowledged by all ; and, besides, for two reasons, in my opinion, he should receive the preference for the See of New York: first, he is a native of America, and this in that unhappy Dio- cese, lamentably torn by so many foreign parties, is most capable to conciliate to him all opinions and wills ; secondly, in the city of New 3 We are not in possession of this communication; as the transfer of Dr. Cheverus from Boston to Montauban took place in 1823, this must be the date of the letter here referred to. 196 DOCUMENTS York he counts as many friends as there are inhabitants, irrespective of reHgion or nationality. People still remember the zeal and success with which he labored in that vineyard for a number of years, and the spiritual fruits which he reaped there, in particular the conversion of three Anglican ministers, two of whom were later promoted to the priesthood. And what is best, is that this field, which was so full of thorns and brambles when he took charge, was by his care transmuted within a few years into a most pleasant garden. No sooner had he left, than, alas ! the thorns cropping up again smothered it all. No wonder then, that all upright people and all those who have at heart the care of religion wish ardently for his return. There is only one obstacle that I see in the way of his promotion, namely, the Society's vow to renounce all ecclesiastical dignities : but that impediment may be easily removed by a command of the Holy See. Such a dispensation would certainly be no novelty ; nor do I think that it was ever granted for a graver cause. Here I should stop if I had not been told to propose two or more from among whom the S. Congregation may choose the one most acceptable to it. In the second place I shall mention the Rev. Prince Demetrius Au- gustine de Galitzin, so well known already to the S. Congregation on account of his excellent qualities as to need no recommendation of mine. However, his advancing age — he is about sixty, if I mistake not — , his poor health, his foreign origin, and, so far, as I know, his limited experience of the ministry in large cities, may prove as many difficulties against his appointment. In the third place: the Rev. McGuire, a native of Ireland; formerly preacher to His Holy Imperial Majesty at Vienna, now on the Mission of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; although I do not know him personally, I have heard much good of him. I confess, however, I am so much afraid of the foreign parties which have turned topsy turvy the churches of both New York and Philadelphia, that on account of his nationality, and even though he may otherwise be most worthy, I should be afraid of his promotion. I would say the same of a fourth, the Rev. Power, also an Irish- man who has been for a number of years Rector of St. Peter's, Nevv^ York, and now is, if I mistake not. Administrator of the Diocese: all who speak of him entertain a high opinion of him. Having, I trust, fully satisfied to the wishes of the S. Congrega- tion, it remains to me only to pray Almighty God to keep Your Em— nence yet long in good health and happiness, and. kissing the sacred purple, to snbscripe myself, with the profoundest respect, of Your Eminence, the most humble and obedient Servant + L. Wm. Du Bourg, Bp. of New Orl. Natchitoches, Louisiana, in the course of the Episc. Visitation, October 6, 1825. DOCUMENTS 197 XLI TO ARCHB. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} lU.me ac R.me D.ne P.ne Col.me Literae Amp.nis tiiae, datae 16 Octobris proximi elapsi, hac ipsa hora mihi redditae jubent ut mentem meam aperte significem de Sacer- dote Cellini, sc. qui sint hominis mores, quae pietas, quae prudentia, doctrinaque, qua de causa a me Pastoris m-unere privatus sit, careatne vere pecunia, sitne tandem sacerdos cujus opera titilis esse in Mis- sionarii officio possit. De moribus et pietate valde delicata est quaestio. Debeo tamen veritati aperte dicere D.num Cellini ita imprudenter se gessisse erga certam Matronam viduam aliunde de Religione optime meritam, in cujus domo habitabat, ut vehementibus suspicionibus apud plerosque e suis parochianis ansam dederit. Hie enim ut plurimum videbatur non solum incongruo, sed vere indecenti habitu, etiam in cubiculo matronae, indutus, patroni personam gerere, omnes quotquot sibi dis- plicebant a Mulieris conspectu et colloquio arcere, quin et epistolas ad eam directas aperire, imo et supprimere, famulis suprema et vere herili auctoritate mandare, uno verbo modos omnes assumere quae soli marito conveniunt. Caeterum parochianos superbe, dureque tractabat et lapis scandali erat, potiusquam verus et studiosus ovium suarum Pastor. — Quae quidem mihi abunde suffecissen, ut eum ab ilia parochia ad aliam transferrem. Verum ulterius processerat malum, et eo usque devenerat, ut nisi severius in eum egissem, Religioni, meo, quoq. ipsi characteri insanabile vulnus impegissem. Hie scilicet, artibus suis ita debilem et credulam mulierem circumegit, ut ab ipsa plenam et inte- gram bonorum suorum, utique non mediocrum, donationem sibi fieri obinuerit. Quod ubi rescitum est, universus exortus est clamor, et non defuerunt qui mortem ipsi D. Cellini minitarentur. De his omnibus ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scriitiire Referite net Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. The tone of this letter, and the impassioned wording of the Bishop strictures on the character and conduct of Father Cellini, imanifest clearly that the prelate was under the influence of his oversensitiveness at the time of writing. It is evident Bishop Du Bourg had lent a too complacent ear to gossipy reports. When one remembers the great praises bestowed on Father Cellini when the latter was in Missouri, and even some time after he had gone to Grand Coteau, La., one cannot resist the impression ithat this total reversal of feeling was due to some personal wound received directly or indirectly from Cellini. No dbiibt the latter's influence on Mrs. Smith, and the donation made by her of her property to Father Cellini, had a great deal to do with the Bishop's judg- ment. But there is another side to the affair, which, right or wrong, must be gathered from Cellini's correspondence. At any rate, such a prudent — tven timid — disinterested witness as Father De Neckere, reported to Bishop Rosati in a way that makes us understand that Father Cellini was not as black as he is here represented. Rosati's report, too, was very mild; and, at a later date, after the departure of Bishop Du Bourg, he did not hesitate to give him a place in the Diocese of St. Louis. 198 DOCUMENTS certior factus, ipsum jussi me adire de gravibus quibusdam negotiis mecum agiturum : quod cum venisset, Uteris ipsi significavi ne in paro- chiam suam quacumque de causa regrederetur. Cui jussioni fiedum obtemperaret, confestim regressus est, contra Episcopum, suum quoq. superiorem Rmum D. Rosati, in cujus Congreg.m quinque abhinc annis receptus fuerat, acerrimas et impudentissimas ventilans querimonias; illicque probabilius remanisset, ni Sacerdos quidam, quem eo ipse miseram, mali progressus exploraturum. excommunicationem ei, meo nomine, minatus esset. His paucis plene satisfactum mihi videtur petitis de ipsius pie- tate, moribus et prudentia. Quoad pisius doctrinam attinet, vere dicam pausos ignorantiores, similque in sua opinione pervicaciores, me unquam offendisse. Utrum vero pecunia careat, haec duo mihi constant — l.um fere mille scitatis romanis onustum hinc discessisse, 2um non ita pridem quadringentos, in cambiali contra D.num Lanov Parisiis, ipsi ab eadem matrona fuisse transmissos. Hinc judicabit Amp.do Vestra quam utilem homo hujus farinae eperam istis missionibus conferre possit. Vae cuivis Episc.o qui cum eo agendum habiturus sit. Precans Deum ut Amphtudinem Tuam diutius sospitet et servet Amp.nis Tuae Ilhnae ac R.mae Cum summa reverentia maneo Humill. observantiss. «i< LuD. GuiL. Epus Neo-Aurel.s Nova Aureliae Jan.i 26, 1826 Illmo ac Rmo D. Pietro Caprano SS. CC. de Prop. Fide a Secretis Sigillata erat Epistola, quum mihi occurrit jam ante discessum D.ni CeUini, inter eum et praefatam matronam convenisse de ips'ius reditu cum aphca missione, deque amborum transmigratione in Ken- tukium, qua de causa ipsa jam omnia sua vendidit eo quam primum ipsi praecursura, et ei memoratos 400 nummos, in viae subsidium, transmisit. Nil igitur mirum quod tam ardenter missionem scilHcitet quam si obtinuerit, compatiat charissimo Fratri meo Bardensi : nullum enim novi hominem inobedientiorem Epli auctoritati infensiorem. •f" LuD. GuiL. Epus Neo-Aurel.s. XLH. TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO Secretary of Propaganda.^ 111. me ac Rev. me Domine, P.ne Col.me Inter negotiorum et afflictionum varietatem quibus continuo op- presus jaceo, mihi ad Amp.m Tuam scribenti, e memoria semper exci- ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite nei Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centralc, Dal Canada all' htmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. DOCUMENTS 199 dit postulare transumptum authenticum Bullae creationis hujus Sedis Novae Aureliae, datae anno 1795, quod in archivio nostro deest, forsan ab eo ex industria sublatum opera eorum quorum interest negare Ecclam parochialem S.ti Ludovici in hac urbe, in Cathedralem fuissc erectam. Necessarium etiah esset, ut omnis quaecumque toUatur de illlius Instrumenti fidelitate dubietas au cavillatio, subscriptionem Secretarii Cancellariae Romanae authenticari per Consulum America- num, si quis Romae degerit ; sin minus per Ministrum Plenipotentia- rium ejusdem nationis apud Regem Christianissimum, quod obtineri facile poterit, mediante Legato Franciae apud Sanctam Sedem, qui ipse affirmare potest dictam subscriptionem, et instrumentum ita fir- matum Parisios ad Ministrum exterarum relationum transmittere, ut ibi a memorato Foederatorum Statuum Plenipotentiario chirograph© et sigillo suo muniatur, et inde transmittatur Consuli Franciae in hac Civitate qui illud reddat vel mihi, vel me absente, R.mo D.no J.pho Rosati, meo Coadjutori. De hoc ad Amp.m Tuam scribere pluries animus mihi fuerat ; sed specialiter hodie mihi recurrit occasione epistolae cujusdam anni 1807, quam in scriniis nostris reperi, cujus scriptor Vicarium generalem, Sede vacante, alloquens eum arcet a sacris officiis in dicta Ecclesia, die quodam festivo, celebrandi, ea ratione quod, cum sibi constaret Ecclesam S.ti Ludovici nunquam auctoritate pontificia in cathedralem erectam fuisse, nullum vicario etiam E.po jus illud denegent. Certe ultimis hisce diebus agitata est quaestio, utrum cathedram Episcopalem in ea erectam subsistere sine- rent. Et fateor audaciam qua cum mendacium illud affirmatum erat, mihi ipsi per plures anos fucum fuisse, donee in manibus R.mi Archi- epi D. jMareschal memoratae erectionis bullae exemplar perlegi, in quo disertis verbis designatur parochialis S.ti Ludovici Novae- Aureliae ut cathedralis, donee alia possit assignari. Precor igitur ut quam primum hue transmittatur preciosum illud monumentum omnibus formalitati- bus, ut supra, munitum. Interim precor Deum optimum, ut Amp.m Tuam diu sospitem servet et incolumem. Novae-Aureliae Jan. 30, 1826 Amplitudinis Tuae Illmae ac Revmae Humillimus et obseq.mus famulus + LuD. GuiL. Epus Neo Aurel. 111. mo ac Rev.me D. P. Caprano TRANSLATION Most Reverend Dear Archbishop : In the midst of the many affairs and troubles which beset me con- tinually, I have always, in my letters to your Grace, forgotten to ask for a authentic Copy of the Bull of erection of this See of New Orleans. This Bull, issued in 1795, is not to be found in our archives, whence perhaps it was abstracted by such as had. interest in denying 200 DOCUMENTS that the parish Church of St. Louis, in this city, had been erected into the Cathedral? It would be necessary also, in order to cut the root of all doubt or cavil as to the genuineness of this document, to have the signature of the Secretary of the Roman Chancery certified by the American Consul, if ithere is one in Rome ; or, in case there be none, by the Plenipotentiary Minister of America to the Most Christian King — which may be obtained easily through the Ambassador of France to the Holy See, who himself may certify the afore-mentioned signature, and then transmit the document 'thus countersigned by him to the Minister of Foreign Relations in Paris, where the Plenipoten- tiary of the United States may affix his signature and Seal to it, and have it forwarded to the French Consul in this City, who will hand it to me, or, in my absence, to the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, my Co- adjutor. It had been repeatedly my intention to write to Your Grace about this affair ; put particularly to-day did the thought came back to my mind, suggested by a certain letter, dated 1807, which I found in our archives ; in this letter addressed to the Vicar General, during the vacancy of the See, the writer forbids the said Vicar General to officiate in the Church of St. Louis on a certain feast-day, on the plea that, as he was sure the church had never been by Pontifical authority raised to the dignity of cathedral, the Vicar General had absolutely no right to preside therein. This is enough to make one fear that this same right might be denied even to the Bishop. At any rate the ques- tion was lately agitated, whether the Episcopal throne placed in it could be allowed to remain. I must confess that the audacity with which this falsehood was affirmed, for several years imposed upon me, until I read in the hands of the Most Rev. Archb. Marechal a copy of the Bull of this erection, in which the parish-church of St. Louis is explicitly designated as the Cathedral of New Orleans, until another could be assigned. I beg you, therefore, to forward me at your earliest convenience this most precious document furnished with all the for- malities mentioned above. IMeanwhile I pray God to keep Your Grace in good health. I am, Most Reverend Archbishop, Your most humble and devoted Servant + Louis Wm. Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, Januar 30, 1826 The Most Rev. P. Caprano 2 It will be recalled that the erection of the Church of St. Louis into the Cathedral of the new Diocese of New Orleans was recorded by Father P. Zamora in the Baptism Register of the parish of St. Landry. Opelousas, La. Sec Review. Vol. III. January— April, 1821, p. 22. DOCUMENTS 201 XLIII. TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} lUme ac R.me Domine, P. rone Col.me Mihi proposueram nihil de recenti institutione Vic.i Aplici pro Floridis et Alabama Roniam scribere, ne forte suspicio aliqua oriretur me hujusmodi determinationis esse contrarium. Puto tamen me officio meo defuturum, si amplius hac de re silerem. Jam satis superque manifestaveram Sac. Congr.i non solum per me non stare quo minus Floridae a mea jurisdictione separarentur, imo id mihi cum primis in votis semper fuisse. His quod adjungatur Alabama sub uno Vicario Aplico, nihil meo judicio desiderabilius. Sed duo sunt super quibus mihi videtur praemature actum fuisse. l.m Necesse fuerat explorare utrum media suppeterent, quibus hujusmodi Vicarius, tum suis, cum Missionariorum necessitatibus prospicere posset. Circa quod aperte dicere, possum et debeo, exceptis duabus vel tribus parochiis quae vix in praesentiarum uni parocho sufficere unaquaeque valet, nihil omnio in hoc immenso terrarum tractu subsidii pro Religionis fomento inveniri. Perpauci quippe sunt, iique longis spatiis distracti, et insuper pauperrimi Catholici. Prima igitur esse deberet Sac. Cong.is solicitu- do, fundum aliquem stabilire vel saltem redditum annuum determi- nare. quo Vicarius et duo vel tres saltem itinerantes Missionarii, alerentur, nullo populis imposito gravamine. Sic certe aliquid spe- randum esset, secus nullo modo. Secundum : quoad designationem personae, mihi videtur Sacram Congr.m in errore fuisse inductam a quocumque Rev. Michaelem Portier ipsi proposuit. Consulto insinatus fuisse suspicor dictum Sacerdotum esse Lugdunensem presbyterum ; nimirum ut ne quidem putaret Sacra Congregatio de consulendo mecum circa dotes et idonei- tatem eligendi. Ita certe est, si natalitia considerentur ; verum si sacerdos Cong.i expositum fuisset juvenem ilium ab aetate viginti an- norum, meae Diocesi fuisse adscitum, sub oculis meis continuo versatum, et a me ad Sacros ordines promotum, puto nulla alia ex parte quaestitas fuisse informationes. Quae si a me fuissent sciscitatae, nihil pro- gressum hac in re fuisset, cum veritati debeam dicere esti virtue et ingenio praeditum, longe adhuc ab hac gravitate, moderatione, sui imperio, doctrina ecclesiastica, prudentia, experientia, quae episcopum decent, praesertim in hujusmodi regionibus, ubi sibi soli sufificere debeat, distare Rev.m Mich. Portier; quod mirum videre non potest si consideretur eum, a tempore ordinationis suae, sex circiter abhinc annis, vix duos Sacro Ministerio, reliquos institutioni juventutis in primariis scholis devovisse. Quod profecto in causa fuit cur omnibus ad quorum notitiam pervenit ejus institutio, admirationem maximam 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite nei Congressi, Cod. 8, America Ccntrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 0 tto il 1826. 202 DOCUMENTS faceret. Utrum acceptare, an declinare onus sibi propositum deberet Me interrogavit ; et licet mentem de negotio tarn delicato, super quo Sacra Cong.o mecum consultandum non judicaverat, ipsi aperire repu- gnarem, victus tamen ejus precibus, efficii paterni tandem esse duxi, quid de ipsius idoneitate, quidque de hujusmodi oneris gravitate sen- tirem, palam significare ; quo factum est ut absque haesitatione ulla literas Aplicas Romam cum suis excusationibus remitteret. Haec omnia ad Amp.m Vestram scribendum putavi ; non, quod absit, querimoniae modo, sed ut muneri meo faciam satis. Hie enim potissimum applicanda mihi videtur D. Cypriani sententia : Episco- patum esse in solidiim. Quod ad me attinet, Illme Domine, summa impatientia Paschatis solemnitatem praestolor, quam profectionis meae in Europam termi- num praefixi. Longior quippe mea in hac regione permanentia neque cum bono Religionis, nee cum familiae meae securitate consistere potest. Multuis mihi fuit labor, praeteritis his temporibus, nepotum, imo et Fratris mei charissimi vindictam in aggressores meos compe- scere, et vix una nunc transit hebdomada, quin in diariis libellis aliqua in me jactentur convitia, occasione infelicis illius hispani sacerdotis (Sigura) in unam e suburbanis ecclesiis laica auctoritate intrusi cui, etsi ab ipsimet suis fautoribus summopere contemnantur, in odium tamen mei, aperte patrocinantur ; indeque permulti ansam arripiunt veterem in mobilem projiciendi. Quamdiu naturalium meorum de- fensorum brachia ligare amplius detur, plane nescio ; cum tamen sola cogitatio quod, mei causa, sanguis,- memorum cognatroum fundi possit nullam mihi requiem habere patitur. Haec, ut spero, mihi apud Beatissimum Patrem nostrum favebit excusalio, pro dimissa mea aut ad tempus Coadjutori meo assignata non expectato Sanctitatis Suae consensu. In hoc enim mihi suffragare, imo et imperare videtur Ju3 ipsum naturale ; nee unquam potiori ratione praesumendus mihi videtur fuisse Superioris assensus. Quod si necesse fuerit Romam petere, ut causam meam coram Sanctissimo Domino et Patre nostro dicam, quod spero me brevi post adventum in Galham resciturum, incunctanter pergam, nihil dubitans eum mihi fore propitium. Interea Deum enixe rogans ut Amplitudinem Vestram diu suspi- tem servet ac felicem, Cum summa reverentia maneo Amplitudinis V.ae Illmae ac Rmae Nova Aur.ae Feb. 17, 1826 Humillimus et obsequentissimus famulus + L. GuiL. Du BouRG Epus Neo-Aur. Illmo ac Rev.mo DD. Petro Caprano, Archbo Icon. S. Cong, de Prop. Fid a secretis Word illegible. DOCUMENTS 203 TRANSLATION Most Reverend Dear Archbishop : I had resolved not to write about the recent institution of a Vicar ApostoHc and at least two or three itinerant missionaries without im- suspicion that I was opposed to this decision. However I would con- sider it a breach of duty on my part if I kept silence any longer. I have long since manifested more than sufficiently that not only I was not averse to the separation of Florida from my jurisdiction, but even that this was all along one of my great wishes. That Alabama be joined to Florida under one and the same Vicar Apostolic, nothing, in my opinion, is more desirable. But there are two points on which it seems to me action was taken prematurely. 1° There should have been some inquiry made as to whether there are at hand the means to support both the Vicar Apostolic and his missionaries. On this subject I may — and must — say openly, that, with the exception of two or three parishes which actually can sup- port each one priest, and that with difficulty, no means whatever are to be found in that immense territory 'to foster the development of Religion, For, as a matter of fact, the Catholics there are very few, and far apart, and, moreover, very poor. The first object of the solici- tude of the S. Congregation should be to establish some fund, or at least determine some annual income, which could support the Vicar Apostolic and at least two or three itinerant missionaries without im- posing any burden on the people. In this way, one could hope for something; otherwise nothing is to be hoped for. 2° In regard to the designation of the person, it seems to me (that the S. Congregation has been induced into error by anyone who proposed to it the Rev. Michael Portier. I have a suspicion it was deliberately intimated that that priest belongs to the clergy of_ Lyons : this was done clearly in order to prevent the S. Congregation from consulting me about the qualifications and fitness of the candidate. The assertion is true, in so far as his birthplace is concerned; still if that gentleman had told the S. Congregation that this young man has been incorporated into my Diocese since he was twenty years of age, has lived constantly under my very eyes, was promoted by me to Sacred Orders, I am convinced that informations would not have been sought anywhere else than here. Now had I been asked these infor- mations, the affair would have stopped right there, as I owe it to truth to declare, that virtuous and talented as the Rev. Michael Portier is, he is still far from possessing that gravity, moderation, self-control, ecclesiastical knowledge, prudence and experience, which a Bishop must have, particularly in this country, where he has to reckon^ on himself alone. These deficiencies of his will not appear surprising, if one but considers that, since the time of his ordination, about six years ago, he has exercized the sacred ministry for scarcely two years, the rest being spent in teaching in primary schools. Hence the utmost surprise of all those who have heard of his appointment. He has 204 DOCUMENTS asked me whether he should accept or decline the burden offered him ; despite my reluctance to express my opinion on so delicate a subject upon which the S. Congregation did not deem it fit to consult me, yield- ing at last to his entreaties, I have considered it my duty as a father to let him know plainly what I thought about his fitness and the weight of such a burden. Whereupon without any hesitation he has sent back the Apostolic letters with his excuses. I have thought it well to write all this to Your Grace, not to complain — far be the thought ! — but to discharge my duty. This is in- deed preeminently a case where, to my mind, we should apply the say- ing of St. Cyprian, that "the Episcopate stands and falls together." As to myself. Most Reverend Archbishop, I am awaiting most impatiently the feast of Easter, which I have determined as the date of my departure for Europe. For a longer stay in this country is in- compatible with both the good of Religion and the safety of my fam- ily. I had a great deal of trouble lately ito stop my nephews, nay even my dearest brother from taking revenge of those Avho attack me; and now scarcely a week passes by that I am not grossly insulted in the newspapers at the occasion of that miserable Spanish priest (Sigura), who was foisted upon the church of one of the suburbs by 'the trustees ; even though this man is utterly dispised by his abettors, yet these, out of hatred towards me, make themselves openly his supporters ; this incident has resulted in many taking this opportunity to " . . . How long I shall yet be able to restrain my natural defenders, I know not; but the mere thought that on my account blood — the blood of my relatives — may be shed does not leave me a moment's res't. This, I trust, shall be with our Holy Father an excellent excuse for my resigning my burden or confiding it temporarily to my Co- adjutor, without waiting for the consent of His Holiness.^ This course seems to be approved, nay even commanded, by Natural Law itself, and in no case were there ever better reasons, it seems to me, to presume the Superior's consent. Should it be necessary for me to go to Rome, in order to plead my cause before the Holy Father, I hope I shall learn it soon after landing in France, and I will start at once, having no doubt that he will grant my petition. Meanwhile, praying God earnestly to keep Your Grace yet many years in good health and happiness, I remain with the most profound respect. Your Grace's Most humble and obedient servant Hh L. Wm. Du Bourg, Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, Febr. 17, 1826 To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano, Archb. of Iconium, Secretary of Prop. 8 This letter, and in it, this paragraph and the preceding, are most important in the history of Bishop Du Bourg's mysterious resignation. Here he alleges his main reason for this step; other motives will be adduced in subsequent letters; but they obviously played only a secondary part in his reaching this momentous decision. i DOCUMENTS 205 XLIV ; TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} 111. me ac Rev.me Domine, P. rone Col.me, Etsi verear me literarum mearum frequentia patientiam Amp.nis Vestrae fatiget, quaedam tamen, praecedentibus meis addenda viden- tur, per quae illis, ut praesertim posterioribus, robur accedat. Jam satis, et ad nauseam usque, de odio quo homines isti oderunt me gratiis, aureis Sacrae Cong.is et Vestrae Amp. is obtudi. Nescio tamen quomodo me fugit observare hinc' scandalum pluribus e meo clero subortum, hinc etiam aliquos ansam arripuisse liberius et inso- lentius mecum agendi ; inter quos, et in primis, R.m Michaelem Portier, eum ipsum quem ad Episcopatum, tremendum in liis regioni- bus onus promovere cogitat Sacra Cong.o, me piget nominare. Unde pajtet me nuUi proficuum amplius hie esse posse. Utruni odium mea culpa mihi provenerit, nescio, Deus scit — Hoc scio, quod bonitatem et indulgentiam ad extremos limites, erga omnes, exercuerim, et quod nullum verbum, etiam sacerdotum contemptui aut insolentiae unquam opposuerim, veritus scilicet eos inimicorum meorum phalangi se ad- juncturos, et dissentiones clericorum cum Epo maximo scandalo occa- sionem daturas. — Non quod suspicatum velim praefatum Rev.m Portier fide aut virtutibus esse destitutum ; sed levis omnino et incon- sideratus homo est, jugi cujuslibet impatiens ,indepenliam affectans, nullam anini finitatem et firmitatem habens, paratusque omni vento girari. Facile animedvertit Sacra Cong.o in hujusmodi circumstantiis, me, alioqui summa sensibilitate praeditum, omnium hominum infeli- cissimum esse debere ; et ita res se habet ; adeo ut servorum sortem, meae comparatam, paradisum judicaverim ; nihilque dubitarem in severissimo Monasterio poenitentiam ad ultimum vitae terminum, si Summo Pontifici libuerit, protrahere quam vel unum amplius annum hoc onere gr^vatum expetere. Vix credi potest quam contagiosa, ipsimet clero, virisque alias morigeratis, sint libertatis et independentiae principia quae in his Statibus per omnes sensus imbibunt ; unde mihi semper persuasum fuit vix aliquid boni sperari posse nisi ex Congregationibus, aut ordini- bus religiosis, in quibus viget stricta obedientia. Hinc continuum studium meum ad fovendas hujusmodi fundationes in ista Dioecesi, ingratissima et difficillima omnium. Hinc sperandum est R.mum D. Rosati, cum aliunde universali existimatione tum Cleri, cum populi gaudeat, ope suae Congregationis utilissimam Religioni operam in hac Louisiana navaturum. — Nihilque mea prolongata commoratione face- rem, nisi bonum illud retardare, quin et forsan ilia ipsa dilatione diffi- ciliuis aut etiam impossibile redere. Plaec, cum coram Deo parata 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite nci Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. 206 DOCUMENTS mente revolvo, magis ac magis persuadeor, nedum ipsius divinae vol- untati abdicatione mea contradicam, imo nihil agere me posse quod ipsius gloriae et ovium mihi concreditarum utilitati magis consonum fuerit. Parcat importunitati meae Amp.do Vestra, et misertus tam deplorandae sortis, manum adjutoriam extendere non dedignetur, Humillimo sue et obsequent.mo famulo + LuD. GuiL. Ep.o N. Aurel. Novae Aureliae Feb.rii 27, 1826. Illmo ac Rev.mo D.no Petro Caprano S. C. de Prop. Fide a secretis. TRANSLATION Most Reverend Dear Archbishop: — Even though I have reason to be afraid that my frequent letters are tiresome to your Grace, there are a few things which it seems necessary to add to my previous communications in order to render them, especially the last, more weighty. Enough and more than enough have I already dinned into the ears of the S. Congreg. and of Your Grace about the unjust hatred wherewith these people hate me. I forgot, however,! know not how, to remark that this has caused scandal among quite a number of my clergy, and has furnished to others a pretext to act with me disrespect- fully and even insolently. Among the latter I am sorry to have to mention above all the Rev. Michael Portier,- the self-same man whom the S. Congregation intends to appoint to the Episcopal dignity, — a burden really tremendous in this country. Hence it is clear that my usefulness here is absolutely at an end. Whether this hatred has come to me by my own fault. I know not ; God knows it. But this I know, namely, that I extended kindness and indulgence even to the extreme limits, towards all, and that I never replied a word even to the ex- pressions of contempt or insolence of the priests, being afraid that these would swell the ranks of my enemies, and that dissensions be- tween the Clergy and the Bishop might give rise to grave scandal. In saying this my intention is not to give the impression that Fr. Portier is lacking in faith or virtue ; but he is given to levity, inconsiderate, - It would not be fair to pass an unfavorable judgment on Bishop-Elect Michael Portier, on ithe sole evidence of this accusation of Bishop Du Bourg, The prelate had always been very sensitive to criticism; and it seems that Father Martial did not go very far astray in his appreciation, when he wrote to his friend Billaud, at the French Em,l>assy in Rome that the Bishop, who was weak with those who flattered him, could not brook any criticism. Did Father Portier, about the time of the writing of this letter, forgetful of the over- sensitiveness of the prelate, venture to make some unflattering remark? We cannot say with certainty, although this seems to be what is intimated by the Bishop. Falling upon overwrought nerves, the criticisms of Portier must have caused a deep and painful wound. Bishop Du Bourg analyzed excellently his own case when he says, some lines below : "In the midst of such circum- stances, most keenly sensitive as I am, I must be the most unhappy of men." DOCUMENTS 207 restive, affecting independence, purposeless, devoid of firmness and ever ready to veer with every wind. The S. Congregation may easily understand that, in the midst of such circumstances, moist keenly sensitive as I am, I must be the most unhappy of men ; and indeed such is the case, so much so, in fact, that I should deem the condition of slaves actually a paradise, compared to my onw condition, and I would not hesitate to ask to end my days, if it so please the Sovereign Pontiff, in the most rigorous Monastery rather than remain only one year with that burden. It is scarcely possible to realize how contagious even to the clergy and to men otherwise well disposed, are the principles of freedom and independence imbibed by all the pores in these United States. Hence I have always been convinced that practically all the good to be hoped for must come from the Congregations or religious Orders among which flourishes strict discipline. Wherefore my constant care has always been to foster the foundation of such establishments in this most ungrateful and difif^cuk Diocese. For this reason it is to be hoped that the Right Rev. Bp. Rosati, who ,at any rate enjoys the esteem of all. among both the clergy and laity, by means of his Con- gregation, may do very good work in Louisiana. My staying longer here would do nothing but delay this good ; nay even perhaps might it contribute to render it more difficult, or even impossible. When I meditate all these things before God, I become more and more con- vinced that not only shall I not go against the will of God in resign- ing my See, but I can do nothing better and nothing more perfectly in accordance with His glory and the utility of 'the flock committed to my care. Please your Grace pardon my insistence, take pity on my deplor- able condition, and deign extend a helping hand to Your most humble and obedient Servant + L. Wm., Bp. of N. Orl. New Orleans, February 27, 1826. To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano, Secretary of Propaganda. XLV. TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} Ill.me ac Rev.me Domine, Prone Col.me, Recens accepi a Rmo Collega nostro Bardensi, Epistolam, quam operae pretium duxi, autographum ad Amp.m Ves'tam transmittere, ut quae sit inter Epos istorum statuum, de nominationibus ad vacantes, aut recens institutas sedes, opinionum consensio, meliori et compen- ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Refcrite nei Congressi, Cod. America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a ito il 1826. 208 DOCUMENTS diosiori via discere poss't. Est haec epistola responsio uni e meis in qua fratribus meis consilium meum hac de re proponebam, quam id- circo, anglico idiomate, ut erat conscriptam, illi adjiciendam putavi. Doleo valde, Religionis causa, quod in casu Presb.i Michaelis Portier, omissae fuerit consuetae indagationes, praesertim ab iis prae- sulibus quibus notus sit, et sub quorum regimine per octo ultimos annos est conservatus. Quidquid alii de eo asserere potuerint referri solum potest ad ipsius adolescentiam. Vix enim undevicesimum at- tigerat, cum Lugduno sub meo ductu exiit, moribus sane et igenio inter aequales conspicuus, sed adhuc nimium juvenis, ut quis deinceps futu- rus esset certo potuerit conjici. Exinde vero ne pedem quidem a mea dioecesi unquam movit, nuUi proinde ex Americanis Epis, praeter me et Coadjutorem meum se dignoiscendum praebuit. Ut primum sonuit vox hujus nomination's, a risu temperare non potuerunt plerique ipsius amici et consacerdotes ; sed quod me mnlto accerbiori dolore affecit, ipsimet laici et mulieres, etiam inter morigeratos, summam admiratio- nem testati sunt, quod juvenis quem nihil inter aequales distinguit aut commendat, qui nulla rerum experientia pollet, ad tantam et tarn arduam dignitatem evectus fuerit. Non defuerunt qui me hujus de- terminationis accusarent, quibus vix persuadere potui nullam in ea partem me habuisse, nee unquam fuisse consultum. Quod si probi et religiosi ita sentiant, quid erit de dissolutis et impiis, quibus ista regio scat it ? Nolim Amp.m Vestram suspicari, me aegre ferre sive Floridarum separationem, sive amissionem D. M.is Portier; illam enim diu postu- lavi, nee aliud de extensione ilia territorii praeter molestia mihi acce- dit. Istum vero, propter animi inconstantiam et affectatam indepen- dentiam, alio se transferre cuperem, praesertim ubi sub obedientiae vinculo fraenata ipsius levitate, naturales ipsius dotes ad majorem ecclesiae utilitatem possent maturescere. Ad hoc nuUuis utrivis de- siderio nunc mihi locus esse potest, qui, quod ad me attinet nihil praeter meam liberationem aut cupio aut cogito, sed etsi sponsus istius Eccle- siae esse desinam, non cessabo tamen ipsi bene velle, et illius augmen- tum prop posse promovere. Ideo sententiam meam de iis quae ad Re- ligionis honorem spectant, liberius depromo, sperans Amp. Vestram et Sac. Cong.m mihi condonaturos si quid minus reverenter expresse- rim. Nihil enim antiquius habeo quam ut altissimam demissionem meam erga S.tam Sedem et Sacram Congregationem modis omnibus significem. Meque ipsum verbo et opere adprobem Amp.nis Vestrae Ill.mae ac Revmae Novae Aureliae, IMartii 10, 1826, Humillimum et obsequentissimum famulum + LuD. GuiL. Du BouRG Epus Neo-Aur. Ulmo ac Revmo Dno Petro Caprano — Archpo Iconiensi S. C. de Prop. Fide a Secretis DOCUMENTS 209 TRANSLATION Most Reverend and Dear Archbishop : — I received lately from our Right Rev. Colleague of Bardstown a letter, of which I thought it my duty to forward the original to Your Grace, in order that you may understand in a better and shorter way the consensus of opinion which exists among the Bishops of the United States, regarding the appointments to the vacant or recently established Episcopal Sees. This letter is a reply to one of mine, in which I was setting forth to my brother-bishops my views on the subject : this my letter I enclose herewith in English, just as it was written. - Natchitoches (La) in the course of our Episcopal Visitation, October 4, 1825. Right Rev. Sirs and Very Dear Brethren, About one year ago, if my memory serves me well as to time, I received an invitation from Propaganda, which I must suppose to have been addressed also to every Bishop in the United States to give my opinion for the appoint- ment of a successor to Dr. Oheverus in the See of Boston; and just now a similar one has reached me, respecting that oif New York, vacated by the death of Dr. Connolly. From this it is natural to conclude that the Holy Congregation has come to a settled plan, not to proceed henceforth in the American nominations, but upon the joint suffrages of the American Bishops. The plan is, no doubt, a very correct one in every point of view. But its efficacy must necessarily depend upon the mode of carrying it into opera- tion. The present one appears to me extremely defective inasmuch as the unavoidable discrepancy of insulated opinions must necessarily throw Propa- ganda into the greatest perplexity as to the choice of one subject among the several that may be proposed, particularly as each of them may eventually chance to obtain but a single vote in his favor: the consequence of which must be an indefinite protraction in the appointments, 'the greatest calamity that can befall our infant Churches. Reunion of Bishops on those all important occasions, would, if prac- ticaible, be the best remedy to the impending evil, and for my part, cost wbat it might, neither fatigue nor expeuse would deter me from, attempting a long journey on an errand of such interest to Religion. I allow, however, that in many cases, either the advanced age, infirmities, or even the poverty of some of the Prelates might throw insuperable obstacles in the way of these de- sirable meetings. At least would I propose an understanding among the Bish- ops, by means of epistolary communications. The Archbishop, or in case of his absence, or death, the eldest Bishop might be commissioned by the Holy See, in the emergency of any vacancy, to confer by letters, with his colleagues, to suggest to each of them his own ideas, to receive their in return, and in case of such division of opinions as might still embarrass the nominations, to acquaint them with the number of votes given to each of them, in order that, upon a new consideration of the subject, the Bishops might, if they thought proper, modify their former opinions, and join in making a common return. Intricate as this process may appear, it seems to me by far the most expeditious and the best calculated to satisfy the minds of the Sacred Congregation, by affording them at once a full view of the general opinion of the Bishops on the respective merits of the candidates. 2 This letter was sent from Natchitoches, La., October 4, 1825, that is, just about the time Bishop Du Bourg was writing on the same subject to Card, delk, Samalia, Pro-Prefect of Propaganda (Letter XL above). Here is the text of this communication to the Bishops of the United States, as it is found in the Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congressi, Codice 8 — clearly the copy sent by Du Bourg to Archbishop P. Caprano : 210 DOCUMENTS A far shorter cut assuredly would be that every Bishop should be provided with a Coajutor to succeed him on his demise. But this, I am sensible, may be liable to many dbjections, flowing chiefly from the dfAiculty of making pro- visions for two Bishops when a sufficient maintenance can hardly be found for one. I should conceive, however, that titular Bishops themselves being happily exempt in this country from every kind of costly representation. Co- adjutors might, with still greater reason, be contented for the support of their Episcopal dignity, with the sa.ne emoluments deemed sufficient to support them as subordinate Pastors. Be it as it may I cannot help thinking that it is a strong idea entertained, I am told, in some of the ecclesiastical offices at Rome, that Coadjutors should not be granted to Bishops on foreign Mis- sions but in cases of extreme necessity; and though, at present, personally disinterested on the subject I would willingly propose to my Brethren to join in a simultaneous address to Propaganda pointing out the happy results that would arise from this measure in keeping up uniformity in the administration, insuring the continuation of establishments commenced, precluding intrigues and warding off the manifold dangers attending protracted vacancy. All that should be reasonably required would be that the Titular demanding such an auxiliary, sho:ild present satisfactory vouchers on the merits of the subject proposed by him, supported by the suffrages of two, at least, of the other Bishops. Shall I not be accused of intrusion in thus presuming to take the initiative, in a matter, which as it regards all m.y colleagues, would, with more propriety have been canvassed by any of them than by me, the least of all? I must own that this reflection has long deterred me from any such communication. Yet, recollecting the word of St. Cyprian "Episcopatus est in solidum" which is particularly enforced in the application made to each of us by the Holy See, I have concluded that every member of the Episcopal body is strictly indebted to all of his Brethren for a candid disclosure of all his own views towards the consolidation and advancement of the common interest, and consequently that it were in me a breach of duty amounting to the most culpable indifference to Religion to withdraw from my colleagues those lights which I may, though, perhaps, erroneously deem useful for our common guidance. I fondly hope therefore to be pardoned, not only for the foregoing hints, but also for the communication of my answer to Propaganda, with respect to the new appoint- ment, the whole of which I mean to submit to the superior judgment of my brethren and Most Revered Masters, with an entire deference to, and a cordial acquiescence in their decisions. At the time of the venerated Patriarch of the American Church, Archbishop Carroll was soliciting the division ot his then immense Diocese, he was, as he himself repeatedly told me particularly desirous to see Boston and New York united under one Bishop and could not help manifesting some vexation that the contrary opinion had prevailed at Rome. His chief reasons were, the propinquity of those two cities, which made it easy to travel from one to the other in a couple of days — and the comparatively small number of Catholic Congregations in both territories, particularly in that of New England ; which would render the situation of a Bishop in Boston hardly dissimilar from that of a simple parish-priest : a situation truly discouraging for a prelate of an active mind, and little honorable to Episcopacy. I was forcibly struck at these observations, which, since have turned to be real forebodings. For who doubts now, but to the circumstance of the insignificancy of the See of Boston is ciefly due the irretrievable loss for America of its late Incumbent? In consequence therefore of these reflections, when Propaganda did me the honor of consulting mo on the nomination to the Church vacated by the translation of Dr. Cheverus I clearly expressed my opinion of the propriety of reuniting Boston and New York under one spiritual head ; and in answer to the present call I renew my answer to the same effect. Now as to the designation of subjects fit to fill up that most important station and particularly (to use the expression of Propaganda) to raise the Church of New York from the state of depression and distraction into which it is fallen, I have returned four names, viz.: DOCUMENTS 211 1. The Rev. Ben. Fenwick 2. The Rev. Demetrius de Galitzin 3. The Rev. N. McGuire, of Pittsburg 4. The Rev. N. Power, of New York, giving it as my decided opinion, that however eminent the merits of the three latter may be, which I hold in the highest estimation, the first should un- hesitatingly be preferred: ist, as a Native American, a circumstance^ which, in the present state of the church at New York distracted as it is by foreign parties, highly qualifies the Rev. Ren. Fenwick as a mediator of peace; 2ndly, as having already been most successfully employed in stations of high re- sponsibility, particularly in New York and Charleston; in both which he es- tablished a character of consummate prudence, indefatigable industry and eminent talents and whence he carried with him the respect and regrets of all classes of inhabitants without any difference of Religions or of nations. With great respect and brotherly aittachment, I remain, Right Reverend and very dear Brethren, Your most humble servant, L. Wm., Bishop of New Orleans. I much regret, for the sake of Religion, that in the case of Father Michael Portier, the customary inquiries were omitted, especially from such prelates as know him, and under whose jurisdiction he has lived during the last eight years. Whatever others might state ahout him can have bearing only on the years of his youth. For scarcely was he nineteen years of age, when he came from Lyons under my direction ; he was then conspicuous among his fellow-students by his conduct and talents, but yet too young for anybody being able to forecast what he was to be later on. From that time on, he has never left my Diocese ; hence no American Bishop, outside of myself and my Coadjutor, had ever any chance to know him. No sooner did the first rumor of his appointment reach here, than most of his friends and fellow-priests could not help laughing heartily over it; but what saddened me yet much more, laymen and women, even among those well-disposed, manifested their wonderment, that a young man, whom nothing singles out and recommends particularly among his fellows, and who has no experience, should be raised to such a high and difficult position. Some did accuse me of 'this decision, whom I could scarcely convince that I had absolutely nothing to do with it, and had never been consulted about it. When good and religious people are feeling that way, what can you expect of the men of loose morals and of no religion, so numerous in this part of the country? I would not have Your Grace conceive the least suspicion that I am sorry of the dismemberment of Florida from my Diocese, or of the loss of Father M. Portier. That Florida should be taken away from me, I have long petitioned; and I have never reaped anything but trouble from that wide expanse of territory. As to Father Portier, on account of his levity of mind and his affectation of independence, I wish he would go somewhere else, where under the bridle of obedience that levity of his might be checked, and his natural talents might grow to maturity for the greater utility of the Church. But there is no use now of me wishing either of these things, as, in so far as I am person- ally concerned, I have no other longing and no other thought but for my 212 DOCUMENTS freedom ; however, even though the bands uniting me to this Church are to be severed, yet I shall never cease to wish it good, and to pro- mote its increase by all means in my power. This is why I most freely set forth my opinion about what concerns the honor of Religion, hop- ing that Your Grace and the S. Congregation will pardon any expres- sions of mine which might appear somewhat lacking in reserve, for I have nothing more at heart than to manifest by all possible means my most profound respect to the Holy See and the S. Congregation, and to prove myself by word and deed, Your Grace's Most humble and obedient Servant, •h Louis Wm. Du Bourg, Bp. of New Orl. New Orleans, March 10, 1826. To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano, Archbishop of Iconium, Secretary of the S. Cong, of Propaganda. XLVI. TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} Illme ac Rev.me Domine Post 30 dierum felicissimam navigationem, ecce ad oras Galliae laetus appellor, brevi Romam iter arrepturus. Peragrata tota Foed- erata America usque ad Novum Eboracum, ubi prima Junii navem conscendi, occasionem nactus sum singulas ferme lustrandi Dioceses, et propriis oculis earum necessitates explorandi. Neo-Eboracum prae- cipuam clamat Sanctae Sedis sollicitudinem, ut quamprimum de idoneo Pastore ipsi provideatur. In varias quippe factiones discerpta videtur viduata ilia Ecclesia, quae tamen, ut puto, facile coalescerent, si, neg- lectiis caeteris ad Episcopatum praetendentibus, ad ipsius regimen as- sumeretur Rev.us A. Kohlmann, So. Jesu, nunc in Collegio Romano degens, qui cum Neo-Eboraci per plurimos annos olim pastorale munus dignissime gesserit, omnibus etiam nunc ita receptus est, ut prhno loco a plerisque, secundo a caeteris reclametur. Vereor tamen ne nimis sero nuncius iste Romam adveniat. — Vereor etiam ne ipse contentio- num et aemulattonum quae in illo clero misere praevalent, certior fac- tus, onus Episcopale mordicus rejiciat, quod profecto ipsi vix toleran- dum fieret, nisi ex Auiericanis sacerdotibus, qui in dicto Romano Collegio plures jam annos extiterunt, duo vel tres in partem sollici- tudinis ipsi consociarentur. Hoc unco scilicet modo sperari potest subordinationis et Ecclesiasticae unionis restauratio. De his, plurimisque aliis ad bonum Ecclesiae Americanae spectan- tibus, praesens opinionem, non dico meant, sed ferme omnium qui ejus ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 0 tto il 1826. DOCUMENTS 213 statum intime noverunt, eo liberius depromam, quod jam in suspici- onem venire nequeam me ullo partium affectu moveri, siquidem firmius adhaereo proposito sedem meam abdicandi, speroque me facile demon- straturum, non solum pacis mea, sed praesertim Religionis plurimum interresse, ut saepius oblata mea resignatio benigne tandem accepte- tur. In ea certe persuasione mecum consentiunt quotquot ex intimis familiaribus prudenter consulere potui, qui mihi ad unum auctores fuere ut loco meo quamprimum cederem, periculum in mora futurum esse opinantes. Si nondum actum est de nominatione Rev.di Micha.is Portier ad Vicariatum Apost.cum Floridarum et Alabamae, cujus Breve felici hora Romam retromisit. sperans tamen (prout mihi certius constat) gratam sibi vim esse inferendam, muneris mei esse duco Amplitudini Vestrae significare, electionem istam tantum administrationis in tota America movisse, ut mihi eam, omnes ad quos ejus pervenit notitia, graviter exprobraverint, putantes scilicet me praecipuam in ea partem habuisse, vixque fidem mihi adhibuerint, eam me inconsulto factam, asseveranti. Nihil me ultra ab itinere, Romam versus, prosequendo demorabi- tur, praeter valetudinis curam, quae post tam longam terra marique peregrinalionem, aliquot saltem dierum quietem et refrigerationem exposcit ; ardenter enim cupio ad Beatissimi Patris pedes advolare, Amplitudique Vestrae facie ad faciem, illas existimationis et obsequii mei significationes edere, quas nunc literis venerabundus offero Amp.is V.ae Illmae ac Revmae Havre, Julii 3, 1826 Humillimus et devotiss.us famulus "I* LuL. GuiL. Epus Novae Aur.ae Illmo ac Revmo D.no Petro Caprano Arch.o Icon.i S. C. de Propaganda Fide a Secretis ; Romam. TRANSLATION Most Rev. Archbishop : — After a most happy voyage of thirty days, I have just joyfully landed in France and shall start shortly for Rome. As I travelled all the United States as far as New York, whence I sailed on June 1st, I had a good opportunity of seeing nearly all the Dioceses of that coun- try and to see their needs with my own eyes. New York more than any other place should be the object of the solicitude of the Holy See, and a suitable Pastor should be given it without delay. Several fac- tions indeed seem to tear asunder that Church bereft of its Bishop ; yet all these factions, I think, would unite easily, if before all other can- didates Father Kohlmann, S.J.^ now residing in the Roman College, - That Bishop Du Bourg proposes now Father Kohlman for New York, after so warmily recommending, the year before, the appointment of Father Benedict Fenwick, is not to be ascribed to fickleness, but to the fact that, early in 1825, Rome, on the recommendation of Bishops Conwell. England, Flaget and E. D. Fenwick, had appointed B. Fenwick to the See of Boston. He was consecrated Nov. i, 1825 in the cathedral of Baltimore. 214 DOCUMENTS was appointed ; as he most worthily discharged the pastoral office in that city for a number of years, he even now enjoys such a repute that he is the first choice of the greater number, and the second of the others. However, I am afraid that this intelligence may reach Rome too late. I am afraid also that he, being aware of the dissentions and misunderstandings prevailing among the clergy of that Diocese, may absolutely refuse the burden, which indeed could be rendered bearable to him only if, among the American priests residing in the Roman Col- lege, for a' certain number of years, two or three be given him to share his solicitude. This is the only means capable of restoring there sub- ordination and Ecclesiastical unity. On this subject, and others regarding the welfare of the Church in America, when I am there I will give I do not say «;j\' opinion, but the opinion of those who know the situation, all the more freely that I cannot be now open to the suspicion of being moved by any interest, as I am more than ever resolved to resign, and I trust I can easily demonstrate that not only the peace of my soul, but above all the inter- est of religion, demand that my resignation so often tendered, be at last accepted. This persuasion is shared by all those of my friends whom prudence permitted me to consult, who all agreed that I should withdraw as soon as possible, and thought any delay to be detrimental. If so far no action has been taken on the subject of the appoint- ment of the Rev. i\Iichael Portier to the Vicariate Apostolic of Florida and Alabama,^ the Brief for which he sent back to Rome in a moment of happy inspiration, hoping, however (as I am perfectly sure), that he may be forced to accept, I deem it my duty to declare to Your Grace that this election has excited such a wonderment throughout America, that all who know of it expressed to me their undisguised dissatisfaction, as they thought that 1 was mainly responsible for it, and would hardly believe me when I assured them everything had been done without consulting me. Nothing will detain me from pursuing now my Romeward jour- ney, except the care of my health, which, after such a long trip by land and sea, demands at least a few days of rest and refreshing; I ear- nestly long to fly to the feet of His Holiness, and to pay to Your Grace by word of mouth the tribute of my consideration and respect which I reverently now offer in writing. Your Grace's Most humble and obedient Servant, + Louis Wm., Bp. of New Orl. Havre, July 3, 1826. To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano, Archbishop of Iconium, Secretary of the S. Congr. of Propaganda, Rome. 3 Action had been taken in Rome on the subject some time since; and whilst Bishop Du Bourg was on the ocean, a new brief had arrived in New Orleans, commanding him in virtute s, ohedientiac to accept the episcopal office and the charge of the Vicariate Apostolic of Alabama. He communicated this docu- ment, on June 19 to Bishop Rosati, then in New Orleans. DOCUMENTS 215 XLVII. TO ARCHBP. PETER CAPRANO, Secretary of Propaganda} lU.me ac Rme Domine, A Rev.do Franco Niel, Roma nuper Parisios reduce, cum summa laetitia accepi SSmi D.i Nostri gratia dirupta tandem esse vincula, quae me Neo-Aurelianensi Ecclesiae mancipabant, mihique jam liberum esse propriae sanctificationi unice vacare. Burdigalam ad hunc finem, festinus me recipio, ubi paratum me semper inveniet Amp.do V.a ad omnia grati animi et reverentiae obsequia. Imo etsi valetudine fractus, et quietis potissimum indigeo, Romanam peregrinationem laetus su- scipiam, si Amp.ni V.ae videatur y\mericanae Ecclesiae proficuam ibi fore operam meam. Multa certe sunt de quibus oretenus Amp.m V.m alloqui proposueram, quae vix litteris possint explicari, quibus forsan plurimum juvari posset Religionis in ilia regione conditio, et promo- veri prosperitas. Etsi etenim lugenda necessitate coactus, ab ilia me separari postulaverim, nunquam tamen desinam illius utilitatis, pro posse, adlaborare. Sanctissimo Domino Nositro, pro liberationis meae beneficia, im- pensissimas grates, per Amplitudinem Vestram relatas velim, Meque sibi omni devotionis et venerationis secum devinctum dignetur agnos- cere Hum.um et obs.mum famul. + LuD. GuiL. alia^ Ep. Neo-Aurel. Rhotomagi, Julii ll.a 1826. Em.o ac Rev. mo Domino Petro Caprano Arch.o Icon. si S. C. de prop. Fide a Secretis, Romam. TRANSLATION Most Reverend Archbishop: — The Rev. Francis Niel who came back recently to Paris from Rome, communicated to me the most welcome news^ that His Holi- ness has at length in his kindness severed the bonds which united me with the Church of New Orleans, and that I may now attend only to my own sanctification. For this purpose I hasten to go to Bordeaux, where Your Grace will always find me ready to offer you the marks of my gratitude and respect. Nay even, though I am somewhat broken 1 Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congressi, Cod. 8, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' htmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. 2 A letter of Father F. Niel to Msgr. Soglia, in Rome, dated Paris, July 18, and contained in the same volume of the Scritture Referite says in part: "You undoubtedly have heard of Bishop Du Bourg's arrival in France. As soon as I heard he had reached this country, I wrote to him to announce \o him that the Pope had accepted his resignation ; he has answered my letter and seems to be satisfied." 216 DOCUMENTS in health and need rest above everything else, I will undertake the journey to Rome, if Your Grace should think my presence there may be of use for the interest of the Church in America. There are- indeed many things which I had proposed to mention to Your Grace in con- versation, and could hardly be explained by letter, and whereby the condition of Religion in that country might be greatly helped and its prosperity promoted. For although a sad necessity compelled me to ask to be separated from it, still I shall never cease to work in its be- half to the limit of my ability. Please return in my name most earnest thanks to the Holy Fa- ther for the benefit of my freedom, and deign consider me linked to Your Grace by every sentiment of devotedness and veneration Your most humble and obedient servant + Louis Wm., formerly Bp. of New Orl. Rouen, July 11, 1826. To the Most Rev. Peter Caprano, Archbishop of Iconium, Secretary of the S. Congr. of Propaganda. XLVIII TO THE NUNTIO to Paris} Eminence, Mr. I'abbe Hercule Brassac eut la gen^rosit^ et le d^vouement en 1817 de quitter sa respectable famille en France, pour me suivre aux missions de la Louisiane. II y requt de moi les SS. Ordres suh titiilo Missionis. Son venerable P^re ayant successivement perdu son Epouse et 10 de ses Enfans, m'ecrivit il y a un an pour me prier de lui ac- corder la consolation d'embrasser encore une fois I'unique fils qui lui restoit. II ^toit difficile de refuser une pareille faveur a un Pere plus que septuagenaire, si cruellement ^prouv^ dans ses plus tendres affections. L'abb(5 Brasisac est aujourd"hui en France en conge dis- pose a repartir pour la Louisiane si telle est la volont^ de Dieu, manifest(^e par ses Sup^rieurs. Je ne le suis plus, Eminence — sans cela Je ne tiendrois pas aux pri^res du v^n^rable viellard,, qui me redemande I'unique appui de ses dernieres annees. Je m'adresse avec confiance a V. Em. pour le prier de vouloir bien s'int^resser a cette aflfaire supres de S. Em. le Cardl. Prefet de la Propagande de qui elle depend principalement. Je suis avec un profond respect De Ve. Eminence Paris le 15 Novre, 1826. Le tr^s humble et tres ob. serviteur •^ L. GuiL, Ev. de Montauban S. Emce. Le Cardinal Nonce Apostolique a la Cour de France. Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scrttture Referitc nei Congressi, Cod. \erica Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1823 a tto il 1826. America DOCUMENTS 217 TRANSLATION Your Eminence : The Rev. Hercules Brassac^ had, in 1817, the generosity and devotedness to leave his respectable family in France, in order to fol- low me to the Louisiana missions. There I conferred upon him the Sacred Orders sub titulo Missionis. As his venerable Father lost suc- cessively his wife and ten of his children, he wrote to me a year ago to request me to grant him the consolation of embracing once more the only son left him. I could not deny such a favor to a father more than three score and ten years of age, cruelly tried in his most tender affections. Father Brassac is now in France on a leave of absence, ready to go back to Louisiana if such is the will of God, manifested by his Superiors. Had I still jurisdiction over him, Your Eminence, I could not resist the prayers of the venerable old man, who is beseech- ing that the only prop of his declining years be left to him. Hence I beg confidently Your Eminence to interpose in his behalf with His Eminence the Prefect of Propaganda, whom this affair principally depends. I am with the deepest respect Your Eminence's Most humble and obedient servant <¥ L. Wm., Bp. of Montauban. Paris, November 15, 1826. To His Eeminence the Cardinal Nuntio to the Court of France. XLIX TO THE CARD. PREFECT OF PROPAGANDA.^ Eminence, Mgr. Rosati, mon successeur a la Louisiane, rendant justice a me sentiments pour une Eglise qui fut et sera toujours le premier objet de ma sollicitude, et supposant que mon opinion touchant ses inter^ts pent etre de quelque poids dans le jugement de la S. Congregation de la Propagande, me presse d'^crire a V. Emce., pour appuyer de mon suffrage les demandes qu'il vient tout r^cemment de lui adresser. Je desire sinc^rement que ce digne Prelat ne se soit pas plus qu'il en soit tromp6 dans I'une que dans I'autre de ses deux suppositions. Quoi qu'il en soit je mettrai toujours le plus vif empressement a seconder ses vues ; heureux si Je puis encore fournir au moins quelques lumieres qui tournent a I'avantage de cette int^ressante Mission. 2 On the Rev. Hercules Brassac, see Archbishop S. G. Messmer's article The Reverend Hercules Brassac, in The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. Ill, No. 4, pp. 392-416; and Brassac's Correspondence tvith the American Bishops, (1818-1861), pp. 448-470, in the same issue of the above-mentioned periodical. ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congressi, Cod. 9, America Centrale, Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1827 0 tto il 1828. 218 DOCUMENTS Je vols avec douleur, Eminence, que I'extr^me modestie de Mgr, Rosati lui inspire une aversion insurmountable pour le Siege de la Nouvelle Orleans. II est persuad«5 qu'il faut a ce poste des talens plus distingu^s que les siens. Je ne suis pas de son avis, et j'ai la convic- tion que nul autre Eveque n'y ferait plus de bien que lui. Ce n'est pas tant I'eloquence, qu'une science solide, une profonde sagesse et une vertu a I'abri de toute atteinte, que demande cette importante situa- tion. La premiere de ces qualites ne ferait peut-etre que lui attirer des Censeurs ; les autres lui ont deja conquis I'af fection et le respect universels. Je sens non moins tout ce qui est du de d6f^rence a une repu- gnance aussi caracteris^e, dans un Pr^lat aussi vertueux. Son tem- perament d'ailleurs de parait pas fait pour les ardeurs qui ddvorent ce climat pendant la moiti^ de I'annee, et sa conservation est trop pre- cieuse a la Religion pour qu'on doive I'exposer a un si grand danger. II n'y a selon moi qu'un moyen de concilier tons les int^rets, c'est de laisser k Mgr. Rosati pour un temps indetermin^ I'administration des deux divisions de ce grand Diocese, et de lui donner un Coadjuteur pour I'assister ou le supplier dans la basse Louisiane, Toutes mes lettres precddentes a la S. Congregation ont exprime ce voeu, et je me r^jouis que lui-meme il le partage. C'est qu'en effet, malgr^ sa modesti, il lui etoit difficile de se dissimuler que nul autre que lui ne pourra de longtemps reunir les coeurs et fixer la soumission d'un clerg^ het^rog^ne toujours pret a se diviser ou a s'^manciper; et la qualite de Sup<^rieur de la Congregation de la Mission lui donne pour cela des avantages qui ne peuvent appartenir qu'a lui. II propose pour Coadjuteur Mr. L6on de Neckere, pretre de sa Congregation, flamand d'origine, qui a d^ja pass^ pres de dix ans dans la Louisiane, homme rare pour les connoissances, les vertus, et sur- tout pour le don d'une eloquence distinguee, soit en anglais, soit en frangais. Deux choses cependant pourroient militer contre lui, sa jeunesse et sa sante. II a tout au plus atteint sa 28e. annee — mais son physique, sa gravity et sa sagesse sont de 40 ans. — Sa sante fa- tiguee par I'application et le travail s^dentaire a surtout beaucoup souf- fert, du climat f roid et sec de la haute Louisiane ; mais elle se trouve bien de la chaleur humide de la Nouvelle Orleans : il est a cet egard pr^cisement I'eavers de Mgr. Rosati. Ainsi, puisque surtout il n'est question que de lui conferer une autorite d^pendante, il paroitroit que ce choix serait desirable. Plusieurs raisons accessoires pourraient en confirmer la sagesse. — Mr. de Neckere est universellement respecte de ses Confreres et du peuple — et comme Flamand, il est probable qu'il attirerait bientot a la Mission un certain nombre de ses com- patriotes, qui de toutes les nations sont ceux qui en general y reus- sissent le mieux. Je crains seulement qu'on ne puisse, par les seuls moyens de per- suasion, le determiner a accepter le pesant fardeau de I'Episcopat, doublement pesant dans un pays tel que la Louisiane. Ill ne faudra probablement rien moins pour I'y resoudre qu'un ordre peremptoire de Sa Saintete. DOCUMENTS 219 Si la Sac. Congregation adopte ces vues, EUe peut m'adresser ses d^peches, que je me ferai un honneur de transmettre, d'une rnani^- re stire, soit a Mgr. Rosati a la Louisiane, soit a Mr. de Necker^, qui est aujourd'hui en conge dans sa famille en Belgique. Je suis avec un profond respect, De Votre Eminence, Montauban ler Mai, 1827. Le tres humble et tr^s obeissant serviteur, 4* L. GuiL. Du BouRG Eveque de Montauban. TRANSLATION Your Eminence, Bishop Rosati, my successor in Louisiana, doing justice to my sentiments towards a Church which was and shall ever be the first object of my solicitude, and supposing that my opinion touching its interests may have some weight upon the decisions of the S. Congre- gation of Propaganda, begs me insistently to write to Your Eminence to suport the petition which he directed recently to the same Congrega- tion.^ I sincerely desire that this worthy Prelate may not be mistaken in either supposition. However this may be, I will always manifest the greatest eagerness when it is a qustion of fostering his views, happy if thereby I am still able to shed at least some light which may turn to the advantage of that interesting Mission ! I regret to see, Your Eminence, that the extreme modesty of Bish- op Rosati inspires him with an unsurmountable aversion for the See of New Orleans. He is convinced that the position requires talents more distinguished than his. I do not share his opinion, and am con- vinced that no other Bishop may do there more good than he. It is not so much eloquence, as solid knowledge, profound wisdom, and a virtue above every suspicion, which are demanded in that important office. The first of these qualities would perhaps only invite censure; the others have already won for him the affection and respect of all. I realize none the less whatever deference is due to so marked a repugnance in a Prelate of such sterling virtue. His constitution, more- over, does not seem suited for the scorching heat prevailing in that climate during half of the year ; and his preservation is too precious to Religion to permit to expose him to so great a danger. There is only, that I can see, one means to reconcile all the inter- ests at stake, namely to leave to Bp. Rosati for an unlimited length of time the administration of both parts of that great Diocese, and to give him a Coadjutor to assist him or supply his place in Lower 2 The allusion is, as the rest of the letter shows, to the reluctance of Bishop Rosati for accepting the See of New Orleans. The story is told at length in an Article of Rev C. L. Souvay, C. M., entitled, Rosati's Elevation to the See of St. Louis (1827), published in Vol. Ill, No. 2 (July, 1917) of The Catholic Historical Revieiv, pp. 165-186. 220 DOCUMENTS Louisiana. All my previous letters to the S. Congregation expressed this wish, and I am glad that he himself is saying the same. For in- deed, with all his modesty, he could scarcely be blind to the fact that no other man will be able for a long time to unite the hearts and assure the submission of a clergy made up of all kinds of men, ever ready to be divided or to take liberties ; and his office of Superior of the Con- gregation of the Mission gives him advantages which no other can have. He proposes as Coadjutor, Father Leo De Neckere, a priest of his Congregation, native of Flanders, who has already spent well-nigh ten years in Louisiana, and is exceptionally remarkable by his knowl- edge, his virtues, and, above all, the gift of a most distinguished elo- quence both in English and in French. Two objections, however, might be raised against him. his youth and his health. He is scarcely twenty- six years of age,^ but his outward appearance, his gravity and his wis- dom are of a man of forty. His health undermined by application and sedentary work suffered very much from the cold and dry climate of Upper Louisiana; but it benefits by the damp heat of New Orleans; from this point of view, he is just the reverse of Bp. Rosati. So, as there is, after all, question of conferring upon him only a dependent au- thority, this choice seems well-advised. Several secondary reasons might confirm the wisdom of it. Father De Neckere is universally respected by his brother-priests and the people, and as he is Flemish, it might probably attract soon to the Mission a certain number of his fellow-countrymen, who, of all nationalities, are those who are suc- ceeding best. I am afraid only that persuasive means may not be able to de- termine him to accept the weighty burden of the Episcopate, which is doubly heavy in a country like Louisiana. Probably nothing short of a peremptory command of His Holiness will be able to prevail upon him. Should the S. Congregation adopt these views, it may direct to me its despatches, which I will consider an honor to forward by sure means, either to Bp. Rosati in Louisiana, or to Father De Neckere, who is now on a leave with his family in Belgium. I am with the deepest respect, Your Eminence's most humble and obedient servant, •h L. Wm. Du Bourg, Bishop of Montauban. Montauban, May 1, 1827. 3 Father Leo De Neckere was born at Wevelghem, then in the Diocese of Ghent, Belgium, on June 5, i8oo. He was, therefore, almost twenty-seven years of age at the time of the writing of this letter. Bishop Du Bourg's error, however, is slight and immaterial: Father De Neckere had not reached the Episcopal age. DOCUMENTS 221 TO CARD. CAPPELLARI Prefect of Propaganda^ Eine ac Rev. me Domine, Literis datis 29 a Augui. proxime elapsi, petit a me Ema. Vestra quid sentiam de postulatione R. P. D. Josephi Rosati mei in Louisiana successoris, circa reductionem festorum et jejuniorum cujos postula- tionis transcriptum in adjuncto folio habetur. Respondeo, nihil a me de eo sttutum in Synodo Dioecesana a me coacta, ut putat Rev. Episcopus, sed solummodo in ea publicatum Ora- culum SS. mi D. 1 Nostri Pii Papae VII propria manu firmatum (quod in archiviis Episcopatus Neo Aurelianensis, sub discessionem meam, reliqui), quo Summus Pontifex annuit 1° ut consuetudini jam invectae in Baltimorensem Metropolim circa reductionem festorum et vigiliarum, in mea Diocesi ahaereretur. 2° ut nihil immutaretur in alia consuetudine quae in Louisiana ab Hispanis inducta fuerat, diebus sabbati per annum carnibus vesct. In dicta autem synodo, investigatum fuit qui essent dies sive fes- torum sive jejuniorum, vel antiquitus in Louisiana, vel nova con- cessione in Baltimorensi servati, collatisque testimoniis redactus est eorum catalogue ad numerum in epistola R. P. D. Rosati expressum. Quod ad opportunitatem proragandae et confirmandae in posterum dictae indulgentiae attinet, Haec mihi comprobata videtur ex optimis rationibus a successore meo adductis. Errat tamen de facto ubi dicit me a Summo Pontifice confirmatio- nem hujusmodi consuetudinum petiisse quam nescit utrum acceperim, qua loquendi forma satis prodit, se vel ignorare penitus, vel oblitum fuisse, quomodo dictam confirmationem obtinueram, nempe sub disces- sionem meam a Roma, mense Januario 1816, Summum Pontificem adii cum libello precum, inter quas praedicta postulatio adnumerabatur, cui pro gratis, ad jiidichmt Episcopi subscripsit Sanctissismus. Auto- graphum autem hujus libeHi, Novas Aureliae, ut dixi, mox inde pro- fecturus, in Archivio Episcopali reliqui. Nil mirum proinde si nihil de ea petitione in S. Congregationis tabula inveniri potuerit. Summa cum Reverentia, plenaque in banc Sacram Congregationem devotione, haberi volo Eminentiae Vestrae Montis Albani, die 7 bris 18 a 1829. Humill. et obsequentise. famulus, •I" LuD. GuiL. Epus Mtis Alb. Emo et Revmo D. Cardli. Cappellari S. Congr. p. F. Praefecto. ^ Original in Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite net Congr essi, Cod. 10, America CentraJe^ Dal Canada all' Istmo di Panama, Dal 1829 a tto il 18.32. 222 DOCUMENTS TRANSLATION Your Eminence: In your letter dater August 29, Your Eminence asks my opinion on the petition of the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, my successor in Louisiana, concerning a reduction of the feasts and fasts, and a copy of said petition was enclosed in the letter. My answer is that, in the Diocesan Synod which I called, I regu- lated nothing contrary to the impression of the Right Rev. Bishop ; all that was done was to publish in that Synod the pronouncement signed by our Holy Father Pius VI Fs own hand (which, at my departure, I left in the Episcopal Archives of New Orleans), whereby the Sovereign Pontiff granted: 1° that we should follow in my Diocese the custom already introduced in that of Baltimore in regard to the reduction of the feasts and vigils ; 2° that nothing should be changed in another custom introduced into Louisiana by the Spaniards, to eat meat on Saturdays during the year. In the same Synod investigations were made concerning the feast or fast days observed both from old times in Louisiana or by virtue of the concession made to Baltimore, and after comparing the testi- monies, a catalogue of these days was made including the number men- tioned in the letter of Bp. Rosti. With regard to the opportunity of continuing and confirming for the future this grant, I would recommend it on the reasons adduced by my successor. He is mistaken, however, when he says that I asked from the Sovereign Pontiff the confirmation of this custom, but does avi know whether I obtained it. This expression of his indicates clearly that he is totally ignorant, or forgetful of the way I had obtained that confirmation, namely when, on leaving Rome, in January, 1816, I went to the Sovereign Pontiff with a list of petitions, among which was the one in question ; at the bottom of this document the Holy Father wrote : pro gratia, ad judicium Episcopi. The original of this list of petitions I left in New Orleans, as I said, in the Episcopal Ar- chives, at the time of my departure. No wonder, therefore, that nothing about it should be found in the Records of the S. Congregation. With the utmost respect, and complete devotedness to the S. Congregation, I beg you to believe me. Your Eminences' most humble and obedient servant, Hh Louis Wm., Bp. of Montauban. Montauban, September 18, 1829. To His Eminence Card. Cappellari, Prefect of the S. Congregation of Propaganda. ST. LOUIS CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW Issued Qu arterly KDITOR-IN-CHIRF REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, C. M., D. D. ASSOCIATK KDITORS RKV. F. G. HOLWF.CK RKV. GIIvBKRT J. GARRAGHAN, S. J. REV. JOHiSf ROTHEN3TFINER KDWARD HROVVN Volume III OCTOBER 1921 Number 4 PUBMSHKD HY THR CATHOt,IC HlSTORICAI^ SoCIBTY OP SaINT LoUlS. 209 WAf.NuT Strekt, St. I^ouis, Mo. CONTENTS PAGE Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis 226 The Dawn of Missouri's History Archbishop J. J. Glcnnon 227 Some High Lights In Missouri's History Reif. G. J. GarragJuin, SJ. 232 Rummaging Through Old Parish Records Rev. C. L. Souvay, CM. 242 Notes 295 Documents from Our Archives 311 Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis Established February 7th, 191 7 OFFICERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES 1920-1921 President — Most Rev. John J. Glennon, D. D. First Vice-President — Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G. Second Vice-President and Treasurer — Edward Brown Third Vice-President — Louise M. Garesche Secretary — Rev. Edward H. Amsinger Librarians and Archivists Executive Committee l^EV. Rev. Rev. F. G. HOLWECK Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. Gn.p.ERT J. Garraghan, S. J. Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. A. Connolly, V. G., President Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. J. Tannrath, Chancellor Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. Rev, F. G. Holweck Rev. Martin L. Brennan, Sc D. Rev. John Rothensteiner Rev. Edward H. Amsinger [ Edward Brown Committee on Library and Publications f Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D. I Rev. F. G. Holweck ^ Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. j Rev. John Rothensteiner [ Edward Brown COMMUNICATIONS General Correspondence should be addressed to Rev. Edward H. Amsinger. Secretary, 744 S. Third St., St. Louis, Mo. Exchange publications and matter submitted for publication in the St. Louis Catholic Historical Review should be sent to the Editor-in-chief, Rev. Charles L. Souvay, CM., DD.. Kenrick Seminary, Webster Groves, Mo. Remittances should be made to Edward Brown, Treasurer, 511 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo. 226 THE DAWN OF MISSOURI'S HISTORY' Probably the first white man to great Missouri land was the Spanish De Soto. Long before Missouri pleaded for statehood, long before the colonies proclaimed their independence, long before the colonies were formed — before even the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, — there came from the Floridas the Spanish conquistador De Soto, westward bent, as were so many of his compatriots, lured by the glory of con- quest and the love of gold. It was in the year 1540 that in his westward march over the sa- vannahs of the South, De Soto and his soldier comrades reached the Father of Waters, which in its southern course may claim him as its discoverer, and was destined a year or so later to furnish him a grave He crossed the great river and reached its western shores some- where in what is today the state of Arkansas, and then with his six or seven hundred followers marched northwards. It is difficult today to retrace his journey, for although the places he sojourned at and the Indian tribes he met are described in detail by the chroniclers, yet the names are strange, and the descriptions vague and fantastic; so that over all is a shadowy uncertainty, which, since there were none to follow in his footsteps, makes the task of retracement impossible today. It is quite certain that his journey was northwards and that he came a considerable distance into Southeast Missouri. Somewhere west of New Madrid, probably in the basin of the St. Francis River, De Soto rested after a three days' march. He had made friends with a powerful tribe of Indians that dwelt there. They were called by the Spaniards "Caquins" and were probably the same as the Kaskaskias, so well known in later history. Now, after some parley, with exchange of greetings and pres- ents, the Cacique of the tribe arose, saluted De Soto and addressed him: "Senor, you are superior to us in prowess, you surpass us in arms. These you behold around you are the warriors of my nation. Since your God must be more powerful than ours, we, the chieftains and warriors of the nation, humbly supplicate you to pray to your God for us." Now, De Soto, protesting his own sinfulness, ordered his men to go to the forest near by, cut down the tallest tree they could find and fashion from it a cross. Now the chronicler tells us 1. Discourse of tlie Most Reverend Archbishop of St. Louis at the solemn Mass celebrated at the Old Cathedral on Sunday, October 9, 1921, for the Centennial celebra- tion of Missouri's statehood. 227 228 ARCHBISHOP J. J. GLENNON that so large was the tree that it took a hundred men to move it. They carried it to the neighboring mound and the cross being formed they lifted it on high before the soldier and the savage. On the next morning the solemn procession was formed, led by De Soto and the Indian Chief. Then followed the soldiers of Spain and the Indian warriors, then the priests who came with De Soto, clad in brilliant vestments, chanting their hymn of praise, the glori- ous Te Deum laudamus. Around that cross they gathered, before it were lowered flags of Spain, and the vast assemblage, soldier and tribesman alike, bowing low, offered their greetings before the symbol of redemption to the white man's God. And the chronicler tells us that "even the soldier heart of De Soto was moved to tenderness to see in this strange and pagan land a savage people worshipping with humility and tears before the cross of Christ." So let it stand that three hundred and eighty-one years ago there was raised for the first time within the confines of the State of Missouri the cross of Christ. Indeed the scene is one the Christian imagination loves to linger on, for beyond its historic value and deep significance it has in it all the elements of fantasy and romance. There is the mound where the sunshine rests. Around it stand in serried ranks the soldiers of Spain. Brightly wave the flags, the inspiring flags of Castille and Aragon. Here is nodding plume and gilded cuirass and gleaming sword. There the earth-stained bodies and painted faces of the Indian braves. Stolid of countenance are they, watchful and suspicious. And now, over all, the song of the friars. They are thinking not of lands or gold, but how they may serve and Christianize the savage. The song is sung, the Vexilla Regis. It is caught by the soldiers and echoes down the forest glades, while above the song and the singers, above the soldier and the sav- age, up there between the forest and the sky, stands the conquering symbol, the Cross of Christ. And this was in Missouri three hundred and eighty years ago. It is a long step from De Soto's time to our own day, and yet I will crave your indulgence while I relate an incident which occurred but a few years ago, which recalls and in a sense reproduces the one described above. Some eight or ten years ago a group of St. Louis ladies, members of the sodality of the Sacred Heart (the Children of Mary), many of them descendants of Missouri's first settlers, journeyed down to De Soto's land. Reaching the St. Francis River at the place where it enters the State of Arkansas, they took a raft and were towed up- stream about fifteen miles, and then on the banks of the river where still stood the forest primeval, where still grew the cypress and water oak and hemlock, this devoted band set up the cross and builded the altar and gathered prayerfully around it as did De Soto's followers in the long ago. So far as we can decipher De Soto's journey, it was that way he came, for there is the basin of the St. Francis, there to the east is "Crowley's Ridge" and Caligoa there in the dis- tance. THE DAWN OF MISSOURI'S HISTORY 229 And I thought as I witnessed that scene in the silent forest, a repetition of one enacted in the very beginning of Missouri's history, that though times change and institutions decay, though the flags of France and Spain have long since been lowered, though even the forest monarchs yield to the woodman's ax, yet borne by hands and hearts such as these, the Sacred Standard shall to the end remain, resplendent and unconquered. About the year that De Soto marched westward in quest of gold a similar expedition was being fitted up on the Mexican border. Coronado, too, dreamed of gold and conquest, only that his dreams were more fantastic than De Soto's. Looking eastward from his New Mexico camp, he thought he saw on the eastern horizon vast plains and great cities and herds of cattle and fertile lands — them he would conquer and possess, and great would be his name — a con- quistador, a conqueror, a hero for evermore. So with camp supplies and followers, mostly soldiers, he marched through what is today Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and (perhaps) Missouri. His journey is described by his chroniclers, who give us signs and names and relate wondrous things, but how to fit them to the geography of today is a difficult and impossible task. Certain he came to mighty rivers and encountered strange peoples and traveled many leagues, but the seven cities of Cibola ne'er did he see. Then, when wearied by travel- ing and fighting, his remaining soldiers persuaded him to return, to return disillusioned and empty handed. But one of the group re- mained behind, for he, the friar, Juan de Padillo, found what he sought for. He found the Indians, whole tribes of them, savage and abandoned. With them he remained and taught them, until through the treachery of an alien tribe he was murdered. Somewhere in the Middle West lie the bones of its protomartyr, Juan de Padillo. t Now, though the Cross was set up in the Southland and it gleamed from the Western plateaus three hundred and eighty years ago, yet we of St. Louis are satisfied to wait a century or more for its certain and definite advent in the hands of the illustrious Jesuit mis- sionary, Fere Marquette. Up there at St. Ignace, in the winter of 1672, the great mission- ary, Louis Joliet, was preparing for the great journey of discovery allotted to them. It was the day long wished for by Father Mar- quette. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which he was then celebrating, he said: "I have longed that under the Blessed Mother's protection I might be permitted to visit in God's name and as His ambassador the numerous tribes of Indians that dwell by the banks of the Father of Waters." The following May, 1673, they select their Indian guides, assemble their flotilla of canoes, cross to Green Bay, then up the Fox River, make their portage across the divide into the Wisconsin and then into the broad waters of the Mississippi. 230 ARCHBISHOP J. J. GLENNON And now commences the great journey. In frail barks (six canoes) they glide down the river, stopping- here and there where the tribes were encamped. Father Marquette spends a few days with each, then hurries on. Passed they now the mouth of the Des Moines River, now the Illinois, and then to the wonderment of the travelers, the great yellow Missouri comes sweeping down, at flood tide bearing, as Father Marquette said, whole islands on its angry crest. And here at last, where St. Louis now stands could be seen, if we were here to see, the blackrobe gliding by; cross in hand, he scat- ters benediction. And this was the summer of 1673. It is not necessary to dwell on that journey further, nor to re- count the wonders and trials he encountered on the way : only to remark that while Marquette did not stop at St. Louis he undoubtedly landed on Missouri, for the record quite clearly points to his and Joliet's discovery of iron down in what is now Perry County and of their investigation of the same. Now, with Marquette our real history begins ; after him came the voyagetir and the coureur des hois, and the fur trader, and then the village and Monsieur le Cure, then the Church, and thus grew Kas- kaskia and Cahokia and Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis. During the century and a half that elapsed between Marquette and the admis- sion of Missouri to the Union, it is safe to say nine-tenths of all that was done and nine-tenths of all who migrated here were French ; that consequently the French gave us our earliest civilization, and now, after a hundred years I am wondering if it was not also the best ; for, representing and reproducing as they did, the best there was in fair France at the time that France ruled Europe, it appears certain that for genuine refinement, culture and graciousness it has stood and still stands unrivaled and unsurpassed. And these French colonists were Catholic, Catholic "to the manner born." They gave to river and town the names of the Christian heroes their nation honored ; the feast days and fasts they observed, and they lived in an atmos- phere more or less religious. They loved their language, their tradi- tions and their ancient faith, and whatever is recorded of their labors here may well be set down as the Gesta Dei per Francos. Refined in manner, they were a charitable people as well. To them we owe the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the beginnings of the many charitable institutions which gem our city, and for us Catholics of today are our consolation and our crown. Time is not given me to continue. I should have spoken of Mis- souri's one hundred years and instead I have gone centuries back of it to catch for you some faint reflections from the morning dawn of Missouri's history. But bright is the light that comes from that day's dawning, for it is the light of the Cross. THE DAWN OF MISSOURI'S HISTORY 231 And I have dwelt thereon for a double purpose. I wanted to bring home to you and to others the utter fallacy of the position of those who now would say, in face of this history, that our Catholic religion is a thing alien to, a thing foreign in our State; that as such it may perhaps be tolerated, but nothing more ; that Catholics because they are Catholics should be satisfied if they are not interfered with by the police, but that they must be very careful not to irritate nor unnecessarily to obtrude themselves on their more intelligent or more American neighbors. But my second and more vital purpose is that our Catholic people, heirs of these things, may, remembering them, prove themselves in this day not unworthy of their fathers in the faith ; that some of their zeal and all of their faith and charity may be yours. Your increasing opportunities should aid you the more intelli- gently to uphold their standard. They brought order out of chaos. They set up civilization where there was savagery and in place of tomahawk and scalping knife they brought the standard of the Prince of Peace. What they planted and watered with their tears be yours to cause to grow to still fairer proportions and more ample beneficence. ^ JOHN JOSEPH GLENNON, Archbishop of St. Louis. SOME HIGH LIGHTS IN MISSOURI HISTORY On August 10, 1821, President Monroe, as the closing incident of a dramatic struggle that had lasted through three years, signed the proclamation which admitted Missouri into the Union. The pres- ent year, 1921, is accordingly the centennial of Missouri's statehood. Old folks are proverbially reminiscent ; and a State that has reached the century-mark may well give itself to retrospection and look back fondly on the steps by which she made her triumphal progress from the primeval wilderness to the towering heights of peace, plenty and so- cial prosperity on which she stands today. And yet, as Houck, who has given us the classic history of early Missouri, points out, the his- tory of the State begins long before 1821. Before there was a State of Missouri, there was a colonial Missouri and a territorial Missouri and it was in the colonial and territorial phases of its development that the real foundations of the commonwealth were laid. The his- tory of Missouri, above that of most other States, is rich in all the elements of the dramatic, the picturesque, the colorful; and at no time more so than during the period which preceded 1821. In the series of historical scenes which follow we are carried in three instances only beyond the American occupation; yet for the sons and daughters of Missouri who in this centennial year will set themselves to read the story of her growth from the first rude beginnings onward, every scene in the series will have its appeal as every one of them beyond question has its significance in the history of the State. THE RAISING OF THE CROSS May, 1541 The First Incident in Missouri History. In 1541 Ferdinand De Soto, Spanish conquistador, came up from Tampa Bay with his soldiers of fortune to the Mississippi, which he crossed at some still unidentified point, probably near the site of Memphis. Then, marching up the right bank of the river, he halted in May-time at a place a little north of the south line of Missouri, at or near New Madrid, it would appear, in order that his followers might take a well-earned rest. And while they rested there in de- lightful rustic bowers which the Indians fashioned for their strange 232 SOME HIGH LIGHTS IN MISSOURI'S HISTORY 233 visitors, an incident occurred, the memory of which shall never quite perish from among- us, for it is the first thing that history has to record of the land we call Missouri. To De Soto came an Indian chief or cacique and said, "Sire, you and your men are of greater prowess than we; so must your God be of greater might than ours. Beg Him, therefore, to send us rain, for our corn is parched and great fear there is that we lose it all." To which petition De Soto made answer that he would do as he was requested. So, calling the chief carpenter, Francisco the Genoese, he bade him hew down a tree in the near-by forest, the tallest he could find, and make out of it a cross. And Francisco did as he was bidden, felling a huge cy- press, of such weight that a hundred men together could scarce lift it from the ground. Then out of the cypress he fashioned a mammoth cross which was set up on a hill or rather Indian mound that over- looked the Spanish camp. And on the morrow, at De Soto's word, a great procession was formed of fully a thousand persons, Indians mingling with the Spaniards, and the cacique walking beside De Soto. The friars chanted the litanies and the soldiers made the responses thereto. And when the procession was arrived at the cross, each and every one approached it devoutly, bent the knee before it and kissed it in token of reverence to the symbol of man's redemption; after which that majestic hymn of Christian praise, the Te Deum Laudamus, was sung- and the ceremony was over. Then, wonderful sequel to that impressive prologue of Christian supplication and worship, in the middle of the ensuing night came a great, copious downpour of rain. The delighted Indians hastened to express their gratitude to De Soto, but he made answer that their thanks were due not to him but to Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, who was the bestower of these and other far greater mercies.^ Such is the first scene disclosed by the curtain of time as it rises above the stage of Missouri history. II. MARQUETTE AND JOLIET In the June of 1673 Louis Joliet and James Marquette, the Jesuit, fresh from their discovery of the Mississippi, glided in their canoe over its turbid waters past the limestone bluff on which St. Louis was to rise in later years. That they were the first of white men associated by their presence, passing though it was, with the site of the metropolis, is a circumstance that brings them within the pur- view of Missouri history ; but theirs is a much more substantial claim to distinguished mention in the life-story of the State. Marquette and Joliet were in a very literal sense the men who put Missouri on the map. On Marquette's autograph map of 1673 the name of the State, with reference to an Indian tribe, appears as Oumessourits ; in Joliet's HOUCK, Hutory of Missouri, Vol. I. 234 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, SJ. autograph map of 1674 as Messouri ; and finally in Marquette's pub- lished map of 1681 (Th^venot) as Oumissouri, which last form cur- tailed of the initial syllable, gives us the spelling as we have it today. Not only did these two enterprising Frenchmen put Missouri on the map ; they also did the same for the names Osage and Kansas, which (in forms almost identical with those in use today) appear for the first time in history on the Joliet and Marquette maps. The com- monwealth of Missouri thus owes the first historical mention of its name, the name of its second city and the name of one of its most beautiful rivers (Osage) to the same distinguished pair who have gone down in history as the discoverers of the great waterway that washes the entire eastern limit of the State. The chronicler of the commonwealth's greatness will not fail to salute with grateful recog- nition these two commanding figures that thus step on the stage at the very dawn of Missouri history. III. THE DAY OF THE THREE MASSES December 8, i6p8 As the first recorded incident in the history of Missouri was the solemn and worshipful raising of a cross, so the earliest recorded incident in the history of St. Louis was the celebration of that central act of Christian worship, the Mass. In the late fall of 1698 three priests belonging to the Society of Foreign Missions, their names, Montigny, St. Cosme and Davion, with the gallant M. De Tonty in their company, came down to the Lower Mississippi from Canada under commission from the Bishop of Quebec to set up mission-posts among the Indian tribes settled along the great waterway. Passing through Chicago or what was to become such, they were the guests there of the Jesuits, Pinet and Binneteau, in their little mission house of the Guardian Angel, built on ground which is now in the very throbbing centre of the great metropolis of the West. Father Mon- tigny and his party, having descended the Mississippi to a point opposite the village of the Tamaroa, landed from their canoes on the west bank of the river. Here, then, they tarried a while on ground that is now within the municipal limits of St. Louis, probably near the foot of Arsenal Street ; and here, on December 8, 1698, the festival of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, all three priests, it would appear, offered the august sacrifice of the New Law. Every Missourian and especially every St. Louisan will look back in a spirit of solemn pride on that memorable day when the site that was to see the growth of the first city of the State passed from out the night of prehistoric darkness into the clear sunshine of recorded history; and it is an easy date to remember, for the incident occurred exactly two hundred and twenty-two years ago last December 8, 1920. SOME HIGH LIGHTS Ii\ MISSOURI'S HISTORY 235 IV. A SECOND PLANTING OF THE CROSS December 12 (13 1) 1698 Only a few days pass since the coming of the missionary-priests, Montigny, St. Cosme and Davion to the site of St. Louis, when they write still another memorable page in the history of Missouri. One hundred and fifty-seven years later than De Soto's raising of the cross at the southeast corner of the State, the initial incident in Mis- souri history, these clerical pathfinders place another cross on Mis- souri soil. Wonderful it is that the first scenes to meet our gaze as the pageantry of Missouri history unfurls before us are these prayerful unfurlings of the standard of Christianity. On December 12 or 13, 1698, on a hill in Perry County overlooking the Mississippi near Cape St. Antoine, Father Montigny's party planted their cross with ap- propriate ceremony. Within a few days of its occurrence. Father St. Cosme put the incident on record in a letter to Canada. "We as- cended the island or rock with some difficulty by a path and we planted a fine cross on it, chanting the Vexilla Regis, while our people fired three discharges from our guns. God grant that this cross, which has never yet been known in this place, may triumph here and that our Lord may abundantly spread the work of His Holy Passion, so that all these savages may know and serve him." Let it be noted here, as a sequel to this glorious incident, that the narrator. Father St. Cosme, later paid the full cost of his ad- venturous zeal, dying at the hands of the Indians he had come to evangelize. V. Missouri's earliest settlement The Month of the River Dcs Peres. 1700. On the north bank of the river Des Peres at its junction with the Mississippi just within the south limits of the city of St. Louis, there existed for a few years subsequent to 1700 a French-Indian settle- ment, Missouri's earliest growth of civilized life. Hither, in that year, came the Kaskaskia Indians, having moved down from their village on the Illinois River where Marquette twenty-five years before had set up among them the first outpost of Christian civilization in the Mis- sissippi Valley. Hither also came the Tamaroa and with them the French from their village on the opposite side of the Mississippi. With the Kaskaskia was their pastor, Gabriel Marest of the Society of Jesus, and with the Tamaroa was their pastor also, Fran<;ois Pinet, of the same Society, the latter having but recently closed his Miami mission, the earliest religious establishment ever set up within the limits of Chicago. Frangois Pinet, Chicago's first resident priest, was 236 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. likewise one of the group of Jesuit missionaries at the Des Peres settlement to whom belongs the distinction of having been the first resident priests on the site of St. Louis; so early a link of historical association do we discover between the metropolis of the Great Lakes region and the no less forward-looking metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. VL THE FOUNniNG OF STE. GENEVIEVE Missouri's Earliest Permayient Settlement 1730. The little French-Indian community at the mouth of the Des Peres hovers ghostlike for a brief spell over the threshold of Mis- souri history and then fades utterly from view into the surrounding gloom. Until yesterday, when it lifted its head clear of the mists of myth and legend and took rank as the first patch of civilized life ever laid out on Missouri soil, nothing of it more substantial had endured than a faint memory enshrined in the name of the stream, the Des Peres, or "Fathers' River", along the banks of which it one time nestled. To another Missouri settlement on the Mississippi, St. Genevieve, some sixty miles below St. Louis, falls the distinction of being the earliest in the State to last down to our own day. It was started on its career somewhere around 1730 in the "Big Field" {le grand champ) three miles or so below the present site of Ste. Genevieve. Of this, the old St. Genevieve, le zieux milage, surviving records tell us practically nothing. Later, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, as the site of the old village fell bit by bit into the onrushing waters of the Mississippi, the French habitants shifted their homes some distance up the river and a new St. Genevieve was gradually formed. Here French social life of the pre-American period, woven of many charms, flourished apace and here to this day, despite the ravages of modernity, not a little of the eighteenth century atmosphere and color lingers on. No other place within the limits of the State brings you as close as does St. Genevieve to the realities of French culture and civiliza- tion that form so much of the background of Missouri history. On its streets you pass antique colonial houses with gable roofs and comfortable porches, mansions of an other day in which Monsieur and Madame once lived out their placid days with perhaps a truer relish of life than is possible to us moderns caught up in the rushing tide of twentieth century existence. You enter these houses and find the old-world suggestiveness of their exteriors echoed with- in. The exposed rafters of the ceiling catch your approving eye and you marvel to find wooden pegs and staples doing service for nails. For one who loves to visualize Missouri's storied past, a visit to St. Genevieve is a rare delight. SOME HIGH LIGHTS IN MISSOURI'S HISTORY 237 VII. THE FOUNDING OF ST. LOUIS February 14, 1764 On December 3, 1763, Pierre Liguest Laclede, with plans in his head for a settlement that would command the entire Missouri River fur-trade, rode with Auguste Chouteau, a stripling of fourteen, to the top of a declivity overlooking the Mississippi, the same high ground on which the St. Louis Court House stands today. Looking east, he felt that every natural advantage was present to render the ground that stretched before him to the river-edge an ideal site for his proposed settlement. To young Chouteau he accordingly then and there delivered instructions to come up the following spring with a party of forty men then in winter quarters at Fort Chartres and lay off the new post according to plans he himself would furnish. That there might be no mistake about the location, Laclede blazed some trees with his own hand. To the blazed trees accordingly came Chouteau as soon as navigation opened, landing with his men on February 14, 1764, probably at what is now the foot of Market street. On the morning of the following day he put his men to work. La- clede soon joined the party, streets and lots were platted, houses built, commons and common-fields staked off and all the conventional adjuncts of a typical French settlement duly provided for, including an entire square dedicated to church purposes. Such was the found- ing of St. Louis, the canonized hero-king of medieval France lending his name to the little Christian community which men of his race had thus set up on the banks of the Mississippi. Sebastian Meurin, priest of the Society of Jesus, whose remains lie in the historic Jesuit cemetery at Florissant, was the first clergyman to officiate in the village; the first chapel, of logs, went up in 1768; the first resident clergyman, the Spanish Capuchin, Father Valentine, arrived in 1773 and St. Louis on the religious side was well started on its progressive march to the development of today which has merited for it the title of the Rome of America. No less marvellous was the material de- velopment of Laclede's trading-post. It captured and held for years the Missouri-River fur trade, doing in 1769 a business in furs of $80,000 a year. Later it lost its ascendency in this capital field of trade, but in 1920, the wheel having come full-circle, won it back again, becoming the world's greatest fur-center, with sales aggregat- ing $20,000,000 a year. VIII. THE DAY OF THE THREE FLAGS March 10, 1804 On March 10, 1804, the curtain was rung down on the first two acts in. the dranm. of Missouri history, to rise, promptly on a third, which, by the grace of God, we still see played out before our eyes. On 238 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. that day the flags of Spain and France were furled and the Stars and Stripes raised over the western moiety of the Mississippi Valley. Three great world powers, France, Spain and the United States have exercised proprietary rights over Missouri soil. The French regime began on the day that Robert de La Salle at the mouth of the Mississippi claimed the entire basin of the mighty waterway for Louis Quatorze, giving it the name Louisiana in honor of that great potentate and burying a leaden plate in the river bank in token of formal occupation ; and it ended in 1762 by the secret cession to Spain on the part of France of the city of New Orleans and the western portion of the Mississippi Valley. (In 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, the eastern portion of the Mississippi Valley was ceded by France to England). The Spanish regime lasted until 1803, when, by the treaty of San Ildefonso, Louisiana (as the portion of the Mississippi V^alley west of the river continued to be called) was ceded back to France, the Spaniards, however, remaining in occupation till the Americans came. For Napoleon, master of France's destinies at the moment, fearful lest Louisiana, which had thus recently come into his pos- session, should fall into the hands of the English, negotiated its sale to the United States. The Louisiana Purchase was effected in April, 1803, France ceding to the United States the whole territory of Lou- isiana "forever and in full sovereignty" for a consideration of $15.- 000,000 or about 3 cents per acre. Then, on March 10, 1804, the succession of the three sovereign- ties, Spanish, French and American, was symbolized in St. Louis with appropriate ceremony. First, the Spanish colors were lowered on the flagstaff planted before the shabby little Government house at Main and Walnut Streets. Next, the French colors were lowered, following which the Stars and Stripes were run up and the United States entered in possession of the richest and amplest sweep of terri- tory that has ever come to swell our national domain. In this epoch- making drama the arresting figure is that of the Spanish Governor of Upper Louisiana. No government could have entrusted so weighty a business as the surrendering of an empire to more fitting hands than those of Don Carlos De Hault De Lassus. Courtesy, tact, high- minded Christian sentiment attended his every move on the memor- able occasion. The official papers which he issued at the transfer, as you read them in Houck, are a delight. "God have you in his holy keeping," is his last word to the Spanish commandants that were to lay down their charges in consequence of the transfer ; and so with a prayer on her lips Spain bowed herself with dignity and grace off the stage of Missouri history. IX. THE FOUNDING OF KANSAS CITY 1S2I—1838 In 1821 Francis Gesseau Chouteau, resident of St. Louis and nephew of Auguste Chouteau, Laclede's associate in the founding of SOME HIGH UGHTS IN MISSOURI'S HISTORY 239 that city, left what was then as it is now, the tirst city of Missouri, and with his wife and children made his way in a pirogue up the Missouri River to the mouth of the Kansas. The journey took twenty days, a matter of some seven hours to the present-day traveler by rail. Here, then, at the great southwest bend of the Missouri, where its waters min- gle with those of the Kansas, came Francis Gesseau Chouteau, employee of the American Fur Company, to open a trading post for that pushing corporation^ No men ever had a keener eye for natural sites of ad- vantage than the old French path-finders and city-builders ; and with the instinct of his kind Chouteau selected this location as the in- evitable gateway to a great inland trade. "I should deceive myself greatly if considerable money is not to be made in this place", he wrote to a brother in St. Louis, the earliest forecast on record of the commercial possibilities of the site now occupied by Kansas City. One by one the elements gathered out of which was to issue the Kansas City that we know. As late as 1838 the standard gazetter of Missouri had no other name for the settlement at the mouth of the Kansas than "Chouteau's." But in that year Gabriel Prudhom- me's farm of two hundred and seventy one acres came into the hands of a stock company which proceeded to lay it off as a town to which it gave the name of Kansas. Thus were laid the foundations of the second city of the State, seventeen years after Francis Chouteau had come to the mouth of the Kansas to point out the potential greatness of a locality which has since developed as by magic into one of the world's largest centers of commerce and trade. X. THE FOUNDING OF ST. JOSEPH 1830 — 184s On the left bank of the Missouri some seventy miles above the mouth of the Kansas, the ground lifts up sharply enough from the water-edge into a line of thickly-wooded bluffs — the Blacksnake Hills of the Indians before the white man found his way to this charming pleasure spot of unspoiled nature. Here was a favorite crossing place of the Indians as they made passage of the great river below. A likely spot enough for a trader's hut ; nay, even for a community of whites if enough of such could be found with heart to fight the battle of life in this remote corner of the Missouri frontier. So at least thought Joseph Robidoux III, native-born St. Louisan, and merchant-trader by occupation, who in 1827 planted his trading post at what is now a point on Main Street in the city of St. Joseph. In 1830 he acquired the land on which the future city was to rise. Eight years later Peter De Smet, Jesuit and blazer of missionary trails across the Great Plains, on his way up the Missouri to evangelize the Potawatomi of Council Bluffs, made a short stop at Blacksnake hills to exchange 240 REV. G. J. GARRAGHAN, SJ. greetings with his friend Joseph Robidoux IV, one-time student at St. Louis University. The Robidoux's were still the only white resi- dents in the locality, which went by the name of Robidoux's Land- ing. "There I had a long talk with J[oseph] R[obidoux], who keeps a store and runs his father's fine farm. He showed me a great deal of affection and kindness and expressed a wish to build a little chapel there, if his father can manage to get some French families to come and settle near them. The place is one of the finest in Missouri for the erection of a city." Joseph Robidoux's dream of a city springing up around his trading post blossomed into reality. Settlers flocked in, Robidoux's Landing became St. Joseph, with a town-plot made out and duly recorded in St. Louis in 1843, and the founder lived to see it a city of twenty thousand inhabitants. XI. TUE FLATHEAD MISSION 184I When Father Peter De Smet set out from St. Louis University in the spring of 1841 to lead the first Catholic missionary-party that ever crossed the great plains to Oregon, he opened up a chapter in Missouri history as fascinating as any within its covers. The sig- nificance of the chapter lies in the fact that it shows Missouri to have been something more than a sort of purveyor-in-chief to the Great West of traders, trappers, trail-blazers and adventurous pioneers. The State has also been a beacon light of Gospel truth to the Indian tribes in their native habitats from the Western frontier up to the shores of the Pacific. When that curious mixture of savage culture and lofty spiritual aspirations, the Salish or Flatheads at the headwaters of the Colum- bia River, began to grow anxious for a teacher that would advance them in knowledge of the white-man's prayer, their thoughts turned towards St. Louis. Already in 1831 four of their tribe had reached that city, two of them dying there after receiving Catholic baptism. They were followed in 1835 by Ignace La Mousse, the Iroquois, and his two sons, the latter baptized on that occasion at St. Louis Uni- versity. Ignace returned West without the priest he had come to beg of the ecclesiastical authorities in St. Louis. Later he set out on a second visit to St. Louis, but was massacred on the way. Finally, in 1839, two young Flathead warriors braved the perils of the wilder- ness to urge again the sending of a Catholic priest to their people beyond the Rockies. The Jesuits of Missouri, being now in a posi- tion to heed these repeated cries of spiritual distress, sent out Father De Smet in the spring of 1840 to ascertain by personal investigation the actual prospects of missionary effort in that quarter. His report was encouraging; and in the spring of 1841 he headed a party of missionaries who crossed the Great Plains to open among the Flat- SOME HIGH LIGHTS IN MISSOURI'S HISTORY 241 heads in the Bitter Root Valley the first American Catholic Indian Mission west of the Rock Mountains. Other parties of Jesuit mis- sionaries went out from Missouri in subsequent years, and a great missionary enterprise on behalf of the Indian tribes of the North- west was thus gradually organized. After the Flatheads, other tribes were in turn evangelized — Coeur d'Alenes, Kalipsels, Skoyelpi, Flat- bows, Okinagans, Kutenai and at a later period, Blackfeet, Crows, Gros Ventres, Arapaho, Shoshoni and Sioux. A great outpouring of divine grace on all these children of the soil and an unforgetable chapter in the story of Christian missionary endeavour in the New World. And the chapter opens with the going forth from Missouri in 1841 of Father De Smet and his confreres to effect a spiritual con- quest the glory of which lights up with reflected radiance the State of which it was one of the most cherished privileges of the great mis- sionary to call himself a citizen. The foregoing episodes, events, high-lights or whatever you wish to call them, in Missouri history present no connected story. They stand isolated and apart, detached units, but brimful of meaning. They are suggestive, and this must be our excuse for presenting them in so fragmentary a fashion, of the wealth of inspiring detail that enters into the story of Missouri and gives that story its indubitable power to attract and charm. Let Missourians in this centennial year of the commonwealth's admission to statehood come to know as most of them probably have not known before, the priceless heritage that is theirs in Missouri's storied past. Few, if any, slates in the Union so link themselves up with the romance and pageantry that belong to old-world civilizations as does our own. And in the historic deeds of her makers, their pluck, their energy, their enterprise, their master- ful wrestling with the wilderness, Missouri shows at play all those varied forces that have placed our beloved United States in the fore- iront of the nations of the world. GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN, S.J. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHURCH OF LAFAYETTE, LA. 1821—1921 Petit Manchac, Vermillionville, Lafayette — each of these three names might well be taken to typify a distinct period in the life of the thriving little city by the Bayou Vermillion. To the latter it owes not only the name by which it was long known, but its very existence. Years before the American Revolution, when the Attakapa redman, whose presence is still attested almost at every step, roamed in his primaeval liberty through the beautiful hunting grounds west of the Bayou, Petit Manchac had already acquired a bit of notoriety. Up to Petit Manchac rowed the canoes of EngHsh smugglers ; there, safely ensconced between the high banks of the Vermillion and behind the luxuriant forest growth on either side of the stream, to the great an- noyance of the Spanish officials, they bartered for peltries the product of civilization most coveted by the benighted natives : firearms, ammu- nition and . . . fire-water. The coming of the exile Acadians to the Attakapas gradually brought a welcome change along the Vermillion. After a much needed rest in the neighborhood of the Post of St. Martin, they soon realized they could not remain huddled together in the camps ^ which had been set up for them on the T^che, and where death soon caused great rav- ages. Aided by the Department of Poblacion y Amistad de Indios, '^ some gradually left their first refuge to seek a home to the northwest, on the Cote Gelee and even across the Vermillion and along the Bayou Carencro. ^ Well could the newcomers be attracted by the country opening before them. Just west of the Bayou was the southernmost extremity of the same ridge upon which the Post of Opelousas, farther up north, 1. Those camps were successively established in different locations; at least such is the inference naturally drawn from the expressions of the church Registers of St. Mar- tin's.: "premier," "dernier camp d'en bas." 2. Established in 1767. 3. This Creek's name, which is found commonly used in documents of the end of the eighteenth century, and, therefore, must have been introduced a number of years previous, seems to bear testimony to the early presence in the neighborhood of an English-speaking element of population. Carencro — a corruption of "carrion crow" — is the name of the buzzard in the Louisiana French dialect. 242 RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 243 had been keeping watch for the last fifty years. The whole district "has an appearance and peculiarities that are unique in the colony of Lower Louisiana. It is an intermixture of hills and valleys, and presents an agreeable diversity of high and level country. . . . (The perspective) varies every moment, and at the least change of position, the picturesque points of view with which it is embellished. Another advantage or pleasure, at least, peculiar to that district, is that of the springs and clear running water by which it is irrigated. Everywhere else one sees only the dull and gloomy waters of the river and bayous, or the still, brackish water of the lakes." * Yet another advantage attached to the new location, an advantage much appreciated by these staunch Catholics exiled for their faith : their concessions were within reasonable distance from St. Martin. By degrees the banks of the Bayou Carencro, the Grande Prairie and the surrounding country west of the Vermillion, well suited for cattle- raising, were dotted with extended farms, of which a small portion was cultivated, and the rest given over to innumerable herds of cattle.' The Parish Registers of St. Martin aflford us a glimpse into the popu- lation of the district in the last decade of the eighteenth century: the names of Mouton, Duhon, Arcenaux, Bernard, Broussard, Breaux, Thibodeaux, Benoit, Hebert, Landry, Martin, Guedry, Trahan, which are to this day so common in Lafayette, represent the Acadian ele- ment. Other inhabitants were of various origins : Louis Bonin was a native of the Alibamons; Jacques Fostin came from the Illinois (Kas- kaskia),*^ and le Chevalier Alexandre De Clouet ^ evidently from France. In those times of great missionary rambles, no doubt but that these new settlements were visited from time to time by the pastors of St. Martin des Attakapas f but we have no distinct records of such visits made by Fathers Joseph de Aracena (1782-1783), Gefrotin (1783-1787), Merceda (1787-1788), Bernard de Deva (1788-1791) and George Murphy (1792-1794). But with the coming to St. Mar- tin's, on March 8, 1795, of Father Michael Bernard Barri^re, we begin to have positive documentary information concerning the pastoral visitations to the settlers about the Vermillion. The role played by 4. Berquin-Duvallon. Vue de la Colonic Espagnole du Mississippi ou des Provinces dc Louisiane et Floride Occidentale. Paris, An xi (1803), p. 54. 5. About the year 1800, a head of cattle was worth four to five dollars, and a horse six to eight. 6. His wife, FranQoise Trahan, whom he married at St. Martin's, on July 18, 1772, was an Acadian. 7. Alexandre De Clouet was, in 1775, captain and lieutenant-governor of the Attakapas and Opelousas. He had married Dame Louise Favrot. The Regist-e de- Baptemes of St. Martinsville informs us that a daughter, Marie Louise Hiacinthe De Clouet, was born to them April 8, 1776 and baptized on August 26 of thp same year; she was, the same day, gcdmot>ier to Louise Duc-est. This precocious godmother was just sixteen months old. According to a letter of Governor Claiborne to Secretary Madison, dated New Orleans, January 24, 1804, A. De Clouet was still commandant of the District of the Attakapas in the early part of 1803; he must have moved to the Bayou Vermillion shortly after the above date; at any rate, he is given as a resident of the latter place at the time of the marriage of his daughter Marie Charlotte to Frangois Chevalier i)e Lhomme, August 7, 1809. 8. It seems that certain rectors, dissatisfied with the name, adopted other patrons: so we find successively in the Records the parish designated at St. Joseph and St. Ber- nard. The original name at last was restored and prevailed. 244 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. that worthy priest in the early history of Catholic Lafayette will be our excuse for a more extended notice. Father Barriere, born at Bordeaux, France, had been ordained for some years and was exercising the holy ministry in his native country at the time the French Revolution broke out. But when, in less than three years, the long looked-for Sun of liberty was shuffled out by the dark clouds of godless anarchy, and the priests had to stifle their consciences by taking the schismatic oath of the Constitution Ciznle du Clcrge, or else face the terrible pontoons of Rochefort or even the guillotine, Barriere, staunch in his allegiance, escaped the consequences of his fidelity as an insermcnte by timely putting the frontier between him and the ubiquitous informers of the Committee of Public Safety. By what circuitous route he found his way to Balti- more, where he ofifered his services to Bishop Carroll, we know not. At all events, the American prelate welcomed him and before long, in September 1793, he was on his way to Kentucky, with the high-sound- ing title of Vicar General of the Bishop for those remote districts, and in company with another Frenchman, Father Stephen Theodore Badin, the proto-priest of America, ordained just a few months before (May 25, 1793). The two missionaries left Baltimore on the 6th of September, 1793, and traveled like the Apostles, on foot to Pittsburgh, over bad roads and a rugged wilderness country. On the 3rd of November, they em- barked on a flatboat, which was descending the Ohio, with six others. These boats were all well armed, for fear of an attack from the Indians. About that time, however, General Wayne was preparing his great ex- pedition against them; and they had enough to do to defend their own wigwams, without prowling about near the frontier settlements. The boats were seven days in going down to Gallipolis; and between this place and Pittsburgh, the travelers saw but two small towns Wheeling and Marietta. The two priests remained for three days at Gallipolis, the inhabitants of which place were French Catholics, who had been long without a pastor.^ They heartily welcomed the missionaries, who, during their brief stay, sang High Mass in the gar- rison, and baptized forty children. The good French colonists were delighted; and shed tears on their departure. They were but a remnant of a large French colony of about 7,000, who had emigrated to America four or five years previously. A French land company had purchased for them a large territory on the Scioto river ; but the title to these lands proved defective : the colonists were defrauded, and many of them returned in disgust to France, bitterly inveighing against Yankee shrewdness in bargaining. The two missionaries landed at Limestone, or Maysville, where there were at that time about twenty families. They proceeded on foot to Lexington, a distance of about sixty-five miles. They passed the first night in an open mill, six miles from Limestone, lodging on the mill- bags, without any covering, during a cold night, late in November. On the next day, they passed the battle-ground of the Blue Licks, where Mr. Barriere picked up the skull of one of those who had fallen there eleven years before. He carried it with him, and retained it as a relic of the disastrous battle, and a memento of death. On the first Sunday 9. On that ill-fated colony, see Lawrence T. Kenny, S. J.: The GalUpolis Colony (1790), in The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. iv, No. 4 January 1819, pp. 415 — 451. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 245 of Advent.io Mr. Badin said Mass, for the first time in Kentucky, at Lexington, in the house of Mr. Dennis McCarthy, an Irish Catholic, who acted as clerk in the commercial house of Colonel Moyland, brother of the then Bishop of Cork. The missionaries had with them but one chalice; and after having oflfered up the Holy Sacrifice, Mr. Badin traveled sixteen miles to the Catholic settlement in Scott County, where Mr. Barriere said Mass on the same day. Preparations were then in progress to erect in this place a frame church. Mr. Badin remained in Scott County for about eighteen months, occasionally visiting the other Catholic settlements in Kentucky; Mr. Barriere proceeded immediately to take charge of the Catholic families in the vicinity of Bardstown. The difficulties of the times, and the rude state of society in the infant colonies, soon determined Mr. Barriere to leave the country. His habits had been already formed, and he thought that he could not adapt himself to the new state of things in the wilderness.!^ Accordingly, about four months after his arrival in Kentucky, he left the State. In April, 1/94, he departed from Louisville in a pirogue^- for New Orleans, which, with all Louisiana and Missouri, was then in possession of the Spaniards. The Spanish government was at that time apprehending an attack on Louisiana from the French Republic; and Mr. Barriere, being _ a Frenchman, was arrested and detained for some time at New Madrid. He immediately wrote to Baron Carondelet, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, representing the objects of his visit : and the Baron soon liberated him, and permitted him to proceed, without further molesta- tion, to New Orleans. Shortly after his arrival in this city, he went to Attakapas, where he labored zealously on the missions. ^^ Not long after his arrival at St. Martin, Father Barriere com- menced the regular rounds of the extensive territory confided to his care. As, on his return home/'' he never failed to register the Acts of sacerdotal ministry accomplished during his mission, these entries afford us valuable information on Catholic life in the district in and around the modern Lafayette. Of any village then in existence we do not hear a word — a good evidence that there was as yet none at the time: the priest stopped at the houses of his parishioners. Usually, it seems, he crossed the Bayou between Breaux Bridge and Carencro, then went south and re-crossed the Vermillion about, or a little south of the present site of Lafayette, whence he reached home over the Cote Gelee. Sometimes, for one reason or another, he changed his itinerary, and we see him go by way of the Cote Gel^e to some habita- tion near the present site of Lafayette. From the testimony of the Church Registers of St. Martin it ap- 10. December 1, 1793. n. To these difficulties must be added that of the language. He was never able, it seems, to get sufficient hold on th English, and his entries on the Registers of the Louis- iana parishes where he officiated bear witness to this fact. 12. "A large species of canoe, in common use at this period on the larger of the western waters." Ben. J. Webb, Catholicity in Kentucky, p. 163. 13. M. J. Spalding: Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky, pp. 61 foil. What Archbishop Spalding writes further of Father Barriere's subsequent life in Louisiana, and death, is not always accurate; but this does not diminish the value of the foregoing account, based on first-hand information. Ben. J. Webb, in the volume cited above, follows very closely Archbishop Spalding. 14. Father Barriere lived about a mile from the village, but walked in every day to say Mass. On Sundays he remained about the church all day. The Church of the Attaka- pas, 1750 — 1889, in American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. .xiv, 1889, pp. 462 — 487. 246 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. pears that during the time of his incumbency at the latter place (March 8, 1795 to October 1804), Father Barriere visited this neighborhood some fifteen times. These little salidas — to use his own expressions^ — took him habitually three or four days. His customary stations were, about the site of the modern village of Carencro, at Mrs. Arcenaux" and Pierre Hebert's, although we find him occasionally stopping with Pierre Bernard, Frangois Caramouche, Joseph Mire, Joseph Breaux^^ and, in 1804, Frederic Mouton. Farther south, at the Grande Prairie, Father Barriere found the large plantation of Jean Mouton "I'Oncle, dit Chapeau''/^ where he never failed to go ; once in a while we meet him also at the house of Marin Mouton, Jean's brother, of Anselme Thibodeaux, Don Nicolas Rousseau, Joseph Hebert, Louis Trahan and Pierre Trahan. Still farther down along the Bayou, he sometimes visited Mrs. Daygle and the Landrys, whilst on the Cote Gelee he was twice the guest of Don Jean Baptiste Broussard ^^ and once of Jean Baptiste Comeaux. From this little survey of Father Barriere's missionary activity in connection with the then almost prehistoric Lafayette, we already get an inkling of his character. He appears to us as a good, simple man and an unselfish, pious and zealous priest. A glance at his records of this period and the work he undertook to save from destruction the church papers left by his predecessors betray, moreover, a happy and uncommon habit of order, which could be inspired only by genuine interest in, and love of his parish. And should anyone be tempted to think that his pastoral visits to these quarters were too rare and far apart, let him bethink himself that the good man had, besides his flock of St. Martin and along the Vermillion, "other sheep that were not of this fold". The territory under his spiritual care was immense, and we see him once in a while saddle his horse for trips down the "Baillou Tech," as he writes, the Prairie St. Jacques, la Cote des Anglais, la Prairie Salee, la Cote des Allemands,^*^ and returning by way of New Iberia (already in existence and known by that name), where he stopped at the house of Joseph Saingermain, a native of Fort de Chartres, Illinois. At other times he had to direct his course down the Bayou Vermillion, or yet en el parage de la Punta, as he puts it, where he assembled the scattered Catholics of the neighborhood in the habitation of Mrs. Claude Martin. When we bear in mind that the 15. The entries of that period are written in Spanish. 16. He usually writes the name 'Arsonnau.' 17. He spells 'Bro'. Id. This Jean Mouton Sr., was the son of Salvator Mouton, an Acadian, who in 17SS was living in the parish of St. James and engaged in tilling the soil. The Archives of the church of St. Martinsville show that he and his wife, Anne Bastaroche, had emi- grated to Louisiana from Acadia. They died shortly afterwards, leaving three children in early childhood: Marin, our Jean, who was horn at Halifax, and a daughter. Jean Mouton, when first noticed, was engnged in boating up the Wachita and Arkansas rivers, trading with the Indians. Afterwards he settled in the parish of the Attakapas, where he married Marthe Bordat towards the year 1783. Thirteen childrtn were born of this marriage: Jean Baptiste (fils), Joseph, Francois, Charles, Don Louis (p^re), Alexandre, Emile, Cesaire, Marie, Adelaide, Marthe, Celeste and another daughter. 19. Then lieutenant of the militia. 20. Not the Cote des Allemands on the Mississippi river, but another German, settle- ment apparently in St. Mary's parish. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 247 pastor of St. Martin's owed his ministrations to so many far and wide, it seems, after all, that his parishioners of the Grande Prairie did not fare ill at his hands. Before we take a short leave of Father Barriere — for we shall meet him again, it will not be amiss to allude here to a little episode which occurred towards the end of his stay at St. Martinsville and car- ried his name to the very Capital of the American Republic. This inci- dent, which affords us an insight into another feature of Father Bar- riere's character, is but one instance of the troubles caused in the Church of Louisiana at the time of the change of government. It is thus told by Governor Claiborne in a letter to Secretarv Madison, of May 29, 1804 :2^ Sir: In the District of Attakapas a very great dispute has arisen between two priests. A man by the name of Barrier^s was superseded by Mr. Laussat,-^ and a priest of the name of Veal^* named his successor,^^ Lately the Head of the Catholic Church in Louisiana, a Mr. Welsh,^^ recalled Veal, declared his powers under Mr. Laussat nul and reinstated Barrier. A few Sundays since, the rival priests appeared at the Church at- tended by their different Partizans who were numerous and very much inflamed. Lieutenant Hopkins, the Civil Commandant of the District, appre- hending that the public peace was endangered, took upon himself to shut the doors of the Church, and deny entrance to either party, until the matter was reported to me, and my instructions received. This expedient preserved the public peace, and was, I learn, very pleasing to all parties. I have referred the affair to the Rvd. Mr. Welsh, the head of the Catholic Church in Louisiana, and addressed to Lieutenant Hopkins a letter, etc. I am, Sir, with great respect, your h.ble serv.t, William C. C. Claiborne. 21. Original in the Department of State, Washington, Bureau of Rolls and Library. Gov. Claiborne's Correspondence relative to Louisiana, Vol. II. Prnted in Lousisiana under the Rule of Spain, France and the United States, 1785 — 1807, by James Alex. Robertson. Vol. II, pp. 265—266. 22. So does Governor Claiborne spell, according to Englicized pronounciation. This is neither worse nor better than the spelling 'Barrigres' adopted by Archbishop Spalding, Webb and Shea. 23. The French Commissioner sent to make the double transfer of Louisiana. 24. Claiborne again follows the pronounciation in his spelling. The true name of this priest was Viel. Etienne Bernard Alexandre Viel was born in New Orleans in 1736, and became a Jesuit. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus he remained in Louisiana and lived for many years in Attakapas, ministering to the Indians of those parts and teach- ing a small school for the children of the inhabitants of that region, which made him much beloved of the people. Many considered him the greatest living Latinist. Indeed he had even the reputation of being a fanatic in his love for Latin, and holding nothing fit to be published unless it was in Latin. He translated Fgnelon's T^lemaque into beautiful Latin verse, and the work was splendidly brought out by some distinguished men who had been his pupils. He died in France in 1836. See The Church of the Attakapas, cited above. 25. How Viel had attracted the attention of Laussat, is not known. The Registers of St. Martin's bear, in their own way, witness to the change here mentioned by Clai- borne. After December 1, 1803, we cease to find any entries signed by Barriere. That is apparently the time of his removal by Laussat. However, Vial's ministry commenced only on February 12, 1804. 26. On the Very Rev. Patrick Walsh — not Welsh — , see J. G. Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States, Vol. II, pp. 584 — 591. It must be said that Father Walsh had only a colored, therefore very precarious, title to the headship of the Catholic Church in Louisiana. 248 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, C M. Claiborne's letter to Hopkins gave "entire approbation" to the lat- ter's conduct and directed him to retain in his possession the keys of the church until new orders. It took quite a while to settle the alfair; but at the end Barriere won the day; and we see him again, in June 1804, in possession of his church and Registers and inaugurating his now undisputed tenure of office by a visit to his parishioners on the Vermillion. It cannot be doubted that his successor. Father Gabriel Isabey, O.P., (November 1, 1804 — June 21, 1823) continued the custom of making once in a while the rounds of the distant parts of the parish. True, he does not specify in his entries the places where baptism was administered ; but as he is careful to mark the place of origin of the recipients, f. i., "of the Bayou Vermillion," and baptisms of infants of the same neighborhood are often bunched together, the natural in- ference is that they occurred at the occasion of the pastor's missionary excursions. In 1812, Father Barriere, who had remained most of the time at St. Martinsville and who, at that time, having no parish of his own, liked to qualify himself "pretre approuve pour tout le Diocese," reap- pears on the scene: on March 31, he officiated "au quartier du Caren- cros," at the marriage of Jean Baptiste Benoit, of Opelousas, with Heldne Roger, of Carencro. He was still — or again — there a week later, "sent by Father Isabey," as the Register is careful to note, when Joseph Hebert married Justine Guilbeau; and. some few months later we find him "au Vermillion," presiding at the nuptials of Joseph Guedry with Marie Comeaux. It is interesting to note, in connection with the last entry, that the Register says no longer "au Bayou Vermillion," as fifteen years be- fore, but simply "au Vermillion." Trivial as it seems, the change, which we notice for the first time in 1800, seems to point out the in- ception of a new order of things, namely, the existence of an embry- onic village, called after the Bayou. Most happy certainly was the selection of the spot, on high ground, in the open Grande Prairie, some two and a half miles north of the old site of Petit Manchac. Today a stranger, coming into town, would be at a loss to know whether the lown or the forest, or both together, were moved from the Bayou ; for such is the magnificent growth of stately live oaks and sweet-smelling magnolias, that it might be well imagined that originally the woods must have extended to the plateau upon which the city is situated. Like other old towns of Louisiana, Lafayette, too, leaves the im- pression as though its founders were ignorant of the rules of sym- metry. Its streets are extremely crooked. The newcomer, thinking himself on the principal thoroughfare of the town, lined as it is with substantial business houses and fronted by the imposing Gordon Hotel, will inevitably come to grief, should he attempt to follow that street. Of a sudden the pretty buildings cease. Well may he be puzzled : for he missed the right corner at the right moment. The street, which offered such alluring inducements of up-to-date buildings, suddenly RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 249 ceases to be the main street and ends abruptly at the maze of intricate sidings in the yard of the Southern Pacific. The reason for this lack of regularity is not far to seek. The original inhabitants of Vermillionville followed the accepted rule of laying out the streets according to the compass. The Morgan Line, however, does not exactly follow these lines, but runs from the south- east slightly to the northwest. The Louisiana Western and Texas R. R. connects with the Morgan Line at almost right angles, thus forming a very sharp curve. The Railroad station, when first built, was almost one mile from the center of the town. In the course of time additions came to existence around old Vermillionville, each one following its own lines of survey influenced by the railroad. When gradually these additions were absorbed into the town, it fell out that, by following the crooked lines of the two branches of the Southern Pacific, the streets had perforce assumed the shape of the curved tracts. But this is modern history. We must presently revert to the time, some sixscore years ago, when, around a little plantation store — sinde this is admittedly the origin of every American town — rose the little hamlet of Vermillion. In due time its increase called for a correspond- ing increase of the name : thus Vermillion became Vermillionville. But its ecclesiastical status remained unchanged : Vermillionville was a churchless mission of St. Martinsville. On March 10, 1821, Bishop Louis William Du Bourg, being then engaged in making the Episcopal Visitation of the parish of Grand Coteau, erected some two years before, determined officially the limits of this new parish. They were the course of the Vermillion up to a branch of the same Bayou which goes to the Louis Bridge, and following that branch as far as said bridge. From the same, straight to the line dividing the two coun- ties of Opelousas and Attakapas. Thence that line as far as the Atcha- falaya ; then that river up to the confluence of Bayou Courtableau. From that point a line almost parallel to the county line, so as to include Prairie Laurent, until that line crosses the Teche. From there a straight line reaching the habitation of Dr. Raphael Smith, so as to include it in the parish. Thence another line to Bayou Mallet, enclosing the Prairie of the same name ; and finally down to the sea.'''. This decree dismembered all the territory west of the Vermillion from St. Martin's parish, to attribute it to Grand Coteau, and put Vermillionville under the jurisdiction of Father Hercule Brassac, the young rector of the new parish. ^^ 27. That is, down the Bayou Mallet and the Mermentau river to the Gulf. Register of Baptisms of Grand Coteau. 28. Baunard is evidently mistaken when he states (Life of Madame Duchesne, Eng. transl., p. 224) : "Mr. Brassac, the Cur4, also served the parish of Alexandria, eighty miles further north, those of St. Martinsville and Vern;illionviIle to the south, and of Bayou Chicot to the west." In August 1821, when the Ladies of the Sacred Heart came to Grand Coteau, there was no parish of Alexandria in existence; St. Martinsville had its own pastor, Father G. Isabey, who lived until 1823; Vermillionville had not yet a church; as to Bayou Chicot, if it had a church, it was outside the limits of the parish of Grand Cote'au and lay not west, but far to the north, within the territory of the parish of Opelousas. 250 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. Father Brassac was a Frenchman, born at Marvejols, in the Dio- cese of Mende, Lozere. Being one of the recruits enlisted by Bishop Du Bourg for the Louisiana Mission during the latter's long sojourn in France (1816-1817) after his consecration, he came to America with that prelate and some thirty others on the Caravane in 1817. That he was then sufificiently advanced in his ecclesiastical studies, is evi- denced by the fact that he received Minor Orders and Subdeaconship from his Bishop in the chapel of St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, soon after landing at Annapolis. For nearly a year he continued his the- ology at St. Thomas Seminary, Bardstown, Ky., under Father Rosati ; and arriving at the Barrens, Mo., the 1st of October, 1818, with all the Louisiana clerical colony of Bishop Du Bourg, he was, shortly after, ordained Deacon, and on All Saints' Day invested with the Holy Priesthood at Ste. Genevieve, Mo. After spending some time at Har- risonville. 111., where he inaugurated his sacerdotal ministry, he was sent to Grand Coteau, his letter of appointment bearing the date of April 29, 1819. -« How much of his time and solicitude the energetic young pastor devoted to his mission of Vermillionville, we cannot state exactly, for the Parish Books of Grand Coteau, orderly as they were kept, do not reveal the places where the ministrations which they record were per- formed, or even the exact location of the homes of the parties; they were in the parish: that was enough. But in the absence of such in- dications as we should Hke to find, we have a most important fact, attested by the ever accurate Father Barri^re in a note written by him on the fly-leaf of one of the Registers of Lafayette. Which Register it was, is impossible to say now, because the leaf, or at least such a portion thereof as still remains, was found some fourteen years ago hidden in a bundle of deeds of the Church property. At any rate, the note in question reads : Benediction de I'eglise St. Jean du Vermillion 30 Decembre 1821. Churches, as a rule, are not the product of spontaneous genera- tion. Indeed it takes sometimes quite long to see them erected ; and for this reason it is not at all unlikely that the first steps towards the construction of the church of Vermillionville were taken by Father Isabey. However, as, since March 10, 1821, Vermillionville was a mission of Father Brassac, it is but natural to associate his name with the first church of Lafayette. Inseparable from the church, according to the jurisprudence of those times, was a Board of Trustees to administer it ; and the name of one at least of these original trustees has come down to us : Franqois Carmouche, an old inhabitant, at whose house we have seen Father Barriere — who spelled the name Caramouche — stop occasionally in his trips about Carencro. Only a few months later, St. John's Church received from another of Barriere's old acquaintances donation of a 29. Register of Baptisms of Grand Coteau. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 251 handsome piece of property, on part of which the church stood. The deed, interesting for more than one reason, must be cited here, at least iti an EngHsh translation :^" Before me, Paul Briant, Judge of the Parish of St. Martin, and ex- officio Notary Public in and for the said Parish,=5i and in presence of the witnesses hereinafter named, who also signed; presented himselt Mr. Jean Mouton, Sr., a farmer inhabiting this parish who, intending to give proof of his zeal for the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion, has, by the presents, made a donation, pure, simple and irrevocable, under all the guarantees de facto and de jure, to the Trustees adminis- trators of St. John's Church, for the perpetual use and benefit of said church, which has been accepted in the name of said church by Mr. Frangois Carmouche, one of the aforesaid Trustees administrators, in his name as well as in the name of the other Trustees, of a certain piece of land, situated in this parish at the Grande Prairie and in the same location where the said church is built,-^^ measuring five arpents and fifty- four hundredths of an arpent surface measure: in fact the same amount of land which is comprised within the bourns actually existing in that place, and which is designated by the plan herewith an- nexed, as drawn by William Johnston under date of the twelfth day of this present month of March. The aforesaid Trustees administrators, in behalf and in the name of the said church, may enjoy, do with and dispose of the said tract of land with all the property rights thereto, and enjoyment thereof, from this day forward, and may continue in the possession which they enjoyed since said church is built. This present donation is made through the motive, as expressed above, and because such is the will of the donor. The Act whereof was made and passed in the parish of St. Martin, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, the twenty-first day of the month of March in the presence of Sieurs Valery Martin and Anaclet Richard, witnesses who have signed with the Sieur Carmouche and inyself. Judge; insofar as the donor is concerned, he declared he could not write: wherefore he made his mark after having heard the reading of this document. Jean Mouton ValEry Martin his + mark Anaclet Richard pRANgois Carmouche Paul Briant, Judge. A church, with its Board of Trustees, a piece of property belong- ing to it : these were great strides in the outward progress of Catholic- ity. Just one more step, and Vermillionville was to become a regular, independent parish, with its well defined limits and a pastor of its own. This step was finally taken by Bishop Du Bourg, on May 15, 1822: On the 15th of May, 1822, having come to the Attakapas and Opelousas, for the purpose of erecting the new church, or parish, of St. John of Vermillion, I have altered the limits assigned to that of St. Charles by rny decree of March 10, 1821. The limits I have fixed between the two parishes are : a straight line from the confluence of the Bayou Pont-Brule with the Bayou Vermillion, stretching as far as the end of the Island of Corencro; thence to the headwaters of the 30. The original is, of course, in French. 31. Vennillionville was then in the civil parish of St. Martin. 32. The same piece of ground which constitutes to this day the church property. 252 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. Bayou Queue-de-Tortue ; and following this Bayou and the Mermentau river down to the sea. In witness whereof I have signed in presence of the Rev. Hercule Brassac, formerly pastor of St. Charles, and of the Rev. S. Valezano, the present pastor. •t" L. Wm., Bishop of Louisiana.^^ As pastor of the infant parish the prelate appointed our old acquaintance Father Michael Bernard Barriere. Since the now far distant day when he had turned over the parish of St. Martin to Father Isabey, Father Barriere had, despite his high- sounding title of "Priest approved for the whole Diocese," lived in relative retirement for a number of years at St. Martin, where he occa- sionally lent a helping hand to his successor.^* He had even continued the practice of his occasional salidaj to distant points. One of these missionary excursions came near crowning his labors with the crown of martyrdom. As he was travelling in the vicinity of Lake Chitimacha, now Grand Lake, he was surprised by a party of Indians who forth- with set about to put him to death in true Indian fashion. Already they had wrenched out the nails of the fingers and toes of their prisoner, when the head of the tribe appeared on the scene, stopped the tor- tures, extended his protection over the missionary, took care of him and saw to his safe return to his home on the Teche. It is to the honor of Barriere's modesty that, among the many notes, some of which re- ferring to personal facts, wherewith he adorned the pages of his church registers, not a word is to be found in allusion to an event so honorable to him. The fact, though, was asserted, some fourteen years ago, to the Rev. F. L. Gassier, by an old Chitimacha woman of Charenton, La., who was the daughter of Fr. Barriere's deliverer. In 1813 we find him "in charge of the parish of Opelousas". ^^ If he had not learned much English during his years of retire- ment, he could still on occasions evince his uncompromising love for the laws of the Church. On the frame of a man well beyond middle age we expect that ten years weigh heavily: yet Father Barriere could still saddle his horse for distant missions through the length and breadth of his parish. His moments of leisure he spent quietly in his modest study with a few books, and above all, musing over the past — a sure sign of coming old age, — in company with the parish records, whose various entries at times stirred up in his soul such recollections and feelings, that he could not refrain from ventilating them in annotations which are now the delight of the curious reader. On the coming of Father F. H. Rossi to Opelousas, 33. Register of Baptisms of Grand Coteau. 34. In the Act of visitation of St. Martin, made on October 17, 1814, the Very Rev. W. L. Du Bourg, then Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese, approving the careful man- ner the parish Registers were kept, adds: "We have ordered to be annexed thereto by way of supplement a quire containing 294 baptisms administered from August 12, 180S to Oc- tober 18, 1809, by Father Barriere, Priest approved residing in this parish; but forbid anyone but the pastor to keep henceforth a separate Register for the functions he may exercise with the pastor's consent." 35. See B. Colliard: Hisorical Sketch of the Parish of Opelousas, in St. Louis Cath- olic Historical Review, Vol. Ill, No. 1 — 2, January-April 1921, pp. 22-27. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 253 Pather Barriere once more retired, not completely, however, so that liis name yet recurs for some months in the parish Registers ; he must have resided at least for some time at Opelousas, as he had done at St. Martin after Father Isabey's appointment. It is apparently from this retreat that he was once more called to active duty, to take charge as pastor of his old mission of Vermillionville. He recalls the fact, and sums up in his characteristically laconic style the antecedent his- tory of the parish in the title page of the Register of Baptisms and Funerals of the Colored Catholics of the parish, which he began in 1823 : The priestly functions have been exercized regularly in this parish during, or alx)Ut the month of June of this last year 1822. They were discharged by Father Brassac, rector of Grand Coteau, since about the time of the foundation of this church. Either the pastor of the Atta- kapas, or myself, or the pastor of Grand Coteau took care of this place before. Finally I was appointed resident pastor of it about May of last year ; and since then, have baptized in particular the following . . . Father Barriere himself furnishes us in the parish Registers the means of reaching greater precision than is yielded by the above state- ment regarding the date of his coming to Vermillionville. The first entry in the Register of Baptisms of the Whites is now so water-stained and decayed by dampness as to be illegible. The second, which per- haps belonged to the same day, is dated May 26, 1822. The Register of Baptisms of the Colored people does not permit us to go farther back. Hence Father Barriere must have come in the latter part of May, shortly after his appointment. The Register for the Colored people, it was remarked above, was begun only in 1823. Of course, it was compiled from notes taken at the time of the actual administration of the sacrament ; this late regis- tering of the entries manifests none the less a sad falling off from the orderly habit of yore, especially on the part of a man who. in the first months of his pastorate at St. IMartin, had toiled and moiled to preserve from destruction the scattered records of his predecessors. Quantum mutatns ab illo! Poor Father Barriere! He was now no longer the robust, active missionary who could spend days and weeks in the sad- dle, travelling from plantation to plantation in the exercise of his priestly functions. The keen critic of the Registers of the parishes no longer existed. His own records at Vermillionville show the hand of an old man reduced to feebleness by age and the ravages of con- suming fevers. He himself gives an account of this state of collapse touchingly eloquent in its brevity. After copying over the fiftieth entry, that of the Baptism of "Pranqoise n^grite a Rose negress;e," performed December 5, 1822, he writes : I believe that these are all the Baptisms of slaves which I liave per- formed, and also the burials at which I presided, during or since the month of June to December, all in 1822; but as at that time I fell very sick, it may well be that I forgot some of them, especially burials. For this reason I leave here these two leaves blank.^s to write them thereon, in case I should discover any. 'Pages' would have been more exact, for he left exactly two pages blank. 254 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. He did forget some, sure enough, for there is not one single entry of burials performed by him ; yet there were many deaths, even of slaves, during the fall of 1822, owing to the epidemic of yellow fever which caused so much havoc throughout Louisiana. After the above melancholy note, we find the title : Bapi'isms ov Negroes ior 1823. Here also are to be found the burials of negroes for 1823. This new section opens with this interesting entry of the burial of Father Barriere's own slave : Casimir, negro belonging to Mr. Barriere, pastor of this parish of St. John, died and was buried in the cemetery of this parish, the 2nd or 3rd"^ of the year 1823, during my great illness. He was the natural son of Marie Louise and Michel, my negroes. In witness whereof Barriere, pastor of St. John. For another year after he recovered from his "great illness" did Father Barriere work quietly and unobtrusively at Vermillionville, at- tending to his pastoral duties and, at his leisure hours, putting in book- form the records first jotted down on "hojas volantes," as he perhaps said to himself : for, strange to say, the good man, who had never taken to English, seems to have retained, even long after the Louisiana Pur- chase, a distinct liking for Spanish, and persisted even in his French records to sign his name "Mig.l Bernd.o Barriere". He always remem- bered with gratitude the hospitality given to himself and other eccle- siastical emigres by the Spaniards, then the lords of our fair South- land ; yet when the Stars and Stripes began to wave over Louisiana, America had no more loyal son, and it was with undisguised gusto that he noted how "Mr. Clement Laussat and his clique . . . finally decamped incognito"."** But now, broken in health and wasted to a shadow of his former self, unable to fulfill any longer the exacting and fatiguing duties of active missionary life, and — what is an exquisite pain to men who gave once their whole soul to the neighbor's service and whose zeal has outlived their strength — realizing keenly he had become use- less to the. cause of religion, he yearned to see once more his native land, to rest his eyes, weary of the sight of the endless Louisiana prairie, upon the vine-clad hills bordering the placid Gironde, and to seek there a quiet retreat wherein he could prepare the account of his stewardship. His last funeral at Vermillionville he performed on March 1st, 1824; and for the last time he administered the sacrament of Baptism on the 5th of the same month. Before leaving, however, remembering an omission of the year before, true to his life-long habit of order and accuracy, he wrote the following words in the Register of Baptisms :^^ 37. The month is omitted, but it is obviously January. 88. Register of Baptisms of St. Landry's Church, Opelousas, December 18, 1803; annotations by BarriOre on Father Louis Buhot's remarks on the end of the Spanish regime and the retrocession of Louisiana to France. 3t>. P. 18. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 255 NoTA. Having gone to the Attakapas to assist Mr. Gabriel Isabey, rector of said parish, who was very sick, and who indeed succumbed to this illness, ■*o I baptized*^ (the names follow), and forgot to enter the names in the Register of the Attakapas. Shortly after, he sailed for Bordeaux, where he died eight days after his arrival. For thirty long years he had lived and faithfully labored in Louisiana ; for over twelve years he had spent himself for the Catholics on the banks of the Vermillion. Yet who is there now who ever heard his name? In very truth we may apply to himself his own words in relation to Bishop Pefialver : Sic transit memoria Boni! For practically nine months no priest was appointed to take his place. As long as Father Francis Cellini, CM., remained at Grand Coteau, he came to Vermillionville about every month, sometimes stay- ing a few days. He was there on April 19, Easter Monday : eleven Baptisms are recorded on this occasion, and the burial of Artemise Baseux, an infant ; two days later he buried likewise Charles Noldens, a native of Brussels, Belgium, and Marie Jeanne Luquette. Other visits followed on May 3, June 7, June 28 and 29, July 12, August 2 and 3 (on the latter day he buried Marin Martin), August 18 and August 24, when he performed the last rites of the Church over the body of Theophile Broussard. Once also we meet, during these months of interregnum, the name of Father Marcel Borella, Isabey's successor at St. Martinsville, who presided at the funeral of Louis St. Julien,*^ a native of Bordeaux, and Simon Girouard. But the priest could not always be at hand when some of the parishioners passed away. Then the burial was made, and entered in the Book usually by two laymen, probably Trustees. Eleven such funerals are thus recorded, most of them by J. Neveu and Riviere, one by Andre Martin and Riviere, an- other by J. Neveu and J. Castenau, and yet another by Riviere alone. After Father Cellini's departure from Grand Coteau, in the first days of September 1824, his successor pro tern, Father Leon De Neckere, the future Bishop of New Orleans, who had come South in quest of health, was unable to continue these missions ; and no priest visited Vermillionville, save Father Charles De la Croix, pastor of St. Mi- chael's, La., who was there on October 9 and performed two Baptisms. This visit of Father De la Croix gives us a hint as to the reason of this long vacancy of the parish. He came, sent by Bishop Du Bourg 40. Father Isabey died of heart disease, July 21, 1823. *i. Evidently at S't. Martinsville. 42. Saint-Julien had, like Father Barrifire, the distinction of being the object of sev- eral of Governor Claiborne's reports to Secretary Madison; his name even went as far as Paris, in a letter of Laussat to Decres. The matter referred to in this correspondence concerns his ardent French sympathies at the time of the Lousiana transfer, and the death of his wife, of which he was, justly or unjustly, accused. The whole affair is treated in great detail in C. C. Robin's Voyages dans I'IntSrieur de la Louisiane, etc., pendant Us annees 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 et 1806; Paris 1807; Vol. Ill, pp. 71-116. 256 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. who was sick at the time, to confer with the Trustees about the main- tenance of the priest. Whether complaints had been made on this subject, and if so, by whom, we have no means to know. At any rate Several meetings were held to discuss the matter and, on his return, the Bishop's representative was able to report a favorable adjustment, which was forthwith sanctioned by the prelate. We learn these details from a letter of the Bishop to the Trustees, copied by Father Peyretti on the reverse of the title-page of the Register of Baptisms for the Whites, commenced on December 12, 1824, by the new pastor. The copy bears no date, and the Bishop's signature is omitted. To the President and Trustees of the parish of St. John the Evangelist of Vermillion. Gentlemen : I received a week ago the deliberation which you addressed to me concerning the maintenance of the Pastor whom you asked me to send you. Father De la Croix, on his return from your place, has brought me a new decision to which I am all the more pleased to assent, because it is precisely the one I myself had proposed, namely: a fixed sum of six hundred dollars per year payable quarterly in advance, plus the por- tion of the casucl according to the rate presented to you by Father De la Croix, which I approve in its every part. Accordingly I hasten now to advise you that I have just appointed the Rev. Mr. Peyretti pastor of your parish. I trust that you will find in him all the qualities capable to insure your confidence, and I do not doubt but that he will find in your influence with the parishioners all the moral support which he may need in the beginning of his ministry. I trust likewise in your zeal to furnish him the means of securing a suitable and decent establishment. The Rev. Laurence Peyretti, thus introduced to the Trustees as the new pastor of Vermillionville, in contrast to his predecessor, was a very young man, born at Carignan, in the Diocese of Turin, Pied- mont, the 22nd of September 1799. He had almost completed his course of theology in his native country, and received Tonsure and Minor Orders *^ when he met at Turin Father A. Inglesi, a priest of the Diocese of New Orleans then in Europe for the interest of the Louisiana Mission. He volunteered his services. A few months later, on the 8th of May, 1822, he was sailing from Havre for America with Messrs. Eugene Michaud, then in Deacon's orders,** John Mary Odin*^ 43. At Turin, April 21, 1821. 44. Michaud was ordained to the priesthood at St. Louis, September 22, 1822, and, after remaining some time at that place as a teacher in the College established by Bishop Du Bourg, was, after the suppression of that institution, called to lower Louisiana, where we find him visiting Grand Coteau on the 7th of October 1824. He was for a long time pastor of St. Gabriel's, Iberville, La. 45. Joined the Congregation of the Mission the 8th of November 1822, was ordained priest on May 4, 1823 and exercised the holy ministry in Missouri until 1840, when he was sent to Texas as Prefect Apostolic, a title which was shortly after changed into that of Vicar Apostolic, and later on (1847) of Bishop of Galveston. In 1860 he was trans- ferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans. He died in the last days of May 1870 in his native town, Ambierle, France, where he had gone when sickness obliged him to leave the Council of the Vatican. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 257 and Jonh Audizio/^ subdeacons, J. B. Blanc*' and John Carretta/^ clerics. Landing in New Orleans, July 11, 1822, he, soon after, went up to the Barrens, Mo., with his companions, was made Subdeacon at Ste. Genevieve, Mo., on October 12, and finishing his theological course under Father Rosati at St. Mary's Seminary, Perryville, Mo., was, the next year, called South by Bishop Du Bourg who ordained him, January 8, 1824. He had scarcely ben installed in the parish of which he was to be the pastor for well-nigh sixteen years, when the authorities at Ver- million decided to relinquish the old name and adopt for the town as well as for the parish the new designation of Lafayette. The whole country was then running wild with enthusiasm for the general who, in his youthful days, had fought side by side with George Washington for American Independence and had, late in the summer 1824, landed on our shores. The Marquis was never to see VermilHonville ; still Vermillionville did not wish to lag behind in paying him its tribute of admiration and gratitude: the means adopted was to name the parish and to re-name the town after him.*''. The new name appears for the first time, timidly enough, it would seem, on the church Registers in an entry of January 9, 1825: "Parish of Lafayette at Vermillion- ville". ^° But "What's in a name?" might well Father Peyretti say: for to him Lafayette must have looked as unpromising as Vermillionville. The first impressions of the new pastor, indeed, were anything but encouraging. "Out of four thousand and more souls, whose care was kindly entrusted to me, unworthy though I am, by Bishop Du Bourg," he wrote sometime later to Bishop Rosati,^^ "the first year (1825) I had only forty-tzvo paschal confessions." Things, however, gradually improved: for the next year (1826) he could report 129 paschal con- fessions ; and at the time of his writing, March 25, 1827, the paschal season being yet far from its close, he counted already 164 confessions, 46. Born at Orbazzano, in the Diocese of Turin, Piedmont, October 18, 1798. Had received at Turin Tonsure and Minor Orders (April 7, 1821) and Subdeaconship (Decem- ber 22, 1821) when Father Inglesi enlisted him for the American Mission. He was or- dained at the Barrens, with Fattier Odin, on May 4, 1823. He was then called to St. Louis, where for some time he attended Vide-Poche (Carondelet) ; then he was appointed to Grand Coteau (June 30, 1826) where he could not remain. 47. Brother of Father Anthony Blanc, then in charge of the parish of Pointe-Coupee and later Bishop (1835 — 1850) and first Archbishop (1850 — 1860) of New Orleans. J. B. Blanc was born at Sury, Loire, France, February 7, 1880. He was pursuing his ecclesias- tical studies in the Seminary of Lyons and had received Tonsure and Minor Orders (June 17, 1821) when he decided to follow his brother to America. After some time spent in the Seminary at the Barrens to complete his course and learn English, he was called south by Bishop Du Bourg, who ordained him to priesthood on October 24, 1823, in the church of Donaldsonville. First he was assistant to his brother at Pointe-CoupSe, attend- ing also Baton-Rouge; later on he was for a number of years pastor of Natchitoches, where he died in 1836. 48. Was, like Audizio, a native of Orbazzano in Piedmont (b. November S, 1797). After completing his studies at the Barrens, he was called by Bishop Du Bourg to Louis- iana, where he labored for a number of years in various positions. Later on he returned to Europe. 49. At least, in the absence of positive information, the coincidence of dates suggests naturally enough this explanation. 50. It took a long time, however, for the new name to become of general use: letters written by Father M^gret to Bishop Blanc, late in the forties, are still dated — we suppose he followed the common parlance — from 'Vermillionville.' 51. March 25, 1827. Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. 258 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. exclusive of those of the first communicants. Well could he add more cheerfully : "Although I do everything in my power to bring them back to the right path, still there are always some who go astray; but a great change has already been wrought. . . . There is, therefore, reason to hope that God will touch their hearts," One of the banes which he had most strenuously to contend with was that of churchless marriages. "In my parish," he remarks in the same letter, "over against twenty- five to thirty marriages which I perform in a year, there are at least twelve made before the Judge. It is true that the persons who do so have neither faith nor religion." A glimpse of the condition of the church, three years after Father Peyretti's arrival, is afforded us by the Act of Episcopal Visitation made by Bishop Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator of the Diocese of New Orleans : ^^ Joseph Rosati, of the Congregation of the Mission, by the grace of God and the Holy Apostohc See, Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator of New Orleans. We, in fulfillment of the duties of our ofifice, repairing to the parish of St. John of Vermillion-ville, have, on the i6th of the month of February, 1823, visited the church and the sacristy, as also the Reg- isters of said parish. Having carefully examined everything, w^e deem it necessary to make the following recommendations : 1. There should be constructed a Baptismal Fount, wherein are to be kept decently and under lock and key, the water blessed at the days appointed by the ordinances and canons of the Church for the Adminis- tration of the Sacrament of Baptism, the Holy Oils, together with whatever is necessary for the ceremonies demanded at this occasion by the Ritual. This Baptismal Fount must be enclosed by a railing, to the inside of which a little sink shall be made, wherein the water used in the conferring of Baptism ought to be poured out. 2. It is in the interest of the inhabitants of the parish to have books solidly leather-bound to serve as Registers for Baptisms, Mar- riages and Funerals, — as the books actually in use are liable to fall into pieces, and thus expose the precious records which they contain to the danger of being lost. A fourth Book must be procured to keep record of Confirmations. 3. The respect due to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist demands that the altar should not be left exposed to the view and disrespect of the persons walking along the street which leads directly to the church door. A curtain hanging be- tween the two posts at the entrance of the church would hide the altar from view without preventing the circulation of air. 4. The linen destined to receive the Body of our Lord during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ought to be always perfectly clean; theie should be enough of them to allow them to be frequently washed and changed. At least six more corporals should be on hand. 5. There should be a little credence in the sanctuary to hold what- ever is necessary for the service of the altar. 52. Bishop Du Bourg departed from New Orleans in 1826, after Easter, and sailed from New York on June 1, leaving the administration of the Diocese to Bishop Rosati, his Coadjutor. The very day the prelate landed at Havre. June 2, Pope Leo XII approved the decisions of the meeting of Propaganda held on June 26, accepting Bishop Du Bourg's resignation, and dividing the so-called Diocese of Louisiana into the two Bishoprics of New Orleans and St. Louis. Bishop Rosati, urged to choose for himself the See of New Or- leans, demurred; by Pontifical Brief of May 20, 1827, he was appointed to St. Louis, and made Administrator of New Orleans, pending the nomination of a Bishop for the latter Diocese. Bishop De Neckere's appointment was not made until August 4, 1829, and his consecration took place only on June 24 of the following year. RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 259 6. As one of the primary objects of the Catholic worship is the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, it would be most desirable that the Mar- guillers buy an Ostensorium for the exposition of the Blessed Sacra- ment during the year and especially at the feast of Corpus Chritsi. Being perfectly aware of the difficulties wherewith the Fabrique is at present confronted, we abstain from pointing out any other objects which, most useful though they be for the decency and stateliness of worship, yet are not indispensably required as those which are men- tioned above. We trust in the piety and religion of the Trustees and of the inhabitants, and hope they shall not fail to make even extra- ordinary efforts in order to provide for the stateliness and decency of the divine service. Given at the Rectory of the parish of St. John of Vermillion-ville, the i6th of the month of February, 1828. ►J- Joseph Bishop of St. Louis and Adm. of N. Orl.^^ The next day, Quinquagesima Sunday, had been appointed for Confirmation of the candidates belonging to the parish — the first Con- firmation ever held in Lafayette. As may well be believed, the good people of the neighborhood — and others, too, since we have been told there were some — were most anxious to see — quite a novel sight to most of them — a Bishop. No wonder, then, they turned out in great numbers for the High Mass : the affluence of people must have been, that Sunday, particularly large, for the Bishop makes it the object of a special remark in his Diary. Twenty-seven persons were confirmed on that day ; and two more, a young man and a girl, the next morning after Mass. The reader has not failed to remark, in the document cited above, the demands made on the Marguillers for the decency of the church and of the services. Had they been remiss in their duty? It were rash to assert it. Rather were they unawares of the requisite appoint- ments of a parish church, and unwilling to spend money on things, the necessity of which they did not perceive. However this may be, certain it is that, a few months later. Father Peyretti had to complain of their neglect in fulfilling the promises made a little over three years before to Bishop Du Bourg. Indeed it is but too true that the history of St. John's parish, could the minutes of the proceedings of the Trustees be found in their entirety, and had we the complete series of the pastors' official letters, would seem to be centered in a continu- ous friction between the rectors and the chosen representatives of the parishioners. Be this as it may, if the prologue of this little drama may be detected in the letter of Bishop Du Bourg cited above, the opening scene is recited in a communication of Father Peyretti to Bishop Rosati, four months after the latter's visit. This document speaks for itself. ®* Parish of Lafayette, Vermillionville, June 14, 1828. Right Reverend Bishop: I find myself in some very disagreeable embarrassment. I haive been, and am daily sacrificing myself for my ungrateful parishioners: Register of Baptisms. Original in Archives of S'f. Louis Archdioc. Chancery. 260 ^EV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. I had made the sacrifice of drawing $250.00 from the bank to meet debts contracted for the church (of which some still remain outstand- ing), in order to give satisfaction to my parishioners, as I saw the church in debt. When elections of Trustees were made recently, these, instead of manifesting any gratitude to me for the money I had spent for the church and the rectory, which, according to the conventions made by Bishop Du Bourg, they should have decently furnished when I came to this parish, not only have not done anything of the kind, but, moreover, want to take away from me the $200.00 regularly coming to me, according to the regulation made two years ago by rhe preceding Board of Trustees, stating that they should take all the casuel for $400.00 that I left them. To this I have refused to assent: 1° because, if this be done, I have not enough to live on, because the inhabitants do not pay; and 2° there are already on this head $100.00 coming to me for the half year just elapsed. I beg you earnestly, Dear Bishop, to write to them sternly on this subject, and to me also, if you please, in order that I may know what to do. I deem it most unjust, Dear Bishop, that I should be expected to pay alone all the debts of the church, these debts having been contracted by the inhabitants before I came here ; whereas, since I have been in the parish, I have not made any debts on the account of the church : quite the contrary, I have always advanced the mioney, both for the church and the rectory, although they were obliged to do so. I beseech you. My Lord, to answer as soon as possible. I am respectfully. Dear Bishop, Your most humble and obedient servant, L. PEyrETTi, Pastor. Bishop Rosati's Diary informs us that this letter reached him at the Barrens on July 30, and was answered two days later, August 1 ; but no hint whatever is given of the contents of his answer. How- ever, since the Diary, which always mentions scrupulously all letters received and written, records no letter addressed, as Father Peyretti suggested, to the Marguillers of St. John's church, we may regard it well-nigh certain that the prelate deemed his communication to the pastor quite sufficient. No further complaint, moreover, having reached the Administrator until the time of the accession of Bishop De Neckere, we will take it for granted that the difference was amicably settled. If Bishop De Neckere (1830-1833) made the canonical visitation of the parish — he made that of Opelousas on Augttst 25, 1831, and we know that he was again in the neighborhood, at Grand Coteau, Sept- ember 29, 1832, — he wrote no ordinances in the customary place, the Baptism Register. Neither did Bishop Anthony Blanc (1835-1860) at his first visit, of the exact date of which even there is no record. We know of it only through an allusion in the regulations drawn up at his second visit. As he was at Grand Coteau on July 31, 1837, for the laying of the corner-stone of St. Charles College, and again, November 2, of the same year, for the canonical visitation of the church, it may be surmised that he came to Lafayette just before or after either date, preferably the latter. The Jesuits had just taken charge (April 17) of the parish of St. Charles, and, in order to avoid all possibility of conflicts of jurisdiction with his neighbors either of Opelousas, or St, Martinsville or Lafayette, the Pastor, Father Peter Die RUMMAGING THROUGH OLD PARISH RECORDS 261 Vos had the limits of the parish, as fixed by Bishop Du Bourg in 1821 and 1822, sanctioned by the present Ordinary. Accordingly, under a copy of Bishop Du Bourg's two decrees we find there few lines : ^^ On the 2nd of November 1837, at the close of our first pastoral visi- tation, the Rev. P. De Vos, pastor approved by Us, with the consent of ■his Superiors, for the ecclesiastical parish of St. Charles, Grand Coteau, having communicated to Us the two excerpts above written, in order that we may approve them, we hereby declare them conform with the originals which are before our eyes, and maintain the lines of demarca- tion assigned to said ecclesiastical parish, until we deem it proper to make alterations therein. Given at the Rectory of St. Charles, on the above day and year, 4- Ant., Bp. of N. Orleans. Bishop Blanc made his second Episcopal visitation at Lafayette on October 14, 1838,^^ He seems to have been delighted by much of what he saw there. He compliments the parishioners on their piety and comments very flatteringly on the numerous concourse of people assembled for the occasion. The parish, he remarks, is too extensive, and the number of faithful too large for one priest : he proposes there- fore to send an assistant. Passing then from great subjects to smaller ones, he finds no praise is merited for the way altar linen are taken care of; and still less for the cleanliness (or lack of it) of the sacristy which, he complains, is made a dumping place for all kinds of things in no way related to the church. The pastor, we may well think, could take his share of these strictures ; to him alone went those of the next paragraph, where the Bishop regretted that the church Registers were not kept with all desirable care. From this document we may judge that some little progress had been made since Bishop Rosati's visitation. True, this progress did not extend to the altar clothes ; his lament over the sad fate awaiting the existing parish Books was still unheeded, and his ordinance in regard to the Register of Confirmations yet remained, and was to remain a long while, dead letter. He, too, like Bishop Blanc, had commented with great satisfaction on the large concourse of people; but that, in 1838, much larger crowds flocked to the church is borne out by the prelate's reflection on the advisability of giving an assist- ant to the pastor. Had the Bishop miscalculated the numbers of his clergy, and did he find himself unable to fulfill his quasi-promise ; or was there any difficulty about the maintenance of an assistant? At any rate, no trace whatever is to be found of the execution of this project. Father Peyretti remained in Lafayette only eighteen months after Bishop Blanc's second visit. Early in the spring of 1840, he asked for his change and obtained it. What catises prompted this step on his part, we are not told either by him or by the Bishop. In a verbose letter written to the latter by Father Billon, we hear that a "bully" 65. Catholic Archives of America, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Case: Arch- bishops and Bishops of New Orleans. 56. The Act is found p. 100 of the Baptism Register. 262 REV. CHARLES L. SOUVAY, CM. of Lafayette bragged insolently of having ruled the parish, and evi- dently the pastor, in Father Peyretti's time. But even if this fan- faronnade were true, that would be no reason for the pastor to ask for a change, if he was satisfied to be led by the nose. Nor should we see in certain expressions of the document appointing Father Pey- retti's successor a censure of the former's administration : these ex- pressions belong to the protocol of such administrative Acts. Indeed, had Father Peyretti's change meant a disfavor, how could be have been allowed to stay over a month in Lafayette after his departure was decreed ? Yet so he did, still signing himself, until the arrival of Father Billon (May 6, 1840), "Peyretti, Cure"; after that date, at the Baptism of Clebert ( ? ! — of course that was meant for Kleber, in honor of the famous French general) Thibodeaux, on May 12, he calls himself simply "pretre missionaire". Anthony Blanc, by the grace of God and the authority of the Apostolic See Bishop of New Orleans: to all those who shall peruse the presents, health and our blessing in the Lord Jesus. Whereas the Rev. Laurence Peyretti has obtained from us leave to resign the pastorship of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, it is the duty of our pastoral vigilance to see that shepherds who are true lovers of the flock, and no wolves, should be appointed to tend it; accordingly, we, by the presents, institute the Rev. Peter Francis Beauprez rector of the aforesaid church of St. John the Evangelist in the civil parish of Lafayette, recommending earnestly to the faithful of that parish to give him the obedience due to a pious chief, in all things particularly which appertain to the spiritual order. Given at New Orleans, in our Episcopal residence, under our hand and seal, the 6th day of April of the year 1840. ►J* Ant., Bp. of Nezv Orleans. ^^ The above letter introduces to us the third resident pastor of Lafayette. Unlike his predecessor who, it will be remembered, had come to Vermillionville only a few months after his ordination, Fa- ther Beauprez had already nine years of experience in the missions. A Belgian by birth, he had come to America in 1829, and after two years in the Seminary at the Barrens, with the oil of ordination still fresh on his hands (he was ordained at the Barrens on November 28, 1831), had been sent with Father Edmond Saulnier to the difficult mission of Arkansas Post.^^ After a little less than a year, however, incompatibility of humor between the Gascon and the Belgian — judg- ing from the complaints of each against the other in their letters to Rosati,^^ their squabbles were true tempests in a teapot, — exasperated by the hardships they had to endure and, in the case of Beauprez, by illness, drove them both out of Arkansas. On October 25, 1832, Fa- ther Beauprez took the boat for Donaldsonville, whence, a few weeks later, he repaired, according to the Bishop's orders, to the Seminary at 67. Archives of New Orleans Archdioc. Chancery. 58. See F. G. Holweck: Beginnings of the chi