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HISTORY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE 
 OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 In its Various Stages of Development 
 from 4. D. 1673 to A. D. 1928 
 
 by 
 
 REV. JOHN ROTHENSTEINER 
 
 Archivist of the Catholic Historical Society 
 of St. Louis 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 Containing Parts One and Two 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 1928 
 
NIHIL OBSTAT 
 
 H. HUSSMANN 
 
 Censor librorum. Deputatus 
 Sti. Ludovici, die 23. Novembris 1928. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR 
 
 ►J- JOANNES J. GLENNON 
 
 Archiepiscopus 
 Sti. Ludovici, die 24. Novembris 1928. 
 
 Copyright 192H 
 Rev. John Rothensteiner 
 
 Phess of 
 
 BLACKWELL WIELANDY CO. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., U. S. A. 
 

 To His Grace 
 
 THE MOST REVEREND 
 JOHN JOSEPH GLENNON, D. D. 
 
 Archbishop of St. Louis 
 In Memory of the 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF HIS SUCCESSION 
 to the 
 
 ARCHDIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 OCTORER 13, 1903 
 
 The Author 
 
Mr. Edward Brown 
 
 Rev. Gilbert J.Garrcfdhan S.J. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Lovers and students of the past have frequently remarked with 
 feelings of profound surprise and regret, that the great Archdiocese 
 of St. Louis has no written history worthy of the name. The nearest 
 approach to such a desideratum is found in the various chapters on 
 Xew Orleans and St. Louis in John Gilmary Shea's History of the 
 Catholic Church in the United States. But these chapters, being part 
 of an extensive whole, and consequently restricted in scope, cannot fill 
 the demand for a detailed history of the diocese. 
 
 It was long known that the Church in these parts has a history 
 and a most interesting one, a history of heroic endeavor and sacrifice, 
 of beautiful and saintly lives, a history of failures mingled with the 
 successes, of temporary reverses and final -triumph. For so glorious 
 a present, as the Archdiocese offers today, with its noble Cathedral, 
 its Seminary, its hundreds of Churches and Schools, its great University, 
 its Colleges and Academies, its Hospitals, Orphanages, and other In- 
 stitutions of Religion and Charity, and lastly its devoted army of 
 priests and religious, presupposes a great and ever memorable past. 
 For if the Catholic Church today lives and labors among us with all 
 the youthful courage and hope, and with all the superior wisdom of 
 age, she most assuredly owes it largely, under God, to her humble, 
 loving and heroic founders, the bishops and priests of her early dawn. 
 To recall to the memory of the present generation, and to transmit 
 to future ages the record of the deeds and sufferings and sacrifices of 
 these pioneers of the Church in the heart of the Mississippi Valley, is 
 the purpose of these volumes. 
 
 The main credit for this undertaking belongs to His Grace, the 
 present Archbishop of St. Louis, the Founder and chief Patron of the 
 Catholic Historical Society of St. Louis. This Society was organized 
 in 1917, for the purpose of collecting and preserving materials of 
 all kind, "relating to the Catholic history of the Diocese of St. Louis 
 and of whatever territories and places that were, at any time, associ- 
 ated with St. Louis in the same Ecclesiastical division, and of institu- 
 ting, carrying on and fostering historical research on subjects per- 
 taining to the field of inquiry above described, and disseminate such 
 information." 
 
 In December, 1918, the first number of a quarterly publication 
 was issued by the Society under the editorship the Rev. Dr. Charles 
 L. Souvay, CM. D.D. Dr. Souvay's associates in the so-called Committee 
 
 (v) 
 
vi Preface 
 
 on Publication were the Rev. Fathers: F. G. Holweck, Gilbert J. Gar- 
 raghan, S.J., John Rothensteiner, and .Mi'. Edward Brown. The five 
 members of this Committee worked together in perfect harmony and 
 mutual helpfulness. A number of informal meetings were held in 
 
 which cadi < 's newly-gained information was communicated to all. 
 
 At stated times historical papers were read and discussed, rousing 
 fresh interest in other members of the Society and even beyond. 
 
 Much useful and interesting - material was found hidden away, 
 like the golden nuggets in the quartz, in a mass of histories, biographies, 
 books of travel, historical articles and occasional notes in Reviews and 
 Magazines. Sometimes very pleasant surprises were met with in most 
 unpromising places. 
 
 The richest source, however, of our diocesan history Avas found in 
 the Archives of the Diocese of St. Louis and of the St. Louis University, 
 and the Archives of Notre Dame. These manuscript sources super- 
 seded, to a great extent, the printed materials, offering an unprecedented 
 mass of new facts and interpretations of old ones, vouched for by 
 the very actors and eyewitnesses of what transpired. 
 
 For the earlier part of our history we found great help in the 
 various volumes of the so-called Jesuit Relations, and of the Virginia 
 and British Series of the Illinois Historical Collections. The annual 
 publications of the Leopoldine Association of the Austrian Empire, and 
 the A u miles ill lii propagation <l< In Foi of Lyons, have also been 
 put under contribution, and have yielded generous spoils, whilst pri- 
 vate individuals and religious communities were equally generous, if 
 not equally rich in their offerings. From many sources, therefore, came 
 together the almost innumerable data that were to form the body of 
 this History of the Diocese of St. Louis. 
 
 For a history of the Diocese of St. Louis in its fullest extent, was in 
 contemplation from the start. The five volumes of the St. Louis Catholic 
 Historical Review, the numerous articles published by members of the 
 "Committee on Publication" in the Catholic Historical Review, of 
 Washington D. C, the Illinois Catholic Historical Review, of Chicago 
 and in the Watchman and Church Progress of St. Louis, as well as 
 in the German Pastoral-Blatt, and the Central-Blatt and Social Justice, 
 also of St. Louis, were but preparatory steps towards the much-desired 
 achievement. 
 
 For a time it was considered advisable that the immense material 
 be divided into four or five grand divisions, and that each member be 
 intrusted with the work of sorting, and arranging one of them and 
 presenting it in literary form. The consequent difference of style, 
 and, perhaps, also of the historical point of view, in the various divisions 
 of the work, however, was found objectionable. One man must write 
 
Preface vii 
 
 the history, to secure unity of arrangement and a proper perspective 
 of events. 
 
 According to the judgment of all, the Editor-in-chief of the 
 Review, the Rev. Dr. Charles L. Souvay, CM. was the man to give us 
 the classical History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He possessed, 
 in an eminent degree, the penetrating mind and retentive memory, as 
 well as the critical faculty and the graces of style, requisite in a true 
 historian. But alas, Dr. Souvay was already overburdened with priestly, 
 professional and literary work, and felt obliged to decline, whilst 
 promising every aid to the one that should undertake the task. Next 
 to Dr. Souvay, and equal to him in many particulars, was the Rev. 
 Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J. of St. Louis University. His beautiful 
 books on Chicago, Kansas City, and St. Ferdinand de Florissant, and 
 his articles of ripe scholarship in the Historical Reviews, seemed to 
 point to Father Garraghan as the coming historian of the Archdiocese 
 of St. Louis. But this hope, also, was destined to be nipped in the 
 bud. Father Garraghan was commissioned by his Superiors to write 
 the History of the Missouri Province of the Societ}^ of Jesus, a work 
 of tremendous proportions. Father Frederick G. Holweck was a man 
 of many gifts and graces, a facile writer, possessed of a most remarkable 
 store of information on almost every possible subject, and the gift of 
 putting it into vivid, and often picturesque, form. His English was 
 not always pure and idiomatic, but some mere stylist could have easily 
 remedied these defects. Yet, a strange fatality seemed to stand in 
 our way : Father Holweck was busily engaged with the composition 
 of his two great works : Biographical Dictionary of Saints and the 
 Calendarhtm Liturgicum Festorum Dei et Dei Matris. As a possible 
 writer of the proposed Diocesan History, Father Holweck declared he 
 was out of question. Mr. Edward Brown, though a writer of ability, 
 served on our Committee as business manager and literary adviser, 
 rather than as a practicing historian. The Committee had by May 
 1925, arrived at a choice, by way of elimination ; the present writer was 
 the only eligible member left. Either he must undertake the great and 
 laborious work, or the whole undertaking must fail. There was no 
 escape for me. I had no large literary work in view. I had parish 
 work to do, a parochial school to manage and a new school-building to 
 erect, and to raise the money for it. But other priests also had these 
 things to do. I was approaching my sixty-sixth year, and my health 
 was impaired though not yet broken. At last I yielded gracefully, 
 as I thought, and promised to do my best: the Archbishop gave his 
 approval and the assurance of his support. My friends of the Com- 
 mittee felt relieved and delighted. I might command whatever they 
 had. There was to be no question as to mine and thine between us. 
 The History of the Archdiocese was their sole object; as members 
 
viii Preface 
 
 of the Committee on Publication they would do all they could to 
 further the project. 
 
 The time when I received this urgent invitation from the Catholic 
 Historical Society of St. Louis, I had but a faint idea of what was before 
 me. I had, indeed, for a number of years, done research work in 
 the history of the earliest period of Catholic endeavor in the Miss- 
 issippi Valley. I had published a number of historical sketches and 
 articles and Chronicles of my former Parish of St. Michaels, Frederick- 
 town. But to attempt a work of such vast proportions, and requiring 
 such diversified knowledge, as a history of the earliest and most com- 
 prehensive diocese of the West, had never entered my mind. 
 
 Three full years have passed since that day: many hundreds of 
 days and nights of study and search and toil : a few months of serious 
 illness intervened, during which the pen dropped from my hands. A 
 tornado smashed almost every window 7 in my Church. But the thought, 
 now or never, animated the drooping spirit, and here, at last, is the 
 work I was asked and almost forced to compose. 
 
 To the Most Reverend Archbishop of St. Louis, to Msgr. John J. 
 Tannrath, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, to the members of the Com- 
 mittee on Publication, Rev. Dr. Charles L. Souvay, CM., Father 
 Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., the lamented Monsignor F. G. Holweck. 
 and Mr. Edward Brown, I am so deeply indebted that I can truly say: 
 what is good in the work is largely theirs; only the faults and short- 
 comings are altogether mine. Yet I have labored hard to marshal the 
 thousand and ten thousand events and incidents, facts and dates, into 
 an intelligible whole: The History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 May it preserve the memory of those that have gone before, the heroic 
 souls, as well as the lesser kind; and may it inspire the clergy and 
 the people of today and the coming years with a strong resolve to do 
 all they can to speed the day when the wandering sheep shall hear 
 the Savior's voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. 
 
 Feast of St. John the Baptist 1928. 
 
 JOHN ROTHENSTEINER. 
 
 The Author's grateful acknowledgements are due, and herewith 
 expressed to the following contributors of valuable materials towards 
 this History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis-. 
 
 To the Burrows Brothers Company for courteous permission to 
 make copious extracts from their superb edition of the Jesuit 
 Relations by Reuben Gold Thwaites. 
 
 To the Illinois State Historical Library of Springfield, Illinois. 
 
 To the Illinois Catholic Historical Societv of Chicago. 
 
Preface ix 
 
 To His Grace, Most Rev. John J. Glennon, D.I), the Archbishop of 
 
 St. Louis. 
 
 To Msgr. John J. Tannrath, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of 
 St. Louis. 
 
 To Father Regnet, the Librarian of the St. Louis University, 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 To the Jesuit Fathers Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., Lawrence J. 
 Kenny, S.J.. and Charles II. Metzger, S.J. 
 
 To the Lazarisl Fathers Charles L. Souvay. CM., D.D., and 
 Martin J. O'Malley, CM. 
 
 To The Franciscan Fathers of Washington, Missouri and P. Francis 
 B. Steck, O.F.M. Ph.D., of Quincy, Illinois. 
 
 To the Rt. Rev. and Rev. Fathers Msgr., Frederick G. Holweck, 
 D.D., Ciarles Van Tomenhout, P.R., and AVilliam Walsh. 
 
 To Rev. George Haukap. 
 
 To Mr. John II. Geerling of St. Louis, Missouri. 
 
 To Mrs. Ida Schaaf of St. Mary's, Missouri. 
 
 To Miss Constance Smith of St. Louis and Mrs. Nettie II. Beaure- 
 gard, Archivist; Miss Stella M. Drumm, Librarian of the 
 Missouri Historical Society and Mr. William C. Breckenridge 
 now deceased. 
 
 To Rev. Henry Hussmann and Mr. Edward Brown, and Miss Mary 
 Constance Smith for the great help in reading the proofs with 
 me, compiling the index and other favors ; and finally the many 
 friends and well-wishers who filled out to the best of their 
 ability, the questionnaire I sent them three years ago. May the 
 good God reward all their kindness and good will. 
 
 In conclusion the Author would bless the memory of a former 
 Chancellor, the Very Rev. Henry Van der Sanden, for the great 
 solicitude with which he helped to gather, and preserve from waste 
 so many of the precious memorials of our historic past. 
 
 Our heartfelt thanks to all. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 History is the deliniation of a chosen period of human events in 
 their natural sequence. Absolute devotion to truth is its very soul. 
 Facts, not theories, are its necessary material. Fullness and exactitude 
 of detail is, therefore, its first law. Opinions and guesses have no place 
 in history : The statement of facts must rest on documentary evidence. 
 The very words of the document are, as a rule, to be preferred, yet 
 they should be used in the briefest possible form, so as not to interrupt 
 the flow of the narrative. Where the line of demarcation lies between 
 the two advantages sought, is not always easy to determine. In a work 
 like this history, doing pioneer service in a wide field, the ipsissima 
 verba of the actors themselves carry greater weight than the words of 
 the historian merely giving the sense. Yet, a sequence of documents, 
 no matter how important or interesting it be, is not history, but only 
 a collection of material. To find the causal nexus between the isolated 
 facts is the chief business of the historian. It is the "largeness of 
 tii-asp," as Lord Roseberry called it, the orderly and vivifying group- 
 ing of the historical data into a true and intelligible presentation of 
 the period under consideration, that mai'ks the true historian. The 
 imagination also has an important part in the writing of history. It 
 bodies forth the images of men and scenes of the past and makes 
 them live and move once more. But it must always follow the control 
 of reason as reflected from the well-ascertained facts. 
 
 There is however, one great fact, easily ascertainable by historical 
 methods, yet often ignored by so-called historians, the presence of God 
 among men and His influence upon the course of events. 
 
 All history is the record of the world-wide battle between the 
 spirit of light and the spirit of darkness, between the principle of 
 good and the power of evil. For some mysterious reason God 
 permits the machinations of his enemies and their seeming triumph. 
 "But God still rules the world," as William Von Humboldt says, "and 
 it is the purpose of history to discover these eternal mysterious decrees." 
 If this be true in regard to all history, it is certainly most clearly 
 manifested in the history of the Church of God. Evil-minded or 
 ignorant men attempt to destroy or, at least, to hamper her in her 
 benign efforts : for a time they seem to succeed, but in the end they 
 have to confess, even againsl their will, with the Apostate Julian : 
 "Thou hast conquered, <> Galilean!" 
 
 The restless greed for gold and peltry opened the roads for the 
 missionaries in their unselfish quest of souls. The horrors of the 
 
 (xi) 
 
xii Introduction 
 
 French revolution drew multitudes of cultured and deeply religious 
 men into the wilderness of Louisiana to become the founders, not 
 only of eilies, but of dioceses and religious institutions, in fact of 
 a mighty province of God's Kingdom. The terrible famine in Ireland, 
 and the religious, and political disturbances in Europe broughl millions 
 of intelligenl and able bodied men and women to the prairies and fruit- 
 ful valleys of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas, as the lirst claim- 
 ants of the virgin soil; and the over-weening pride of the instigators 
 of the socalled Kultur-Kampf in the newly founded Empire of Germany 
 compelled thousands of noble priests and religious to seek a new field 
 of labor in a foreign land, which was to become dearer to them than the 
 land of their birth. Misguided men in their pride of heart, and the 
 destroying elements in league with them, rose in anger against God's 
 mysterious purposes: but one by one they Tailed, and left us but 
 another proof of God's interposition in the affairs of men, "reaching 
 from v\u\ to end mightily and disposing all things sweetly."' 
 
 Whilst then we endeavor to recognize the guiding hand of Divine 
 Providence in all the changes of history, we are not disconcerted by 
 the discovery of evil within tlie pale, nay in the very sanctuary of 
 Cod's Church. A history must above all things be true; and as a 
 non-Catholic historian justly says, "glozing of faults and apologizing 
 for wrong deeds is not the part of an honest friend or of an honest 
 man. The Church can afford to have the truth told even about herself." 
 The sanctity of the Church remains untouched even by the failings 
 and misdeeds of her children. Yet the Savior tells us: "By their 
 fruits you shall know them." The Church has produced wonderful 
 fruits in the wide fields of the diocese of St. Louis. Not only fruits 
 of everlasting life in the inward beauty and holiness of countless souls, 
 but also in the outward works, the cultural values of education, civic 
 virtue and the arts, especially of architecture, scultpure and painting. 
 It will be the historian's most pleasant task to trace the influences of 
 the Church upon the Communities in which she has lived and labored 
 for up wards of 250 years. 
 
 I say 250 years, although it is Avell known that the Diocese of 
 St. Louis bears only one hundred years in its crown of glory. Yet 
 the period of one and one-half century intervening between the 
 foundation of the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Kaskaskia 
 and the erection of the diocese of St. Louis, -with Joseph Rosati as 
 ,ts first bishop, was but a time of preparation for the coming greatness 
 and power of St. Louis; and Kaskaslria itself, with its idyllic days 
 and ways, appears as the Alba Longa of the future Rome of the 
 West. In the first chapter of his History of Rome, Livy speaks of 
 things that have happened "before the building of the City, or be- 
 fore its building was contemplated," of the foundation of Lavmium 
 
Introduction xiii 
 
 by Aeueas, and of the foundation of the town of Alba Longa by his 
 son Ascanius. Then he shows how the overflow population of these 
 two places was diverted to the new city on the Tiber, compared with 
 which both Alba Longa and Lavinium should appear insignificant. 
 ' ' Supererat multitudo Albanorum Latinorumque ; qui omnes facile 
 spem facerent parvam Albani, parvum Lavinium prae ea urbe, quae 
 conderetur, fore." Whilst then, in point of time, our narrative will 
 have to concern itself with the missionary efforts of the Jesuits, the 
 Priests of the Foreign Missions, and the early Kecollets, as a distinct 
 part of the history of the Diocese of St. Louis, it will, in point of 
 territorial extension, find itself taking in its purvue certain places and 
 churches no longer associated with the present Archdiocese. 
 
 When the almost boundless Diocese of Louisiana, as it existed 
 under Bishops Peiialver and Du Bourg was divided in 1826, and the 
 city of St. Louis became an episcopal see under Bishop Joseph Rosati, 
 the dividing line as against New Orleans was the southern border 
 of Arkansas. The Diocese of St. Louis comprised all of Arkansas, 
 Missouri and Iowa and the Indian Territory as far as the Rocky 
 Mountains and even beyond. The western half of Illinois also came 
 under the jurisdiction of the bishop of St. Louis, at first by delegation 
 from the Bishop of Bardstown, Flaget, and eventually, by a Papal 
 Decree. Even Chicago was for a time under the episcopal care of 
 Bishop Rosati who, at the request of Bishop Brute of Vincennes, sent 
 Father Irenaeus Saint Cyr, across the prairies of Illinois to build and 
 administer the first church in the future Great City of the Northwest. 
 
 In tracing the development of religious life in the Diocese of St. 
 Louis it will, therefore, be necessary to take regard to the widely 
 scattered missions of Bishop Rosati 's Diocese, that have now become 
 the twenty or more Archdioceses and dioceses of the States of Illinois. 
 Wisconsin, Missouri. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, 
 Minnesota and beyond. New Orleans, however, must be left out of the 
 count, because its territory was never under the rule of St. Louis. 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg, whilst residing in St. Louis for a time, and 
 occasionally signing himself "Bishop of St. Louis," really held the 
 title of "Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas," with New Orleans 
 as his appointed seat. The scope and subject matter of the History 
 of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, therefore, divides itself into three 
 distinct, yet disproportionate parts : 
 
 PART 1. THE ERA OF PREPARATION. 
 
 Which embraces the events from Father Marquette's 
 voyage to the erection of the Diocese of St. Louis under 
 Bishop Joseph Rosati, 1673 to 1827, a little more than 
 one hundred and fifty years. This Part I. is subdivided 
 into three books : 
 
XIV 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Book 1. Tin; E.un.v Missions on tue Illinois and Mississippi 
 Rivers. 
 
 Book 2. Tin: Church ok St. Louis in the Transition Period 
 
 Book 3. Tin. Church op St. Loris Under Bishop Du Bourq op 
 Louisian \. 
 
 PART II. THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS. 
 
 Tli is embraces the events From the division of the diocese 
 of Louisiana into the dioceses of St. Louis, and New 
 Orleans, until the erection of St. Louis into an Arch- 
 diocese under Peter Richard Kenrick, 1827 to 1847, a 
 period of only twenty years. It is subdivided into three 
 rather unequal books : 
 
 Book 1. Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis. 
 
 Book 2. Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick, Coadjutor to Bishop 
 
 Rosati. 
 Book 3. Peter Richard Kenrick. Bishop of St. Louis. 
 
 PART III. THE ARCH-DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS. 
 
 This final part of the History, extending; from 1847 to 
 1927, is likewise divided into three books: 
 
 Book 1. Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick. 
 
 Book 2. Archbishop John Joseph Kain. 
 
 Book 3. Archbishop John Joseph Glennon. 
 
 The splendid administration of Archbishop Glennon is, 
 as yet, too fresh in the memory of men and too sparsely 
 documented to allow the proper perspective, required in 
 scientific history. It will, no doubt, in some future 
 work, form the crowning glory of a long series of 
 beautiful developments of the Church in the Miss- 
 issippi Valley. But for the present, a rapid description 
 of what was accomplished, must suffice. In this regard 
 we may say: Si historiam requiris, circumspice. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Part I 
 
 THE ERA OF PREPARATION 
 
 Book I 
 
 The Early Missions 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter 1. The Cross Triumphant and the Blood of Martyrs 1 
 
 2. Father James Marquette and M. Joliet 7 
 
 3. La Salle, De Tonti and the Recollets 19 
 
 4. On the Illinois River 27 
 
 5. The Gentlemen op the Seminary of Quebec 34 
 
 6. The Kaskaskias on the RrvER Des Peres 42 
 
 7. Cahokia and the Seminary Priests 51 
 
 8. Last Days of Gravier and Marest 60 
 
 9. Kaskaskia and its Dependencies — 1 65 
 
 10. Kaskaskia and its Dependencies — II 73 
 
 11. Ste. Genevieve and its Dependencies 80 
 
 12. Banishment of the Jesuits 86 
 
 Book II 
 The Church in the Valley during the Transition Period 
 
 Chapter 1. The Founding of St. Louis 99 
 
 2. Civil Allegiance and Ecclesiastical Authority. . 109 
 
 3. Return of Father Sebastian Meurin 115 
 
 4. Meurin and Gibault 124 
 
 5. Father Gibault, the Patriot Priest 132 
 
 6. St. Louis as a Canonical Parish 140 
 
 7. Father Bernard's Congregation 149 
 
 8. Discord in Church and State 156 
 
 (xv) 
 
xvi Tub! < of Conti nts 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter 9. Results op the Discord 168 
 
 10. The Sulpicians ix the [llinois Cottntry 184 
 
 11. Vicar-General James Maxweli 198 
 
 12. Wandering Westward 210 
 
 13. Father Dunand and His Trappist Brethren 218 
 
 14. Father Dunand the Lone Missionary 228 
 
 Book III 
 The Church of St. Louis under Bishop Du Bourg of Louisiana 
 
 Chapter 1. Bishop Louis William Valentin Du Bourg 'I'M 
 
 2. Church Government by Marguilliers 247 
 
 3. Bishop Flaget's Interest in St. Louis 251 
 
 4. Bishop Du Bourg's < Ioming to St. Louis 261 
 
 5. Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 268 
 
 6. Father Xiel and the Church-Wardens 278 
 
 7. Father Felix De Andreis 285 
 
 8. St. Mary's of the Barrens under Father Rosati. . 292 
 
 9. The Ladies of the Sacred Heart 300 
 
 10. Father Charles Nerinckx and His Relations with 
 St. Louis 308 
 
 11. The Indian Missions and the Jesuits — 1 318 
 
 12. The Indian Missions and the Jesuits— II 327 
 
 13. Tin: Jesuit Beginnings at St. Ferdinand 335 
 
 14. The First Indian School in Missouri 340 
 
 15. The First Indian Missionary Efforts of the 
 Jesuits :547 
 
 16. The St. Louis University 354 
 
 17. Ste. Genevieve I'xder Fathers Pratte and 
 Dahhen 361 
 
 18. Catholic New Madrid 371 
 
 19. St. Mary's of the Barrens Under Father Torna- 
 tore 379 
 
 20. Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutorship 386 
 
 21. Rosati 's Election as Coadjutor-Bishop 399 
 
 'I'l. Linking Old and New 408 
 
Table of Contents xvii 
 
 Part II 
 THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 Book I 
 Bishop Joseph Bosati of St. Louis 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter 1. The Diocese op St. Louis 419 
 
 2. Rosati's Visitation in the Diocese of New Orleans 431 
 
 3. Progress op a Decade 438 
 
 4. The Sisters of Charity 447 
 
 5. Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary. 452 
 
 6. Father Edmund Saulnier and the Church of 
 Arkansas 469 
 
 7. Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Little Rock. 479 
 
 8. The Church in Cape Girardeau 490 
 
 9. The Dawn of a New Era 499 
 
 10. Bishop Rosati's Cathedral 508 
 
 11. The Missouri River Parishes 515 
 
 12. The Good Shepherd in the Wilderness 523 
 
 13. Three Crowded Years of Bishop Rosati's Life. . . . 528 
 
 14. Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien — 1 537 
 
 15. Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien — II 543 
 
 16. Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago. . . 552 
 
 17. Peter Paul Lefevere of Salt River 565 
 
 18. Father Lefevere's Far-flung Missions 579 
 
 19. Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, 0. P 590 
 
 20. Father Mazzuchelli and the Church of Galena: . 599 
 
 21. Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City 608 
 
 22. Father Brickwedde of Quincy 614 
 
 23. The Visitandines of Kaskaskia 626 
 
 24. The Sisters of St. Joseph 634 
 
 25. Tin; Ivickapoo Mission 640 
 
 26. The Potawatomi Mission op Council Buffs 653 
 
 27. The Beginnings op the Oregon Missions 664 
 
 28. The Potawatomi Mission op Sugar Creek 677 
 
 29. Early Church Foundations in Central Missouri. 689 
 
 30. Father John Timon, Visitor op the Lazarists. . . . 701 
 
xviii Table of Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter 31. The La Salle Mission 707 
 
 32. St. Michael's of Predeeicktown and Father 
 Cellini 721 
 
 33. The First Synod op St. Louis 730 
 
 :!4. Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 7-tl 
 
 35. Father Hilary Tucker in Quincy 753 
 
 36. The Early German Parishes op Southwestern 
 Illinois 76.") 
 
 37. The Early English Speaking Parishes op South- 
 western Illinois 774 
 
 38. Bishop Rosati 's Last Year in His Diocese 77!) 
 
 Book II 
 Bishop Peter Richard Kcuricl:, Coadjutor to Bishop Rosati 
 
 Chapter 1. Bishop Rosati and His Coadjutor 787 
 
 2. Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis 795 
 
 3. The Cathedral Parish of St. Louis 802 
 
 4. The St. Louis University and the College Church 809 
 
 Book III 
 Peter Richard Kenrick Bishop of St. Louis 
 
 Chapter 1. Bishop Kenrick and the Leopoldine Society 817 
 
 2. The First Fruits of Bishop Kenrick 's Solicitude. 825 
 
 3. The Diocesan Seminary 836 
 
 4. Northeast Missouri 845 
 
 5. Loss of Territory but Gain of Souls 854 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Archbishop John J. Glennon frontispiece 
 
 page 
 
 The Committee on Publication v 
 
 Father James Marquette, S. J 1 
 
 Kaskaskia College 10 
 
 Old Bell op Kaskaskia 65 
 
 Map of Earliest St. Louis 99 
 
 Signatures of Priests and Prelates 108 
 
 Father P. Gibault 124 
 
 The Old Spanish Church 140 
 
 Signatures of Ste. Genevieve Priests 198 
 
 Signatures of Early Catholic Laymen 247 
 
 Bishop William L. V. Du Bourg 261 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg 's Cathedral 268 
 
 Father Felix De Andreis, CM 285 
 
 Jesuit Novitate at Florissant 335 
 
 The Old St. Louis University 354 
 
 Father Dahmen's Church at Ste. Genevieve 361 
 
 St. Mary's of the Barrens 379 
 
 Outline Map of St. Louis Diocese. 417 
 
 Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis 439 
 
 Post of Arkansas . . .- 479 
 
 Father John Timon, CM 490 
 
 Bishop Rosati 's Cathedral 508 
 
 Bishop Brute's Map of "Wisconsin 537 
 
 Map of the Missionary Country 640 
 
 Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick, Coadjutor 795 
 

PART ONE 
 
 THE ERA OF PREPARATION 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 The Early Missions 
 On the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers 
 
Rev. James Makquette, S. J. 
 First White Resident of Chicago. 
 
BOOK I 
 
 THE EARLY MISSIONS 
 
 Chapter 1 
 THE CROSS TRIUMPHANT AND THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS 
 
 It is an incontestable fact that the beautiful forest-clad embankment 
 of the river whereon the great spiritual as well as civic Metropolis of 
 the Mississippi Valley was to arise in splendor and wealth and power, 
 had been beheld by no white man's eye before that memorable day at 
 the end of June 1673, when Joliet and Marquette, and their five com- 
 panions swept by in two fragile barks on the united but not commingled 
 current of the Missouri and Mississippi, on their voyage of exploration 
 to the unknown lands of the South. The central region of the future 
 diocese and archdiocese of St. Louis, though bright and beautiful by 
 nature, still lay in the darkness of ancient night, illumined only by a 
 few faint stars of natural religion. The Indian tribes that regarded it 
 as their ancestral home, the Osage, Missouri and Illinois, like all the 
 other nations of North America, were individually a strange combina- 
 tion of noble, and often heroic, qualities with the most abject super- 
 stition and moral turpitude. The Indian was by nature generous and 
 hospitable, and yet he could become guilty of the most savage cruelty 
 Loving his native valleys and hills he was a wanderer without a fixed 
 abode. His faith in the great Spirit was deep and sincere and } 7 et he 
 had no outward sacrifice, no outward form of worship. A certain glamour 
 of mystery encompassed him when viewed from a distance, but quickly 
 vanished on nearer approach. 
 
 To Avin such tantalizing creatures for the Kingdom of God ; to 
 bring them the light of Faith, to raise the Cross triumphant among them 
 was the desire of countless souls since the days of the earliest explorers 
 and conquerors of the New World. 
 
 At the beginning of the great age of European discovery and con- 
 quest two of its leading maritime nations, Spain and France, still ad- 
 hered with heart and soul and mind to the Catholic Faith as a living 
 reality. Accordingly the cross accompanied the national banner; the 
 priest and monk walked side by side with the commander; the con- 
 
 ' (1) 
 
 Vol. 1-1 
 
- History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 version of the natives to the true religion was one of the main objects 
 of every expedition. 
 
 Sn it was in Spanish America, so it was in the French possessions 
 in Canada, the region of the Great Lakes, iii the Illinois Country 
 and Louisiana. But whilst the French were the first to arrive in the 
 heart of the continent, the Spaniards preceded them by ~\'V2 years, on 
 the outskirts of the future Arch-diocese of St. Louis, in Arkansas its 
 southern limit, and in Kansas or Nebraska to the West. 1 
 
 The first efforts to carry the lighl of the gospel into the heart of 
 this vast and sparsely populated region date hack to the year 1541, 132 
 years before the voyage of Lather Marquette. It was in 1 r>41 that the 
 Spaniard Fernando De Soto crossed the Mississippi River at a point a 
 few miles below the present city of Memphis, and marched northward 
 along the western border of the "Great River", through the country 
 now called Arkansas, and arrived at a place near New Madrid, in South- 
 Last Missouri. And it was in the same year that Don Francise i Vasquez 
 de Coronado reached the goal of his journey in the country of Quivira, 
 somewhere "in northeastern Kansas perhaps not far from the boundary 
 of Nebraska." Both expeditions were accompanied by priests: Coronado 
 by the Franciscan Friar Juan de Padilla, De Soto "by twelve priests, 
 eight brothers and four monks." 
 
 De Soto ami his little army arrived on the coast of Florida on 
 Whitsunday, 1539 and after many days of toil and strife reached 
 the town on the Mississippi River over which the Cazique Casqui pre- 
 sided. 2 
 
 "The greater part of the way," says one of the companions of 
 De Soto, "lay through fields thickly set with great towns, two or 
 three of them to be seen from one. De Soto sent word by an Indian 
 to the cacique, that he was coming to obtain his friendship; to which 
 he received for answer, that he would be welcomed, and all that his 
 Lordship required from him should be done. And the cacique or chief, 
 sent him on the road a present of skins, shawls and fish." 3 
 
 i The limits of the diocese of St. Louis at the tune of its largest extent under 
 Bishop Rosati were the southern bounds of Arkansas, to a line drawn northward from 
 Fort Massac, near Cairo, through Illinois to the southern bounds of Canada, thence 
 westward to the Rocky Mountains and following them to the latitude of the southern 
 boundary of Arkansas back to the start. 
 
 2 There are three accounts of De Soto's Expedition by e.ye witnesses: The 
 Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas; The Relation of Biedma and The Narrative of 
 Ranjel. Then there is the "La Florida del Inr-a" of Garcilasso de la Vega, who 
 states that in Peru he had met many of De Soto's gentlemen and soldiers. It is 
 Garcilasso that mentions the names of the priests and monks with the expedition. 
 The Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas may be found in a good translation in 
 Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, pp. 129-272. 
 
 3 Lewis, Theodor H., in Spanish Explorers, p. 206. 
 
The Cross Triumphant and the Blood of Martyrs 3 
 
 Accompanied by many of his people, the cacique came half a league 
 on the road from the town to receive the Governor, and greeting him 
 very humbly he invited him to take lodging in his houses. The cacique 
 went home for the night, but "returned with many Indians singing, 
 who, when they had come to where the Governor was, all prostrated 
 themselves. Among them were two blind men." The cacique made 
 an address of which the writer gives but the substance: "The cacique 
 said, that inasmuch as the Governor was the son of the Sun, he begged 
 him to restore sight to those Indians. Whereupon the blind men arose 
 and very earnestly entreated him to do so. De Soto answered them 
 that in the heavens above there was One who had the power, to make 
 them whole and do whatever they could ask of Him, whose servant 
 he was ; that this great Lord made the heavens and the earth, and 
 man after His image, that He had suffered on the cross to save the 
 human race, and risen from the tomb on the third day in what of 
 man there was of him dying, what of divinity being immortal ; and 
 that, having ascended into heaven, He was there with open arms to 
 receive all that would be converted to Him." The Governor then 
 directed a lofty cross of wood to be made and set up on the highest part 
 of the town, declaring to the cacique, that the Christian worshipped 
 that cross in the form and memory of the true one on which Christ 
 suffered. He placed himself with his people before it, on their knees, 
 which the Indians did likewise; and he told them that from that time 
 on they should thus worship the Lord, of whom he had spoken to them, 
 that was in the Heavens, and should ask Him for whatsoever they 
 stood in need of." 4 After this they chanted the Te Deum Laudamus, 
 that canticle which the custom of the Catholic Church has consecrated 
 to be at once a testimonial of public joy, and thanksgiving for favors 
 received from Heaven, and a prayer for a continuance of its mercies. 
 
 The Indians broke forth in demonstrations of joy and gratitude. 
 The Governor marched away to other scenes, in his weary quest after 
 gold and adventure, to find his last resting place in the waters of the 
 Great River he had discovered. But far away to the Northwest, yet 
 within the one-time limits of St. Louis Diocese, a similar scene was 
 enacted. 3 
 
 It was in the year 1530 that Francisco Vasquez Coronado, having 
 reached Cibola, asked the people of the province "to tell their friends 
 and neighbors that Christians had come into the country, Avhose only 
 desire it was to be their friends, and to find out about good lands to 
 live in." 6 
 
 4 Ibidem, pp. 207-208. 
 
 s Narrative of the Expedition of Coronado, by Pedro de Castaiieda, edited by 
 F. W. Hodge, in Spanish Explorers, pp. 275-387. 
 fi Ibidem, p. 306. 
 
I History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Coronado had in his company four friars, three of wh m were 
 priests, and the fourth a Lay-brother. Pray Marcos de Nizza, the Pro- 
 vincial of the Order in Mexico, returned home after the army reached 
 Lune-Cibola, in 1540. Fray Juan de la Cruz, already of advanced age, 
 and Brother Louis remained with the Indians in New Mexico. The 
 fourth Pray Juan de Padilla, comparatively a young and vigorous man. 
 accompanied Coronado to Quivira, thai is, the region of northeastern 
 Kansas, probably near the Nebraska border. 7 "The Quiviras were 
 Indians of the plains Living chiefly from the buffalo, and from very 
 limited agriculture, changing the sites of their hamlets as the bison 
 moved to and fro." 
 
 Some say they were of the tribe of the Wichitas: Father Shine 
 places their habitat considerably farther north in the interior of the 
 state of Nebraska. 8 Bui as both Locations are within the ancient 
 limits of the diocese of St. Louis, we need not here decide the question, 
 although the opinion of Bandelier seems to have greater weight. 
 
 Certain it is thai the Quivira Indians were glad to have Pray Juan 
 de Padilla with them. When Coronado and his Little army started 
 on the homeward journey from New Mexico, in April 1542, Fray Juan 
 de Padilla asked and received permission to return to the Quivira 
 Indians, because his teaching seemed to bear fruit among them. lie 
 took along the most necessary equipments for saying .Mass, seme pro 
 visions, and al least one horse. His Journey fell in the Late summer or 
 early fall of 1542. Tie had with him Fray Juan de la Cruz, one 
 Portuguese soldier, two servants and some Mexican Indians. On their 
 way they passed through Pecos, where Brother Louis was already estab- 
 lished. They reached Quivira and were well received. 9 
 
 Coronado had caused a large cross to be erected in or near one 
 ,,!' the villages. This cross was a starting point for the missionary. 
 All went well for a lime; but I he zeal of I he missionary inspired him 
 with the desire of preaching the gospel to the neighboring nations also. 
 This was interpreted by the Quiviras as the act of a traitor, and by 
 the other tribes as that of a spy. The outcome of this missionary 
 rney is related by Mota-Padilla in his History of New Galicia: "The 
 Friar nil Quivira with a small escort, againsl the will of the Indians 
 of that village, who loved him as their father. Hut al one day's 
 journey lie was met by Indians on the war-path, and knowing their 
 evil intentions, he requested the Portuguese to flee, since the Latter 
 horseback, and to take with him the Donados and the boys, 
 
 t Bandeliei \. I'. Pray Juan de Padilla in American Catholic Quarterly, vol. 
 X \ , i>. 51 
 
 - Shine, Rev. Michael A., "The Lost Province of Quivira" in The Catholic 
 Historical Review, vol. II, April 191C, p. 3-18. 
 
 o Spanish Explorers, pp. 372 :S7:'>. 
 
The Cross Triumphant and the Blood of Martyrs 5 
 
 who. being young, were able to run and save themselves. Being de- 
 fenceless, they all fled as he desired, and the blessed Father, kneeling 
 down, oft'ei-ed up his life, which he sacrificed for the good of the souls 
 of others. He thus realized his most ardent desire — the felicity of 
 martyrdom by the arrows of these barbarians, who afterwards threw 
 his body into a pit and covered it with innumerable rocks. The Portu- 
 guese and the Indians, returning to Quivira, gave notice there of 
 what happened, and the natives felt it deeply on account of the love- 
 which they had for their Father. They would have regretted it still 
 more had they been able to appreciate the extent of their loss. The 
 day of his death is not kown, although it is regarded as certain that 
 it occurred in the year 1542. Don Pedro de Tobar, in some papers 
 which he wrote and left at the town of Culiacan, stales that the Indians 
 had gone out to kill this blessed Father in order to obtain his ornaments, 
 and that there was a tradition of miraculous signs connected with 
 his death, such as inundations, comets, balls of fire and the sun becom- 
 ing darkened. " 10 
 
 How the two companions of Fray Juan de Padilla died, we have 
 no direct testimony. Yet, it seems very probable that they also gained 
 the crown of Martyrdom. As Bandelier so touchingly says: "Such is 
 the funeral oration — simple, bul pathetic from its very simplicity. Of 
 these, the two old monks. Fray Juan de la Cruz and Fray Luis, remain- 
 ing alone in the newly-discovered land, happy to conclude their days 
 there in whichever way it might be, provided it was in the service of 
 their Lord and Master and for the honor and glory of his name. 
 
 "The end of fray Juan de Padilla was different. As his life had 
 been of a more vigorous cast, so his martyrdom sounded high through 
 the land. His Sepulchre in Kansas has never been found, but it is 
 noteworthy that from Mexico, as well as in later years from New 
 Mexico, all attempts on the part of the Spaniards to penetrate beyond 
 the region where his death occurred have signally failed. That region 
 is the same where the hardiest pioneers of Catholic civilization coming 
 from the south met, figuratively speaking, the pioneers of Catholic 
 civilization from Canada. The tomb of Fray Juan de Padilla. there- 
 fore, marks not a ne plus ultra, but the point where the two standard- 
 bearers of Catholicism came together to join both ends of the advance 
 of Catholic faith across the North American Continent." 11 
 
 It is a reflection replete with interest, that nearly four centuries 
 ago, the Cross, the type of our beautiful religion, was planted on the 
 banks of the Mississippi and of the Missouri, and the silent forests of 
 
 10 Mota-Padilla, Historia de Nuova Galicia, p. 167, quoted by Bandelier, 1. c, 
 pp. 5C3-564. 
 
 11 Bandelier, 1. c, p. 565. 
 
(> History of lh< Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the South were awakened by the Christian's hymn of gratitude and 
 praise, and the broad plains of the West were bedewed by the blood 
 of martyrdom. 
 
 The effect of both journeys was vivid, but transitory, "a voice 
 crying in the wilderness,'' and was not to be heard again in those 
 savage regions for many generations to come. It was as if a lightning 
 gleam had broken for a moment upon a benighted world, startling it 
 with sudden effulgence, only to leave it in tenfold gloom. The real 
 dawning was yet afar off from the hills and prairies of this far western 
 land. 
 
 It came, at last, with Joliet and Marquette's discovery of the 
 .Mississippi River, two hundred and fifty-five years ago. 
 
Chapter 2 
 FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE AND M. JOLIET 
 
 In recounting the labors and vicissitudes of the early explorers 
 of the Mississippi River and its tributaries we must invert the usual 
 order of appreciation. To the Church-historian the lives and deeds of 
 Marquette, Hennepin, Saint Cosme, of Joliet, La Salle and Tonti, and 
 the magnificent band of their companions and successors, are important, 
 first of all, in .as far as they served the cause of religion, and only in 
 a secondary way, as serving the cause of geographic knowledge and 
 the spread of commerce and civilization. It is therefore of little con- 
 sequence here whether Father Marquette or Louis Joliet was the official 
 leader of the first voyage of exploration. 1 What interests us most is 
 that Father Marquette was the first Catholic priest that traversed 
 the full length of the territory which was to become the Arch- 
 diocese of St. Louis, from Prairie du Chien to the mouth of the Arkansas 
 river, whilst the priestly companions of De Soto and Coronado only 
 touched its southern and western fringes. It is the glorious name of 
 Father Marquette, Jesuit priest and missionary, that stands at the head 
 and front of Christianity in the Mississippi Valley. For the establish- 
 ment of the Christian religion in the heart of the continent began 
 with the conversion of the Kaskaskia and Peoria Indians on the Illinois 
 river, a work which Father Marquette inaugurated by his perilous 
 voyage. Yet, even in this regard Joliet deserves warm recognition, 
 as he was beyond doubt the official commander of the expedition and, 
 as such, greatly advanced the spiritual interests for which Father 
 Marquette had been sent along with him by his superiors. But if 
 Joliet was the commander of the expedition, as he certainly was, 
 Father Marquette was just as certainly no mere chaplain. Indeed 
 the expedition was sent out by the government for the purpose of 
 discovery and the formation of friendly relations with the natives : 
 yet the spread of religion among the tribes was never absent from 
 the intentions of the government of Catholic France. As Bancroft 
 tells us, "It was neither commercial enterprise, nor royal ambition 
 which carried the power of France into the heart of our continent: 
 the motive was religion." 2 Hence the representative of the civil power 
 
 i On this question and on the entire matter the learned work of the Franciscan 
 Father Francis Borgia Steck, Ph. D., "The Joliet-Marquette Expedition 1673" gives 
 the most exhaustive and reliable information, although not all the conclusions seem 
 convincing. 
 
 2 History of the United States, 1844, Vol. Ill, p. 121. 
 
 (7) 
 
8 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 cooperated with the representative of the Church: and each had an 
 
 equal interest in the project, and deserves an equal share in the honor. 
 That the person of Juliet became obscured by the more illustrious 
 personality of Father Marquette is owing to several unfortunate circum- 
 stances, chief among them the loss of his papers just before his 
 arrival at Quebec, thus leaving Father Marquette as the main witness 
 in regard to the momentous events of their common voyage. 
 
 Neither Joliel nor Marquette was the first to divine the secret 
 of the mighty river of the West. Others had blazed the way to the 
 post of vantage, Machillimackinac, at the juncture of Lake Superior 
 and Michigan, and had gathered information from the Indians thai 
 proved very useful to the explorers. They were for the most pari 
 children of Catholic France, the France of Louis XIII and his splendid 
 son, brave, joyous, cultured, and above all, animated by the spirit 
 of religion ; men to whom the task was assigned by Providence to 
 open the interior of the North- American continent to the Church and 
 civilization. Following in the wake of ('artier, the intrepid Champlain 
 founded the city of Quebec at the junction of the St. Charles River 
 with the St. Lawrence — 1608, and proceeding up the mighty river, 
 planted the Lilies of France on the banks of Lake Huron long before 
 the landing of the May-Flower on the rugged coast of New England — 
 1620. The first part of the Seventeenth century was devoted to the 
 exploration of the Great Lakes. In 1634 Jean Nicollet, 3 one of 
 Champlain 's companions, passed through the Straits of .Mackinac and 
 reached the country around the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Mean- 
 while the Jesuit Fathers had begun a flourishing mission among the 
 Huron Indians at the foot of Lake George. From this as a base, in 
 1643, a missionary exploring party wenl to the strait where the waters 
 leap down from Lake Superior. This they christened the Sault de 
 Ste. Marie. 4 It was here that St. Isaac Jogues prayed and preached 
 to the tribesmen of the upper lakes. In 1669 Father Claude Allouez, 
 who had traced the entire coast-line of Lake Michigan before 1670 
 opened a number of missions in the Indian Villages (in the eastward 
 (lowing streams, and incidentally gathered all information about the 
 Far western countries and the mysterious river flowing either to the 
 west or south. 
 
 It was a younger companion of Allouez, Father .lames Marquette, 
 that was to plow the waves of the great river and to carry the first 
 tidings of the Gospel to the nations living on its borders. James 
 Marquette was born at Lann in 1637, entered the Jesuil Order in 
 
 3 R. S. Thwaites, Father Marquette, p. 160, <■!'. "The Journey of .lean Nicolel " 
 by Father Vimont, 1634, in "Early Narratives of the Northwest," edited by Louise 
 Phelps Kellogg, Ph. I). 
 
 •* Ibidem, p. 4. 
 
Father James Marquette and M. Joliet 9 
 
 1654, was sent to the mission in Canada in 1666, and appeared in 
 the west in 1669 at the mission of Pointe de St. Esprit, near the 
 western end of Lake Superior. Here he received frequent visits from 
 certain Illinois Indians, who had made a thirty days journey by land 
 from their home which lay to the southwest of La Pointe, and "piteously 
 entreated" him to visit their people. "They believe" wrote Father 
 Marquette, "that I will spread peace everywhere I go." "When the 
 Illinois come to La pointe, they pass a large river almost a league wide. 
 It runs north and south and so far that the Illinois, who do not 
 
 know what canoes are. have never yet heard of its mouth;" "If the 
 
 Indians who promise to make me a canoe, do not fail to keep their 
 word, we shall go into this river as soon as we can with a Frenchman. 
 We shall visit the nations that inhabit it in order to open the way to 
 so many of our Fathers who have long awaited this happiness." 5 
 
 In 1671 Father Marquette was forced by the threatened attack 
 of the Sioux to fly with his band of Huron Christians to the shelter 
 of St. Ignace on the northern side of the Strait of Mackinac. Here 
 the great call to more heroic endeavor reached him. We will give his 
 own words: 
 
 "The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin — 
 Whom I have always invoked since I have been in this country of 
 the Ottowas, to obtain from God the grace of being able to visit the 
 nations who dwell along the Mississippi River, was precisely the day 
 on which Monsieur Joliet arrived with orders from Monsieur the 
 Count de Frontenac, Our Governor, and Monsieur Talon, our Intendant, 
 to undertake this discovery with me. I was all the more delighted at 
 this good news, since I saw that my plans were about to be accomplished; 
 and since I found myself in the blessed necessity of exposing my life 
 for the salvation of all these peoples, and especially of the Illinois, 
 who had very urgently entreated me, when I was at the Pointe De 
 St. Esprit, to carry the word of God to their country. Accordingly, 
 on the 17th day of May, 1673, we started from the Mission of St. Ignace 
 at Michilimakinac, where I then was. 6 
 
 Above all, I placed our voyage under the protection of the Blessed 
 Virgin Immaculate, promising her that, if she granted us the favor 
 of discovering- the great river, I would give it the name of the Concep- 
 
 5 These quotations are taken from Relation 1669-70, Ottawa Part in Shea 
 "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," pp. LIV-LVI, passim. 
 
 G "Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents" edited Reuben Gold Thwaites, vol. 
 59, p. 89 — Doubt has been cast on the authenticity of Father Marquette's Narrative 
 of 1673; yet whether it be Marquette's own work or, as Dr. Steck holds, "in sub- 
 stance the account drawn up by Joliet and sent to Quebec to Marquette shortly before 
 the latter 's second voyage to the Illinois Country, ' ' it can certainly be relied upon 
 for the discoveries made and the events recorded. Cf. Steck, Rev. F. B., "The Joliet - 
 Marquette Expedition, 1673," p. 312. 
 
]() History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 tkm, and thai I would also make the first Mission that 1 should estab- 
 lish among those new peoples, bear the same name. This I have 
 actually done, among the Illinois." 7 
 
 Father Marquette was ready to start at once, undismayed by the 
 glowing terms which some of the Indians, among whom he labored, 
 set forth the relentless cruelty of the nations he was about to visit. 
 "I shall gladly lay down my life for the salvation of souls," was 
 the reply with which he silenced every suggestion of affectionate appre- 
 hension. With Joliet as his principal companion and five others 
 whose names have not reached our times, he set out on his adventurous 
 expedition, in two birch-bark canoes from the bay of Lake Michigan 
 now called (Jreen Bay. 
 
 Ascending Fox River, in navigating which they encountered con- 
 siderable difficulty, in consequence of the numerous rapids which 
 obstruct its course, they reached a high point near its source: where 
 they found a village consisting of three tribes, Miamis, Maskoutens, 
 and Kikabous. Father Marquette was greatly consoled at seeing a 
 handsome Cross erected in the middle of the village, and adorned with 
 many white skins, red belts, and bows and arrows, which these good 
 people had offered to the great Manitou (This is the name which they 
 give to God). They did this to thank Him for having had pity on them 
 during the winter, by giving them an abundance of game when they 
 most dreaded famine.'"* 
 
 The party continued their journey on the next day. They knew 
 they stood upon the great divide between the valley of the great 
 lakes and the valley of the mysterious river they were seeking. Father 
 Marquette says: "We knew that, at three leagues from the Maskoutens, 
 was a river which discharged into the Mississippi. We knew also 
 that the direction we were to follow in order to reach it, was west- 
 southwesterly. But the road is broken by so many swamps and small 
 lakes that it is easy to lose one's way, especially as the river leading 
 thither is so full of wild oats, that it is difficult to find the channel. For 
 this reason we greatly needed our two guides, who safely conducted 
 us to a portage of 2,700 paces, and helped us to transport our canoes 
 to enter that river; after which they returned home, leaving us alone 
 in this unknown country, in the hands of Providence." 9 Having passed 
 over the portage which divided the Fox from the Wisconsin Rivers, 
 they once more committed themselves to their frail barks, following 
 the course of the river which flows westwardly, until they found them- 
 selves floating on the bosom of the Father of Waters, on the 17th of 
 June, Ki7:'>. Greal and inexpressible was the joy of Father Marquette. 
 
 7 Ibidem, p. 93. 
 
 8 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 103. 
 s "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 105. 
 
Father James Marquette and M. Joliet 11 
 
 But his labor had scarcely begun. On and on they drifted on the placid 
 waters through scenes as fresh and beautiful and strange as if they 
 had just been called forth from nothingness by the voice of God. It 
 was a land of mountains and plains, of forests and prairies, of birds 
 and beasts, but seemingly devoid of human life. "We continued to 
 advance," says Father Marquette, "But as we knew not whither 
 we were going, — for we had proceeded over one hundred leagues with- 
 out discovering anything except animals and birds, — we kept well 
 on our guard. On this account we made only a small fire on land, 
 toward evening, to cook our meals; and, after supper, we remove 
 ourselves as far from it as possible, and pass the night in our canoes, 
 which we anchor in the river at some distance from the shore." 10 
 
 "Finally, on the 25th of June, we perceived on the water's edge 
 some tracks of men, and a narrow and somewhat beaten path leading 
 to a fine prairie. We stopped to examine it; and, thinking that it 
 was a road which led to some village of savages, we resolved to go 
 and reconnoiter it. We therefore left our two canoes under the guard 
 of our people, strictly charging them not to allow themselves to be 
 surprised; after which Monsieur Joliet and I undertook this investiga- 
 tion — a rather hazardous one for two men who exposed themselves, 
 alone, to the mercy of a barbarous and unknown people. We silently 
 followed the narrow path, and after walking about two leagues, we 
 discovered a village on the bank of a river, and two others on a hill 
 distant about half a league from the first. We therefore decided that 
 it was time to reveal ourselves. This we did by shouting with all 
 our energy, and stopped, without advancing any farther. On hearing 
 (lie shout, the savages quickly issued from their cabins, and having 
 probably recognized us as Frenchmen, especially when they saw a 
 black-gown, — or, at least having no cause for distrust, as we were 
 only two men, and had given them notice of our arrival, — they deputed 
 four old men to come and speak to us. Two of these bore tobacco- 
 pipes, finely ornamented and adorned with various feathers. They 
 walked slowly, and raised their pipes toward the sun, seemingly offering 
 them to it to smoke, — without, however, saying a word. They spent 
 a rather long- time in covering the short distance between their village 
 and us. Finally, when they had drawn near, they stopped to consider 
 us attentively. I was reassured when I observed these ceremonies, 
 which with them are performed only among friends; and much more 
 so, when I saw them clad in cloth, for I judged thereby that they were 
 our allies. I therefore spoke to them first, and asked them who they 
 were. They replied that they were Illinois ; and, as a token of peace, 
 they offered us their pipes to smoke. They afterward invited us 
 
 10 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 110. 
 
12 History of tin Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 to enter their village, where all the people impatiently awaited us. 
 These pipes for smoking tobacco are called in this country Calumets." 11 
 
 "At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received was 
 an old man, who awaited us in a rather surprising attitude, which 
 constitutes a part of the ceremonial that they observe when they 
 receive strangers. This man stood erect, and stark naked, with his 
 hands extended and lifted toward the sun, as if he wished to protect 
 himself from its rays, which nevertheless shone upon his face through 
 his fingers. When we came near him, he paid us this compliment: 
 "How beautiful the sun is, Frenchman, when thou comest to visit 
 us! All our village awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins 
 in peace." Having said this, he made us enter his own, in which were 
 a crowd of people ; they devoured us with their eyes, but, nevertheless, 
 observed profound silence. 
 
 After we had taken our places, the usual civility of the country 
 was paid to us, which consisted in offering us the Calumet. 
 
 While all the elders smoked after us, in order to do us honor, 
 we received an invitation on behalf of the great Captain of all the 
 Illinois to proceed to his village where he wished to hold a Council 
 with us. We went thither in a large company. For all these people, 
 who had never seen any Frenchmen among them, could not cease 
 looking at us. They lay on the grass along the road; they preceded 
 us, and then retraced their steps to come and see us again. All this 
 was done noiselessly, and with marks of great respect for us. 12 
 
 "Seeing all assembled and silent, I spoke to them by four presents 
 that I gave them. By the first, I told them that we were journeying 
 peacefully to visit the nations dwelling on the river as far as the sea. 
 By the second, I announced to them that God, who had created them. 
 had pity on them, inasmuch as, after they had so long been ignorant 
 of Him, He wished to make Himself known to all the peoples ; that I 
 
 sent by Him for that purpose; and that it was for them to acknowl- 
 edge and obey Him. By the third, I said that the great Captain of 
 the French informed them that He it was who restored peace every 
 where j and that He had subdued the Iroquois. Finally, by the fourth 
 we begged them to give us all the information that they had about the 
 sea, and about the nations through whom we must pass to reach it. 
 
 "When I had finished my speech, the Captain arose, and, resting 
 his hand upon the head of a little slave whom he wished to give us, 
 he spoke thus: 'I thank thee. Black Gown, and thee, Frenchman '~ 
 addressing himself to Monsieur Joliet, — 'for having taken so much 
 trouble to come to visit us. Never has the earth been so beautiful, 
 or the sou so bright, as today; never has our river been so calm, or 
 
 « "Jesuit Relations," vol. 50, p. 115. 
 i^ "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 110. 
 
Father James Marquette and M. Joliet 13 
 
 so clear of rocks, which your canoes have removed in passing; never 
 lias our tobacco tasted so good, or our corn appeared so fine, as we now 
 see them. Here is my son, whom I give thee to show thee my heart. 
 I beg thee to have pity on me, and on all my Nation. It is thou who 
 knowest the great spirit who has made us all. It is thou who speakest 
 to Him, and who nearest His word. Beg Him to give me life and health, 
 and to come and dwell with us, in order to make us know Him.' " 13 
 
 This first meeting of white men and Illinois Indians in their home 
 on the Mississippi took place on the northern bank of the Des Moines 
 River 14 at its confluence with the Mississippi. The Illinois were a 
 confederation of five tribes, with villages on both sides of the Great 
 River. On Father Marquette's map as well as on that of Joliet 
 (1674) the villages of the Illinois that were visited, are placed on the 
 west side of the Mississippi. The main habitat, however, was Central Illi- 
 nois. The Illinois are of the Algonquin stock, and Father Marquette, who 
 had learnt five different Indian languages, was able to converse with 
 them in their own. The reference to the Iroquois made a deep impression 
 on all, as this cruel and warlike nation, or rather confederacy of 
 nations, was then waging a war of extermination against all the more 
 peaceful tribes of the lake-region, and threatening fierce inroads into 
 the very country of the Illinois. 
 
 Father Marquette's Journal contains many a word of high praise 
 for his new friends and children. "Their bodies are shapely; they 
 are active and very skillful with bows and arrows. They also use guns, 
 which they buy from our savage allies who trade with our French. 
 They use them especially to inspire, through their noise and smoke, 
 terror in their enemies ; the latter do not use guns, and have never 
 seen any, since they live too far toward the West." 15 Having received 
 the Calumet, the pipe of peace, from his friends and having promised 
 to visit their people in their ancestral home on the Illinois River, Father 
 Marquette and his companions returned to their boats and abandoned 
 themselves to the current. In the neighborhood of what is now the 
 city of Alton they discovered a strange monument of ancient days. 
 "While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired 
 awe, Ave saw upon one of them two painted monsters, which at first 
 made us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long 
 rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf; they have horns on their 
 heads like those of deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a 
 tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and 
 so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head 
 
 is "Jesuit Relations, " vol. 59, p. 121. 
 
 14 C. S. Weld in his "Joliet and Marquette in Iowa" maintains that this group 
 of villages was not on the Des Moines but on the Iowa River, 
 is "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 138. 
 
14 History of the Archdiocese <>]' St. Louis 
 
 and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail." 10 The 
 explorers of the Mississippi were about to discover the mouth of its 
 greatest tributary, the .Missouri. Father Marquette continues .-" While 
 conversing about these monsters and sailing quietly in clear and calm 
 water, we heard the noise of a rapid, into which we were about to 
 run. 1 have seen nothing more dreadful. An accumulation of large 
 and entire trees, branches, and floating islands, was issuing from the 
 mouth of the river Pekitanoui, with such impetuousity that we could 
 not, without great danger, risk passing through it. So great was the 
 agitation that the water was very muddy, and could not become (dear." 17 
 Passing unharmed through this dangerous whirlpool, the little canoes- 
 bore on with greater speed over the waters that washed the rocky shore 
 whereon the great city of St. Louis was to rise in beauty at some 
 far off date, passed the village of the Tamaroa on the eastern bank, 
 greeted the little river that was to receive the flight of the Kaskaskias, 
 and the Mission of the Immaculate Conception, skirted the grand tower 
 that separated the river into two channels, and sped through the cross- 
 current made by the mighty Ohio, the Beautiful River of later times. 
 Pursuing their course without the occurrence of any incident until the 
 party arrived at the mouth of the Arkansas River. "We had gone 
 down to near the 33rd degree of latitude," says Father Marquette, 
 "having proceeded nearly all the time in a southerly direction, when 
 we perceived a village on the water's edge, called Mitchigamea. We 
 had recourse to our Patroness and guide, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate; 
 and we greatly needed her assistance, for we heard from afar the 
 savages who were inciting one another to the fray by their continual 
 yells. They were armed with bows, arrows, hatchets, clubs and shields. 
 They prepared to attack us, on both land and water; part of them 
 embarked in great wooden canoes — some to ascend, others to descend 
 the river, in order to intercept us and surround us on all sides. Those 
 who were on land came and went, as if to commence the attack. In 
 fact, some young men threw themselves into the water, to come and 
 seize my canoe; but the current compelled them to return to land. 
 One of them then hurled his club, which passed over without striking 
 us. In vain I showed the calumet, and made them signs that we were 
 not. coming to war against them. The alarm continued, and they 
 were already preparing to piei'ce us with arrows from all sides, when 
 God suddenly touched the hearts of the old men, who were standing at 
 the water's edge. This, no doubt, happened through the sight of our 
 calumet, winch they had not clearly distinguished from afar; but as I 
 did not cease displaying it, they were influenced by it, and checked the 
 ardor of their young men. Two of these elders even,— after casting 
 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 139. 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 50, p. 141. 
 
Father James Marquette and M. Joliet 15 
 
 into our eanoe, as if at our feet, their bows and quivers, to reassure 
 us — entered the canoe, and made us approach the shore, whereon we 
 landed, not without fear on our part. At first, we had to speak by 
 signs, because none of them understood any of the six languages which 
 I spoke. At last, we found an old man who could speak a little 
 Illinois." 18 Father Marquette soon succeeded to conciliate them. He 
 informed them that his party were going to the sea. He also spoke to 
 them about God and about matters pertaining to their salvation. "This 
 is a seed cast into the ground, which will bear fruit in due time" 
 said the good Father. The Indians told them that there was another 
 village called Akansea, eight or ten leagues lower down where they 
 might obtain the information they desired. 
 
 The exploring party embarked early on the following day and 
 were kindly received. But from all they heard about the dangers of 
 the way, and from clue consideration of the rapid depletion of their 
 .stock of provisions, Marquette and Joliet determined on a homeward 
 course. They had attained the object of their desires, they had dis- 
 covered the great western river, they had floated down its broad 
 expanse of water upwards of nine-hundred miles. Its unvaried southern 
 direction could not be a matter of a moment's doubt; and that it 
 debouched into the great Mexican Gulf was now satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained. "We therefore reascend the Mississippi" writes Father 
 Marquette, "which gives us much trouble in breasting its currents. 
 It is true that Ave leave it, at about the 38th degree, to enter another 
 river, the Illinois, which greatly, shortens our way, and takes us with 
 but little effort to the lake of the Illinois," that is, Lake Michigan. 19 
 "We found on it a village of Illinois, called Kaskaskia, consisting of 
 74 cabins. They received us very well, and obliged me to promise that 
 I would return to instruct them. One of the chiefs of this nation, with 
 his young men, escorted us to the lake of the Illinois, whence, at 
 last, at the end of September, we reached the Bay des Puants from 
 which we had started at the beginning of June." 20 During the Fall and 
 Winter Father Marquette wrote out copies of his Journal for his 
 Superior, Father Claude Dablon, and then during the summer months 
 recuperated at the Mission of St. Francis Xavier. Here he received 
 orders to proceed to the Mission of the Immaculate Conception at 
 Kaskaskia, and departed on the 25th of October 1674. Hampered by 
 rain and hail and snow he crossed the portage from Sturgeon Bay to 
 Lake Michigan; then, prevented by illness from traveling, he decided 
 to winter on the river that leads to the Illinois. 21 Here in a wretched 
 
 J» "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 151. 
 
 io "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 161. 
 
 2" "Jesuit Relations," vol. 59, p. 162. 
 
 2 1 The Chicago River near the Portage. 
 
16 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 cabin he said mass regularly and administered Holy Communion to 
 his two eompanionSj Jacques and Pierre, shortly after Christmas, 
 he and his companions made a Novena in honor of the [mmaculate 
 Conception of the Blessed Virgin, that he mighl have the grace to 
 take possession of his mission among the Illinois. Their prayer was 
 "•ranted, and, on the 29th day of March 1675, Father Marquette started 
 for thai place with joy and. after eleven days on the way, arrived at his 
 destination three days before Easter, "lie was received like an angel 
 From heaven." But we musl let Father Dablon tell the splendid story 
 of this reception. 
 
 "After he had assembled at various times the chiefs of the nation, 
 with all the old men, that he mighl sow in their minds the first seeds 
 of the gospel, and after having given instruction in the cabins, which 
 were always filled with a great crowd of people, he resolved to address 
 all in public, in a general assembly which he called together in the 
 open air, the cabins being too small to contain all the people. It was 
 a beautiful prairie, close to a village, which was selected for the great 
 C imcil; this was adorned, after the fashion of the country, by cover- 
 ing it with mats and bearskins. Then the Father, having directed 
 them to stretch out upon lines several pieces of Chinese taffeta, attached 
 to these four large pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which were visible 
 on all sides. The audience was composed of 500 child's and elders 
 seated in a circle around the Father, and of all the young men, who 
 remained standing. They numbered more than 1,500 men, without 
 counting the women and children, who are. always numerous, — the 
 village being composed of 5 or 600 fires. The Father addressed the 
 whole body of people, and conveyed to them, ten messages, by means of 
 ten presents which he gave them. He explained to them the principal 
 mysteries of our Religion, and the purpose that had brought him to 
 their country. Above all, he preached to them Jesus Christ, on the 
 very eve (of that great day) on which He had died upon the Cross for 
 them, as well as for all the rest of mankind; then he said Holy Mass. 
 On the third day after, which was Easter Sunday, things being pre- 
 pared in the same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the holy 
 mysteries for the second time; and by these two, the only sacrifices 
 ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, and gave to that mission the name of the Immaculate 
 Conception of the Blessed Virgin. He was listened to by all those 
 peoples with universal joy; and they prayed him with most earnest 
 entreaty to come back to them as soon as possible, since his sickness 
 obliged him to return. The Father, on his side, expressed to them the 
 affection which he felt for them, and the satisfaction that they had 
 given him; and pledged them his word that he, or some other of our 
 Fathers, would return to carry on that mission so happily inaugurated. 
 
Father J nuns Marquette and M. J olid 17 
 
 This promise he repealed several limes, while parting with them to 
 go upon his way; and he set out with so many tokens of regard on 
 the part of those good peoples that, as a mark of honor, they chose 
 to escort him for more than 30 leagues on the road, vying with each 
 other in taking charge of his slender baggage." 22 
 
 In order to reach his home at St. [gnace Father Marquette with 
 his two companions entered Lake Michigan and coasted along its 
 southern and western shore, but he felt so feeble and exhausted that 
 he was obliged to disembark from his canoe, and on the banks of what 
 is since know as Pere Marquette River, he yielded up his spirit in the 
 depths of the wilderness, thanking the Almighty far his mercy in 
 permitting him to die in the Society of Jesus, alone amidst the forest. 
 ! I is frail body was laid to rest in the spot his death had consecrated; 
 but two years later was removed to the Mission of St. Ignace at 
 \i.ickinack, where the hones were placed in a small vaidl in the 
 middle of the church. "The savages often come to pray at his tomb," 
 adds Father Claude Dablon. 
 
 Father Marquette was succeeded in the Illinois Mission of the 
 Immaculate Conception by Father Claude Allouez, his former Superior 
 at the Pointe de Saint Esprit. In his sincere and deep humility Father 
 Marquette never realized the vast significance of his discovery. He 
 was glad to do a service to his* country France, but his greal delighl 
 and comfort were the souls whom he had won for Christ. He resembled 
 St. Francis Xavier, nut only in the variety of Barbarian languages, 
 which he mastered, but also in the range of his zeal, which made him 
 carry the faith to so many unknown nations, in the <jentleness of his 
 love which rendered him beloved by all, in the beauty of his child-like 
 candor, with which he disclosed his heart to his superiors, in his 
 angelic chastity and uninterrupted union with God. 23 
 
 Of Louis Joliet, Father Marquette's companion of the voyage, or 
 if you will, the leader of it, history must in future speak with the 
 highest respect. He had the good will of both Frontenac and Talon, 
 and as it would seem, the Jesuit Superior had commended him to 
 Talon for the enterprise. He knew several of the Indian languages, 
 and manifested remarkable faith in his dealings with the natives. He 
 had an intrepid spirit and a romantic turn of mind. His bodily 
 constitution was hardened to all kinds of hardships and privations. 
 He was one heart and one mind with Father Marquette: With him 
 he shared the dangers of the voyage, and he must share with him the 
 "•lory of the great discovery. Father Marquette would be the first 
 
 22 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 50, p. 189. 
 
 23 Cf. Claude Dablon 's Circular letter apud Thwaites, "Father Marquette," 
 page 232. 
 
18 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 one to give testimony in his favor, if he could be called before the 
 tribunal of history, which has long since decided in his own favor. 
 Father James Marquette's successor at the mission of the Immacu- 
 late Conception at Kaskaskia was Father Claude Allouez, a man not 
 inferior in zeal or ability to any of the great missionaries of his time. 
 He sailed from France in 1658, and after a thorough study of the 
 Algonquin language in Quebec, was sent to the west. On April 27, 
 1677, he arrived at Kaskaskia on the Illinois River. "I immediately 
 entered the cabin where Father Marquette had lodged, and the sachems 
 with all the people being assembled, I told them the object of my coming 
 among them, namely to preach to them the true living and immortal 
 God and His only Son Jesus Christ." Father Allouez found the 
 village much increased. It was before composed only of one nation, 
 the Kaskaskias, there were now eight, the Kaskaskias having called 
 the others who dwelt in the neighborhood of the Mississippi. After 
 some acquaintance the priest pronounced these savages as naturally 
 high spirited, valorous and daring. "The women dress modestly, the 
 men feel no shame at their own nudity." Polygamy is the chief 
 obstacle to their adopting the Christian religion. But Allouez is very 
 hopeful of a great change to be effected by the children as they grow 
 up. Even of the adults he does not despair, as he w ? rites; "I laid 
 the foundation of this mission by the. baptism of thirty-five children, 
 and a sick adult, who soon after died with one infant, to go and take 
 possession of heaven in the name of the whole nation. And we, 
 to take possession of these tribes in the name of Jesus Christ, on the 
 third day of May, the Feast of the Holy Cross, planted in the 
 middle of the village a Cross thirty-five feet in height, chanting the 
 "Vexilla" in the presence of a large number of Illinois of all the 
 nations. Of these I can say in truth that they did not regard Jesus 
 Christ crucified as a folly, or a scandal; on the contrary, they assisted 
 at the ceremony with great respect, and listened with admiration to 
 all I had to say regarding the mystery. The children even came 
 devoutly to kiss the cross, while the grown-up people earnestly en- 
 treated me to plant it there so firmly that it might never be in danger 
 of falling." 24 This was the last official act of Father Allouez among 
 his Illinois children. He promised them to return the next year 1678; 
 and, as Father Claude Dablon states at the end of Father Allouez's 
 narrative, he did set out for the mission to remain there two years. 
 But ere he could carry out his purpose La Salle and his force arrived 
 in the Illinois country with three Recollet Fathers, Ribourde, Mambre 
 and Hennepin. 
 
 24 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 70, p. 165. 
 
Chapter 3 
 LASALLE, DE TONTI AND THE RECOLLETS 
 
 Whilst Father Marquette's voyage can be justly compared to the 
 journey of an apostle, quiet and lonely in outward form, yet borne 
 onward by a burning zeal for the salvation of souls, the succeeding 
 expedition conducted by LaSalle and Tonti and accompanied by the 
 Recollet 1 Fathers Ribourde, Mambre and Hennepin, bears greater i*e- 
 semblance to a romantic adventure of Knightly Crusaders. Both bore 
 the crown of Christ on their banners. Both strove and suffered for 
 the winning of souls. With LaSalle this purpose often seems secondary, 
 with Father Marquette it always stands foremost and highest. This 
 may be partly owing to the fact that, although Joliet was the official 
 leader of the voj r age of exploration Father Marquette was, both intel- 
 lectually and by force of character, its very head and soul; whilst 
 on the other hand, the Sieur de LaSalle was in every sense the con- 
 trolling spirit and heroic soul of the entire undertaking. It is a 
 fascinating story of courage, determination and political wisdom, 
 qualities that would have led to the grandest achievements, if they 
 had been combined with the gentleness of manner and the necessary 
 power of bending others to his purpose and leading them as by a silken 
 cord. From LaSalle 's brain sprang the grand conception of a New 
 France in America, greater, richer, more powerful than the old, which 
 was to stretch from the northern shores of the great lakes to the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and from the Allegheny Mountains to the Vermillion Sea, 
 thus surrounding the struggling colonies of England with an im- 
 penetrable wall on all sides except the seaboard of the Atlantic. 
 That he did not attain his purpose does not derogate from the grandeur 
 of the idea. We can here but pass in rapid review the various scenes 
 of this mighty drama, as it is recorded by the Recollet Fathers Hennepin 
 and Le Clerque and by the ever faithful Chevalier de Tonti. 
 
 Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle was a native of Normandy. Born at 
 Rouen, November 21, 1643, he received his education in some Jesuit Insti- 
 tution of learning. He entered the Novitiate in Paris October 5th, 1658, 
 and two years later took the three vows under the name Robert Ignatius. 
 1666 he asked for his release and obtained it on March 28th, 1668, and 
 departed for Canada. He soon made a fortune in the fur trade. This 
 he used for the furtherance of his high ambition to extend the power 
 of France in the new world. Through the influence of Count Frontenac 
 he obtained large powers in this regard from the King, Louis XIV. 
 
 The Becollets are a branch of the Order of St. Francis. 
 
 (19) 
 
l'ii History of the Archdiocese of St. Linus 
 
 Frontenac himself ceded to him the Fort he had built on the eastern 
 extremity of Lake Ontario, where the St. Lawrence issues from the 
 lake. The only condition was that La Salle should rebuild the fort 
 with stone and maintain the garrison there al his own expense. To 
 enable the new commander to do this, he was invested with the seignory 
 of a trad of land around it. The discoveries of Marquette left no 
 doubt in LaSalle's mind that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of 
 Mexico; yet one of its tributaries might come from China and Japan. 
 An ocean of discovery lay before him. The greal Colberl and the 
 King himself were won over. In Paris LaSalle engaged the Chevalier 
 de Tonti, an Italian by birth, and in May 1678 the party of thirty 
 persons set sail for Quebec where they arrived near the end of Sep- 
 tember. He also engaged three Recollet Fathers: Gabriel Ribourde, 
 Louis Hennepin and Zenobe Mabre, all Flemings, to accompany him 
 on his proposed voyage down the Mississippi to the Gulf. Five other 
 Recollets were to attend the missions at Fort Frontenac and Fort 
 Niagara, 2 which latter stronghold was built by Father Hennepin, No- 
 vember 1678 to August 1679. About two leagues above the Falls of 
 Niagara LaSalle built a ship of sixty tons, the first ship that ever 
 sailed over the waters of the great lakes. It was called the Griffin. 
 Proudly it sailed away August 7th, 1679, over the pathway of Lake 
 Erie and Lake Huron, then through the Straits of Mackinac, the Griffin 
 entered the broad expanse of Lake Michigan, and coasting along its 
 northern borders, cast anchor at an island in the mouth of Green Bay. 
 Laden with furs and peltry the Griffin was sent back to Fort Frontenac, 
 whilst LaSalle and most of his men and three friars, started in boats 
 down Lake Michigan for the Illinois country, and the Mississippi, 
 and the sea. Taking the portage of the Kankakee River they floated 
 down the Illinois until they came to Lake Peoria, then called Pimiteouy, 
 They landed at a large settlement of Indians at the southern end of 
 the lake. Here LaSalle built Fort Creve Coeur. Father Mambre 
 took up his residence there, supplying the place of the Jesuit Allouez. 
 Father Hennepin was dispatched on an exploring trip to discover 
 the sources of the Mississippi. He came as far as the rapids near St. 
 Paul, and called them the Falls of St. Anthony. Being captured by 
 a band of Sioux Indians he was held a prisoner for some time near 
 the mouth of the Wisconsin River. LaSalle on his part started back 
 to Mackinac with three Frenchmen and one Indian, leaving Tonti in 
 i hief command at the Creve Coeur fort. 
 
 On his way he was so charmed with a high rocky eminence, rising 
 from the river, level at the top and accessible on one side only. He 
 sent word to Tonti to build a fort on the rock. It was done, and in 
 
 2 Father Hennepin in his "Louisiana," published the first description of 
 Niagara Falls. 
 
LaSalle, Dc Tonti and the Becollets 21 
 
 history it bears the honored name of Fort St. Louis. Daring LaSalle 's 
 absence suspicions were rife among the Indians as to the intentions 
 of the Frenchmen, suspicions that seemed to be confirmed by the appear- 
 ance of an Iroquois war party at the village. The Illinois were defeated 
 and dispersed. The French fort was destroyed by renegade Frenchmen, 
 and Tonti himself and his little band had to withdraw ; on the way 
 the venerable Father Gabriel Ribourde was murdered by an Iroquois 
 warrior. Tonti escaped to Green Bay, whilst LaSalle was on his return 
 voyage to the Illinois. He alone was not broken-hearted, although 
 his proud ship the Griffin was lost, his fort at the mouth of the St. 
 Joseph River as well as Fort Creve Coeur were destroyed and many 
 of the men had deserted. He immediately studied out a plan to re- 
 trieve his fallen fortunes. He learnt that nearly all the inhabitants 
 of seventeen Illinois villages had crossed the Mississippi River to find 
 safety among the Osages and Missouri Indians. After a long and 
 tedious search LaSalle found Tonti and Mambre in Mackinac, waiting 
 for him and ready to continue his work. In January 1682 LaSalle and 
 his company were ready for the voyage down the Illinois River, and 
 on the 6th of February they found themselves floating safely on the 
 waters of the Mississippi. On the 4th of March LaSalle took possession 
 of the country in the name of the King of France, Louis XIV. The 
 savages Avere delighted with the splendor of the ceremony. A large 
 cross was erected by the soldiers and adorned with the arms of France. 
 Father Mambre spoke to the multitude of Christ and His love for the 
 Indians. Two weeks were spent in the villages of the Arkansas round 
 about. On the 20th of March they reached the Taensas where the 
 commander was received with elaborate ceremonial. Another cross 
 was planted in the usual manner. At last on the 6th of April the river 
 was observed to divide itself into three arms. LaSalle had found the 
 Gulf. Here at the mouth of the great river a column was erected with 
 this inscription: "Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre, reigns; 
 the 9th of April 1682." The Te Deum was chanted, the muskets were 
 discharged and a shout went up: "Long live the King." Thus did the 
 Sieur de LaSalle take possession of all Louisiana for the crown of 
 France. LaSalle began to ascend the river, on his return to Quebec, 
 but owing to sickness, he did not arrive in that city before the Spring 
 of the following year, 1683. The important discovery he had made was 
 to be immediately communicated to the French Court ; He accordingly 
 once more returned to France, where he was favorably received by the 
 Court, from which, notAvithstanding some opposition that was made 
 to the undertaking, he obtained four vessels for the purpose of enabling 
 him to enter the Mississippi from the sea, and securing by actual 
 possession, the advantages of the recent discovery. Among his com- 
 panions, about two hundred in number, were three priests of the 
 
22 History of tht Archdioces( of St. Louis 
 
 congregation of St. Sulpice, one of whom was a brother of LaSalle, as 
 also four Capuchin Fathers. LaSalle 's brother bore the name of 
 Joseph Cavelier. The other Kulpicians were M. Chefdeville and M. de 
 Maim ille, called by Joutel Dainniaville. The three Recollets were 
 Fathers Zenobius Mambre, Superior of the Mission, Father Maximus 
 LeClereq, and Father Anastasius Douay, all three of the province 
 of St. Anthony in Artois. 8 Father Zenobius was specially endeared 
 to LaSalle as his inseparable companion during the four years of his 
 conquest of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. 
 
 Starting out from the port of Rochelle, the little fleet was forced 
 to return on account of an accident to the largesl ship. Owing to 
 various misunderstandings between LaSalle and the Captain of the 
 expedition, Beaujeu, one of the ships was captured by a Spanish 
 pirate, another vessel was lost, with all its cargo in the attempt to 
 land. Beaujeu refused to deliver the cannon and ammunition intended 
 for the colony and, to cap the climax, large bands of Indian warriors 
 made constant attacks on his men. Matagorda Bay had been mistaken 
 for the mouth of the Mississippi. The only vessel which remained at 
 LaSalle 's disposal ran aground and sunk during his absence. The 
 equanimity of temper with which he bore these accumulated trials, 
 is, perhaps, the most beautiful part of his character; while the per- 
 severance with which he labored for the attainment of his important 
 design, entitles him to the highest meed of praise. There was now no 
 hope of safety but in gaining the Illinois River by land; and, not- 
 withstanding the appalling difficulties with which such an attempt was 
 attended, he resolved to make the effort. On the 7th of January, 
 1687, accompanied by twenty men, among them his brother, the Sulpician 
 Father Anastasius. and the Sieur Joutel, he left the fort in the posses- 
 sion of his remaining companions, and set out on his adventurous 
 journey. Proceeding in a northeastern direction, he wandered, during 
 three months, over every variety of country — wide extended plains, 
 and verdant hills; through tangled forests, and rank poisonous swamps; 
 exposed to dangers of the most serious character, and enduring all 
 kinds of privation and suffering. 
 
 On the 19th of March 1687 LaSalle was murdered by two of his 
 own men, who shot him from ambush. Joutel says that LaSalle died 
 instantly; but Father Anastasius, who was an eyewitness says: "I 
 saw him fall a step from me, with his face all covered with blood. I 
 
 3 Both Reeolk't Fathers Hennepin and Mambre, the companions of LaSalle 's 
 first and second voyages, as well as Fathers Douay and LeClereq, Recollets, Father 
 Joseph Cavelier, Sulpician, an M. Henry Joutel, of the second voyage, have left us 
 authentic accounts of the events they witnessed. They all can be found in John G. 
 Shea's three volume-series, "The Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi 
 Valley. ' ' 
 
LaSulle, De Tonti and the Recollets 23 
 
 washed it with tears, exhorting him to die well. He had confessed, and 
 fulfilled his devotions just before we started; he had still time to 
 recapitulate a part of his life, and I gave him absolution. I could not 
 leave the spot where he had expired without having buried him as well 
 as I could, after which I raised a cross over his grave." 4 This account 
 is not as improbable as some writers have considered it. Any Catholic 
 priest would, in a similar case, immediately give absolution, even when 
 in doubt whether the penitent be dying or dead. No doubt Father 
 Anastasius took LaSalle's hand in his and spoke words of comfort and 
 hope into his ears, feeling in the pressure of the hand a faint response. 
 This too, would be called a confession. 
 
 LaSalle 's character is thus given by Bancroft : ' ' For force of will, 
 and vast conceptions — for various knowledge, and quick adaptation of 
 his genius to untried circumstances — for a sublime magnanimity, that 
 resigned itself to the will of Heaven, and yet triumphed over affliction 
 by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope — he had no superior among 
 his countrymen. He had won the affection of the Governor of Canada, 
 the esteem of Colbert, the confidence of Seignelay, the favor of Louis 
 XIV. After beginning the colonization of Upper Canada, he perfected 
 the discovery of the Mississippi, from the Falls of St. Anthony to its 
 mouth ; and he will be remembered through all time, as the father 
 of colonization in the great central valley of the west." 5 Immediately 
 after the melancholy termination of the labors of this great man, 
 his assassins undertook the command of the expedition ; and, as might 
 be expected their first exercise of authority was to seize on the treasury 
 and provisions, which were estimated to be worth about fifty thousand 
 francs. Soon however disputes arose among them ; two of them fell 
 victims to the violence of their guilty accomplices, and the rest are 
 supposed to have remained among some of the Indian tribes. Those who 
 remained faithful pursued their journey under the leadership of 
 LaSalle's brother, the Sulpician Cavelier, and the Recollet Father 
 Anastasius, until the 20th of July, when they arrived among the 
 Arkansas, where they met with two of their countrymen, in the vicinity 
 of the river of that name. After a short delay, they ascended the 
 Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they entered on the 
 3rd of September, and on the 11th of the same month arrived at Fort 
 St. Louis, on Lake Peoria. De Tonti was absent on a military expedition 
 against the Seneca Indians, under the command of Governor de Nonville. 
 The Jesuit Father Allouez, who had attended the Kaskaskia mission 
 for the last year or more, now departed for Mackinac. Here, on Peoria 
 Lake the remnants of LaSalle's expedition passed the Avinter, and on 
 
 ■* Narrative of Father Douay in J. G. Shea's "Discovery and Exploration in 
 the Mississippi Valley, p. 218. 
 
 6 "History of the United States," 1854, vol. Ill, p. 173. 
 
'_' J History of tJu Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 the opening of spring continued their journey to Quebec, where, shortly 
 after their arrival, they took shipping for France. No further. attempts 
 to complete the discovery of the Mississippi appear to have been made 
 by the French Governmenl until the year Hi!>7. when two ships, under 
 the command of Lemoine D'Iberville and Chateaumorand, were fitted 
 out for thai purpose. They set sail on the ITtli of October 1698 and on 
 the 12th of January 1699 came in sight of the coast of Florida. Shortly 
 afterwards Lemoine D'Iberville sailed for the .Mississippi, which he 
 entered on the -lid of March and ascended as far as the present site 
 of Donaldsonville and founded the Colony of Rosalie near the site of 
 the City of Natchez. In 1718 his brother Bienville completed the 
 peaceful conquest of Louisiana by the foundation of the great emporium 
 of the South, New Orleans. This rapid review represents in rough out- 
 lines the national background for the rising Church of God in the 
 vast territory of the Mississippi and its tributaries. The progress of 
 religion is slow and laborious. The immediate results are not great, 
 as far as the records show. Yet missionary activities had accompanied 
 i he entire voyage of LaSalle from Fort Frontenac to the mouth of the 
 Mississippi; for as we have seen, Father Zenobe Mambre never let 
 an occasion pass by without an appeal to the unima naturaliter chris- 
 tiane, that he recognized in every savage he met. leather Gabriel 
 Ribourde sealed his glowing zeal for the salvation of souls by martyrdom. 
 Father Hennepin, after his deliverance from captivity by Du Lhulh, 
 returned to Green Bay by way of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. In 
 the following year he sailed for Europe and, at the convent of his order 
 at St. Germaine-en-Laye, wrote his first book, the Louisiana. The 
 name of Father Louis Hennepin has been clouded with the charge that 
 he was a dreadful liar. Mr. Perkman has expressed the current opinion 
 of him by saying: "His books have their value with all their enormous 
 fabrications. Could he have contented himself with telling the truth, 
 his name would have stood high as a bold and vigorous discoverer." 1 ' 
 
 Father Hennepin's character, in no other respect, has been im- 
 peached; and while in America, he bore the reputation of a fearless, 
 circumspect, and self-denying priest. When stationed in Canada he 
 would start out in the depth of winter with a little chapel service on 
 his back, and travel twenty or thirty leagues on snow shoes, that he 
 might baptize dying Indians and harden himself for his rough pioneer 
 work. With two companions he explored, in 1680, the Mississippi 
 River north from the mouth of the Illinois River, discovered 
 the Falls of St. Anthony and wrote the earliest book of travels on the 
 Northwest. The general truthfulness of this book the Louisiana has 
 never been questioned; and its popularity has exceeded that of all 
 other contemporary publications relating to North America. May there 
 
 Parkman, " LaSalle and the Greal West," p. 137. 
 
LaSalle, Be Tonti and the Becollets 25 
 
 not be some mistake in the severe judgment which has been passed upon 
 the character of Father Hennepin? That there were falsehoods and 
 frauds in later publications which bore his name is true; but what 
 part of the culpability for those frauds, if any, rests upon him, is 
 a question which needs a new and careful investigation. Some of them 
 are too glaring to have any appeal to a man of sense, such as Hennepin 
 certainly was. 
 
 One of the earliest, in some respect, the very earliest settle- 
 ment of whites on the Mississippi River is the Post of Arkansas. 
 LaSalle on his first voyage of discovery and conquest in 1682 made a 
 grant of land on the Arkansas River to his ever-faithful lieutenant. 
 Henri De Tonti. In 1686 Tonti took possession of his seigniory and 
 built a log house, surrounded by palisades and left ten men to begin 
 a settlement. This was the origin of Arkansas Post. The Post was 
 still oceupied when tin- survivors of LaSalle 's party reached the place 
 from Texas. In 1698 lie once more visited this furl in company of the 
 Gentlemen of the Seminary of Quebec, Montigny, St. Cosine and Davion. 
 In 1689 Tonti had made a grant of a tract of land in his seigniory to 
 the Jesuits for the purpose of establishing a mission, promising to 
 build a house and chapel for the missionaries. He also agreed to 
 support a missionary for three years. The missionaries were to erect 
 a cross fifteen feet high, instruct the Indians, encourage agriculture and 
 say a mass for Tonti on St. Henry's day. 
 
 After the death of Tonti, John Law, the "great financier", received 
 a grant of twelve square miles near the Post of Arkansas. The Post 
 itself was still maintained when Charlevoix visited the place in 1721. It 
 was stipulated that the proprietor of the new colony should settle 
 fifteen hundred Germans on the lands that had been granted to him, 
 and that he should keep up, at his own expense, a body of infantry and 
 cavalry sufficient to protect the colonists against the attacks of Indians. 
 In the month of March 1721 two hundred immigrants arrived in the 
 colony. But when they heard of Law's failure and disgrace they 
 returned to New Orleans and demanded to be sent back to their Alsatian 
 homes. But they were prevailed upon to stay. Large tracts of land 
 were granted to them on the Mississippi, thirty miles above New Orleans, 
 at the place that still bears the name of "German Coast." 
 
 The first priest at the Post of Arkansas was the Jesuit du Poisson who 
 came as missionary to the Indians and chaplain to the garrison 1727. As 
 there was neither chapel nor house, the priest accepted the hospitality of 
 the Commandant. "In 1729, on his way to New Orleans." as Father 
 Watrin relates, "he stopped over at the village of the Natchez, on the 
 very day which they had chosen for slaughtering the French, and was 
 included in the general massacre. This conspiracy may well be compared 
 to t lie Sicilian Vespers. The French established at that post treated 
 with the. utmost insolence the nation of the Natchez, the most useful and 
 
26 History of tht Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 the most (Icvotcd to the colony; and they in turn undertook to avenge 
 themselves. Father du Poisson had been requested to remain one day 
 for some ministerial function which presented itself, in the absence of 
 the cure; he consented to do it, and was the victim of his devotion and 
 his charity." 7 The entire country in the neighborhood was, for a long 
 time, in a disturbed condition, so that the place of Father du Poisson 
 could not be filled. As Father Watrin in his letter on the Banishment 
 of the Jesuits, records, "'one month afterward, Hie Vazous, another 
 savage nation, having entered into the same conspiracy, also slew the 
 French who lived near them. Father Souel, their missionary, was not 
 spared j he was so beloved by the negro who served him that his faithful 
 slave was killed in trying to defend or avenge his master. About the 
 same time, Father D'Outreleau descended with several voyageurs from 
 the Illinois country, for the affairs of the mission, and halted upon the 
 hanks of the Mississippi, to say mass. A band of these same Yazous, 
 who had killed Father Souel, arrived at the same place, with other 
 savages, their allies; they watched the time when the French, and 
 especially the Father, were occupied with the holy sacrifice, and they 
 fired a volley from their guns, which killed some Frenchmen and 
 wounded others. Father D'Outreleau received a wound in the arm 
 and several grains of coarse shot in his mouth; it was regarded as a 
 very remarkable effect of God's protection that he was only slightly 
 wounded. This disaster did not dismay him ; his firmness reassured 
 his fellow-travelers, and they escaped the savages and proceeded to 
 New Orleans. Soon afterward, it was a question of avenging upon 
 the barbarians the deaths of Hie French, especially of all those who 
 had perished among the Natchez ; an army was sent thither, of which 
 Father D'Outreleau was the chaplain, and in that employ he always 
 condrcted himself in the same resolute manner." 8 There must have 
 been Jesuit missionaries at the Post of Arkansas up to 1763, when Father 
 Carette was forced to leave it by the contempt of all religion displayed 
 by the officers and soldiers of the garrison. As there was no chapel 
 nor house for the priest, mass had to be said in the mess-room of the 
 Fort, a place made still more unsuitable by the rude manners and 
 freedom of language boldly manifested by almost all. Soon after that, 
 the Post of Arkansas received a Spanish Commandant. The Indians 
 around the Post were called Quappas or Kappas. Remnants of them 
 continued to live on the banks of the Arkansas River as late as Bishop 
 Rosati 's time. 
 
 1 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 70, p. 247. 
 
 8 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 70, pp. 247-248. 
 
Chapter 4 
 ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER 
 
 During the time of the construction of Fort Cr'eve Coeur until its 
 destruction and the flight of the Frenchmen under De Tonti two 
 Recollet Fathers, Gabriel Ribourde and Zenobius Mambre, were the 
 representatives of the spiritual order among the French and the Indian 
 Christians on the Illinois. Father Louis Hennepin had asked and 
 received the commission to explore the Mississippi to the North, and 
 he never returned to the Illinois. "The only great Illinois village being 
 composed of seven or eight thousand souls," wrote Father Mambre, 
 "Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient field for the exercise of our zeal 
 besides the few French who soon after came there.'' 1 In addition to this 
 great village there were a large number of small villages within their 
 jurisdiction; those of the Miamis, the Ottowas, the Kickapoos and Iowas, 
 the Mascoutens and Kaskaskias and Nadowissius. It was a strange 
 mixture of tribes and a wide circuit of territory the Recollets claimed ; 
 Yet there was no one there at the time to dispute it with them, though 
 to the north there were a number of Jesuits engaged in the same work. 
 "Father Gabriel and I," says Father Mambre, "devoted ourselves 
 constantly to the mission." An Illinois named Asapieta adopted Father 
 Gabriel as his son, so that the good Father found in his cabin a sub- 
 sistence in the Indian fashion. "As wine failed for the celebration of 
 the divine mysteries, we found means, towards the close of August, to 
 get wild grapes which began to ripen, and we made very good wine." 2 
 With regard to conversions Father Mambre is rather pessimistic : 
 "During the whole time Father Gabriel unraveled their language a little, 
 and I spoke so as to make myself understood by the Indians ; but there 
 is in these savages such an alienation from the Faith, so brutal and 
 narrow a mind, such corrupt and anti-christian morals, that great time 
 would be needed to hope for any fruit. It is true, I found many of 
 quite docile character" 3 "During the summer we followed the Indians 
 in their camps, and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the Miamis, 
 to learn something about their disposition; thence I went to visit other 
 villages of Illinois, all however, with no great success." 4 
 
 Whilst all seemed quiet and peaceful, Father Mambre living in 
 the Indian village, Father Gabriel Ribourde in the Fort, and M. De 
 
 i "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," by John Gilmarv 
 Shea, (2nd Ed.) p. 154. 
 
 2 ' ' Discovery and Exploration, ' ' p. 156. 
 
 3 "Discovery and Exploration," p. 157. 
 
 4 "Discovery and Exploration," p. 157. 
 
 (27) 
 
History of the Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 Tonti busily engaged in completing the Port of St. Louis on the rock 
 higher up the river, there came the warning: the [roquois are coming. 
 All'was confusion in the village, and Fori Creve Coeur was in ruins. 
 The brave Tonti soughl to bring about a cessation of hostilities. He 
 approached the invaders holding up a bead necklace as a sign of peace. 
 He did not succeed to calm the bloodthirsty spirits on both sides. The 
 [roquois chief who had interposed between Tonti and a murderous 
 youth who had stabbed him, now took the peacemaker by the arm and 
 told him to go. Tonti gathered around him the two priests and the 
 few remaining Frenchmen and started in an old canoe for the north. 
 On this journey Father Gabriel Ribourde"' fell a vielini of his zeal and 
 piety, by the hand of a KickapOO. Father Mambre returned to the 
 Illinois village in due time intent upon making the voyage of discovery 
 down the Mississippi to the Gulf with LaSalle and Tonti and to return 
 with them to the Illinois in 1682. But LaSalle and Tonti and Mambre 
 also were detained for (he winter on the Rock of the Illinois, which 
 was now crowned with the Fori St. Louis. There was a chapel in the 
 fort, where Father Mambre said mass for the French until the departure 
 of LaSalle for Quebec and l'aris. Tonty remained behind as com- 
 mandant. It was now that, the -Jesuit Fathers came into their own once 
 more. Father Allouez had kept his promise, though Ins coming was 
 belated. When he arrived is stated nowhere. Bui the fact, of his 
 presence is certain. Joutel, in his book on "M de LaSalle's Second 
 Voyage" states on two occassions that the Jesuit Father Allouez was 
 at Fort St. Louis among the Kaskaskia as late as March 1(!88. He 
 was sick at the time, when the companion-, of LaSalle's second voyage 
 Father Cavelier, Mambre and M. -Joutel visited him. Father Allouez 
 soon after this visit, left the place for Mackinac, where there was a 
 residence of three Jesuil missionaries. 
 
 Father Allouez's immediate successor in the Illinois mission was 
 the Apostle of the Abnakis, Lather Sebastian Kale, who spent two years, 
 1692 to lt;!)4, along the Illinois River. In Kaskaskia, then a village 
 of three hundred wigwams, he received a hearty welcome. The mission- 
 ary was delighted. "The mosl skilful European, after much thoughtful 
 siiidy," he said, "could not produce a more pertinent or beautiful 
 discourse" than the head-sachem who addressed him. Tn his two 
 
 5 Father Ribourde was ;i scion of one (if the noble louses of Burgundy, tic was 
 among the firsl Reeollets to eome to Canada in the summer of l<;7e. He had been 
 Fathei Confessor to Count Frontenac. Tin' date of his death is September 0, L680. 
 
 He was then in the seventieth year of his age, fort} of which has 1 a spent in the 
 
 religious st ite. 
 
 o "Sebastian Rale" bj Couvers Francis, D. D., in "Spark's American Biogra 
 phy, in v, series, vol. VIII, p. 17s, Father Rale's letters may be found in "Earlj 
 resuil Missions in North America," by the Rev. William [ngraham Kip, as well as 
 in the ' ' Jesuit Relat ions. 
 
On tin Illinois h'iri r 29 
 
 letters Father Rale gives many interesting notices of Indian life at that 
 place. The dance was an expression of both sorrow and joy. To be a 
 good hunter was much, but to be a good warrior was more. It was 
 a high honor to return home laden Avith many scalps. Torturing the 
 prisoners of war was common among them. Polygamy made the men 
 averse to the teachings of the Father, although they did not object 
 to having their wives and children attend instructions, and being 
 baptized. About 1687 Father Rasles, as the name is sometimes written, 
 was recalled to the Abnaki Mission in Maine where he met his death 
 at the hands of English soldiers. Father James Gravier, who had visited 
 the Illinois Mission as early as 1687 received it from Father Rale. He 
 erected a chapel within Fort St. Louis on the Rock of the Illinois. His 
 Relation of the occurrences at the Mission of the Immaculate Conception 
 of the Illinois from March 20th, 1693, to February 15th, 1694, presents 
 an interesting view of his toils and trials among these Indians. Yet, 
 nothing daunted by the insurmountable obstacles placed in his way, 
 he continued with indefatigable zeal to instruct the ignorant, heal the 
 sick, warn the wayward and curb the proud. As to the educational 
 methods pursued by the missioners. Father Gravier, the Superior, gives 
 us an interesting explanation: "To the adults I explained the whole 
 of the Xew Testament, of which I have cop' er plate engravings repre- 
 senting perfectly what is related on each page.' -7 The grace of God was 
 slowly hut surely making its way in ever widening circles. "AYhat 
 surprised me most," writes the Father, '"is the assiduous perseverance 
 of the young men. The most arrogant became like children at Catechism. 
 When the young men are in the lodges of their chiefs, they sing, night 
 and day, chants that instruct them and keep them occupied.'" Yet 
 the Peorias were holding back, their chief being one of the most 
 impudent jugglers. The Mission of the Immaculate Conception among 
 the Illinois founded by Marquette in 1675. had its center in the shadow 
 of Fort St. Louis on the Rock of the Illinois, also called Starved Rock. 
 This is near the site of the present city of Ottowa. Twenty years later it 
 was at the village of the Peorias. where the Illinois River emerges from 
 the Lake of Peoria through a narrow rocky channel called the Strait. 
 All the Indians living between these two points and in all the surround- 
 ing country were considered members of the Mission. Many of them 
 however refused the missionary's teachings and remained addicted to 
 their manitous and their vaunted free life. For a long time, Father 
 Gravier 's patient zeal produced but slight results. At last there came a 
 chance for the better. The great chief of the Kaskaskia tribe, Rouensa 
 by name, whilst still a pagan wished to marry his daughter who was 
 
 " "Jesuit Kelations, " vol. 64, p. 227. 
 
 '••I"<uit Relations.'' vol. 64, p. 231. "Juggler" is Father Gravier \s designa- 
 tion tor ;i medicine-man. 
 
30 History of //" Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 a Christian, to a profligate French trader residing at the village. The 
 
 girl asked the missionary's advice, and was by him confirmed in her 
 resolution not to marry. The chief grew indignant, ami sought to force 
 his daughter into the marriage. At last the poor creature told the 
 missionary, that in view of the good that might result for religion 
 from her sacrifice through the conversion of her father and her hushand, 
 she would give her consenl to marry the Frenchman. Father Gravier 
 had no more to say.' 1 
 
 What the girl had hoped and prayed for really came to pass. In 
 a short time Chief Rouensa humbly asked to be baptized; and from that 
 time on he showed himself as devoted a Christian as he had formerly 
 been an enemy of the Cross. lie attended the instructions and the 
 services in the chapel with the greatest interest and exhorted all the 
 people under his immediate charge to do the same. And even beyond 
 his jurisdiction among the Peorias, and the scattered members of 
 the other Illinois nation he used his influence for good. Not content 
 with this, he made public profession of faith at a solemn festival which 
 was attended by all the leading men of the Peorias and Kaskaskia. 
 The Peorias took umbrage at what was said and done, saying: "The 
 Father's fables are good only in his own country; we have ours which 
 do not make us die as his do. "The daughter also of the Kaskaskia. 
 chief," wrote Father Gravier, "exerted great influence in favor of 
 religion among the women of the tribe. The first conquest she made 
 for God was to win her husband, who was notorious in the Illinois 
 country for his debaucheries. I am ashamed," said he, "that a savage 
 child should know more than I, who have been born and brought up 
 in the Christian religion, and that she should speak to me of the love 
 of God with a gentleness and tenderness capable of making the most 
 insensible weep." This good girl displayed admirable care in getting 
 the children and young girls of the village baptized. When Father 
 Gravier asked her why she was so desirous of teaching the children, 
 she replied, "that it was because God specially loved them, and that 
 their souls still retained the beauty they had received in Baptism." 10 
 These are some of Father Gravier 's encomiums pronounced on this little 
 saint of the Kaskaskias. 
 
 Up to this date, 1698, there may have been some talk among the 
 Kaskaskia of severing their connection with the recalcitrant Peorias. 
 But the plan never could take definite shape as long as Father Gravier 
 was on guard. Spiritually, however, the chasm between them grew 
 wider and deeper, as the years passed on. Yet, there were Christians 
 among the Peorias as there were pagans among the Kaskaskia, and 
 scoffers among all the tribes; in tone and practice, the Kaskaskia alone 
 
 9 "Jesuit Eelations, " vol. 64, 159 ss. 
 io "Jesuit Relations,' - vol. <>4, passim. 
 
On the Illinois River 31 
 
 were a Catholic tribe. Father Gravier was anxious to keep them all 
 together in the same mission because he hoped the good example of the 
 one -would at last overcome the evil propensities of the others. His 
 successor, probably, was of a different opinion : So, it seems, the religious 
 indifference and persecuting spirit of the Peorias was one of the con- 
 tributing causes of the exodus of the Kaskaskia from their ancient homes 
 on the Illinois. 
 
 When Father Marest arrived in the Illinois country in 1698, to 
 continue the good work of Father Gravier, he wrote to a Father of 
 his Society: "The state of religion here is as follows: but few among the 
 men embrace Christianity ; the young men especially live in excessive 
 licentiousness, which renders them incapable of listening to the mission- 
 aries. The women and girls are very well disposed to receive baptism ; 
 They are constant and firm when once they have received it ; they are 
 fervent in prayer, and ask only to be instructed ; they frequently 
 approacb the sacraments and, finally, are capable of highest sanctity. 
 The number of those who embrace our boly religion increases daily 
 to a marked degree — so much so that Ave have been obliged to build a 
 new church, and judging from the manner in which this one is filled 
 
 every day I think we shall shortly need a third The children give 
 
 us bright hopes for the future. When they return from instructions to 
 their cabins they tell their fathers what they have learned." 11 Here is 
 a description of the life we lead," wrote the good priest in bis letter 
 from the Illinois country in New France under date of the 29th of 
 April 1699, "Every day, before sunrise, we say mass for the con- 
 venience of our Christians who go from it to their work. The savages 
 chant their prayers or recite them together during mass, after which 
 we disperse in different directions to teach the children the Catechism. 
 After that we visit the sick. On our return, we always find several 
 savages who come to consult us on various matters. Saturdays and 
 Sundays are completely occupied in hearing confessions." 12 As Father 
 Gravier was called away from the mission by his official duties as 
 Superior and Vicar General, two distinguished men came to aid Father 
 Marest. Father Julian Binneteau arrived at the Peoria village in 1697, 
 in company of Father Francis Pinet, the founder of the Mission of the 
 Guardian Angel within the bounds of the present city of Chicago, 1696. 
 As Father Pinet had been dispossessed by LaSalle of this mission, he 
 went to the Tamarois, who had joined the Cahokia on the bottom lands 
 opposite the site of the future city of St. Louis. 
 
 Father Gravier wrote to the venerable Bishop Laval a few words 
 of protest against the action of LaSalle, and the threats of Count 
 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 81. 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 81 s. 
 
.'51' History of I In Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 Frontenac: "Nothing lias more comforted me, Monseigneur, than t he 
 kind manner which Your Grace was pleased to manifesl to me. II' 
 Monseigneur of Quebec, (Bishop Vallier) has the same sentiment for 
 us, we all hope we shall perform our duties in our Ottowa missions 
 more peacefully than we have done for some years. We shall also be 
 safe from the threats of M. the Count de Frontenac, to drive us from 
 our Mission as he had already done from that of the Angel Guardian 
 of the Miamis, at Chicagwa, the charge of which Monseigneur of 
 Quebec bad confided to me, confirming the powers that Your Grace 
 had conferred upon Father Marquette and Father Allouez, who were 
 the first missionaries of those southern nations, namely the Illinois. 
 Miamis and Sioux. If M. the Count of Frontenac had learned that 
 in our Missions we had done anything' unworthy of our ministry, he 
 could easily have applied to Monseigneur the Bishop, or his Grand 
 Vicar. But he could not otherwise than by violence drive us from our 
 mission. We hope that Monseigneur of Quebec will not suffer such 
 violence." 13 
 
 Father Binneteau in 1699, gives an account of the virtuous woman- 
 hood among the Illinois. "The women and girls have strong inclina- 
 tions to virtue, although according to custom they are the slaves of 
 their brothers, who compel them to marry whomsoever they choose. 
 There are many households where husband and wife live in great fervor, 
 without heeding what the jugglers or the young Libertines say. There 
 are some women married to some of our Frenchmen, who would be a 
 good example to the best regulated household in France." The good 
 old Father also gives high praise to his companion in the mission, lately 
 arrived. "Father Gabriel Maresl is doing wonders: he has the best 
 talent in the world for these missions. lie has learned the language in 
 four or five months, he can hear an incredible amount of fatigue, and 
 his zeal leads him to look upon the most difficult things as 1 rifles. 
 'I will never rest," he says, 'as lung as I live.' From morning until night 
 our house is never empty of people who come to b*e instructed and to 
 confess. We had to enlarge our chape's." 11 
 
 In January 1699, Father Binneteau, now again at the mission 
 near Peoria Lake, recalls his journey of the previous year: "I am at 
 present spending the winter with a portion of our savages who are 
 scattered about, I have recently been with the Tamarois, to visit a band 
 of them on the bank of one of the largest rivers in the world -which, 
 for this reason, we call the Mississippi, or 'the (ireat River.' Mure than 
 seven hundred leagues of it have been found to he navigable, without 
 
 is ''.Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 53. 
 14 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 69. 
 
On the Illinois River 33 
 
 discovering its source. I am to return to the Illinois of Tamarois in the 
 spring. ' ' l5 
 
 Both Binneteau and Pinet made this journey, and claimed the 
 Tamarois mission as their own. The Seminary priests were greatly 
 surprised : but a temporary arrangement was made : Father Pinet the 
 Jesuit was to have charge of the Indians, whilst Father Bergier, one 
 of the Seminary priests, held charge of the French in the place. Father 
 Binneteau now returned to the mission on Peoria Lake, to resume his 
 usual round of visits to the scattered neophytes on the praires adjoining 
 the Illinois River. To follow the Indians in their excursions was one of the 
 severest trials of the missionary. The summer hunt was especially fatigu- 
 ing, says Father Marest; "it cost the life of the late Father Binneteau. 
 He accompanied the savages in the greatest heat of the month of July ; 
 sometimes he was in danger of smothering amid the grass, which was 
 extremely high ; sometimes he suffered cruelly from thirst. By day he 
 was drenched with perspiration and at night he was obliged to sleep 
 on the ground. These hardships brought upon him a violent sickness, 
 from which he expired in my arms." 16 When death came Father Marest 
 does not tell. But from other sources it appears that Father Binneteau 
 lingered on throughout the fall of the year 1799. "Father Binneteau 
 died from exhaustion," writes Father Gravier, "but if he had a few 
 drops of Spanish wine, for which he asked us during his last illness, 
 or had we been able to procure some fresh food for him, he would 
 perhaps be still alive." 17 According to Rochemonteix, Father Binneteau 
 died on the eve of Christmas 1699, at the Kaskaskia Village on Peoria 
 Lake, and was buried there by his companions Marest and Pinet, of 
 whom Father Gravier said on this occasion. "Father Pinet and Father 
 Marest are wearing out their strength; and they are two saints, who 
 take pleasure of being deprived of everything, in order, as they say, 
 that they may soon be nearer to Paradise." 18 But there was much work 
 still awaiting the two heroic souls: Father Marest to prepare the 
 great exodus of the Kaskaskias to the Mississippi, and Father Pinet 
 to await them at Tamarois. 
 
 i"' "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 71. The name is sometimes spelled, and 
 always pronounced Tamaroa. 
 
 is "Jesuit Eelations," vol. 66, p. 253. 
 17 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 25. 
 is "Jesuit Eelations," vol. 66, p. 37. 
 
 Vol. 1—2 
 
Chapter 5 
 THE GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY OF QUEBEC 
 
 The earliest missionaries among the Indians of Canada and on the 
 great lakes depended for their authority directly on the Holy See. 
 They were the Greyrohes or Recollets and the Blackrobes or Jesuits. 
 When Canada came under British rule for the first time (1629-1634) 
 most of the priests withdrew to France, and when England restored the 
 province to France, only the Jesuits returned to their former posts; 
 the Recollets being debarred until August 18, 1670, as a counter balance 
 to the Jesuits. The Sulpicians arrived somewhat later when all 
 Canada was subject to the Bishop of Rouen, in Normandy. These 
 were the religious Orders that took part in the earliest movements 
 to conquer the Mississippi Valley for Christ. Now in 1694 we 
 see another company of missionaries hurrying over the same route 
 that had brought the Recollets with LaSalle down the Mississippi to 
 the further-most point that had been reached by Marquette : They are 
 usually called the Gentlemen of the Seminary, or the Seminary Priests, 
 officially, the Society of Foreign Missions of the Seminary of Quebec. 
 They were Fathers Francis Joliet de Montigny, Antoine Davion, Jean 
 Francois Buisson de St. Cosme, a native of Canada. De Montigny was 
 the Vicar-General of the party. Dominic Anthony Thaumer de la 
 Source 1 was, like the younger St. Cosme, no priest, but a companion of 
 the voyage, who wrote an account of the events he had witnessed in 1719. 
 He returned to Quebec and resumed his studies and later on joined the 
 mission at Cahokia. The party had the usual complement of voyageurs 
 and coureurs de hois, twenty persons in all. Father John Bergier was 
 not of Montigny 's party, although a priest of the Seminary of Quebec. 
 He probably reached the Tamarois before the advent of his fellow priests, 
 who were delayed by the Indians of the Fox River. This missionary 
 expedition was sent out by the first Bishop of Quebec, Francois Laval 
 de Montmorency, commonly called Bishop Laval, who had been appointed 
 in 1657, and had resigned in 1674. But owing to the troubles of his 
 successor, Bishop Vallier, with the English as well as with the French 
 governments, he was forced to resume the reins once more in Vallier 's 
 place. Having founded the Seminary of Quebec, Bishop Laval always 
 manifested a deep interest in its "varying fortunes. Thus it came about 
 that the three Gentlemen of the Seminary were sent to the Mississippi. 
 At Mackinac they had the good fortune to meet with the Sieur de Tonti, 
 the ever-faithful friend of LaSalle, who quickly came to the resolution 
 
 i Cf. U. E. Dionne, Gabriel Richard, Quebec, 1911. Notes a1 end. 
 
 (34) 
 
The Gentlemen of the Seminary of Quebec 35 
 
 to accompany them as far as the Arkansas. St. Cosme in his letter 2 
 addressed "to the Bishop," expresses the heartfelt gratitude for De 
 Tonti's services to the priests: "He has not only done the duty of 
 a brave man, but also discharged the functions of a zealous missionary. ' ' 3 
 In the mission of St. Ignace at Mackinac the new missionaries 
 were kindly received by the Jesuits Gravier and Careil, being charmed 
 with the good judgment, the zeal and modesty of M. de Montigny, 
 St. Cosme and M. Davion. 4 With kindly instructions to Father Pinet 
 and Father Binneteau at the Illinois, they departed down the western 
 shore of Lake Michigan. Owing to bad weather the three gentlemen 
 from the Seminary landed a few miles north of the Mission of the 
 Angel Guardian and, leaving the rest of the company by the lake-shore, 
 made their way on foot to the home of Father Francis Pinet. From 
 here on Father St. Cosme is the spokesman of the party : ' ' Many travel- 
 lers have already been wrecked there, ' ' he writes. ' ' We, M. de Montigny, 
 Davion, and myself, went by land to the house of the Reverend Jesuit 
 Fathers, while our people remained behind. We found there Reverend 
 Father Pinet, and Reverend Father Binneteau, who had recently 
 arrived from the Illinois country and was slightly ill." 5 The joy of 
 priests meeting priests in the deep solitude of earliest Chicago, was 
 great and sincere. "I cannot describe to you, my lord, with what 
 cordiality and manifestations of friendship these Reverend Fathers 
 received and embraced us, while we had the consolation of residing 
 with them," 6 wrote Father St. Cosme, and then proceeded to give a 
 clear and succinct description of the place: "Their house is built on 
 the bank of a small river, with the lake on one side and a fine and vast 
 prairie on the other. The village of the savages contains over a 
 hundred and fifty cabins, and a league up the river is still another 
 village almost as large. They are all Miamis. Reverend Father Pinet 
 usually resides there except in the winter, when the savages are all 
 engaged in hunting, and then he goes to the Illinois. We saw no 
 savages there. They had already started for their hunt. If one may 
 judge of the future from the short time Father Pinet has passed in 
 this mission, we may believe that, if God will bless the labors and the 
 
 2 The letter of St. Cosme, from which almost all the facts narrated in this 
 chapter are taken, lay hidden for 160 years among the literary treasures of Laval 
 University, Quebec, and was discovered in the middle of the 19th century by the 
 great Catholic Historian John Gilmary Shea. It was published by him in French and 
 English, New York, 1861. It was republished in Shea's "Early Voyages Up and 
 Down the Mississippi," and with some corrections in Louise Phelps Kellogg 's 
 "Early Narratives of the North-West, 1634-1699." We follow the later edition. 
 
 3 Kellogg, p. 343. 
 
 * "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 59. 
 s Kellogg, p. 346. 
 e Kellogg, p. 346. 
 
.'Ui History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 zeal of the holy missionary, there will be a great number of good and 
 fervenl Christians. It is true, that but slight results are obtained with 
 reference to the older persons, who are hardened in profligacy, but all 
 the children are baptized, and the jugglers even, who are the most 
 opposed to Christianity, allow their children to be baptized. They are 
 also very glad to let them be instructed. Several girls of a certain age, 
 and also many young boys have already been and are being instructed, 
 so thai we may hope that, when the old stock dies off, they will be a 
 new and entirely Christian people." 7 The entire party left Chicago 
 for the Illinois country, but a part of their belongings had to remain 
 behind in care of Brother Alexander and Father Pinet's servant. When 
 they came to the portage of the Kankakee River, the party was divided 
 by an untoward circumstance, as recorded by Father St. Cosine. 
 "Messieurs de Montigny, De Tonti, and Davion continued the portage 
 on the following day, while I, St. Cosme with four other men. went 
 back to look for the little boy, (who had wandered away into the 
 prairie). While retracing my steps, I met Father Pinet and Binneteau, 
 who were on the way to the Illinois with two Frenchmen and a savage. 
 We looked for the boy during the whole of that day also, without 
 finding him." 8 "We arrived on the 15th of November at the place 
 called the Old Fort. This is a rock on the bank of the river, about 
 a hundred feet high, whereon Monsieur de LaSalle had caused a fort 
 to be built, which had been abandoned, because the savages went to 
 reside about twenty-five leagues further down. We slept a league above 
 it, where we found two cabins of savages ; Ave were consoled on finding 
 a woman who was a thoroughly good Christian. The distance between 
 Chicagou and the fort is considered to be about thirty leagues. There 
 we commenced the navigation, that continues to be always good as 
 far as the fort of Permetaoi, 9 where the savages now are and which 
 we reached on the 19th of November. We found there Reverend Father 
 liinneteau and Reverend Father Marest who, owing to their not being 
 laden when they left Chicagou, had arrived six or seven days before 
 us. We also saw Reverend Father Pinet there. All the Reverend 
 Jesuit Fathers gave us the best possible reception. Their sole regrel 
 was to see us compelled to leave so soon on account of the frost. We 
 took there a Frenchman who had lived three years with the Aeansas 
 and who knows a little of their language." Father St. Cosme had but 
 words of the highest praise for the Jesuit Fathers: "This Mission of 
 the Illinois seems to me the finest that the Reverend Jesuit Fathers have 
 up here, for without counting all the children who are baptized, a number 
 of adults have abandoned all their superstitions and live as thoroughly 
 
 ■ Kellogg, p. 347. 
 s Kellogg, p. 348. 
 o A Fort on Lake Peoria, the early name of this lake was Pimetoui. 
 
The Gentlemen of the Seminary of Quebec 37 
 
 £oocl Christians; they frequently attend the sacraments and are married 
 in church. We had not the consolation of seeing all these good Christians 
 often, for they were all scattered down the bank of the river for the 
 purpose of hunting. We saw only some women savages married to 
 Frenchmen who edified us by their modesty and their assiduity in 
 going to prayer several times a day in the chapel. We chanted High 
 Mass in it, with deacon and sub-deacon, on the feast of the Presentation 
 of the most Blessed Virgin, and after commending our voyage to her 
 and having placed ourselves under her protection, we left the Illinois 
 on the 22nd of November — we had to break the ice for two or three 
 arpents to get out of Lake Permetaoi. We had four canoes ; that of 
 Monsieur De Tonti, our two, and another belonging to five young 
 voyageurs who were glad to accompany us, partly on account of 
 Monsieur De Tonti, who is universally beloved by all the voyageurs, 
 and partly also to see the country. Keverend Fathers Binneteau and 
 Pinet also came with us a part of the way, as they wished to go and spend 
 the whole winter with their savages." 10 Their last act of kindness to 
 the Missionaries was a very practical one: Father Marest writes: "As 
 these gentlemen did not know the Illinois language, we gave them a 
 collection of prayers and a translation of the Catechism, with the notes 
 that we have been able to make upon that language." 11 
 
 On the first day of their voyage the party came to the cabin of the 
 Great Chief of the Kaskaskias, Rouensa, who with his whole family 
 received Holy Communion at Father Montigny's mass. From Rouensa 
 they heard of the recent attack made by the Chouanons and Chicasaws 
 on a hunting party of the Cahokia Indians, an Illinois tribe with its 
 chief village on the Mississippi below the Missouri. When later on the 
 party visited that village some old men came to meet them, weeping 
 for the death of their people killed by the Chouanons who, as they 
 charged, had been furnished with fire-arms by Tonti. Tonti tried to 
 convince them of his innocence in this matter, but not succeeding, led 
 an immediate retreat to a place about ten miles down the stream. The 
 following day they were detained for some hours owing to quantities 
 of drifting ice in the river, and on the 28th of November they landed 
 at a village governed by a woman chief. The priests said mass the 
 following morning in the cabin of a soldier named La Violette, who was 
 married to a savage, and whose child Father de Montigny baptized. 
 Leaving this village the party spent four days in accomplishing about 
 twenty miles. On the Feast of St. Xavier, December 3rd, a heavy 
 gale broke up the ice and they embarked once more, and on December 
 5th, they reached the mouth of the Illinois River. On the next day 
 they began their voyage on the mighty Father of Waters. Soon they 
 
 in Kellogg, pp. 350, 351. 
 
 ii "Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 281. 
 
38 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 passed the mouth of the great River of the Missouri, the vastness and 
 muddiness of whose waters they could not help to note. "It is reported," 
 Father St. Cosme wrote, "that there are great numbers of savages on 
 the upper reaches of that river." 12 They also marvelled at the strange 
 images on the rock above Alton. On the 7th day of December they 
 reached Cahokia, where the chief with some of his people met the 
 visitors on the water edge, and invited them to his villages inhabited 
 by another tribe of the Illinois, and also having a colony of French 
 traders and hunters. The Cahokias had been harrassed lately by war- 
 parties of Shawnees and Chicasaws and were in consequence rather 
 suspicious of the newcomers' intentions. Tonti went there with the 
 chief, but the Fathers, wishing to prepare for the Feast of the Immacu- 
 late Conception, camped on the other side of the river on the site of the 
 future metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, the city of St. Louis. The 
 following morning Father Montigny, Davion and St. Cosme each said 
 mass on a stone altar they had prepared on the high river-bank, 
 probably at the foot of Arsenal Street. It was the great Feastday of the 
 Immaculate Mother of God, in whose honor Father Marquette had 
 bestowed her most glorious title on the great river he had discovered. 
 "Every Missourian, and especially every St. Louisian" says Father 
 Garraghan, "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;" the 8th day of December 1698, "the day 
 of the three masses." 13 On the 9th the whole company visited the village 
 of the Tamarois. They were received with every mark of respect and 
 wonder. How large the tribe really was could not be learnt. Father 
 St. Cosme thought there were very many of them. "There would be 
 enough," says he, "for a rather fine mission, by bringing to it the 
 Kaskaskias, who live quite near, and the Mechigamias, who live a 
 little lower down the Mississippi." 14 These three tribes were found to 
 speak the Illinois language. On the 25th of November the Seminary priests 
 had parted from Father Pinet who was to spend the winter with the 
 Tamarois, to make a visit to that tribe assembled on the island lower than 
 the village. 
 
 Leaving the Tamarois on the afternoon of the Feast of the 
 Immaculate Conception the missionaries departed and for more 
 than three days saw nothing worthy of notice save a solitary hill at 
 a distance of about three arpents on the right side going down. Father 
 St. Cosme further says, that they were detained on Deeember 11th, 
 
 12 Kellogg, p. 355. 
 
 13 Garraghan, Gilbert J., S. J., "Some High Lights in Missouri History," 
 ' St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. Ill, p. 234. 
 
 I* Kellogg, p. 356. 
 
The Gentlemen of the Seminary of Quebec 39 
 
 1698 by rain. This, of course, signifies that the party was forced to camp 
 nearby, a circumstance that would account for the fact that the name 
 Saint Cosme remains attached to the spot. The hill of which the 
 missionary speaks is still known as Cape Saint Cosme; and the name 
 of the Creek that washes that part of the hill, Cinque Hommes Creek, 
 is but a late corruption of the name of its discoverer, Saint Cosme. 18 
 Early in the morning of the 12th of December they arrived at Cape 
 Saint Antoine, a rocky bluff on the left bank going down, now known 
 as Fountain Bluff. Some arpents below there is another rock on the 
 right bank, which projects into the river and towards an island or 
 rather a rock about one hundred feet high, which makes the river 
 turn very short, and narrows the channel, causing a whirlpool on which, 
 it is said, canoes are lost during high water. This has caused the spot to 
 be dreaded by the savages, who are in the habit of offering sacrifices to 
 that rock when they pass. 16 This is now, called Grand Tower. It 
 was here that one of the usual great ceremonies of raising the Cross of 
 Christ was performed by the missionaries, as Father Saint Cosme tells 
 us: "We ascended this island or rock with some difficulty by a hill and 
 we planted a fine cross on it chanting the hymn Vexilla Regis, while our 
 people fired three discharges of their guns. God grant that the Cross 
 that has never yet been known in this place, may triumph here, and 
 that our Lord may abundantly spread the merits of His Holy Passion, 
 so that all these savages may know and serve Him." 17 Father Saint 
 Cosme 's prayer was answered in a manner he may not have thought of 
 at the time, but more fully than he had anticipated. For almost within 
 sight of one standing by that cross, the Seminary of St. Mary of the 
 Barrens was to rise in the distant future and send out, year by year, 
 new bands of youthful messengers of the Gospel into the benighted 
 world around. 
 
 The missionaries left Cape Saint Antoine on the 14th of 
 December, passed the mouth of the Ohio on the 16th, and on the 
 
 is The correct spelling of the word is Cinq Hommes, but the correct name is 
 St. Cosme, pronounced Saint Come. Cf . ' ' St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, ' ' 
 vol. Ill, p. 301. 
 
 io The "Grand Tower" was described by Schoolcraft in his Journal of a 
 Voyage up the Mississippi Kiver from the mouth of the Ohio to St. Louis, started 
 July 1, 1818; "Grand Tower is a stupendous pile of rocks, rising out of the river, 
 nearly midway in the stream, of a form nearly circular and rising somewhat in the 
 shape of a cone, to the height of about 150 feet, and capped by a stunted growth of 
 cedars. It seems in connection with the rock-shores on either side, to have at some 
 former period, a barrier to the progress of the Mississippi, which must here have had 
 a perpendicular base of more than 100 feet. By some convulsion of nature, or the 
 continued power of friction, acting for centuries upon the lime-stone rock the 
 Mississippi has forced its way through that barrier, leaving the Grand Tower as a 
 perpetual monument of that sublime physical revolution." Journal, p. 229 and 230. 
 
 17 Kellogg, p. 357. 
 
40 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 24th, arrived at their destination among the Arkansas Indians. At 
 midnight they had Solemn High Mass, and during the morning they 
 said their masses, in the afternoon they chanted Vespers. . They were 
 greatly surprised to feel and see the earth tremble, the earthquake 
 being rather severe and sharp. 18 The Quappas or Kappas were the 
 first Arkansas tribe they encountered. "These savages" says Saint 
 Cosme, "seem to be of a very kind disposition. Their honesty is extra- 
 ordinary. Polygamy is not common among them." 19 The mission- 
 aries then visited the Tonicas and the Taensas. Father Davion was 
 appointed missionary among the Tonicas, who numbered about two 
 thousand souls. Father Montigny remained for a short while among 
 the Taensas. Father Saint Cosme went up the river to the Tamarois 
 to gain the martyr's crown shortly after his arrival there. 20 Dominic 
 Thaumer de la Source, who is not mentioned in the letter of Father 
 Saint Cosme, announced his arrival at the Akankas in company with 
 the Gentlemen of the Seminary and of Father Montigny 's intention of 
 sending him to the Tamarois with St. Cosme, that is, a younger brother 
 of Father St. Cosme, not in priestly orders. Charlevoix found him, a 
 missionary priest at Cahokia in 1727. 
 
 Father Montigny the leader of the voyage is described by 
 John Gilmary Shea as "impetuous, ardent, but easily dis- 
 couraged." 21 Of Father Davion the Historian of Louisiana, 
 Gayarree, 22 relates that he had constructed and hung up a pulpit to the 
 trunk of an immense oak, growing on a gentle slope which commanded 
 the river. Back of the tree he had raised a little Gothic chapel, the 
 front part of which was divided by the mighty tree to which it was 
 attached, with two diminutive doors opening into the edifice, on either 
 side of that turn. It was done in imitation of the stone towers which 
 stand like sentinels to guard the entrance to the temple of God. "In the 
 chapel," Gayarre says, "Father Davion kept all the sacred -vessels, the 
 holy water and the sacerdotal habiliments. There he used to retire 
 to spend hours in meditation and prayer. In that tabernacle was a 
 small portable altar which, whenever he said mass for the natives, 
 was transported outside, under the oak, where they often met to the 
 
 is Kellogg, p. 358, a premonition of the devastating earthquake of 1811. 
 
 is Kellogg, p. 359. 
 
 20 Father St. Cosme after writing his letter from the Arkansas, returned to 
 Cahokia. A few years later on his way down the river, he was murdered by a war 
 party of Chitimacha Indians. The guilty chiefs were captured and executed by 
 Iberville. Cf. Bernard de la Harpe, "Journal Historique, " p. 28. 
 
 2i Cf . Shea, ' ' The Church in Colonial Days, p. 544. 
 
 22 Gayarre, "History of Louisiana, The French Domination," vol. I, p. 64. 
 
The Gentium a of the Seminary of Quebec 41 
 
 number of three or four hundred. One day they found him dead at 
 the foot of the altar, still retaining his kneeling position." 23 
 
 The Jesuits of the Illinois Mission, in their letters, speak with a cer- 
 tain reserve of the purpose and the results of the mission of the 
 Seminary Priests. Gravier thinks they came to take over all 
 the Jesuit missions in the Illinois country. Pinet's foundation 
 of Cahokia was occupied by Bergier. Gravier 's powers as Vicar- 
 General were withdrawn, as Bergier claimed them. The Semi- 
 nary priests had really accomplished very little. Even Father Davion 
 abandoned his mission for fear of the English and of the savages, 
 their enemies, although he later on returned to the Tonikas and labored 
 among them for eighteen years. We can sympathize with Father Gravier, 
 when after so many years of hard service he sees his work imperiled by 
 men who were really of good will. "I am convinced" he writes to 
 Father Lamherville in Paris, "that these missions will receive rude 
 shocks. They are beginning to be on a good footing. This caused 
 jealousy in the minds of the Gentlemen of the Foreign Missions, who 
 have come to take them from us." 24 But time, with its healing balm, 
 gradually restored a better feeling between these men of God engaged 
 in the same glorious work. 
 
 - 3 "History of Louisiana, vol. I, p. G7. According to Father Gravier, Davion 
 seems to have been near death's door shortly after his arrival. ''Monsieur de St. 
 Cosme, who had heard that Monsieur Davion was dying, arrived from the Natchez 
 Mission. Before my departure, they both confirmed the news of the wreck of Father 
 de Limoges, — who, out of all that he possessed, saved only his Chalice and his 
 Crucifix." "Jesuit Relations, " vol. 65, p. 10. 
 
 2< "Jesuit Relations,'' vol. fifl, p. 85. 
 
Chapter 6 
 THE KASKASKIAS ON THE RIVER DES PERES 
 
 The year 1700 saw, "the second founder of the Illinois Missions," 
 as Father Marest calls Father James Gravier, embark on a voyage to 
 the mouth of the Mississippi on matters of great importance to his Order 
 and the missions entrusted to his care. The same year also witnessed 
 the secession of the Kaskaskia tribe from that of the Peoria, who to- 
 gether had formed the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Father 
 Marquette. A fateful year it proved to be to the Tamarois, another 
 branch of the Illinois nation, in as far as the migration of the Kaskaskia 
 drew them along to new homes. Before the year 1700 we find the 
 Kaskaskia on the borders of the Illinois River, either at the Rock of the 
 Illinois or farther south, on lake Peoria; after 1700 they are no longer in 
 their ancient village; and in 1712 we hear of their having been estab- 
 lished for some time near the junction of the Okaw River with the 
 Mississippi, on a mission called the Immaculate Conception of the 
 Blessed Virgin. The missionary who was with them on the Illinois, 
 Father Marest, is with them still. 
 
 How did all this come about? And where did the Kaskaskia and 
 Tamarois sojourn during those two or three years that intervened between 
 the first and second Kaskaskia. Father Garraghan S.J. has so clearly and 
 beautifully answered the latter question in his resume of Father 
 Kenny's elaborate argument on "Missouri's earliest settlement and its 
 name," that I cannot forbear giving it entire: "On the north bank of 
 the river De 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 settlement, 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 Mississippi Valley. Hither 
 also came the Tamarois, 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 Tamarois 
 was their pastor also, Francois 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. Francois Pinet, 
 Chicago's first resident priest, was likewise one of the group of Jesuit 
 missionaries at the Des Peres settlement to whom belongs the distinction 
 of having been the first resident priest on the site of St. Louis; so early 
 a link of historical association do we discover between the metropolis of 
 
 (42) 
 
Tin Kaskaskias on the River Des Peres 43 
 
 the Great Lakes region and the no less forward-looking metropolis of 
 the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The little French-Indian community at the mouth of the Des Peres, 
 hovers ghostlike for a brief spell over the threshold of Missouri 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." 1 
 
 The account of the exodus of the Kaskaskia and of its final outcome 
 rests upon a number of contemporary documents, chief among them 
 Father James Gravier's letter on the Mission of the Immaculate Con- 
 ception, 1694, and the same Father's Relation of his Voyage to the Lower 
 Mississippi in 1700, and Father Marest's letters from the Kaskaskia 
 Mission on the Mississippi. All this was well known since the publication 
 of the Jesuit Relations. But it Avas supposed that the transfer from 
 Kaskaskia the ancient, to Kaskaskia the new, was effected in rapid 
 progression. Weighty proof is now at hand that the migration found 
 an intermediate place of refuge and rest in the Mission of St. Francis 
 Xavier on the west bank of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the 
 once so beautiful stream even now called the River Des Peres. 
 
 That there was such a village on the Missouri side is vouched for by 
 Moses Austin, writing in 1796, who states on the authority of the most 
 ancient of the inhabitants, that the first settlement of the country by 
 the French was a place called La Riviere Des Peres, which is situated 
 on the Spanish side of the Mississippi about six miles below where 
 the town of St. Louis now stands." 2 This place was the intermediate 
 temporary settlement of the Kaskaskia Indians on their migration for 
 the mission of the Immaculate Conception on the Illinois River, to the 
 later mission of the Immaculate Conception on the Mississippi and the 
 Okaw Rivers in South Illinois. 
 
 The possible causes of this flitting of an entire tribe to 
 a new habitat were several, chief among them, however, we re- 
 gard the following : The foundation of Biloxi by Iberville, on the 
 lower Mississippi, had caused a serious commotion among the Indian Neo- 
 phytes at Kaskaskia, or as Father Gravier styles them, ' ' the Illinois of the 
 Straits, ' ' meaning by this term the people at the narrow outlet of Peoria 
 Lake, as distinguished from the Illinois of the Mississippi river. The 
 
 1 Garraghan, Gilbert J., "Some High Lights in Missouri's History" in "St. 
 Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. 3, p. 235. 
 
 2 Moses Austin left a Memorandum of his Journey from Virginia to Louisiana, 
 West of the Mississippi River, 1796-7, from which this statement is cited by Father 
 Kenny. 
 
i 1 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 Kaskaskias uimt determined to leave the Peorias and to sail away to 
 the south and live under the walls of Iberville's strong and rich new 
 sett lenient at the mouth of the Great River. Father Gravier tells us of 
 the momentous event: "I arrived too late among the Illinois of the 
 Strait, of whom Father Marest had charge, to prevent the migration of the 
 village of the Kaskaskia, which has been too precipitately made, in conse- 
 quence of uncertain news respecting the Mississippi settlement. I do 
 not think that the Kaskaskias would have thus separated from the 
 Peouaroua and from the other Illinois of the Strait, if I could have 
 arrived sooner. I reached them at least soon enough to conciliate their 
 minds to some extent, and to prevent the insult that the Peouaroos and 
 the Mouingouana were resolved to offer the Kaskaskia and the French 
 when they embarked. I addressed all the chiefs in full Council, and, as 
 they continue to retain some respect and good will for me, they parted 
 very peaceably. But I augur no good from this separation, which ' 
 have always opposed, for I foresaw but too well the evil consquences that 
 would result from it. And may God grant that the road from Chicagwa 
 to the Strait be not closed, and that the entire Illinois Mission may not 
 suffer greatly thereby." 3 
 
 As the missions on the Illinois were dependant on Quebec for 
 their supplies, the road over Chicago to Michillimackinae had to be 
 kept open. If the Illinois Indians were not strong enough to resist the 
 inroads of the Iroquois and the Sioux, the road to Canada would no 
 longer be open and the missions would be doomed. 
 
 But the Kaskaskias were on their way to the South; all that Father 
 Gravier 's persuasions could accomplish was to halt the voyage near the 
 Tamarois' village, where Fathers Marest and Pinet were awaiting them. 
 Rouensa, the great chief of the Kaskaskias, who was a faithful Catholic, 
 was leading them on, but did not know where to lead them. It had 
 dawned upon his mind that the voyage to the Lower Mississippi was 
 simply impossible. But to stay with the Cahokias and Tamarois on 
 their narrow strip of territory between the river and the bluffs seemed 
 equally destructive. Beyond the river lay a boundless expanse of wood- 
 land and prairie. Some of the Missouri tribes, as the Osages and Mis- 
 souri, were friendly to them. Why not cross over and erect their cabins 
 beyond ? And that was exactly what the Kaskaskia did, and what Father 
 Pinet induced his Tamarois to do ; and what the French traders from 
 Kaskaskia and from Cahokia did not fail to imitate. The proofs for this 
 very interesting fact have only recently been dug from the dust of two 
 centuries by the Jesuit Fathers Kenny and Garraghan of St. Louis 
 University and others. We will here give the substance of the argument. 
 The southern boundary of the city of St. Louis is formed by a little river 
 flowing from the northwest into the Mississippi. It has always borne 
 
 'Jesuit Relations," vol. 65, p. 102 ss. 
 
The . Kaskaskias on the River Des Peres 45 
 
 the poetical name of the Riviere des Peres, or the River of the Fathers. 
 No one seemed to know when and why it was so named. Yet, the very 
 name seemed to imply a certain connection with the Jesuit Fathers, 
 the earliest missionaries in the Valley of the Mississippi. By a happy 
 chance a number of letters were discovered in far-away Canada, that 
 gave the key to the mystery, as we have already intimated. The time 
 was 1700 and the occasion was the settlement made on the place, by 
 Kaskaskia and Tamarois Indians and a considerable number of French 
 traders and hunters from Old Kaskaskia on the Illinois and from 
 Cahokia at the head of the American Bottoms. 
 
 Father St. Cosme, priest of the Foreign Missions had returned from 
 Arkansas to Cahokia in March 1700. Here he found his brother in the 
 Society, Father Bergier, and his cousin, the younger St. Cosme, 4 who was 
 not in priest's orders. He set about building a chapel and a Mission- 
 house. St. Cosme was greatly surprised at the Jesuit's claim to the 
 mission among the Tamarois, and Father Bergier, who remained alone 
 after Father St. Cosme 's second departure for the South, was still more 
 embarrassed by the arrival of the whole tribe of the Kaskaskias, as we 
 gather from the letters to Bishop Laval written in 1700. Father St 
 Cosme wrote : ' ' We had the chapel completed and erected a fine cross. 
 But I was very much surprised at Father Binneteau's arrival. He had 
 left Peoria to come and settle this mission." 5 Father Bergier on his part, 
 informed the Bishop of the conditions obtaining in the mission in a 
 letter dated February 1700: "I related to your Highness our trip to the 
 Illinois, from which place I wrote you all I had found out about the 
 condition of the missions and that which concerns the government of 
 your church. There remains but to inform you of the condition of the 
 latter. I arrived there the 7th of this month with young Mr. de St. 
 Cosme. I have counted there a hundred cabins in all, or thereabouts, 
 of which nearly half are vacant, because the greater part of the Cahokias 
 are still in winter quarters twenty or twenty-five leagues from here up 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 "The Village is composed of Tamarois, Cahokias, some Michigans 
 and Peorias. There are also some Missouri cabins, and shortly, there 
 are to come about thirty-five cabins of this last-named nation, who are 
 winter-quartering some ten or fifteen leagues from here below the village 
 on the river. We must not, however, count this nation as forming part 
 of the village and of the Tamarois mission, because it remains there only 
 a few months to make the Indian wheat, while awaiting a day to return 
 to its village, which is more than a hundred leagues away, upon the shores 
 of the Missouri river. This it has not dared to undertake for the last 
 
 Shea, John G., "The Catholic Church in Colonial Days," p. 541. 
 St. Cosme to Mgr. Laval, dated at Tamarois, March 1700. 
 
Hi History of iln Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 few years for fear of being surprised and defeated on the way by some 
 other hostile nation. 
 
 "The Tamarois and the Cahokias are the only ones that really 
 form part of this mission. The Tamarois have about thirty cabins, and 
 the Cahokias have nearly twice that number. Although the Tamarois 
 are at present less numerous than the Cahokias, the village is still 
 called Tamarois gallicized 'Des Tamarois,' because the Tamarois have 
 been the first and are still the oldest inhabitants and have first lit a 
 fire here, to use the Indian expression. All the other nations who have 
 joined them afterwards have not caused the name of the village to 
 change, but have been under t lie name of Tamarois although they were 
 not Tamarois." 6 
 
 In the following year, however, after the arrival of the Kaskaskia 
 tribe with their missionary, Marest, Father Bergier wrote from Tamarois 
 about a division of his people occasioned by the new exodus of the 
 Kaskaskias to the little river on the west bank now called the Des Peres: 
 He gives his information in brief, clear-cut numbered clauses, which 
 we subjoin together with Father Kenny's running comment. 
 
 1. "The Kats (this is a common short form for Kaskaskia) to the 
 extent of about thirty cabins, have established their new village two 
 leagues below this on the other side of the Mississippi. They have built 
 a fort there, and nearly all the French have hastened thither." 7 
 
 Two leagues below "Tamarois," and "on the other side of the 
 .Mississippi" brings us into Missouri at the mouth of the Des Peres 
 River. "They have built a fort there" and "nearly all the French have 
 hastened thither", indicate a settlement of whites. A number of French- 
 men left the confederated camp with the Kaskaskia ; we see these now 
 augmented by the accession of Frenchmen who had been at Tamarois, 
 so that it is safe to say, that the whites in Missouri in 1700 were the 
 largest aggregation of Caucasians at any one spot on the entire Miss- 
 issippi Valley. Monsignor Bergier continues : 
 
 2. "The chief of the Tamarois, followed by some cabins, joined the 
 Kats, attracted by Rouensa, who promises them much, and makes them 
 believe him saying that he is called by the great chief of the French, Mr. 
 d 'Iberville, as Father Marest has told him." 8 
 
 3. "The remainder of the Tamarois, numbering about twenty cabins 
 are shortly going to join their chief, already settled at the Kats. So there 
 
 s Bergier to Bishop of Quebec, February, 1700. Archives of Laval University, 
 Quebec, quoted by Fortier, E. J., in "Illinois State Historical Library," No. 13, 
 p. 233 ss., and by Father Lawrence Kenny, S. J., in "St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Keview, " vol. I, p. 151, cf. also "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vol. V, p. 149. 
 
 i "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. I, p. 1")2. 
 
 s "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. I, p. 153. 
 
The Kaskaskias on the River Des Peres 47 
 
 will remain here only the Cahokia numbering 60 or 70 cabins. They are 
 cutting - stakes to build a fort." 9 
 
 ' ' Here Ave learn how it came about that the early Illinois settlement 
 changed its name at this time from Tamarois to Cahokia. The Tamarois 
 abandoned the site and the Cahokia made it their permanent home." 10 
 It was early in 1 700 that the Kaskaskia migration reached the Tamarois 
 or Cahokia village. But it is not probable that it rested there very long, 
 the inference, therefore, seems justified that the foundation of the new 
 Kaskaskia village at the junction of the Riviere des Peres with the Father 
 of Waters, as indicated by Father Bergier, took place before the end of 
 1700. The friendly cooperation between the Jesuit Pinet and the Semin- 
 ary priest Bergier did not last long. In fact, Father Pinet was recalled 
 by Father Marest to the place he termed "Among the Kaskaskias," which 
 is, of course, the village of the Jesuit Fathers on the soil of Missouri. 
 Father Marest, writes to Father Lamberville in Paris under date of July 
 5, 1702: "Father Pinet a very holy and zealous missionary, has left the 
 station at the Tamarois, or Arkinsa, 11 in accordance with your directions 
 to me. But he has only half quitted it, for he has left a man in our 
 house there who takes care of it, and thus we occasionally go thither 
 from this place to show that we are obedient to the king, pending the 
 receipt of his orders. That Father now has charge of the Kaskaskias, 
 where I leave him alone, to his great sorrow — owing to present circum- 
 stances, wherein Monsieur Bergier shows that he is a worthy member 
 of the Missions Etrangeres. Inform him of the ruling by which the 
 Vicars-General have no right to visit our churches or to hear confessions 
 in them without our consent. I am convinced that these missions will 
 receive rude shocks. They were beginning to be on a good footing. This 
 caused jealousy in the minds of the Gentlemen of the Foreign Missions, 
 who have come to take them from us. God grant that they may leave 
 them in a better condition than we have done." 12 
 
 Father Bergier at Cahokia had been appointed Vicar-General of 
 the Bishop of Quebec in the Mississippi Valley ; and Father Gravier, the 
 former Vicar-General, had referred the entire dispute concerning the 
 Illinois Missions to the judgment of the King. As the Seminary priests 
 were confirmed in their possession of the Mission at Cahokia, Father 
 Pinet was recalled, and Father Bergier assumed control of the Indians 
 and what was left of the French at Cahokia. This happened about the 
 middle of June 1702. Personally, the two missionary bands were on 
 friendly terms; yet the friction caused by the contested authority had 
 
 a "St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, " vol. I, p. 153. 
 i" Kenny, ibidem. 
 
 n Arkinsa are the adopted tribe of the Metchigamias who had arrived from the 
 Arkansas Kiver. 
 
 12 "Jesuit Eelations," vol. 66, p. 253. 
 
48 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 not been without deleterious influence on the Indian population of the 
 ( wo villages on opposite sides of the river. As Father Garraghan tells us 
 in his recent article in the Sunday Globe-Democrat of St. Louis: 
 "Rouensa, the Kaskaskia chief, offered every inducement to the Tamarois 
 and Cahokia to move across the river to his new settlement. Presents 
 were not wanting, 500 pounds of powder and "a cask when the French 
 shall have come up from the sea." Father Bergier, to hold his Indians, 
 had to lay before them counter attractions, "a kettle, four pounds of 
 powder, a pound of colored glass beads, four boxes of vermilion and a 
 dozen knives." Long Neck, the Tamarois chief, set before his people 
 the charms of the Kaskaskia village, which had won for itself the allur- 
 ing soubriquet of "The Land of Life." 13 
 
 "On the other hand, Chicagoua, another Tamarois chief, showed 
 himself indifferent in the question of the hour and declared it was all 
 one to him, whether his tribesmen went or stayed. In the end, only a 
 third of the Tamarois, some twelve cabins, with their chief, presumably 
 Long Neck, moved to the Des Peres. A much larger number had no 
 doubt been expected, as one day in April 1701, Rouensa sent as many as 
 twenty-three pirogues 14 to bring the Indians over from Cahokia. Whether 
 the rest of the tribe eventually followed the third that migrated, cannot 
 be ascertained. At all events, it is significant that a hitherto unpublished 
 map in the National Library, Paris, indicates the Tamarois village as 
 being, at this period, on the west side of the Mississippi below Cahokia." 15 
 
 Thus time ran on in the little village by the River des Peres. Father 
 Bore came here as also Brother Guibert. The chapel was well attended 
 by the neophytes. Trade with the tribes on the Missouri River was 
 going on briskly. Yet, the feeling was abroad that the Des Peres settle- 
 ment was not the final goal of the Kaskaskia migration. 
 
 In his letter of July 5th, 1702 to Father Lamberville, Father Marest 
 writes about Father Mermet's going to the new post on the Wabash prob- 
 ably meaning the mouth of the Ohio, 16 which was often called the Wabash, 
 and his own intention of visiting the Sioux country. He then adds the 
 significant remark : "An effort should be made to give us accurate infor- 
 mation about Monsieur de Ponchartrain's intentions — respecting what is 
 
 13 RochemonteiXj Camille de, "Les Jesuites et La Nouvellr Prance aus XVII 
 Siecle," Paris, 1895. 
 
 n A pirogue is ;i Log hollowed out by fire. 
 
 is Father Garraghan of the St. Louis University, whilst in Paris, discovered a 
 large number of 200-year old maps, for the most part sketches which the celebrated 
 cartographer Guillaume de Lisle left at his death forty years before Laclede 
 Liquest planned to build St. Louis. They are now available in photostatic copies 
 in the Collection of the Missouri Historical Society. 
 
 i« Probably on the site of Fori Massac. 
 
Thr Kaskaskias on the River Des Peres 40 
 
 asked and expected from our Savages, as well as the grant that the Court 
 will be pleased to give them. I think you understand what I mean.'* 17 
 
 "Our Savages" are the Kaskaskias and Tamarois on the Riviere 
 des Peres. Shall they remain there, or if not, where shall they go ? These 
 were the questions that agitated the writer's mind. His correspondent 
 certainly understood what he meant. 
 
 At what time this removal to Kaskaskia on the Illinois side of the 
 .Mississippi was effected, is not quite clear. The only clew we have is an 
 entry in the Kaskaskia Baptismal Record: "1702, April 25. Ad ripani 
 Metchegameam dictam venimus." 18 "In 1703, on April 2.3, we arrived 
 on the banks of the river called the Metchigamia. " Xow it is plain that 
 this in no wise refers to Lake Michigan, but to a river. The Mechigamias, 
 one of the six tribes of the Illinois confederation, had returned to the 
 American Bottom from Arkansas and had occupied the country along 
 the Okaw River, which was afterward called the Kaskaskia River, but 
 was known up to Boisbriant 's time as the Metchigamia River. It would 
 therefore, appear that the last migration of the Kaskaskias took place 
 early in 1703. 
 
 Delisle's Map of 1703, 19 places Kaskaskia on- the north bank of the 
 Riviere des Peres. It is called "the Old Village of the Kaskaskias". 
 and its location is fixed on the Missouri side by an offical report on the 
 Seigniory of the Tamarois Mission in 1735, as about opposite to the mouth 
 of the river Dupont, which issued from the marshes of the American 
 Bottom and comes with gentle flow into the Mississippi.*'-" 
 
 After the departure of the Kaskaskia and allied Indians, the village 
 continued a precarious existence as the haunt of trappers and traders and 
 scattered tribesmen of various nations, at least until 1735 when the plan 
 was entertained to rebuild Fort Chartres at "the old village of the 
 Kaskaskias." 21 
 
 17 "Jesuit Relations, - ' vol. 66, p. 41. 
 
 is Cf. Mason, E. G., "Kaskaskia and Its Parish Records," Chicago, 1881. p. 8. 
 
 is This date would seem to imply that the new Kaskaskia in Southern Illinois 
 was already founded in 1703. 
 
 2" "Explication du plan et establissement de la Scignorie de la Mission des 
 Tamarois," April 12, 1735, Laval University M.S. 
 
 2i The "Explication" gives the reasons why the old village of the Kaskaskias 
 is regarded as a very advantageous site for the stone fort which the Court orders 
 built in the Illinois: "lime-stone, building stone, wood for construction, a river to 
 harbor the boats, the view over the Mississippi about two leagues up and two leagues 
 down, the rocky bluff which slopes very gently down to the Mississippi, a fine prairie 
 adjoining said bluff, the Mississippi which would be under the protection of the fort. 
 The Missouri too, which empties into the river five leagues from here on the west side 
 of said river, and the Illinois River which mingles its waters therewith eleven leagues 
 from here on the west, (east). All these considerations would seem to prove the 
 necessity of building the fort in question (in this place) as is very much the talk 
 
50 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loin* 
 
 But what name did this historic village and the Mission hear? No 
 doubt some of the voyageurs up and down the Mississippi called it the 
 village of "the Fathers," as distinguished from Cahokia, the village of 
 "the Gentlemen of the Seminary." Others called it Kaskaskia as the 
 former home of the principal tribe; Others again called it by name of 
 the great chief of the Kaskaskias, "the village of Rouensa, " as Father 
 Bergier in his letter to Bishop Vallier seems to imply, and as Father 
 Mermet plainly states, March 2nd, 1700. But there certainly was some 
 sainted name attached to a Catholic village and Jesuit Mission; Father 
 Mermet tells us what it was : speaking of the Tamarois braves who 
 brought the wounded Father Gravier in a canoe from the Peoria village 
 on the Illinois River to the village on the des Peres, he praises them say- 
 ing : "They did not leave him until he reached us at Ruenza's village, 
 which is called St. Francois de Xavier, as you are aware." 22 
 
 now. In case this be done, the Seignorie of Tamarois would soon be established from 
 one end to the other. ' ' 
 
 22 "Jesuit Eelations, " vol. 6G, p. 57. 
 
Chapter 7 
 CAHOKIA AND THE SEMINARY PRIESTS 
 
 It was at Chicago iu the Mission of the Guardian Angel, that we 
 first met Father Francis Pinet, its founder. And it was Father St. 
 Cosme who introduced us to hiin, October 21st, 1698. Father Binneteau 
 had just arrived from the South to accompany Father Pinet to the 
 Illinois country. Both were preparing for the journey. Their house 
 stood on the bank of a small river, with Lake Michigan on one side, and 
 a fine vast prairie on the other. The village of the savages contained 
 over a hundred and fifty cabins, and a league up the river was another 
 village almost as large. 1 The Indians were Miamis. Father St. Cosme 
 tells us that Father Pinet usually resided there except in winter, when 
 the savages were all away, and that he then went to the Illinois. This 
 was as early as 1698. Two years later we find Father Pinet already 
 established at Cahokia, with Father Bergier of the Seminary of Quebec, 
 having formed a mission, consisting of the Tamarois, Cahokias and 
 possibly the Metchigamia from Arkansas. The Mission bore the name 
 of the Holy Family. From this it would follow that Cahokia was the 
 first Catholic foundation on the Upper Mississippi. Its location near 
 the mouths of two important rivers, the Missouri and the Illinois, made 
 it, for a time, the center of trade in the Illinois country. Thus Cahokia 
 may claim the honor of priority of settlement on the borders of the Great 
 River, not only as an Indian Mission but as a Parish of Catholic 
 Frenchmen. 
 
 The French villages in Illinois resulted from the grand colonization 
 plan of Lasalle. The earliest one, indeed, Kaskaskia, on the Illinois 
 river, was nothing more than a primitive Indian village until the crown- 
 ing of the Rock of the Illinois with Fort St. Louis. Next in the order of 
 time was the village of the Peorias at the foot of Lake Peoria. Then 
 came Cahokia founded some time before the close of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 As to the merits of the case between the Jesuit Fathers and the 
 Gentlemen of the Seminary the advantage seems to be on the side of 
 the former: yet the later grant, though based on a misunderstanding, 
 speaks in favor of the latter. 
 
 Cahokia, also called Tamarois, was the chief seat of the two 
 Illinois tribes' whose names it bore. In December 1690, Bishop St. 
 
 i ' ' Chicago and the Old Northwest ' ' by Miles Milton Quaif e, contains a 
 thorough discussion of Father Pinet 's Mission of the Angel Guardian at Chicago, 
 pp. 39-42. Cf. also Frank R. Grover's lecture on Father Pinet and his Mission. 
 
 (51) 
 
 UNIVERSITY Of 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY- 
 
52 History of tin Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Vallier of Quebec had appointed Father Gravier, S. J., his Vicar General 
 
 and entrusted the care of the Illinois mission and other surrounding 
 nations to the Jesuits. "Some of the surrounding nations" are 
 specifically mentioned: "the Miamis and the Sioux towards the 
 west." The Cahokias and Tamarois, being of the Illinois nation, 
 were within Father Gravier's jurisdiction. Father Gravier 
 had visited Cahokia at least once; But no mission had so far 
 been established there when the Seminary of Quebec asked and obtain- 
 ed from Bishop Vallier, by letters patent, dated June 4, 1698, a grant of 
 the Tamarois mission as a necessary key to the entire valley of the Mis- 
 souri River. Without losing any time Father John Bergier, a priest of 
 the Seminary of Quebec, started for Tamarois, on February 7, 1700, in 
 order to establish the Mission of the Holy Family. About the same 
 time the Jesuit Father Francis Pinet arrived and claimed the mission 
 on the ground that the evangelization of all the Illinois tribes was 
 committed to the Jesuits. Both priests remained at Tamarois, Father Berg- 
 ier ministering to the French traders and Father Pinet to the Indians. 
 Peace ruled in the village: but it was threatened from the North-west by 
 the Sioux, and from the South-east by the Shawnees. On June 14, 1700, 
 Father Bergier wrote: "We have frequent alarms here, and have several 
 times been obliged to receive within our walls nearly all the women and 
 children of the village. Pentecost Sunday there was an alarm, which 
 was not without consequences. "Some Sioux war-party had murdered 
 a number of men and women. Some Tamarois Indians and Frenchmen 
 fought off the invaders and captured three Sioux. The prisoners were 
 "Killed, burnt and eaten." 2 Father Pinet instructed one of the victims 
 before death and baptized him. 
 
 After the return of the Cahokias from their winter-quarters, the 
 exodus of the Kaskaskia with a part of the Tamarois and the French 
 t raders, to the newly-established village on the Missouri side took place. 
 On June 4th 1701, an ecclesiastical commission appointed by the King, 
 Louis XIV, decided that the Tamarois Mission belonged to the Seminary. 
 Father Gravier gracefully accepted the decision and recalled Father 
 Pinet to the new Kaskaskia village on the River des Peres where Father 
 Marest had already gone. But when Father Bergier set up his claim 
 that he had been appointed Vicar General in place of the Jesuit 
 Superior, Father Gravier demurred. The two rival establishments 
 on opposite banks of the Mississippi, however, maintained friendly 
 relations, the members visiting one another as good neighbors. The 
 only differences between them originated in the contested Vicar-General- 
 ship. Monsignor Bergier remained in Cahokia as missionary and Vicar- 
 General of Quebec until his death, in 1712. As such he administered the 
 
 2 Father Bergier's 3rd letter, dated June 14, 1700, in Fortier's "The Establish- 
 ment of the Tamaroan Mission." 
 
Cahokia and the Seminary Priests 53 
 
 last sacraments to Father Francis Pinet, who died the death of a saint, 
 August 1, 1702, and buried him in the little grave-yard on the Missouri 
 side, although he had, in the excess of zeal for authority, interdicted the 
 church on the Kiviere des Peres. 
 
 Six years previous in 1706, Monsignor Bergier had visited Bien- 
 ville in Mobile, 3 where a priest of the Foreign Mission, Father de la Vente, 
 was pastor. In consequence of the Vicar-General's representations a 
 larger residence was erected for the priests at the church adjoining 
 Fort St. Louis in the Bay of Mobile. When at last the Kaskaskia Indians 
 and their French followers were definitely settled in their new village 
 at the mouth of the Okaw River in what is now Randolph County, 
 Illinois, the friendly visits for spiritual converse and mutual help and 
 consolation did not cease, although they became less frequent. On 
 November 9, 1712, Father Marest writes of his last visit to Father 
 Bergier at the Tamarois village. "Having learnt that the Monsignor 
 was dangerously ill, I immediately went to assist him. I remained eight 
 entire days with this worthy ecclesiastic. The care I took of him and 
 the remedies which I gave him, seemed gradually to restore him, so that 
 he urged me to return to my village. Before leaving him, I administered 
 to him the Holy Viaticum. He instructed me as to the condition of his 
 mission, recommending it to me in case that God should take him away. 
 When I arrived at our village nearly all the savages had gone, (on their 
 usual hunting excursion). They were scattered along the Mississippi. 
 I immediately set out to join them." 4 Here the Missionary was kept 
 very busy with sick-calls to the various encampments; yet the illness 
 of Father Bergier continually disturbed his mind and urged him to 
 return to Kaskaskia. But no news had come from Tamarois and, as 
 "no news is good news," Father Marest 's anxiety was greatly relieved. 
 A few days afterward however, a young slave came to apprize him of 
 Father Bergier 's death and beg him to go to perform the funeral rites. 
 Father Marest set out at once and, walking all night, arrived there 
 towards evening the next day. In the morning he said Mass for the 
 deceased and buried him in the churchyard of Cahokia. The death of 
 Father Bergier was a most edifying one; he felt it coming all at once, 
 and said that it would be useless to send for a priest from Kaskaskia, 
 since he would be dead before his arrival. He merely took in his hands 
 the crucifix which he kissed lovingly and expired." 5 Father Marest 
 
 3 Father de la Vente in his earlier days, one of the three important personages 
 in Mobile, or in the language of Gayarre, "one of the hinges upon which everything 
 turned in the commonwealth of Louisiana," "History of Louisiana, I, p. «7. Mobile 
 was the seat of the Government before the foundation of New Orleans. 
 
 4 "Jesuit Kelations," vol. 66, p. 263. 
 s "Jesuit Kelations," vol. 66, p. 263. 
 
.">4 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 adds to his account of Father Bergier's death a gentle word of praise, 
 calling him "a missionary of true merit and of a very austere life." 
 
 After Father Bergier's death the mission and Parish of Cahokia 
 remained in care of the Jesuits of Kaskaskia because the Seminary of 
 Quebec had no one to send to this important station. On October 16, 
 1717, Father Dominic Mary Varlet received the appointment from the 
 Bishop of Quebec as Vicar-General, especially for Fort le Mobile or 
 Fort St. Louis, and the places and missions along the River Mississippi, 
 with the jurisdiction over all priests, secular or regular, except priests 
 of the Society of Jesus, who were subject to their own Superior. "The 
 new Vicar-General represented to the Bishop that a considerable time 
 might elapse before he could reach the Tamarois Mission, and that in 
 the mean time the Seminary might be unable to send a successor to Rev. 
 M. Bergier at that place, he therefore solicited a confirmation of the 
 original Letters-Patent granted to the Seminary of Quebec for the Miss- 
 issippi Mission and especially for that of the Tamarois. The Bishop 
 accordingly renewed the letters of May 10 and July 14, 1698. Monsig- 
 nor Varlet proceeded to occupy his new field of labor. He had served 
 at Mobile as a missionary from 1713 to 1715 and from 1715 on, he signed 
 himself as Vicar-General. The document of 1717, therefore, is but an 
 extension of his powers after the death of Vicar-General Bergier. There 
 is no proof to show that Father Varlet attended the Parish of Cahokia 
 at any time, though he seems to have visited it. In 1718 Father Varlet 
 was appointed Bishop of Ascalon and Coadjutor to the Bishop of Baby- 
 lon and, after receiving episcopal consecration, set out for the East. 
 Meanwhile evidence had reached Rome that Varlet was an active adherent 
 to the doctrines of Jansenism. Bishop Varlet then retired to Utrecht in 
 Holland where he helped to establish the Jansenist Church, consecrating 
 four of its archbishops. He died in 1742. The socalled Old-Catholics 
 derive their episcopate from this renegade Bishop. 6 
 
 After Monsignor's departure in 1719 the Seminary of the Foreign 
 Missions sent Fathers Antoine Thaumer de la Source and Francois le 
 Mercier to Cahokia. It was due to the influence exerted by these two 
 missionaries, that Sieur des Crsins of the" Royal Company of the Indies," 
 and Pierre Duguet de Boisbriant, the "First Lieutenant of the King in the 
 Province of Louisiana", granted to the Missionaries of Cahokia and 
 Tamarois, in Fee Simple "a tract of Four Leagues square with the 
 neighboring island, 7 to be taken a quarter of a league above the small 
 river of the Cahokias, situated above the Indian Village, and in going up 
 
 6 "Catholic Church in the Colonies," John G. Shea, p. 556. Both letters as 
 signing the Tamarois Mission to the Seminary priests, "Illinois Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. V. As to Varlet, cf. "American Catholic Quarterly Review," vol. 
 XIV, pp. 533 ss. 
 
 7 This Island is now called Arsenal Island. 
 
Cahokia and the Seminary Priests 55 
 
 following the course of the Mississippi, and in returning towards the Fort 
 of Chartres, running in depth to the north, east and south for quantity.'" 
 The French government on August 1743 confirmed this grant. But 
 as early as June 22, 1722, the missionaries were authorized, "to work, 
 clear, plant the land." Thus the Mission of Cahokia became a grand 
 Seigniory stretching from the village to the confines of Fort Chartres. 9 
 
 Father Charlevoix on his tour of inspection from Canada to the 
 Gulf arrived at Cahokia on the 10th day of October 1721, and left us an 
 interesting account of the place and its priests : ' ' The same Day, October 
 19, we went to stay in a village of the Cahokias and Tamarois. These 
 are two nations of the Illinois which are united, and who do not together 
 make a very numerous village. It is situated on a little river 10 which 
 comes from the east, and which has no water but in the Spring season, 
 so that we were forced to walk a good half league to the cabins. I was 
 surprised that they had chosen such an inconvenient situation, as they 
 might have found a much better one ; but they told me that the 
 Mississippi washed the foot of the village when it was built, and that 
 in three years the river had lost half a league of ground, and that they 
 were thinking of looking out for another settlement. I passed the night 
 in the house of the missionaries, who are two ecclesiastics of the Semi- 
 nary of Quebec, formerly my disciples, but who might now be my masters. 
 The elder of the two, Dominic A. Thaumer was absent. I found the 
 younger, Francois le Mercier such as he has been reported to me, severe 
 to himself, full of charity for others and making virtue amiable in his 
 own person. But he has so little health, that I think he cannot long 
 support the way of life which they are obliged to lead in these 
 missions." 11 
 
 The Gentlemen of the Seminary as well as the Jesuit Fathers had 
 long cast wistful eyes upon the West, where the Missouri rolled its 
 muddy waters through lands of many nations still sitting "in darkness 
 and the shadow of death." But adventurous laymen showed the way 
 to their goal. In March 1702, seventeen Frenchmen left Cahokia to 
 ascend the Missouri river ; Derbanne followed about 1706 ; Darac was 
 dispatched by Bienville to the Missouri in 1710 ; Nine years later 
 
 8 The "Illinois Catholic Historical Review" has two articles on the Catholic 
 Mission Property by Joseph J. Thompson, vol. V, p. 195-217 and vol. VI, p. 99-135. 
 The grant was made by Boisbriant, and des Ursins on June 22, 1722. At Father 
 Mercier 's request, April 20, 1743, Vaudreuil promised to obtain the confirmation from 
 Maurepas which was given on August 4, 1743. The further transaction in regard to 
 the Cahokia Mission property was involved in darkness. What Vaudreuil himself con- 
 firmed was the title to lands the Gentlemen of the Seminary had illegally bought 
 from the Indians in order to divide them gratis among bona fide settlers, 
 s Fort Chartres stood about ten miles north of Kaskaskia. 
 
 io The Cahokia Creek. 
 
 ii Wallace, Jos., "The History of Illinois and Louisiana," p. 209. 
 
56 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Dutisne, coming from the South, disembarked his force at the mouth of 
 the Saline River, ten miles below what was destined to be Ste. Genevieve, 
 and taking a uorth-wesl course reached the Indian villages <ui the Osage 
 and Missouri. 12 These soldiers, hunters and traders brought back the 
 report thai among the nations of the Missouri some seemed very well 
 disposed to receive the Gospel. The Jesuit Father Limoges on March 
 9, 1700 made known to Father St. Cosme his desire to go among the 
 tribes of the Missouri as a missionary. Father St. Cosine's successor 
 at Cahokia, Father Bergier, in May 1702 wrote: "The two principal 
 missions which I should like to take in hand, if there were men and 
 money, are the Cances (Kansas) and the Panimahas (Loups) along the 
 river of the Missouri's." 13 
 
 It was Father Mercier who was chosen in 1723 to attempt, in a very 
 restricted manner, the grand dream of Father Limoges and Father 
 Bergier, to establish "missions among the Kansas and Panimahas 
 (Loups) and the other tribes along the river of the Missouri's." The Sieur 
 Vensard de Bourgmond, who as early as 1714, had navigated the 
 Missouri River as far as its junction with the Platte, and at a later 
 date had reached a point as far north as Dakota, was commissioned in 
 172.'!. to undertake the military occupation of the Missouri. Diron 
 D'Artaguiette, the commander of Fort Chartres, records in his Journal 
 of 1723 the following incidents of his meeting with Bourgmont's party: 
 "About noon, June 4, wind being contrary, we perceived four boats 
 and two pirogues full of Canadians. We fired some shots and went on 
 shore to wait for them. It was M. Bourgmont, who with a company of 
 fifty men, of whom M. Pradel was captain, was going up the river to 
 the Missouris. The Sunday at 4 P.M. I reviewed the company. Many 
 of them were sick." 14 As the party was on the way to Cahokia, 
 D'Artaguiette joined them. The Journal continues: "At daybreak- 
 June 6, we embarked and came to get breakfast at the Old village of the 
 Cahokias, which is on the left as you ascend, 15 a league and a half 
 distant from the village of the Cahokias. In this place we perceived 
 a large pirogue, of French make, which was crossine over from the 
 
 village of the Cahokias We then continued our journey and arrived 
 
 about ten o'clock in the morning at the poste, where the Sieur de St. 
 Ange is in command with six soldiers. This is a wretched fort of 
 piles, where the Sieur Mercier, priest of the Foreign .Mission, lias a 
 
 12 "Travels Through thai Part of North America Formerly called Louisiana," 
 bj Capt. Bossu, London, 1771. 
 
 is "Emergence of the Missouri Valley into History," Garraghan, s;. .1. 
 ' ' Thought, ' ' vol. I, No. 2, p. 203. 
 
 14 "Journal of Diron D'Artaguiette," 1723, in Mereness Collection, p. 84. 
 
 15 This is tin- Old Village of the Kaskaskias on the Dos Peres. 
 
Cahokia and the Seminary Priests 57 
 
 house and church. An eighth of a league higher up is the village of 
 the Cahokias." 16 
 
 The old village of the Cahokias, on the left as you ascend, a league 
 and a half distant from the village of the Cahokias on the Illinois side, 
 is Father Pinet's one-time mission of St. Francis Xavier. St. Ange de 
 Bellerive, the commandant of the fort, and Father Francis Mercier, 
 one of the two priests of the Cahokia mission, joined the expedition up 
 the Missouri River. 
 
 Having arrived at the village of the Missouris, with a party of 
 about fifty Frenchmen, November 9, 1723, Bourgmond erected his fort, 
 known in history as Fort Orleans, on the north bank of the Missouri 
 in Carroll County. 17 The Chaplain of the expedition was Father John 
 Baptist Mercier, the pastor of Cahokia. There was a room in the fort, 
 dedicated to divine service, the earliest house of worship erected in 
 the Valley of the Missouri. "The Te Deum chanted by Mercier at the 
 Fort, November 5, 1724, on Bourgmond 's return from his adventurous 
 march across the Kansas plains," says Father Garraghan, "was a unique 
 
 religious ceremony in the history of the West " 18 Together with 
 
 the commandant, Father Mercier paid visits to the Missouri and Osage 
 Villages, where he apparently made an impression upon the Indians ; 
 for their chiefs, whom Bourgmond brought to Paris in 1725, declared 
 in their address to Louis XV, "that they never had any one to teach 
 them to pray, save only a "white collar," who came to them a little 
 time ago, whom they are happy to have, and, (they) beseech you to 
 send others." 19 In 1725 Desliettes, Commandant of the Illinois Country, 
 was instructed "to thank le Sieur Mercier, chaplain of the post of the 
 Missouris, for his services; and that was all of earthly recompense 
 the priest received for his long and faithful labors." By order of the 
 Company of the Indies, dated October 27, 1724, Fort Orleans was 
 abandoned in 1728. "A Missionary, however, was to be left there, if he 
 thought lie could make any progress in the preaching of the Govspel 
 among the Indians. Father Mercier returned with the garrison and 
 resumed his previous functions as missionary at Cahokia. 20 Yet he did 
 not lose interest in the prospect "for missions which it is desirable 
 
 i« Mereness Collection, pp. 79 and 80. 
 
 i" Fort Orleans was not built on an island in the Missouri, but on the Tetsan 
 Bend two miles above the mouth of the Wakenda River. Cf. the Baron Marc de 
 Villier's, "La Decouverte du Missouri et 1'Histoire du Fort Orleans, 1G73-1728, 
 Paris, 1925. 
 
 is "Emergence of the Missouri Valley Tutu History," Garraghan, iu 
 "Thought," vol. I, No. 2, p. 207. 
 
 19 Garraghan, p. 207. 
 
 20 Garraghan, p. 208. 
 
58 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 should be established on the Missouri River." 21 According to Bossu, 
 Father Mercier was a Canadian by birth. He came to Cahokia in 1718, 
 and remained there until 1753. Bossu praises him as a worthy Apostle of 
 Louisiana : "1 have been particularly acquainted with the Abbe Mercier, 
 a Canadian by birth, and vicar of the whole country of Illinois. He 
 was a man of probity, whose friendship could not fail of being of use 
 to me by the knowledge he had acquired of the manner of the Indians, 
 who were edified by his virtue and disinterestedness. He spoke the 
 language of the country and, on account of the fluency with which he 
 expressed himself in it, he was highly esteemed among the Indians, who 
 consulted him in all matters." 22 
 
 Father Dominique Antoine Rene Thaumer de la Source was a 
 student at the Jesuit College in Quebec at the time Charlevoix taught 
 in that institution of learning, 170") to 1709. Entering the Seminary of 
 I lie Priests of the Foreign Missions he completed his studies and was 
 ordained to the priesthood. On August 3, 1718, his name occurs in 
 the Church Records of Detroit. He came to Tamarois in 1719 as com- 
 panion to Father Mercier. At Father Charlevoix's visit to Tamarois 
 on October 10, 1721, he is still with Father Mercier, though absent 
 at the moment on some missionary call. As Father Mercier remained 
 among the Missouri Indians until the departure of Bourgmond for 
 France in 1725, Father Thaumer de la Source alone retained charge 
 of the Mission and parish of the Holy Family of the Cahokias. It 
 seems probable that, two years after Father Mercier 's return, Father 
 Thaumer left Tamarois for Canada by way of Detroit, as on March 25, 
 1728, his name occurs on the Records of the Church of St. Anne. Father 
 Thaumer died at Quebec in the odor of Sanctity in 1728. 23 
 
 His place was supplied by Father Joseph Courrier, who was re- 
 garded as a man of extraordinary sanctity — He died in New Orleans 
 in the autumn of 1735. Father Gaston, who was sent to Cahokia with 
 Father Courrier, is reported to have been killed by Indians soon after 
 his arrival. The circumstances of his martyrdom are not known. Father 
 Mercier, being left alone with the charge of the parish of Cahokia 
 and the chaplaincy of St. Anne at Fort Chartres, was gladdened by the 
 arrival of Father Joseph Gagnon, a priest true and faithful, but sinking 
 under the weight of age and infirmity. 
 
 2i Garraghan, p. 209. 
 
 22 "Travels Through that part of North America formerly called Louisiana," 
 by Mr. Bossu, translated by Reinhold Forster, London, 1771, quoted by Garraghan, 
 p. 209. 
 
 23 Father Dominique Antoine Tiene Thaumer de la Source made the voyage down 
 the Mississippi with Father Montiqni, Davion and St. Cosine, not as a priest, but 
 began his studies in 1704, six years after the voyage. 
 
Cahokia and the Seminary Priests 59 
 
 Father Gagnon however managed to live on and to labor as Parish 
 Priest of Cahokia and Chaplain of Fort Chartres until July 1759. He 
 was buried in the church of St. Anne at Fort Chartres, but when that 
 edifice threatened to fall into the current with the crumbling earth of 
 the river-bank, his body, together with that of another chaplain, the 
 Recollet, Luke Collet, was removed by the Jesuit Father Sebastian 
 Meurin, in 1768. 
 
 Towards the end of Father Mercier's administration almost all 
 the buildings of the Mission of the Holy Family were destroyed by 
 fire. The Abbe Laurent, a priest of Chartres, France, was sent to 
 Cahokia in 1739, the Seminary sending a very large sum for the purpose 
 of rebuilding what was lost. After thirty-five years of strenuous labor 
 among the Illinois and Missouri Indians, Father Mercier died at Cahokia, 
 March 30, 1753. "The last glimpse we get of him in life" as Father 
 Garraghan remarks, "is in the composite picture of the three Seminary 
 Priests, Mercier, Gagnon and Laurent, drawn in 1750 by the Jesuit 
 Vivier of Kaskaskia : "Nothing can be more amiable than their character, 
 or more edifying than their conduct. We live with them as if we were 
 members of the same body." 
 
 When Captain Philip Pittman visited Cahokia in 1767 he found it 
 a long and straggling village about three-fourths of a mile from end to 
 end, and containing forty-five dwelling-houses and a church near the 
 center. "The land" he takes occasion to say, "was purchased from 
 the savages by a few Canadians, some of whom married women of the 
 Kaoquias Nation, and others brought wives from Canada, and then 
 resided there, leaving their children to succeed them. The inhabitants 
 of this place depend more on hunting and their Indian trade, than on 
 
 agriculture What is called the Fort is a small house standing in 
 
 the center of the village It was formerly inclosed with high 
 
 Palisades, but these were torn down and burnt." 24 
 
 The mission of the Cahokia Indians had passed out of existence be- 
 fore the departure of the last Seminary priest, Father Forget Duverger 
 in 1764, and the Illinois Indians that once formed it, were almost totally 
 destroyed in retaliation for the murder of the great chieftain Pontiac 
 bv an Illinois Indian at Cahokia in 1769. 
 
 24 "The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi," by 
 Captain Philip Pittmann, London, 1770, p. 92. 
 
Chapter 8 
 LAST DAYS OF GRAVIER AND MAREST 
 
 Father James Gravier after his return from the South in 1672, 
 where he met all the important men of the day, and secured most valuable 
 information, he took up once more the humble and laborious life of an 
 Indian missionary. At the time of the exodus of the Kaskaskia from 
 their ancestral haunts on the Illinois River, he had promised the Peorias 
 that he would come to them at the earliest possible moment . The faith- 
 ful Father now fulfilled his purpose. On the 5th of March 1702, he 
 informed Father John Lamberville of the needs of the three missions 
 of the Illinois, and stated that he himself was among the Peorias. Of 
 his activities and fortunes among these stiffnecked Indians, Father John 
 Mermet gives an interesting account in his letter ' ' among the Kaskaskias, 
 this 2nd of March 1706," from which we shall extract the salient facts. 
 "One of the notables of the Peoria tribe, a certain Tete D'Ours, (Bear's 
 Head) had been at Mackinac and had there been impressed by the 
 weakness and timidity of the French officials before the threatening 
 conduct of the Ottawas. He determined to make himself dreaded at 
 home and enrich himself with the spoils of "the black-gown and the 
 French." On his return to the Illinois he frequently harangued the 
 people to rebellion against the foreigners. All these discourses excited 
 the minds to revolt and, although not all were of that opinion, a great 
 many followed it. One of these latter threatened to take revenge on 
 Father Gravier, for a supposed slight, "and when he met him in the 
 village, he ran to his cabin for his bow and arrows and, without saying 
 a word, shot the Father, wounding him dangerously. Two arrows 
 struck his breast, but glanced off ; a third tore his ear ; the next would 
 have killed him, had it not been for the collar of his cassock, which 
 stopped the arrow-head; the fifth was a deadly shot; for the arrow 
 pierced the arm above the wrist, and penetrated to below the elbow; 
 three streams of blood poured from the opened veins and from the 
 severed artery. The Father plucked out the arrow, but the stone head 
 stuck in the sinews near the joint of the elbow, — within, as we suppose." 1 
 At the very first news of this accident, Father Mermet, then still at the 
 Kaskaskia Village on the River des Peres, applied to Rouensa, who 
 gave him four men to get the Father. "These men told Father Gravier 
 that Rouensa had ordered them to die with him. Thus they did not 
 leave him until he reached us at Rouensa 's village, which is called St. 
 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 55. 
 
 (60) 
 
Last Days of Gravier and Marest 61 
 
 Francis Xavier. 2 The poor Father Gravier, could barely say mass 
 once or twice ; he had to be dressed like a child ; but afterward his arm 
 swelled more than ever, and he could not use it. He uttered cries 
 day and night, like a man who is being burned; in fact, he felt pains 
 similar to those caused by a scorching fire. His condition excited com- 
 passion in me, for I had no means of relieving him. At last I proposed 
 somewhat rashly, to lance the swelled arm, and he consented. 'But' he 
 said, 'you will have to cut very deep with the lancet, to reach the stone 
 arrow-head.' I am not sufficiently skillful to flatter myself that I can 
 find it, even if you were to point out the place where the pain is most 
 severe ; but I hope to give you relief by allowing the pus to flow. He 
 consents; he exhorts me to perform the operation, and I set to work. 
 I thrust the lancet three times into his arm, fortunately without in- 
 juring him, or opening the principal vein, although the lancet was 
 buried to one-half its depth. After this a great quantity of putrid blood, 
 having a very disagreeable odor, escaped, and this gave him relief ; but 
 the stone did not appear and we despaired of curing him. How could 
 an inexperienced man, as I was, seek it among the sinews?" 3 
 
 Father Gravier was prevailed on to go to Mobile to have his w y ound 
 attended to. A traveling merchant, M. Bouat, who did not venture to 
 proceed northward to Canada on account of the insolence of the Illinois 
 Indians, volunteered to conduct the Father to Mobile. But the surgeons 
 of that city gave no relief. Hence the Father in his continuous pain 
 took a ship for Paris, but, as he wrote on March 6th, 1707, "not with the 
 intention of finding some one who might extract from the middle of 
 my arm the stone arrow-head which is riveted there for the rest of my 
 life, but urged by anxiety to procure for the Rev. Father General 
 workers whom our missions greatly need." 4 Father Gravier died in 
 the Louisiana Mission after his return voyage from France, April 26th, 
 
 1708 His last letter, as far as we know, contains the following 
 
 touching tributes to his associates on the Illinois Mission, Marest and 
 Me r met : 
 
 "In my village which is five hundred leagues distant from Quebec, 
 and which consists of about three thousand souls, — unless, during the 
 pastor's absence, the flock is dispersed for a time, — I have for the last 
 nineteen years lived nearly always alone without a colleague, without 
 a companion, often even without a servant. I am already fifty-six years 
 old. Father Gabriel Marest likewise lives alone in his mission with 
 the same nation. During an entire day he has hardly time to recite 
 his breviary, or to eat, or to take a short rest in the middle of the 
 night. His fellow-missionary, Father Jean Mermet, can hardly Avork, 
 
 ' ' Jesuit Relations, ' ' vol. 66, p. 57. 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 61. 
 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 122. 
 
62 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 owing to liis ruined state of health after having spent all his strength 
 
 by excess of zeal They have hardly time to breathe, on account 
 
 of the increasing number of neophytes and their very great fervor; for 
 out of two thousand two hundred souls, who compose their village, 
 hardly forty may be found who do not profess the Catholic Faith with 
 the greatest piety and constancy. We are separated from each other 
 by a distance of 120 leagues and hardly once every other year have I 
 time to visit him." 5 This mission of Fathers' Marest and Mermet, is 
 the Immaculate Conception of Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River. It 
 is from this new place Father Marest writes his letter to Father 
 Germon, dated at Kaskaskia, an Illinois Village, otherwise called the 
 Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, November 9th, 1712 : 
 ' ' Our Illinois inhabit a very pleasant country ; the great rivers which 
 water it, the vast and dense forests, the delightful prairies, the hills 
 Covered with very thick woods, all these features make a charming 
 variety. This region does not end with the Illinois river ; it stretches 
 along the Mississippi on both sides and is about two hundred leagues 
 in length and more than a hundred in breadth. '""' Besides the Mississippi 
 and the Illinois Rivers, Father Marest mentions the Pekitanoui or 
 Missouri and the Ouabache or Ohio. Besides these large rivers there 
 are also a great many small streams. It is on the East bank of one of 
 these rivers that our village is situated, between the river Ouabache 
 and the Pekitanoui." 7 From these passages it follows that the Kaskaskias 
 were then settled at a village that was to bear their name to modern 
 times. That the village of St. Francis Xavier was then a thing of the 
 past, is evident from the enumeration made by Marest of the villages 
 in the entire Illinois country: "Counting our own," he says, "there 
 are only three, one of which is more than a hundred leagues from here, 
 where there are eight or nine hundred savages, and the other is on the 
 Mississippi, twenty-five leagues from our village." 1 They are in the 
 order of their foundation, Peoria, Cahokia and Kaskaskia. 
 
 The Kaskaskia Christians had attained their end, peace and safety 
 in a village of their own and still in the Mission of the Immaculate 
 Conception. Sweet sounds the praise their Father gives them : 
 "Christianity and intercourse with the French have by degrees civilized 
 them. This is to be noticed in our Village, of which nearly all 
 the inhabitants are Christians. It is this also which has brought many 
 Frenchmen to settle here. And very recently we married three of them 
 to Illinois women." 9 
 
 s "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 122 s. 
 
 6 ".Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 123. 
 
 1 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 227. 
 
 s "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 229. 
 
 9 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 66, p. 231. 
 
Last Days of Gravier and Marest 63 
 
 After the death of Father Bergier, pastor of Cahokia and Vicar- 
 General of the Bishop of Quebec, the care of the French and Indians 
 at that place also fell to the lot of Fathers Marest and Mermet, over- 
 burdened as they already found themselves. But there was another 
 burden awaiting them, the Peoria mission on the Illinois river, vacated 
 by Father Gravier. The great distance of the mission and the bad treat- 
 ment their former pastor had received prevented frequent visits. But as 
 the French were forbidden to trade with the rebellious Indians, the 
 Peoria Christians were all the more anxious for a return of the Jesuit 
 Fathers. They seemed deeply humiliated in considering the cruel treat- 
 ment they had given Father Gravier. It was decided by Fathers Mermet 
 and de Ville that Father Marest should visit the Peoria village. He 
 set out on Friday in Easter week, 1711 accompained by two Peoria 
 Indians. The journey was made on foot. On the day after his departure 
 he arrived at the Tamaroa Village. There the long journey over the 
 prairie to the Illinois river began, no house, no bridge, no human being in 
 sight, through briars and thorns, and at time through dense forests, ever 
 onwward, ever onward, with but brief intervals of sleep on the grass or 
 on some leaves, living on a few ears of Indian corn, crossing rivers and 
 creeks on improvised rafts, of a few dry sticks tied together, and in con- 
 stant danger from stray war-parties, the good old Father with his 
 companions arrived at the Illinois after twelve days of steady walking, 
 foot-sore and exhausted. The last thirty or thirty-five miles to the Peoria 
 Village the journey was made by a canoe some Frenchman brought 
 down the river with fresh provisions for the Father. At the village all 
 the chief men of the Peoria tribe came to greet Father Marest and 
 expressed their sorrow for their past faults, with the request that he 
 might stay with them. After a sojourn of a fortnight at the Peoria 
 Village, Father Marest started on a journey to the Pottawatomie Village 
 by the river St. Joseph, where Father Chardon S.J. was in charge. Here 
 he found his elder brother, Father Joseph Marest, who was destined for 
 the mission among the Sioux. Both Fathers Marest then journeyed to 
 Mackinac, where the}' separated, Father Gabriel returning to the Kas- 
 kaskia by way of the St. Joseph and Illinois rivers. 
 
 The Peorias and their allies had spread over the entire territory 
 which was formerly occupied by the Kaskaskias. They met Father Marest 
 at the Fort on the Rock of the Illinois. They fired a volley from their mus- 
 kets in sign of rejoicing. "Joy was actually painted on their faces," as the 
 good Father wittily says. He was entertained at a great feast. Father 
 Marest too rejoiced greatly and promised them he would return and 
 stay with them. During the two days he spent in this village, Father 
 Marest said mass in public and performed all the duties of a Missionary. 
 It was about the end of August when he embarked to return to his 
 mission at Kaskaskia. Swiftly did his canoe carry him down the Illinois 
 
(>4 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 and the Mississippi rivers, and al last, on September 10th, he arrived at 
 his dear mission in perfect health, after an absence of five months. When 
 Father Marest made known to his French and Indians, that he had 
 promised to stay with the Peorias, they would not hear of it: Accordingly 
 Father de Ville 10 was sent there in his place. 
 
 Father Marest 11 remained with his dear Kaskaskias until his death, 
 September 15th, 1716, one of the noblest and best of the old Jesuit 
 Missionaries. As the editor of the Jesuit Relations says, "Gabriel Marest 
 devoted himself to the civilization as well as the religious instruction of 
 the Kaskaskia ; he taught them to cultivate the soil and raise domestic 
 animals, and rendered them the most industrious and peaceable of 
 the western savages." 12 
 
 10 Father de Ville's baptismal names are given as Jean Marie and by others as 
 Louis. He belonged to the Province of Champagne, was born at Auxerre, September 
 8, 1672. He arrived in Canada in 1706, and died at Natchez, June 15, 1720. 
 
 ii Father Marest was baptized Pierre Gabriel. He was born at Laval, Maync. 
 October 14, 1662, entered the Order in Paris, October 1, 1681, arrived in Canada in 
 1694, and died at Kaskaskia, February 15, 1714. His remains were interred in the 
 stone church at Kaskaskia by Father Boullenger. The "Jesuit Relations" contain a 
 very interesting letter in beautiful Latin about his experiences on the voyage of 
 Bienville to Hudson 's Bay. 
 
 12 "Jesuit Relations, " vol. 65, p. 265. 
 
I 
 
 OLD CHURCH BELL OF KASKASKIA 
 
Chapter 9 
 KASKASKIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES 
 
 I. 
 
 In Southern Illinois, near the Mississippi, one hundred miles or 
 more above the mouth of the Ohio, is situated the ancient village of 
 Kaskaskia, supposed to be the oldest permanent European settlement 
 in the valley of the Father of Waters." 1 Thus Edward G. Mason, in 
 December 1879, alluded to the principal seat of the Church in the terri- 
 tory of our future diocese of St. Louis during the greater part of the 
 eighteenth century. That the honor of being the first-born must be 
 ceded to Cahokia. we have seen : but the village or town of old Kaskaskia 
 itself is now no more, the yellow waters of' the Mississippi, uniting with 
 those of the Okaw or Kaskaskia Kiver, swept away the site and the houses 
 and all that was once the pride of the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The first of the old village to go was the northern part. Then the 
 houses that had been the eastern outskirts of the village began to slip 
 into the water at flood time and disappear toward the Gulf. 
 
 In the nineties of the last century the river was running over the 
 very ground that had once been a part of the city. The current was 
 marching farther and farther south, and all that was left was a part of 
 the old graveyard and half a dozen deserted cabins, with chimneys 
 falling down, roofs gone and the very timbers slowly wearing away 
 through the action of the sun, the rain and the wind. 
 
 Three thousand bodies were carried out of the old cemetery in 1892 
 and 1893. They are now buried near the ruins of old Fort Gage. A 
 monument was erected there with this inscription : 
 
 "Those who sleep here were the first buried at Kaskaskia and after- 
 wards removed to this cemetery. They were the early pioneers of the 
 Mississippi Valley." 
 
 But we are here concerned, not with the ruined present, but with 
 the honorable past. Kaskaskia as a mission dates back to the period 
 between 1703 and 1705. Let us follow the current of events. 
 
 It was about 1703 that the removal of the Kaskaskia and their 
 friends and followers from the River des Peres on the Missouri side, to 
 the Okaw river on the Illinois side was carried out under the direction 
 of Father Marest. 
 
 "Illinois in the 18th Century," p. 1. 
 
 (65) 
 
 Vol. 1—3 
 
<>G History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 After the cabins of the Indians, and the more comfortable homes 
 of the French were established, and the church and mission house of 
 the Immaculate Conception had risen in the center of the straggling 
 village, the work of organizing the new community proceeded. As a 
 matter of course the missionary Fathers ruled the entire establishment of 
 the French as well as Indians. For the Jesuits not only attended to the 
 spiritual needs of their people, but also dispensed justice to them, and 
 as Blanchard says, "their authority was never abused but always used 
 with paternal care." Concerning Father Marest and his successor, 
 Mermet, we have ample proof of this in their letters and those of their 
 contemporaries : but it is the same with all of them. As Judge Sidney 
 Breese clearly states the case; "No evidence is to be found, among our 
 early records, of the exercise of any controlling power, save the Jesuits, 
 up to the time of the grant to Crozat in 1712, and I have no idea that 
 any such existed in the shape of government, or that there was any 
 other social organization than that effected by them and of which they 
 were the head. ' ' 2 
 
 Indeed, a blessed country, having no courts, no lawyers, no prisons, 
 no taxes, but only the gentle sway of a loving Father. For nearly twenty 
 years this new Kaskaskia, afterwards called the Ancient, lived a secluded, 
 serene and contented life; only at long intervals some canoe party would 
 arrive from Canada, bringing voyageurs and coureurs de bois and a 
 new stock of goods to the expectant inhabitants, or a boat of two from 
 the upper reaches of the Mississippi or Missouri with the wealth of a 
 season of trapping and, hunting and trading. 
 
 "In 1704 we find it represented that more than a hundred Canadians 
 were scattered in small parties along the Mississippi and Missouri." 3 
 
 They were hardy and brave men, these Canadians and French from 
 France, well-fitted for the work of blazing the pathway of civilization 
 through the primeval wilderness of forest and prairie and mountain 
 pass. Many of the Frenchmen intermarried with the Indians of the 
 village and founded the families that even iioav bear the traits of their 
 Indian ancestry. But white girls of marriageable age were sent over 
 by order of the king under the guardianship of IJrsulines and other 
 nuns, to be given in marriage to worthy Frenchmen of Louisiana and 
 the Illinois country. Kaskaskia, no doubt, received its fair proportion of 
 these godsends. Others were brought down from Canada by their hus- 
 bands to become the mothers of ever multiplying families. Good wives 
 and mothers they mostly were. In religion all professed the Catholic 
 Faith. They knew'no difference of sects, and although, perchance, not 
 
 2 Breese, Sidney, "Early History of Illinois," p. 146. 
 
 s Parkman, "Conflict of Half a Century," vol. I, p. 3f>4., citing letter of 
 Bienville to the Minister, September 6, 1704. 
 
Kaskaskia and its Dependencies 67 
 
 as well instructed as their sisters in France, the teachings of the Church 
 and, still more, the immemorial practice of piety, had a strong hold on 
 their lives. As Monette says: "Ardently attached, as they were, to 
 their spiritual guides, religion became one of the great rules of social 
 life. They observed strictly all the outward rites and ceremonies of the 
 Romish church, and their lives corresponded with their professions. Ig- 
 norant of creeds, except the "Apostles' Creed," they were not skillful 
 disputants; but holydays and festivals Avere never forgotten or neg- 
 lected." 4 
 
 The Indian neophytes of Kaskaskia were now making speedy prog- 
 ress in religion and the arts of peace. Under the prudent direction of 
 the Fathers Marest and Mermet they turned with real interest to agri- 
 culture and cattle-raising. They also became more and more devoted to 
 prayer and the practice of religion. America's greatest historian, Ban- 
 croft, in his beautiful tribute of praise to Father James Mermet em- 
 bodies some of the characteristic features of Indian life in Kaskaskia 
 mission at this period : 
 
 "The gentle virtues and fervid eloquence of Mermet made him the 
 soul of the mission at Kaskaskia. At early dawn his pupils came to 
 church, dressed neatly and modestly, each in a deer-skin or robe sewed 
 together from several skins. After receiving lessons, they chanted can- 
 ticles; mass was then said in presence of all the Christians, the French 
 and the converts — the Avomen on one side and the men on the other. 
 From prayers and instructions the missionaries proceeded to visit the 
 sick and minister medicine, and their skill as physicians did more than 
 all the rest to win confidence. In the afternoon the catechism was tauglit 
 in the presence of the young and old, when everyone, without distinc- 
 tion of rank or age, ansAvered the questions of the missionary. At eve- 
 ning all would assemble at the chapel for instruction, for prayer, and 
 to chant the hymns of the church. On Sundays and festivals, even after 
 vespers a homily AA'as pronounced ; at the close of the day parties would 
 meet in houses to recite the chaplets in alternate choirs and sing psalms 
 till late at night. Saturday and Sunday Avere the days appointed for 
 confession and communion, and eA r ery convert confessed once in a fort- 
 night . . the success of this mission was such that marriages of the 
 
 4 Monette, John W., "History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley 
 of the Mississippi, 1846," vol. I, p. 187. One of the best standard works on the 
 history of the Mississippi "Valley, extending in time from the first Spanish discoveries 
 in Florida to the admission of Texas into the union. It includes a relation of the 
 French and Spanish discovery of the territory, and the association of the colonial 
 government of these nations with the Indians, and their wars with the various tribes 
 inhabiting it, also a narration of the Indian Wars of the states bordering the Ohio, 
 etc. 
 
68 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 French immigrants were sometimes solemnized with the daughters of 
 the Illinois according to the rites of the Catholic Church." 5 
 
 When the eminent scholar and historian, Charlevoix, 6 arrived at the 
 prosperous village of Kaskaskia, Oct. 12, 1721, he found there and in the 
 immediate neighborhood four Jesuit Fathers: Joseph Francis Kereben 7 
 John Anthony Boullenger, Nicholas [gnatius de Beaubois 8 and John 
 Charles Guymeneau. 9 The gentle Father Maresl was dead, and his 
 former assistant Father Mermet 10 had followed his guide and friend on 
 September 15, 1716. The Superior of the Community was Father Guy- 
 meneau with his residence in the smaller Indian Mission two leagues 
 
 distant IV Kaskaskia in the interior of the country. The larger Indian 
 
 mission presided over by Fathers le Boullenger and de Kereben lay on 
 the bank of the Mississippi half a league above Fort Chartres where 
 the Lieutenant of the King, M. de Boisbriant held forth in almost royal 
 state. There was a chapel just outside the walls of the Fort dedicated 
 to St. Anne, but it had no regular chaplain at the time. The Inter- 
 mediate space between the Fort and what Charlevoix called "the most 
 numerous mission" was beginning to be filled with French colonists. 
 Two leagues farther down from Fort Chartres and about one league 
 
 5 Bancroft, George, "History of the United States," 1854, vol, III, p. 198. 
 
 6 Charlevoix, Father Pierre Francois Xavier, de; a member of the Jesuit 
 Province of France, was born at Saint Quentin, October 29, 1682, and arrived in 
 Canada in 1705, before his ordination, returned to France for ordination, and died 
 at La Fleehe, February 1, 171G. He traveled through Canada and Louisiana, 1720-22, 
 and laid down his impressions in his "Letters to Duchess of Lesdiguieres; Voyage 
 to Canada and Travels through that Vast Country and Louisiana, to the Gulf of 
 Mexico." Much valuable information regarding Indian tribes and settlements of 
 Lower Mississippi Valley, including character of every nation or tribe, customs, 
 posts, forts and settlements established by the French, rivers, mines, fisheries. 
 
 7 Father Joseph Francis Kereben of the Province of France, was born Decem- 
 ber 29, 1683, arrived in Canada in 1716, and was sent to the Illinois Mission, where 
 lie labored until his death, February 2, 1728. 
 
 8 Father Nicholas Ignatius Beaubois was born at Orleans, October 15, 1689, 
 and entered the Society with seventeen years. He was Pastor of the Parish Church 
 of the Immaculate Conception at Kaskaskia from 1719 to 1724, and was the ap- 
 pointed Vicar-General for the Bishop of Quebec for Louisiana. 
 
 9 Father John Charles Guymoneau, at this time Vicar-General of the Bishop of 
 Quebec, for the Illinois Country, was born March 14, 1684, and entered the Society 
 of Jesus, October 3, 1704. He arrived in Canada in 1715. The "St. Joseph Baptis- 
 mal Register" shews his presence at the Miami Mission on St. Joseph River in 1722 
 and 1723. As Father Charlevoix's visit fell in October 1721, Father Guymoneau 
 must have left his place at the Illinois Mission for the Miami Mission on the River 
 St. Joseph. 
 
 10 The remains of both Fathers Marest and Mermet were removed to the stone 
 church of Kaskaskia by Father Boullenger in 1727. 
 
Kashas/,- ia and its Dependencies 69 
 
 from the river was the French village of Kaskaskia, almost all its, in- 
 habitants being Canadians. Father Beanbois was the Parish Priest. 
 
 Kaskaskia was then and remained for a long time afterwards, the 
 most important settlement in the country of the Illinois. The principal 
 buildings, as the church, the Jesuits home with a small chapel attached, 
 and a number of dwellings were built of stone and made a fine appear- 
 ance,. The "Jesuits Plantation," as Pittmann tells us, "consisted of 
 two hundred and forty arpents of cultivated land, a very good stock 
 of cattle and a brewery." 11 
 
 "The French of Kaskaskia," Charlevoix found on his visit, "are 
 pretty much at their ease. A Fleming, who was a servant of the Jesuits, 
 has taught them how to sow wheat, and it thrives very well. They have 
 some horned cattle. The Illinois Indians cultivate the lands after their 
 fashion and are very industrious. Their women are sufficiently dexter- 
 ous; they spin the buffalo's wool and make it as fine as that of the 
 English sheep. Sometimes one would even take it for silk. They make 
 stuffs of it, which they dye black, yellow and dark red ; they make gowns 
 of it, which they sew with thread made of the sinews of the roebuck. They 
 expose these to the sun for three days, and when dry, beat them, and 
 draw out threads of great fineness. 
 
 ' ' All the country is open. It consists of vast prairies, which extend 
 for twenty-five leagues, and are separated by little groves that are all 
 of good wood." 12 
 
 "Father Charlevoix was so well pleased with what he saw and 
 heard at Kaskaskia, that he prolonged his stay for a month. He reach- 
 ed the mouth of the Ohio about the 15th of November 1721." 
 
 Kaskaskia, the Illinois Mission, became within twenty years after its 
 foundation the center of a cluster of villages each one a new center 
 of Catholic life. Fort Chartres, with its chapel dedicated to St. Anne, 
 gathered around its walls a large population, and became the historic 
 Parish of St. Anne of Fort Chartres. Prairie du Rocher had its begin- 
 ning in 1734 when St. Joseph's Mortuary Chapel was erected near the 
 bluffs, to be used as a chapel of ease by the people of Fort Chartres. 
 The village and Church of St. Philippe a short distance northeast of 
 Fort Chartres was founded about 1723 by Philip Francis Renault, 
 the Director General of the mining operations of the "Royal Company 
 
 ii Pittman, Captain Philip, " The Present State of the European Settlements on 
 the Mississippi," p. 85. The book was originally published in London, 1770. Pitt- 
 man ' ' saw the Illinois villages just before they were deserted by the French and 
 before the coming of the Americans. ' ' 
 
 12 Charlevoix, English Translation, p. 303. Cf. Wallace, "History of Illinois 
 and Louisiana Under the French Eule, " p. 210. 
 
70 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of the Indies." A very good highway connected these settlements with 
 Cahokia, forming an almost continuous stretch of human habitations 
 along the Mississippi, where, at the opening of the century, nothing but 
 primeval forest stood in its wild loneliness and grandeur. 
 
 Fort Chartres was built in 1720 by Pierre Dugue Sieur de Boisbri- 
 ant. Royal Commandant in Illinois. It was erected at the expense of 
 the company of the Indies, at a spot about sixteen miles N. W. of Kas- 
 kaskia, and a mile from the .Mississippi. The fort was at first built of 
 wood; but it was rebuilt in heavy stone masonry (1753-1756), by the 
 Chevalier MaCarthy according to the plans of M. Saucier 13 at a cost 
 of over 5,000,000 livres; it was thenceforth, with.the village which had 
 grown up around, called New Chartres. The Fort was occupied by 
 the Illinois Commandant, and later, by a British garrison. 
 
 The Church of St. Anne was attended by the .Jesuit Fathers of 
 Kaskaskia. In the Register of Baptisms the first entry is that of Nich- 
 olas Ignatius Beaubois, who was the superior of the Jesuits in the Illi- 
 nois. In 1725 and 1726 we find the name of Father Le Boullenger. From 
 1726 to 1843 there occurs a gap in the records. After that the Seminary 
 Priests of Cahokia, Joseph Gagnon and Nicholas Laurent, who styles him- 
 self "Missionarius Apostolicus, " performed priestly functions at St. 
 Anne's until 1749, when St. Anne's seems to have fallen under an inter- 
 dict, probably on account of intrusions by priests of the Foreign .Mis- 
 sion into the Territory of the Jesuits. Further particulars are not 
 obtainable. From 1757 to 1759 Forget Duverger, Vicar General for 
 the Bishop of Quebec and Missionary Apostolic, signs his name as "Cure 
 of St. Anne's." During this period the names of Recollet Hyppolyte 
 Collet, the Jesuits Hubert and Aubert, occur in regular succession, then 
 Collet once more, until in 1764 and 1765 the name of the Recollet 
 Luke Collet occurs regularly until his death, September 10, 1765. 
 
 The Fort and Village of New Chartres was surrendered by its 
 Commandant, St. Ange the Bellerive to the English under Captain 
 Sterling, October 10, 1765. The last parish priests of St. Anne's of 
 Fort Chartres, the Recollet Father Luke Collet, had a very checkered 
 career. His baptismal name was Leonard Philibert. He was born No- 
 vember 3, 1715, and was ordained in Quebec, Feb. 24, 1752. In 1755 
 he was chaplain of the Fort at Presqu' Isle (Erie) and at the River aux 
 Boeufs. In 1759 he acted at chaplain in the French army, was, made 
 prisoner by the English, and was brought over to England. In 1760 
 he regained his freedom and passed over to France. On his return to 
 
 13 Cf. "Captain John B. Saucier at Fort Chartres, 111., 1751-1763" by John F. 
 Snyder. Also, "Destruction of Kaskaskia by the Mississippi River," by J. B. 
 Burkham, both published in the "Transactions of the Illinois State Historical So- 
 ciety. ' ' 
 
Kaskaskia and its Dependencies 71 
 
 America he went to labor among the Illinois Indians. We learn from 
 a letter of Father Meurin, a Jesuit, addressed to the Bishop of Quebec, 
 and dated June 11, 1753 from Kaskaskia, Illinois, that Father Luke, the 
 Recollet, had been buried in the Cemetery of St. Anne, at Fort Chartres. 
 This Mission having been destroyed during the invasion of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley, Father Meurin had his body taken up and carried to 
 Prairie du Rocher. There it is that this dauntless missionary slumbers 
 in peace, and most probably, in the church of that place." 14 When the 
 Mission of St. Anne Avas destroyed, a part of the inhabitants with- 
 drew to Prairie du Rocher, and the rest to the new parish of St. Louis, 
 in Missouri. The vestments and sacred vessels were likewise carried 
 to the chapel of Prairie du Rocher. Father Luke Collet was a brother 
 of Rev. Charles Angelus Collet, Canon of the Quebec Cathedral. It 
 was this Father Collet that officiated at the funeral ceremonies of the 
 Marquis de Montcalm, in the Ursuline Church in Quebec. The two 
 Collet brothers could not conceal their regret at seeing Canada pass 
 under the sway of the English; they were, on that account, suspected 
 by the British authorities, and obliged to quit the country. It seems 
 however, that after the peace of 1763, the Collet brothers were at liberty 
 to return to Canada. It is thought that they were natives of that 
 country." 15 
 
 The mortuary chapel at Prairie du Rocher built near the cemetery 
 in 1734 with St. Joseph as its patron, soon attracted a number of French 
 families from the banks of the Mississippi to the higher and more salu- 
 brious location at the foot of the bluffs. The massive walls of Fort 
 Chartres were gradually falling a prey to the continuous attacks on 
 their foundations by the waters of the Mississippi River, and the church 
 of St. Anne had to be abandoned about 1788. It was then that St. 
 Joseph's of Prairie du Rocher became the parish church of the district. 
 As to the priests who held services in the Church of St. Joseph, it is 
 plain that they cannot be designated as pastors, Prairie du Rocher it- 
 self being but a chapel of ease and no parish church. But the records 
 show a regular succession of well-known names. Beginning, with 1721 
 and reaching unto 1743 the names of the Jesuits J. L. Boullenger and 
 N. I. De Beaubois appear on the fragmentary records. From 1743 to 
 1758 the Seminary priests Joseph Gagnon and Nicholas Laurens are 
 very much in evidence. Father Gagnon kept all his registers in one 
 book, but on June 30, 1757 the Rev. Forget Duverger, Cure de St. Anne, 
 opens separate books for Baptisms, Marriages and Interments. Father 
 Forget Duverger 's name appears here for the last time on June 15, 1759. 
 
 i* Chronicle of the Canadian Clergy, and Archives of the Archbishop of Quebec. 
 15 Ibidem. 
 
72 History of 1 1" Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The Recollets Hyppolyte and Luke Collel now enter upon the scene to 
 be succeeded by the last of the old Jesuits in the Valley, Sebastian Louis 
 Meurin. 
 
 It is evident from this that St. Anne's of New Chartres and St. 
 Joseph's of Prairie du Rocher were but one parish attended by the same 
 priests, suffering the same changes of fortune and only changing its 
 center of gravity from the river to the bluffs. 
 
Chapter 10 
 KASKASKIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. 
 
 II. 
 
 The colony of Louisiana was indeed a proud possession of the crown 
 !' Prance ; yet, strange to say, its government required a large subsidy 
 very year. Iberville and his brother Bienville certainly did not meet 
 expectations as financiers. Their constant appeals for help at last dis- 
 gusted the Grande Monarque, who had so many other causes and per- 
 sons to support. He determined to give away, free of charge ; for better 
 for worse ; for richer, for poorer, the entire realm of Louisiana with 
 all its lands and rivers and posts, with all its mines and forests and 
 prairies, with all its inhabitants, white and copper-colored. Only the 
 sovereignty was to remain with the king. A gentleman of Paris, Sieur 
 Anthony Crozat, a merchant prince of the Venetian type, was singled 
 out for the magnificient gift. The Letters-Patent granted by Louis XIV 
 to Crozat in September of 1/12 were of the widest character. This grant 
 was, it may be said, the first attempt to develop the great central region 
 of the United States. Crozat 's ships only could trade with all "Louisi- 
 ana." which is described as "Bounded by New Mexico and by the Lands 
 of the English of Carolina .... The River St. Louis, heretofore 
 called the Mississippi, from the edge of the Sea as far as the Illinois; 
 together with the River of St. Philip, heretofore called the Missourys. 
 and of St. Jerome, heretofore called Ouabache (Wabash), with all the 
 Countries, Territories, Lakes, within land, and the Rivers which fall 
 directly or indirectly into that part of the River of St. Louis." 1 
 
 The gift was made for fifteen successive years, and included the 
 absolute and exclusive right to open mines and search for precious 
 stones, and to trade in all commodities with the French and the savages 
 and also to lay out and cultivate plantations. ' ' If he should find it proper 
 to have blacks in the said country of Louisiana," says one article of 
 the contract between King Louis XIV and Sieur Crozat, "he may send 
 a ship every year to trade for them directly upon the coast of Guinea, 
 and he may sell those blacks to the inhabitants of the colony of Louisi- 
 
 i Crozat 's Charter is given in Wallace "Illinois and Louisiana, ' ' pp. 233 to 238. 
 Extracts are given in Martin's "History of Louisiana," C. VIII. 
 2 Article XIV of Crozat's Charter, Wallace, \>. 237. 
 
 (73) 
 
74 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The Sieur Anthony Cro/;il was very proud of his new honors, hut 
 also very hopeful of emoluments from his vast possessions. Yet finding 
 after a brief space of time, that the increase of his honors was in inverse 
 proportion to the results of his venture, he returned the Danaan gift 
 to the King. 
 
 Crozat resigned his charter in 1717 : it was then granted by the 
 Regent, the Duke of Orleans, to the manipulator of finances, John Law, 
 for the "Company of the West." The celebrated ventures of this com- 
 pany and its head led to the bursting of the Mississippi Bubble. That 
 is the gorgeous rise and fall of the new coloni ation efforts in Louisiana. 
 The following year brought eight hundred immigrants to Dauphine Is- 
 land, the nucleus of the future city of New Orleans. 
 
 Shiploads after shiploads of human freight for the colonization 
 of the Mississippi Valley arrived. Many of the poor engages perished 
 of sickness, exposure and want. Law himself established a seigniory on 
 a vast prairie on the Arkansas River and sent there thousands of Cath- 
 olic Palatines. But in 1720 the downfall of Law led to the discovery 
 that the Mississippi Company was bankrupt, and a new organization, 
 the ' ' Royal Company of the Indies, ' ' was effected and took over the assets 
 and liabilities of the "Company of the West." 
 
 The large accessions of French and German colonists brought on a 
 few changes in Kaskaskia's peaceful life. In 1720 the congregation of 
 the French Catholics was raised to the dignity of a canonical parish, 
 with all the rights and duties implied in the title. In 1721 a college 
 was founded in the parish which continued to flourish until 1765. There 
 were 400 French and 2.")0 negroes under Father Watrin's pastoral charge. 
 The city itself was fairry prosperous, and the people, as a consequence, 
 more pleasure-loving than before. In 1749 there were five Jesuit Fathers 
 at the residence of Kaskaskia. Father Alexander Xavier de Guiyenne 
 was Superior, his assistants were the Fathers Joseph Julius Fourre, 
 Louis Vivier, Philibert Watrin, Sebastin Meurin and Brother Charles 
 Magendi. 
 
 The purpose of converting the Indians to the Faith was never absent 
 from the minds of the French. In the Letters-Patent, issued to the 
 "Company of the West" the fifty-third clause reads as follows: "As we 
 regard especially the glory of God by procuring the salavation of the 
 inhabitants, Indians and Negroes, whom we desire to be instructed in 
 the true religion, the said Company shall be obliged to build at its own 
 expense churches at the places Avhere it forms settlements, and also 
 maintain a necessary number of ecclesiastics, either with the rank of 
 parish priests, or such others, as shall be suitable, in order to preach 
 the Gospel there, perform the Divine Service and administer the sacra- 
 ments, all under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec, and said colony 
 
Kaskaskia and ils Dependencies 75 
 
 remaining in his Diocese as heretofore, and the parish-priests and other 
 ecclesiastics which the Company shall maintain there, shall be at his 
 nomination and patronage." 3 
 
 "By ordinance issued May 16th, 1722, by the commissioners of the 
 Council, with the consent of the Bishop of Quebec, the Province of Louisi- 
 ana was divided into three spiritual jurisdictions, the first comprised the 
 banks of the Mississppi from the Gulf to the mouth of the Ohio, and 
 included the region to the West between these latitudes. The Capu- 
 chins were to officiate in the churches and missions of this district. 
 and their Superior was to reside in New Orleans. The second district 
 comprised all the territory north of the Ohio, and was assigned to the 
 charge of the Jesuits, whose headquarters were to be in the Illinois. 
 The districts w<>st of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi was assigned 
 to the Carmelites. The residence of their Superior was ordinarily to be 
 at Mobile. Each of the three Superiors was to be a Grand Vicar of the 
 liishop of Quebec. 
 
 By ordinance of the Bishop of Quebec, issued Dec 19th, 1722, the 
 district of the Carmelites was added to that of the Capuchins. The 
 Carmelites then returned to France. In December 1723, the northern 
 boundary of this district was changed to Natchez, and all the country 
 north of that point, to the east, and to the west, was put under the 
 Jesuits. ' ' 4 
 
 The spiritual administration of the Illinois country as well as of 
 Lower Louisiana and Canada was still with the Bishop of Quebec. He 
 was, however, represented by Grand Vicars in the various parts of his 
 Diocese. The only change was that the Superior of the Jesuits came to 
 reside in New Orleans. Consequently we find Father Kerreben in that 
 city from 1723 to 1725 and Father Beaubois from 1725 to 1728. 
 
 "The Sieur de Boisbriant made numerous grants of land in the 
 Illinois country by virtue of Letters-Patent issued by the Company 
 of the "West and its successor the Royal Company of the Indies. Then 
 each of the villages within his jurisdiction obtained large parcels of land 
 in their immediate vicinity, which were to serve as Common-field for the 
 inhabitants. Kaskaskia, Nouvelle Chartres, Prairie du Bocher, Prairie du 
 Pont, each had its Commons, granted to them by the Company of the 
 Indies. Land was plentiful, and the settlers were clamorous. But the 
 defense of the settlements against hostile Indians was costly, whilst the 
 trade became more and more unprofitable. The Company, therefore 
 solicited leave to surrender the Mississippi Wilderness. On the 10th 
 of April 1732, the jurisdiction and control over its commerce reverted 
 
 Shea, "The Catholic Church in Colonial Days," pp. 562 and 563. 
 "Narrative and Critical History of America," (Justin Winsor), vol. V, p. 43. 
 
76 History of tht Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 to the Crown of France." Bienville, once more took charge of the 
 reins of government in New Orleans in 1735. 
 
 In 1732 there arrived in the Illinois, accompanied by a numerous 
 company of miners and San Domingo slaves, Philip Francois de Renault, 
 newly-appointed Director General of the Mines of the Royal India 
 Company in Illinois. There were five hundred negro slaves that came with 
 Renault, the first contingent of the black invasion of Missouri and Illi- 
 nois. He proceeded to Kaskaskia and in 1720 he built the village called 
 St. Philip. He led his prospectors and miners, white, and black across 
 t lie river to the district of Ste. Genevieve where they discovered a number 
 of lead-mines that had been worked superficially by the Indians and 
 visited by La Mothe Cadillac. 
 
 The large influx of people of all classes and conditions of life that 
 set in with the immigration propaganda conducted by Law and his as- 
 sociates, though in the main beneficial to the colony itself, proved to 
 be a serious detriment to religion and public morals. One of the last 
 acts of the Bishop Saint Vallier of Quebec was a serious warning to the 
 people of the Mississippi Valley in regard to the disregard of religion 
 and purity in which the French recently arrived from France live in 
 the vast country which they have come to inhabit along that great River. 
 He then orders all those who under his authority have the conduct of 
 souls to inveigh against those Avho were giving public scandal by im- 
 piety in words or by their actions and by public concubinage. These 
 public sinners should not be admitted to the church or to the sacraments, 
 but should be subjected to public penance. The Circular Letter is dated 
 July 19, 1721. 5 
 
 The introduction of Negro and Indian slavery into Louisiana by 
 the French government also had an evil influence on the moral tone of 
 the community and tended to involve the Illinois country where peace 
 had ever reigned, in the Indian wars. Sometime in the summer of 1720 
 Boisbriant removed to Fort Chartres, and Kaskaskia ceased to be the 
 seat of government. In 1725 he became Acting Governor and went to 
 New Orleans. In 1730 St. Ange de Bellerive was Commandant and 
 Major Pierre D Artaguiette, his lieutenant in the Illinois country. One 
 cold clay in January 1736 the news came from New Orleans that a great 
 campaign was to be commenced against the Chicasaws, who had com- 
 mitted many a brutal deed against the colonists on the river. At the 
 call to arms the Sieur de Vinsennes with his French militia and a troop 
 of Miami Indians came to join D 'Artaguiette. The Cahokias and Miteh- 
 igameas too were summoned. The Kaskaskias were dancing the war- 
 dance in their villages making ready for the fray. The trappers and 
 hunters from the Missouri took gun and powder-bag and knife and 
 
 5 Cf. Shea; "The Catholic Church in Colonial Days," p. 560 s. 
 
Kaskaskia and its Dependencies 77 
 
 hastened to the rendezvous at Fort Chartres. At last the preparations 
 are completed and the expedition is to start. It is late in February 
 1736. Mass was said, and the people, old and young, hurried to the 
 river to see the little army take to the boats. D 'Artaguiette and the 
 Jesuit Father Senat led the way, as the flotilla departed amid the cheers 
 of the bystanders. A few weeks later the Cahokias under the command 
 of Moncheval passed the village on the same errand. There followed 
 long days of anxious waiting for news from the distant field of action. 
 It was a Sunday in June, the morning services at the church were just 
 finished, when a messenger ran up to announce the disaster that had 
 overtaken the combined forces of DArtaguette and Vincennes. They 
 had waited for Bienville and Moncheval, but they did not come. And 
 so, the brave men from Kaskaskia and the Wabash marched to the at- 
 tack. The Chicasaws were awaiting them at their town. The French 
 fought bravely but the Miamis betrayed them and the Illinois and Mis- 
 souris ran away. D 'Artaguiette received a deadly wound just as victory 
 seemed to be assured. The Sieur de Vincennes and Father Senat would 
 not forsake their wounded friends. They were taken prisoners by the 
 Chicasaws, together with fifteen others. Of their heroic end Monette 
 writes this beautiful account : 
 
 "D 'Artaguiette and his valiant companions who fell into the hands 
 of the Chicasaws were treated with great kindness and attention ; their 
 wounds dressed by the Indians, who watched over them with fraternal 
 tenderness, and they were received into the cabins of the victors in 
 hopes of a great ransom from Bienville, who was known to be advancing 
 by way of the Tombigby with a powerful army. But the same day 
 brought the intelligence of the advance and the discomfiture of the com- 
 mander-in-chief St. Ange de Bellerive. His retreat and final departure 
 soon followed and the Chicasaws, elated with their success, and despair- 
 ing of the expected ransom, resolved to sacrifice the victims to savage 
 triumph and revenge. The prisoners were taken to a neighboring field, 
 and while one was left to relate their fate to their countrymen, the young 
 and intrepid D 'Artaguiette, and the heroic Vincennes, whose name is 
 borne by the oldest town in Indiana, and will be perpetuated as long as 
 the Wabash shall flow by the dwellings of civilized men, and the faith- 
 ful Senat, true to his mission, were, with their companions, each tied to 
 a stake. Here they were tortured before slow 7 and intermitting fires, 
 until death mercifully released them from their protracted torments." 
 
 All honor to the Jesuit Senat who might have fled, but remained to 
 receive the last sigh of the wounded, regardless of danger, and mindful 
 only of duty. 
 
 6 Monette, "Valley of the Mississippi," vol. I, p. 288. Also, Martin's 
 Louisiana, p. 304. 
 
78 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 But like honor also to the heroic priests who remained at home to 
 guide and comfort the souls entrusted to their care, the Jesuit Fathers 
 D'Outreleau and his companions, Boullenger and Guymeneau, the Super- 
 ior who was sick unto death in the days of anxious waiting. They too, 
 no doubt, would have been equal to the heroic duty fulfilled by Father 
 Antoine Senat, if they had received the call. For was not their whole 
 life a continual martyrdom for the cause of Christ? If it be true, that 
 "they also serve, who only stand and wait," it must be true in the highesl 
 sense that these Jesuits, who whilst waiting for a call to martyrdom, did 
 not only stand ready, but went about, like their Lord and Leader, doing 
 good. From 1735 to 1741 Father Etienne D'Outreleau signs himself as 
 Pastor of the Immaculate Conception. His successor is Father Rene 
 Tartarin from 1741 to 1747, to be followed by Philibert F. Watrin 1759. 
 In this year Father Watrin becomes Superior of the Mission and remains 
 in office until 1762. Father Jean B. Aubert is given as pastor of the 
 Immaculate Conception from 1759 to 1764. Father Meurin is in charge 
 of the Indians until 1764. Father Louis Vivier wrote two very interest- 
 ing letters from among the Illinois, the one dated June 8, 1750 and 
 the other November 17, 1750. A few extracts will no doubt, be accept- 
 able. 
 
 "When the first missionaries came among the Illinois" he writes, 
 "they counted five thousand persons of all ages in that Nation. Today 
 we count but two thousand." 7 
 
 In regard to the Illinois country, he tells us, "There are 5 French 
 villages and 3 villages of Savages within a distance of 21 leagues, be- 
 tween the Mississippi and the river called the Kaskaskias. In the five 
 French villages there may be eleven hundred white people, three hundred 
 black, and about sixty red slaves, otherwise savages. The three Illinois 
 villages do not contain more than eight-hundred Savages, of all ages." 8 
 
 But Father Vivier 's thoughts are not confined to his own nation of 
 the Illinois. There are many Indians towards the West who are also 
 called to be God's children. 
 
 "Among the Nations of the Missouri are some who seem to be 
 specially disposed to receive the Gospel ; as, for instance, the Panismahas. 
 One of the gentlemen of whom I have just spoken wrote one day to a 
 Frenchman who traded among the Savages and asked him in his letter 
 to baptize dying children. When the chief of the village perceived the 
 letter, he said to the Frenchman : ' What is the news?' 'There is none,' 
 replied the latter. 'How,' retorted the Savage, 'because our color is 
 red can we not know the news?' 'It is the black Chief.' replied the 
 
 t "Jesuit Relations," vol. 69, p. 149. 
 » "Jesuit Relations," vol. 69, p. 150. 
 
Kaskaskia and its Dependencies 79 
 
 Frenchman, 'who writes, recommending me to baptize dying children, 
 in order to send them to the great Spirit. ' The Savage chief, thoroughly 
 satisfied, said to him : 'Be not anxious I myself undertake to notify thee 
 whenever a child is in danger of death. ' He gathered his people together 
 and said to them: 'What think ye of this Black Chief?' (For that is 
 the name which they give to the missionaries.) 'We have never seen 
 him ; we have never done him any good ; he dwells far from us, beyond 
 the sun. And yet he thinks of our village ; he wishes to do good to us ; 
 and, when our children die, he wishes to send them to the great Spirit. 
 This Black Chief must be very good.' "° 
 
 Love and sympathy for the poor, the widow and the orphan also 
 found lodgment in the heart of this Savage, as Vivier writes : ' ' Some 
 traders who came from his village have mentioned to me instances which 
 prove, that savage though he is, he none the less possesses intelligence 
 and good sense. At the death of his predecessor all the suffrages of his 
 Nation were in his favor. At first, he excused himself from accepting the 
 position of Chief; but at last on being compelled to acquiesce, he said 
 to them : ' ' You desire then that I should be your Chief ; I consent, but 
 you must bear in mind that I wish to be your Chief in reality, and that 
 I must be faithfully obeyed in that capacity. Hitherto the widows and 
 orphans have been left destitute. I intend that in future their wants 
 shall be provided for; and, in order that they may not be forgotten, 
 I desire and intend that they shall be the first to get their share. ' ' 10 
 
 o "Jesuit Eelations," vol. 69, p. 225. 
 io "Jesuit Eelations," vol. 69, p. 225. 
 
Chapter 11 
 ST. GENEVIEVE AND ITS DEPENDENCIES 
 
 More than fifty years before the foundation of St. Louis under the 
 direction of Pierre Laclede-Liquest and Auguste Chouteau, the mines of 
 La Motte and Meramec engrossed the attention, not only of the French 
 circles of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, but also of the nobles and even the 
 royal court of France. The reign of Louis XIV and the regency of 
 the Duke of Orleans had proved disastrous to the finances of the country. 
 The Scotchman John Law was heralded as the great financial genius, 
 who would, in some mysterious way, save the state, and lead it to the 
 highest pinnacle of wealth and prosperity. For was not America 
 infinitely rich in precious metals and pearls? Xew France was to be 
 the pledge for the ever increasing debts of Old France. But promises 
 would not satisfy forever. The gold and silver and other treasure must 
 be found and sent to the coffers of the King. The peltries of the western 
 world were, indeed, a source of wealth; yet gold and silver were immeas- 
 urably better. As Spain had grown rich and powerful by the gold and 
 silver of Peru and Mexico, so France must find the overflowing fountain 
 of infinite treasure in the mines of the Mississippi Valley. The wish was 
 father of the thought: absolute need was the mother of conviction. 
 
 It was the first Governor of Louisiana under the Royal Company, 
 the Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, who actually visited the mineral region 
 of the Aline La Mothe in Madison County in 171."), sinking a shaft there 
 and taking out lead and silver ore. After him, in duly, 1710, came a 
 company of noble prospectors from Kaskaskia under the leadership of 
 the Sieur Mare Antoine de la Loire des Ursins to the mining country 
 of South-east Missouri. They were brought there by some Tamaroa 
 guides over the Indian trail through the valley of the Saline, near whose 
 headwaters La Mothe Cadillac had opened his mine in 1715. 
 
 In 1723 M. la Renaudier sent a report on the Mines of La Mothe 
 and to the French government at Paris, from which it appears that 
 both were being worked, but required for profitable production the help 
 of slave labor. These slaves five hundred in number were brought to the 
 mines by Philip Renault in 1723. They form the advance-guard of the 
 large negro population of Missouri. From that time on until the present 
 day the Mine a la Motto near the headwaters of the Saline, and the mines 
 on the Southeastern tributary of the Meramec river, called the Riviere 
 Negro, which preceded the present towns of Potosi, Old Mines and Mine 
 a la Renaut were, from the start, dependent on Kaskaskia 's firs! born 
 daughter, Ste. Genevieve, for commerce as well as spiritual succor. 
 
 (80) 
 
St. Genevieve and Us Dependencies 83 
 
 The gateways to these earliest European settlements in the interior 
 of Missouri, the mouth of the Saline Creek, on the south, and the mouth 
 of the Meramec to the north, were easily aceessible from St. Genevieve, 
 which gradually arose on the fruitful bottom lands that skirted the river 
 between the Saline and the Gabori creeks. 1 
 
 ' ' The old Village of St. Gtnevieve ' ' is called by the most eminent his- 
 torian of Missouri "the first permanent settlement in Upper Louisiana." 2 
 This claim cannot be upheld ; for even if the Post of Arkansas be counted 
 for Lower Louisiana, Marest and Pinet's Kaskaskia, the village of French 
 traders on the River des Peres, must be accorded precedence. 3 Yet the 
 quaint old town of St. Genevieve has a long and interesting history. 
 The old village, however, did not occupy the present site. It was 
 three miles lower down, the river, and hard on its alluvial banks. In 
 fact, the orginal site has long since fallen into the water. Yet there is 
 enough land remaining of the so called Big Field, on the edge of which 
 the Village stood, that we can form an idea of its former location. The 
 date of the foundation of the Old Village is not positively known. There 
 are a number of guesses with a foundation in fact. But, it must be 
 remembered that there was no formal act or ceremony of foundation, 
 but only a slow accretion of human habitations, on and near Francis 
 Rivard's grant in the Big Field, which he held on condition, that he 
 Avould eventually set aside a portion of it for a church. This grant was 
 made in 1752 by Chevalier Makarty, Commandant of Fort Chart res 
 and builder of the magnificent stone fort of that name. Other equally 
 early settlers on the Big Field are Toussaint Geneaux, Chaponga and 
 Dorlac. 4 Zenon Trudeau says in his report of 1798 that the Old Village 
 "Was settled more than sixty years ago." 5 This would place the first 
 settlement on the Big Field in 1738. Pittman, an English Officer who 
 wrote in 1767 says: "The first settlers of the village removed about 
 twenty-eight years ago from Kaskaskia," 6 that is, in 1739. As early as 
 1759 a Fort known as St. Joachim was located in the village of Ste. Gen- 
 evieve as the Church Records show. Father Watrin's account 7 places the 
 
 1 For documents in proof of these statements, of. "Earliest History of Mine 
 La Motte" by JohnRothonsteiner in "Missouri's Historical Review," vol. XXI, pp. 
 199-213. 
 
 2 Louis Houek, ' ' The History of Missouri, ' ' vol. I, p. 337. 
 
 3 Cf. the 5th Chapter o.f this History. "The Kaskaskias on the River des Peres." 
 * Louis Houck, "A History of Missouri," vol. I, p. 338. 
 
 5 Trudeau 's Report "Concerning the Settlements of the Spanish Illinois 
 Country, 1798" may be found in Houck 's "Spanish Regime in Missouri," vol. II, 
 p. 247. 
 
 11 "Mississippi Settlements," p. 95. 
 
 7 "Banishment of the Jesuits," by Father Watrin, in "Jesuit Relations," 
 vol. 70, p. 233. 
 
82 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 establishment of what was then the new village, halfway between that 
 of Trudeau — Pittman 1738-39, and that of the St. Genevieve Church 
 Record 1758-59, or in other words at 1748 or 1749. It would seem then, (1) 
 that the first grants of land in the Big- Field were made two or three 
 years previous to that of Francis Rivard, (2) that the number of houses 
 clustering around the church lot had gr%wn sufficiently numerous in 
 1749 to be called a village, and, (3) that the Spanish government thought 
 it advisable to place a fort in the village sometime before 1759. Father 
 Watrin called the village Ste. Genevieve : the Church Records call the 
 Fort St. Joachim. Both designations of course, are historical. But 
 whatever we may think of this calculation, this fact is beyond dispute : 
 the Catholic Church was organized in Ste. Genevieve by the Jesuit Father 
 Philibert Watrin in 1749, who had, no doubt, even prior to that year, 
 come over from Kaskaskia on errands of charity to the sick and dying. 
 When the first church was built we cannot tell. Father Watrin simply says, 
 that the petition of the villagers to have a church built was granted them ; 
 and that after this his visits became still more frequent. In a Marriage 
 Record dated February 26, 1759, he called the church St. Joachim. He 
 calls the people his new parishioners; but he did not take up his residence 
 with them, as he was pastor of Kaskaskia, and they had no house for the 
 priest. He must, however, cross the Mississippi in a canoe. Sometimes 
 a storm would overtake him in his frail craft on the surging waters. But 
 Father Watrin never failed in his duty, for more than fifteen years. At 
 last, only a few years before the banishment of all the Jesuit Fathers, 
 the people built a parish residence, and a special Pastor -was assigned to 
 them as their first resident priest. The Record of Marriages in St. 
 Genevieve opens with the name of Father Watrin, Father Morinie's 
 following on January 1763 : 
 
 1759, Feb. 26th, Andre Deguire, dit Larose, Captain of Militia of 
 the Fort of St. Joachim, to Marie La Boissiere, widow of Joseph Baron, 
 of the Parish of St. Ann of Fort Chartres. 
 
 (signed) Watrin 
 
 1760, Feb. 5th, Jean Baptiste Deguire, son of Andre Deguire and 
 the deceased Elizabeth Brunet, to Cecil Baron, daughter of the deceased 
 Joseph Baron and Marie La Boissiere. 
 
 (signed) Watrin 
 
 1761, Jan. 7th, Andre Manterol, native of the town of St. Sebastian, 
 to Angelique Pethius, widow of Etienne Govreau. 
 
 (signed) Watrin 
 
 1763, Jan. 10th, Pierre Aubuchon, son of Pierre Aubuchon and 
 Marie Brunet, to Charlotte Lalande, widow of LeCompt, daughter of 
 Charlotte Marchaud and Jean Baptiste Lalande. 
 
 (signed) La Morinie 
 
St. Genevieve and its Dependencies 83 
 
 The two first names that occur after that of Father Watrin in the 
 Registers of Ste. Genevieve are Father Jean B. de la Morinie and Father 
 Jean B. Salleneuve, both of the Society of Jesus. Neither one nor the 
 other were members of the Illinois Mission. Father Morinie was born 
 at Perigeux in France, October 24, 1704, and after becoming a member 
 of the Society of Jesus, came to Canada in 1738. His name occurs in the 
 Records of St. Anne, Detroit, in those of Mackinac from 1738-1752. 
 After that he had charge of the Miami Mission at St. Joseph in what is 
 now Niles, Michigan, from which the Indian war compelled him to flee 
 in 1761. Hence he came to the Illinois country, and had only taken 
 charge of the Church of Ste. Genevieve through the motive of a zeal 
 that refuses itself nothing. From this it would appear that Father 
 Jean de la Morinie was the first resident priest and quasi-pastor of Ste. 
 Genevieve. 8 His companion in the care of this church, Father Jean B. 
 Salleneuve came to Canada in 1743, at the age of thirty -five years, and 
 was assigned to the Huron Mission near Detroit. He remained there 
 until March 1761, when he, too, was compelled by the disturbances of 
 the time to seek refuge in the Illinois country. Both Fathers, though 
 only guests of the Illinois Mission, and in no wise under the control of 
 the Superior Council of Xew Orleans, were expelled from the Country 
 and sent back to France in 1764. 9 
 
 On February 28th, 1764, Father John B. Aubert, then Pastor of 
 Kaskaskia, makes an entry on the Record : on May 14th, S. L. Meurin, 
 Missionary Priest ; and from October 4th, 1768 to April 1772 alternately 
 Fathers Meurin and Gibault. On May 18th. 1772, there occurs the name 
 of the first resident priest of St. Louis, the Spanish Capuchin Valentin. 
 On August 25th, 1772, we find his name once more with the designation : 
 "Priest of St. Louis and its dependencies." Father Meurin, the Pastor 
 of the place, since his return from Xew Orleans in 1765, was not allowed 
 to officiate there on account of his having accepted from Quebec the 
 office of Vicar General of the Illinois Country. The Spanish Com- 
 mandant, Rocheblave, would not tolerate a priest who had his faculties 
 from a foreign Bishop. But Rocheblave himself was discharged by 
 the Spaniards in 1769, and entering the service of the English, received 
 the appointment as Commandant of Kaskaskia, where George Rogers 
 Clarke caught him napping on the night of July 4th, 1778. Don 
 Francisco Valle, received the appointment as Civil and Military Com- 
 mandant of St. Genevieve in 1769. In 1772 the village numbered 404 
 whites and 387 slaves. On the 15th of November 1773, the newly 
 
 8 "The St. Joseph Baptismal Record," edited by Eev. George Pare, and M. M. 
 Quaif e, in ' ' Mississippi Valley Historical Review, ' ' vol. 13, No. 2. 
 
 9 Father Salleneuve is mentioned in the "Jesuit Catalogue of 1756," with date 
 of birth, (June 14, 1708), and of entrance into the Order, (September 21, 1727), 
 as being stationed "in remote regions." 
 
84 History of th( Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 appointed Pastor of the parish of St. Genevieve, the Capuchin Hilaire de 
 Genevaux. performed bis firsl priestly function in the village church. 10 
 Sometime before this date he bad figured in a violent quarrel with 
 Father Baudouin, S. J. the Vicar-General of the Bishop of Quebec, 
 about the Vicar-Generalship in Louisiana, which he claimed, belonged 
 to him, asserting that the Bishop of Quebec had only the right to oversee 
 and to give encouragement, and no more. lie had appealed to Rome 
 for a decision : but received none. Yet, he returned as apostolic Prothon- 
 otary, and caused more trouble to the Jesuit Vicar-General. When the 
 Jesuits were banished in 1763, the Superior of the Capuchins, Father 
 Dagobert de Longwi became Vicar-General of Quebec for Louisiana. The 
 restless Father Hilaire soon got into a quarrel with Father Dagobert also, 
 from which Father Dagobert emerged victorious. 11 Father Hilary may 
 have considered his appointment to the village in the far northern wilder- 
 ness as an exile, and consequently took little interest in the administration 
 of the parish. On dune 6, 1774, the habitants of Ste. Genevieve sent a 
 remonstrance against Father Hilary to Don Pedro Piernas, the lieutenant 
 Governor : 
 
 "The undersigned habitants of Saint Genevieve find it necessary 
 to demand your justice against an attempt of Father Hilary. If that 
 attempt were carried out, it would deprive them of their lands. We 
 were strangely surprised on hearing him announce to us last Sunday 
 that we were to pay him the tenth of all the produce of our lands, 
 although he is not at all ignorant that hitherto we have paid no more than 
 the tewenty-sixth part; that a constant and uninterrupted custom has, 
 without doubt, been regulated to our days by the royal power and the 
 ecclesiastical assembly ; and that His Catholic Majesty, fortunately, 
 and according to all the wise laws to which we are and always shall be 
 very submissive, has not considered it advisable to inform us that he 
 has changed anything in this regard. Consequently, it cannot be annulled 
 by one single religious. We are surprised at seeing this attempt made by 
 a religious, who, since he has been among us, has given no instruction 
 to the children or preached a sermon or given an exhortation to his 
 parishioners. We have not in any way endeavored to relax the old 
 custom in regard to Father Hilary, and we would be willing, if our 
 power permitted, to make a greater sacrifice, but our poverty does not 
 permit us to do it, for we find it very difficult to support our families. 
 We pay a fifth (a royal tax) to the mill (i. e. the fifth of the meal ground 
 as a toll) as well as the defence of our boundaries; the beadle serves him 
 for twenty sols per livre; labor is excessively clear, as well as the things 
 
 io "The Spanish Regime in Missouri," vol. I, p. 54. 
 
 11 The struggle of Father Hilaire de Geneveaux against the Jesuits and then 
 against his superior Father Dagobert is authentically, though not always judicially, 
 discussed by the historian of Louisiana, "The Spanish Domination," pp. 49-94. 
 
St. Genevieve and its Dependencies 85 
 
 of the first and indispensable need. Another surprise on our part was for 
 us to hear that Father Hilary has forbidden us all spiritual aid from 
 the religious of the other bank (of the river) in his absence. We are 
 unaware of the reason which imposes so severe a law upon us." 12 The 
 complaint was forwarded to Don Louis de Unzaga, the Governor, who 
 answered on February 20, 1775, that, the custom shall not be altered 
 in any way, and that is it not right, while the King supports the parish 
 priests, for them to expect another fee, which would mean a double 
 compensation and a very large one." 13 
 
 The Apostolic Prothonotary's neglienee in keeping the Records in 
 good order was severely reprimanded by his Superior, Bishop Cyrillo de 
 Barcelona, acting for the Bishop of Havana, Cuba. Father Bernard 
 de Limpach, was ordered to go to St. Genevieve to enter all the missing 
 records of Baptisms and Marriages. This was done in September 1778. 
 From October 1778 to May 1786, Father Pierre Gibault, signing himself 
 "priest," administered all the baptisms, being accepted by the Spanish 
 authorities as administrator of the Parish until a pastor could be sent 
 from New Orleans. 
 
 On September 27, 1778, the parishioners of the old village, in a 
 meeting held under the auspices of the Commandant, de Cartabona, and 
 the Parish Priest of St. Louis and its Dependencies, P. Bernard de 
 Limpach, decided to remove the Church from the river bank to a more 
 elevated location on the land of Charles Valle. In the year of 1782, the 
 inhabitants of the Old Village, fearing the encroachment of the river, 
 began "pen a peu, " as Father Dahmen says, to remove their homes 
 three miles northward to the more elevated ground of the present site 
 of Ste. Genevieve. In the 3 r ear of the great waters, "L' Annee des 
 Grandes Eaux." Father de Saint Pierre arrived from Vincennes and 
 remained until his house in Cahokia should be completed. (May 18th, 
 1785-July 10th, 1786.) On September 11th, 1786, Father Louis 
 Guignes, of the Order of Capuchins, appears on the scene and remains 
 as Pastor of St. Genevieve and its Dependencies until November, 1788. 
 One of these dependencies, is the old Parish of the Post of Arkansas, 
 the cherished foundation of Henri de Tonti. Father Guignes, as Pastor 
 of St. Genevieve, visited the place a few times during his incumbency 
 and administered the sacrament of Baptism to thirty-seven persons, 
 eleven of whom were Indians. Five marriages also were solemnized on 
 these occasions. Father Guignes had his residence in the new village 
 in a house that was bought from M. Roussin, and was fitted up for a 
 presbytere. Father Paul de Saint Pierre succeeded to the pastorate of 
 St. Genevieve in 1789. 14 
 
 12 "The Spanish Regime in Missouri," vol. I, p. 121 s. 
 is "The Spanish Regime in Missouri, " vol. I, p. 125. 
 
 i-i M. S. material in "Spanish Archives'' in possession of Missouri Historical 
 Society. 
 
Chapter 12 
 BANISHMENT OF THE JESUITS 
 
 This chapter records the final act of the wonderful drama of divine 
 inspiration enacted by the Jesuit Fathers in the Mississippi Vallej r , 
 from the last quarter of the seventeenth, to almost the last quarter of 
 the eighteenth Centuries. Like the story of the Jesuit Missions on the 
 St. Lawrence riv<er and in the Lake Regions, 1 it is a story of seeming- 
 failure after glorious successes attained by "the faith, daring and 
 religious zeal of the brave sons of St. Ignatius." Its pioneer saint, the 
 heroic Father Marquette, started out on his voyage of discovery and 
 evangelization to the Mississippi and down its winding course, in his 
 birch-bark canoe, and won the plaudits of the world after having gained 
 the martyr of duty's crown. The first Mission among the Illinois was 
 that of Kaskaskia under the Rock, afterward crowned with ramparts of 
 Fort St. Louis near the present city of Utica. Then came the magnan- 
 imous servants of God, an Allouez, a Rale, a Gravier, a Binneteau, a 
 Marest, a Pinet, a Senat, a Mermet, and the other glorious knightly 
 followers of that great leader of men St. Ignatius of Loyola. 
 
 Now, after the lapse of ninety-one eventful years the grand story 
 comes to a sudden close with a poignant note of failure ; the Banishment 
 of the Jesuits from Louisiana in 1764. Father Francis Philibert Watrin, 
 who had lived among the Illinois for almost thirty years gives a touching 
 account of the tragedy. In his recital of the affair, Father Watrin 
 assures his correspondent in Rome, he will be careful to say nothing which 
 
 i This great work began in Canada, on June 19, 1625, when Fathers Charles 
 Lalemant, Edmond Masse and Jean Brebeuf, members of the Jesuit Order, arrived 
 at Quebec, to take up the work initiated by the Franciscan Fathers, called the 
 Eecollets, in 1615, to bear the message of the gospel to the roving hordes that filled 
 the forests from Quebec to Lake Huron. Father Lalemant remained there for a time 
 and in 1626 wrote the first letter of the famous ' ' Relations of the Jesuits. ' ' Jean 
 de Brebeuf was selected for the Huron mission, and there won the crown of martyr- 
 dom. The Huron Mission became in due time one of the glories of the American 
 Church, strong in faith and rich in heroic virtue. But the relentless fury of the 
 Iroquois, urged on by English and Dutch neighbors, drove the Christian Hurons and 
 their friends from their ancient seats, ever westward along the northern lakes. The 
 Jesuits followed their demoralized flock as far as the Straits of Mackinac and the 
 western edge of Lake Superior. On September 17, 1641, Fathers Raymbault and 
 Jogues visited Sault Ste. Marie. They were the first Europeans that ever passed 
 through the Sault and stood on the shores of Lake Superior. From Pointe de St. 
 Esprit, the most westerly outpost of religion or civilization, Father Marquette and 
 his companions looked wistfully towards the home of the Sioux in the valley of the 
 Mississippi, five years before the New England Eliot had addressed the tribe of 
 Indians that dwelt within six miles of Boston Harbor. 
 
 (86) 
 
Banishment of the Jesuits 87 
 
 will depart in the least from these two rules, "love for religion and the 
 truth." 2 
 
 The unrelenting propaganda against the Society of Jesus, especially 
 in lands of the Latin tongue, acquired for Pombal, Choiseul, d'Aranda, 
 Tannucci and their accomplices the name of Immortals through the 
 destruction of the American Missions. Among those who took up the 
 cry against the Jesuits in the Missions along the Mississippi River was 
 a certain M. de la Freniere, of the Superior Council of New Orleans. 
 Before this assembly, utterly incompetent as to jurisdiction and ability, 
 the Jesuits as a body were accused and condemmed unheard. "It was 
 said that the Institute of the Jesuits was hostile to royal authority, the 
 rights of bishops, and the public peace and safety ; and that the vows 
 uttered according to this Institute were null and void." They were 
 condemned to drop the name and the garb of Jesuits. Excepting their 
 books and some wearing apparel, all their property, real and personal, 
 was to be seized and sold at auction. But let Father Watrin tell us the 
 shocking details of this act of usurpation and the sufferings it entailed. 
 "It was ordained that the chapel ornaments and the sacred vessels of 
 New Orleans should be delivered up to the Reverend Capuchin Fathers ; 
 that the chapel ornaments and sacred vessels of the Jesuits living in the 
 country of the Illinois should be delivered up to the Royal procurator 
 for that country, and that the chapels should then be demolished ; and 
 that, finally, the afore-said Jesuits, so-called, should return to France, 
 embarking upon the first ships ready to depart, — prohibiting them, 
 meanwhile, from remaining together. A sum of six hundred livres was 
 assigned to pay each one's passage, and another, of 1,500 francs, for 
 their sustenance and support for six months. They were enjoined to 
 present themselves, after that term, to Monsieur the Duke de Choiseul, 
 Secretary of State in the Department of Marine, to ask him for the 
 pensions which would be assigned from the proceeds of the sale of their 
 property." 3 
 
 2 Father Watrin. 's "Memoir on the Banishment of the Jesuits of Louisiana," 
 dated September 3, 1764, was published by Carayon, Paris 1865, and given in 
 English by Thwaites in the "Jesuit Eelations, " vol. LXX, and by Alvord and 
 Carter in "Illinois Historical Collections," vol. X. The Critical period 1763-1765. An 
 abridgement of the same Memoir was translated into English by the Bev. D. Lynch, 
 S. J., and published in the "Magazine of Western History," vol. I, pp. 263-269. 
 The original Latin Ms. of the Abridgement was discovered in the Archives of the 
 Propaganda, in Bome, by Father Van der Sanden, Chancellor of St. Louis Arch- 
 diocese. It bore the name of Father Philibert Watrin as its author. All our quota- 
 tions are taken from this Memoir as published in French and English in Thwaites, 
 "The Jesuit Eelations and Allied Documents," vol. LXX, pp. 212-301. The author 
 takes this occasion to extend his sincere thanks to the Firm of Burrows Brothers Com- 
 pany for courteous permission to make liberal extracts from their monumental edition 
 of the "Jesuit Eelations" in this and the foregoing chapters. 
 
 a "Jesuit Eelations," vol. VXX, p. 219. 
 
Hislory of I Ik Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 But why must these things be done? What crimes have 
 the Jesuits committed, that such a severe penalty should be inflicted upon 
 lli. 'in.' Father Watrin received an answer, that surprised everyone 
 concerned: "It is Maid thai the Jesuits established in the colony had 
 not taken any care of their missions; that they had thoughl only of 
 making their estates valuable; and that they were usurpers of the 
 vicariate-general of New Orleans." 4 Father Watrin I'elt it to be his duty 
 to answer the threefold charge, not that he expected to make any impres- 
 sion ,,n his self-constituted judges, but that he desired to give honorable 
 men who might inquire, an opportunity of judging- for themselves. 
 "There is today hardly any province in France" he said, "where there 
 is not some prominent person who has lived in Louisiana; of these 
 persons, there is not some one who has not known Jesuits there, and 
 most of them have even been able to scrutinize these Jesuits very 
 closely. 
 
 Now. the Jesuits await with confidence the testimony that can be 
 rendered concerning them, upon the points in question here; still more, 
 they dare to cite, as witnesses of their conduct, three Governors of 
 Louisiana, and a Vicar-General of the episcopate of Quebec for this 
 same colony. All were still living in this month of June of this year, 
 1764." 5 
 
 'The first witness will be, then, Monsieur de Bienville, now captain 
 of the Royal ships, who twenty-two years ago retired to Paris. He must 
 be regarded as the founder of the colony of Louisiana; it was he who 
 in 1698 accompanied his brother, Monsier d 'Iberville, when that illus- 
 trious naval officer discovered the mouth of the Mississippi, which Sieur 
 de la Salle, that famous adventurer, had missed. Monsieur de Bienville 
 was then left upon the shores of this river, to begin a settlement there; 
 it was he who governed this colony for forty-four years, with the excep- 
 tion of a few intervals; it was he who put it nearly in the condition in 
 which it is today, by building New Orleans and the fort of Mobile, and 
 b\ forming the other posts that are seen in Louisiana. During so long 
 a government, he was always very attentive to all that was taking place 
 in the various parts of this vast province ; he knew the worth of all those 
 who were employed there. Now, no one in this country can have for- 
 gotten the very special kindness with which he honored the Jesuits of 
 this colony: would he have acted thus toward missionaries who, failing 
 in the care of their mission, had failed in the most essential of their 
 duties.'"'' 
 
 : 'The second witness will be Monsieur the Marquis de Vaudreuil, 
 late Governor of New France; he succeeded Monsieur de Bienville in 
 
 "Ji nit Relations.' ' 1. c it., p. 221. 
 Ibidem, p. L'l':;. 
 Ibidem, \<. 223. 
 
Banishment of the Jesuits 89 
 
 the government of Louisiana. The Jesuits found in him also a protector, 
 and even an openly declared friend ; it would be difficult to add anything 
 to the tokens of kindness which he constantly conferred upon them. But 
 what was it that could win for them such kindness? It was, without 
 doubt, the impression which they made upon him by their fidelity to 
 their principal duties." 7 
 
 "A third witness for the Jesuits of Louisiana is Monsieur de Kerlerec, 
 captain of a ship, and last Governor of this colony ; a single proof suffices 
 to show what he thought of them. It is a letter which he wrote to them, 
 a little before their ruin ; he recalled to them these words of Our Lord 
 to his disciples: Beati eritis cum vos oderint homines, et persecuti vos 
 f uerint, et dixerint, omne malum adversum vos mentientes, propter me : 
 guadete et exultate ! Is it credible that Monsier de Kerlerec would have 
 chosen to apply this text to missionaries who did not give any care to their 
 missions?" 8 
 
 "Finally a fourth witness will be Monsieur the Abbe de L'Isle Dieu ; 
 for more than thirty years he had been in Paris, Vicar-general of the 
 episcopate of Quebec, and especially charged with the affairs of that 
 diocese which concern Louisiana. Now, it is also this Abbe who has 
 shown what he thought of the Jesuits of Louisiana when he wrote to 
 them after the decree of the 6th of August, 1762 — that they Avere passing 
 away with the regrets of the episcopal body and all good people. In 
 writing thus it is probable that he did not regard them as people who 
 had failed to care for their missions." 9 
 
 Thus spoke the Supei'ior of the men that stood condemned by a 
 band of tyrants who, vested with a little brief authority, used it as 
 only tyrants will, to destroy them who would not sanction their evil 
 cause. 10 Father Watrin would no longer address them who refused to 
 hear. But turning to the audience he saw before him, in spirit, he 
 continued: I hear some one say: "Cannot the Jesuits of Louisiana 
 defend themselves, then, except through the testimony of others? Ought 
 they not to let the work that they have done in their missions, the 
 operations and the fruits of their zeal, speak for them?" 11 Indeed they 
 can, answered the Father in mournful tone: "In the country named 
 Illinois, the Jesuits had four permanent missions. The first was that 
 one where the savages, called Kaskaskias were instructed ; and these 
 are the exercises which were carried on there. At sunrise, the bell rang 
 for prayer and mass; the savages said prayers in their own language, 
 and during the mass they chanted to the air of the Roman chant, hymns 
 
 7 "Jesuit Relations," 1. eit., p. 224. 
 
 s Ibidem, p. 224. 
 
 9 Ibidem, p. 227. 
 
 10 Ibidem, p. 227. 
 
 ii Ibidem, p. 230. 
 
90 History of Ihr Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and canticles, also translated into their language, with the suitable 
 prayers; at the end of the mass, the missionary catechized the children. 
 Having returned to his house, he was occupied in instructing the adult 
 neophj it's and catechumens, to prepare them for baptism or for penitence, 
 for communion or for marriage; as soon as he was free, he went through 
 the village to arouse the believers to fervor, and to exhort unbelievers 
 to embrace Christianity. The rest of the day was needed for reciting 
 the divine office, studying the language of the savages, and preparing 
 the instructions for Sunday and feastdays; for so many exercises, so 
 varied and so continual, there was surely needed care, and a great deal 
 of care. The savages, at least, certainly believe that the Jesuits took care 
 of them ; as for the first news of the decree declared against their mis- 
 sionaries, they wished to go to find the officer who commanded in that 
 country, to beg him at least to leave them Father Meurin, who was 
 charged with their mission. And what other idea could they have of the 
 Jesuits? A single one of the latter could represent them all, as men 
 entirely devoted to the instructions of the savages. Such was Father de 
 Guyenne, who died in 1752 (sc. 1762.) Having spent thirty-six years 
 in the missions of Louisiana, he had traversed those of the Alibamons, 
 the Arkansas, and the Miamis. He had been Cure of Fort Chartres, 
 and had everywhere been respected as a man of rare virtue, of singular 
 discretion and of an inviolable attachment to the duties of a missionary. 
 Since the year 1743 he had devoted himself to the Illinois mission. 
 Called to more honorable and easier positions, he had remained with 
 his savages; and by his constancy he had preserved religion, which 
 had become much unsettled in that nation ; he had even greatly revived 
 their fervor by his untiring application to all the exercises. Finally, 
 four years before his death, afflicted by a partial paralysis which 
 rendered him incapable of movement, and feeling a great weakness in 
 his chest, — an old trouble which left him hardly enough strength to 
 make himself heard, — he did not cease receiving at all times his dear 
 neophytes, who came from a long league's distance to be instructed. He 
 catechized them, exorted them and heard their confessions; he pre- 
 pared them for the communion ; and, in the capacity of superior of the 
 house, he used his power to relieve their poverty. Does not a man so 
 faithful to his ministry up to the last day of his life make it presumable 
 that, among the Jesuits established amid the Illinois, there remained some 
 zeal and care in regard to their missions?" 12 
 
 "At one and one-fourth leagues from the village of the Illinois 
 savages, there was a French village also named Kaskaskia ; for forty- 
 four years there had been in this village a parish, which has always been 
 governed by the Jesuits. Now, we dare to repeat here, regarding those 
 who were charged with this employ, what has been said above of their 
 
 12 "Jesuit Eelations," 1. cit., p. 231. 
 
Banishment of the Jesuits 91 
 
 associates in general — that there is hardly any province in France where 
 there are not still witnesses of the exactness of these Cures in discharg- 
 ing their functions, that is, in visiting the sick and in relieving the poor. 
 These too are witnesses of their assiduity at the tribunal of penance, and 
 at the almost daily instructions of the children — to which must be still 
 added the instructions of the negroes and the savages, slaves of the 
 French, to prepare them for baptism and for the reception of the other 
 sacraments." 13 
 
 "But here is something which is more than care; since the year 
 1753, there has been in the French village of Kaskaskias a newly-built 
 parochial church ; this church is 104 feet long and 44 feet wide. Now, 
 it never could have been finished, if the expense of the building had not 
 been drawn from the building fund and from the contributions of the 
 parishioners. These Jesuits successively Cures of this parish — Father 
 Tartarin, Father Watrin, and Father Aubert — have employed for this 
 purpose the greater part of what they obtained from their surplice and 
 their mass fees. When the cures have the construction and ornamenta- 
 tion of their church so much at heart, it is also probable that they do 
 not fail in their other duties." 14 
 
 "Would you have yet another proof of the care that the Jesuits have 
 taken of this parish. Fifteen years ago, at a league from the old village, 
 on the other bank of the Mississippi ; there was established a new village 
 under the name of Ste. Genevieve. Then the Cure of Kaskaskia found him- 
 self obliged to go there to administer the sacraments, at least to the sick ; 
 and, when the new inhabitants saw their houses multiplying, they asked 
 to have a church built there. This being granted them, the journeys 
 of the missionary became still more frequent, because he thought that 
 he ought then to yield himself still more to the willingness of his new 
 parishioners, and to their needs. However, in order to go to this new 
 church he must cross the Mississippi, which, in this place, is three-eighths 
 of a league wide ; he sometimes had to trust himself to a slave, who alone 
 guided the canoe ; it was necessary, in fine, to expose himself to the danger 
 of perishing, if in the middle of the river they had been overtaken by a 
 violent storm. None of all these inconveniences ever prevented the Cure 
 of Kaskaskia from going to Ste. Genevieve when charity called him 
 thither, and he was always charged with this care until means were 
 found to place at Saint Genevieve a special Cure — which occured only 
 a few years ago, when the inhabitants of the place built a house for the 
 pastor. These two villages, that of Kaskaskia and that of Saint 
 Genevieve, made the second and the third establishment of the Jesuits 
 in the Illinois country. There is no need to call attention to the fact 
 
 13 "Jesuit Eelations, " 1. eit., p. 233. 
 i< Ibidem, p. 234. 
 
92 
 
 II islam of I In Archdiocese of St. Lams 
 
 that, to accomplish only a pari of the work that has just been indicated, 
 care, courage, and constancy were accessary." 16 
 
 At eighty leagues Erom the Illinois was the post called Vincennes or 
 Saint Ajige, from the uames of the officers who commanded there. This 
 Posl is upon the river Ouabache, (Wabash) which, about seventy leagues 
 lower down, together with the Ohio, which it has joined, discharges its 
 waters into the .Mississippi; there were, at the last, in this village at 
 Least sixty houses of French people, without counting the -Miami savages, 
 who were quite near. There to was sufficient cause for care and 
 occupation— which the Jesuits did not refuse— a conclusion which must 
 be reached if one considers thai this post was cvrvy day inrrcasing in 
 population ; that the greater pari of its new inhabitants, having long been 
 voyagcurs, were little accustomed to the duties of Christians; and that, 
 to establish anion- them some manner of living, many instructions and 
 exhortations, private and public were necessary." 18 
 
 With this passage Father Watrin carries us outside the territory 
 of the future diocese of St. Louis. Still even Vincennes is intimately 
 related to its elder sister through its first prelate, the saintly Bishop 
 Simon Brute, who received his consecration in the Cathedral of St. 
 Louis, at the hands of his noble friend Joseph Rosati. But what did the 
 missionary do for the savages? Yes, what did he not do for them, amid 
 scenes often revolting in their squalor, heartrending in the deeds he must 
 witness without being able to prevent or ameliorate them. But Father 
 Watrin does not touch upon the heroic side of missionary life. All that 
 he says in justification of the missionary's conduct is this: 
 
 "Pie lived with them, always ready to teach them the Christian 
 doctrine as soon as it pleased God to open their hearts; meanwhile, he 
 kept them in alliance and friendship with the French, and he succeeded 
 in this all the better, because these people saw clearly, by his conduct, that 
 he was not in their midst to make a fortune. This disinterestedness 
 established his credit, and through that he became useful— we dare to 
 say, even necessary — to the colony." 17 
 
 Just so, just so, comes the answer from the eager throng. But, why 
 have you not provided the Poste of Arkansas with a priest? That place 
 is within your jurisdiction: There is a garrison there, and there are 
 Indians there who have always been friendly to the Jesuits. 
 
 "This, perhaps, was the occasion for it" answers the patient Father: 
 "In 1763, there were no more missionaries among the Arkansas, 
 
 where the Jesuits had I a obliged by the terms of their foundation, to 
 
 furnish one." 
 
 is "Jesuit Relations, ' ' l. eit., p. l > ::5. 
 
 " : Ibidem, p. 237. 
 
 i- Ibidem, p. 241. 
 
Banishment of the Jesttits 93 
 
 "Several years before, Father Carette had left his post ; his brethren 
 had decided that he ought to have left it sooner. In spite of the little 
 hope that there was of leading the savages of the place to Christianity, 
 the Father studied their language a long time, and labored to correct the 
 morals of the French, but reaped hardly any fruit from his toil. He 
 nevertheless followed both the French and the savages in their various 
 changes of location, occasioned by the overflowing of the Mississippi, 
 near which the Poste is situated. Notwithstanding so many annoyances, 
 the missionary Avas not discouraged at seeing his efforts rendered useless 
 by the conduct of those who ought to have sustained them ; he continued 
 in patience, until the event which we are about to describe. In the fort 
 of the Arkansas there was no longer a chapel, no longer any room wherein 
 one could say mass, except the room where the commandant took his 
 meals. This was not a very suitable place, not only because is was a din- 
 ing room, but on account of the bad conduct and freedom of langu- 
 age of those who frequented it ; everything that was in the fort entered 
 there, even to the fowls. A chicken, flying over the altar, overturned 
 the chalice, which had been left there at the end of the mass. The 
 spectators were not affected by this ; one of those who ought to have been 
 most concerned about it, exclaimed : 'Ah ! behold the shop of the good God 
 thrown down ! ' To these sentiments, so little religious, corresponded 
 a life as little Christian. Father Carette at last concluded that he must 
 withdraw, at least until he should see a chapel built in the fort, and 
 until they were disposed to respect religion there ; besides, he was 
 necessary elsewhere, for work from which better success was expected." 18 
 
 We have now recounted the substance of the able defense made by 
 Father Watrin against the traducers of his Brother Jesuits of the Illinois 
 country. Not, indeed, before the Superior Council at New Orleans, was 
 it spoken, not in any public assembby was it heard. But, within his 
 own conscience, serene as the deep blue of heaven, in the very presence of 
 God. In his letter he gave but the transcript of what he thought 
 and felt in the dark days of September 1763. What happened next is 
 recounted in the same letter : Meanwhile, the courier despatched 
 to the Illinois to bear the decree, arrived on the night of September 
 23rd, at Fort Chartres, distant six leagues from the residence of the 
 Jesuits. He delivered to the procurator of the king the commission 
 which charged him to execute the decree ; and on the next day, about 
 eight or nine o'clock in the morning, that officer of justice repaired to 
 the house of the Jesuits, accompanied by the registrar and the bailiff 
 of that jurisdiction. Some clays afterward, he tried to turn to account 
 the moderation that he had used in not arriving during the night, "as 
 his orders directed," said he ; with that exception, they ought to have been 
 satisfied with his exactness. He read to Father Watrin, the Superior, 
 
 is "Jesuit Relations," 1. c-it., p. 269. 
 
94 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the decree of condemnation, and, having given him a copy of it, he made 
 him at once leave his room to put the seal npon it ; the same thing was 
 done with the other missionaries who happened to be in the house. 
 There remained one hall where they could remain together, although 
 with great inconvenience; but this favor was refused them, because the 
 guards placed in custody of the property seized, opposed this ; they were 
 unwilling that the Jesuits should be able to watch their conduct so 
 closely. The procurator of the King feared to displease these guardians, 
 and would not permit the Jesuits to remain at the house of one of their 
 confreres — who being Cure of the place, had his private lodging near the 
 parish church ; they did not put the seal thereon, because there was 
 nothing there to seize. The missionaries, driven from their own house, 
 found quarters as best they could. The Superior, sixty-seven years old. 
 departed on foot to find a lodging, a long league away, with a confrere 
 of his, a missionary to the savages ; and the French who met him on this 
 journey groaned to see persecution begin with him. As soon as the 
 savages learned that he had arrived among them, they came to show to 
 him and to Father Meurin, his associate, the share which they took in 
 the distress of their Fathers : the news of their condemnation had already 
 caused many tears to be shed in the village. They were asked why 
 they were thus treated, especially in a country where so many disorders 
 had been so long allowed. The old missionary, after several repeated inter- 
 rogations, finally replied ; Arechi Kiecuegane t chichi ki canta manghi — It is 
 because we sternly condemn their follies. They comprehended the meaning 
 of this answer — indeed, they knew that the Jesuits, in whatever place they 
 may be established, consider themselves bound by their profession to com- 
 bat vice; and that, in fighting it, they make enemies for themselves." 1 " 
 
 They wished, then, to ask that at least the chapel and the house of 
 the missionary be preserved, in order that the best instructed person 
 among them might assemble the children and repeat the prayers to 
 them ; and that every Sunday and Feastday he might summon those 
 who prayed — that is to say, the Christians — by the ringing of the bell, 
 to fulfill as well as possible the duties of religion. They did, in fact, 
 make such a request, and obtained what they asked. There was no delay 
 in presenting, in the name of nearly all the habitants, a petition addressed 
 to the commandant and the commissary of the country, in order to secure 
 the retention of at least Father Aubert, the Cure of French Kaskaskia ; 
 and as the answer seemed to be deferred too long a time, a little while 
 afterward a second petition was sent. "While waiting for an answer to 
 this, the more intelligent of the habitants asked by what right the govern- 
 ment had taken possession of the property of the Jesuits ; and what power 
 it had over their persons in a country ceded by the treaty of peace to the 
 
 19 "Jesuit Relations," 1. cit., p. 275. 
 
Banishment of the Jesitils 95 
 
 crown of England. Above all, they Avere indignant at the seizure made 
 of the sacred vessels of a chapel belonging to the Hurons of Detroit, 
 which Father Salleneuve, missionary to that nation, had brought to 
 the Illinois country, when he had taken refuge there, two and a half 
 years before. There was another cause for astonishment : this Father, 
 who had come from Detroit, and Father de la Morinie, from the post of 
 Saint Joseph, did not belong to Louisiana, but to Canada; it was extreme 
 want that had obliged them to withdraw to the country of the Illinois, 
 and they had remained there only for lack of the necessary opportunities 
 to return to their posts. Father Salleneuve had no work in the Illinois 
 mission, and Father de la Morinie had only taken charge of the church 
 of Sainte Genevieve through the motive of a zeal that refuses itself 
 to nothing; it was plain that the Council of New Orleans ought to have 
 neither known nor thought of them. But those who had the authority 
 in Illinois did not think thus, and the Jesuits submitted to every 
 interpretation that the officials chose to give to the decree." 20 Mean- 
 while, the auction Avas finished; the house, the furniture, the cattle, 
 the lands, had been sold; the slaves were to be taken to New Orleans, 
 to be sold there for the benefit of the king; and the chapel was to be 
 razed by the man to whom the house had been adjudged. The Jesuits 
 were then permitted to re-enter their former home, the use of which 
 was, by a clause inserted in the bill of sale, reserved to them until their 
 embarkation. 
 
 They found their chapel in a still more melancholy condition; 
 after the sacred vessels and the pictures had been taken away, the shelves 
 of the altar had been thrown down, the linings of the ornaments had 
 been given to negresses decried for their evil lives; and a large crucifix, 
 which had stood above the altar, and the chandeliers, were found placed 
 above a cupboard in a house whose reputation was not good. To see 
 the marks of spoliation in the chapel, one might have thought that 
 it was the enemies of the Catholic religion who had caused it." 21 
 
 The Jesuits were forced to leave not only their missions, but the 
 country of their adoption also. Their mighty organization as one of 
 the great Orders of the Church was suppressed and they themselves 
 were homeless wanderers. Yet, in due time the Society of Jesus was 
 to rise again from the ruins ; and Jesuit Fathers of a younger generation, 
 but of equal "faith and daring and religious zeal," were destined to 
 come and continue the work their brothers had so grandly inaugurated 
 one hundred and fifty years before. 
 
 20 "Jesuit Relations," I. cit., p. 276. 
 2i Ibidem, p. 279. 
 
PART ONE 
 
 THE ERA OF PREPARATION 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 The Church in the Valley 
 during the Transition Period 
 
 Vol. I— 1 
 
tf* 
 
 5 J 
 
 
 u 
 
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 w 
 
 tift 
 
 Q - Q - 
 
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 OX b : 
 
 i 3 II 
 
 o a. C £ 
 ffl O D o 
 
BOOK II 
 
 Chapter 1 
 THE FOUNDING OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 It is a memorable coincidence that, at the very time the Jesuit 
 Fathers at Kaskaskia were, with saddened hearts, making their prepa- 
 rations for the voyage down the river to New Orleans and to exile, 
 another party arrived from New Orleans seeking with anxious but hope- 
 ful hearts a place where they might establish their trading station and 
 their home. Neither one knew of the other. And yet the leader of the 
 traders and trappers was destined in his own way to further the great 
 work which the others had to relinquish. The foundation of St. Louis 
 by Laclede-Liguest was, under the Providence of God, the means of 
 sending out the rays of divine truth, as from a central orb, into all 
 the dark expanses of the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 They are but traders, voyageurs and coureurs de bois, men of a 
 hardy race, not over-religious, though Catholic at heart, every one of 
 them. There is no priest among them. Laclede-Liguest is of noble 
 lineage: the members of the firm he represents are merchant-princes, 
 enjoying the confidence of the government. Their letters-patent or 
 charter as we would say, grant to them the exclusive right of trading 
 with the Indians on the Missouri River. They have brought along a 
 large assortment of goods to give in exchange for the skins and peltries 
 of the northern wilds. In Ste. Genevieve, the only European settle- 
 ment of importance on the left bank of the river, M. Laclede-Liguest 
 could find no magazine large enough for storing his merchandise. Be- 
 sides, it is too far removed from the Missouri River. He therefore, 
 determines to found a new town as near as possible to the watery high- 
 way that should carry his boats and pirogues to the waters of the North- 
 west. For the time being, he finds a cheerful shelter at Fort Chartres 
 with its commandant Noyon de Villiers and St. Ange de Bellerive, 
 who are waiting rather eagerly for the arrival of the English garrison. 
 
 After his business affairs have been arranged by the dispatch of 
 his bateaux and pirogues to the Indian nations along the Missouri and 
 the Mississippi, Laclede finds time and inclination to think about his 
 higher projects. In company with the young Auguste Chouteau he sets 
 out on a journey to find the best location for his proposed village and 
 
 (99) 
 
100 History of the Archdiocese of 8t. Louis 
 
 discovers it, to his great delight, on a rocky eminence of the river front, 
 covered with a fine grove of walnut trees, a few miles below the junction 
 of the two great rivers. "You will come here as soon as navigation 
 opens," said Laclede to Chouteau, "and will cause this place to be 
 cleared, in order to form our settlement after the plan that I shall give 
 you." 1 
 
 On his return to Fort Charlies Laclede is reported to have 
 said to M. de Noyon and his officers, that he had found a location for 
 his settlement which might become, hereafter, "one of the finest cities 
 of America." 2 The rest of the winter was spent in maturing the plan 
 for his city and procuring the things necessary for the commencement 
 of his new settlement. Having hired a number of workmen from the 
 villages and towns along the river, he sent them in boats to the site 
 he had chosen and marked. Auguste Chouteau was in command of 
 the expedition. This was on the 15th day of February 1764. The first 
 house built was intended for the storage of Laclede's merchandise, which 
 he was bound to remove from Fort Chartres before the arrival of the 
 English. Smaller cabins were built for the members of the expedition. 
 In the early part of April Laclede arrived among Chouteau's company 
 of builders. He laid down the lines for the streets of the new village, 
 fixed the place of his own house, assigned one block for religious purposes 
 and designated another as the Place des Armes and then, to crown his 
 work, named the new foundation, St. Louis, in honor of St. Louis IX, 
 the patron saint of the King of France. A party of French Cahokians 
 came as mere onlookers but decided to stay. Yet, when a large band of 
 Missouri Indians suddenly appeared with friendly intentions, but over- 
 friendly importunities, the Cahokians departed for home, and Laclede 
 himself had to be brought up from Fort Chartres to restore order and 
 peace. Thus proceeded the work of raising the village of St. Louis on 
 the natural foundation of the wind-swept eminence hard by the river 
 and drawing by its beauty and youthful vigor many of the habitants 
 from Cahokia, St. Philip, Fort Chartres and Kaskaskia to build their 
 hearths and homes there, and to live and die, as they thought, under 
 the Lilies of France. Auguste Chouteau in his Journal of the ' ' Founding 
 of St. Louis," relates some of the particulars of this migration. After 
 stating how Monsieur Laclede had done all in his power to prevent 
 the French families of the Illinois country, who naturally dreaded 
 the regime of England, and its heretical king, from going with the 
 
 i "Journal of the Founding of St. Louis," by Auguste Chouteau, in "Missouri 
 Historical Society Collections," vol. IV, p. 351. 
 
 2 Chouteau's Journal, p. 352. Bishop Briand of Quebec, in 1769, had predicted 
 that Cahokia would eventually be the center of religion in the Illinois Country. He 
 was mistaken, but his guess as to the Location of the eenter was not very far from 
 being right. 
 
The Founding of St. Louis 101 
 
 French commander de Noyon down to New Orleans, young Chouteau 
 continues, saying that he, on the contrary, advised them to go up the 
 liver to his own new settlement on the French side, promising at the 
 same time, that he would cheerfully furnish them with the necessary 
 means of transporting them and their families and their property to 
 their future abode. "Several families accepted these offers" he writes, 
 "and obtained immediately the wagons and harness to proceed to St. 
 Louis, M. Laclede-Liguest, aided them in settling, and ordered me to 
 assign them lands, according to the plan he had made, which I did as 
 exactly as possible." 3 The people from Cahokia also returned, forming 
 with the thirty families from Fort Chartres and St. Philip, Laclede's 
 original followers, the "compact body required to give permanence to 
 St. Louis. Fort Chan res had nothing left of its population save the 
 garrison, soon to be withdrawn. The village of Nouvelle Chartres with 
 the chapel of St. Anne, lay in ruins, the departing villagers having 
 taken along the boards, the -windows and the door-frames and everything 
 else they could transport to the places where they intended to settle." 4 
 As for the Indians of the Kaskaskia Missions, Chouteau tells us, that 
 the great chief of the Ottawas, Pontiac, forced them to join him in his 
 proposed attack upon the English, saying to them: "If you hesitate 
 one moment, I will destroy you, like the fire which passes through a 
 prairie : Open wide your ears, and remember it is Pontiac who speaks." 5 
 It has been remarked by some writers as rather strange that no priest 
 lent his presence to the grand occasion of the foundation of St. Louis. 
 On all similar occasions heretofore the Church was represented by mem- 
 bers of priesthood; The Vexilla Regis or the Te Dcum Laudamus as- 
 cended to God in praise and thanksgiving and humble petition, whilst 
 the smoke of incense floated on the air and the salute of the guns 
 announced that the place belonged to God and the King. Why the 
 exception in the case of St. Louis? Laclede and his followers were 
 Catholics and loved the splendor of the Catholic service. But here there 
 is no hymn, no ceremony, no mass, no priest. The explanation is not 
 far to seek. Whilst young Chouteau and his chief and friend Laclede 
 are busy with the preliminaries of the founding of their village, the 
 only priest remaining in the vast territory of Upper Louisiana, the 
 Recollet Luke Collet, bowed down by the weight of years and infirmities, 
 is in hiding for fear of the British soldiery : and Father Meurin, the 
 expelled Jesuit of Kaskaskia Mission, is in New Orleans, in enforced 
 exile, begging his unjust jailors of the Superior Council to permit him 
 to return to his poor Indians and French on the banks of the Miss- 
 issippi. Father Meurin, after a toilsome voyage, arrived at Kaskaskia 
 
 3 Chouteau 's Journal, passim. 
 
 4 Chouteau's Journal, p. 361. 
 
 5 Chouteau's Journal, p. 361. 
 
102 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in mid-summer, 1764, having loft New Orleans in the middle of Feb- 
 ruary. "We have every reason to suppose," says one who made an 
 exhaustive study of the good Father's life, "that if Father Meurin had 
 been allowed to leave New Orleans when he desired, he would have 
 witnessed the historic act."" But although he was not present at 
 the city's birth, he nevertheless can claim the distinction of being 
 the pioneer priest of St. Louis, by virtue of his visits in 1766, and his 
 frequent ministrations there in the three following years. As the people 
 had not as yet succeeded in building a church, Father Meurin must 
 have said mass in the home of some one of the better situated families. 
 This is the usual way of founding missions or parishes. First come the 
 visits of the priest and the services of the church in any decent though 
 primitive locality, as a private residence, an assembly room, a tent or 
 even the open air ; the building of a church comes later. So it happened 
 that the first Baptism, Father Meurin, priest of "Our Lady of the 
 Cahokias, " administered in St. Louis took place in a tent, as the first 
 entry in the record shows. The child baptized was named Mary 
 Deschamps, and the Baptism is said to have been "in the country of 
 the Illinois, in St. Louis, in a tent for want of a church." The second 
 St. Louis child baptized by Father Meurin was Antoine, son of Lizette, 
 a Pawnee slave. This Baptism was on the 9th of May 17(56. Auguste 
 Chouteau's mother, Marie Therese Chouteau, had come up the river 
 from New Orleans with her five children, two sons and three daughters, 
 landing at Fort Chartres on November 3, 1763, after a voyage of three 
 months. The husband, August Rene Chouteau, remained in New Orleans. 
 Mrs. Chouteau spent the winter 1763-64 in Fort Chartres, but in March 
 proceeded to Cahokia, where she awaited the completion of her house 
 in St. Louis. In September she came over to the new village, the 
 first white woman in St. Louis. She is affectionately regarded as "The 
 Mother of St. Louis." The scandalous legend as to her relations with 
 Laclede-Liguest broadcast by Billon and Paul Beckwith was exploded 
 by Alexander N. De Menil in his Madame Chouteau Vindicated. The 
 assertion that the Catholic clergy of New Orleans and of St. Louis 
 connived at the supposed adulterous relations of Laclede and Mrs. 
 Chouteau, and that she was permitted to approach the sacraments, as 
 she certainly was, in spite of a notorious concubinage, is too silly to 
 merit attention. Yet, the libel was believed by many for upwards of 
 ninety years. The fact is now established that the mother of St. Louis, 
 was "a true, honest and respectable wife and mother," in spite of the 
 other fact that she left her cruel husband on two occasions, in 1750, 
 after the birth of August, and in 1763, after the birth of her last child, 
 Marie Therese. A reconciliation of the two spirited persons had been 
 
 6 "Sebastian Louis Meurin," by Charles H. Metzger, S. J., in "Illinois Cath- 
 olic Historical Eeview, vol. Ill, p. 372. 
 
The Founding of St. Louis 103 
 
 effected in 1757, which lasted until 1763. Her husband died in the 
 summer, 177G, and Madame Chouteau and her five children did not 
 inherit from him. 7 
 
 The first Catholic Church, a small log-house, was erected in 1770, 
 on the Church-lot assigned by Laclede, and was blessed on the 24th 
 of June of the same year, not by Father Gibault, as is generally said, 
 but by Father Meurin himself. In the absence of the priest in charge, 
 the burials were generally performed by some layman that held a sub- 
 ordinate position in the church, as the chantre or the sacristan. In 
 the early days it was one Rene Kiercereau, that attended to this office 
 from October 1770 to March 1772, and recorded the burial of nineteen 
 whites, ten negroes, and five Indians. The next priest to inscribe his 
 name and title on the Church Records of St. Louis was the celebrated 
 Father Pierre Gibault, "Parish Priest of the Immaculate Conception of 
 Our Lady of Kaskaskia and Vicar General of My Lord, the Bishop of 
 Quebec. ' ' Father Gibault served the Church of St. Louis from June 
 1770 to January 1772. 
 
 The population of St. Louis was even then a strange mixture of 
 many types ; there were retired hunters and trappers and boatmen 
 from Canada, farmers from Lower Louisiana, Spanish soldiers and 
 traders, Indian and Negro slaves, native Creoles from the towns beyond 
 the river, adventurers from France and Spain, some of them men of 
 gentle birth and culture. But, as diversified as these elements were, 
 there ran through all the tangled skein the golden thread of a common 
 religion, uniting them into one family, the family of God. Religion 
 was to them, not a mere thing of the intellect, much less a soothing 
 appeal to the sense, nor a system of philosophy, though it was all this 
 and more ; Religion was to them the first and foremost duty and 
 privilege, the life of the spirit permeating, vivifying and uniting into 
 one body the men and women that had received Christ by Faith. 8 
 
 All that had so far been accomplished in the Mississippi Valley 
 in regard to civilization was due to the spirit of Catholicism, the 
 proudest possession of the French pioneers. Now, in spite of the 
 English regime to the east and the Spanish regime to the west of the 
 river, the French, influence remained dominant. St. Louis was in many 
 ways a replica of Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Crime was hardly known. 
 Justice was administered in a fatherly way either by the priest or by 
 some one chosen from "the ancients," as Father Roux styles the elder 
 citizens. The announcements of sales and other publications were 
 made on Sundays from the church steps. There were some minor offices 
 
 7 Billon, F. L., "Annals of St. Louis, 1764-1804," p. 412. "Madam Chouteau 
 Vindicated," Alexander N. DeMenil, in "Globe-Democrat," October 16, 1921. 
 
 s They were the children of the France before the Eevolution, still worthy of 
 the ancient name, ' ' The First Daughter of the Church. ' ' 
 
104 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in the church, held by Laymen, the clianter or singer who, in the absence 
 of the priest, was empowered to perforin the burial service; the sacristan 
 or verger, and the Suisse whose office it was to keep order during the 
 divine service. The church, with all that it implied, was the center of 
 the people's life in French and Spanish days. "Learning none had, 
 unless it was the parish priest, and he, their oracle in matters of faith, 
 could be taken likewise as their voucher in matters of science," as 
 Scliarf 9 remarks. Their honor and good name was their great treasure. 
 Their hospitality was proverbial; every latch-string hung out and every 
 man's house was the stranger's. Punctuality and honesty in all dealings, 
 politeness and courtesy to strangers, friendship and cordiality among 
 neighbors, gentle kindness and affection at home, reverence for elders, 
 respect for superiors, and justice to all, were among the social virtues 
 prevalent among this primitive people. "Contented with little and 
 happy with more," seems to have been their rule of life. They had no 
 politics, save loyalty to France, and a dim belief that, the King of 
 France was monarch of all the earth, or at least ought to be. Care and 
 worry found no lodgement at their fireside. "God is in His heaven," 
 they said, "All is right with the world." 
 
 "Amusements, festivals and holidays were natural among such a 
 people. They were too devout not to keep every Fete in the calendar, 
 and too fond of enjoyment not to wish there were twice as many more. 
 Neither sex nor condition were kept from these festive enjoyments ; pleas- 
 ure was like the church floor, free to all without distinction of quality. 
 The black slave danced to the same fiddle that sent his mistress and 
 master tripping, and the stolid Indian sat by on his haunches, wrapped 
 in his blanket, watching and wondering. It has become a proverb, the 
 contentment and happiness of the negro slaves in French Illinois. All 
 were Catholics and all kept the festivals of the great Mother Church in 
 the same indentical spirit." 10 
 
 In our far less joyous days some may wonder at the levity displayed 
 by these people, others may even raise eye-brows in solemn disapproval. 
 Yet, as Stoddard writes "It must be confessed that the French people 
 avoid all intemperate and immoral excesses, and conduct themselves 
 with apparent decorum." 11 
 
 And Scharf is fair enough to add his favorable judgment: "It 
 seems certain that to their honest religious convictions, and the candor 
 with which they obeyed them, the habitants of Upper Louisiana owed 
 much of that sterling business integrity and that rigid adherence to 
 
 o "History of St. Louis," vol. I, p. 281. 
 io "History of St. Louis," by Scharf, vol. I, p. 282. 
 n "Sketches of Louisiana," Stoddart, p. 316. 
 
The Founding of St. Louis 105 
 
 truth in all its forms which always excited the surprise and admiration 
 of strangers." 12 
 
 The village of St. Louis had not yet kept the second anniversary of 
 its birth, when it received a garrison of thirty men and a Commandant, 
 October 1765. 
 
 A valuable accession it was, as all were Frenchmen and stood under 
 the command of Laclede's special friend, St. Ange de Bellerive. But 
 what business had a French commandant on the soil that was now known 
 to belong to Spain? Was his authority in St. Louis self-constituted, or 
 did he rule by popular action or acclamation? Nothing of the kind. 
 St. Ange held the same power in all parts of the Illinois country that 
 Noyon de Villiers had exercised, in the name of the King of France, 
 until the Spanish government should have taken actual possession. So 
 he was just as much in authority on the Missouri side as he had been 
 on the Illinois side, until the coming of Captain Sterling to Fort Chartres. 
 In fact, the Spanish authorities in New Orleans in 1769 treated St. Ange as 
 the representative of the Spanish government, and when Don Alexandre 
 O'Reilly, the Spanish Governor of the Province of Louisiana, ordered 
 that all subjects of the colony who wished to remain under the domina- 
 tion of his Catholic Majesty, must take the oath of allegiance, it was 
 "Captain St. Ange de Bellerive, Commandant of the Spanish Colony 
 of Illinois," that was appointed to make them take it in this form: 
 "That they promise and swear to God and to his Catholic Majesty, 
 to be faithful to him and to sacrifice their lives for his service, to warn 
 him or his commandants of anything coming to their knowledge pre- 
 judicial to his state or to the support of his crown and of his person, 
 and to live under the laws it shall please his said Catholic Majesty to 
 impose on them." 13 
 
 The settlers of St. Louis, whether cheerfully or not, actually took 
 the oath of fidelity to the Spanish King, on November 9, 1769. 
 
 On February 17, 1770, three months after the date of this occurrence, 
 St. Ange resigned, and Don Pedro Piernas, the first Spanish Lieutenant- 
 governor, assumed the government of the Illinois country (St. Louis 
 and dependencies.) 
 
 It is said that when Captain Stirling, the first English commander 
 at Fort Chartres, died in January 1776, on the request of the inhabi- 
 tants there, St. Ange came over from the Spanish possessions to take 
 charge of the post of Fort <'hartres until the arrival of Captain Stirling's 
 
 12 "History of St. Louis," by Seharf, p. 283. 
 
 13 According to Seharf, as well as to Shepard, the government of St. Louis 
 under St. Ange was self -constituted. This is not the case. St. Ange was appointed 
 "Captain, Commanding the Spanish Colony of Illinois," by Count O'Reilly, Governor 
 of the Province of Louisiana, ef. "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. TV, 
 p. 243 s. 
 
10G History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 successor, Captain Frazer, from Pittsburgh. This romantic incident is a 
 fiction, as St. Ange was then no longer among the living, having died 
 December 27, 1774, at the home of Madame Chouteau.- St. Ange was 
 never married. In his will which was made December 27, 1774, he 
 bequeaths 25 livres for Masses and 500 livres for the construction of the 
 church of St. Louis. 
 
 The funeral services for St. Ange de Bellerive were performed by 
 Father Valentine, a Capuchin Monk, from New Orleans, who held his 
 faculties from the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba, to whom the jurisdiction 
 had now passed from the Bishop of Quebec. The Record of Burials 
 shows (he following entry: "In the year 1774, 27th of December, I the 
 undersigned, have interred in the cemetery of this parish the body of 
 Don Louis de St. Ange, Captain attached to the battalion of Louisiana, 
 having administered the sacraments of the church. Fr. Valentine." 
 
 Father Valentine in official acts styles himself "Priest of the Parish 
 of St. Louis and its dependencies," a title that does not fully square 
 with facts. 
 
 St. Louis at that time was no parish in the Canonical sense, but 
 only a mission. No doubt, the zealous Capuchin, was regularly appointed 
 to St. Louis, but most likely as the chaplain for the garrison that came 
 with Lieutenant Governor Piernas, just as the unnamed chaplain that 
 accompanied the expedition of Don Francisco Rui 14 to build the Forts 
 at the mouth of the Missouri River in March 1767, three years previous 
 to the advent of Piernas. When Rui set out from New Orleans to the Miss- 
 ouri River, he was instructed to take along with him a chaplain, (name not 
 given) who was to say mass on shore every Sunday and Feast-day, before 
 day-break, at which all the company were to assist. He was moreover 
 enjoined to recite the Rosary with the crew every night, as is usual on 
 the warships of Spain." 15 We suspect that the unnamed chaplain of 
 Rui's expedition was no one else than Father Valentine, and that, after 
 the relief of Rui by Piernas, and the subsequent appointment of Piernas 
 to the poste of St. Louis, he came with Piernas to serve as the priest of 
 the mission of St. Louis and its dependencies. As the Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor could not erect Parishes or appoint parish Priests, the Capuchin, 
 Father Valentine cannot be called the first Pastor of St. Louis, but only 
 its first resident priest. He remained from May 1772 to June 1775, and 
 during that period baptized sixty-five whites, twenty-four negroes and 
 eighteen Indians. He also solemnized four marriages of whites and 
 officiated at the interment of forty-two whites, eleven negroes and nine- 
 
 ii Thirteen documents in regard to Don Francisco Bui's voyage to the mouth 
 of the Missouri and the erection of the forts at this place are given by Houck, in 
 ' ' Spanish Regime in Missouri, ' ' vol. I, pp. 1-52. St. Ange 's name is always men- 
 tioned with respect. 
 
 is "Spanish Regime in Missouri," vol. I, p. 4. 
 
The Founding of St. Louis 107 
 
 teen Indians. Until now Father Valentine had. been officiating in the 
 little log-church of Father Menrin's time and lived in the adjoining 
 presbytere, as the priest's residence was then called. But he prevailed 
 upon Governor Piernas to build a new church, more in keeping with the 
 growing importance and dignity of St. Louis. Judge Wilson Primm, a 
 scion of some of the earliest and best families of St. Louis, has given 
 us a very interesting account of the erection of the second church-building 
 in the village under the administration of Don Pedro Piernas. In a 
 lecture delivered before the Missouri Historical Society he adverted to 
 a drawing that had been made under his personal direction, representing 
 the old church that had been demolished in 1820, according to the 
 Government Record: "On the 26th of December 1774, the inhabitants 
 of St. Louis met together in the government chamber in presence of Don 
 Pedro Piernas, Lieutenant Governor of the Establishment of Illinois 
 and of the dependencies belonging to his Catholic Majesty, of Reverend 
 Father Valentine and Mr. Sarpy, Principal Church-warden, and deter- 
 mined upon the building of a church. The church is to be sixty feet 
 long and thirty feet in width and is to be built of posts set in the ground. 
 The posts are to be eighteen feet long hewed on both sides, to the width 
 of six inches above ground, and to be of very sound white oak, and the 
 square of the church to be fourteen feet high. The inhabitants are to 
 furnish all the wood and other materials necessary for the construction 
 of the building, according to an assessment to be made on each white 
 and black person of the age of fourteen years and upwards, excepting 
 wives and persons sixty years of age, who shall be exempt as to their 
 persons only." 16 
 
 The superintendent of the building and of the assessments is Pierre 
 Baron, who, being present, accepts the office and promises to do his duty. 
 The inhabitants add to him, Rene Kiercereau, Antoine Riviere, dit 
 Bacasset, Joseph Taillon and Jacques Moise, ' ' who must be present at the 
 assessment and at the furnishing of materials." 17 
 
 ' ' There is to be a gallery around the church five feet wide supported 
 by posts of good wood, set into the ground." 18 
 
 The specifications were now worked out by the Committee and at 
 their completion another Parish meeting was held in the chamber of the 
 parsonage of said Parish of St. Louis, at the termination of Parochial 
 Mass, for the purpose of letting out to the lowest bidder the ' ' labor and 
 construction of the church proposed to be erected." 19 
 
 The specifications were read and explained with loud and intelligible 
 voice. The lowest bid was that of Pierre Lupin Baron, carpenter and 
 
 is Printed in "The Church Progress, " of St. Louis, February Is, 1917. 
 
 17 Ibidem. 
 
 is Ibidem. 
 
 is Ibidem. 
 
108 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 joiner, "at the sum of twelve hundred livres in shaved deer skins, 
 merchantable at this Post." Don Pedro Piernas signed the contract the 
 19th day of April 1775. But the building contractor, Pierre Baron, 
 dying on the 28th day of January 1776, another Parish meeting was 
 called by the new Lieutenant Governor Don Francisco Cruzat, at which 
 the work under the same conditions was let out to Jean Cambas, he being 
 the lowest bidder, at the sum of fourteen hundred and eighty livres, 
 in shaved deer skins. The only new condition was that the building 
 must be completed by the cud of May. 
 
 Father Valentine did not enjoy his new church ; for in June 
 1776 he was on his way down to New Orleans, never to return. To the 
 people of St. Louis it must have been a source of regret to hear that their 
 priest, Father Valentine, had suddenly departed, June 6, 1775, and would 
 not return. Rumor was busy with the mysterious event. A letter arrived 
 from Cahokia at M. Dutelets home in St. Louis, in which Father Valen- 
 tine gives as his reason for his strange conduct, the fear of compromising 
 the new Governor, M. Cruzat and himself. 20 
 
 The Capuchin Friar did not tarry at Kaskaskia, as some have 
 stated, but went directly to New Orleans to report to his Superior. 
 We found his name in the Register of the Post of Arkansas, as having 
 baptized thirty-five persons on April 19, 1772, one month before his 
 coming to St. Louis. This would show that he came directly from New 
 Orleans, stopping off for a day or two at the Post. 
 
 Later on we find Father Valentine at Cote des Allemands, and at 
 Iberville. (1778-81.) 
 
 20 His household goods were sold at auction after his departure from St. Louis. 
 The catalogue of the sale is preserved in the Spanish Archives of the Missouri His- 
 torical Society at the Jefferson Memorial, St. Louis. 
 
yjwvaw Je uwpcubftu. 
 
 X^Li^^ty»r~£y 
 
 *' 6) -^ - 
 
 6&^0?J&mK 
 
 SIGNATURES OF ST. LOUIS PRIESTS AND PRELATES 
 
Chapter 2 
 CIVIL ALLEGIANCE AND ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY 
 
 The battle of Quebec, in which Montcalm was killed, September 
 18th, 1759, sounded the death-knell of the power of France in the New 
 World. But the last agony was protracted for a few years. By the 
 Treaty of Paris, February 10th, 1763, Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape 
 Breton and the French possessions to the East of the Mississippi, New 
 Orleans excepted, were ceded to England. 
 
 This great river thus became the boundary between the English and 
 French. But the extreme weakness of France, at the close of the seven 
 years war had previously led to another act, that eventually retired the 
 French from the North-American Continent. On the 3rd of November 
 1762, the Marquis of Grimaldi, the Ambassador of Spain, and the Duke 
 de Choiseul, the French Premier, signed at Fontainebleau an Act by 
 which the French King ceded to His Cousin of Spain, and to his succes- 
 sors forever, in full ownership, from the pure impulse of a generous 
 heart the Country under the name of Louisiana. The Spanish monarch, 
 rather reluctantly accepted the donation tendered to him by the gener- 
 osity of his Most Christian Majesty, his cousin Louis XV. 
 
 From that date, November 13th, 1762, the Illinois Country west 
 of the Mississippi, as well as Lower Louisiana with New Orleans was 
 legally part and parcel of the world-empire of Spain : yet, as the 
 donation, as well as the acceptance, was to be kept secret for a time, the 
 King of France continued to act as sovereign of Louisiana. Theoreti- 
 cally the two powers, Spain and England, faced each other, with the 
 Mississippi between them as boundary line; the actual establishment, 
 however, of both powers in their new possessions was as yet a problem. 
 The French Commandants, Noyon de Villiers and St. Ange de Bellerive 
 remained in charge on the Illinois side, whilst on the west bank of the 
 river there was nothing to hold, but the village of Ste. Genevieve 
 and the Poste of Ai'kansas. 
 
 On the loth of March, 1763, the King of France, announced that 
 he had determined to disband the troops serving in Louisana. Only 
 four companies of infantry were to remain under the command of 
 D 'Abbadie. The Indians were highly incensed when they heard of the 
 treaty of cession, and said, the King of France had no right to dispose 
 of them and their lands to any other sovereign. The French Creoles, 
 were dissatisfied but hopeful. An English convoy of about three hun- 
 dred and fifty souls, officers, soldiers and children coming up the 
 Mississippi to occupy the strategic points of their new possessions, were 
 
 (109) 
 
110 History of Hit Arvhdiovcsi of SI. Loins 
 
 harrassed again and again by the Indians, and at last driven back to 
 New Orleans. The official transfer of the formerly French territory 
 east of the .Mississippi was effected on October 10th, 1765. St. Ange de 
 Bellerive acted for France, Captain Thomas Stirling for England. 
 
 St. Ange and bis thirty French soldiers immediately departed 
 for the village of St. Louis, which lie still regarded as French territory, 
 until the official transfer to Spain should be made. The donation of 
 Louisiana, that is the country west of the Mississippi with New Orleans, 
 was made known by an offical Letter of Louis XV, dated April 1764, 
 more than two years after the cession. In this document the royal heart 
 goes out to the people of Louisiana, who had served him and France 
 so well. Among other things the Letter expresses the hope, that the 
 King of Spain "will be pleased to instruct his Governor, that all ecclesi- 
 astics and religious communities shall continue to perform their functions 
 of curates and missionaries, and to enjoy the rights, privileges and 
 exceptions granted to them, that all the judges of ordinary jurisdiction, 
 together with t lie Superior Council, shall continue to administer justice 
 according to the laws, forms and usages of the colony." 1 
 
 All this sounds very sweet and kind ; but it was in this very year, 
 1764, that the Superior Council, headed by La Freniere and Foucault, 
 struck the blow that crushed the only band of missionaries left in 
 Louisiana. On the other hand, the Spanish government still delayed to 
 take possession of the gift of King Louis. On January 20th, 1768, Aubry, 
 the French Commander in New Orleans wrote: "I am in the most 
 extraordinary position. I command for the King of France and, at the 
 same time, I govern the Colony as if it belonged to the King of Spain. 
 A French Commander is gradually moulding Frenchmen to Spanish 
 domination." 2 The Spanish Governor Ulloa had no military power at 
 his disposal. The spirit of independence was spreading among the 
 French. The Superior Council, that had expelled the Jesuits, now 
 expelled the few Spaniards with Ulloa, the Spanish Governor. It was 
 a bloodless revolution, but a revolution nevertheless, and now Spain 
 roused itself to quick and decisive action. Upon the arrival of the news 
 of the revolution a cabinet council was held in which the Duke of Alba 
 gave this brief and characteristic opinion; "that the King (of Spain) 
 ought to retain Louisiana, on account of the extreme importance of the 
 River Mississippi, being the fixed and settled limit of the English pos- 
 session." 3 Don Alexander O'Reilly, the most distinguished military 
 
 i Gayarre, "History of Louisiana," vol. II. p. II-'. 
 
 2 Gayarre, vol. II, p. 185. "Considering thai the French troops refused to 
 obey the Spanish governor, Aubrey would remain the apparent and nominal chief 
 of the Colony, but would govern according to the dictates of UHoa," i. e. the Spanish 
 governor, p. 167. 
 
 3 Gayarre, vol. II, p. 252. 
 
Civil Allegiance and Ecclesiastical Authority 111 
 
 officer of Spain at the time, was commissioned to take possession of 
 Louisiana, with the significant remark: "Your Excellency knows very 
 well that the loss of great interests is looked upon by Spain with indif- 
 ference, but that it is not so with regard to insults." 4 
 
 Don Alexander O'Reilly came, saw, and conquered, not by storm 
 of battle, but by mere show of power. Some among the ringleaders 
 paid the penalty of death for their rebellious acts, among them the 
 deporters of the Jesuit Fathers in 1764. It was in 1769 that Louisiana 
 became finally, but not forever, a Spanish Colony. 5 
 
 A census of the population in the Missiissippi Valley, exclusive of the 
 Indians, was one of the first acts of Governor O'Reilly. The sum total 
 of inhabitants, slaves included, was only 13,538. 
 
 Although the political change thus effected did not immediately 
 bring about a change in the spiritual jurisdiction, it certainly was a 
 step in that direction. The Bishop of Quebec, though now a subject of 
 the King of England, remained Ordinary of Upper and Lower Louisiana, 
 whilst the Superior of the Capuchins at New Orleans, Father Dagobert 
 de Longwi continued to claim his authority as Vicar-General of Quebec. 
 Yet the union of Church and State, which then obtained in Spain and 
 France alike, placed certain obligations upon the State in regard to 
 the temporal support of the Church and its ministers. Naturally, 
 therefore, would the Spanish authorities prefer to deal with bishops 
 and priests of their own nationality, whilst Rome, as a rule, was willing 
 to sanction the change. His Catholic Majesty, as the King of Spain 
 was called, had in the course of time received or assumed a number 
 of exceptional privileges in the matter of appointment and recall of 
 the Clergy, high and low. These so called prerogatives of the crown 
 would certainly be put in use in the new colony of Louisiana, as they 
 were practiced in the other parts of the Spanish realm. But for the 
 first few years nothing was attempted in the matter of placing the colony 
 under Spanish ecclesiastical control, because there was so very little to 
 be controlled, and that little so very hard to reach. The Bishop of Quebec, 
 being in possession, was left in possession, although the leading men 
 of New Orleans and the Capuchin Superior, were already making trouble 
 for their Spiritual Head. After the pacification of the country the juris- 
 diction of Quebec in all Louisiana, lapsed into that of Santiago de Cuba, 
 although the Pope delayed his recognition of the royal edict until 1777. 
 Bishop Briand of Quebec was glad to be relieved of the burden. In 
 April 1767 he wrote to Father Meurin : " As yet I have no news from 
 Xew Orleans. The difficulty of governing from such a distance, or 
 finding persons in whom to confide, the troubles which the Capuchins 
 have always stirred up there, their bad conduct, their disobedience, 
 
 * Gayarre, vol. II, p. 266. 
 
 5 For a life-sketch of Don Alexandre O'Keilly see Gayarre, vol. II, p. 283. 
 
111! History of the Archdiocest of St. Loins 
 
 their twenty-three years of stubborn resistence to their Ordinary, all 
 these considerations have so disgusted and harrassed me, that I have an 
 extreme repugnance to assume charge of that section, and I assure you, 
 thai 1 would not be sorry if the Spanish government wished it to be 
 dependent on one of their dioceses in America." 6 This much is suffi- 
 cient h plain, that the Bishop of Quebec gave his full consent to the dis- 
 memberment of his diocese by the loyal decree, although he could not con- 
 sider himself altogether relieved of responsibility until Rome approved of 
 the act. Early in June of the year 1772 the Spanish Capuchins, P. 
 Cyrillo de Barcelona, in company with four other Capuchins, arrived 
 in New Orleans, with the commission from the Bishop of Santiago de 
 Cuba, James Joseph Echeverria to investigate the religious conditions 
 in the new Province. By request of Father Cyrillo, Father Dagobert 
 was continued in his office as Superior, and consequently as Vicar-General 
 of the Bishop of Quebec. But Father Cyrillo, as the representative of 
 the Bishop of Santiago, acted independently of Father Dagobert, first 
 as Vicar-General and, from 1781 on, as Bishop of Tricala, and Auxiliary 
 for Louisiana. In 1787 the diocese of Santiago di Cuba was dismembered, 
 all Louisiana and the Floridas being assigned to the new diocese of St. 
 Christopher de Havana. The Bishop of Havana, Joseph de Tres- 
 palacios, retained Bishop Cyrillo as his auxiliary for Louisiana. On 
 April 25th, 1792, another dismemberment occured, and Louisiana and 
 the Floridas were erected into a diocese, the Cathedral of which was 
 fixed in New Orleans. The Bishop of the new diocese, Louis Pehalver y 
 Cardenas, arrived in New Orleans on July 17th, 1795. The official name 
 of the diocese was Louisiana and the Floridas, although its Bishops 
 sometimes assumed the style of Bishop of New Orleans. When on 
 July 20th, 1802, the Louisiana territory was returned to France by 
 Spain and, less than a year later, sold by France to the United States, 
 April 30th, 1803, Bishop Penalver left NeAv Orleans for Guatamala. 
 The western portion of Upper Louisiana, that is the territory of the 
 future diocese of St. Louis, was now under Spanish rule in spiritual as 
 well as temporal matters, and the parishes were provided with priests 
 at the expense of the Spanish government. 
 
 But, what were the fortunes of its eastern portion that 
 was left in the power of heretical England? What was the 
 condition of religion and public morals in the ancient Catholic 
 settlements of the Illinois Country along the eastern borders of 
 the Mississippi? Dark and threatening were the clouds that had 
 settled down over the former scenes of peace. There was but one priest 
 left in all Upper Louisiana. The devoted son of St. Francis, Father 
 Luke Collet at Fort Chart res, a venerable man, bowed down by the 
 
 o Alvord and Carter, "The New Regime, 1765-1767," in British Series, vol. II. 
 p. 560. 
 
Civil Allegiance and Ecclesiastical Authority 113 
 
 weight of many years of patient toil and sorrow in the cause of Christ. 
 The Bishop of Quebec had sent him to the Illinois Missions, and the 
 Frenchman's natural love for the French cause had kept him an exile 
 from Canada, until now. But he and he alone would not forsake his 
 post of honor, though the current of his life was well nigh spent. But 
 who was his bishop after Canada itself was lost to the English? Father 
 Collet surely had no doubts about the matter: the Bishop of Quebec 
 was still his Ordinary. To him he looked for guidance and support. 
 But for a time there was no bishop at Quebec. Bishop Pontbriand had 
 died in June 1760, and the Bishop-Elect, John Oliver Briand, was 
 debarred by English Tyranny from receiving consecration. The Church 
 had no Bishop in the English colonies along the A'lantic seaboard. In 
 fact only two of the thirteen colonies. Maryland and Pennsylvania 
 permitted the exercise of the Catholic religion. The little band of heroic 
 priests of these two liberal colonies acted under the jurisdiction of the 
 Vicar Apostolic of London, who at that time was Bishop Challoner. 
 Canada and all the French territory on the eastern borders of the 
 Mississippi now belonged to England. "In consequence of this increase 
 of British territory." says Burton, "Bishop Challoner had to consider 
 whether under the terms of his faculties, he was or was not responsible 
 for the spiritual well-being of Canada and the other new possessions." 7 
 Rome did not give a definite answer, but asked for further information. 
 Quebec retained possession. At last, Bishop Briand. in order to bring 
 peace to his distracted people, resigned in favor of Bishop D'Esglis, 
 who was persona grata witli the British authorities. This paved the 
 way for the so-called "Quebec Act," passed by Parliament in 177-1, an 
 Act which gave the Canadians the free exercise of the Catholic religion 
 as under the former French rule. It was this Act of Justice that healed 
 the wound of Canada's being torn from her mother France, and it was 
 the unexpectedness of it that won the Canadian's loyalty and good will 
 for her English rulers. The successive Bishops of Quebec continued 
 to exercise their hereditary right and power on the eastern borders 
 of the Mississippi, in Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres and Vincennes, 
 even after the appointment of Carroll as Prefect Apostolic and Bishop 
 of Baltimore. Bishop Carroll's jurisdiction over the entire territory to 
 the Spanish boundary, the Mississippi River, was not formally established 
 until January 29th, 1791. 8 
 
 But previous to that, on October 6th, 1788, Bishop Hubert of Quebec 
 and the Prefect Apostolic at Baltimore, John Carroll, had arranged a 
 modus vivendi, Bishop Hubert wrote: "It is true that the settlements 
 in the country of the Illinois are incontestably in the diocese of Quebec, 
 
 - Guilday, "Life and Times of John Carroll," p. 148. 
 
 s Shea, John G. "Life and Times of Most Rev. John Carroll," p. 382. 
 
114 History of tht Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 according to our original grant, and also that the Seminary of Quebec, 
 for that reason, long had the right to nominate a Superior among the 
 Tamarois, a prerogative which the said Seminary resigned in favor of 
 the Bishop of Quebec. Be that as it may, I believe it is prudent for us 
 under the circumstances, to accommodate ourselves to the new order 
 of things, although 1 be not at liberty to assent to the dismemberment of 
 this part of my diocese without the consent of my Coadjutor and of my 
 clergy. Divine Providence having permitted that the Illinois should 
 have fallen into the power of the United States, the spiritual charge of 
 which is confided to your care, I urgently beseech you to continue in 
 the meantime to provide for these missions, as it Avould be difficult for 
 me to supply them myself without, perhaps, giving some offense to the 
 British government." 9 This letter proves among other things that 
 during the British period the spiritual authority in the country east of 
 the Mississippi remained vested in the Bishop of Quebec. 10 
 
 9 Letter of Bishop Hubert lo Bishop Carroll in Guilday, "Life and Times of 
 John Carroll," p. 297. 
 
 i° The ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Mississippi Valley suffered a number 
 of changes, generally following the changes of political authority. The earliest 
 priests in Canada, Recollets and seculars, derived their jurisdiction from the Arch- 
 bishop of Rouen, in Normandy, but after the appointment of Bishop Laval, all the 
 priests in Canada and New France were dependent on the Bishop of Quebec. The 
 Vicariate Apostolic and, later on, the Diocese of Quebec, included all Canada and 
 Louisiana, that is the territory on both sides of the Mississippi River. This con- 
 dition lasted from October 1st, 1674 until November 3rd, 1762, when the part of 
 Louisiana west of the Mississippi river together with the city and territory of New 
 Orleans was ceded to Spain and in consequence passed under the jurisdiction of 
 Santiago de Cuba. Bishop Hubert, of Quebec, in his Report to Rome in 1792 states: 
 ' ' This latter Province, Louisiana, having passed over to Spanish domination, the 
 Bishop of Quebec has first transferred his jurisdiction to the Bishops of Havana." 
 The correct title of the Spanish diocese was Santiago de Cuba, but as the Bishop 's 
 residence was at Havana, the diocese generally went by that name. 
 
 Havana, however, became a diocese in its own right in 1787. During the time 
 in which Louisiana was a part of the diocese of Santiago de Cuba, in 1772, Bishop 
 James Joseph de Echevarria sent the Capuchin Father Fray Cyrillo de Barcellona, 
 his auxiliary Bishop, to reside at New Orleans. On April 25th, 1793, by decree 
 of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, Louisiana and the Floridiis were dis- 
 membered from the See of Havana and erected into a diocese, the Cathedral of 
 which was fixed in New Orleans. 
 
 As a useful help to a better understanding of the vexed problem of Ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction in the Mississippi Valley we subjoin a kind of diagram taken from the 
 "Catholic Historical Review," vol. II, p. 351: 
 
 1. Territory West of the Mississippi: 
 
 1. 1658-1674— Vicariate Apostolic of Canada. 
 
 2. 1674-1759— Diocese of Quebec. 
 
 3. 1759-1787 — Diocese of Santiago, Cuba and St. Christopher de Havanna. 
 
 4. 1787-1825 — Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas. 
 
 2. Territory East of the Mississippi. 
 
 1. 1658-1674— Vicariate of Canada. 
 
 2. 1674-1784 — Diocese of Quebec. 
 
 3. 1784-1789— John Carroll, Prefect Apostolic of the United States. 
 
 4. 1789-1808— Diocese of Baltimore. 
 
 5. 1808-1834 — Diocese of Bardstown. 
 
Chapter 3 
 RETURN OP FATHER SEBASTIAN MEURIN 
 
 We have in a former chapter narrated Father Watrin's account 
 of the Jesuit exodus from Kaskaskia to New Orleans and their treatment 
 there. The Capuchins received them kindly, the Superior Council with 
 haughty arrogance. Father Meurin could not forget the tears and 
 praj'ers of his neophytes that he would stay with them, or if he had to 
 leave, to come back to them as soon as he could. He petitioned the 
 Superior Council for leave to return to the Illinois, not as a Jesuit, but 
 as a secular priest and missioner. To his own surprise the Council 
 acceded to his request. Father Meurin then begged to be allowed to 
 start on the upward voyage in January ; the Council delayed its permis- 
 sion until the end of February. "This was a brave resolution," says 
 Father Watrin in praise of Father Meurin, after the sale of all the 
 property of the Jesuits, he could not count upon any fund for his 
 subsistence, the French were under no obligation to him, and the 
 savages have more need of receiving than means for giving; further- 
 more, the health of this Father was very poor, as it had always been 
 during the twenty-one years which he had spent in Louisiana. But 
 he knew in what danger the Illinois neophytes were of soon forgetting 
 religion, if they remained long without missionaries; he therefore 
 counted as nothing all the other inconveniences, provided he could 
 resume the duties of his mission. His request was granted and a 
 promise was given to him that a pension of six hundred livres would 
 be asked for him at the court." 1 
 
 Father Meurin was informed by the Council that the diocese of 
 Quebec no longer included Louisiana. In order to obtain permission 
 to return to the Illinois country he was obliged to sign a document, that 
 he would recognize no other ecclesiastical superior than the Superior of 
 the Capuchins at New Orleans, and that he would take up his residence 
 in Ste. Genevieve. Of course, this might be true; Father Meurin had 
 no means to test the truth of the assertion. But as to his faculties, he 
 had no misgivings. If the Illinois country was still under the Bishop of 
 Quebec, as he believed, he was still entitled to all the rights he enjoyed 
 before from Quebec. If Quebec's power had lapsed, then the Superior 
 of the Capuchins gave valid faculties. So he signed the document, 
 renouncing his allegiance to Quebec only on condition that the change 
 of jurisdiction was a fact. 
 
 Alvord and Carter, "The Critical Period, 1763-1765," p. 118. 
 
 (115) 
 
IK! History of tlu Arckdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 "About this time" as Father Metzer, S. J. shows in his article 
 on Sebastian Louis Meurin, 2 "he made application at Rome for very 
 extensive powers which were "ranted the following year." On September 
 4, 17(i.">, tin* Holy Office decreed thai His Holiness should be asked to 
 grant the power of dispensing- in cases of marriage which involved 
 "disparitas cultus," to Father Meurin, who had petitioned for this 
 power. That same day the Holy Father "granted for a triennium from 
 the date of receipt, this extraordinary faculty, 'dispensandi super 
 disparitate cultus in matrimoniorum celebr-atione,' for the relief of a 
 mission almost destitute of every aid, and for the spiritual comfort of 
 a Christian flock, so far remote by sea and land." 3 In this way Father 
 Meurin "received from the Holy See for his country of the Illinois 
 extraordinary faculties, such as had never been granted to any 'bishops, 
 vicars apostolic or missionaries in America.' " 4 
 
 Leaving New Orleans in the middle of February, 1764, the truly 
 Apostolic man stopped over at the Post of Arkansas on March 1, 1764, 
 and baptized thirteen persons, as "the archives of the Station of 
 Arcansa" attest. He must have arrived at Ste. Genevieve towards the 
 end of May, as the journey up-stream usually required ninety days 
 at least. But Ste. Genevieve was only one of the missionary's cares. 
 There was Kaskaskia with its French and Indian Catholics, there 
 was Cahokia, even now a thriving commercial town, and there was St. 
 Louis, the newly founded village on the western bank of the river. 
 Calls there came for spiritual assistance from Vincennes on the Wabash, 
 and from isolated mining camps to the west of Ste. Genevieve. From 
 regions utterly unknown, Catholics would come to Father Meurin in 
 Ste. Genevieve, as we learn from his entry of a burial: "I know neither 
 the family, nor the parish, nor where or when he was born." 
 
 "The first entry, in the Ste. Genevieve parish records, is a baptism 
 conferred May 13, 1764, on the son of Louis and Janette, negro slaves 
 of Jean Baptiste Beauvais of Kaskaskia, the child was christened Lotus. 
 The first marriage of which Meurin makes record under date of October 
 30th, 1764, is a very interesting case, the parties being Mark Constan- 
 tinot of Canada, and Susan Henn, of German parentage, who had settled 
 in Pennsylvania. As both had been carried into slavery by the Shawnee 
 Indians some five years previous, they contracted a natural marriage, 
 which was blessed with two daughters. Availing themselves of a 
 favorable, opportunity for escape, they fled from captivity and on 
 
 - Cf. "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vols. Ill and IV. Father Metzger 'a 
 exhaustive study of Father Meurin 's life and times deserves hearty recognition. 
 This and the following chapter are greatly indebted to it. 
 
 3 Hughes, Thomas, S. J., "The History of the Society of Jesus in North 
 America," Text Vol. II, p. 589, quoted by Metzger, 1. c. 
 
 ■* Hughes, op. cit. p. 598. 
 
Return of Father Sebastian Meurin 117 
 
 October 30th presented themselves to Father Meurin to have him pro- 
 nounce the church's blessing on their union. 5 It is of interest to note 
 that Father Meurin styles himself "pretre missionaire, " or "cure aux 
 Illinois," or finally "cure aux pays des Illinois," while he designates 
 the church in Ste. Genevieve as " L'Eglise de Saint Joachim aux Illinois,'' 
 or, "en la paroisse de St. Joachim de Ste. Genevieve' and finally "a Ste. 
 Genevieve." The years 1766 and 1767 mark the period of his greatest 
 activity in Ste. Genevieve as is evidenced by the parish records, for in 
 
 1766 he baptized thirty-one persons and married five couples, while in 
 
 1767 he baptized twenty-eight persons and married eight parties. A 
 comparative study of his duties and activities at Sainte Genevieve and 
 at Kaskaskia as recorded in the official documents of both places is not 
 without interest. 
 
 The Parish records both of Baptisms and Marriages show a constant 
 annual increase for Ste. Genevieve and a proportionate decrease for Kas- 
 kaskia. The newer town was in the ascendant, the older town in rapid de- 
 cline. ' ' The last entry for this period in Father Meurin 's hand is the bap- 
 tism on October 22, 1768, after which Father Gibault cared for the spirit- 
 ual wants of the people and Meurin kept away from Ste. Genevieve, save 
 on two occasions." 
 
 On the 26th day of August 1767 Father Meurin received from 
 Bishop Briand the appointment as Vicar-General for the Illinois country. 
 This honor and burden came in consequence of a letter that the lone 
 missionary in the wilderness had sent to the newly-consecrated Bishop 
 of Quebec, Briand, in which the spiritual condition of his vast field of 
 labor was graphically described. The fears and hopes of Father Meurin 
 struck a responsive chord in the heart of the Bishop who had experienced 
 in his own person the malice and hatred of the world. We here give the 
 main parts of Father Meurin 's letter to Bishop Briand : 
 
 "The country of the Illinois is nothing more than six villages of 
 about fifty to eighty fires each, not including the slaves whose number 
 is sufficiently great. Each of these villages on account of the distance 
 between them and their situation, demands a priest; namely, in the 
 English territory, the Parish of the Immaculate Conception at Kaskaskia, 
 that of St. Joseph at Prairie du Rocher, and the Parish of the Holy Fami- 
 ly. In the French or Spanish territory beyond the river are situated the 
 villages of Ste. Genevieve with the title of St. Joachim on which are 
 dependent the Salines and the Mines; and thirty leagues above is the 
 new village called St. Louis which has been formed out of the ruins 
 of St. Philippe and Fort de Chartres. These two villages are as large as 
 the first in inhabintants or slaves, red or black. 
 
 "St. Joachim or St. Genevieve is the place of my residence, as it 
 was ordained by the conditions of my return to the country. It is 
 
 Rozicr's "History of the Early Settlement of the Mississippi Valley," p. 118. 
 
118 History of the Archdiocese, of St. Louis 
 
 from there that I come every springtime and go through the other 
 villages for Easter. I return thither again in the autumn and every 
 time that I am called for the sick. This is all my infirmities and my 
 means can permit me. Still this is disagreeable and prejudicial to the 
 people of Ste. Geneieve who alone nourish and support me ; and they 
 complain of it. With only these visits the people, and especially the 
 children and slaves, are lacking sufficient instruction ; and since they 
 are deprived of the pastoral vigilance they are insensibly losing piety 
 and abandoning themselves to vices. There are here still many families 
 in which religion rules and who fear with reason that it will become 
 extinct with them. They join in prayer with me that you have pity on 
 their children and send them at least two or three priests, if your 
 Bighness cannot send the four or five that are needed. One of these 
 should have the title Grand Vicar of your Highness. I try to maintain 
 in my absence the use of the offices and prayers to assist in the sancti- 
 fication of Sundays and saints' days. There are already a number who 
 no longer attend church or who seem to come there only to show their 
 lack of respect for it. Some intractable and insolent people say, haughtily 
 enough, that I have no title, and that I am not their Pastor, that I have 
 no right to give them advice, and that they are not obliged to listen to 
 me. They would not have dared to speak this in the time of M. Stirling 6 
 and Farmer, 7 commandants, from whom I had every protection. Under 
 the command of these two first no person dared to attempt the least 
 indecency." 
 
 ' ' The church of Ste. Anne has, for almost a year, been without roof, 
 doors and windows, and with walls broken or badly closed, because the 
 church wardens have changed their home and village without inform- 
 ing me or having others elected; and they left the keys to the beadle 
 who withdrew also and left them with an inhabitant, and thus they 
 pass from one to another. When finally I was informed, I went there 
 and demanded and obtained from the English commandant his consent 
 to the removal of the furniture of the church of Ste. Anne to the chapel 
 of St. Joseph at Prairie du Rocher. I myself carried the sacred vessels, 
 accompanied by the one to whom the keys had been given. There 
 was petition upon petition from the two single inhabitants who remained 
 there and assured the commandant that the church and furniture be- 
 longed to them personally. An order was given me to bring back the 
 sacred vessels and to leave them all in the said church of Ste. Anne. I 
 
 6 Captain Thomas Stirling- came to America in 1758. As British Commissioner 
 he accepted the cession of the Illinois country in March 1765, at Fort Chartres and 
 became commandant of the colony. 
 
 i Major Robert Farmar sm- sded Stirling as Commandant on December 2, 
 
 1765, to be superseded by Lt. Col. John Reed, in the summer of 1766. Father Meurin 
 was on good terms with Stirling and Farmar but not with Reed. 
 
Return of Father Sebastian Meurin 119 
 
 did not believe it my duty to go there. I wrote in the form of a petition 
 drawn up in the name of your chapter, since I did not know that it 
 should be done in the name of Your Highness ; I Avas obliged to stand 
 a suit; my adversaries insisted upon I know not what yet; I lost your 
 suit ; I wrote again ; English judges were named, and the process will 
 be ended when it shall please God and Your Highness. The church is 
 getting always in a worse condition; open on every side, it has served, 
 I am told, as a den for beasts during winter. The furniture and orna- 
 ments are still there and I know not in what state. I await your orders 
 and the repentance of the opponents. The sacred vessels are still at 
 Prairie du Rocher. 
 
 "Post Vincennes on the Wabash, among the Miami Piankashaw, is 
 as large as our best villages here and has still greater need of a mission- 
 ary. Disorder has always been great there, but it has increased in the 
 last three years. Some come here to be married or to make their Easter 
 duty. The majority do not wish to, nor can they do it. The guardian 
 of the church there publishes the banns for three Sundays ; to those who 
 wish to come here he gives a certificate of publication without opposi- 
 tion, which I myself republish before marrying them. Those \vho do 
 not wish to come declare in a loud voice in their church their mutual 
 consent. Can such a marriage be permitted ? 
 
 "Before I returned to the Illinois, I was assured at New Orleans 
 that Louisiana was not and would no longer be in the diocese of Quebec. 
 I was made to promise and sign that I would no longer recognize any other 
 ecclesiastical superior than the Reverend Father Superior of the Capu- 
 chins, who alone had and would have all jurisdiction, that on the first 
 occasion they would give me a certificate of it if I required. It is on this 
 condition that I signed, adding that when it should please his Holiness 
 to give the jurisdiction to the highest chief of the Negroes, I should be 
 submissive to him as to one meriting more than Bishops. Consequently, 
 as my signature was given upon the promise of a confirmation Avhich 
 has not yet come, I am bound no longer with any relations with Rome 
 or with Quebec. That is what has hindered me up to the present from 
 writing to the Grand Vicars of the diocese, especially since I have not 
 found a safe opportunity by land as I have today by MM. Despins and 
 Beauvais, who are going to Montreal, and should return this next autumn. 
 They have volunteered to bring, at their own expense, the missionaries 
 you appoint for this place, and the parishioners have promised to reim- 
 burse them. The great need of missionaries for this country has forced 
 
 me to knock at all doors in order to obtain some While I am 
 
 awaiting the effects of Your pastoral charity, I shall continue to make 
 use of the former powers which I received from M. Mercier, twenty-five 
 years ago, which have been continued by MM. Laurent and Forget, 
 the latter of whom verbally left me at his departure all that he had 
 
120 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 received. The Grand Vicar whom you will send to us will limit them as 
 hi' shall judge fit tint: and will find me as did his predecessor, with all 
 zeal and possible respect, my lord, Your Bighness, very humble and very 
 obedienl servant, Sebastian Louis Meurin, missionary priest." 8 
 
 It was a saddening view that the missionary presented to his Bishop: 
 l>m it was strictly in accordance with the facts. Even the British 
 authorities, though indifferent to the Catholic religion, saw the necessity 
 of providing for the spiritual wants of their French subjects. Captain 
 Thomas Stirling wrote to General Gage: "The inhabitants complain 
 very much for want of Priests, there is but one now remains, the rest 
 either having died or gone away, and he (Meurin) stays on the other 
 side. He was formerly a Jesuit and would have been sent away likewise, 
 if the Kaskaskia Indians, to whom he was priest, had not insisted upon 
 his staying, winch the French allowed him to do upon his renouncing 
 -lesuitism and turning Sulpician. This priest might be of great use 
 to us, if he was brought over to this side, which I make no doubt might 
 be effectuated, provided his former appointments were allowed him, 
 which was 600 livres pr. annum from the King, as Priest to the Indians." 11 
 
 father Meurin renewed his petition, before receiving an answer to 
 his first letter: "I am sixty-one years old, I can no longer supply the 
 spiritual needs of this country, where the most robust man could not 
 serve long, especially as it is divided by a very rapid and dangerous 
 river. Pour priests are accessary; if you can give only one, he should 
 be appointed for Kaskaskia. At this moment I am called on to go 
 to a man who is dangerously ill at Ste. Genevieve, thirty leagues from 
 Cahokia, where T have been only three days. I am forced to leave 
 undone more than three-fourths of the work to be done here. 1 beg 
 you, my Lord, to have pity on this pari of your flock and on me." 10 
 
 Whilst the weary missionary was living in a fond delusion of hope 
 thai the Bishop would relieve him of a part of his burden, the Bishop 
 only burdened him with a new and dangerous honor. His words were: 
 "I send you letters of appointment as Grand Vicar in the most extended 
 terms; you will use them wherever you may chance to be, throughout 
 this part of my diocese whose limits are immense and unknown even to 
 myself; at least it is certain that they extend to all lands which the 
 French have possessed in North America." 11 
 
 After some remarks about the Capuchins and Orsulines in New 
 Orleans His Grace continues: "If you think that the government 
 
 v Alvord and Carter, "The New Regime," pp. 522-529. Printed in Carayon, 
 " Bfinissi'iin'iit des Jesuites," p. 58. 
 
 ! » Alvord and Carter, op. cit. p. 124. That Meurin had turned Sulpician is a 
 mistake of SI irling \s. 
 
 io Alvord and Carter, op. eit. p. 568-569. 
 " Alvord and Carter, op. eit. p. 560. 
 
Return of Father Sebastian Meurin 121 
 
 authorizes and supports you, you could use your powers even in New 
 Orleans, and exercise there your authority over the whole secular and 
 regular clergy, which may be there, and nominate for the sisters the 
 confessor whom they wish, and give limited letters as Grand Vicar to 
 one of the Capuchins whom you judge most worthy." 12 
 
 It was indeed a dizzy height to winch Briand had raised Meurin. 
 The appointment only filled the gentle missionary with consternation 
 instead of joy and pride. 
 
 With sincere gratitude for the Bishop's very kind mark of con- 
 fidence, Father Meurin expresses his deep solicitude in regard to possible 
 effects of his appointment : "My letters of last spring must have omitted 
 to inform you of my age, and of my weakness of body and mind. I 
 retain only a small portion of weak judgment, have no memory, and 
 possess still less firmness. I need a guide both for the soul and for the 
 body; for my eyes, my ears, and my legs likewise are very feeble. 
 I am no longer good for anything but to be laid in the ground. I trust, 
 Monsigneur, that you will be good enough to forgive me for having 
 neither carried nor sent your graces and favors to New Orleans, accord- 
 ing to your letters and instructions, — of which I have thought proper 
 to let even our dear Ursulines remain ignorant, lest they might have 
 occasion for sorrow, which they do not deserve." 13 As to the consequences 
 touching himself, Father Meurin says: "How would I have been 
 received there after having stated over my own signature (in order to 
 obtain permission to return to the Illinois) that I would always act 
 as Vicar of the Reverend Capuchin Fathers, — subject to their visits, 
 their reprimands, and corrections, and to their jurisdiction, etc., which 
 was to be the only one throughout the Mississippi. As soon as they, the 
 Spanish authorities heard, through the voyageurs, that you honored 
 me with the appointment as Vicar-General, a warrant of proscription 
 was issued against me ; and it would have been executed had I not, on 
 being warned thereof by a friend in authority, escaped from it by with- 
 drawing to English territory. There, on at once taking the oath of 
 allegiance as a former resident, I secured myself against the Spanish 
 prosecutions, — which declare that I am a criminal, because I have re- 
 ceived jurisdiction from Quebec, which is so opposed to the intentions 
 and interests of Spain." 14 
 
 Father Meurin, having taken up his residence on British soil, had 
 occasion to carry out the Bishop's instructions in regard to the mission 
 property at Cahokia. This property as we have seen, was sold by Father 
 Forget Duverger, the last representative of the Seminary of the Priests 
 of the Foreign Mission, to one Sieur Lagrange, and by him conveyed to 
 
 12 Alvord and Carter, op. cit. p. 561. 
 
 « "Jesuit Relations," vol. 71, p. 385 note. 
 
 14 "Jesuit Relations," vol. 71, passin. 
 
122 History of tin Archdioces( of St. Louis 
 
 Sieur Joutard. The latter was now bargaining to sell it to an English- 
 man. As the property was originally granted to the Missionary Society 
 of Quebec Seminary, and as Father Forget had received no power of 
 sale from the Quebec Seminary, the various sales were void. Hence 
 Father Meurin protested against the proposed action of Sieur Joutard 
 as illegal. To the Bishop he writes: "About a month ago, having learnt 
 that Sieur Joutard was bargaining to resell it to an Englishman, I 
 went to oppose the sale on behalf of the Gentlemen of your Seminary, 
 who claim this property as still belonging to them, through its having 
 been sold, without their power of attorney and without their knowledge 
 by the person who was but the steward thereof. I also undertook to 
 support, by the use of your name, Monseigneur, my contention for the 
 preservation of all property belonging to the churches for their main- 
 tenance and that of the missionaries whom You deign to employ. Mr. 
 Forbes, the commandant, (there is no civil government here as yet), 
 asked me for the letters containing my commission. I showed him Your 
 letters, and those of Monsieur the Superior. As regards the letters 
 conferring the appointment of Vicar-General, he replied, that, inasmuch 
 as Monsieur de Gage had given no instructions respecting the episcopacy 
 and the office of Vicar-General, he could not take cognizance of them ; 
 and that this seemed purely a scheme on Your part and mine. He there- 
 fore expressly forbade me to use the letters, or to assume the title of 
 Vicar-General in any letter, or deed, or in public, until he should receive 
 an answer from his General regarding both your jurisdiction in the 
 country and the Cahokia property. He promised me, however, that the 
 latter should not be offered for sale until then. Sieur Joutard goes 
 to Canada, and thence to New York or London, to obtain release from 
 the possession of the said estate. The land at Fort Chartres is also, 
 for the same reason, in danger of being carried away by the river. 
 I have caused to be removed and conveyed to la Prairie du Rocher the 
 remains of Monsieur Gagnon and Reverend Father Luc, (Luke) a 
 Recollet, both worthy missionaries This is all I can do." 
 
 "There is also in this village of the Kaskaskias, the property of 
 the Jesuits which was unjustly seized, confiscated and sold by the French 
 government after the cession of the country to England. If your Lordship 
 or your missionaries in Canada wish to revindicate it, as for myself I 
 ask nothing. I am too old. But I would always be grieved to see the 
 chapel and cemetery profaned, being now used as a garden and store- 
 house by the English, who rent them from Sieur Jean Baptiste Beauvais 
 — who, under the decree of confiscation and the contract of sale and 
 purchase of the property, was obliged to demolish the chapel and leave 
 its site and that of the cemetery uncultivated under the debris. He says 
 that the subdelegate, the executor of the decree, has since sold the 
 property to him. By what right? The presses used for the vestments 
 
Return of Father Sebastian Meurin 123 
 
 and sacred vessels are now used in his apartments, as well as the altar- 
 cruets and the floor." 
 
 "During the four A'ears while I have ministered to these English 
 parishes, I have received no tithes therefrom ; I have received naught 
 but what was given me out of charity by some, and the fees for masses. 
 I have always exhorted them to pay the tithes to the fabrique, for the 
 support of the churches and of the missionary, when one comes. They, 
 I mean the rich ones, have always claimed that they owe nothing when 
 there is no resident pastor." 15 
 
 In 1768 Father Meurin made the first attempt on British Territory 
 to hold the Corpus Christi Procession. At the request of the habitants, 
 he asked the commandants to allow the militia to turn out under arms, 
 as is the custom among the Roman Catholics, to escort the Blessed 
 Sacrament. This they refused. The weather was not settled ; the Father 
 was indisposed and fatigued, through having had a procession very 
 early on the other side, at Ste. Genevieve. In Kaskaskia he had one 
 only in the Church, and likewise on the day of the octave. 
 
 is "Jesuit Relations," vol. 71, pp. 33-34. 
 
( Shapter 4. 
 MEURINAND GIBAULT 
 
 At last the prayers and importunities of Father Meurin are begin- 
 ning to bring results, nol indeed in the measure of his expectations, but 
 
 after all. in a very effieient way. Father Pierre Gibault arrives from 
 Quebec at Kaskaskia towards the end of September 1768, in the quality 
 of Vicar General of the Illinois Country, with the- entire territory as 
 his missionary field. lie is a native of Montreal, born April 7th, 1737. 
 lie made his studies at the expense of the Quebec Seminary, and was 
 destined for the Illinois missions from the beginning. The Bishop de- 
 sired him to reside at Cahokia, but Father Meurin gladly left him in 
 charge of Kaskaskia, as the more central and otherwise more desirable 
 location. Father Gibault was in the prime of manhood, full of fiery 
 energy, so that Father Meurin expressed the fear that, being so full 
 of zeal, he would not last long. He had done wonderful things at Mack- 
 inac during his short stay at that old .Jesuit foundation. Bishop Briand 
 took occasion to show T his high regard for the young man. Only one or 
 two mistakes the missionary had made which added a stroke of weak- 
 ness to the otherwise ideal picture. "I am a little displeased with him," 
 writes the Bishop, "for having taken his mother with him without letting 
 me know beforehand. Such conduct scarcely becomes a missionary, who 
 seeks, and should seek, God alone. It was for this that I ordained him. 
 I would not have sent him on so distant a mission without his consent. 
 If he had told me that he must of necessity have his mother with him, 
 I would most probably not have assigned him to that good work but 
 would have put him in charge of a parish in this colony. It is my firm 
 conviction that if a priest is to do justice to his office and fulfill his 
 ministry worthily in your part of the country he cannot have his parents 
 with him nor be encumbered by a large household. In other respects 
 Father Gibault seems to be possessed of the qualities and disposition nec- 
 essary for success." 1 The other mistake was his assisting at the marriage 
 of a Frenchman with an Indian woman, a practice that was rather com- 
 mon in the Illinois, but forbidden in Canada. These things may appear 
 insignificant, but in a man of Gibault 's character and position they 
 were regarded as rather serious. A more serious matter in the estima- 
 
 i Cannon, "Banissi menl iles Jesuites de la Louisiana," is the best collection 
 of Father Meurin's correspondence with the Bishop of Quebec. The present ex- 
 trad is found <>n p. 83. Cf. Metzger, "Sebastian Louis Meurin/' in "Illinois Cath- 
 olic Eistorical Review," vol. I V, p. 46. 
 
 (124) 
 
^e=^2w ri. 
 
Meurin and Gibault 125 
 
 tion of Father Meurin was the young missionary's illness. "Father 
 Gibault has been ill practically ever since his arrival" writes Father 
 Meurin, "At first he suffered from a severe fever and was in danger; 
 of late a slight but persistent fever saps his strength. However, his 
 courage buoys him up and enables him to perform his chief duties in 
 the parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Kaskaskias. He thought 
 it best to make Kaskaskia his permanent residence, and go from time 
 to time to the Spanish colony of Ste. Genevieve, from which I, as a 
 Jesuit, was banished. Such was his good fortune that he succeeded in 
 getting almost all the people in these two parishes to perform their 
 Easter duty, which most of them had neglected for years."- But Father 
 Gibault 's health improved from day to day, and the labors and priva- 
 tions of the ministry only served to harden him against the evil influ- 
 ences of exposure to bad weather, extended trips through forests and 
 over mountains, the crossing of rivers and torrents. Indeed the Lord, 
 as Father Meurin prayed, renewed His ancient miracles in his behalf. 
 "There remained only the danger of eventual discouragement. For this 
 country is in such a wretched condition that long before we have com- 
 pleted our work in one place the stations where we worked earlier have 
 returned to their original condition, if not indeed to a worse condition, 
 since we cannot possibly give enough lime to any locality to root out 
 evil practices and accustom the people to righteous living." 3 Father 
 Gibault 's work was clearly marked out for him by Father Meurin : "I 
 never miss an opportunity to explain to him that the inhabitants of 
 St. Louis, of Cahokia, of Prairie du Rocher, Ste. Genevieve and Vincennes 
 are as much his parishioners as the people of Kaskaskia, to whom he 
 seems inclined to confine himself. Thus the whole country would become 
 one great parish, until there were priests in all the villages." 4 Father 
 Gibault soon realized the full extent of bis duty. But his first and most 
 pressing obligation was to the people of Kaskaskia. 
 
 Meanwhile Father Meurin took up his work at Cahokia, across the 
 river from St^ Louis, as he informs Bishop Briand in 1768: "up to 
 the present I have had charge of the parish of the Holy Family among 
 the Cahokias or Tamarois, from the time I came here in autumn till 
 Christmas, from the end of January till Easter, and then I stayed here 
 till the Ascension. I have spent the last twelve days here, ministering 
 likewise to the inhabitants of Saint Louis, the principal village of the 
 Spanish colony, from which I was banished. I baptise and marry them, 
 hear their confessions and give them Communion, etc. ; I only go to 
 
 2 Carayon, op. cit. p. 84, Englished in Metzger's article, "Louisiana Cath- 
 olic Historical Review," vol. IV, p. 47. 
 
 3 Carayon, op. cit. p. 84, Metzger, 1. c, p. 47. 
 * Carayon, op. cit. Metzger, 1. c, p. 48. 
 
126 History of lln Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Saint Louis in case of sickness and then only a1 night and incognito. 
 Prom here I shall go to Prairie du Rocher, a little village of twenty 
 people, including two who are at Port Chartres, one league from here, 
 and four men living at Saint Philip at a distance <>f three leagues. I 
 retired to Prairie du Rocher so that new missionaries might have a better 
 field for the exercise of their zeal and talent and might find it easier to 
 secure a livelihood. As we hoped for at least two missionaries, this little 
 parish, which is part of Sainte Anne at Port Chartres, invited me to 
 spend the rest of my days here, promising to build me a parish house 
 and to furnish everything I needed for the rest of my life, no matter what 
 infirmities might come upon me. Because of this I promised not to 
 abandon them unless I were absolutely forced to do so, stipulating, how- 
 ever, that I reserved the right to go to the aid of the other villages so 
 long as I could do so and they needed my ministrations. I likewise 
 promised to bequeath to their church everything 1 had received from 
 them or from any other source, providing no other Jesuits returned to 
 this country. These people furnished me with a servant, and a horse 
 and carriage for my journeys, no doubt hoping thus to keep me alive 
 the longer. May God reward them for their kindness. There is nothing 
 I could reasonably desire ; I am in good health and I am unburdened 
 by temporal care. Is this not too much, Monseigneur, for a poor reli- 
 gious, who has been banished, condemned to death, and escaped several 
 times from the scaffold, or at least from the mines ? But let us not de- 
 clare the battle won — all of these evils may return. On one occasion when 
 I was perhaps a trifle too enthusiastic in my defense of the Gentlemen 
 of your seminary in the presence of the English who came in the King's 
 name to take possession of the house, ground, etc., of the mission among 
 the Tamarois, Mr. Morgan, President of Justice, told me that I should 
 not forget that I had been banished by the Spanish, and that my posi- 
 tion among the English was precarious. Nevertheless, I am still here, 
 living now, as I formerly did, in the mission house, and taking Father 
 Gibault's place." 5 
 
 And so they labored in unison for the glory of God and the peace 
 to men of good will, Meurin, the last representative of the old order, 
 Gibault, the high minded herald of the new, both rejoicing alike if the 
 work was done, whether it was done by the one or the other, whether the 
 glory of doing it redounded to the old or the young. They both served 
 a Master that leaves no one go without his reward. 
 
 One more severe trial awaited the lonely Jesuit in his seclusion at 
 Prairie du Rocher. The suppression of the Society of Jesus by Pope 
 
 5 Carayon, op. cit. Metzger, 1. c, p. 47-48. 
 
Meurin and Gibault 127 
 
 Clement XIV in 1774. 6 Heretofore the persecution of the Jesuits had 
 been conducted by Kings and parliaments and Superior Councils, who 
 absolutely lacked jurisdiction. But now the Pope had spoken, though 
 reluctantly, and all was over, as men thought. Heretofore the faith- 
 ful son of St. Ignatius "did not consider it necessary to change any- 
 thing whatsoever, either in my religious habit, or in the breviary, Masses, 
 and Feasts, proper to or granted to the Society of Jesus." 7 But now, 
 he asks to be received as a member of the diocesan clergy of Quebec and 
 then in the beautiful spirit of humility he adds: "I shall consider my- 
 self very happy, if, in the short time I have still to live, I am able to 
 repair the acts of cowardice and negligence of which I have been guilty 
 during the past thirty-three years. If you will be so kind as to adopt me, 
 I am convinced that you will forgive me and will ask mercy for me." 8 
 Father Meurin was the very soul of humility and divine charity. His last 
 words recorded for us were words of praise bestowed upon his people of 
 the Illinois and the Seminary priests whom he had known in the long ago. 
 Let them be this epitaph: "The people of this country are not any 
 worse than those of Canada. They are even more good than bad. This 
 is sometimes my only consolation, as it was the consolation of Fathers 
 Thaumer, Mercier, Gagnon and Laurens, all very worthy priests of this 
 diocese, whose memory is still in benediction here." 9 There are many 
 writers of note, who have placed on record the remarkable career of 
 Father Pierre Gibault, as missionary and pastor of souls, as the Grand 
 Vicar for many years of the Bishops of Quebec, and as a public bene- 
 factor and patriot. 10 In the wide compass of a diocesan history strange 
 and memorable events of such a career cannot be given in detail. An 
 adequate history of Father Gibault and his Times is still a desideratum. 
 We must confine ourselves to a brief conspectus. And first as to his 
 parochial labors and successes in Kaskaskia. 
 
 At the time of Father Gibault 's arrival in Kaskaskia the old town 
 had become rejuvenated though not in the spirit of religion. It con- 
 tained a population of over fifteen hundred souls, almost all Catholics of 
 some sort. The women were still true to the Church of their childhood, 
 and faithful to the marriage bond. But the love of pleasure and gayety 
 had made sad inroads upon their religious fervor. The old patriarchal 
 life had given place to fashion and folly. As for the men, Father 
 
 6 "Life of Pope Clement XIV," from the French of M. Caraecioli, London, 
 1776, Appendix, pp. 35-84. Also, "American Catholic Quarterly Eeview," XII, 699. 
 
 7 Carayon, op. cit. p. 97. Metzger, vol. IV, p. 54. 
 
 8 Carayon, ibidem. 
 
 9 Letter of May 23, 1776. Metzger, p. 55. 
 
 io Cf. Thompson, Jos., "Illinois' First Citizen Pierre Gibault," in "Illinois 
 Catholic Historical Eeview," vols. IV, V, VIII. 
 
128 History of lh< Archdiocest of si. Louis 
 
 Oibault could not find ten who had made their Easter duty for the last 
 four or five years. Father Meurin's teachings had found but stony 
 ground in frivolous Kaskaskia. But the young missionary from Canada 
 started a vigorous attack upon ignorance and vice. In his letter to 
 Bishop Briand, February 15, 1769, he writes: "I have public prayers 
 every evening inwards sundown, catechism four times a week, three times 
 for the whites, and once for the blacks or slaves. As often as possible 
 I preach on such matters as I think most useful for the instruction of 
 my hearers. In a word, 1 employ my talents for the glory of God, for 
 my own sanctification and for that of my neighbor as much, it seems 
 to me, as I ought to do. I trust that our Lord will consider more what 
 I wish to do and the intention with which I do it. than what I ac- 
 complish. ' ,11 
 
 On June 15th, of the same year the young pastor had the satisfac- 
 tion of being able to write .... "There are only seven or eight 
 persons in my village who did not receive their Paschal Communion, 
 something that, according to the oldest inhabitant had never been known 
 before .... My tithes amount to from two to three hundred bushels 
 of wheat and four or five hundred bushels of maize or Indian corn, and 
 perquisites." 12 But this was only a beginning although an excellent 
 one : he had gained the good will and the confidence of his parishioners 
 composed of French Creoles, Canadians, the Indians of the Mission and 
 the soldiers of a batallion of the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regiment. 13 
 
 Concerning Ste. Genevieve, the appointed residence of Father Meu- 
 rin, Father Gibault writes soon after his arrival in the Illinois country : 
 ' ' I have always attended Ste. Genevieve, which is two leagues from my 
 parish, on the other side of the Mississippi, and which, consequently, 
 belongs to the Spaniards. I easily secured the permission to do so from 
 the English governor ; and the Spanish Commandant, being very devout, 
 would wish me to have it forever, etc. Father Meurin has no permis- 
 sion to go there. The comprehensive title of Vicar General made them 
 banish him from Ste Genevieve, where he would have stayed as a simple 
 missionary; but a Jesuil with so much power in Spain became an object 
 of suspicion. I do not cross over to the other side except for marriages 
 and baptisms and to attend the sick." 14 
 
 After restoring order, harmony and spiritual life in all the mis- 
 sions in the vicinity of his residence at Kaskaskia, Father Gibault ex- 
 tended his labors to more distant fields. In the winter of 1769-70 he 
 set out for Vincennes, although the route he must travel was Hirough a 
 
 ii Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 200. 
 
 12 Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 201. 
 
 is The Royal [rish Regiment was stationed at Fort Chartres. 
 
 14 Thompson, op. 'it., vol. IV, p. 199. 
 
Meurin and Gibault 129 
 
 country filled with hostile and savage Indians on the war path, who 
 had already killed many people. .Similar conditions obtained at this 
 Post, as he had found at Kaskaskia. Twenty years of deprivation of 
 religious ministration had introduced libertinage and irreligion. 
 "Nevertheless," as the missionary says, "when he arrived everybody 
 came in a crowd to meet him on the banks of the Wabash. Some threw 
 themselves upon their knees and were quite unable to speak ; others 
 spoke only by their sobs; some cried out, 'Father, save us, we are 
 nearly in hell'; others said : 'God has not utterly abandoned us, for it is 
 He who has sent you to us to make us do penance for our sins ' ; and 
 others again exclaimed: 'Ah, Sir, why did you not come a month ago, 
 then my poor wife, my dear father, my loved mother, my poor child 
 would not have died without the sacraments.' " 15 Father Gibault was 
 deeply touched by these manifestations of good will. Of his successes dur- 
 ing the two months of his stay he made mention to his Bishop : "I have 
 rebuilt the church at this post. It will be of wood but well built and 
 very strong ; there are a goodly sized presbytery, a fine orchard, a garden 
 and a good farm (terre) for the benefit of the pastor who would live 
 elegantly. There are only eighty inhabitants who farm, but there are 
 many people of all trades, numbers of young men who are daily establish- 
 ing themselves here ; in all there are about seven or eight hundred persons 
 who are desirous of having a priest." 10 To make his joy complete an 
 English family at the Post, all of whose members were Presbyterians, 
 asked to be received into the Church. During Father Gibault 's absence 
 from Kaskaskia Father Meurin wax kept busy as he imforms the Bishop 
 with all the missions, as far as Cahokia, his own residence being in 
 Prairie du Rocher. Sometime after Father Gibault 's return from Vin- 
 cennes his mother came to Kaskaskia to make a home for her son, and his 
 domestic happiness took away from his mission the character of a place 
 of exile. The sister who accompanied her to the Illinois country had not 
 been there long before she was married. Both had remained behind for 
 a time at Mackinac until a home was prepared for them at Kaskaskia. 
 In allusion to Bishop Briand's reproach, the truehearted son wrote: "i 
 could not send away my dear mother who came to me at Montreal say- 
 ing that she would go to the ends of the earth (with me) rather than be 
 left in her old age at the mercy of any and everybody." 17 In regard to 
 Father Meurin he says : "I consider myself nearly alone, for the Rever- 
 end Father Meurin has been unable to leave his house since last autumn, 
 partly because of his age which has broken him down, partly because 
 of several dangerous falls that he had on bad roads to which the weight 
 
 is Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 202-203. 
 io Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 203. 
 17 Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 203. 
 
 Vol. I— 5 
 
130 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of his body and the weakness of his limbs made him liable." Two more 
 missionaries arc si ill needed, one for the Tainarois. twenty leagues from 
 here; the other for Post Vincennes. eighty leagues from here. Dis- 
 orders are many there .... This portion of your flock is terribly 
 exposed to wolves, especially at Post Vincennes where there is a con- 
 siderable number of people who are much better able to support a priest 
 than at the place where I am. And yet I find myself very happily fixed 
 as to temporal affairs." 18 
 
 The missionary on the spot is getting importunate : the bishop far 
 away does not respond. So the life of weariness and fret must go on. 
 Father Gibault bears his cross bravely, without repining. The Registers 
 of Michilimackinac, of the Sault of St. Mary, St. Joseph's on Lake Michi- 
 gan. Detroit, Cahokia, St. Louis, St. Genevieve, Kaskaskia, Vincennes 
 and Peoria, show how vast an extent of territory he traversed during his 
 missionary career; and his letters furnish us with interesting details 
 regarding his ministry. 
 
 Mostly he went about from place to place on foot or horseback or 
 in a cart, bearing with him the utensils of his sacred ministry; some- 
 times a canoe was provided by a friend or chance companion of a voyage. 
 At first he carried a belt with pistol and knife, as a protection against 
 wild animals or a warning to marauders. But later he discarded the 
 pistol as being more dangerous to himself than to any possible enemy. 
 Facing danger at almost every step, braving hardships such as are un- 
 known today in all but the most, savage countries, bearing his burden 
 alone with God, ever ready for the call of duty, Father Gibault was 
 also doomed to taste the bitterness of obloquy and defamation. It seems 
 to be the fate of all the great and good. But how nobly, how convinc- 
 ingly does Father Gibault repel the impudent accusation in a letter to 
 his Bishop: "How can I, in all the pains and hardships I have under- 
 gone in my different journeys, winter and summer, to points the most 
 separated, attending so many villages, so distant from each other, in 
 all weathers, night and day, snow or rain, windstorm or fog on the 
 Mississippi, so that I never slept four nights in a year in my own 
 bed, never hesitating to start at a moment's notice, whether sick or 
 well; how, I ask, can a priest who sacrifices himself in this way with 
 no other view than God's glory, and the salvation of his neighbor, with 
 no pecuniary reward, almost always ill-fed, unable almost to attend to 
 both spiritual and temporal ; how 7 I again ask, can you know that such 
 a priest, zealous to fulfill the duties of his holy ministry, careful to 
 watch over his flock, to found them in the most important tenets of 
 religion, to instruct the young unceasingly and untiringly, not only in 
 
 is Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 202. 
 
Meurin and Gibault 131 
 
 Christian doctrine but in reading and writing; how can you know that 
 he is one who gives or has given scandal to his people. ' ' 19 
 
 Father Gibault visited Canada in 1775. On his way he made a 
 second visit to Vincennes. Returning in September he was detained 
 at Mackinac by bad weather until the third of December. After retrac- 
 ing his course to Detroit, he wrote the Bishop : ' ' The suffering I have 
 undergone between Michilimackinac and this place has so deadened 
 my faculties that I only half feel my chagrin at being unable to proceed 
 to the Illinois." 20 Yet he did return, but how early in the year we do 
 not know. Only this we know that his missionary life was continued with 
 all the energy of his soul. 
 
 On February 23, 1777 his companion in the vast mission, Father 
 Sebastian Louis Meurin, Indian Missionary, Vicar General and Pastor 
 of St. Joseph Church, Prairie du Rocher, entered into life eternal. On 
 February 27 or 29 Father Gibault buried his remains in the Church on 
 the gospel side of the altar, from which they were removed in August 
 1849 to the beautiful Cemetery of St. Stanislaus Novitiate, Florissant, 
 Missouri. 21 
 
 Father Gibault was now left alone the only priest in the wide 
 domain of the Illinois. 
 
 i» "Historical Kecords and Studies," vol. VI, Part II, p. 153. 
 
 20 Thompson, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 208. 
 
 - 1 Records of St. Joseph 's Parish of Prairie du Rocher. 
 
Chapter 5. 
 FATHER GIBAULT, THE PATRIOT PRIEST. 
 
 After life's fitful fever Father Meurin now rests in peace: but 
 for Father Gibatilt the stormiest years of his eventful career are draw- 
 ing nigh. The Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 177(i, had electri- 
 fied the English Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard. War was sweeping 
 the country to the East and North. Canada was held safe for the 
 British by French Catholics with Bishop Briands' powerful influence. 
 "It was Bishop Briand," as his successor tells us in glo\* ing terms, "who, 
 occupying the Sea of Quebec a1 the turning point in the history of 
 France. Living alternately under the banner of the Fleur de Lis and 
 again under the British standard, loyal at first to the former until, when 
 on the Plains of Abraham, all, save honor, was lost, generously trans- 
 ferred to the latter the homage of his entire loyalty, used all his sacred 
 influence during those terrible days to keep Canada faithful to her 
 new masters. And the people of Canada with few exceptions, whilst 
 still preserving affection for their old mother-country, were happy to 
 live in the shadow of the British flag and to know that they dwelt in one 
 of the freest countries of the Avorld." 1 
 
 When, however, France came to the aid of the struggling Ameri- 
 cans, this sentiment of loyalty became clouded with new hopes and fears, 
 especially in the old French possessions on the Mississippi. 
 
 Rumors of battles and sieges and massacres came floating on the 
 air in the spring and early summer of 1778. The Illinois country, in- 
 deed, felt safe from attack. The garrison of the little stone fort in 
 Kaskaskia had been almost completely withdrawn to fight the rebels 
 and Indians around Detroit. A Frenchman, Rocheblave, was comman- 
 dant of the place. He had a presentiment of something serious im- 
 pending, but no one paid any attention to his warnings. His business 
 was to direct the neighboring Indians against the American frontier 
 settlements of Kentucky and Georgia. "The principal inhabitants Avere 
 entirely against the American cause," neither were they prepared to 
 fight for the British. They desired only the preservation of peace. The 
 Commandant, a bumptious personage imported from St. Genevieve, was 
 scoffed at when making the remotest allusion to an impending attack. 
 All was quiet along the Okaw River, when on a sudden, in the depth 
 of night, the eagles of Avar swooped doAvn on Kaskaskia \s peaceful cit- 
 
 'American Catholic Eistorical Researches," vol. XVII, pp. 142 and 14.!. 
 
 (132) 
 
Father Gibault, the Patriot Priest 133 
 
 izens. It was George Rogers Clark with his little band of so-called Vir- 
 ginians, daring fellows from the frontier settlements of Kentucky. The 
 Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, had authorized the attack. The 
 intrepid yet most prudent Clark had carried out his own well considered 
 plan. Kaskaskia was in the power of the Virginians, but the legend 
 might have been reversed to say : The Virginians are in the power of 
 Kaskaskia. Quick action must follow the surprise. Rocheblave is a 
 prisoner of war. But the citizens of the town, and the neighboring 
 Indians, far surpass the number of Clark's volunteers. Then Cahokia 
 too must be captured or won over, but that is a question for tomorroAv. 
 The situation requires immediate action. The unexpected coming of 
 Clark's Long Knives had only disturbed and not roused the Kaskaskians 
 to resistance. They ask permission to assemble in the Church for divine 
 service, and a discussion of their present plight. Clark speaks kindly 
 to them, seeing their fear and bewilderment ; for there are few things 
 more bewildering than the surprise of an attack at night. Sagacious, 
 as Clark is, he talks to them about the advantage of joining the Ameri- 
 can cause, and assures them that the Americans are not the wild and 
 beastly fellows, they had been represented to be. They listened in silence. 
 At the general meeting Father Gibault who had been to see Clark, dis- 
 pelled their anxieties, assuring them of the friendship and protection 
 of the Americans. The temper of the Kaskaskias was now changed from 
 fear to joy, as not only their lives, but their liberty and prosperity 
 seemed secure. From that day on Father Gibault was regarded as a 
 tower of strength for Clark's boldest plans, and the brave priest fully 
 realized the commander's expectations. 2 
 
 The next important step to be taken by the Americans was the cap- 
 ture of Cahokia. Owing to Father Gibault's assurances, this was easily 
 accomplished by Clark's lieutenant Joseph Bowman. Of course, a wave 
 of alarm and consternation swept on through the country as Bowman's 
 cavalry troop rode into the various villages on their way to Cahokia : 
 But Father Gibault's word reassured the people, and all was calm and 
 quiet once more. An alleged attempt to raise the Indians at Cahokia 
 against the invaders must have proved futile. Within ten days practi- 
 cally all the inhabitants of the French villages from Kaskaskia to Cahokia 
 had taken the oath of allegiance to the sovereign state of Virginia. There 
 is nothing said here about Fort Chartres, which a few years previous 
 was called ' ' the most convenient and best built fort in North America, ' ' 
 for the simple reason that the currents of the Mississippi river had suc- 
 ceeded to such an extent in their work of undermining its massive walls. 
 
 2 Cf. "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778-1783," by 
 William Hayden English, 1896. Chapter VII. 
 
134 History of Uu Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 thai this, the proudesl monument of the power of France in America was 
 then only a crumbling ruin. 
 
 Col. Clark was, of course, fully convinced that the British would 
 try to cut off his communications with Virginia. In order to do this 
 Vincennes on the Wabash, would be their first objective. In order to 
 secure his hold on the Illinois towns, he must capture Vincennes. He 
 learnt from Father Gibault, that the British Governor had with-drawn 
 the garrison from the fort, yet the inhabitants of the town might easily 
 thwart the effort at capture. Father Gibault counselled peaceable means 
 of conquest. He offered to go to Vincennes himself to persuade his pa- 
 rishioners there to deliver town and village to the Virginians. But as 
 his duties were spiritual, he asked that Dr. Laffont, a citizen of Kas- 
 kaskia, be appointed as head of the mission. Father Gibault, however, 
 promised Clark, "that he would give the people of Vincennes such hints 
 in the spiritual way that would be conducive to the business." The 
 offer and suggestion was gladly accepted by Clark. Father Gibault re- 
 ceived his instruction verbally : Dr. Laffont was appointed head of the 
 delegation, but its soul was Father Gibault. Dr. Laffont was ordered by 
 Clark to act in concert with him, "the priest, who will prepare the 
 inhabitants to agree to your demands. ' ' The two heralds of peace started 
 at once for Vincennes and were respectfully received at the town. Father 
 Gibault, being the pastor of the place, knew everybody and was loved 
 by all. When he opened to them the purpose of his mission, they were 
 surprised : but as he explained to them, what had been done at Kas- 
 kaskia, and that there was nothing else to be done at Vincennes under 
 the circumstances in which the French people found themselves between 
 two warring powers, they acquiesced to acknowledge their submission, 
 and took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. The boundaries of the Great 
 Republic was thus extended to the Mississippi on the west and to the 
 Illinois River to the north. 3 
 
 Col. Clark wrote two accounts of the whole transaction, the second 
 one slightly differing from the first. In the first version Clark claims 
 the credit of originating the plan for himself, in the second document 
 greater prominence is given to the priest. However that may be, Father 
 Gibault was in reality the originator and main actor in the winning 
 of Vincennes for the Americans. Clark's statement is that Father Gi- 
 bault offered to go to Vincennes, and went as an emissary of Virginia. 
 The British authorities condemned the priest for his interference by 
 which Vincennes was lost to their cause. The Bishop of Quebec, Briand 
 and his successor, were displeased with their former Vicar General for 
 turning the people of the Illinois County to the American side. The 
 
 a Alvord, C. W., "Kaskaskia Records," ]>. XXVII s. 
 
Father Gibault, the Patriot Priest 135 
 
 testimony in favor of Father Gibanlt's decisive influence on the exten- 
 sion of American power north of the Ohio River is so general and con- 
 vincing, that Judge Law's dictum is accepted by all who are interested 
 in the matter: "To Father Gibault, next to Clark and Vigo, the United 
 States are more indebted for the accession of the States comprised in 
 what was the original Northwest Territory, than to any other man. ' '* 
 
 It is true, that the British reconquered Vincennes, and proposed 
 the reconquest of the Illinois villages at their earliest convenience. But, 
 thanks to the fidelity of the French habitants, and the salutary respect 
 for the power of America, instilled into the Indians by the adhesion 
 of their old friends, the French, to the American cause, Col. Clark held 
 his position in the Illinois country and regained the control of Vin- 
 cennes. Clark's second capture of the strategic point on the Wabash was 
 affected by French militia from the Mississippi border, under French 
 and American officers, all of which would have been impossible if Father 
 Gibault had not exerted his influence on the people of his love and care. 
 Yet, as the Historian of "The Illinois Country" tells us: "In spite of 
 the success of the expedition, Father Gibault was unwilling to be counted 
 an actor in it, for having learned of the village gossip about his in- 
 fluence in Vincennes, he pei-suaded Dr. Laffont to write, a few days after 
 his return, a letter to Clark, in which Laffont assumed all responsibility. 
 In less than a month after he started for Vincennes, therefore, he was 
 saying that he had done nothing more than counsel "peace and union and 
 to hinder bloodshed." 5 From this seeming contradiction it would ap- 
 pear to follow, either that Father Gibanlt's character of courage and 
 veracity must suffer, or that the high claims made for his name and 
 fame as one of the great heroes of the western world must be con- 
 siderably reduced. Now neither point of this dilemma can be justly 
 urged. There is another possibility, a possibility that is often disre- 
 garded. What if Father Gibault, with all his greatness and with all 
 his grand achievements as recorded in history, was essentially a modest, 
 humble man, "After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser," 
 is a saying of Benjamin Franklin. It is a true saying. And again ; 
 "humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues." Few men of 
 his time have had greater losses and crosses than Father Gibault, few men 
 among his contemporaries have attained a higher degree of virtue. 
 Crosses laid the foundation of humility, and on humility was built the 
 noble character of Father Gibault. The valiant Pastor of Kaskaskia 
 could make every sacrifice for the people of his flock, without any re- 
 gard to possible praise or blame, did he but perform what he recognized 
 
 4 Law, Judge John, "Colonial History of Vincennes," (1858), p. 55. 
 
 5 Alvord, C. W., "Kaskaskia Records," pp. 50-51. 
 
136 History of the Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 as his duty. The success of his undertakings was not the effecl of his 
 work, but of the blessing of God. Le1 God be praised for all, and, if 
 a few little fragments of praise arc due to the human instruments of 
 divine power, let them go 1<> those who need a little praise in order to 
 keep up their courage and good will. Father Gibaull was no common 
 man: his character was cast in a heroic mold. His was not a "timid 
 soul," as Clark was pleased to describe it. The stoutest heart of a 
 father might well quake at the sighl of the sword flashing above the head 
 of his children. Father Gibault was a true father of his people of 
 Kaskaskia. And in regard to serious danger to himself, the brave man 
 will seek to avoid it. as long' as duty and honor permits: only the rash 
 and presumptuous rush into danger where they have no call. If Clark 
 then thought he saw a certain trepidation in Father Cibault at the ap- 
 proach of the British, where Clark's followers remained cool and col- 
 lected; he should have thought of the difference between the French 
 and Anglo-Saxon temperaments, the one warm and demonstrative, the 
 other cool and contemptuous. 
 
 But did not Father Gibault violate his oath of allegiance 
 to the English King, and advise his people to do likewise? Do 
 not the words addressed by the Canadian Bishop contain a 
 reflection on Father Gibault's conduct at Kaskaskia and Vincenncs ; 
 ' ' Our good friends seem at times to forget the duty of loyalty for the 
 children of Christ's Church, [t is not a sentimental affair nor of 
 personal interest; it is a stern and serious duty of conscience, flowing 
 from a principle sacred, immutable, eternal, as the Divine Legislator. 
 Let them not be uneasy, then, on the attitude of the Catholic clergy in 
 such an affair. The past has been unassailable; the future will be, be- 
 cause our Catholic principles do not change." Was there not a very 
 noticeable change in the principle of loyalty as interpreted by Father 
 Gibault's word and practice? We feel justified in saying, "no." Here 
 is the proof: Clark's invasion of British territory was. one of the law- 
 ful phases of our Revolutionary war. If one was lawful the other was 
 lawful, too. Obedience to the powers that be, is the duty of the Chris- 
 tian. And even the law of nations cannot but sanction the practice of 
 renouncing one's allegiance to one sovereign and transferring it by 
 oath to another, provided there be a just cause. 
 
 If only Colonel Clark had been less addicted to self glorification, he 
 would have better interpreted the spirit of Father Gibault. Not that 
 he failed to do full justice to the priest in general, but that he, at times. 
 cast a slur upon his friend and helper in need, not so much to set lower 
 the priest's name and fame, but rather to exalt his own. Here is a 
 
 '• " American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XVII, p. 1 14. 
 
Father Gibault, the Patriot Priest 137 
 
 case in point : I give the event in the words of a most competent judge : 
 "It was while matters looked most gloomy that Clark, fearing disaster, 
 sent Father Gibault with his official papers and money across the Miss- 
 issippi, in the dead of winter, in January 1779, to place them in safety 
 on the Spanish side of the Mississippi. To show his friendship for the 
 American commander, the Cure, attended by one man only, undertook 
 the mission. For three days he was detained by the floating ice on an 
 island in the Mississippi, but at last successfully carried out his mis- 
 sion." 7 Now what does the doughty warrior make of this? Clark gives 
 a vivid account of the ball at Prairie du Rocher, and the subsequent 
 panic at the report of Hamilton's approach with eight hundred men. 
 Then he describes his own inimitable self-possession, dancing on as if 
 oblivious of his danger. Then, casting a compassionate glance at poor 
 trembling Father Gibault, who probably was not trembling at all, the 
 well-poised warrior pretended to his "timid friend," that he wanted 
 him "to go to the Spanish side with public papers and money." It can- 
 not be supposed that a man in his senses would send some one giving 
 signs of consternation, on such an important mission. Col. Clark ap- 
 parently takes no account of moral courage, that sees the danger, yet 
 braves and overcomes it, as Father Gibault certainly did in attempting 
 the dangerous crossing. This failure of Clark's judgment makes us 
 very doubtful as to Father Gibanlt's alleged consternation on this oc- 
 casion. 
 
 Now , as Father Gibault realized that the Illinois Country was lost 
 to the English, he made use of his privilege to submit to the rule of 
 the actual masters, the United States, and to insinuate to his people 
 the moral right of so doing, whilst refraining from counselling the act. 
 Even oath-bound obligations cease, when the possibility of fulfilling them 
 ceases, which was the case with Father Gibault and the French of the 
 Illinois. 
 
 In fact necessity as well as common prudence sufficiently coun- 
 selled these people to accept the boon of liberty from those who had won 
 it for them, the Virginians of Clark. A refusal of Clark's generous 
 proposals meant bloodshed, rankling hatred and possible extinction. 
 Under such conditions any just ruler would have readily absolved his 
 subjects from their sworn allegiance to him. The British King could 
 not have made an exception here. What Gibault really did was not to 
 absolve his people from their oath, but only to explain to them the 
 Church's position on this point of morality which in itself was a spir- 
 itual matter, within his competence as a priest. Hence Father Gibault 
 could truthfully say in his request to Dr. Laffont "that in all civil af- 
 
 ' Herberman, in "Historical Records and .Studies," vol. VII, Part II, p. 132. 
 
l.'iS History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 fairs, not only with the French but with the savages, he meddled with 
 nothing, because he was not ordered to do so, and it was opposed to 
 his priestly vocation ; and that Laffont alone had the direction of the 
 affairs, he having confined himself toward both (nations) solely to ex- 
 hortation tending toward peace and union and to the prevention of 
 bloodshed." 8 
 
 In the history of the Church the capture of Kaskaskia and Vin- 
 cennes by George Rogers Clark is but an incident, an incident, however 
 of far-reaching influence and importance. Such an incident it was also 
 in the life of Father Gibault. The great missionary is often proudly 
 extolled as "The Patriot Priest of America," comparable possibly to 
 Father Hidalgo, of Mexican fame. "The Patriot Priest of America," 
 meaning the United States, he certainly was not. Father Gibault was 
 never an American in that sense. He was a Canadian by birth and 
 education, a British subject by necessity, and, if you will, an American 
 rebel during the war of revolution, whom the British would certainly 
 have hanged if he had fallen into their hands. The fight between Eng- 
 land and her colonies was not his fight, though the outcome may have 
 interested him, in as far as he knew that France was assisting the colo- 
 nies with ships and armies and gold. This very fact may have kindled 
 once more the lingering hope, that France should come into its own 
 at last. But if Canada was doomed to remain subject, either to the 
 imperial power of the British, or the republican power of the Ameri- 
 cans, his interest in the one and in the other was gone. 
 
 So much for Father Gibault 's politics. Above all things Father 
 Gibault was a missionary priest bent on saving souls and ever ready to 
 protect 1 his people against the powers of evil, high or low, whether they 
 dwelt under the British flag or the banner of Spain. Political views did 
 not count here. Pecuniary advantages were of no consequence. He was 
 first and foremost and always the representative of the Catholic Church, 
 the true Kingdom of God. 
 
 This fact does not in the least derogate from the true greatness 
 of the man. For a great man, brave and strong and wise, Father Gibault 
 certainly was. He displayed heroic courage in many a dangerous situa- 
 tion ; he never lost his presence of mind, even when the specter of 
 death blocked his path-way unannounced; he used admirable prudence, 
 when a word, a suspicious movement might have ruined him and his 
 people. He was one of the most generous of men, and his friendships were 
 lasting and sincere. Above all he bore the mark of true greatness; he 
 never despaired, no matter how dark and threatening the future might 
 look. He was a man of high ideals; his supreme achievement was to 
 
 » Alvord, ' ' Kaskaskia Records, ' ' p. 50. 
 
Father Gibault, the Patriot Priest 139 
 
 save what was left of religion and tide it over to a bright future he 
 knew would come. 
 
 That this acknowledged greatness of the man accomplished a great 
 advancement for America in Clark's campaign against the British in 
 the Illinois country, is undeniable. But here he certainly builded better 
 than he knew. Even Clark did not fully realize the importance of 
 the capture. It was only through the victory of Yorktown that Clark's 
 memorable victories attained their real importance,. How far the latter 
 contributed to the general result is hard to say. Certain it is that the 
 decision came in the East. We, however, behold the capture of the 
 Old French towns and the conquest of the Illinois country in a reflected 
 glory — Heroic as they were, that mission to Vincennes through hostile 
 bands of Indian warriors, and through the bloodless capture of the 
 fort and town, deserves the highest admiration and praise. In this 
 memorable deed of war for the sake of peace, Father Gibault looms up 
 as the greater, because the gentler and more humane of the two victors. 
 It was Father Gibault that counselled persuasion, where Clark would 
 have been forced to use the gun and sword. By Clark's method the 
 innocent would have suffered with the enemy; by Gibault 's prudence 
 and persuasivenss the enemy profited with the innocent habitants of the 
 town. The final result would have been the same under the one as well 
 as under the other plan ; only the wounds of sorrow and anger and hate 
 would have been opened a-fresh, and made a reconciliation of the French 
 and the Anglo-Saxon almost hopeless. Father Gibault 's course was mis- 
 understood or misrepresented by many of his friends and enemies. His 
 own Bishop disavowed his act of supporting the American cause, and 
 denied him the privilege of returning to Canada, where the venerable 
 priest wished to spend his declining years. Yet, even his enemies had 
 to acknowledge his right and duty to obey the powers that be ; Gibault 
 was not an English subject except by force. He regarded the British 
 as intruders just as much as the Virginians under Clark. Between the 
 two contending factions the only law was "salus populi, " the good of 
 his people. And the salvation of his people clearly lay on the side of 
 Clark and his Virginians. 
 
Chapter 6 
 
 ST. LOT IS AS A CANONICAL PARISH 
 
 Laclede's Village, as St. Lotus was usually called \)\ the early hunt- 
 ers and rivermen, had grown into a town of marked beauty, size and 
 importance. Stretching along' the river front it rose in three tiers of 
 buildings, under the shelter of a ridge of considerable height that form- 
 (d the western boundary of the settlement. The three streets running 
 parallel to the river bore the names: Rue Royale, Rue De L'eglise, Rue 
 des Granges. The heart of the town was enclosed by the Rue Royale and 
 Rue des Granges running north to south, and Hue de la Tour (Walnul ) 
 and Rw^ Bonhomme (Market) crossing them from west to east formed two 
 squares, the Church block and Laclede's trading house and dwelling. 
 There were nine streets on each side of the Church block, most of them 
 named for trees, as Chestnut, Pine, Olive, etc. At that time St. Louis 
 was without fortifications of any kind. Being built on an elevated 
 plateau, the approach from the river was by a steep incline from the 
 foot of the Rue Bonhomme (now Market St.). In 1764 the town number- 
 ed one hundred and fifteen houses, fifteen being of stone, the others of 
 logs placed in an upright position, the interstices filled in with mortar 
 or clay. The population was a colorful mixture of hunters and trappers, 
 merchants and voyagers, French and Spanish soldiers, who had now 
 settled down for life. Then there were Canadian and Creole farmers 
 from Fort Chartres, St. Phillip, from Kaskaskia and Prairie de Rocher, 
 and especially from Cahokia, just beyond the river. All were of the 
 Catholic faith, not too learned in ecclesiastical lore, but honest, up- 
 right and contented people. Some of the late comers were men of 
 distinction and culture, even members of the haute noblesse of the French 
 court. The town enjoyed two inexhaustible sources of wealth : first, the 
 trade with the Indians along the Missouri and the upper reaches of 
 the Mississippi, and second, the rich soil of the prairies put under cul- 
 tivation. 
 
 Every French village in the Illinois country had Commonfields 
 and a Commons. 1 The first designation was applied to the lands 
 that were assigned to the various inhabitants, all fronting on the borders 
 of the village and running in a narrow strip of an acre, more or less, 
 to a depth of say forty or fifty or more acres. Thus each tiller of the soil 
 had access to his land from his house and barn in the village. The 
 
 i Cf. Breese, "Early History of Illinois," p. 173. Also, Billon, "Annals of 
 St. Louis," French and Spanish, 21 and 22 and 91. 
 
 (140) 
 

 
 : v -t 
 
 •HJQgff^/ 
 
 •,*, 
 
 ftflVKAb I 
 
 
 Mfl»- 
 
 
 THE SPANISH CHURCH 
 (Called Church of the Palisades) 
 Erected while St. Louis was under Spanish Government. Ded- 
 icated in Summer of 1776. Served as Cathedral for Bishop 
 Du Bourg until new building was erected. 
 
si. Louis as a Canonical Finish 111 
 
 first conimonfields of St. Louis were situated on the prairie stretching 
 from the end of Rue Bonhomrae (Market St.) to the Great Mound in 
 the north, the land lying southwest of the village, being well watered 
 and covered with timber, was set aside for a Commons in which the cattle 
 and other stock of the habitants were kept for safety and convenience. 
 These two tracts were fenced in by the people in 1764, the eastern 
 fence forming the western boundary of the village. 
 
 The tillers of the soil living in the village of St. Louis were not as 
 numerous or not as industrious as the progress of its business seemed 
 to require : for this reason the nickname Pain Courte was attached 
 to it in an unofficial way, a name that is sometimes found even in public 
 documents. The Annalist of St. Louis 2 goes so far as to state that the 
 village was named St. Louis a long time after its foundation. Yet 
 this is palpably false and Billon's argumentation in support of his con- 
 tention is equally unsubstantial. For the name San Luis is used in the 
 Report on "Ulloa's Instructions to erect Forts at the mouth of the 
 Missouri," October 2nd, 1767. only two and one half years after the 
 founding of village. The Frenchmen were not aware at first that western 
 Louisiana had been placed under Spanish rule; in fact many of them 
 had come to settle on the western border of the river from a great 
 desire to live and die under the lily-banner of France. 
 
 King Louis XV, though in reality one of the most contemptible 
 monarchs, was known to the colonists more as one surrounded by a 
 blaze of glory, than as the moral weakling he really was. Besides this, 
 he was the outward representation of their own country and nation, 
 La Belle France. In naming St. Louis in honor of the King then hold- 
 ing sway, Laclede chose as the future city's patron and protector the 
 bright spotless Crusader King, St. Louis IX. We have the best of 
 authority on this matter and the testimony of August Chouteau, the main 
 actor in the event after Laclede : ' ' Laclede, on his arrival, named the 
 town St. Louis, in honor of the King of France. ' ' 3 
 
 Now in May 1776 this little political unit of French Catholics under 
 Spanish rule received its spiritual complement in being raised to the 
 dignity of a Canonical parish, the first one in all Upper Louisiana, 
 except St. Genevieve. The man who was named as its first pastor was a 
 German by birth and education, a Capuchin Monk, whose title was 
 "P. F. Bernard de Limpach, 0. M. Cap. Cure de Paroisse St. Louis 
 
 2 Billon, op. cit., p. 22. 
 
 s Both St. Louis IX and Louis XV were Kings of France. As in Baptism, the 
 name of the godfather 's patron saint is given to the child, in order to honor the 
 godfather as well as his patron saint, so Laclede imposed the name of St. Louis, ' ' the 
 good King St. Louis, ' ' on his village in honor of King Louis XV, the reigning 
 sovereign. Whether Louis XV deserved the honor or not is not to the point. 
 
142 History of tht Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 des Illinois."' Arriving in St. Louis on May 25th, ITTii. he presented 
 his credentials to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana, Don 
 Francisco Cruzat. A tVw weeks previous the Capuchin Father Hilaire 
 de Gent'vaux, Pastor of St. Genevieve since November 1773, had visited 
 St. Louis and brought the information that Father Bernard was on his 
 way, and, at the same time, baptized six whites and solemnized one 
 marriage. 
 
 As the appointment and installation of Father Bernard de Limpach 
 as Canonical Pastor of St. Louis are matters of deep interest to a wide 
 circle of American Catholics, we would here record them in an Eng- 
 lish translation from the French and Spanish originals, as preserved in 
 the Spanish Archives. Both official acts throw a number of welcome 
 side lights on the condition of ecclesiastical affairs at that far off time: 
 The Letter of Appointment reads: "Being well and sufficiently advised 
 of your good morals and capacity, wishing besides, to conform ourselves 
 in all things to the orders of his most Christian Majesty who has directed 
 us by his letters patent, registered in the records of the Superior Council 
 of this colony, to issue in good and due form titles and commissions as 
 curates to our missionaries who have been attending to the parishes 
 and posts of which the mission has heretofore been in charge, merely 
 by way of performing the functions of the Cure, and to put them in 
 legal possession of the same ; the collation, provision and all other dis- 
 position being reserved to us in our quality of Superior until such time 
 as his Christian Majesty may otherwise order ; we have heretofore given 
 and conferred and to give and confer to you by these presents the Cure 
 of the parochial church of St. Louis of the Illinois, post of Paincourt, 
 with all its rights and dependencies whatsoever, upon the charge of 
 actual and personal residence there and not otherwise, until a change 
 or revocation shall be made by ourselves or our successors. We there- 
 fore require the ministers of the substitute of the King's representative 
 to see that you be put in real and actual possession of said Cure or 
 parish of St. Louis of the Illinois, as is of usage in observing the ordinary 
 solemnities. 
 
 Given at our Curial Mansion, under our official seal, the eighteenth 
 day of February of the year of Grace one thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy-six. 
 
 (signed) F. Dagobert. 
 
 Grand Vicar. 6 
 
 * The Father's name was spelled de Limpach, not de Limbaeh, as public 
 documents show. The P. F. means Professus Frater, a professed Friar, 
 s Eeprinted in Scharf, "History of St. Louis," p. 1639. 
 
St. Louis as a Canonical Parish 143 
 
 No time was lost in the installation of the new priest in his Cure, 
 for on the very day that the Lieutenant Governor certified to his cre- 
 dentials, a meeting of the inhabitants was called, and these proceedings 
 were had: "In the town of St. Louis, at nine o'clock of the morning of 
 Sunday, the nineteenth day of the month of May, in the year one thou- 
 sand seven hundred and seventy-six, before me, Don Francisco Cruzat, 
 Captain of Infantry and Lieutenant Governor of these settlements of 
 the Illinois, and the most distinguished parishioners of the parish of 
 said town, all assembled together in the church ; the Reverend P. Friar 
 Bernardo de Limpach, Capuchin priest, in virtue of the dispatch which 
 he had brought and delivered from the Most Reverend Father Dagobert 
 de Longwy, Capuchin Priest, Superior and Vicar General of the Mis- 
 sion of this Province of Louisiana, bearing date the eighteenth of 
 February last passed, and the letter of direction which I, the said Lieu- 
 tenant Governor, have received from the Senor Don Luis de Unzaga y 
 Ameraga, Brigadier of the royal armies and Governor General of this 
 Province, bearing date the twenty-eight of February of the current year, 
 in which he commands me to recognizo the above named P. Friar Bern- 
 ardo de Limpach as the curate of the said town of St. Louis ; after hav- 
 ing performed all the ceremonies that are usual and prescribed by his 
 said Superior, the Most Reverend Father Dagobert, he has entered into 
 and taken legal and formal possession of the Cure of this parish of 
 St. Louis of the Illinois; and I, the said Lieutenant Governor, have 
 caused him to be recognized publicly, as he is recognized, by all the 
 parishioners of the said parish and in order that the same may more 
 fully appear and that no obstacle may, at any time hereafter, be inter- 
 terposed to the exercise of his ministry, there shall be deposited in 
 the archives of this government under my charge, the copy of this 
 dispatch together with this act, which the said P. Friar Bernardo de 
 Limpach has signed with me, the said Lieutenant Governor, and the 
 most distinguished persons of this town, who by my command were 
 assembled for this purpose, the same day, month and year above men- 
 tioned. P. F. Bernard; Perrault; Du Breuil; Benito Basques; Hubert; 
 Sarpy ; Laclede-Lignest ; A. Bernard ; Erne Barre ; Labuxiere ; Chauvin ; 
 Conde; Jh. Conand; Franco Cruzat."" 
 
 After this rather formal transaction Highmass was sung by Father 
 Bernard, at which the little dilapidated church was filled to overflow 
 ing. Thus began the happy, though not uneventful, period of the good 
 Capuchin's spiritual regime of twelve long. years. The letter of Father 
 Bernard's Superior and Vicar General is worthy of special study on 
 account of the sidelights it throws upon the Church history of that early. 
 
 e Scharf, op. cit., p. 1640. 
 
144 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 day. First, as to Father Dagobert's jurisdiction, it becomes plain thai 
 the authorities in New Orleans are not quite convinced of the Spanish 
 claims. Father Cyrillo de Baerelona as representative of the Bishop of 
 Santiago de Cuba, James Joseph Echevaria, is really the supreme author- 
 ity iu Louisiana, but he permits the old French Vicar General of 
 Quebec to continue in office and make the appointments. Why? Be- 
 cause, the Superior of the Capuchin's still held the power given to him 
 by the Bishop of Quebec, the Vicar Generalship, that was still the 
 only valid one at least in spiritual matters, and therefore, his jurisdic- 
 tion was certainly valid ; whilst the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Santiago 
 de Cuba, and of Father Cyrillo was to say the least, very doubtful. 
 The Spanish jurisdiction was finally established by Rome in 1777, the 
 year after Father Bernard's appointment. 
 
 Father Cyrillo de Barcelona brought along from Cuba a band of 
 seven Spanish Capuchins among them the new Pastor of St. Louis. 
 Though his name is not mentioned his personality is but slightly hidden 
 under the designation Padre Aleman, the German Father, as Father 
 Bernard was a native of one of the German principalities on the Bhine 
 and very probable born in the town of Limpach in Luxemburg. The 
 unmeaning phrase, "de dix par" appearing in the original document 
 would indicate his place of birth, but must have been muddled by the 
 transcriber. It may stand for "de Limpach" or for "de deux ponts," 
 which would designate the city of Zweibruecken as the Father's place 
 of birth. The word ' ' letters patent ' ' signifies a royal decree on a single 
 sheet of parchment, not folded but open (patent) with a heavy seal 
 attached at the bottom. The letters patent were issued as Father 
 Dagobert says, by His Most Christian Majesty, that is, the King of 
 France ; and he claims that they are in force, until His Catholic Majesty, 
 that is the King of Spain, shall revoke them. This circumstance would 
 prove that the Spanish ecclesiastical authorities in New Orleans still con- 
 sidered themselves as holding from Quebec. 
 
 The use of "Paincourt" as a second name for St. Louis, seems 
 rather strange in a public document. Don Francisco Cruzat ignores 
 it in his report on the subsequent proceedings. No doubt, at that time 
 the nickname "Paincourt" was used more frequently than the city's 
 proper designation, St. Louis. And what a poor little establishment this 
 Parish of St. Louis was in regard to living conditions and the Church 
 services. The Church built of logs, and the Parish residence were equal- 
 ly dilapidated. The presbytere was a mere shell and empty at that. 
 The Church had a tower in form of a St. Andrews Cross, and a little 
 bell rang out the angelus, morning, noon, and nightfall. The necessary 
 utensils for divine service were there, even a Monstrance for Benediction 
 and the Corpus Christi procession. A complete inventory of these 
 
St. Louis as a Canonical Parish 14.") 
 
 things was handed to Father Bernard, and he attested its correctness. 
 But the priest's dwelling, the presbytere, nobody could live in that. The 
 people's heart went out to their good Father in true Catholic loyalty. 
 They determined to build a new presbytere. On September 1st, 1776, 
 after the Highmass, the entire parish assembled in the vacant parlor of 
 the old residence with the Lieutenant Governor Cruzal as presiding 
 officer, to deliberate on the plan of a new parish-house. It was decided 
 to build it of stone 45x27 feet, front and depth, and two stories high. 
 The work was to begin in the coming Spring, and to continue until 
 all was completed, in order to animate the good people in their generous 
 resolution, Father Bernard obliged himself to contribute the sum of 
 four hundred and thirty-seven livres in peltry. Hard cash was very 
 scarce, paper-money was tabooed since the failure of John Law's flood 
 of paper money; hence the use of peltry, deer-skins and lead as the 
 currency of the land. A livre was about twenty cents of our money. 
 But Father Bernard did not have the money nor the peltry. All his 
 savings had been spent for the journey of ninety days up the river. The 
 Parish, however, had agreed to reimburse the priest for this heavy out- 
 lay in their cause. So Father Bernard turned the parishioners' promise 
 to pay into the building fund of the Parish, and all were satisfied. But 
 the parishioners too, had to lay hands on their supplies of shaved 
 deer-skin, each one according to his financial ability. As appraisers and 
 superintendents they chose Jean Cambas and Jean Ortez. The assess- 
 ment was made in form of a per capita tax ; every inhabitant over the 
 age of fourteen was laid under contribution. Whatever materials of the 
 old structure were serviceable, should be used on the building. The 
 bids for labor and material were opened on June 29th, 1777. Benito 
 Basques was the successful bidder for the stone-work at fourteen hun- 
 dred livres in peltry ; the carpenter work was assigned to Francois 
 Delaise, at five hundred and fifty livres ; a certain Mr. Vardon under- 
 took the building of the roof for two hundred and ninety-nine livres 
 suspecting, probably that his competitior would bid for the round sum 
 of three hundred. 7 
 
 We devoted somewhat more space to the building operations, than 
 our readers may think proper. Yet, we surmise even here, that this solid 
 stone parish-house will eventually serve as the palace of His Grace, 
 Bishop Louis William Valentine Du Bourg, in 1818. Old illustrations 
 show it on the south side of the porch-girt Church, on the Rue de 
 L'eglise, now Second Street, between Market and Walnut. The cem- 
 etery occupied the north side of the Church block between Rue de 
 
 f Wilson Primm's "History of the Catholic Church in St. Louis," read before 
 Missouri's Historical Society, September 7, 18G7. 
 
146 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 L'eglise, and Rue des Granges, all in the very heart of the town of St. 
 Louis. 
 
 Father Bernard's modi of life was very simple. An old negro- 
 slave, Melanie, kept house for him. Besides their Pastor, the Parish 
 employed several other officers, all of the laity. A chanter or two, a 
 sacristan, a verger with pike and halberd like the Swiss in foreign 
 Cathedrals; all these petty officers received a share of the usual fees 
 paid to the Pastor. From a Table of Fees for Funerals made by 
 Father Gibault, whilst Pastor of New Madrid, it appears that, of the 
 total fee of nine pesos (about nine dollars) four pesos went to the pastor, 
 one peso to the. assistant priest, one peso to the sacristan, one peso for 
 digging the grave, and one peso for placing the wooden cross, making 
 nine pesos in all. 8 
 
 The villagers had been accustomed to pay tithes, yet, according to 
 Canadian rules, not one tenth, but only one twenty-sixth part of the 
 corn and wheat raised by the farmer. But even this small emolument 
 was claimed by the State under Spanish rule, in view of the annual 
 salary of four hundred to six hundred pesos paid by the government 
 to each priest. There were no fees for Baptisms and Marriages, but 
 a more or less generous honorarium was usually offered. At marriages 
 the witnesses and more prominent guests, would repair to the Sacristy 
 after the mass, in company of the bridal pair, to sign their names, or 
 make their mark, and to lay down on the table an offering to the priest. 
 Hence all the Marriage Records of our old French parishes are filled with 
 the signatures of the men of importance in their day and even of 
 historical characters. 
 
 Of the mild and gentle Capuchin's priestly labors during thirteen 
 and a half years of his stay at St. Louis, the Church Records give us some 
 interesting information. 
 
 From May, 1776 to November 1789, Father Bernard baptized 410 
 whites, 106 negroes, and 92 Indians; he solemnized the marriages of 
 115 whites, 1 negro, 2 Indians and 1 mixed white and Indian; and he 
 buried 222 whites, 60 negroes and 44 Indians. 
 
 Two years after Father Bernard's arrival in St. Louis, on June 
 20th, 1778, Pierre Laclede Liguest died near the Post of Arkansas, on 
 his homeward voyage from New Orleans, where he had gone on business 
 in the fall of 1776. As Ovid said of his great predecessor: "Virgilium 
 vidi tantum," Father Bernard might have said of the Founder of St. 
 Louis "Laclede I only saw." a 
 
 s A similar list of fees in Father Bernard's handwriting is in my collection of 
 MS. 
 
 fl His name occurs among the witnesses of the installation of Father Bernard. 
 
St. Louis as a Canonical Parish 147 
 
 In the fourth year of Father Bernard's gentle sway over the peo- 
 ple of St. Louis, May 26, 1780, a serious attempt was made by the British 
 to sweep both the American and the Spanish powers out of the Miss- 
 issippi Valley. Simultaneous attacks were to be made on New Orleans 
 from the South, on the Ohio River country and the Illinois settlements 
 on both sides of the river from the northeast. For this latter bloody 
 business the warlike tribes of the North were engaged with liberal gifts. 
 Governor de Leyba gained some information in regard to the proposed 
 assault, but he seems to have disregarded the signs of the coming 
 storm until it was almost ready to burst over his little town. But 
 he did rouse himself at last and sent for all the reenforcements he 
 could reach. It was the afternoon of the 26th of May, that saw the 
 approach of a flotilla of canoes and pirogues crossing the river to the 
 north of the town. The citizens of St. Louis defended their homes 
 with spirit and bravery ; and the Indians who had depended on a 
 surprise attack, quickly withdrew before the unfailing fire of these 
 dauntless woodrangers and boatmen. The Spanish garrison consisting 
 of fifty men and five cannons under Captain de Leyba did valiant work. 
 Some of the Indian bands scattered about the country found several 
 farmers and their slaves in the fields, whom they tomahawked. 1 " 
 
 Governor de Leyba has been stigmatized by some as a traitor, by 
 others as a coward. We believe he was neither the one nor the other, 
 but only one of the many that trust too much in themselves. Mis- 
 fortune, however, was now following in his tracks ; on December 6th. 
 1779, his wife was buried, and he himself in 1780 followed her into 
 eternity. 
 
 The following entry in the Book of Sepulchres was made by Father 
 Bernard : "In the year 1780, the 28th of June, I, a priest and Capuchin 
 Missionary, Pastor of St. Louis, country of the Illinois, province of 
 Louisiana, Bishopric of Cuba, have interred in this Church in front 
 of the balustrade on the right, the body of Don Ferdinand Leyba. Cap- 
 tain of Infantry in the battalion of Louisiana, actual Commandant of 
 this post, having received all the sacraments of our mother, holy Church. 
 In faith whereof, I have signed, the day and year as above. 
 
 F. Bernard, Miss. 
 
 Shortly before the Governor's premature death Father Bernard 
 solemnly blessed the "first stone of the fort on the hill back of the 
 church, it was named Fort St. Charles, in honor of Charles III, King 
 of Spain." This is the stone Martello fort which was yet standing as 
 late as 1820, at the southwest corner of Walnut and Fourth Streets, 
 where the Southern Hotel now sleeps in its decay. The barracks for 
 
 i° For documents ef. "Spanish Regime in Missouri," Houck, vol. I, pp. 167 -182. 
 
148 Histoni of I In Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the Spanish troops was a long, low stone building on the north side of 
 Walnul street, and immediately opposite the hotel. Alter the change 
 of government from Spain to the United States, the old fori was for a 
 long time used as a common jail. 
 
 Every Sunday ami Holy day of obligation Highmass was sung 
 with all the joyful accompaniment, to which the French Catholics are 
 accustomed by nature and early training. With the usual sermon the 
 service generally lasted until noon. As all the inhabitants of the town 
 were Catholics, all of them, with the exception of the sick, would attend 
 the Highmass. After the mass the Governor's announcements were made 
 at the church-door. Even business transactions were concluded then and 
 there. In the afternoon the young people enjoyed themselves on the 
 river bank or at the home of one or the other of the village patriarchs. 
 singing and dancing to their hearts content. 
 
Chaptek 7 
 FATHER BERNARD'S CONGREGATION 
 
 It was a gay, cheerful, and lighthearted congregation over which 
 Father Bernard presided, fond of song and witty anecdote, yet simple 
 in their manners, and dress and the pleasures of the table. They still 
 lived in the style of the peasantry of old France one hundred and fifty 
 years ago. Their language was not the pure French of France, but 
 a synthesis of the antiquated dialect of the Provinces, from which they 
 originally came. As St. Louis had never been an Indian mission, the 
 mingling of races was less observable here than in the towns beyond the 
 river. Now and then there was a regular marriage between a white 
 man and an Indian woman, with one or two instances of white women 
 marrying leading Indian chiefs or warriors. But such marriages were 
 not encouraged by public sentiment. The people loved France and the 
 customs of their old homes in France. "Notwithstanding that they had 
 been so long separated by an immense Avilderness from civilized society, 
 they still retained all the suavity and politeness of their race" as even 
 the severest critics admit: 1 "they were naturally of a peaceful disposi- 
 tion, educated to obey, kept in hand by the Church, and acutely sensi- 
 tive to the disgrace of punishment. They were docile and respectful to 
 their superiors, helpful and kindly to their equals, civil and complaisant 
 to all. They liked to call one another "brother" or "cousin," and to 
 be mutually obliging." 2 
 
 The people's honesty in business dealings was proverbial among 
 friends and foes. Only one example from the address of Judge Primm. 
 "Real estate frequently passed from hand to hand, without deed or 
 writing of any kind, and for trifling considerations." When the popu- 
 lation began to increase by immigration, and to become heterogeneous 
 in its character, many of these lands became valuable ; and if, upon 
 examining the records, the chain of title to them was found defective, 
 by lack of deed from the original owner, his children never hesitated to 
 affirm the act of their ancestor ; and whenever applied to for that pur- 
 pose, the answer was, "I will make good what my father has done." 
 And no remuneration was asked for or expected. 3 
 
 i Ford, Gov. Thomas, "History of Illinois," p. 36. 
 
 2 Scharf, "History of St. Louis," p. 273. 
 
 3 Primm, Wilson, in "New Year's Day in St. Louis," in Missouri Historical 
 Society Collections, vol. II, p. 17. 
 
 (149) 
 
150 History of th( Archdiocesi of si. Louis 
 
 Their dress w;is as simple as their mode of life. Monette. describes 
 the winter dress of the men as "a eoarse capote drawn over the shirt." 
 The women, were remarkable for the sprightliness of their conversa- 
 tion and the grace and elegance of their manners. And the whole 
 population lived lives of alternate toil, pleasure, innocent amusement, 
 and gayety. Filial piety also was one of the beautiful traits of char- 
 acter in these people. To quote once more from the delightful pages of 
 Judge Primm: "Before day, New Year's morning, the whole popula- 
 tion attended mass,. When that duty had been performed, the next was 
 to receive the parental blessing and then could be seen the children, 
 jrrandchildren, and the great grandchildren, each on their bended knees, 
 imploring a blessing from the authors of their being, and that blessing 
 was given, even coupled with a heartfelt prayer, that God, the Father 
 of all, would ratify it in heaven and so guide and protect them, amidst 
 the joys and sorrows, the snares and perils of this life, as to fit them for 
 another and better existence." 4 
 
 This touching ceremony, repeated at the commencement of each 
 year, gave tone to the whole current of their thoughts and acts. Filial 
 piety, was their guiding star. The young never dreamed of forming 
 matrimonial alliance with each other, without the full and unqualified 
 assent, not only of the immediate parents, but of the family relatives, and 
 even grown men settled in life, scarcely ever entered into any important 
 business contract, without the assent or advice of the parents; and 
 never even when it might otherwise have been to his advantage, has 
 a child been known to repudiate the acts of his parents. 
 
 When the consent of the parents had been obtained to a marriage, 
 the affianced pair would together visit the relatives, saying : ' ' Nous 
 sommes venue demander votre consentement a notre marriage : " " We 
 have come to ask your consent to our marriage. ' ' 5 
 
 Marriage was held in high esteem, though the marriage bond was 
 not unfrequently broken. Yet, a bigamist could find no sympathy or 
 toleration. "When it was discovered the Bonaventure Collell, who 
 married Dr. Conde's daughter, had another wife in Spain, the marriage 
 was forthwith annulled. Collell imprisoned, and all his property seized 
 and confiscated." 6 
 
 "In food and drink they are temperate," says another witness, 
 "they mostly limit their desires to vegetables, soups, and coffee. They 
 are great smokers of tobacco. Ardent spirits are seldom used, except 
 by the most laborious classes of society. They even dislike white wines 
 
 * Primm, Wilson, "New Year's Day in St. Louis," in Missouri Historical 
 Society Collections, vol. II, p. lfl 
 •"> Primm, 1. c. p. 
 o Scharf, "History of St. Louis, p. 306. 
 
Father Bernard's Congregation 151 
 
 because they possess too much spirit .... Clarets and other light 
 red wines are common among them ; and those who can afford it are 
 not sparing of this beverage. The fathers of St. Louis were the very 
 soul of hospitality. The master of the house, out of respect for his 
 guests, frequently waited on them himself." 7 
 
 Sober, frugal, not too industrious to lose the joy of life, but plodding 
 enough to keep themselves and their loved ones from want, these spir- 
 itual children of Father Bernard, grew into one family of many chil- 
 dren, whom, with all their faults, we cannot but love and honor. ' ' The 
 Church was not only the place of worship, but also the center of their 
 daily lives, the place of joyful resort on Sundays and Holy Days, of 
 which there were many more than today, and Father Bernard, their 
 gentle pastor was also their trusted advisor, director and companion 
 of young and old. "The people looked up to him with affection 
 and reverence, and he upon them with compassion and tenderness. He 
 was ever ready to sympathize with them in all their sorrows, enter into 
 all their joys, and counsel them in all their perplexities." 8 
 
 We may well picture to ourselves the tall dignified figure of the 
 Capuchin Monk, in his habit of brown with a heavy beaded rosary dang- 
 ling from his girdle, and a kindly smile on his large open countenance, 
 walking along one of the streets of the village, now stopping at a shop 
 to speak a word of cheer to the master, who has just lost his wife, then 
 passing on to one of the block-houses to visit some sick person, then 
 coming out of the door, and making a profound bow to one of the 
 aristocrats of the village, we see him suddenly surrounded by a noisy 
 band of children, who insistently plead with their "Father" that he 
 come and play with them. Now from the next house comes a silvery 
 voice of greeting. It is the chanter's daughter and one of the singers 
 too. And so his morning walk continues until it is time for the usual 
 Catechism class. What a quiet, happy life he leads in this homely 
 village full of blessed peace? There is no fear in the hearts of his 
 people : there is only reverence and childlike affection. There are some 
 among them that cause him anxious care ; but they, too, will at last 
 return to God. Many of those that now are faithful and true, were at 
 one time forgetful of the religious practices their religion enjoined. 
 During the journeys and voyages, their marriages may not have received 
 the sanction of the Church, their children may have remained unbap- 
 tized. But they always retained the feeling, that they must be reconciled 
 to the Church, and have their marriages solemnized with the sacred 
 
 ' Stoddart, Amos, "Sketches, Historical and Descriptive of Louisiana," 1812. 
 pp. 325-326. 
 
 s Ford, op. cit., pp. 35 and 36. 
 
L52 History of Hn Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 rites and ceremonies, and their children must be baptized and instruct- 
 ed in the Catechism and admitted by the priest to their First Holy Com- 
 munion. They considered it a religious duty to make their will, in 
 which the firsl clause is sure to read somewhat like the following; though 
 not always in such beautiful terms. "First as a Christian and a Cath- 
 olic I commend my soul to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 beseeching His divine bounty, by the merits of His passion, and by the 
 intercession of the Holy Virgin, of Holy St. John, my guardian angel 
 and of all the spirits of the celestial court, to receive it among the bless- 
 ed." 
 
 The greatest delight of these people was the round of feasts and 
 festivals of the Catholic year. Christmas with its midnight mass in 
 the brightly ornamented Church, the glad New Year, the Epiphany, the 
 Feast of Three Kings whom the star led to Bethlehem, the solemn func- 
 tions of Holy Week, the Commemoration of Christ's Resurrection from 
 the Tomb, the Feast of the Ascension, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy 
 Ghost; and then, scattered throughout the year, like fragrant flowers, 
 the Feasts of the Blessed Mother of God. But the most glorious celebra- 
 tion was that of Corpus Christi day with its sacramental procession 
 through the streets of the town, with its music and song triumphant, 
 and its salutes of all the cannon, to Christ their King and Lord. 
 
 All felt secure and contented under the truly paternal government 
 of Catholic Spain and the heavenly ministrations of the Church. 
 
 We have drawn this picture of the patriarchal age of our city 
 from the various accounts made at the time or shortly after by dis- 
 interested observers. 
 
 Father Bernard not only saw the rapid growth of his own village 
 and parish, but also lived to see it the proud mother of four gracious 
 daughters, Carondelet, St. Ferdinand or Florissant, St. Charles, and 
 Portage des Sioux. Carondelet, the oldest of these villages, grew out 
 of a trading post established by Clement Delor de Treget, a native of 
 Quercy, in the south of France. It was a small stone house on the 
 River des Peres near its mouth, about ten miles below St. Louis, prob- 
 ably on the very site of the Jesuit missionary establishment for the 
 Kaskaskia Indians and the French traders of the Mississippi Valley, 
 under Fathers Marest, Pinet and Mermet, and the Great Chief Rouensa. 
 Coming up from his home in St. Genevieve, Delor was charmed with the 
 diversified landscape of hill and prairie and woodland, and obtained a 
 grant of land from St. Ange. At first the settlement that grew up 
 around the founder's house, was called Delor 's Village, then Catalan's 
 Prairie, then Louishurg and finally, Carondelet, in honor of one of the 
 
 s First clause of the Will of .John B. Vatican, dated November 23. 1708. 
 
Father Bernard's Congregation 153 
 
 governors of Louisiana, Baron Carondelet. Among' the jovial wood- 
 rangers and boatmen it was known as "Vide Poche" (Empty Pocket.) 
 
 The village grew but slowly, and had, at Father Bernard's time, 
 about twenty families, all Catholics. The largest settlement of that time, 
 in neighborhood of St. Louis, was St. Ferdiand or Florissant. Francois 
 Dunegant is named as its founder, and 1786 as the date of its founda- 
 tion. The place is mentioned previous to the date given, Francois 
 Dunegant being described as "Civil and Military Commandant at Floris- 
 sant," as early as 1785. Yet this may refer to the Florissant Valley 
 as such and the plantations therein without any reference to a special 
 village. St. Ferdinand de Florissant is situated, as Edward Flagg wrote 
 in 1836, " in a highly romantic valley upon the banks of a creek of 
 the same name, and is the heart of one of the most fertile and luxuriant 
 valleys ever subjected to cultivation." 10 In 1798 long before Flagg 's 
 visit, Zenon Trudeau, Spanish Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana, 
 had this to say in regard to St. Ferdinand; "It is about eleven years 
 since the village of San Fernando and Carondelet have been settled by 
 the people of San Louis, who at the present time, get a great part of 
 their provisions from these two towns." 11 Stoddart calls the valley "the 
 granary of St. Louis." Marais des Liards, Cottonwood Swamp, is men- 
 tioned in Trudean's report as a home of hunters and of a few planters. 
 There was no Church building nor priest in the Florissant Valley, when 
 Trudeau wrote, and he advises his government "to send them a priest 
 of the Irish nation," who might "also serve the small village of Marais 
 des Liards." 12 
 
 The population was almost exclusively French and Catholic in 
 Father Bernard's time. The reason for asking, that an Irish priest 
 be sent to St. Ferdinand in 1798 will appear, if we consider that many 
 English-Americans were coming to the country, some of them Cath- 
 olics, others heretics, and all in need of instruction. There was St. 
 Andrew on the Missouri, where the Commandant, James Mackay, a 
 native of Scotland, complained that his settlement could not thrive, if 
 only Catholics were admitted. The Spanish government was not desir- 
 ous of excluding English-Americans, even if they were non-catholics. 
 The remedy to be introduced was the conversion of the heretics by 
 Irish priests. Whether Father Bernard spoke English, we do not know : 
 we do know, however, that he spoke French and Spanish and his mother 
 tongue, the German. 
 
 St. Charles, the third one of the dependencies intrusted to Father 
 Bernard, as pastor of St. Louis, Avas the earliest white settlement north 
 
 io Flagg, E. "The Far West," p. 261. 
 
 11 Houck, L., "The Spanish Kegime in Missouri," p. 249. 
 
 is Hoiu-k, op. fit., p. 250. 
 
L54 History of llu Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 of the Missouri Kiver. Founded in 1769, it was known at first as "Les 
 Petites Cotes, the Little Hills," as the village was situated at the foot 
 of a range of hills. The first settler was Louis Blanchette, a native of 
 the dioeese of Quebec in Canada. The town grew rapidly. The in- 
 habitants divided their time and energy between the fur trade and the 
 cultivation of their lands in the two commonfields adjacent to the town. 
 In 1797 the village had about eighty families. 
 
 The fourth dependency or mission of Father Bernard was Portage 
 des Sioux, a village located on the Mississippi River on the tongue of 
 land that runs to a point at the mouth of the Missouri. A portage means 
 a strip of land between two rivers where the canoes, after having carried 
 the Indian or voyageur, are now carried by them from one river to an- 
 other. Such a portage gave the name of the village, "des Sioux" was 
 added in memory of the Sioux Indians, who had used the portage there, 
 Francois Saucier in 1765 established himself at the portage and quietly 
 induced a number of the Creoles on the American side to join him. He 
 laid out the village in 1799 and acted as Commandant of the post 
 until the end of the Spanish regime. 
 
 All these French settlements, villages and towns were under the 
 spiritual power of Father Bernard. His visits for the purpose of hold- 
 ing services and of comforting the sick and dying must have been 
 frequent. No doubt, he was the owner of some kind of conveyance. No 
 doubt also, these visits were a source of consolation and joy to the 
 good pastor : yet in the end they were bound to tell on the health and 
 buoyancy of spirit. 
 
 Of all these dependencies not one had a church building up to 
 1789. It was after Highmass on the 13th day of October 1788, that 
 the entire congregation consisting of thirty-two families, of Les Petites 
 Cotes was assembled at the house of Louis Blanchet, founder of the 
 village, in presence of Manuel de Perez, Governor and Commander in 
 Chief of the Western District of the Illinois, and of Reverend Father 
 Bernard, Missionary and Pastor of the Parish of St. Louis, and of the 
 Sieur Louis Blanchet, founder, who wish to have a Church for said 
 place, and did unanimously determine, consent and agree amongst 
 themselves to build a Church of logs, on ground 40 feet long by 30 
 feet wide. This resolution was signed by all, either by name or mark, 
 Maturin Bouvet was appointed syndic. The building was to be com- 
 pleted in the Spring of 1789. The place was then called "Les Petites 
 Cotes." 
 
 There were good roads leading from St. Louis to St. Ferdinand, 
 St. Charles, and Carondelet. Portage de Sioux was easily accessible by 
 boat. On the way to Carondelet, there were several habitations, as 
 the Soulard Place, the Bent Place and several others, in Father Ber- 
 
Father Bernard's Congregation 155 
 
 nard's time, of course, they bore other names. The Bent Place was 
 well known to the people of Cahokia as the best landing for canoes. 
 Then there was immediately South of this a little Indian village oc- 
 cupied by remnants of the Shawnee and Delaware tribes united in one 
 band. This site is now occupied by the Arsenal. 
 
 We possess only one literary monument from the hand of Father 
 Bernard de Limpach : It is a pathetic plea to his Superior in New 
 Orleans to be recalled from the place he had served so long, and we 
 may add, so well. The letter was written in 1787. Eleven years had 
 passed since he departed from his countrymen of the German Coast 
 for the wilderness of the North. Broken with afflictions of body and 
 mind, he begs to be allowed to return to them. As a further reason 
 for his request Father Bernard says: "The Parish which is very num- 
 erous, has four villages depending on it, and these increase daily by 
 the emigration of French families that establish themselves here, to be 
 free from the vexatious of the Americans, who are on the eastern side 
 of the river. If I insist on a removal, I am guided by the hope of 
 finding somewhere else an alleviation to my bodily and to mental trouble. 
 Everything else is of no consideration to me." 13 Father Bernard's 14 
 petition was not granted until the autumn of 1789. 
 
 is Original in Catholic Archives of America, Notre Dame University. 
 
 14 On February 24th, 1790, after a voyage of about ninety days, Father 
 Bernard established himself as Pastor of St. Gabriel, Iberville. In the next year 
 he became Pastor of Point Coupee, where he died on March 27th, 1796. 
 
Chapter 8 
 DISCORD i\ CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 < »nc of the great historians of Rome has said "Concordia parvae 
 res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabunter." 1 How applicable this 
 sentence is to the religious conditions obtaining on both sides of the 
 
 .Mississippi during the next, ten years after Father Bernard de Limpach's 
 arrival in St. Louis is quite apparent. < >u the Missouri side the .spirit of 
 concord was prevalent, as we have seen; on the Illinois side the spirit 
 of discord helped to destroy what was left of the greatness of former 
 days. Not that there were no good and true men among the priesls 
 of the eastern shore; but the unfortunate clash of authority between 
 Baltimore and Quebec was certainly not conducive to harmony between 
 the priests. Father Gibault had been appointed by Bishop Briand, not 
 only as missionary and parish priest, but also as Vicar General in all 
 the former Illinois country east of the .Mississippi River. In 1785 when 
 he took up his abode in Yincennes he considered himself as still in- 
 vested with all these powers, as they had never Ween withdrawn. On the 
 other hand Dr. John Carroll of Baltimore, the Superior of the Missions 
 in the United States, held that, as all the territory as far as the Miss- 
 issippi was now part and parcel of the United States, it was also placed 
 under his spiritual authority. Hence he sent several priests to these for- 
 lorn regions. They were not of his own clergy, but men who had come to 
 him with special recommendations for the West. The first one of these 
 was the Carmelite Paul de St. Pierre, who had been one of the chap- 
 lains of Rochambeau's army during the revolution and whom the French 
 envoy had requested to remain in America, among the French Cath- 
 olics on the banks of the Mississippi. As early as July 19, 1783 Father 
 Farmer, the Vicar-General of Dr. Carroll of Baltimore, wrote to his 
 Superior in regard to Father Paul: "At present I know of no com- 
 munication with the Illinois, nor can I think there is any proper mis- 
 sionary there. With regard to the Carmelite Friar all that I can say 
 of him is this; — No sooner did he arrive in Virginia with the French 
 troops than he wrote a letter to me desiring to stay in the mission, and 
 therefore inquired where to obtain faculties for that purpose. When I 
 pressed him last fall to stay with the French Consul in Virginia, (he, 
 having a yearly pension from the Queen of France, is under obliga- 
 tion to take up his abode where some French are) he excused himself 
 
 i Sallust, Jugurtha, 10.6. 
 
 (156) 
 
Discord in Church and State 157 
 
 by saying he, being immediately under the Consul, would not be so 
 free to serve the people, but oblige them to attend him and his hours. 
 The Capuchin of New York has contracted a friendship with him hist 
 Fall in the West Indies, and speaks highly of him." 2 
 
 When Father Paul de St. Pierre approached Father Farmer with 
 the request for Faculties, the Vicar-General wrote to Dr. Carroll, the 
 Prefect Apostolic: " — The Bearer being already known to your Rever- 
 ence, needs not my commendation. When he arrived during the war, 
 he immediately by letter signified to me his desire, to be a missionary 
 in these parts. He designed to fix himself at the Illinois. I see no 
 reason Avhy I should not be glad of his zeal nor why Your Reverence 
 should not grant him necessary faculties, servatis servandis. You may 
 be assured that nothing happened this long time so agreeable to me as 
 your appointment to the office of Prefect Apostolic." 3 
 
 In the meantime Father de St. Pierre had departed for the West. 
 Shortly after his arrival at Vincennes he sent another application for 
 faculties through Father Farmer, which was transmitted to Dr. Carrol, 
 August 1785. By this time Father Gibault had established his residence 
 in Vincennes. Presenting his credentials from Vicar General Farmer of 
 Baltimore, Father de St. Pierre asked for a temporary assignment, until 
 Dr. Carroll should make other dispositions. But as Father Gibault did 
 not wish to act in this conflict of authority, he advised the Carmelite to 
 accept the Parish of Ste. Genevieve from the Spanish authorities, May 
 18, 1785. Here he continued to labor for the cause of Christ until July 
 10, 1786, as the Records of that ancient Parish witness. But as Kaskas- 
 kia became orphaned by the departure of Father Louis Payet, Father 
 Paul came to the assistance of this parish also, no doubt with the ap- 
 proval of Father Gibault, as representative of the Bishop of Quebec. 
 Whilst attending Kaskaskia, de Saint Pierre received from Baltimore 
 a notification in regard to the Jubilee, a recognition of his good stand- 
 ing in the Diocese. 
 
 Ever since Father de St. Pierre's departure for the Illinois country 
 Monsignor Carroll was in a state of unrest in regard to the Carmelite 
 Father. To Cardinal Antonelli, Prefect of the Propaganda at Rome, he 
 wrote on February 27, 1785 ; 
 
 "As to the Catholics who are in the territory, bordering on the 
 River called the Mississippi and in all that region, which following that 
 river, extends to the Atlantic Ocean, and from it extends to the limits 
 of Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania — this tract of country contains, 
 
 -' Farmer to Carroll in "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. V. 
 No. 1, p. 28. 
 
 3 Farmer to Carroll, Researches, vol. XXIII, 3. 
 
158 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 I hear, many Catholics formerly Canadians, who speak French, and 
 I fear that they are destitute of priests. Before I received Your Em- 
 inence's letters there went to them a priest, German by hirth, but who 
 came last from France: he professes to belong to the Carmelite Order: 
 he was furnished with no sufficient testimonials from his lawful Super- 
 ior. What he is doing and what is the condition of the church in 
 those parts, I expect soon to learn. The jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
 Quebec formerly extended to some parts of that region: but I do not 
 know whether he wishes to exercise any authority there, now that all 
 these parts are subject to the United States." 4 Of course, the Prefect 
 Apostolic was mistaken as to the former extent of the Bishop of Quebec's 
 jurisdiction, and of his present claim. In reality Quebec had neither 
 lost nor relinquished its former rights on the eastern borders of the 
 Mississippi. Consequently Father Gibault, the Vicar-General of the 
 Bishop of Quebec in the missions of the Illinois country, wrote from 
 Vincennes, where he was then stationed, to his Superior, Bishop Hubert, 
 June 6, 1786: "A barefooted German Carmelite, thirty-four years old, 
 with his priest's orders, a certificate from the colonel of the regiment, 
 in which he served as chaplain until peace was made, and some letters 
 from the Grand Vicar (Farmer) granting him the privilege of min- 
 istering on the banks of the Mississippi, without mention of any place 
 in particular, whose name is Father de St. Pierre, came here a year ago 
 in the name of M. Carroll, bishop-elect of America, from whom came his 
 orders. I did not dare to say anything to him without your orders, 
 and I did not write to you about it sooner, for he kept saying that he 
 was going to return to France by way of New Orleans. However he is 
 still in the Illinois. He seemed to me very zealous, but with a zeal quite 
 unmanageable for these regions without justice." 5 
 
 Now, although Bishop Hubert was not very favorably disposed to 
 Father Gibault, on account of their differences in the matter of the 
 American Revolution, he did not disavow his action in regard to Father 
 de St. Pierre. On the contrary he was glad of it, and subsequently urged 
 Bishop Carrol "to continue for the present to provide for these missions, 
 as it would be difficult for me, (the Bishop of Quebec) to supply them 
 myself without perhaps some offence to the British government." 6 
 
 Father Paul do Saint Pierre was therefore, in good standing, in as 
 far as he had lawful powers from the Diocese of Quebec; consequently 
 his adminstration of Kaskaskia and Cahokia was without a legal flaw, no 
 matter what Dr. Carroll's intentions had been. Yet even after this ex- 
 planation, Dr. Carroll's doubts and fears in regard to the Carmelite's 
 
 * Shea, J. G., "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," p. 257. 
 
 5 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, p. 547. 
 
 6 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, p. 588. 
 
Discord in Church and State 159 
 
 legal status did not cease. As late as January 20, 1790 he states in a 
 letter to Father Gibault : 
 
 "I am also worried in regard to M. de Saint Pierre. He left here 
 without any power to administer the sacraments, for at that time I pos- 
 sessed no right to grant it to him; and since his departure I have been 
 unable to make up my mind to send him that power, because I am in no 
 wise assured that he came to America with the consent of the superiors 
 of the Order or with such approbation as the usages of ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline require," 7 
 
 Bishop Carroll's main difficulty sprang from an unfortunate mis- 
 understanding. The decree of the Propaganda appointing Dr. Carroll 
 Superior of the Mission in the Thirteen United States of America, dated 
 November 26, 1784, contained the restrictive clause that he was to give 
 faculties to no priest coming into the country, except those sent and 
 approved by the Sacred Congregation. P. Paul de Saint Pierre did not 
 have this approbation, having come here long before that restriction was 
 made ; but for the same reason he did not require that approbation, as 
 the letter of Cardinal Antonelli, which accompanied the decree, informs 
 Dr. Carroll that," the f acidities which His Holiness communicates to him. 
 the Superior of the Mission, are also communicated to the other priests of 
 the same states, except the administration of Confirmation, which is re- 
 served for him alone." 8 
 
 Msgr. Carroll, in the course of time, also inclined to this view and 
 entertained a more favorable opinion of de Saint Pierre's ecclesiastical 
 status. At least he permitted him to continue his ministry under whatever 
 authority he may have claimed to act, a course that was certainly the 
 most sensible and just one, in view of the immense distance of these 
 missions from the See of Baltimore and the absolute dearth of Mission- 
 aries in the west. De Saint Pierre's readiness to accept responsibility 
 when matters were so urgent, deserved recognition. The Recommend- 
 ation given to de Saint Pierre by the French minister was a good sijrn. 
 and, if the worst should come to the worst, no one could blame the 
 authorities at Baltimore if they tolerated something which they could in 
 no wise prevent. 
 
 As we now understand the whole matter, we feel that the coming of 
 the Carmelite Father to the Illinois country was a real God-send, a boon 
 that enabled hundreds and hundreds to save their souls, and greatly 
 helped to tide over the Church, during its stormiest period, unto a more 
 gracious time. 
 
 It was not a pleasant place to live in, the Kaskaskia of 1786. Law 
 and order seem to have vanished from the land. The French authorities 
 
 7 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, p. 592. 
 s Shea, op. cit., pp. 243, 244, 246. 
 
160 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 were superseded by the British. These were driven out by the Virginians, 
 and they iii turn had departed, Leaving the poor Creoles to the mercy 
 of marauding Indians and upstarl politicians whose sole endeavor it was 
 to deprive trustful people of their homes and their honor. When the 
 stalwart Carmelite arrived. Ids honest blood began to boil, and he did not 
 mince words in Ins attack upon these birds of prey. Of course lie was 
 sued by two of the main sinners before a renegade magistrate. Father 
 Paul refused to appear before a tribunal that was " incompetent to judge 
 ecclesiastical persons." As to his accusers, he told them to carry the case 
 before "the Honorable Congress and the Bishop." The aggrieved 
 persons took the hint for lack of something more effective: they brought 
 their complaint before the authorities at Baltimore saying: "We are 
 doubtful whether you have sent us a priest to look after our spiritual 
 interests, as he is more concerned with temporal affairs and acts as a 
 lawyer in this country. He endeavors to ruin us in our commerce, and to 
 take away our credit .... I do not think, my Lord after the letter that I 
 have seen, that a pastor ought to meddle with temporal matters." 9 This 
 seems to have been the end of the case against Paul de Saint Pierre, whom 
 the complainants called Heiligenstein, which very probably was his 
 name before taking the garb and style of a Carmelite. 
 
 Father de Saint Pierre remained Pastor of Ste. Genevieve and 
 administrator of the neighboring parish of Kaskaskia until the arrival 
 of the new pastor, Father Guignes in 1786. Father Gibault, who had 
 been repeatedly asked by the good people of Cahokia to take charge of 
 this forsaken and almost ruined parish and Indian Mission, requested 
 Father de Saint Pierre to undertake the laborious task, sending him at 
 the same time the power of attorney he himself had received from the 
 Superior of the Seminary of Quebec by authority of the Bishop concern- 
 ing the mission of Cahokia. The last letter of Father de Saint Pierre 
 from Kaskaskia, a latin letter to Father Louis Payet at Detroit, is dated, 
 Parochia Immaculatae Conceptionis, die 18 Februarii, A. D. 1786. From 
 this date on to 1789 de Saint Pierre was pastor of the Parish of the Holy 
 Family and the Tamarois Mission at Cahokia, just across the river from 
 the rising city of St. Louis. 
 
 It is a remarkable coincidence, that in these critical years two 
 German priests, P. Bernard de Limpach and P. Paul de St. Pierre, the one 
 at St. Louis, the other at Cahokia, separated by the great river but united 
 by the bond of a magnanimous friendship, should unfold their blessed 
 missionary activities fn spite of all attacks and misunderstandings. Prior 
 to de Saint Pierre's coming, Father Bernard had, at Father Gibault 's 
 invitation, attended to the spiritual wants of the church at Cahokia, 
 and Father de Saint Pierre was ready to return the favor in St. Louis, 
 
 9 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, p. 521. 
 
Discord in Church and State 161 
 
 if Father Bernard should be called away. On April 25, 1787 Father 
 Bernard writes to his Superior in New Orleans "The parish of St. 
 Louis is no more than half a league from that of Kahos (Cahokia) which 
 at present has a priest, who was chaplain to the army of the King 
 of France ; and therefore it can more easily remain for a time without 
 a priest, than other parishes farther down in the colony, as, for instance, 
 that of St. Charles, whose subjects no doubt are no less dear to God 
 and to the King that those of Illinois." 10 
 
 In those primitive days of pathless forest and trackless prairie the 
 rivers appeared more as avenues of approach than as a dividing line, 
 a circumstance that may explain, to a certain extent, the strange wander- 
 ings to and fro of our early priests, especially as the population on both 
 sides of the Mississippi was really one people of Catholic French. 
 
 On the 6th day of June 1786, Father Gibault sent a message to 
 Quebec concerning the zealous or rather over-zealous, Carmelite, "with 
 the privilege of ministering on the banks of the Mississippi." On the 
 17th day of October of the same year, Dr. Carroll's Vicar-General, de 
 La Valiniere, writes concerning a meeting he had held with P, Bernard 
 de Limpach and another priest in St. Louis, in which several charges 
 against P. de St. Pierre had been discussed and proved to be without 
 foundation, and he ordains that the good people of Cahokia give him, 
 as their lawful pastor, all the satisfaction in their power. The letter 
 was ordered to be read on Sunday, after the sermon of the parochial 
 Mass, and afterward affixed to the door of the church. 11 But ere six 
 months had elapsed, a remarkable change had come over de La Valin- 
 iere 's position in regard to the one time "Lawful pastor," now only 
 "acting in the capacity of Parson of Cahokia." The change is ex- 
 plained in the document entitled ' ' Letter from M. Huet de La Valiniere, 
 Vicar General in all the districts north of the Ohio, called Belle Riviere, 
 along the Mississippi, Wabash, Miami etc., to the gentlemen of Cahokia, 
 greeting and blessing in our Lord." 12 It is not very pleasant read- 
 ing, this letter of the Vicar-General and whatever may have been the 
 merits of the case, it should not have been laid before the people for 
 adjudication. To rehearse these charges against one of his priests before 
 a gathering of laymen was sufficiently imprudent ; but here to add to 
 each charge the matter-of-fact answers of the accused priest, and to 
 
 10 "American Catholic Researches," January 1898. The Church of St. Charles 
 on the German Coast, Cote des Allemands, a few miles above the city of New Orleans, 
 was founded by the German settlers returning from Arkansas after the failure of 
 John Law, the proprietor of the seigniory on the Arkansas River. 
 
 ii "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, pp. 548 and 549. 
 
 12 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, p. 551. 
 
 Vol. 1-6 
 
162 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 season the whole proceeding with diverse slurs and insinuations, was 
 certainly not calculated to win the parishioners to the side of authority. 
 
 But hefore we enter upon this unfortunate quarrel let us see who 
 and what Father de La Valiniere really was. Born at Varade in France. 
 January 10, 1732 Pierre Iluet de La Valiniere went to Paris and enter- 
 ing the Seminary of St. Sulpice, became a member of that community. 
 He felt t ho attraction of the American mission fields, which at last drew 
 him to Montreal. Here he was ordained by Bishop Pontbriand, June 
 15, 17T)5. Serving at first as a professor in the Seminary, he was suc- 
 cessively transferred to five parishes within twenty years. In 177!) 
 Canada was invaded by an American army. Bishop Hriand was ab- 
 solutely loyal to the British interests all through the years of the Revolu- 
 tion: only a few of the clergy sympathized with the American Cause, 
 among them Father de La Valiniere. This circumstance brought about 
 his exile from Canada. 13 Governor Haldimand writes as follows in ex- 
 tenuation of the drastic manner employed in deporting the refractory 
 priest : 
 
 "Fiery, Factious and turbulent, no ways deficient in point of wit 
 and parts, he was too dangerous at this present crisis to be allowed to 
 remain here, and accordingly, taking advantage of his disagreement 
 with the Seminary of Montreal and with the Bishop, he is now, with 
 the consent of the latter, sent home ; as it rather appears that the 
 blow proceeds from his ecclesiastical superiors, any noise or disturbance 
 about it here is avoided, and at the same time may oblige the clergy, 
 especially the French part of them, to be careful and circumspect ; the 
 French alliance with the Colonies in rebellion has certainly operated 
 a great change upon their minds, and it too generally runs through the 
 whole body of Canadians. However disagreeable it may be, it is im- 
 proper he should be permitted to return to his native country. I think 
 he must either be confined, though well treated, or sent prisoner at 
 large to a remote part, where some inspection may be had over his 
 conduct. In short, there cannot be a doubt that, while these troubles 
 last, he will seek every opportunity of serving France, and of being of 
 Disservice to the British interests." 14 
 
 is American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XXIII, pp. 203-255. Also 
 vol. XI, pp. 98-101. 
 
 14 "American Catholic Historical Researches, " vol. XXIII, p. 203. It was 
 during that time, (1758) that he succeeded in rescuing from the hands of the Indians, 
 a little Irish girl named O 'Flaherty, at the very moment when these barbarians 
 were about to make her perish by fire. "They had already tied her to the stake with 
 Mrs. O 'Flaherty, her mother, and were preparing to burn them both, when that 
 ecclesiastic, by his prayers, his entreaties and promises, succeeded in delivering them 
 from death." This child, whom Madam d 'Youville received under her roof, devoted 
 herself to her benefactress and became a Sister of Charity. 
 
Discord in Church and State 163 
 
 Lord George Germain disapproved Haldeman's act. Father de la 
 Valiniere was set at liberty and, after many hardships and dangers 
 surmounted, he directed his course to New York. 15 Dr. Carroll would 
 not or could not give him employment. Father Farmer, his Vicar-Gen- 
 eral, in February 1786 transmitted to the exiled priest the "power to 
 perform parochial work, without restriction, to the French." At Father 
 de la Valiniere 's request, Dr. Carroll gave him permission to go west, 
 and on the day of his departure made him his Vicar-General with full 
 faculties. 16 
 
 Father de la Valiniere paid a brief visit to Father Farmer at 
 Philadelphia, thence he journeyed on foot to Pittsburg, and by batteau 
 down the Ohio to Kaskaskia, where he arrived in the summer of 1786. 
 At first his fiery zeal for justice and righteousness, in open opposition 
 to the self-appointed governor, John Dodge and his harpy crew, won 
 him the love and admiration of the habitants. And when through his 
 appeal to Congress, the turbulent robber faction was overthrown, Father 
 de la Valiniere felt himself safe in the hearts of his people. 
 
 Yet fiery and self-willed as he was, he was led by an insignificant 
 circumstance to kindle a new and dangerous fire of opposition, a con- 
 flagration which eventually drove him out of the Illinois. The only 
 priests over whom the new Vicar-General had jurisdiction, were the 
 veteran Pierre Gibault at Vincennes and the Carmelite Paul de Saint 
 Pierre at Cahokia. Both were honorable men and faithful ministers of 
 God, doing their duty according to their best knowledge of the situa- 
 tion in which they found themselves : But Father de la Valiniere, 
 with practically no experience of missionary life in the wild west, felt 
 the urge within himself to let them feel his superiority in ecclesiastical 
 knowledge, as well as in canonical power. The questions he raised 
 in his letter to Father de Saint Pierre were either trivial or did not 
 concern him. 17 Father Paid answered the letter, justifying his con- 
 duct, in a straightforward manner, but as de la Valiniere had indulged 
 in a rather paternal tone of reproof, Father de Saint Pierre injected 
 some insinuations regarding Father de la Valiniere 's former trouble. 
 The good Vicar-General thought his position in jeopardy and addressed 
 a public letter to the people of Cahokia, in which he made some caustic 
 remarks and undignified charges against their pastor, whom he had 
 praised a short time before, and even called in question his ordination 
 to the priesthood. Father de Saint Pierre's parishioners, who loved 
 
 15 "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XXIII, p. 212. 
 ig "American Catholic Historical Researches," 1. c, pp. 218 and 219. 
 17 Priated in Researches, vol. XXIII, pp. 221-223.' Father de Saint Pierre's 
 answer, ibidem, p. 225. 
 
1 6-i History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and respected him, returned a lengthy reply, from which we cull the 
 following strong passage: 
 
 "We answer the same (your letter) by declaring to yon, all of 
 us, with an unanimous voice, that Mr. de St. Pierre our Parson, pastor 
 and missionary, has all our confidence, and that we have only to praise 
 and applaud him and the spiritual zeal with which he instructs us 
 as well as our children. It is in vain that you expect to rob us of the 
 confidence we repose in him. His attachment to us and his disinterest- 
 edness is known to us. Therefore, sir, dispense writing us anything more 
 disadvantageous to the conduct of a Priest as worthy of respect as M. 
 de St. Pierre whom we all reverence . . . . " ls 
 
 Having thus caused a division among the Catholics of the Illinois 
 country, Father de la Valiniere soon found that his old enemies were 
 not completely shorn of power,. Even in his own parish of Kaskaskia, 
 the majority of the French turned against him. On September 21, 1787 
 a petition to Congress against him was signed by the inhabitants of 
 Kaskaskia, in which his moral character is not touched, but a number 
 of grievances are set forth, as the fury of his disposition, the theo- 
 cratic despotism, the violence of his passions. 10 Father de la Valiniere 
 saw that he could no longer accomplish any good; he therefore asked 
 the Bishop of Quebec that Canada might be opened to him once more 
 and receive the last fruits of his priesthood, as it had received the 
 first." 20 This pathetic appeal remained unanswered. In 1789 Father 
 de la Valiniere left the Illinois country going to New Orleans. In 
 1790 he was at St. Sulpice in Montreal, but the Bishop would not ap- 
 point him to any position and even refused him permission to celebrate 
 mass. 
 
 The first and partly successful undertaking of P. de Saint Pierre 
 at Cahokia was the attempt at recovering the property once held by 
 the Seminary of Quebec for the Tamarois Mission, and for the Parish 
 of the Holy Family, but sold or disposed of by the last Vicar-General 
 under the French regime, Father Forget du Verger. The sales were 
 null and void, as Father Forget had not been authorized by the right- 
 ful owners; in fact, Father Forget 's conduct in leaving the Illinois 
 country as he did was condemned by Bishop Briand of Quebec, as 
 "shameful, even criminal." 
 
 All that remained to the ancient parish were "four walls of a stone 
 house, with ground three hundred feet wide by nine hundred feet long, 
 and also a Held, three arpents wide with a length the same as the fields 
 belonging to the inhabitants," and even these remnants of the parish- 
 property, like that of the mission seigniory, were in danger of being lost. 
 
 is "Illinois Historical, Collections, " Virginia S., vol. I, pp. 560 ss. 
 
 is "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XXIII, pp. 228-231. 
 
 20 "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XXIII, pp. 235 and 236. 
 
Discord in Church and State 165 
 
 Here Father de Saint Pierre's aggressiveness served him and his 
 people to a good purpose. The story of the proceedings for the recovery 
 of the mission property and the material upbuilding of the parish of 
 the Holy Family is vividly described in a Report made by the people 
 and the trustees of the Parish and Mission of Cahokia to the gentle- 
 men of the Seminary of Quebec. After telling them the particulars of 
 a recent sale of the remnants of the mission property the inhabitants 
 of Cahokia say: "We made no opposition, since we had no knowledge 
 at the time of the power of attorney, which the Superiors of the 
 Chapter, by the authority of the Bishop had sent to Father Gibault, 
 and of which Father Gibault had made no use." They continue: "This 
 has been communicated to us about the month of April 1786, by M. 
 de Saint Pierre, the priest serving our mission . . . We have learned 
 from this power of attorney, that all the sales made by Father Forget, 
 Grand Vicar of Monseigneur, were null and void, since they had never 
 been authorized by the Chapter .... Consequently, we have judici- 
 ally set aside and annulled all the sales made by Father Forget and 
 others who have succeeded him, and have annulled the instruments 
 which the attorney of M. Jutard has had made and which concerned 
 the sale by auction . . . We have reestablished you in the possession 
 of these goods. For the purpose of lodging our pastor we have built 
 a priest's house, which has cost us almost five thousand livres . . (We 
 were obliged to do this) because the house had been entirely ruined 
 by the English and American troops who have lodged there. . The 
 defacements and injuries it had suffered during the time it was abandon- 
 ed were such that there remain standing only the four walls, whicb 
 could be repaired only with much labor; for they are without a roof- 
 covering, ceiling, flooring, and the chimneys have tumbled down ; there 
 are some fences on the land; the orchard has been so devastated that 
 there is left no vestige of it ; all the other buildings have been de- 
 stroyed, even to the wells which have been filled in. 
 
 "We have decided to build a church of the ruins of this house, for 
 our former wooden church has fallen, and we are obliged to have 
 Mass in a rented house. We have commenced to work on our projected 
 church, which will cost us more than fifteen or sixteen thousand livres. 
 Since the Mission has no longer any slaves, M. Forget having pocketed 
 and carried away the money which he was able to collect for them, 
 and since the three arpents of land will become a charge against 
 the Mission, on account of the expense for fences and maintenance, we 
 consulted with M. de St. Pierre and decided to rent it . . . As to the 
 other property, such as slaves, mills and animals, all these "have been 
 entirely dispersed and made unusable at the departure of M. Forget, 
 either by sales, the granting of liberty to the slaves, or by donation 
 
Iiiii History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of the animals, so that none of these things arc to be round at the 
 
 .Mission. There are still some families of Negroes on the Spanish side, 
 who arc of considerable value. They are living either at St. Louis of 
 the Illinois or at New Orleans, and were either given their liberty or 
 were sold by M. Forget without authority. There are some even here 
 in the village of Cahokia. We have made a demand for those living 
 on the Spanish side; but the major Commandant of the Illinois dis- 
 trict has refused to do anything . . . Before we saw the contents 
 of the power of attorney addressed to M. Gibault, we were uncertain, 
 whether the sales by M. Forget were legal or not, and were fear- 
 ful of taking false steps and of putting ourselves to useless expenses . . 
 This power of attorney, which has been sent us, has reassured us and 
 opened our eyes; and we shall work now for the rccslablishment of 
 our Mission, as far as it shall be in our power."- 1 
 
 Up to this time Father Gibault's headquarters had been Kaskas- 
 kia. But in 1785 he removed to Vincennes. Here he pursued the same 
 pastoral plan he had inaugurated years before in Kaskaskia. Writing 
 to Mgr. Briand from Vincennes in 1786 he says: "I give the boys and 
 girls an instruction twice a day : after mass, and in the evening be- 
 fore sunset. After each instruction 1 send the girls home and make 
 the boys repeat the responses of the mass and the ceremonies of the 
 Church for Sundays and Holydays. 1 preach too, on these days as 
 often as I can." 22 
 
 Here also, he found more leisure to devote to his books, a con- 
 siderable collection of which he had accumulated, mostly on theological 
 subjects, as he writes in 1786 to Bishop D 'Esglis. 23 It also occurred to 
 him in his solitude, that he had certain claims against the government 
 of the United States, if not for services rendered, at least for expenses 
 incurred. What Father Gibault did in this direction is best describ- 
 ed in his letter to Governor Arthur St. Clair — "The undersigned mem- 
 orialist has the honor to represent to your excellency from Cahokia, May 
 16, 1790: that, from the moment of the conquest of the Illinois country 
 by Colonel George Rogers Clark, he has not been backward in ventur- 
 ing his life on many occasions in which he found that his presence was 
 useful, and at all times sacrificing his property, which he gave for the 
 support of the troops." 24 
 
 In the St. Clair papers this letter is marked, 
 
 "Paper No. 24, and endorsed by St. Clair, the request of a Mr. 
 Gibault for a small piece of land that has been in the occupation of 
 
 ^i "Illinois Eistorical Collections," Virginia S., vol. I, pp. 560 ss. 
 
 22 "Illinois Historical Collections," Virginia S., vol. II, p. 535. 
 
 M "Illinois Historical Collection," Virginia S., vol. 11, p. 545. 
 
 24 "The St. ('lair Papers," vol. II, p. 14«, quoted in Researches, vol. V, p. .">i > . 
 
Discord in Church and State 167 
 
 the priests at Cahokia for a long time, having been assigned to them 
 by the French ; but he wishes to possess it in propriety. It is true that 
 he was very useful to Gen. Clarke, upon many occasions, and has suffer- 
 ed very considerable losses; I believe no injury would be done to any 
 one by his request being granted, but it was not for me to give away the 
 lands of the United States." 23 
 
 Republics are proverbially ungrateful. Father Gibault had ex- 
 perienced that. Disappointment followed disappointment. His own 
 people of Vincennes were not as responsive to his word as of olcL Weary 
 of constant struggle the missionary thought that he had earned a rest 
 from his labors. Bishop Carroll does not seem to be pleased with his 
 presence in what is now a part of the diocese of Baltimore. Canada 
 is after all his home. 
 
 "Monseigneur", thus we read, "I pray you to consider that for 
 the last twenty years I have served these missions, without ceasing, 
 without, so to speak, a fixed abode, almost always journeying in all sea- 
 sons of the year, always exposed to being massacred by the savages. My 
 age of fifty-one years, the need I have of being more recollected after so 
 much exterior work, which entailed so many and such long journeys, 
 the repugnance that I have to serve under another Bishop, be it in Spain 
 or in Republican America, and a thousand other reasons, lead me to 
 expect you to grant my request and to recall me, which I earnestly 
 ask, believing that I follow in this the will of God who inspires me 
 with it for my salvation. As to the spiritual aid of the people in these 
 parts, I can assure you that it will not be wanting to them, even less than 
 formerly, since they have a priest at the Kaskaskias, another at the 
 Cahokias, and that they will not be long without having one at Vin- 
 cennes, if I leave it, for it is the favorite post of the American Congress. 
 This all conspires to make me hope for my recall. ' ' 26 
 
 But the recall did not come, and in September 1789 he took over 
 from Father de Saint Pierre the Parish of the Holy Family at Cahokia 
 to which he had been assigned long years ago by Bishop Briand of 
 Quebec. Father Paul de Saint Pierre had been kindly received by 
 the Spanish authorities ; Father Gibault was now to follow him. Bishop 
 Carroll was glad to give them both his fervent blessing on entering 
 their new field of labor. We shall meet them again, the one in Ste. 
 Genevieve, the other in New Madrid and the Post of Arkansas, both 
 doing valiant and efficient service for the cause of God and His church. 
 
 25 St. Clair Papers, vol. II, p. 148. Researches, vol. V, p. 53. 
 -<> Alvord, C. W., "Knskaskia Reeorrls" in "Illinois Historical Collections, 
 Virginia S., vol. II, pp. 583 and 584. 
 
Chapter i» 
 RESULTS OF THE DISCORD 
 
 But we must return to the closing years of the Spanish regime 
 in Louisiana to mark the advent on Missouri soil of two priests faithful 
 unto death: Father Pierre (iibault as Pastor of New Madrid and the 
 Post of Arkansas, and Father Paul de Saint Pierre as Pastor of Sic 
 Genevieve and of Point Couppee in the South. 
 
 How these two faithful priests came to serve the Church under 
 the Spanish regime must now be explained in proper detail. 
 
 During Father Paid de Saint Pierre's incumbency of Cahokia, the 
 people had requested that the Bishop of Quebec should ratify appoint- 
 ment of their present pastor as a missionary also for the Tamarois 
 Indians. 
 
 The Bishop's response is not known, yet the request did not seem 
 to be out of harmony with the views of Bishop Hubert, who, October 
 1788, declares that the Seminary had "resigned its prerogative of nom- 
 inating a superior among the Tamarois only in favor of the Bishop of 
 Quebec," a right which seems to have been exercised for the last tim° 
 when the saintly Father Francis Savine came to Cahokia in 1812. 
 
 Father de Saint Pierre remained at Cahokia until September 1789, 
 as pastor and missionary, and the parish began to revive and flourish 
 under his fostering care. 
 
 Good order and decency in all things pertaining to the religious 
 life were always the object of his vigilant care, and he did not hesitate 
 to employ force, even to the extent of calling on the civil power, when- 
 ever it seemed necessary. In the minutes of the Court of Cahokia we 
 find a number of instances. 
 
 On December 10, 1786, M. de Saint Pierre, the parish priest, present- 
 ed the petition, requesting the prohibition of giving strong drink to the 
 savages. The Court decreed that "the ordinance passed heretofore shall 
 be published next Sunday and that offenders shall be punished accord- 
 ing to said ordinance." 
 
 In March of the following year the pastor, de Saint Pierre, re- 
 quired an oath from every member of the Board of Trustees assembled 
 in the presence of the court, that none of them had taken and hidden 
 certain valuable papers entrusted to them by M. Du Buque. All took 
 the oath and were declared free from suspicion. 
 
 In all the French settlements of the Mississippi Valley, the so-called 
 coutumes de Paris (the customs of Paris) were regarded as the com- 
 
 (168) 
 
Results of the Discord 169 
 
 mon law of the land, even in what was afterward called Spanish 
 Louisiana. According to these customs the parish priest had a right 
 to the tithes, originally one-tenth part of the harvest, but now, accord- 
 ing to Canadian modification, only one twenty-sixth part, or about 4, 
 instead of 10 per cent of the wheat and corn. Besides this, every 
 family in its turn was required to furnish the pain benit, the blessed 
 bread, of which every one attending the solemn service received a small 
 piece. 
 
 This custom of the pain benit was probably introduced by St. Greg- 
 ory of Tours and prevailed in Canada and several dioceses of Prance 
 as late as thirty years ago, but seems now to be passing in desuetudinem 
 everywhere. 
 
 On January 2. 1789, de Saint Pierre entered suit against some in- 
 habitants of Cahokia on account of their refusal to furnish the pain benit. 
 They in turn claimed there was no obligation. The court, however, was 
 impressed by the pastor's arguments, and declared that the obligation 
 held, and ordered these refractory inhabitants to give the blessed bread, 
 each in his turn, on the days of obligation; in default whereof they were 
 to pay ten livres to the church to make up the deficiency. 1 
 
 P. de Saint Pierre was certainly a valiant defender of the rights 
 of the Church, and as such we shall see him again in his new field of 
 labor beyond the great river, in Ste. Genevieve. Cahokia had, indeed, 
 grown dear to his heart ; but he felt, at the same time, that there were 
 other places that offered a far better field for his priestly labors. The 
 Spanish side, with its great possibilities under Catholic rule, seemed to 
 say : Come,. And then, there was another reason that weighed heavy 
 in the balance, the spirit of restlessness that had taken possession of 
 his own people. 
 
 Although Father Gibault did openly take a prominent part in 
 effecting the bloodless conquest of the Illinois country by the Amer- 
 icans under Clark, and although the Creole inhabitants considered a 
 ready submission to the new regime not only a matter of necessity, but 
 also of advantage, they did not have a very deep love for the new- 
 comers : nor could it be justly expected of them. Sudden changes in 
 the administration of a country are always bound to bring certain hard- 
 ships. So it was in the frontier-towns of the American Bottom. The 
 Virginia troops had withdrawn ; no authority had been established ; dis- 
 order and lawlessness was in full sway, Cahokia alone making an ex- 
 ception to this by establishing a court of justice. The Creoles were 
 offended by the overbearing ways and rude manners of many of the 
 
 i Cf. the article on "Bread, Its Liturgical Use," in the "Catholic Encyclo- 
 pedia." Also the article on "Blessed Bread in Detroit," in "The American Cath- 
 olic Historical Researches," vol. XII, p. 176. 
 
170 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 adventurers from the East, and in their native candour and honesty 
 found themselves exposed on all sides to fraud, injustice and even vi- 
 olence. In consequence many of the most important Creole families 
 left their old homes for Ste. Genevieve or St. Louis The government 
 beyond the river was, indeed, Spanish ; but the people, the laws and 
 customs, and even the officers were French. Besides, the Spanish govern- 
 ment was making strong efforts to draw the remnants of the Catholic 
 population to the western shore. Land grants were offered to all new- 
 comers. For this purpose of attracting the people other enticing offers 
 were made to the missionaries of the east side, and they found a ready 
 acceptance. 
 
 On May 1, 1787, Father de Saint Pierre had addressed the follow- 
 ing petition to Bishop Cyrillo, asking for the appointment to some parish 
 on the Spanish side. 
 My Lord: 
 
 Three years ago, Mr. Cruzat asked you to give me the parish of 
 Ste. Genevieve, but as he told me, his letters reached you too late, and 
 Rev. Father Louis (Guignes) had obtained the parish. 
 
 Knowing that this same parish is vacant since Fall, I ask you 
 humbly for the favor. Already some of my parishioners, for good 
 reasons, have established themselves on your side of the river, and I 
 hope that the others will soon follow them; therefore I beg you to allow 
 me to follow them also. 
 
 A new establishment (New Madrid) has been begun a little below 
 the entrance of the Beautiful River. They will need a priest who knows 
 English and German. I offer myself also for this place. You may dispose 
 of me according to your pleasure and good will. 
 
 I take the liberty to send you a copy of my papers, legalized by the 
 Commandant of Ste. Genevieve, to convince you of the falsehoods that 
 have been spread about me, and of which Mr. Cruzat has already in- 
 formed you. 
 
 Finally, I will try to act in such a manner that you will never 
 regret to have granted me the favor which I humbly beg of you. 
 
 During my whole life I shall be with profoundest respect, Monsignor, 
 your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 Paul De St. Pierre, 
 Discalced Carmelite of Germany, Missionary. 
 Kaokias, May 1, 1787. 2 
 
 This request was now granted by Bishop Cirillo, and Father de 
 Saint Pierre entered upon his duties of pastor of St. Genevieve in 1789. 
 Father Le Dm of Kaskaskia had preceded him in becoming Pastor of 
 
 - The original is in French and can be found in the Catholic Archive* of 
 America, Notre Dame, Indiana. 
 
Results of the Discord 171 
 
 St. Louis as successor to P. Bernard de Limpach, and Father Gibault 
 followed soon after, accepting a call to New Madrid in 1792, where he 
 built the first church and dedicated it to St. Isidore. 
 
 Ste. Genevieve remained the home of Father de Saint Pierre until 
 February 27, 1797, a period of about seven years. 
 
 As a further cause of this change of allegiance the circumstance is 
 given that the Creoles of the American Bottom no longer showed a 
 willingness to render the usual tithes for the support of the Church. 
 Under American rule there was, of course, no law to enforce the pay- 
 ment of the tithes. 
 
 On the Spanish side the legal obligation was, indeed, cancelled 
 by decree of April 22, 1787, but the practice was still in force among 
 the people and tolerated by the authorities. This source of income was 
 an important matter to a parish priest, though the proceeds varied ac- 
 cording to time and place. Father Gibault in 1769 received from the 
 people of Ste. Genevieve about 300 bushels of wheat and 500 to 600 
 bushels of corn; P. Bernard, however, reports that the tithes received 
 at St. Louis never amounted to more than $80.00 a year. Yet, important 
 as the tithes were, there was a still more important source of income, 
 granted by the Spanish and denied by the American authorities — a 
 regular salary of $600.00. With this assured income and the usual 
 perquisites, a parish priest under the Spanish regime need not trouble 
 himself about his temporal support. 
 
 It was in the month of September 1789, that Father de Saint Pierre 
 returned to Ste. Genevieve. On the 13th day of September he perfor-med 
 his first official function, the baptism of a child, and he remained as 
 pastor until 1797. 
 
 He established his home with a few slaves, who kept house and 
 managed the farm for hiim In 1790 the negro woman Fanchonette, 
 whom he had obtained out of the estate of Pierre Langlois at Kaskaskia, 
 was sold by him to Tropez Richard for $275.00 ; and on his departure 
 from Ste. Genevieve in 1797 two other slaves were sold by him. All 
 this may seem strange to us, yet slavery was then a universal institu- 
 tion in these regions. 
 
 Ever since the great flood in 1785, Old Ste. Genevieve, with its 
 church of St. Joachim, declined ; its very site rapidly disappearing in 
 the river. For a time, divine service was held in a temporary structure 
 in the new settlement, whilst preparations were under way for the 
 removal or reconstruction of the church. 
 
 In 1793, September 7, the Lieutenant Governor, Zenon Trudeau, 
 came to Ste. Genevieve at the request of Father de Saint Pierre and 
 assembled the inhabitants for the purpose of submitting the project of 
 erecting a new church in the place "where they had sought refuge from 
 
17 - J History of Hn Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the flood." 1 The plan was heartily approved by the inhabitants of 
 the new village, Petite Cote, as it was called; but the people of the 
 neighboring village of New Bourbon also asked for the erection of a 
 ehapel. The parish meeting decided thai both villages, although only 
 
 three miles apart, should have churches of their own. Messrs. Lachance, 
 Pratte and Bol&UC were appointed syndics to apportion the burdens 
 of the building costs according to the financial abilities of the inhab- 
 itants, and the same gentlemen were approved as supervisors of the 
 building operations. 4 
 
 It was ordered that the material of the old building should be used. 
 as far as possible, for the new church in Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 On August 31, 1794, Zenon Trudeau made definite choice of the 
 spot for placing the church in the new village and gave orders that it 
 be built, pledging the government's share of the costs. 
 
 The new church of Ste. Genevieve was a wooden structure, similar 
 to the old church at Cahokia, and remained standing, though for a time 
 disused, until 1831, when it was torn down to make room for other pur- 
 poses. 
 
 Prom the Memoranda of Benedict Roux, we gather that P. Paul 
 de Saint Pierre on two occasions attended to the spiritual needs of 
 desolate Kaskaskia (May 1785-June 1786; and February 1792-December 
 1796). Ste. Genevieve, however, remained his home and regular charge.'' 
 
 A number of very interesting reminiscences of the days of Father 
 de Saint Pierre are given in Henry Brackenridge's Recollections of the 
 West. Brackenridge had, as a boy. been sent to Ste. Genevieve for his 
 education at the parish school and had found a new, most pleasant home 
 with the family of Vital Beauvais. It is a graphic account that the 
 grateful author gives of the peaceful, joyous and sincerely religious 
 family life in the days before the coming of the Americans. Madame 
 Beauvais, especially, is a most admirable Catholic woman. She loved 
 the little Brackenridge as if he had been her own ; but she could not 
 bear the thought, that he, an unbaptized child, should share the bed 
 with her own children. She therefore had him baptized by Father de 
 Saint Pierre to make her happiness complete. 
 
 3 Original documents in the Air-hives of the Missouri Historical Society. 
 
 * Ste. Genevieve Archives. From a letter of P. de Saint Pierre, Ave learn that 
 the proposed chapel in New Bourbon had not been started in January 1796, when 
 Father de Saint Pierre wrote: "The three hundred dollars the governor does not 
 wish to have delivered until the chapel at New Bourbon is built. This chapel, in 
 my opinion, will do more harm and cause more disorder than the amount is worth; 
 but let the inhabitants decide." 
 
 s Ste. Genevieve Archives, at Jefferson Memorial, St. Louis. 
 
Results of the Discord 173 
 
 The little English boy, te petit anglais, as they called him, was now 
 admitted to the dignity of an altar-boy, and as such he received a larger 
 portion of the pain benit, the blessed bread, which however, he did not 
 eat, but brought as a choice morsel to his favorite, the baby of the family. 
 Many years afterwards, on a chance visit to Ste. Genevieve, he came 
 just in time to witness the marriage of this early friend of his child- 
 hood. Brackenridge also speaks of the many religious festivals and 
 processions, of the Sunday High Mass and Vespers, by which the spir- 
 itual life of the people was constantly renewed, and he dwells with deep 
 feeling on the innocent pleasures and simple pastimes of the dreamy 
 village, in the good old days of Father de Saint Pierre.' 1 
 
 The cure enjoyed the love and respect of all. Of course, there 
 were exceptions. Even in peaceful Ste. Genevieve there were crooked 
 ways that had to be made straight, and proud wills that had to be 
 broken. The Ste. Genevieve Archives, now in charge of the Missouri 
 Historical Society, preserve a letter of de Saint Pierre, parish priest, to 
 Don Francisco Valle, the Commandant of the district, dated August 
 8, 1796, in which he expresses his deep regret that one of his parish- 
 ioners, living in open sin, would not heed his voice, and now he calls 
 up the Commandant "for a judgment and punishment. The person whom 
 the said Louis Coyteux has in his house, pretends throughout the parish 
 that she is his wife and he calls her so. I implore your aid in order that 
 you may, by force, make her leave his house ; and in order to put an 
 end to the scandal, forbid her taking up her residence too near that of 
 the said Coyteux. In case he should show resistance, it will be necessary 
 to enforce the law made by our Monarch, December 24th, 1787, which 
 may be found, no doubt, in your record office, or in the archives of St. 
 Louis; for it was made public not long ago." 
 
 The decision of the Commandant was given on the 31st. of August, 
 1796: "Don Francois Valle, Captain of Militia and Civil and Military 
 Commandant of the Post of Ste. Genevieve of the Illinois and its 
 dependencies. 
 
 Upon the oft repeated petitions made to us by the Sieur de St. Pierre, 
 cure of this parish, asking that a stop be put to the public scandal 
 resulting from the cohabitation of Mr. Louis Coyteux, resident of this 
 post, with an English woman, whom he has had at his home, for a long 
 time, which is contrary to good morals, also to the ordinances of his 
 Majesty. 
 
 We, the aforesaid Commandant, do order Mr. Louis Coyteux to 
 eject from his house the said English woman, and that within twenty- 
 
 6 Brackeridge, "Recollections of the West," passim. 
 
174 History of the Archdiocese of Si. Louis 
 
 lour hours after being notified of the order, under penalty of being 
 prosecuted to t lie fullest extent of the law. 
 
 Executed at Ste. Genevieve. August 31, 1796, before noon. 
 
 (Signed Fcois Valle. " 7 ) 
 
 The vexed question as to the tithes also came up once more in the 
 same year, 1796. How it was settled we cannot say. Here is the letter 
 of P. de Saint Pierre to one of his confreres, probably Father Bernard 
 of St. Louis : 
 
 "There is a difficulty between the Saeristan of this parish and a 
 married soldier who keeps his home separately in his own house. The 
 Saeristan asks 39 litres of wheat for the beadle aecording to the custom 
 of the parish and again as much for himself annually. The soldier 
 refuses to pay. I believe the soldier is obliged to pay since he has his 
 house and family outside military quarters. The beadle told me that the 
 commanding officer holds a different opinion. 
 
 I wish to be well informed before I speak to him and 1 ask you 
 to tell me what is customary in your parish, and if you can, inquire 
 from the Lieutenant Governor himself. If the officers of the regiment 
 who reside in their own houses in the capital are obliged to support 
 public works, I am sure that the soldiers in Illinois or any other garrison 
 should be equally obliged. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 Paul De Saint Pierre." 8 
 
 As Father de Saint Pierre, by his long and faithful service, had 
 firmly established himself in the affection of his people, it was a great 
 shock to them to hear that their good pastor had been recalled. Gone 
 from Ste. Genevieve he certainly was, since December 1795, and no 
 one knew whither he had gone. All the old rumors, so long asleep, woke 
 up suddenly and set about their ugly business. The ancient story of 
 the conflict with Bishop Carroll and his long-departed Vicar-General, 
 De La Valiniere, had taken on a new lease of life. The truth was that 
 Father de Saint Pierre had quietly undertaken a journey to Baltimore 
 in order to settle this very matter for good, as we learn from a letter 
 found in the Archives of the Missouri Historical Society. In accordance 
 with this fact, we find the name of de Saint Pierre is wanting in the 
 Records of Ste. Genevieve from December 3, 1795, to May 22, 1796. 
 In its stead we find for January and February, 1796, the name of 
 Pierre Joseph Didier, Parish Priest of Saint Charles; in March, Pierre 
 Janin of St. Louis ; in April Didier once more, and in May, Jacques 
 Maxwell, the new Vicar-General. On the 27th day of Ma v. 1796. P. de 
 
 7 Ste. Genevieve Archives. 
 
 8 " American Catholic Historical Researches," January 1898, p. It. A litre is 
 1.76 pints. 
 
Results of the Discord 175 
 
 Saint Pierre returned to Ste. Genevieve. The journey to Baltimore 
 had occupied about six months, the time of his absence from the parish. 
 The letter we referred to is addressed to Don Francois Valle, the Com- 
 mandant of Ste. Genevieve under date of New Orleans, January 20, 
 1796: 
 
 ' ' My Dear Friend : 
 
 I must inform you of the atrocious calumnies that are being" cir- 
 culated in regard to me : 
 
 1. That the Bishop of Baltimore had forbidden me all sacerdotal 
 functions within his jurisdiction. 
 
 2. That I had performed them during an entire year without his 
 orders. 
 
 3. That he had finally driven me from the American Illinois and 
 ordered that his parish priests should have all my jurisdictional functions 
 done over again. 
 
 I at once asked that I be informed of the authors of these calumnies ; 
 but they are being hidden from me, I do not know for what reason. At 
 the same time, I asked permission to be allowed to go in person to see 
 the Bishop of Baltimore on this subject. This permission was given me, 
 with the very highest testimonial regarding my conduct, which, it said, 
 was altogether above reproach during the time that I officiated as parish 
 priest with you, and an appeal to the Bishop was added at the same 
 time, that he pronounce judgment on the above mentioned charges. 
 
 According to these false reports it was believed that I had abandoned 
 my duties as parish priest without having reported to my superiors. In 
 this belief, before my arrival here (in New Orleans), another priest was 
 sent in my place. In conformity with my promises made to the inhabi- 
 tants I shall not accept any other parish than that of Ste. Genevieve. 
 I was assured that it would be reserved for me, and that orders would be 
 issued to the afore-mentioned priest to go farther on. 
 
 Upon my return to your town, I, on my part, promised to clear my- 
 self, with the high testimonal of the Bishop of Baltimore, of the calumnies 
 made against me and to show the falseness of the alleged articles. This 
 step did not cost me anything, as I had been engaged to take the trip by 
 sea for reasons known to you. 
 
 Be kind enough to present my respects to your wife and give my 
 love to all of your family for me. Say to my friends and all the parish- 
 ioners that I appreciate highly their affection, and that I am absolutely 
 unalterable in the resolutions and promises which I made, of not accept- 
 ing any other parish than theirs, and that I absent myself from them, only 
 to justify myself against the calumnies of wicked tongues, that I may 
 remain with them for a longer and more peaceful period. Beg them 
 also to cherish, assist and satisfy, in every possible way, the priest who 
 
1/ii History of lln Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 will be sent in my place, and present my respect to him, and say that 
 whatever I have is at Ids service and at Ids disposal, so as to make his 
 stay agreeable." 
 
 But the days of Father de Saint Pierre as Pastor of Ste. Gene- 
 vieve were already numbered. Father James Maxwell, an Irish priest, 
 who had made his studies at Salamanca, had arrived just before de Saint 
 Pierre's return from Baltimore, in May 1796. Father Maxwell came as 
 Grand Vicar of the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba and took up his res- 
 idence in New Bourbon, whilst de Saint Pierre for a time continued 
 his priestly ministrations at Ste. Genevieve. Two priests, in what was 
 practically one parish, could not exist and would not subserve the best 
 interests of religion. Father de Saint Pierre, though not removed, had 
 to leave. The old militant spirit bowed to the acknowledged authority 
 of the new-comer. On the second day of January 1797, a public auction 
 was held, at which the former pastor's lot of ground with house and 
 barn, and all pertaining thereto, two slaves included, were sold to the 
 highest bidders. The property is described as fronting on the Kue de 
 l'Eglise, and bounded on the one side by the home of John B. Valle, 
 and the homes of Augustin Aubuchon and John B. Lalumandiere on 
 the other. The amount realized was 1600 pesetos or dollars, payable 
 either in money, or lead and peltry. The last entry of Father de Saint 
 Pierre in the Baptismal Record of Ste. Genevieve was on February 
 27, 1797. What his immediate destination was we could not discover ; 
 probably the capital of the Province, New Orleans. Did he retire for 
 a time from active service, or did he perhaps make a visit to the old 
 home across the sea? The monasteries in France were abolished long 
 since. In his native land he was forgotten. America had become his 
 true home. But what was his later course ? After the erection of the 
 diocese of New Orleans in 1799, with Msgr. Louis Pehalver y Cardenas 
 as its first bishop, we catch a glimpse once more of Father de Saint Pierre 
 in Natchez^ The historian, John Gilmary Shea, in one of his letters to 
 Chancellor Van der Sanden speaks of a voluminous-document in Spanish, 
 preserved in the diocesan Archives of Baltimore ; a kind of record of 
 trial under Bishop Pehalver of Father de Saint Pierre for breaches of 
 discipline. The outcome of this trial must not have been unfavorable 
 to the much buffeted missionary. 
 
 In any case he was one of the four priests of the twenty-six in 
 all Louisiana, who, according to the statement of the Administrator, Rev. 
 Thomas Hassett, December 23, 1803, "agreed to remain in their respective 
 stations under the French government," and in consequence he received 
 the appointment as Pastor of St. Gabriel's, Iberville, a parish on both 
 sides of the Mississippi, "rather difficult to attend but also very lucra- 
 tive," as a contemporary writes. Here Father de Saint Pierre labored 
 
Results of the Discord 177 
 
 with great, no longer "unmanageable" zeal and success, and until his 
 death, October 15, 1826, fully twenty-two years. 
 
 Father Laval, in his notes transmitted to John Gilmary Shea, prais- 
 es Father de Saint Pierre as "one of the most remarkable priests that 
 ever administered St. Gabriel's church." "During his time," he says, 
 "the church was removed from its former place on the bank of the Miss- 
 issippi to where it now stands, the river having swept away the bank in 
 front of it in 1717." 
 
 At St. Gabriel's Father de Saint Pierre, the last representative of 
 the old regime, received the visit of Father Francis Cellini, one of the 
 earliest followers of Bishop Du Bourg, who in his letter dated September 
 30, 1822, styled him "le brave et bon de Saint Pierre." Bishop Rosati 
 never paid the old lion the honor of a visit. 
 
 On September 23, Father Anthony Blanc of Baton Rouge, informed 
 Bishop Rosati that he had administered the last sacraments to the pastor 
 of Iberville. De Saint Pierre, whom he regularly styles, "the Old Man," 
 being in his eighty-first year, could not, in all probability, survive the 
 illness. The parish itself, he added, was in a flourishing condition. The 
 older people attended High Mass and the Sunday Vespers with greatest 
 regularity and devotion. Because the parish had for so many years en- 
 joyed a well-ordered pastoral care, it would be advisable to appoint a 
 successor immediately after the death of de Saint Pierre, or even during 
 his lifetime ; in the latter case, the successor might reside at Baton Rouge. 
 The "Old Man" would not have an assistant. The bishop, suggests Father 
 Blanc, might appoint a Lazarist, or Father Michaud, who was fatigue et 
 degoute souverainement du service a la paroisse de N. Orleans. There 
 was another reason for this undignified haste. The "Old Man" himself 
 had provided the necessity for an early appointment. There was a clause 
 in the good Father's Last Will bequeathing all his property, valued by 
 Father Blanc at about $6,000.00, exclusive of two slaves, furniture, 
 cattle, etc., to his successor. Another clause ordained that "the priest 
 who should officiate at his burial was to be the administrator of his estate, 
 two laymen to assist him." Father Michaud received the appointment 
 immediately after the death of the testator, and Father Anthony Blanc 
 performed the last rites of the church over the remains of his friend and 
 neighbor. P. Paul de Saint Pierre had found rest eternal. Per varios 
 casus, per tot discrimina rerum, his memory still lives as one of the most 
 remarkable men of our early western days. 
 
 For Father Pierre Gilbault, also, there was no place any longer 
 in Bishop Carroll's diocese, of which Cahokia now formed a part. 
 
 The Spanish authorities, however were glad to secure the services of 
 such a distinguished priest. The rising town of New Madrid, together 
 with the old settlement Arkansas Post, were assigned to him, and they 
 
178 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 enjoy the honor of having received Father Gilbaults' last ministra- 
 tions. The site where New Madrid was now in process of building, 
 L'Anse a la Graise, lay on the great Indian trail to the North and 
 West. It had all the advantages necessary for a good trading post. 
 Strange to say, this Catholic town with a proud Spanish name owes its 
 origin to an Anglo-American and a Protestant at that, Colonel George 
 Morgan, a native of New Jersey and a graduate of Princeton. Trader, 
 judge, Indian agent and soldier of distinction, Colonel Morgan was with 
 O'Rielly's fleet, when the Spaniards took possession of Louisiana (1769). 
 In a memorial addressed to the Spanish Ambassador Don Diego Gar- 
 doqui, Morgan proposed to establish a colony near the mouth of the Ohio, 
 the Beautiful River, as it was then called, in territory then belonging to 
 the Spanish crown, in which he promised he would have at least one 
 hundred thousand souls within ten years. But two conditions were laid 
 down by Morgan ; the settlers should have the right of self government, 
 and should be exempt from taxation. Gardoqui granted the concession, 
 subject, however, to the approval of the King. The grant embraced from 
 twelve to fifteen million acres of land along the Mississippi from the 
 mouth of the St. Francis River in Arkansas, to Cape St. Cosme in Perry 
 County, Missouri. In order to gain settlers for his principality, Morgan 
 made extensive trips among the Germans of Pennsylvania, of whom he 
 wrote to Don Diego, that these people have been a valuable acquisition 
 "to America. . . A greater number of them than I expected to find, are 
 Catholics." Upon his new followers the doughty Colonel impressed the 
 fact, that they would enjoy perfect freedom in religious matters .... 
 and would make converts of the whole country." 
 
 On the 14th of February, 1789, Morgan and his followers reached 
 the Mississippi River and landed opposite the mouth of the Ohio. Leaving 
 the main party in what is now Mississippi County, Morgan, with a few 
 companions, journeyed by land to St. Louis, and on his return he selected 
 the site for the future city of New Madrid, the capital of his principality. 
 In a letter dated New Madrid, April 14, 1789, the colonists give a very 
 interesting account of the virgin land to which they have come, and the 
 grand prospects before them. 
 
 This circular letter in behalf of Morgan's foundation was first print- 
 ed in the Virginia Gazette and Weekly Advertiser, of August 27, 1789. 
 Morgan caused sufficient land for 350 farms of 320 acres each to be 
 surveyed and to be divided among settlers, who should come on or before 
 May 1, 1790, the settlers to take the oath of allegiance to the King of 
 Spain, and to pay forty-eight American dollars for each farm. It was 
 expected that every succeeding year would add at least a thousand fam- 
 ilies to the colony. As Houck tells us : " In New Madrid lots were dedicated 
 to the use of the Roman Catholic church and school, Episcopal church and 
 
Results of the Discord 179 
 
 school, Presbyterian and German Lutheran church and school, and Ger- 
 man Catholic church and school." 9 
 
 The grand plan was frustrated in a very large measure by the 
 machinations of Governor Estevan Miro, who succeeded in having the 
 concession cancelled, and the new city put under Spanish administration. 
 Colonel Morgan retired to his Manor Morganza in Pennsylvania. Some 
 of the settlers moved to Little Prairie and elsewhere. Yet a steady stream 
 of colonists, from the states beyond the Mississippi set in, especially from 
 Vincennes and the French royalist settlement of Gallipolis. At first the 
 new settlement was placed under the jurisdiction of Henri Peyroux, Com- 
 mandant of Ste. Genevieve. In July 1789, Governor Miro dispatched 
 Lieutenant Pierre Foucher with a small company of soldiers to build a 
 fort at New Madrid and to take civil and military command of the place. 
 New colonists came pouring in day by day. "All our Americans of Port 
 Vincennes will go to Morgan," wrote Major Hamtramck, in 1789, and 
 ' ' within twenty days not less than a hundred souls have passed daily to 
 the colony." Foucher was succeeded as Commandant by Thomas Por- 
 telle, September 1791. So far the great majority of the settlers were 
 Creoles and French. 10 
 
 What we have written here, concerns more the rising town of New 
 Madrid than the Catholic church established there. But Governor Estevan 
 Miro, whilst antagonizing the founder of New Madrid, helped to found the 
 church in the new settlement. A Catholic church and priest were consid- 
 ered essential to the well being of any Spanish settlement. But first a 
 priest must be had. There were two applicants for the position : Father 
 Paul de Saint Pierre, the German Carmelite Missionary, wrote from 
 Cahokia to his Bishop in New Orleans on May 1, 1787. "A new estab- 
 lishment has been begun a little below the entrance of the Beautiful River. 
 They will need a priest who knows English and German. I offer myself 
 for this place. You may dispose of me according to your pleasure and 
 good will." 11 The German Carmelite received the appointment, not to 
 New Madrid, but to old Ste. Genevieve, whilst the socalled ' ' patriot priest 
 of the West," Pierre Gibault, was called to New Madrid, where he re- 
 ceived the appointment as pastor of the Parish church of Saint Isidore 
 in 1793. But Gibault 's spiritual labors in New Madrid began much sooner, 
 probably in 1789, when he left Cahokia. This Parish of New Madrid, 
 included the dependencies of Arkansas Post and Little Prairie, which 
 latter village was founded by Francois Le Sieur, in 1797, whilst Arkansas 
 
 9 Houck, Louis, "The Spanish Regime in Missouri," gives a re-translation 
 from the Spanish version. The original English appeared in the "Virginia Gazette 
 and Weekly Advertiser," August 27, 1789. 
 
 >° The Catholic Germans who had been expected to come on from Pennsylvania 
 did not respond in large numbers, 
 ii Catholic Archives, Notre Dame. 
 
180 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Post dates back lo the days of Saint Cosine and his companions. Father 
 Gibault administered the sacraments of the church in Arkansas Post as 
 early as October 8, 1792, and signed himself as "Cure clu de la Nouvelle 
 .Madrid," parish priest-elect of New Madrid, thai is, Ins election was not 
 as yet confirmed by episcopal authority. But on duly 11, 1793, he firsl 
 signs an entry of marriage, " 1*. Gilbault per nous Pretre, Cure de la Nou- 
 velle Madrid.'" From this it follows that Father Gibault attended New 
 Madrid and its dependencies since his departure from Cahokia in 1791. 
 and became the first canonical pastor of New Madrid in 17!).'5. 
 
 The immediate reason for Father Gibault 's change to the Spanish 
 jurisdiction and civil allegiance is to be sought in two facts: that he was 
 no longer welcome in the diocese of Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, whose 
 claim to all the territory of the United States was now acknowledged, and 
 that he was not allowed to return to his home in Canada on account of 
 his political activities in Kaskaskia and Vincennes. An offer from Cath- 
 olic Spain was therefore most acceptable, especially, as he knew the 
 various older French settlements on the Spanish side of the river. It 
 is certain that Father Gibault took the oath of allegiance to His Most 
 Christian Majesty 12 and that he attained some real successes in his new 
 field of labor. 
 
 Spiritually, he was now under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
 Louisiana and Florida, represented in Upper Louisiana by the Vicar-Gen- 
 eral James Maxwell residing in Ste. Genevieve. As pastor he received a 
 salary of 600 dollars from the Government, in addition to the perquisites 
 which were fixed by royal ordinance. He succeeded in 1799 to obtain the 
 consent of his parishioners as well as of the Intendant Morales to build a 
 church in New Madrid, dedicated to St. Isidore. . The church was an 
 edifice 60 feet long, 28 feet wide and 16 feet high between ground and 
 ceiling. "The carpenter work," says the report of the commissioners, 
 "is constructed of cypress timber, covered on the outside with planks of 
 the same wood. It has a partition in the width for the sacristy, ten open- 
 ings with their windows and gratings, an altar with tabernacle of cherry- 
 wood, a picture of the Holy Virgin Mary eight feet high by five and 
 one-half feet wide, framed in wood, a belfry with a metal bell weighing 
 fifty pounds," which was estimated to be worth 1200 pesos. The parish 
 residence w r as a building 21 feet by 16 feet wide, rather small according 
 to modern ideas of comfort. It was, as Houck tells us, doubled without 
 and within with cypress planks, the floor and ceiling and a partition 
 wall of cypress planks, a double brick chimney, four openings with their 
 windows and doors and gratings, a gallery in front, with floors and ceil- 
 ings, a cellar under said house and a stairway to mount the garret. In 
 addition to this parish residence was a kitchen 18 feet long by 15 feet wide 
 
 12 Houck, "The Spanish Regime in Missouri," vol. I, p. 336. 
 
Results of the Discord 181 
 
 and also a bake house 15 feet long and 10 feet wide and over 30 feet in 
 circumference, with frames complete, made of brick, and a roof of car- 
 penter work and this bake house was equipped with all the utensils 
 necessary for baking, all valued at 120 pesos. 13 
 
 In this parochial residence, surrounded by a large garden, Father 
 Gibault lived in ease and comfort with his colored servants well able 
 to entertain the Vicar-General of Upper Louisiana, Father Maxwell, 
 who would occasionally ride down from Ste. Genevieve for a brief visit, 
 unless he himself were absent on a more or less laborious journey to his 
 stations along the river as far as Arkansas Post to the South and Tywap- 
 pity Bottom to the North. As Stoddard in his Louisiana informs us, the 
 expense of building and furnishing the church was paid by the Govern- 
 ment, although Father Maxwell insists that the well-to-do inhabitants are 
 obliged, under the laws of the Kingdom to contribute to the construction 
 of the church. 
 
 It was a subscription sufficiently meagre as we can judge from 
 Francisco Miranda's Report on the church furnishings he found in St. 
 Isidore's church of New Madrid in 1805, as recorded by Houck in his 
 Spanish Regime in Missouri. 
 
 During the Spanish regime the Catholic religion was the only one 
 tolerated in Louisiana : yet the authorities recognized a certain liberty 
 of conscience. On March 29, 1797, the Governor Don Manuel Gayoso de 
 Lemos issued a Proclamation from which the following is an extract : 
 "The misconstruction of what is meant by the enjoyment of the liberty 
 of conscience is hereby removed by explaining it precisely to be, that no 
 individual of this government, shall be molested on account of religious 
 principles, and that they shall not be hindered in their private meetings ; 
 but no other public worship shall be allowed, but that generally esta- 
 blished in all His Majestys dominions which is the Catholic religion." 14 
 The occasion for the proclamation Avas an incident that happened in New 
 Madrid on June 9, 1797. An itinerant Baptist minister of the name of 
 Hannah, had, at the request of Mr. Andrew Elliot, the U. S. Commissioner 
 General for Determining the Boundary of the Spanish Possessions, who 
 was then the Governor's guest, obtained permission to preach a sermon 
 in Mr. Elliot's camp, near New Madrid, with the restriction that he should 
 not touch on political topics. The announcement of a Protestant sermon, 
 being a new thing in the country, drew together a very large audience. 
 "The preacher being a weak man was extremely puffed up with the at- 
 tentions he received on that occasion, which were more from the novelty 
 of the case than his own merit and talent, and paved the way for a 
 commotion which took place a few days after. . . . The minister had 
 
 is Houck, op. cit., vol. II, p. 351. 
 
182 History of the Arckdvocest of St. Louis 
 
 with enthusiastic zeal, which was a little heightened by liquor, entered 
 into religious controversy in a disorderly pari of the town, generally in- 
 habited at that time by Irish Roman Catholics, who took offense as the 
 manner in which he treated the tenets of their ehurch and in revenge 
 gave him a beating. He immediately called upon the Governor, and in 
 a presumptive manner demanded justice ; threatening at the same time to 
 do it for himself, if his request was not complied with. The Governor, 
 with more patience and good temper than ordinary, advised him to re- 
 flect a few minutes, and then repeat his request, which the Preacher did 
 in the same words, accompanied with a threat. Upon which the Governor 
 immediately ordered him to be committed to the prison, which was with- 
 in the Fort, and his legs to be placed in the stocks." 14 
 
 This vivid picture from the Journal of Andrew Elliot, showing that 
 a part of Father Gibault parishioners were of the militant kind, derives 
 additional interest from the fact that at that very time Father James 
 Maxwell, the Vicar General, was with the Spanish Commandant at New 
 Madrid, being described by Elliot in his Journal, as "a Clergyman of 
 Rome, a Native of Ireland, of the name of Maxwell, a well informed 
 liberal gentleman, who acted as interpreter." 
 
 Mr. Houck 15 gives the substance of a few official letters written by 
 Maxwell to Gibault, saying that it appears from them that the Parish 
 Priest of New Madrid and its dependencies was altogether too lenient in 
 the matter of demanding the usual offerings for the dispensations granted, 
 (•specially from the proclamation of the bans, to which fees the Vicar 
 General, or rather his Chancery, was entitled. "In one letter," writes 
 Houck, "dated October 1801, which has been preserved in the New 
 Madrid Archives, Father Maxwell severely reprimanded him for per- 
 forming a ceremony between a Mr. Randall and Miss Sara Waller, the 
 latter being a minor, without the consent of her father and mother, both 
 being residents of the Cape Girardeau district," that is within Father 
 Maxwell's own parish limits. From this it is evident that Father Gibault 
 was still among the living and, at that, in New Madrid, at the close of 
 1801, although not in very excellent standing with his spiritual superiors. 
 
 It appears from the New Madrid Records that Father Gibault was 
 not at New Madrid after March 29, 1804, for during a period of eight 
 months, March 19, 1804 — Nov. 28, 1804, the Commandant Juan Lavalle 
 assists at and certifies to the marriages contracted at New Madrid. From 
 Nov. 28, 1804 Father Leander Lusson, the Pastor of St. Charles, per- 
 forms this office as the New Madrid Records bear witness, 10 until Decem- 
 ber 9, 1804. From that date on until April 15, 180C>, marriages are 
 contracted before the civil magistrate. 
 
 "Elliot's Journal,'' pp. (15 and 6(5. 
 
 Houck 's "History of Missouri," vol. II, pp. 302. 
 
 "New Madrid Archives," vol. VIII, p. 470-487. 
 
Results of the Discord 183 
 
 This seems to be the last documentary trace we have about the 
 storm-tossed man and servant of Holy Church. John Gilmary Shea, in 
 his History of the Catholic Church in the United States, says that both 
 Fathers John Olivier and Gabriel Richard had written to Bishop Carroll 
 of Baltimore that Father Pierre Gibault, one time Vicar General of the 
 Bishop of Quebec in the Illinois Country, had died at New Madrid in 
 1804. These letters are said to be in the archives of the Archdiocese of 
 Baltimore. There are some who say that Gibault returned to Canada 
 after 1801 or 1802, and died there probably in 1804. But this point 
 remains doubtful. The transfer of Louisiana and with it of New Madrid, 
 to the United States, was consummated by Laussat in behalf of France, 
 on December 29, 1803. It may be that Father Gibault did not live to see 
 the great change, in the preparation of which he had been such an 
 important actor in his Kaskaskia days under General George Rogers 
 Clark. It is even doubtful whether he would have welcomed the change 
 to American sovereignty of what had once been the proud possession of 
 his own race. In any case it must be remembered that Father Gibault 
 was first and all the time an humble, laborious and enthusiastic servant 
 of God's Kingdom, the Church, and that his chief business was not 
 empire building, but the salvation of souls. Indeed, he had in himself but 
 little of the warrior-patriot, as some have lovingly described him. It 
 was through circumstances over which he had no control, but whose 
 control he readily accepted, that this simple priest and missionary was 
 elevated to the exalted position of one of the three founders of the Re- 
 public in the West. 17 
 
 Father Gibault appears as the connecting link between the old 
 glorious Jesuit mission period in Illinois and the still more glorious 
 development of the church in the Mississippi Valley. Touching the hand 
 of the last of the Jesuits, Father Sebastian Meurin, he trained for the 
 priesthood that noble scion of Ste. Genevieve, Father Henri Pratte, who 
 was to welcome to the wild but promising West, the pioneer bishop 
 William Du Bourg and his little army of missionaries in 1818. 
 
 l? Clark, Vigo and Gibault, ef. Judge Law's "Colonial History of 
 Vineennes, ' ' p. 55. 
 
Chapter 10 
 THE SULPICIANS IX THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 
 
 After the Diocese of Baltimore had been officially extended to the 
 Mississippi River, the duty of Bishop Carroll to provide priests for the 
 long- forsaken Missions and Parishes, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Prairie Du 
 Rocher and Vincennes, became imperative. He was fortunate to obtain 
 from Paris a number of very excellent members of the Sulpieian Con- 
 gregation, some for his new seminary at Baltimore, others for the western 
 missions. Among - the latter were, besides the future Bishops of Bardstown, 
 Flaget and David, the Fathers Michael Levadoux, Jean Francois Rivet 
 and Gabriel Richard. These priests were assigned as follows: Levadoux 
 lo Cahokia, Rivet to Vincennes, Richard to Prairie du Rocher, and the 
 secular priest, Pierre Janin, to Kaskaskia. Only Rivet and Janin had 
 Indian Missions. 
 
 The first Sulpieian to accept the position of a shepherd of souls' 
 in the old Illinois missionary field, and, for that matter, in the United 
 States, was the saintly Benedict Joseph Flaget. Born December 7, 1763, 
 at Contournat, in the Auvergne, he became a member of the Congregation 
 of St. Sulpice in November 1783, and pursued his theological studies 
 at Issy, near Paris, under Father Gabriel Richard, as Superior. The 
 revolution, that swept away so many of the monuments of French piety, 
 learning and art, drove the young priest away from home to America, in 
 company of the Sulpieian Fathers Chicoisneau and David, and the sub- 
 deacon, Stephen Theodor Badin. 
 
 The missionaries reached Philadelphia on March 29, 1792. The 
 youthful Flaget was immediately sent as pastor to the old French settle- 
 ment on the Wabash, Vincennes, 2 where he arrived a few days before 
 
 i The Congregation of St. Sulpice was intended for Seminary work. Mis 
 sionary activity was assigned to them at the request of Bishop Carroll. 
 
 2 Since the days of the early Jesuits the Church of Vincennes has maintained 
 intimate relations with the French Catholics along the Mississippi. Father Mermet, 
 the Jesuit from Kaskaskia, was its first priest. Then came the heroic Father Senat, 
 the martyr of duty in the Chicasaw war, and a little later the Jesuits Vivier and 
 Meurin, all members of the Illinois Mission. Father Gibault was the pastor, until 
 his appointment to New Madrid on the Spanish side. On Bishop Du Bourg 's as- 
 sumption of the charge of the Illinois Mission, Vincennes was thrown in for good 
 measure, and two of his best priests, Anthony Blanc and Andrew Ferrari, were sent 
 there to revive the faith. The town on the Wabash was named for the Sieur John 
 Baptist Vincennes whom the Chicasaws burned to death with his friend and com- 
 panion Father Senat in 173G. 
 
 (184) 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 185 
 
 Christmas. What ho saw and experienced there among the Indians who 
 had returned to an almost savage life, and the Creoles who had inter- 
 married with the Indians and had adopted many of their ways and 
 manners, was enough to discourage any ordinary man. The church of 
 Father Gibault, a log building, still remained, but in a dilapidated con- 
 dition; the altar was a primitive construction of a few boards, rudely 
 put together. Yet, the poverty and bareness of his surroundings did not 
 dishearten Father Flaget, though it touched him deeply, reminding him 
 of Bethlehem and its manger. What hurt him much more was the 
 coldness and indifference of his people, of whom only twelve could lie 
 moved to approach Holy Communion during the Christmas festivities. 
 Seeing that the way of converting the old was through the plastic hearts 
 of their children, he established a school, in which he taught the rudi- 
 ments of learning and the principles and practices of religion. A goodly 
 number of the parishioners, Indian and French Creoles, were won over 
 to the almost forgotten Christian practices. Hut no less did he endeavor 
 to improve the social condition of these poor neglected and persecuted 
 people. He had looms made, and taught the women the art of weaving; he 
 encouraged agriculture and sought to instill habits of industry in the 
 half -savage hunters and trappers. 
 
 During Father Flaget 's stay at Vincennes, the smallpox visited the 
 people of the town, and the Indians in the neighboring villages, and 
 continued its ravages, though intermittently, for a whole year. With 
 full knowledge of the dangers he incurred, he waited on the afflicted, 
 administered the sacraments and buried the dead. Many among the 
 Miamis and other Indians received Baptism on their death-bed. 
 
 With such a lonely life in the wilderness, with no priestly companion 
 within reach, and deprived of all the comforts of cultured society the 
 young missionary bore the "burdens of the day and the heats thereof" 
 most manfully. When he fell sick in October 1793, his vigorous consti- 
 tution and his never-failing confidence in God soon restored him. But he 
 was destined for higher things, and at the call of his Superiors, he left 
 Vincennes for Baltimore at the end of April 1795. 
 
 The disastrous war with the savages at last brought the United 
 States government, not so much to a realization of its duty towards 
 the poor children of forest and prairie, but rather to a clearer estimate 
 of the advantages to be gained by bringing them under religious in- 
 fluences. 
 
 President Washington recommended to Congress the adoption of 
 a more helpful treatment of the Indians. Bishop Carroll at once offered 
 the services of Father Rivet, and the offer was accepted. A commission 
 was issued to him as "Missionary to the Indians," with an annual allow- 
 
18(i History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 since of $200.00. Father Rivet immediately set out for the .Mission of 
 St. Francis Xavier near Vincennes, and arrived there June 12, 1795. 3 
 
 Father Pierre Janin received a similar commission, and came to 
 Kaskaskia in Octoher of the same year. Both found, what Father Rivet 
 had expected from the start, "only trouble, privation and the duty of 
 making every kind of sacrifice." Through the disastrous war tiie Indians 
 had become savages once more, with the vices of the whites added to their 
 old ones. The French Catholics were apathetic, and the government 
 officials neglected to pay the yearly allowances. Father Janin soon re- 
 signed Ids commission as "Missionary to the Indians" and Pastor of 
 Kaskaskia, to go to St. Louis on the Spanish side. Father Gabriel Richard 
 attended the place from Prairie du Rocher. Fever attacked the new- 
 comers to the American Bottoms. "So far I have had only three attacks 
 of the fever, wrote Father Levadoux from Cahokia, "but they have left 
 me so weak, that I can scarcely keep from falling at every step." "Father 
 Rivet at Vincennes has been more fortunate in tins respect. But his 
 Indians were all in winter quarters, and will not be back for a few 
 months." "One great drawback, is that I am still without means, having 
 no interpreter of my own, not knowing the language, having no opportu- 
 nity to learn it, and being scarcely able to vegetate with the meagre 
 salary given me by the United States. We have not even received a cent 
 of the first quarter of that salary, now that the fourth quarter is due." 
 "The Governor tells us that we have been forgotten." 4 
 
 Discouraging as the care of the Indians was, the experiences Father 
 Rivet had with the French were still more heartrending: "Notwith- 
 standing all my care in a village composed of one hundred and four 
 Catholic families, which number about three hundred, or three hundred 
 and fifty communicants, I had only eighty-eight persons who presented 
 themselves at the tribunal of Penance and forty two at the Holy Table, 
 although my indulgence has been almost excessive." 3 The good Father 
 begs his Bishop to send his people a pastoral letter, especially in regard to 
 "the necessity of sending the children to Catechism, and not to leave 
 them, until the age of thirteen or fourteen, in almost absolute ignorance 
 of all their duties of religion, to take them out of the hands of the priests, 
 as soon as they haw made their First Communion. " fi Another common 
 vice, the Father most bitterly condems, is "the uncontrollable passion 
 for nocturnal dances." The population of our villages is made up of 
 
 3 "Rev. John Rivet," by Camillus 1*. Maes in "Ecclesiastical Review." vol. V. 
 July and August. 
 
 •* Ibidem, p. 40. 
 
 5 Ibidem, p. It. 
 Ibidem, p. 45. 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 187 
 
 people from all over the world, ' ' 7 adds Father Rivet as one of the causes 
 of this almost universal demoralization. 
 
 Father Rivet, however regarded himself as primarily a missionary 
 appointed for the savages, and as such he had very noteworthy success. 
 As to Father Rivet's zeal for the salavation of his poor Indian children, 
 Bishop Carroll bears ample testimony: "Father Rivet visits the neigh- 
 boring- Indians and applies himself incessantly in fulfilling the object of 
 his appointment, and disposing them to maintain a friendly temper to- 
 wards the United States. He is indefatigable in instructing them in the 
 principles of Christianity, and not without success, which however, would 
 be much greater if the traders could be restrained from spoiling the 
 fruits of his labors by the introduction and sale of spirituous liquors. 
 In the discharge of his useful occupations, M. Rivet has undergone much 
 distress. The Indians afford nothing for his subsistence ; on the contrary, 
 he is often obliged to share the little he possesses with them." 8 
 
 "God rewarded his zeal," says Father Rivet's biographer, "with 
 abundant spiritual fruit." The Vincennes Registers of Baptisms and 
 Marriages record the wonderful results of his apostolic labors among 
 the Pottowatomies. The other roaming tribes of the plains of the Wabash 
 were not overlooked : Miamis, Shawnees, Charaguis, Piankeshaws, Ouias, 
 Sioux and Kaskaskies, all contributed their share to the harvest of souls. ' ' 9 
 The infidel writer, Volney, on his tour through the West, visited Father 
 Rivet at Vincennes and expressed himself as "well-pleased with the per- 
 sonality of the learned, well-bred and very kind gentleman." He has 
 special praise for Father Rivet's "self-sacrificing efforts for the education 
 of his flock." 
 
 On October 14, 1802, Father Rivet alludes to the changes that were 
 going on beyond the Mississippi: "Governor Harrison has given me a 
 hint, that the Government may need my services in Louisiana, whence 
 most of the priests leave, to go within the lines of the domain of the 
 Spanish King (Florida), who offers to continue their pension to all who 
 locate there . . . During my last journey I went to St. Louis, and 
 everybody expressed a desire to have me there. It is probable that the 
 two shores of the Mississippi will form one and the same government 
 with the region where I reside, and in that case, Governor Harrison will 
 be strongly importuned by the people of the other shore, to send me there. 
 Alas, if they knew what I am they would not go to so much trouble." 10 
 
 7 Ibidem, p. 47. Among Father Kivet 's many other accomplishments we may 
 mention his skill in writing Latin verse. He often exchanged poetic lucubrations 
 with Father Stephen Badin. 
 
 8 Letter to Samuel Dexter, Secretary of War, Sept. 15, 1800. 
 
 9 "Rev. John Rivet," by C. P. Maes, p. 50. We preserve Father Rivet's 
 spelling of these Indian names. 
 
 lo Ibidem, p. 111. 
 
188 History of tin Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 But Father Rivet's health was breaking fast, and his end was, no 
 doubt, accelerated by extraordinary austerities, as "Sleeping on rough 
 boards covered with a worn-out cloak." Shortly after New Year's 
 Day of 1804 he felt that death was nigh. He sent word to his nearest 
 neighbor, Father Donatien Olivier, at Prairie du Rocher, to come and 
 administer to him the last rites of the Church. Anticipating his com- 
 ing he wrote out his confession. But Father Olivier was far away, and 
 the dying man sealed his written confession and addressed it to his 
 brother priest. Father Olivier arrived at Vincennes three days after 
 Father Rivet's death. "He died as he had lived, extremely poor and 
 extremely regretted by his parishioners," wrote Father Gabriel Richard, 
 the companion of former days. 11 
 
 Father Michael Levadoux was one of the companions of Father 
 Nagot on the journey to Baltimore in 1791. A year or so after his 
 arrival he and Father Gabriel Richard were sent by Bishop Carroll to 
 the French settlements along the Mississippi. Father Flaget on his 
 way to Vincennes met them at the Falls of the Ohio, now, Louisville,. 
 Father Levadoux took up his abode at Cahokia, whilst Richard went 
 to Prairie du Rocher. After the recall of Father Flaget, Father Rivet 
 was sent to Vincennes, and a secular priest, Pierre Janin, to Kaskas- 
 kia. Father Levadoux was appointed Vicar General of the district. 
 The Sulpician, John Dilhet, in his Memoir "On the church in the diocese 
 of the United States," says: "M. Levadoux went there (Cahokia), by 
 order 1 of his superiors, the Bishop of Baltimore and M. Nagot, Superior 
 of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Baltimore. He built a splendid church 
 there, in the vicinity, I do not know where. M. Olivier succeeded 
 him." 12 This testimony of a brother in religion is sufficiently perplex- 
 ing. Yet it contains a grain of certain truth; the fact that the church 
 at Cahokia was built, at least in part, by Vicar-General Levadoux. As 
 Father Dilhet resided at Detroit with Fathers Levadoux and Richard, 
 he must have had his information from the best sources. What Father 
 Dilhet probably meant, was that Father Levadoux had been sent to the 
 district of Cahokia, and that he built a church there, at a point un- 
 known to the writer. When Father Levadoux was changed from Caho- 
 kia to Detroit in 1796, to be succeeded, after an interval of a few years, 
 by Father John Olivier, Father Gabriel Richard attended to the wants 
 of the people of Cahokia, and also to the construction of the church 
 begun by Father Levadoux. Certain it is that the edifice was blessed 
 in 1799 by Vicar-General Rivet, Pastor of Vincennes, who also said 
 
 ii Ibidem, p. 121. 
 
 12 Jean Dilhet "Etat De L'Eglise Catholique ou Diocese Des Etats-Unis De 
 L'Amerique Septentrionale, " Washington, D. C, 1922. Translated and annotated by 
 the Kev. Patrick William Browne, S. T. D. 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 189 
 
 the first mass within its walls. This building, still in good condition, 
 though no longer used for church purposes, is the noblest memorial of 
 the Sulpician Fathers in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The first Church of the Holy Family at Cahokia built by Father 
 St. Cosme at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was probably 
 consumed by fire in 1735. Soon after this disaster the Seminary of 
 Quebec sent Father Nicholas Laurens with 25,000 livres for the purpose 
 of restoring what had been lost or damaged. At this time, no doubt, 
 the second church was erected, which served the parish until that fate- 
 ful day in November 1762, when Father Forget Du Verger, the last of 
 the Seminary priests, sold all of the mission property, and returned to 
 France. The people of Cahokia were now deprived of everything per- 
 taining to divine worship, except a bell, a monstrance, a chalice and 
 paten and a missal printed in 1668. A house had to be rented in the 
 village where visiting priests might say mass. Father Paul de Saint 
 Pierre, the Carmelite representative of the strenuous life, came to Ca- 
 hokia in 1786. The people were delighted with their pastor, and built 
 for him a parsonage at a cost of 5,000 livres and started a movement to 
 replace the church, that had meanwhile fallen to pieces. In 1789, how- 
 ever. Father de Saint Pierre left Cahokia for Ste. Genevieve, and the 
 building project lapsed for a time. 13 The "splendid church" must 
 have been begun and almost brought to completion by Father Levadoux, 
 as Father Richard also departed for Detroit in May 1797. Building 
 operations were slow and expensive in those days. The finishing touches 
 were applied under Father Donatien Olivier 's regime, so that the build- 
 ing could be dedicated to divine service by the last of the Sulpicians 
 in the Illinois country, Father John Rivet of Vincennes. 
 
 This would reconcile the apparent discrepancy in the statements, 
 that the church of Cahokia was built in 1789 and in 1799. The first 
 date marks the inception of the work, the second, however, its com- 
 pletion and dedication. Father Paul de Saint Pierre, the Carmelite, 
 gave the first impulse. Father Levadoux set the work in motion, and 
 Father Richard brought it to completion, whilst Father Rivet blessed 
 the splendid structure under the rectorship of Father John Olivier. 
 As a pleasant conclusion to this tedious account of early building opera- 
 tions, we would subjoin the clear and accurate description of the Old 
 Church at Cahokia published some years ago by one of its former pastors, 
 the Rev. Robert Hynes. 
 
 "This church is built upon a stone foundation, 31 x 74 feet. The 
 walls are hewn walnut logs placed upright six inches apart and leaning 
 
 is On Father Paul de Saint Pierre, ef. "The Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. V, p. 195, ss. 
 
190 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in from the perpendicular about eight inches. The sides oi! the logs 
 facing each other are beveled to a depth of two inches to receive and 
 hold the mixture of stone and mortar with which the interstices are 
 filled. The logs are securely mortised into heavy timbers below and 
 above, and braced at each angle of the building. Not a nail was used 
 in the entire structure, but huge wooden pegs were employed where 
 needed. The roof timbers are oak, squared to the dimensions of 4x4 
 inches and originally were covered with cypress clapboards. Wide 
 sycamore boards cover the floor which slopes gently from the front wall 
 to the altar rail with a fall of six inches. Originally the church had 
 no sacristy, but this need was supplied in 1833 in the form of a small 
 chapel projecting from the north wall. In the same year a correspond- 
 ing chapel was built out from the south wall to accommodate the organ 
 and choir. Later, in 1840, a larger sacristy was added to the rear of 
 the building, and a confessional was placed in the north chapel. The 
 church as it came from the hands of the builders 119 years ago is sub- 
 stantially intact today. Additions have been made, indeed, but prac- 
 tically nothing of the original building has been removed." 14 
 
 And now we come to consider the most remarkable man of all the 
 Sulpicians that served the church in the Illinois country, Father Gabriel 
 Richard. 'Tis true, this truly great and many-sided man spent only 
 six years of a long and eventful career in the Illinois Missions. Com- 
 ing to Baltimore from his college in France in 1792, he was immediately 
 sent to Kaskaskia, which post he held until May 1795, when Father 
 Pierre Janin, the Missionary to the savages, took charge. After Janin's 
 early departure for a new field, Father Gabriel returned to Kaskaskia, 
 officiating there until the advent of Father Donatien Olivier in 1799. 
 In Kaskaskia he lived among the ruins of former grandeur. Many 
 of the houses were without roof and doors. The better part of the 
 Creoles had migrated to S%. Louis. Fort Chartres lay deserted, and 
 its mighty ramparts were falling piece by piece into the Mississippi. 
 St. Anne's Church of New Chartres was no more. The Illinois Indians, 
 that had formed the two flourishing missions of Kaskaskia, were re- 
 duced to a pitiful remnant. 15 All was desolation and despair. 
 
 "The people at this post are the worst in all Illinois;" he writes 
 to Bishop Carroll "there is no religion among them, scarcely anyone 
 attending mass even on Sunday; intemperance, debauchery and idle- 
 ness are supreme." Elsewhere, however, he received better encourage- 
 
 i-i "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vol. I, p. 459. 
 
 15 In consequence of the murder of the great Chief Pontiac by an Illinois Indian 
 at Cahokia, the greater part of the Illinois tribes were exterminated. There was 
 nothing left of the Tamarois Mission at this time, and very little of that of the 
 Immaculate Conception at Kaskaskin. 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 191 
 
 merit. "I am tolerably well satisfied," he writes, "With my little village 
 of Prairie clu Roeher, although grave scandals are occasionally witnessed 
 there. My chief consolation are from five or six English families, who 
 live ten or fifteen miles from this place. They are surrounded by others 
 who are Protestants but who would be easily led into the Church if 
 I could speak the English language with greater facility." 18 
 
 Yet Father Richard labored and prayed, knowing that the result 
 was in the hands of God. The Parishes of Kaskaskia and Prairie du 
 Roeher remained in his care from 1793 to 1798. On August 1st, 1797 he 
 inscribed his name in the Baptismal Record of Ste. Genevieve as "Cure 
 de Prairie du Roeher." In September 1798, however, he became Vicar- 
 General and Parish priest of St. Anne's, Detroit, in succession to Father 
 Levadoux, who was recalled to Baltimore. 
 
 Father Gabriel Richard was a many-sided genius. Priest, pro- 
 fessor, founder of a university, editor, publisher of the first Bible print- 
 ed in the Northwest, French and English scholar with a good knowledge 
 of Spanish, German, Italian and the Algonquin languages, promoter of 
 trade, and introducer of wool-carding and spinning in the Northwest, 
 and the only member of Congress, that was, at the same time, a priest 
 in good standing. Of course, the missionary in the Illinois country did 
 not have the opportunity of showing all the facets of his personality : 
 the wider field of Detroit was necessary for their development. Yet, 
 he was always the man to recognize an opportunity when it presented 
 itself, and to realize it in a thorough manner. He had his sorrows, too, 
 and disappointments, and even persecutions to bear ; yet he met them 
 all like a man and hero. Father Gabriel Richard is, as Dr. Guilday 
 justly says, "the greatest name in the missionary annals of the Sulpi- 
 cians." Lanman's Directory of the United States Congress says of him: 
 "He was a Roman Catholic priest and a man of learning .... 
 During his pastorate of St. Ann's Church in Detroit it became his duty, 
 according to the Roman Catholic religion, to excommunicate one of his 
 parishioners, who had been divorced from his wife. For this he was 
 prosecuted for defamation of character, which resulted in a verdict 
 being given against him for one thousand dollars. This money the 
 priest could not pay, and as his parishioners were poor French settlers 
 they could not pay it for him, and he was thrown into prison. While 
 confined in the common jail, with little hope of ever being liberated, he 
 was elected a delegate to Congress, and went from his prison cell in 
 the wilds of Michigan, to his seat on the floor of Congress." 
 
 ie Richard to Carrol], January 24, 1796. Girardin, J. A., "Life and Times of 
 Gabriel Richard," in "Michigan Pioneer Collections," vol. I, p. 482. 
 
192 History of th( Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The testimony contained in the Journal of Bishop Joseph-Octave 
 Plessis of Quebec, 1816, mingles generous praise with a Little quiet sar- 
 casm : "This ecclesiastic (M. Gabriel Richard) is moreover, thoroughly 
 estimable on account of his regularity, of the variety of his knowledge, 
 and especially of an activity, of which it is difficult to form an idea. 
 He has the talent of doing, almost simultaneously, ten entirely different 
 tilings. Provided with newspapers (gazettes) well informed on all polit- 
 ical questions, ever ready to argue on religion, when the occasion 
 presents itself, and thoroughly learned in theology, he reaps his hay, 
 gathers the fruit of his garden, manages a fishery fronting his lot, teaches 
 mathematics to one young man, reading to another, devotes time to 
 mental prayer, establishes a printing press, confesses all his people, 
 imports carding and spinning wheels and looms to teach the women 
 of his parish how to work, leaves not a single act of his parochial reg- 
 ister unwritten, invents an electric machine, goes on sick calls at a very 
 great distance, writes letters to and receives others from all parts, 
 preaches on every Sunday and holy-day both lengthily and learnedly, 
 enriches his library, spends whole nights without sleep, walks for whole 
 days, loves to converse, receives company, teaches catechism to his young 
 parishioners, supports a girls' school, under the management of a few 
 female teachers of his own choosing, whom he directs like a religious 
 community whilst he gives lessons in plain-song to young boys assembled 
 in a school he has founded, leads a most frugal life, and is in good 
 health, as fresh and able at the age of fifty, as one usually is at thirty. 
 Such is the abridged portrait of this more than ordinary man ; extreme- 
 ly appreciated by the Bishop of Quebec and his traveling companions, 
 but having against him the great majority of his parishioners; entirely 
 set against him and several of whom, in their self-conceit and folly, 
 would prefer remaining without a priest to having that one." 17 
 
 Certainly we Catholics of the Mississippi Valley have every rea- 
 son to hold in reverence and love one of our precious heirlooms, the 
 memory of Father Gabriel Richard, and his Sulpician associates, in 
 Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher and Vincennes. 
 
 From 1793 to 1798 the names of Rivet, Levadoux and Richard occur 
 in the church records of each of the four parishes, as if they had re- 
 garded them as one religious establishment, each member of the com- 
 munity, however, residing in his own proper station. As a beautiful 
 trait of the earnest and lovable character of these Sulpician mission- 
 aries, we would instance their daily spiritual reunion at the altar. When 
 
 i" "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XXII, p. 224. After the 
 burning of Detroit, Father Richard was greatly instrumental in the work of re- 
 building the city. St. Anne's Church was removed to a more favorable locality. The 
 troubles with the people of St. Anne's culminated in an interdict by Bishop Flaget. 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 193 
 
 entering- on their widely dispersed missions they had arranged among 
 themselves that, day by day, they would devote the selfsame hour to 
 prayer and meditation in common, just as if they were assembled in 
 their far away community chapel. Separated in body, yet united in 
 spirit, they would approach the throne of God as faithful in all things, 
 giving thus a fine illustration of the scriptural saying: "0 quam bonum 
 et quam jucundum est fratres habitare in unum. " 
 
 After Father Rivet's death, Feb. 1804, there were no more Sul- 
 picians in the Illinois missions, until Bishop Flaget of Bardstown began 
 to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over half of the Illinois country, soon 
 to introduce his brother Sulpician, Louis William Valentine Du Bourg. 
 to the other half, west of the river, as their Bishop, and immediately 
 to relinquish to his dear friend the care, if not the possession, of his 
 own half forever. 18 
 
 The secular priests that were chosen to fill the parishes in succes- 
 sion to the Sulpicians, were the brothers Olivier, John and Donatien, 
 natives of Nantes, France. They arrived in the Illinois country in Feb- 
 ruary 1799, John going to Cahokia and Donatien to Kaskaskia and 
 Prairie du Rocher. When Father Francis Savine journeyed from 
 Canada down the Ohio in company with Bishop Flaget in May, 1811, 
 he was told to go to Cahokia, as Father John Olivier had retired to 
 New Orleans to become the chaplain of the Ursulines. From 1817 to 
 1827 Father Donatien is resident pastor of Prairie du Rocher, attend- 
 ing Kaskaskia once or twdce a month. This noble priest's character is 
 beautifully sketched by Bishop Spalding in his Life of Bishop Flaget. 
 
 "The Rev. Donatien Olivier was one among the most* pious, zealous 
 and efficient priests who ever labored in the missions of the Mississippi 
 Valley. He was universally esteemed and beloved. By the French 
 Catholics he was reverenced as a saint. His name is still held in benedic- 
 tion among them. He was for many years Vicar-General of the Bishop 
 of Baltimore, for all the missions extending over the present states of 
 Indiana and Illinois. He usually resided, it appears, at Prairie du 
 Rocher; but he visited Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Vincemies and the other 
 Catholic settlements. He was admirable for his child-like simplicity 
 and unaffected piety, which traits he continued to exhibit in the midst 
 of his apostolic labors, till old age compelled him to abandon the field 
 and seek solace and prepare for death in retirement. He died on the 
 
 i 8 At the coming of Bishop Du Bourg to St. Louis, Bishop Flaget requested thai 
 the far western part of his diocese, Illinois and a part of Indiana, be provided for 
 from St. Louis, and his request was granted. This private arrangement was made 
 permanent, at least in regard to western Illinois, by Roman decree in 1834, to remain 
 a part of St. Louis diocese until the erection of the diocese of Chicago in 1843. 
 
 Vol. 1-7 
 
194 History of the Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 29th of January, 1S41, at the Seminary of the Barrens, in Missouri, 
 at the advanced age <>f ninety-five years." 19 
 
 Father Francis Louis Savine, who served as pastor of Cahokia from 
 1812 to 1817 and incidentally attended the forsaken church of St. Louis 
 so regularly during those years, that he was considered by many as its 
 pastor, acted in Cahokia under the ordinary, and in St. Louis, under 
 the delegated powers < of Bishop Benedict Flaget of Bardstown, Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 One of the chroniclers of St. Louis, Judge Wilson Primm, who 
 seems to have caught the inspiration from Bishop Rosati's historical 
 interest, gives us a slight pen-picture of Father Francis Savine, the 
 friend of his early days: "Priest Savine was the last of the Canadian 
 Mission sent to this region of country by the Bishop of Quebec. There 
 are many now living who remember "le pcre Savine" with perfect 
 distinctness. He was a man of fine presence, of amiable disposition, 
 zealous in the performance of his duties, and especially kind to the 
 poor and those in distress. There was no tearless eye in his congre- 
 gation when he bade them adieu. The old Creoles of today still hold 
 him in pleasant remembrance." 
 
 The good Sulpician missionaries had not labored in vain. There 
 was a distinct revival of religion and culture in the old French vil- 
 lages along the borders of the Mississippi. We get a glimpse of the 
 new life rising from the old in many a passing remark of friends and 
 foes. 
 
 As Father Gabriel Richard found spiritual comfort and encourage- 
 ment in the five or six English families of staunch Catholic faith and 
 practice, so Father Levadoux and, after him, Father Olivier and Savine 
 were upheld and cheered in their ceaseless struggle with infidelity and 
 supine indifference by the bright example of Nicholas Jarrot of the 
 Mansion House at Cahokia. 
 
 Living under the shadow of the church — the oldest in Illinois that 
 is still in existence — Major Jarrot 's life was an exemplary in church 
 duties and devotion as that of the priest. He and Mme. Jarrot always 
 preceded the family procession in going to and from mass on the Sab- 
 bath. 
 
 19 "Sketches of the Life, Times and Character of the Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph 
 Flaget, First Bishop of Louisville," by M. J. Spalding, D. D., 1852. Governor 
 Reynolds, who had personal knowledge of Father Olivier, said of him in his "My Own 
 Times " : " One of the ancient pioneer clergymen was the celebrated Mr. Olivier of 
 Prairie du Rocher, Randolph County. This reverend divine was a high dignitary of 
 the Roman Catholic Church for more than half a century, lie acquired a great 
 reputation for his sanctity and holiness, and sonic believed him to lie possessed of the 
 power to perform small miracles, to which lie made no pretensions." 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 195 
 
 With him, as with most of the Catholic French and Creoles of that 
 day, religion did not mean a soured spirit nor a saddened heart. The 
 joy of life still had an attraction for them, and they showed their good 
 sense in countering the manifold ills of existence with a light heart. Not 
 that they did not go too far at times; not that they were all perfect 
 specimens of Christian men and women. Yet, under the circumstances 
 of frontier life, it was good for them to be cheerful, and it may be called 
 a wonder, that they did not sink completely under the burdens of op- 
 pression and contempt. 
 
 "The French in many ways were lenient masters .... Their 
 wives spun linsey for the negroes' clothes, and they were taught the 
 Catechism. One day the Jarrot family heard the cook's baby crying 
 down in the basement. Ortance (the eldest daughter) went to inves- 
 tigate and found that the cook had run away and abandoned the child. 
 Ortance named him Louis and took charge of the boy. So kind was 
 his supervision, that when the slave became old enough to obtain his 
 freedom, he did not want to go. Later, on the wedding night of Maria 
 Brackett, daughter of Ortance, in 1841, Louis took a vacation from his 
 job on a Mississippi steamboat, came back to Cahokia and cooked the 
 wedding breakfast. After performing this act of devotion, he returned 
 to his work, and that very night the steamboat blew up." 21 
 
 It seems appropriate here to give a summary account of the visit 
 which Bishop Flaget, the saintly Sulpician and friend of Levadoux, 
 Richard, Rivet, the Oliviers, and Savine, in 1814, paid to the parishes 
 and missions over which they once held spiritual sway. Though his 
 jurisdiction did not extend beyond the Mississippi River he gladly 
 accepted the invitation of Dr. Du Bourg, the administrator of Lou- 
 isiana, to visit the parishes and missions on the Missouri side as well. 
 On May 25 he started on horseback for Vincennes and reached it on 
 the third day, tired, but happy at seeing his old flock, headed by Father 
 Olivier. On May 30 he visited the grave of Father Rivet and sang the 
 "Libera" over it. Devoting several days to the preparation of the 
 Confirmandi he administered the sacrament to eighty-six persons. He 
 preached in English as well as in French to the great satisfaction of 
 the Americans. On June the 14th, he and Father Olivier set out for 
 the Mississippi. They were escorted by a company of French Rangers. 
 On the 18th they arrived at Cahokia, where they found Father Savine, 
 ' ' holding the handle of a skillet to make an omelet. ' ' The bishop found 
 everything in good order. He confirmed one hundred and eighteen 
 persons. The good people of Cahokia conducted their bishop to the 
 banks of the Mississippi, which he crossed in a canoe, with no campanion 
 
 -i ' ' The Mansion House at Cahokia, ' ' passim 
 
196 History of the Arckdiocesi of 8t. Louis 
 
 l)iit the oarsman. No public reception awaited him. At the confirma- 
 tion services on July 4th he was attended by Father Savine and the 
 Father Prior, Joseph Marie Dunand. The ladies of the city presented 
 the prelate with a fine cross and mitre. On the 8th of July he departed 
 for Florissant, where the entire population turned out to receive him; 
 on the 11th he crossed the Missouri River, sitting in an armchair placed 
 in a canoe, decorated with flowers. On the other side he visited Dard- 
 enne. where he confirmed one hundred persons, one of whom was 1015 
 and another 115 years old. He arrived at St. Charles on the 18th, and 
 on the 21 st went to Portage de Sioux, confirming fifty-four persons. 
 Then he returned to St. Charles and found a parish that had been at 
 war with its pastor, Father Dunand, for two years: his earnest words 
 brought peace and joy to all. He confirmed sixty-five persons, and on 
 August 3 retraced his steps to St. Louis. 
 
 "This congregation is in a state of extreme indifference," he wrote, 
 "yet some young people presented themselves for confession and reval- 
 idation of their marriages. Seventy-two persons were confirmed. Gov- 
 ernor William Clark, the former associate of Meriwether Lewis in the 
 discovery of the Columbia River, asked the bishop to baptize three of 
 his children. On August 14th the bishop crossed the river to Illinois, 
 where a large escort of horsemen and carriages received him and form- 
 ed a procession to Cahokia. On the 2nd he departed for Prairie du 
 Kocher to confirm a class of sixty-five. Though suffering from a fever, 
 the prelate visited Kaskaskia on the 14th of September, where he set 
 down the following words of praise: "The church is superb for the 
 country; its length is eighty feet, its width forty feet. The evening 
 was spent in blessing the good people." He confirmed one hundred and 
 ten persons. On the 21st he went to Ste. Genevieve, where he was 
 received with the usual honors. He preached strongly against balls, 
 "to the great astonishment of dancers," and administered confirma- 
 tion to three hundred and sixty-one persons. On October 5 he visited 
 the Barrens, an American Catholic settlement, attended by Father 
 Dunand from Florissant, and there confirmed forty-five persons. On 
 his return to Ste. Genevieve he preached to the negroes, of whom there 
 were about five hundred in the town and vicinity. Finding that mar- 
 riage was not common among these poor slaves, he threatened their 
 masters with excommunication, unless they afforded their servants every 
 facility of lawful marriage. On the 27th of October he rejoined Father 
 Olivier at Prairie du Rocher, spending a few days of charming solitude 
 after so much distraction. November 3rd he returned to Kaskaskia, 
 whence lie took his departure for home by way of Vincennes. He was 
 escorted by sixteen Creoles on horseback. The party reached Vincennes 
 on the lL'th of November. From the fulness of his great heart, the 
 
The Sulpicians in the Illinois Country 197 
 
 Bishop wrote to his brother in France: "I have just returned from a 
 mission where I had remained for seven months. It is situated among 
 the French living along the banks of the impetuous Mississippi and the 
 muddy Missouri. I was greatly surprised to find more than ten thousand 
 Catholics, attended by two priests only, one of whom is seventy years 
 old ; the other, on account of his constitution, unable to travel on horse- 
 back. I cannot describe to you the pleasure it gave to these old-time 
 French people to see me and to listen to me. Many irregularities may 
 be found among them, it is true, but their faith is still strong. What 
 sincere feeling they testified, and how many conversions were wrought ! 
 Although I could visit but half of the population, and only confirmed 
 those who had made their first communion, I had the consolation of 
 confirming more than twelve hundred, An episcopal throne was made 
 for me out of beaver skins, decorated with jewels lent by the women." 22 
 The next time Bishop Flaget came to visit St. Louis, he brought 
 the newly appointed Bishop Louis William Valentine Du Bourg, a 
 Sulpician like himself, under whose self-sacrificing devotion the Church 
 was destined to take firm root in the soil of the west and grow into a 
 mighty tree of perennial vitality and grandeur. 
 
 '*'*■ Spalding's "Life of Bishop Benedict Flaget," pp. 129-142, passim. 
 
Chapter 11 
 VI CAR GENERAL JAMES MAXWELL 
 
 Six years had elapsed since the western part of Louisiana with New 
 Orleans was transferred to the dominion of Spain, ere a change occurred 
 in the spiritual administration of the country. But then the changes 
 came thick and fast. 
 
 In 1722 the jurisdiction of the diocese of Santiago de Cuba was 
 established over this region, under Bishop Joseph Echeveria, with Bishop 
 Cyrillo de Barcelona as Vicar General, residing in New Orleans. In 1789 
 the diocese was divided, and the northern part, including Louisiana, was 
 placed under Bishop Joseph de Trespalacios of St. Christopher de 
 Havana with Bishop Cyrillo as his auxiliary. But the latter was not 
 long after recalled to his monastery. In 1793, on April 25th, that part of 
 the diocese of Havana, that Avas situated on the continent, Louisiana and 
 the Ploridas, was erected into a separate diocese under that name and 
 received its first Bishop in the person of Louis Penalver y Cardenas, a 
 native of Havana. 
 
 It had been the policy of the Spaniards from the coming of Count 
 O'Reilly to send over Irish soldiers and civillians for the defense and 
 upbuilding of Louisiana. Hence Irish priests who had made their studies 
 in Spain, especially at the University of Salamanca, were in great favor 
 with the authorities. The necessity of Irish priests became even more 
 pronounced, when English colonists from the United States crossed over 
 to Louisiana in greater numbers. They were welcome, but it was expected 
 of them, that they would become Catholics, if they were not Catholics 
 before. Irish priests with Spanish training were justly considered the 
 proper persons for this w r ork of conversion. Fathers Thomas Hassett 
 and Patrick Walsh, the future Grand Vicars of Bishop Penalver, were 
 among this number. They also received a larger salary from the King, 
 than the other Missionaries and parish priests; six hundred dollars per 
 annum, whilst the Spanish curates could claim only four hundred. 
 
 The only one of this numerous class of Irish Priests from Salamanca 
 to find his way to Upper Louisiana, was the Rev. James Maxwell, pastor 
 of Ste. Genevieve, and Vicar-General for Upper Louisiana, who, living 
 under three successive governments, the Spanish, the French and the 
 United States, was also known under the strange designations Don Diego 
 Maxwell and M. Jacques Maxwell. 
 
 James Maxwell was an Irishman, probably born in Dublin, about 
 1742, as he states in his will that his brothers and sisters were living in 
 Ireland, and particularly, his brother, Robert Maxwell, in Dublin. But 
 
 (198) 
 
/ g 0?ifasi^7^ 
 
 
 /a 
 
 £&ys OZz^z^k 
 
 -*C*— ? ^ZS*-^??^^^ 
 
 Cotfc* 
 
 SIGNATURES OF PRIESTS OF STE. GENEVIEVE 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 199 
 
 whether James was born in Ireland or of Irish immigrants in Spain, he 
 certainly made his theological studies at the Irish College in the celebrat- 
 ed University of Salamanca, and was there raised to the holy priesthood. 
 Where he spent the first years of his ministry, we cannot say, probably, in 
 Spain, in order to make himself familiar with the Spanish language. 
 Others had found similar employment. A friend of his, Don Thomas 
 O 'Ryan, was chaplain of honor to the king of Spain and Confessor to the 
 Queen. In 1794 however, Maxwell was engaged by the government for 
 the American Mission, 1 and received the appointment as Vicar General 
 of the Bishop of Louisiana, 2 signed by Eugenio de Llaguno, November 2, 
 1794, Bishop Penalver y Cardenas had taken possession of his episcopal 
 seat, New Orleans, on July 17th, 1795, and on August 2nd he began the 
 discharge of his episcopal functions. The Bishop appointed Father Max- 
 well as Parish Priest of Ste. Genevieve in Upper Louisiana, in place of 
 Father de Saint Pierre. He arrived in Ste. Genevieve in April 1796. 
 The Pastor de Saint Pierre was then absent from home, probably in 
 New Orleans on his return-trip from Baltimore. Father Maxwell, 
 in a brief letter, expressed his regret at being deprived of the 
 honor of making his acquaintance. Maxwell calls Ste. Genevieve 
 "my Parish." For a time Father Maxwell may have resided 
 in the neighboring village of New Bourbon, until the old pastor, 
 Paul de Saint Pierre, could effect his departure for the South, where he 
 wasi destined to administer to the spiritual wants of the ancient parish of 
 Iberville until October 15th, 1826. Father James Maxwell must have been 
 a very able and lovable man. "The Bishop of Salamanca had great 
 confidence in him and brought him to the notice of the King of Spain. 
 "Ellicot, who met him at New Madrid on his way down the Mississippi, 
 says that he was "a well-informed, liberal gentleman." 3 In the French 
 Life of Bishop Flaget he is described as "a learned and practical Irish 
 Catholic Priest. ' ' It was hoped by the Spanish authorities, that he would 
 convert the many American settlers in the Spanish Dominion to the 
 Catholic Religion. This of course, Father Maxwell, did not and could 
 not accomplish ; yet our sketch of his life will show, that he was indeed, 
 as Houck styles him, "a very active and enterprising man," as a priest 
 and educator, as a business man, and as a real force in political life. In 
 
 1 The University of Salamanca was under the immediate control of the Bishop 
 who also bestowed the degrees in the name of the Pope and the King. The Irish 
 College was only one of the numerous colleges affiliated with the University. There 
 is a picture of the Courtyard at the Irish College in the Catholic Encyclopedia Art. 
 Salamanca. 
 
 2 In virtue of the union of Church and State, the Spanish King claimed the 
 right of appointing the bishops and also minor clergymen, subject to the approval 
 of the Church authorities. 
 
 3 Ellicots Journal, p. 32, quoted by Houck, " Historv of Missouri," vol. II, 
 p. 305. 
 
200 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 fact, Father James Maxwell must be regarded as one of the founders of 
 our statehood in Missouri. 
 
 Father Maxwell was above all things a true priest, and for that 
 reason the difficulty of the work he was sent out to do, made a special 
 appeal to his courage and determination. The state of religion in the vast 
 district now placed under his general supervision as Vicar-General, was 
 deplorable indeed. In 1799 Bishop Penalver wrote: "The emigrants from 
 the western part of the United States and the toleration of our govern- 
 ment have introduced into this colony a gang of adventurers who have no 
 religion and acknowledge no God, and they have made the morals of our 
 people much worse, by intercourse with them in trade." 
 
 "Such too, is the case with the district of Illinois and the adjacent 
 territory in which there has been a remarkable introduction of those 
 adventurers. This evil, in my opinion, can be remedied only by not per- 
 mitting the slightest American settlement to be made at the points already 
 designated, nor on any part of the Red River." 4 
 
 For the spiritual and moral advancement of the members of the 
 Church and sanctification of their spiritual Fathers, Bishop Penalver had 
 on December 21, 1795, issued an "Instruction" for their government in 
 which he decreed, among other things, that "it will become them so to 
 walk, that neither their gravity render them odious, nor undue familiarity 
 contemptible : let them visit rarely and endeavor that, in most cases, it be 
 for the discharge of their ministry." He then enjoined on them the duty 
 of residence in their parishes, promptness in administering the sacraments 
 and visiting the sick to prepare them for death ; to use brotherly correc- 
 tion in the case of scandals, reporting obstinate cases to the authorities 
 and the Bishop; to maintain friendly relations with the governors and 
 commandants; to be watchful that the royal revenues be paid; not to 
 exercise the ministry beyond the limits of his parish ; to report those 
 failing to fulfil their Easter duties; not to neglect the catechism instruc- 
 tion, on the ground that there are public schools. 
 
 The Blessed Sacrament was to be exposed only on Corpus Christi and 
 its Octave, on Quinquagesima Sunday and the two days following, and 
 on the third Sunday of every month. Twenty wax candles were to be 
 lighted on these occasions. Priests carrying Holy Communion to sick 
 persons at a distance, in the country were to go on horseback, with sur- 
 plice and stole, bareheaded, the Blessed Sacrament in a reliquary, in a 
 bag hung around the neck by a cord, two attendants with lanterns and an 
 umbrellino." 5 
 
 4 Cf. Bishop Penalver 's long letter of 1799 as quoted by Shea in his "Life and 
 Times of Archbishop Carroll," p. 579, ss. 
 • r > Bishop Pofialver 's instruction. 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 201 
 
 The Bishop 's zeal did not rest with these instructions, but moved him 
 to make a number of episcopal visitations in the diocese. He found, how- 
 ever, that the three parishes, of Upper Louisiana, New Madrid, Ste 
 Genevieve and St. Louis, were far beyond his reach and, just like Bishop 
 Cyrillo, failed to pay them the promised visit. 
 
 The duty of carrying out Bishop Pefialver's regulations in Upper 
 Louisiana, therefore, devolved on his Vicar-General. James Maxwell. The 
 difficulty, almost hopelessness, of the task must have dawned on the 
 consciousness of the Bishop when he learnt of the great extent and isola- 
 tion of the Parishes and the small number of priests attending them. 
 
 The pastors established in Vicar General Maxwell's district were, as 
 we shall see, Father Ledru at St. Louis, Father Lusson at St. Charles and 
 Father Paul de Saint Pierre in Ste. Genevieve, though even then appoint- 
 ed to Iberville in the South. Father Gibault had not, as yet arrived at 
 New Madrid, but was expected there. 
 
 Beyond the river, in the diocese of Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, there 
 were, at Vincennes, the Reverend Francis Rivet, successor to Gibault, and 
 since February 1799, the brothers John and Donatien Olivier; John 
 attending Cahokia and Donatien, Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher. 
 That was the extent of priestly help and comfort Upper Louisiana enjoyed 
 in the early days of Father Maxwell. But there was a Ste. Genevieve boy 
 at his studies in far away Montreal, destined to succeed Father Maxwell as 
 Pastor of Ste. Genevieve, Henri Pratte, the son of one of Ste. Genevieve's 
 most worthy citizens. 
 
 Father de Saint Pierre, was naturally averse to his transfer to the 
 South. He had found a real home, the only one so far, among the people 
 of Ste. Genevieve. And the people also, were devoted to their good old 
 pastor. But all came off agreeably on the arrival of the new pastor. 
 Father Maxwell had under his immediate jurisdiction two almost 
 equally important villages, Ste. Genevieve, and that settlement of French 
 Royalists, three miles below on the river, called New Bourbon. New 
 Bourbon is now but a name, whilst Ste. Genevieve is a beautiful little 
 city, full of the memorials of the past, some of whose quaint houses 
 date back to the days before Father Maxwell's coming. 
 
 Ste. Genevieve was, no doubt, the official residence of Father Max- 
 well although he owned property at New Bourbon and made frequent 
 visits to that settlement. 
 
 As doubts have been raised about this matter of residence, we would 
 quote the affidavits made in the so-called "Maxwell Claim." 6 
 
 6 ' ' Maxwell Claim. Application of the Heirs and Legal Bepresentatives of Hugh 
 H. and John P. Maxwell to the General Land Office, for Land Script in lieu of their 
 lands sold by the United States Government and lying within the limits of a Spanish 
 Grant to James Maxwell, which was confirmed to Hugh H. and John P. Maxwell by 
 
202 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "I knew Father Maxwell when I was a hoy; as he often came to our 
 neighborhood," testifies Allen W. Holloman, "My father lived about 
 twenty miles southwest of Ste. Genevieve, where the priest lived. On the 
 way from Ste. Genevieve to Mine-la-Motte and the Black River country, it 
 was the habit of the priest to pass through our settlement going to that 
 region and return." Mrs. Alzire M. Kennerly deposed among other 
 things: "I am Pierre Menard's daughter. I knew priest Maxwell of Ste. 
 Genevieve. His nephew, Hugh H. Maxwell married one of my sisters. 
 The priest and my father were very intimate." These testimonies are 
 of persons of the very highest character and standing, as United States 
 Senator Bogy styles them, and they are conclusive as to Father Maxwell's 
 residence. 
 
 Father Maxwell attended a number of settlements within a semi- 
 circle of about one hundred miles, among them, New Madrid, Cape 
 Girardeau, St. Michael's, Potosi, Old Mines, and Perry ville. Concerning 
 the first church at Perryville we have the written testimony of Isidore 
 Moore, who came to Perry County as early as February 1801. "The 
 old church" he says was "built in 1812. The Reverend James Maxwell, 
 Vicar General, blessed it, and said the first Mass in it ; He served us the 
 year 1813, but how often I cannot recollect ; That Reverend gentleman 
 had some years previous occasionally said Mass a few times in the dwell- 
 inghouse of old Mr. Tucker. Perhaps it was in the years 1806 or 1807. " 1 
 
 Father Maxwell's duties as Vicar Geneeral for Upper Louisiana 
 consisted, for the most part, in visiting the parishes that were bereft of 
 their own pastors, and, at times, giving faculties to some stray priest 
 that asked for them. When Bishop Peiialver was promoted to the 
 Arehiepiscopal See of Guatemala, July 20, 1801. Father Maxwell's 
 powers as Vicar General lapsed ; but as the Bishop had, with per- 
 mission from Rome, appointed the Vicars General at New Orleans, 
 Thomas Hassett and Patrick Walsh, administrators of the diocese, 
 Father Maxwell's powers were probably renewed, so that he remained 
 Vicar General for Upper Louisiana until the death of Father William 
 Walsh, "Vicar General and Administrator 'ad interim' of the diocese of 
 Louisiana," that is up to March 22, 1806. Now, as there was no one among 
 the Bishops of the Province to restore order, Bishop Carroll assumed 
 
 Act of Congress, approved 27th April 1816." We are indebted to the Librarian of 
 the Missouri Historical Society, Miss Stella Drumm, for the use of this very im- 
 portant document. Amos Stoddard, in his ' ' Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, 
 of Louisiana," 1812, says of this Concession of land: (Page 135) "A tract of one 
 hundred and two thousand eight hundred and ninety six arpens was conceded Novem- 
 ber the third, 1799 to a Catholic Clergyman now in Upper Louisiana, who is an 
 Irishman by birth. This concession was never extended on the lands embraced by 
 it; nor did any Irish Catholics attempt to avail themselves of the benevolent and 
 pious designs of his Catholic Majesty. ' ' 
 
 " Original in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 203 
 
 the administration, as he was empowered to do by Rome. When Propa- 
 ganda approved his action, about the beginning' of 1807, he sent Father 
 John Olivier to New Orleans and, as administrator Apostolic of the 
 Diocese of New Orleans appointed him his Vicar General. 8 
 
 Father Maxwell had extensive holdings of real estate in the districts 
 of Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon. A number of these parcels of land 
 were sold to pay the debts of the holder after his sudden death, May 
 28th, 1814. The inventory gives us some interesting- information in 
 regard to the concession of a tract of four leagues or twelve miles 
 square, embracing 112,896 arpents, situated in and around what is now 
 Reynolds County. Congress on April 27, 1816, two years after Father 
 Maxwell's death, passed an act, entitled, An Act for the benefit of 
 John P. Maxwell and Hugh H. Maxwell; "that the right title and inter- 
 est of the United States of and to any real estate whereof a certain James 
 Maxwell died seized, the same be hereby released unto John P. Maxwell 
 of the Missouri Territory and Hugh H. Maxwell of the Territory of 
 Illinois, saving and reserving to all persons other than the United States, 
 any right, title or interest of, in, and to the premises aforesaid." 
 This act did not transfer these tracts to Father Maxwell's sup- 
 posed heirs, the nephews, John and Hugh, but only relinguished 
 in their favor any possible claims of the United States. 
 In consequence, the Diocese of Missouri, or St. Louis, as well as the 
 Maxwell heirs, laid claim to the vast tract in Reynolds County, with but 
 indifferent success. The land was afterwards sold by the United States 
 to new settlers. The Church got nothing out of the holdings of the 
 former Vicar General, but the Maxwell heirs have received some reim- 
 bursement from settlers for their readiness to quiet a clouded title, 
 and in fact, have sold some of the land, as John Buford of Reynolds 
 County testified. This is the legal aspect of the case. But there is an 
 historical interest attaching to the whole transaction. Father Maxwell's 
 expressed purpose was to found an Irish Catholic colony in the wilds 
 of Central Missouri and he had practically laid the foundations of such 
 an enterprise. 
 
 The region at the headwaters of the Black River and the Current 
 River is noted for the beauty and picturesqueness of its scenery. Its 
 rugged hills and fruitful valleys, its limpid rivers and creeks, have 
 become known far and wide. Then there was the promise of rich min- 
 eral deposits. A Catholic government of liberal principles, as the 
 Spanish administration was, promised a new and happy Ireland to that 
 persecuted people. Father Maxwell, himself an Irishman, was persona 
 grata with the Spanish court and government. The government would 
 do all in its power to secure for the Catholic settlers all the advantages, 
 both spiritual and temporal, that they might crave. 
 
 Shea, J. G., "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll," pp. 594, 595. 
 
204 History of tht Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 Father .Maxwell's petition was made November 3, 1799, and the 
 grant of the land asked for was made by Lieutenant Governor Carlos 
 Dehault Delassus on the same day and in the same year, 1799. 
 
 The Lieutenant Governor had the power of granting land titles; 
 but the grant had to be submitted to the Indendant General, who 
 resided in New Orleans. This was often neglected, and hence arose many 
 law-suits. Vet the United States Board of Commissioners on Spanish 
 Claims usually confirmed all Patents issued by the individual Lieutenant 
 Governors, even if uo proof of confirmation by the Intendant General 
 could be shown. Whether James Maxwell attended to this matter is 
 not known. His Patent was, however, approved by an Act of Congress. 
 
 From Father Maxwell's petition it appears that the first suggestion 
 of an Irish colony in the heart of the wilderness of Upper Louisiana had 
 come from the Spanish minister of State in charge of the Indies, 9 under 
 which title were embraced all Spanish possessions in America. The tract 
 of land suitable for the purpose lay around the forks of the Black River, 
 about eighty miles from Cape Girardeau, and ninety to ninety-five miles 
 from Ste. Genevieve, and about thirty-five miles south of Potosi. The 
 greater part lay in the present county of Reynolds, adjoining Iron and 
 Wayne. 
 
 Ample testimonies of the truth of this statement are to be found 
 in the printed Report of the trial held after the death of Father Maxwell, 
 in regard to the ownership of this very tract of land. One of them gives 
 the opportunity of describing the route Father Maxwell may be supposed 
 to have travelled to and from. his colony. From Ste. Genevieve to Mine- 
 la-Motte or St. Michaels extended the road that was blazed by Renault 
 through the wilderness along a primeval Indian trail for the purpose of 
 removing the lead from the mines of Madison County to the River at 
 Ste. Genevieve. At St. Michaels the road crossed the Little St. Francis. 
 and ten miles father west, the Big St. Francis. Ironton lies on this road, 
 about twenty miles from Fredericktown. From there the road lay 
 southward into the very heart of what is now the county of Reynolds. 
 Father Maxwell, no doubt, often stopped over at Mine-la-Motte for 
 priestly ministrations to the Catholics of St. Michaels (Fredericktown) 
 and environs, as they were among his parishioners. The Records of 
 their marriages and baptisms he kept at Ste. Genevieve. There was a 
 little cemetery at the junction of the Ste. Genevieve and Perry ville roads, 
 near Mine-la-Motte. Very probably it was here at the "New Village," 
 half way between Mine-la-Motte and Old St. Michaels, that Mass was 
 said by Father Maxwell in some private dwelling. 
 
 o The Duke De Alcudia, Minister of State, having manifested his desire that 
 some Catholics "from Ireland should come t<> settle themselves in this colony of 
 Louisiana," etc. 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 205 
 
 That Father Maxwell had faith in his Irish colony may be judged 
 from the fact that he built a solid house of stone for a store and estab- 
 lished a trading house in the wilderness. 10 But the Irish settlers Father 
 Maxwell had brought to his incipient colony were not as prosperous as 
 they had been led to expect, though the store conducted by the Founder 
 of the colony was a real God-send to the people scattered through the 
 wilderness. 
 
 Being a highly educated and public-spirited man, the pastor of 
 Ste. Genevieve took a deep interest in the erection of schools. Ste. 
 Genevieve had for many years been the proud possessor of a Grammar 
 school. But in 1808 the Ste. Genevieve Academy was incorporated with 
 twenty-one trustees composed of the best citizens of the town, with 
 Father Maxwell as President. Mr. Mann Butler, the historian of 
 Kentucky, was engaged as principal, and the erection of a fine stone 
 building was begun at once and completed. School was opened, but 
 the times were not propitious to the venture, and it was discontinued 
 until 1820. 
 
 From far-away Canada comes the following notice of the Ste. 
 Genevieve Academy. "Under a picture of the old house, writes 
 Brother Emery, I find the following notes: "This building was erected 
 at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, 1808, by the trustees of the Louisiana Acade- 
 my, to be used as a school for the Catholic children of Ste. Genevieve. 
 It was placed, in charge of Brothers of the Christian Schools in 1820, n 
 as we shall recount in the proper place. The building still crowns this 
 hill on which it was erected in 1808, not as a ruin, but kept in excellent 
 state of preservation, with an addition at the rear as the residence of 
 Mr. Thomas Rozier, whose Father Firmin Rozier built the addition in 
 1854. 
 
 10 Joseph Huff, of Iron County, one of tlje witnesses in the Maxwell Claim trial 
 in 1873, testified: "I am sixty years of age. I came to this part of the country in 
 1829, and have been acquainted with the Maxwell Claim at the forks of Black River 
 since my coming to the country. The Maxwell colony then was a part of the history 
 of the country, and spoken of more, perhaps, than any matter connected with the 
 early settlement. I have heard the old settlers who lived here when Maxwell had his 
 store at the forks, talk together about those times (of what they were all acquainted 
 with), about trading at the store in Maxwell's life time, and about the foreigners 
 Maxwell had in his colony, who were very ignorant of the way to get along in a new 
 country. The store was the only one beyond Potosi, which was thirty-five miles off, 
 and all the settlers traded at Maxwell 's. The colony and store were not continued 
 after the death of Maxwell, the priest. When I came to the country there were few 
 people and some Indians still. I hunted over the Maxwell grant and had the line of 
 survey pointed out to me by the old inhabitants who spoke of it as knowing the 
 survey .... The old settlers expressed regrets that the Maxwell store was dis- 
 continued, where they were all in the habit of trading. Whereas when I came to the 
 country they had to go to Potosi to trade and for some time afterwards, until other 
 stores were established. ' ' 
 
 11 Brother Emery is- or was Superior of the Christian Brothers. 
 
206 History of /In Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Of course, Mr. E. Flagg, who viewed the "handsome structure of 
 stone, commanding a noble prospect," in its stale of ruinous perfection," 
 and "enjoying the reputation of being haunted," must have himself been 
 haunted by the spirit of old romance; for its "broken windows outlined 
 against the western sky", are but idle imaginings of a passer-by, not the 
 result of serious investigation. The building was completed and was 
 never in ruins, but was used for school purposes at the very time of his 
 visit. 12 
 
 Of the village itself Mr. Flagg says: "It has that decayed and 
 venerable aspect characteristic of all those early French settlements." 
 Yet, another Traveller, Ashe, gives us a glimpse of the altar of the church 
 of Ste. Genevieve in Father Maxwell's days: "At the Upper end (of 
 the church) there is a beautiful altar, the fronton of which is brass gilt 
 and enriched in medio-relievo, representing the religions (religious 
 orders) of the world, diffusing the benefits of the gospel over the new 
 world. In the middle of the altar there is a crucifix of brass gilt, and 
 underneath it, a copy of a picture by Rafael, representing the Madonna 
 and Child, St. Elizabeth and St. John. In a second group there is a 
 St. Joseph, all perfectly well drawn and colored. The beauty and grace 
 of the Virgin are beyond description and the little Jesus and St. John 
 are charming. 13 
 
 Father Maxwell did not escape the usual fate of men of strong 
 character to be misunderstood and even maligned by the idle and the 
 envious. There is a letter in the Baltimore Archives, written by the 
 Pastor of Ste. Genevieve and dated Nov. 17, 1810, that has a bearing on 
 an investigation conducted by Archbishop Carroll of Baltimore into the 
 character of Father Maxwell, then in the 68th year of his life. From a 
 passage of Father Stephen Theodore Badin's letter to Archbishop 
 Carroll on the same matter, it appears that forty three persons under the 
 leadership of one Joseph Fenwick had sent a remonstrance against the 
 Pastor of Ste. Genevieve to Bishop Carroll in order to have him removed, 
 or as Father Maxwell openly charges, to have him replaced by Father 
 Badin himself. It was six years after the withdrawal of the Spanish 
 authorities from Upper Louisiana, and the entire country was now under 
 Bishop Carroll as administrator. Hence his interference. Letters con- 
 taining these charges were sent by both Carroll and Badin to Father 
 Maxwell. The Trappist, Urban Guillet, was the bearer of both letters. 
 What the charges were, we cannot say at present, as the remonstrance 
 of Joseph Fenwick and his co-signers is not at hand, nor the letter of 
 Bishop Carroll, nor that of Father Badin. We hope to find these letters 
 also, but in the meantime it is safe to say, that the charges referred 
 mainly, if not entirely, to breaches of ecclesiastical discipline. It may 
 
 12 Flaggs, "The Fur West," 1838., p. 96. 
 
 13 Ashe's Travels, p. 119. 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 207 
 
 be surmised that his long terms of absence from home, whilst attending 
 to the affairs of his proposed Irish Colony, and a rather outspoken con- 
 tempt for the American Catholic immigrants from Maryland and Ken- 
 tucky, were the main grievances. But, as Father Badin admits, twelve 
 of the fourteen remonstrants were unknown to him and seven were not 
 much entitled to his esteem, "whilst the remaining twenty four were 
 of his former Kentucky parishioners. ' ' 
 
 "To my certain knowledge," says Father Badin in his letter to the 
 Bishop of Baltimore, "there were (besides the cause of Father Maxwell) 
 many causes which demand the presence of authority of a Bishop to 
 retrieve or improve the affairs of religion." 14 "We will give Father 
 Maxwell's answer to Bishop Carroll and Father Badin, without note or 
 comment, only promising this fact, as recorded by Father Guilday in 
 his Life and Times of John Carroll. "The two pioneer missionaries of 
 Kentucky, Badin and Nerinckx, had been trained in a more rigid school 
 of theology which savoured greatly of the Jansenistic spirit then preva- 
 lent in French and Belgian ecclesiastical circles." 15 It was exactly these 
 two men who found fault with the priestly character of Father Maxwell. 
 Father Maxwell felt aggrieved at what he considered unjust reproach, 
 and declared he would cease his pastoral functions and confine himself 
 to saying Mass. But he must have changed his mind or perhaps been 
 exonerated, as he continued the pastoral care of Ste. Genevieve and its 
 dependencies until his death in 1814. 16 We now quote the following retort 
 courteous from the letter of Father Maxwell to Archbishop Carroll : " I 
 fear that your Lordship is not sufficiently aware of the duplicity of some 
 French ecclesiastics ; they are a jealous, meddling, troublesome set of 
 men. I had the opportunity of being in a state of intimacy with them 
 these five and thirty years that I am a missioner, and I have got under- 
 standing and discernment enough to know the human mind. Your 
 Lordship observes to me that you received a petition having the signatures 
 of forty-three persons, heads of families; my congregation consists alto- 
 gether of French, and I boldly assert, that no Frenchman has signed 
 that petition and that not these persons, heads of families, have signed 
 it, who are altogether unknown to me, excepting Mr. Fenwick 17 who lived 
 for many years past fifty or sixty miles from this place, and who, of 
 course can be but very little acquainted with my personal conduct. I 
 feel the greatest sorrow and regret to show the least opposition and dis- 
 obedience to the orders of Your Lordship ; but from the causes alleged. 
 1 cannot cheerfully submit to the investigation of my conduct by the 
 
 1* Two Maxwell Letters in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. IV, 
 pp. 231-234. 
 
 i= Guilday, Peter, "Life and Times of John Carroll," p. 520. 
 is Printed in St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, " pp. 231 and 232. 
 tl L. Cit., p. 234; Maxwell accuses Fenwick of "having raised his children 
 without the love and fear of God." 
 
208 History of tin Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 Reverend Mr. Badin; for I consider him judge and party; I should 
 always object to him as a judge in either an ecclesiastical or civil tribunal 
 in a case of mine." 18 . 
 
 It was on the 4th day of March 1804 that Major Amos Stoddard, 
 in behalf of the United States, took possession of the territory of Louisi- 
 ana, under the treaty of cession. The solemn act of lowering in quick 
 succession the Spanish and the French flags, and hoisting the flag of 
 the United States, took place at St. Louis. 19 It then devolved upon 
 Congress to provide for the better government of the new territory. A 
 governor was appointed, a House of Representatives was elected. A 
 Legislative Council was to be selected by the President of the United 
 States out of eighteen persons nominated by the Territorial House of 
 Representatives. The five counties entitled to representation were: St. 
 Charles, St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve and New Madrid. 
 The first House consisted of thirteen members, and convened at the resi- 
 dence of Joseph Robidoux, December 7, 1812. From among the eighteen 
 persons they had nominated for members of the Council, President 
 Jefferson selected nine, among them the Reverend James Maxwell, whom 
 his associates at once elected member of the Committee of Enrollment, and 
 on January 19, 1814, presiding officer of the body. The Second General 
 Assembly which met at St. Louis on the 5th day of December, 1814, 
 chose William Neely as presiding officer, because Father Maxwell, as we 
 have already stated, had been killed by a fall from his horse on May 28th 
 of the same year. 
 
 From the Journal of the House of Representatives, as given in the 
 ' ' Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser, ' ' we would quote : ' ' Dec. 6, 
 1814. Mr. Scott: 'I am instructed to acquaint the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, that a vacancy happened in the Legislative Council by the 
 death of the Honorable James Maxwell, for the County of Ste. Genevieve,' 
 December 7. In conformity to notice of yesterday from the Legislative 
 Council that a vacancy has become therein, and on motion of Mr. Wilson, 
 the House proceeded to the nomination of two persons, one of whom is to 
 
 is L. Cit., p. 232. 
 
 i» "There were a great many inhabitants," says Edwards in his "Great West,'' 
 "who looked upon the transfer even at first with disfavor, but it was confined prin- 
 cipally to that class whose possessions were meagre and consequently who had but 
 little to hope for in the rise of property. The coureurs des bois and the voyageurs, 
 doubtless regretted the change, as it gave possession of the country to a people who 
 would throw some trammels over the wild liberties of their vagabondish life. But 
 others regretted the change from political and religious motives. The last Lieutenant 
 Governor Delassus, is said by Barb6-Marbois to have wept when the flag was furled, 
 the tricolor now of the new French Republic, that had superseded the Lilies of 
 France." The selection of Father Maxwell as a member of the Territorial Council 
 had a tendency to conciliate the old French and Spanish settlers with the new order 
 of t hings. Cf . ' ' Great West, ' ' pp. 278. 
 
Vicar General James Maxwell 209 
 
 supply the vacancy in the Legislative Council occasioned by the death of 
 the Honorable James Maxwell." 
 
 Father Maxwell died at the age of seventy -two years and was buried 
 May 30, 1814, in the Church he had served so well. Father Francis 
 Savine of Cahokia performed the last rites of the Church. When the old 
 church was enlarged by Father Weiss, the body remained undisturbed. 
 Now the remains rest beneath the pavement of the sanctuary in the 
 church, so tastefully enlarged and renovated by the present pastor the 
 Very Reverend Charles Van Tourenhout. One beautiful eminence near the 
 city still bears the name of its former owner. Maxwell's Hill. His name 
 is one of which Ste. Genevieve may well be proud. 20 
 
 zo After storm and strife comes rest eternal. We would subjoin this inscription 
 on Father Maxwell's tombstone, Ste. Genevieve Parish Church: 
 
 Ci git 
 
 Le Rev. Jacques Maxwell 
 
 decede le 28 Mai, 1814 
 
 age de 72 ans 
 
 Cure de Cette Paroisse 
 
 de 1797 a 1814 
 
 Heureux qeux qui demeurent dans votre maison. Seigneur lis vous honerant des 
 
 tous siecles. Psaume 83 — vers 5. 
 
Chapter 12 
 WA X I ) E R I \( J W ESTWAR] ) 
 
 Since the 6tli day of October 17SS, when Bishop Hubert of Quebec 
 cheerfully transferred his authority over the Illinois Country to the 
 Preftct Apostolic, at Baltimore, Dr. Carroll was very solicitous in supply- 
 ing priests for those neglected missions. Bishop Hubert had also written 
 about Father Gibault having "incurred the suspicion of treason against 
 the British government," and of Father de la Valiniere being "a man of 
 good morals," but of "a turbulent spirit." The first, rather severe 
 judgment was accepted as a warning against the former Vicar General 
 of Quebec, the other judgment, though rather ominous, was disregarded 
 in the appointment of Father de la Valiniere as the Vicar-General of 
 Baltimore. Dr. Carroll was led in the course of time to make some other 
 unfortunate appointments, although the most of them were good men 
 and priests. Three of these appointees of Monseigneur Carroll success- 
 ively held the position of Pastors of the Parish of St. Louis, on the 
 Spanish side, although they had been engaged for the missions and par- 
 ishes in Illinois. They were the Dominican Father Ledru, the Benedictine 
 Monk Didier, and the Secular Priest 'Pierre Janin. Another appointee 
 of Dr. Carroll, the Recollot Charles Leander Lusson, remained at Cahokia 
 about four months, when he obtained an appointment from Bishop 
 Penalver of Louisiana to the pastorship of St. Charles on the Missouri. 
 The first of these whom Bishop Carroll later on styles, "that apostate 
 Dominican, called Ledru." came to Detroit from Canada and received 
 his appointment to the Parish of Cahokia from Dr. Carroll in 1789, but 
 almost immediately crossed over to the Spanish side. He exercised his 
 ministry at St. Charles and St. Ferdinand, and, on the departure of 
 Father Bernard de Limpach, became Pastor of St. Louis. What roused 
 Dr. Carroll's anger against him was his duplicity, especially his former 
 unauthorized claim, that he had been sent to America as a Missionary 
 Apostolic. His first entry in the Register of Baptisms occurs in November 
 1789, and the last in September 1793, during which period he baptized 
 one hundred and sixty-eight whites, fifty-five negroes, and nineteen 
 Indians; solemnized twenty-nine marriages of whites and two of Indians 
 and whites and officiated at the interment of seventy whites, thirty-five 
 negroes, and three Indians. 
 
 Father Ledru 's successor in St. Louis was the celebrated Benedictine 
 of the Congregation of St. Maur, Dom Pierre Joseph Didier. Father 
 Didier 's life was a most eventful one. At the outbreak of the French 
 Revolution he was stationed at the Abbey Church of St. Denis, the 
 
 (210) 
 
Wandering Westward 211 
 
 place of sepulture of the French monarchs, since the days of Dagobert 
 I, A. D. 638. No church in Christendom had so many relics, few were 
 so rich in glorious memories. In 1789 whilst Procurator of the Abbey, 
 Dom Didier, had permitted the royal troops to quarter there, an action 
 which made him obnoxious to the radical element in Paris, and eventually 
 brought ruin to the Abbey itself. On the 31st day of July, 1793 its 
 destruction was decreed by the National Convention. The decree was 
 carried out with savage fury, the bodies of dead Kings and Queens were 
 dug up and thrown into lime-pits; the monuments were broken and 
 the fragments scattered. Only the bare walls remained to tell of the 
 vengeance of an infuriated mob. Dom Didier had fled from the doomed 
 Abbey in 1789 and kept himself in hiding until a safe and honorable 
 place should be found for him. 
 
 A company of French Catholics had been formed in Paris in 1790 
 for the purpose of founding a colony in the backwoods of America. A 
 tract of land, about three million acres, north of the Ohio River was 
 secured by the Company. The colony was named Gallipolis. The Papal 
 Nuncio at Paris was requested by the leaders of the Company to obtain 
 from Rome the appointment of a Bishop for the new colony. The 
 choice of the members for this position was the same Benedictine 
 Dom Didier of the Congregation of St. Maur. The Prefect of 
 the Propaganda. Cardinal Antonelli, answered that there was 
 a Bishop in that region, John Carroll of Baltimore. But Dom Didier 
 replied, that the location of the new colony was so far inland from 
 Baltimore, that Bishop Carroll could not give proper care to it. Besides 
 the Colony was French, and Frenchmen wanted to have a French Bishop. 
 The Nuncio wrote a second time to Cardinal Antonelli, saying that three 
 or four priests (Sulpicians) were preparing to go to Gallipolis, with Dom 
 Didier as the spiritual head of the colonj-. Propaganda yielded, and on 
 April 26th, 1790 appointed Father Didier, not Bishop, nor Vicar Apos- 
 tolic, but Vicar General in spiritualibus for the space of seven years, on 
 condition that such jurisdiction should not conflict with that of Dr. 
 Carroll. Besides Dom Didier 's faculties would have to be confirmed by 
 Bishop Carroll before he could use them. About Didier 's character the 
 Cardinal was informed that he was a religious of good morals, sound in 
 doctrine, though of an impetuous and idealistic nature. Bishop Carroll, 
 on September 3rd, 1791, speaks of the arrival, last year, of a Benedictine 
 Monk, with a Congregation on "the banks of the Ohio." Now, as 
 Carroll held jurisdiction over all the territory of the United States, and 
 as the United States certainly claimed the Northwest territory, including 
 Ohio, as a part of its domain, the Congregation of Gallipolis was subject 
 to Bishop Carroll from the very start. In consequence of these facts 
 becoming known, the Papal Nuncio at Paris disadvised the Sulpicians 
 
212 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 from going with the colonists. They then decided to go to Baltimore. 
 Bishop Carroll was kept informed about the whole matter by Cardinal 
 Antonelli, and Father Didier obtained approval of his faculties from 
 him. 1 
 
 The colony did not thrive; neither temporally nor spiritually. The 
 colonists, for the most part, were Parisians altogether unadapted to the 
 conditions of pioneer life in the wilderness, and spiritually many of them 
 were tainted with the irreligious spirit of the pre-revolution times. At 
 last the colony broke up, its members scattering in all directions: The 
 better part of them sought refuge at New Madrid, New Bourbon and St. 
 Louis, all on the Spanish side of the river. Only a small remnant of the 
 several thousand French colonists remained in the city of Gallipolis. 
 When Fathers Badin and Barrieres visited them in September 179:5, 
 "they were delighted and at their departure they shed bitter tears." 2 
 
 A sad story of failure, yet one replete with all the elements of old 
 romance, redolent of an old-world civilization ground to dust in contact 
 with primeval nature and its inexorable laws. 
 
 On July 21st, 1792, Dom Didier 's name is signed in the Baptismal 
 Register of St. Charles Borromeo's Church in St. Charles on the Missouri 
 River. A little later we find Didier at Florissant, and in 1794 he took up 
 his residence in St. Louis, having attended to its spiritual wants since 
 December 1793. From December 1793, to April 1799, he baptized two 
 hundred and twenty whites, seventy-nine negroes, and sixteen Indians. 
 He solemnized seventy-three marriages of whites and one marriage of 
 white and Indian, and buried eighty-five whites, sixty-one negroes, and 
 nine Indians. 
 
 Dom Didier 's life in St. Louis was quiet and peaceful. He was, no 
 doubt, glad to have found this haven of rest. Being a Benedictine 
 Monk, he had a special love for the beauty of nature. Hone, in his 
 "Every-Day Book" for 1826 says: "The Monks have compiled a Cata- 
 logue of flowers for each day in the year, and dedicated each flower to 
 a particular saint, on account of it flowering about the time of the saint's 
 festival." It is said of Father Didier that he delighted in green herbage 
 and bright flowers ; No doubt, he also remembered their old-time names, 
 and their religious associations and the French designation for the flower- 
 beds in a church-yard, "Les Bouquest de l'Eglise." But no Benedictine 
 garden was complete without a large assortment of herbs whose fragrance 
 and medicinal virtues might serve in alleviating the pains and bodily 
 ailments of his spiritual children. And then, the good Benedictine was 
 
 i See "The Gallipolis Colony" by John McGovern, O. P., in "Records and 
 Studies of Catholic Historical Society," vol. 37, No. 1. Also "The Gallipolis 
 Colony," by L. J. Kenny, S. J., in "Catholic Historical Review," vol. IV, pp. 415; 
 rind Guilday's "Life and Times of John Carroll," pp. 374-407. 
 
 2 Spalding, "Sketches of the Early Catholic Missionaries of Kentucky," p. <>-. 
 
Wandering Westward 213 
 
 a lover of the Cross. On the highest spot of town near the west gate, he 
 built a calvary, that is a large stone platform with stone steps on all four 
 sides. A large crucifix was erected in the center of this Calvary, 
 to throw its shadow over the living and the dead of his Parish. 3 
 We can easily picture the character of Father Didier as of a pious, kindly 
 and benevolent old man, grave in his manner, and of a benign counte- 
 nance, and highly respected by all. He is reported to have died in October 
 1799. His last recorded ministerial act in St. Louis is dated May 16th, 
 1799. During his last illness Father Lusson attended to St. Louis from 
 St. Charles, and continued to do so until the arrival of Father Pierre 
 Janin, a secular priest, whom Bishop Carroll sent to the Illinois country 
 in company with Fathers Richard and John Francis Rivet. 
 
 From Father Rivet's letters 4 we learn that on October 20th, 1795, 
 Father Janin was permanently settled at Kaskaskia. Besides the fact, 
 that the Indians of that region desired a missionary, the great chief de 
 Conague, who has the greatest influence over all the other tribes, seems 
 to have taken too strong a hold of him to let him go elsewhere." The 
 French were also anxious to retain the priest. But "Father Janin had 
 no aptitude for missionary work," as Father Rivet writes six months 
 later, and resigned his Commission. The small salaries promised by the 
 American government were not forthcoming, in spite of Bishop Car- 
 roll's intercession. The missionaries were actually starving. There 
 is a sinister note in this lettter in regard to Father Janin : "he will 
 pass into the Spanish domain." On May 24th, 1796, Father Rivet 
 praises Janin as a man of "pure faith and irreproachable morals," 
 but represents him as saying that "his age does not allow him to pursue 
 an enterprise a thousand times more painful and difficult than he 
 had thought. ' ' Shortly before this, Father Rivet had learnt that Father 
 Janin was about to leave for New Orleans, and intended to send his 
 resignation to Bishop Carroll from that city. Father Rivet was now 
 appointed Vicar-General, signing himself at the same time, "Missionary 
 appointed for the Savages, for the moment exercising the ministry in 
 the Parish of St. Francis Xavier. " 5 
 
 Father Janin had really left his post of duty without an exeat and 
 started on his way to New Orleans. But stopping at the southernmost 
 point reached by Father Marquette on his voyage of discovery, the Post 
 of Arkansas, was induced to remain there with faculties from Bishop 
 Peiialver of Louisiana. The Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Sepul- 
 
 a Rothensteiner, "The St. Louis Calvary" in "St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Review, ' ' vol. Ill, p. 39. 
 
 * Cf. Maes, Camillus P., Bishop of Covington, in "The Ecclesiastical Review," 
 July and August numbers, 1906. 
 
 5 Maes, op. cit., pp. 36-42 passim. 
 
•J14 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 lures of the Parisli of Arkansas larks the two first pages: On page 3, 
 Father Janirj enters the record of a Baptism under date of the 13th of 
 September, 17!>(i. From that day on until December 28th, 17!)9, Father 
 Janin baptized eighty-seven persons, and united in Marriage eighteen 
 couples. After that there is a vacancy of almost three years. On April 6th, 
 1800, Pierre Janin became the canonical pastor of the Parish of St. Louis. (i 
 During the four and a half years of his administration he baptized two 
 hundred and twenty-five whites, an hundred and fifteen negroes and fifty- 
 nine Indians; solemnized the marriages of thirty-four whites and two 
 whites and Indians, and buried one hundred and thirty -eight whites, 
 (ifty-eight negroes, and nineteen Indians. The large number of inter- 
 ments recorded during Father Janin 's pastorate is accounted for by the 
 fact that the smallpox made its first appearance in St. Louis on the loth 
 of May, 1801. But when the Spanish Dominion came to an end Bishop 
 Peiialver was promoted to the Achiepiscopal See of Guatemala. His Vicar- 
 Generals in New Orleans, Rev. Thomas Cannon Hasset, and Rev. Patrick 
 Walsh continued to exercise their powers with express permission from 
 Rome. Canon Hasset on June 10th, 1803, issued a circular letter to each 
 priest in the Diocese asking whether he wished to retire with the Spanish 
 forces or to remain. 
 
 The pastors of St. Louis and St. Charles, Pierre Janin and Leander 
 Lusson, retired with the Spanish forces, leaving the entire field of Upper 
 Louisiana to Father Maxwell, the Vicar General, and a visitor from the 
 East, Father Thomas Flynn. 7 
 
 Of Father Thomas Flynn, "Capuchin of the Order of St. Francis," 
 as he styles himself in the Records of Florissant, administered the Parish 
 of St. Louis from December 1806 to January 1808 and also engaged him- 
 self to visit the Parish of St. Ferdinand six times per year for the purpose 
 of singing Highmass and baptizing. For this service he was to receive 
 from each family at least one bushel of wheat. Those refusing to con- 
 tribute were to be constrained by the chief trustee to do so. Father 
 Flynn 's Baptisms at Florissant numbered thirty. Two marriages were 
 solemnized by him in 1807. The contract obliged him also to visit the 
 sick and to prepare the children for First Holy Communion. 
 
 Father Flynn arrived in St. Louis early in November 1806. On 
 November 8th, he wrote a letter to a Wm. McCordell of Bardstown, Ky., 
 in which the following passage occurs: "I have said Mass in the Church, 
 which is pretty decent, twice ; and tomorrow, Sunday the Church- 
 wardens, at the High-Mass are to install me as pastor over the place. The 
 Church has a tolerably good bell, high altar, pulpit and commodious 
 pews. The house for the priest is convenient, but rather out of repair. 
 
 Church Records of St. Louis Cathedral. 
 
 Shea, "Life and Times of Bishop Carroll," p. 582. 
 
Wandering Westward 215 
 
 There is annexed to it a large garden well stocked with fruit trees, barn, 
 stable and other out-offices. 
 
 "There is to be an assembly of the parishioners within the next few 
 days in order to consider making a provision for my support, which will 
 be paid annually. In short, my dear Friend, for the animal life, it is 
 highly probable, I shall be very well off; and it is only the spiritual 
 which gives me pain. For I shall be sixty miles distant from the clergy- 
 man who is nearest me. However, I shall endeavor to have the comfort 
 of seeing him as often as possible." 8 
 
 It has been stated that Father Flynn had no authority to exercise 
 pastoral ministrations in St. Louis, because he had no dimissorials to show 
 nor faculties, from any one. Yet it must be remembered that Father 
 James Maxwell was considered Vicar General of the district of Upper 
 Louisiana, and it can be presumed, as even, Father Nerinckx presumes, 
 that Father Maxwell did kindly receive his compatriot and consented to 
 his stay in St. Louis. Very little was known about Father Thomas 
 Flynn until recently, and what has now come to light is not favorable 
 to the Capuchin of the Order of St. Francis. One of the earliest mission- 
 aries in New York and Pennsylvania after the dissolution of the Society 
 of Jesus, the Capuchin Peter Helbron, the founder of the Church at 
 Buffalo and many other places, writes to Bishop Carroll from Pittsburg 
 under date of November 1st, 1805: "Concerning Mr. Flynn." Est vir 
 nullius resolutionis : he left me at Buffalo, when the Congregation bought 
 a place on purpose for the priest, which is not prepared yet, and will not 
 so soon be ready to receive the priest. Mr. Flynn went clown the River 
 Ohio, perhaps to the Monks of La Trappe. . . He was about five weeks 
 with me without celebrating, and preaching but once. I promised to the 
 faithful in the wilderness to come back again." 9 
 
 On October 22nd, 1806, he wrote to Carroll: "Mr. Flynn is gone 
 down the river to the Trappists. " At that time the Trappists had their 
 establishment on Pottingers Creek, Ky. 10 Father Helbron was, therefore, 
 mistaken about the destination of Father Flynn. Not to the Trappists 
 did he go, but to St. Louis. On January 1st, 1807, Father Charles Nerinckx 
 wrote a long Latin letter to Archbishop Carroll in which he alludes to 
 some unhappy priests, among them Father Flynn, having come without 
 credentials from the Bishop of Baltimore, yet exercising priestly func- 
 tions. "With the consent of Rev. Father Badin, " writes Father 
 
 8 A Letter of Flynn to Bishop Carroll, dated November 8, 1806, of which a 
 passage is printed in Shea's "Life of Carroll," p. 595 gives the same information. 
 
 9 Helbron, Peter, "Baptismal Register at Sportman's Hall," in "Records of 
 American Catholic Society," vol. XXVI, p. 374. 
 
 10 Nerinckx to Carroll, printed in "Catholic Historical Review," vol. VI, pp. 83 
 and 84. 
 
L'Ki History of tin Archdiocest of xt. Louis 
 
 Xerinckx, " he (Father Flynn) had preached several sermons and visited 
 a number of missions, but heard only a few confessions. I should judge 
 lie had better remain in the Trappist Monastery. From his letters we 
 learn that at St. Louis or some other place in Louisiana, he introduced 
 himself as pastor, or rather, was introduced by laymen, although, to 
 .judge more mildly, we must suppose that he had jurisdiction from the 
 Vicar-General there. -May God grant that this matter have no sad end." 
 Now, whatever we may hold in regard to these reports, partly based on 
 mere hear-say, one thing is certain, that Father Helbron's judgment as 
 to Father Flynn was correct "Est vir nullius resolutionis, " he was a man 
 of no constancy of purpose. 
 
 The contract which Father Flynn made with the Church-wardens 
 of St. Louis, was approved by the Congregation in public session on 
 November 23, 1806. The preamble states, that Father Flynn was sent 
 to St. Louis by Father Maxwell, Cure of Ste. Genevieve : 
 
 First, the very Reverend Father Thomas Flynn binds himself to 
 all the citizens of this parish to serve them in his ministry for the time 
 and space of one year to count from the first day of the month of next 
 December, and to finish on the same day of next year, 1807, during all 
 this time to exercise the sacerdotal functions in the aforesaid Parish 
 excepting only the last Sunday of each month, to have the faculty of 
 serving the parishoners of St. Ferdinand and St. Charles, where the 
 Reverend Father will be able to exercise his ministry. 
 
 Secondly, if it should happen, that the last Sunday of some month 
 of the year be a great feast, then the Reverend Father Thomas Flynn will 
 not be permitted to absent himself from this parish to serve the others; 
 lie will then take the following Sunday to discharge his duties in the 
 villages of St Ferdinand ami St. Charles. 
 
 Thirdly, The Reverend Father Flynn will have the kindness to say 
 the Mass at nine o'clock in the summer, that is to say, from the first of 
 April to the first of October, and he will say it at ten o'clock in the winter 
 that is to say, from the first of October to the first of April. 
 
 Fourthly, The Reverend Father obliges himself to instruct the 
 children of this city belonging to the parish in the doctrine necessary for 
 the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman state, every Sundaj' after Vespers, 
 and during the time of Lent to put the young people in the proper 
 disposition to approach the sacraments. 
 
 Fifthly, The Reverend Father Flynn obliges himself to visit the 
 sick of the Parish when he will be requested and to assist them by his 
 ministry at all times. 
 
 Sixthly, And we citizens of this Parish in our turn oblige ourselves 
 towards the Reverend Father Thomas Flynn to furnish him a sum af 360 
 piasters in current money, that is to say, in skins of the deer at the rate 
 of 40 sols the pound, or in soft wheat, a piaster per minot (39 litres) " 
 
Wandering Westward 217 
 
 which sum will be placed in the hand of the church wardens in charge to 
 be at the disposal of the said Reverend Father Flynn, and that to compen- 
 sate him for his trouble and care in the exercise of his ministry. And in 
 case of any private individual failing to satisfy his engagement, — for 
 that which concerns his obligation, — the warden in charge is authorized 
 by each of us to follow up the debtor with the rigor of the law." 11 
 
 In addition to his salary Father Flynn was to receive four dollars 
 for every burial of an adult, two dollars for burial of a child, three 
 dollars for every High-Mass, and five dollars for every marriage cere- 
 mony performed. 
 
 The parishioners subscribed at this meeting or soon after, the sum of 
 $331.75. Probably every parishioners name is affixed to the document, 
 either in his own hand or by mark. 
 
 On January 8th, 1808, Father Flynn resigned his parochial charges 
 at St. Louis and St. Ferdinand and wandered on, we know not where. 
 The records of St. Louis show that Father Flynn baptized eighty-eight 
 whites, eleven negroes, and one Indian, and solemnized eleven marriages 
 of whites, and buried thirty whites and nine negroes. From the day of 
 Father Flynn 's departure in 1808, until the arrival of Father De Andreis 
 in 1818, that is, for fully ten years the parish of St. Louis had no pastor, 
 but was visited, at irregular intervals, by Father James Maxwell of Ste. 
 Genevieve, Fathers Urban Guillet, Joseph Mary Dunand and Bernard 
 Langlois, all Trappists from Monk 's Mound, and Father Francis Savine 
 from Cahokia. 
 
 Father Savine after serving the Church on occasional visits shier 
 December 11th, 1811, eventually took full and exclusive charge by an 
 agreement with the Church-wardens, dated St. Louis, May 29th, 1814 : 
 "For and in consideration of a sufficient sum I have received from the 
 faithful of this parish, as well as the assurances of other considerations, 
 I oblige myself to discharge the spiritual duties as Cure of the Church 
 of St. Louis every third Sunday until the end of April of next year 
 1815. " 12 The document was signed by Francis Savine, Priest. This 
 arrangement with the Church-wardens was continued until October 1817. 
 The Baptisms during the period numbered two hundred and fifty whites, 
 seventy-three negroes, two Indians : the marriages ninety-one white 
 couples and two negroes. The Burials, mostly performed by Trudeau as 
 chanter of the Church, by Jean Louis Mave, sacristan, and by Samuel 
 Solomon and Patrick Lee as Church Wardens. These minor officers of 
 the Parish also certified to all the burials. 
 
 11 The original of this contract between Father Thomas Flynn and the St. Louis 
 Church -Wardens is preserved in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 i- Register of the meetings of the Parish of St. Louis. MS in Archives "i 
 Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 
Chapter 13 
 FAT I IKK I) IN AN I) AND HIS TRAPPIST BRETHREN 
 
 In the early Records of the Church of St. Louis three names of Trap- 
 pisl Monks occur at frequent intervals, Urban Guillet, Abbot, Joseph 
 Marie Dunand, Prior, and Bernard Langlois. Of these three priests 
 Father Dunand, or the Prior, as he was usually called, is by far the 
 most important in the history of the diocese of St. Louis. Legends have 
 entwined themselves around the memory of this strange figure and his 
 still stranger career. There was a touch of the mysterious in the sudden 
 appearance of this white-robed monk in such widely separated localities 
 as Pottinger's Creek, and Casey's Creek in Kentucky, Kaskaskia and 
 Cahokia, in Illinois, Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, St. Louis, Florissant 
 and the Barrens in Missouri, always bent on winning souls for Christ. 
 Father Dunand was certainly one of the most interesting, as well as 
 heroic figures of our early days of struggle and self-sacrifice, a name 
 worthy of a bright page in the records of the unf orgotten past. 1 
 
 Father Dunand did not come alone to the Illinois Country, but as the 
 second in authority of a religious community of priests, brothers and 
 laymen in their employ or under their instruction; but even after all 
 his brethren of the Order had withdrawn from the country, he alone 
 remained on the mission in the wilderness from 1807 to 1820. 
 
 Joseph Marie Dunand was born April 22nd, 1774 at Chapelle les 
 Rennes in Lorraine. His childhood fell amid days of civil and religious 
 strife. 
 
 The per fervid words of the Declaration of Independence had found 
 a glad response in every nook and corner of olden France. The soldiers 
 of the French regiments that had so bravely fought under Washington, 
 as General in Chief, on their return, spread far and wide the cry of the 
 new democracy, ' ' liberty, equality, fraternity, ' ' ; and the youthful Dun- 
 and felt its wild charm. He became a grenadier in the republican army 
 of France. But the fond dream was rudely dispelled. The Committee of 
 Public Safety waged a rentless war against the faithful adherents of 
 the Church, as well as against the royalists. The grenadiers of Dunand 's 
 
 i A number of our best historical writers have devoted deep attention to the 
 Trappish Colony of Abbot Urban and Prior Dunand. Bishop Martin Spalding in 
 his "Sketches of Kentucky;" Flick, in "Records of the American Catholic His- 
 torical Society," vol. I; Maes in his "Life of Father Nerinckx;" Webb, "History 
 of Catholicity in Kentucky," and Garraghan in the "Records of American Catholic 
 Historical Society." The so-called "Diary of Father Joseph Dunand" was also 
 published in the Records, vol. XXVI. 
 
 (218) 
 
Father Dunand and His Trappist Brethren 219 
 
 Company were one day ordered to shoot a priest. Against this act of 
 sacrilege his better feelings revolted : that very day he fled from his 
 native France and found safety in Switzerland. 
 
 Under the influence of the horrors he had witnessed the young man 
 sought admission to the strictest Order in the Church, the Community 
 of the Trappists, in the Abbey of Val Sainte near Freiburg. 
 
 When in 1791 a republican army invaded Switzerland the inmates 
 and dependants of the Abbey, about 250 persons, fled to various parts 
 of Germany, from there some took passage to America, others to Russia, 
 and others returned to Val Sainte. It was in this last refuge of peace 
 that the youthful Dunand spent the years of his novitiate, and was raised 
 to the holy priesthood. 
 
 On the 3rd day of February, 1805, Father Dunand started with 
 Brother Ignatius on his voyage to the United States, where a new settle- 
 ment of the Trappists had been founded three years previous, with about 
 twenty-seven members, under the leadership of Abbot Urban Guillet. 
 
 Father Dunand and his companion were stopped on the frontiers 
 of France, by the chief of the Custom House, an apostate priest, who 
 treated them with great severity, but at last forwarded them to Amster- 
 dam. 
 
 On May 20th, 1805, they embarked on an American vessel, and on 
 August 14th, arrived at Baltimore. Here they were received by Abbot 
 Urban and with him they set out for Kentucky, where the new Monastery 
 Avas situated. But alas, instead of a flourshing community Father Dun- 
 and found at Pottinger's Creek only the sad wasted remnants of the 
 first colony of Pigeon Hills, where twenty-one monks, priests and broth- 
 ers, and sixteen laymen, had lived in Abbot Guillet \s care. Sickness and 
 desertion had worked terrible havoc. 
 
 Three of the priests had died soon after their arrival in Kentucky, 
 and two more in the course of a year. The excessive hardships of the 
 journey on flatboats down the Ohio, coupled with great austerity of 
 the Rule they followed, certainly were responsible for this sad condition 
 of affairs. 
 
 Father Nerinckx, who travelled with them a part of the way, is 
 rather severe on Father Urban, the Superior of the Community. ' ' In my 
 opinion, Father Urban, is not a man in the right place," 2 and it seems 
 well to soften its asperity with the milder judgment of Bishop Martin 
 Spalding: "Father Urban Guillet was a man of great piety, indefatig- 
 able zeal and activity, and of a singular meekness and suavity of 
 manners." 3 It is true, the zeal for the rigid rules of his Order made him 
 blind to the necessities of his subjects in their new and severe surround- 
 
 2 "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," (Louvain, ed.), p. 292. 
 
 3 Spalding, M. J., "Sketches of Early Catholic Missioners of Kentucky,' 
 Louisville, 1844. The chapter on the Trappists was reprinted in "Catholic Cabinet.' 
 vol. II, pp. 604-612. 
 
220 History of tht Ai'chdiocest of St. Linn's 
 
 ings. In ;in old world monastery, Abbot Urban would, no doubt, have 
 been an ideal superior. 
 
 Father Dunand arrived at Pottinger's Creek near Holy Cross 
 Church in Nelson County, Kentucky, on October 10th, 1805. The well 
 known missionary Sleplian Madin who, at the time was Pastor of Holy 
 Cross Parish in the neighborhood, assisted the almost helpless community 
 in every possible way. Father Dunand also was attacked by the fever 
 on the very day of his arrival, and struggled for four months between 
 life and death. But God had further work for him to do. Scarcely had he 
 gained sufficient strength when he set out with some of his brethren to 
 found a new establishment of his Order at a place called Casey's Creek, 
 the wry place of which Father Nerinckx once wrote: "I lately visited 
 my St. Bernard's parish and stopped over night with the admirable 
 Monks of La Trappe. I found fourteen members in the stable. That 
 structure, which is not entirely rainproof, is dormitory, refectory and 
 church. A space is set apart for the lay-brothers, and there is a small 
 apartment for storing provisions, in which 1 slept with my guide. 
 
 The Fathers and Brothers sleep on the bare floor; I had a bag of 
 oats to rest on."' 
 
 Father Dunand. however, could not be discouraged by such 
 trivial circumstances. Referring to Pigeon's Hills, he says: "There 
 were not more than seven Catholic families there. We built a 
 little chapel in which to say Mass, and the Catholics and some Protes- 
 tants were present on Sundays and Feastdays. I was perfectly content 
 in this new establishment, and counted on having found my abode of 
 peace, but Divine Providence had many other hardships in store for 
 me." 6 Father Dunand was not mistaken in this: the restless spirit of 
 Urban, the Abbot, fell upon a new plan. The Indians along the borders 
 of the Mississippi had invited him to their beautiful country, and prom- 
 ised to send their children to him for instruction, if he would come. The 
 thought of the conversion of these poor heathen children of the wilderness 
 fell like consuming fire into the good Abbot's soul. He resolved at once 
 to transfer his entire community to Upper Louisiana. The exact location 
 was to be determined later on. With Father Dunand, the Prior, and one 
 lay-brother, Dom Urban started on the perilous journey in the depth 
 of winter, heedless of all things but his Indian project. 
 
 Of the hardships and dangers of this overland trip on foot from 
 Kentucky to St. Louis, Father Dunand gives us a few thrilling inci- 
 dents. "During this expedition I was also obliged to carry my own pro- 
 visions. Even at that, I was exposed to starvation in this vast wilderness. 
 The cold was extreme ; the rivers were all frozen and the ground was 
 covered with snow. Wishing to reach St. Louis by Christmas Day, I 
 
 4 Cf. Maes, Camillus, "Life of Nerinckx,' - p. L08. 
 Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 331. 
 
Father Dunand and His Trappist Brethren 221 
 
 took a guide whom I made walk before me to sound the ice. It is the 
 custom for the traveller to supply himself with a pole which he carries 
 crosswise before him in order to keep him up, should the ice give way 
 beneath his feet. I neglected this precaution, wishing no other staff for 
 crossing than trust in God. 
 
 ' ' It was putting myself to a severe test ! We were in the middle of the 
 river when the ice more than a league in extent, cracked with a great 
 crash. I could not help trembling, but my guide reassured me, saying that 
 it was a proof that the ice was good, and this would only strengthen it. 
 As a result my fears departed and the journey ended without accident." 6 
 
 Wild and forbidding, as Southern Illinois then looked, and full of dan- 
 ger and hardship, as the journey really was, it must all have seemed but the 
 proper setting for the wild and unruly population of its few towns. 
 Roughly speaking, there Avere three classes : the aborigines, the Indians, 
 whose native manners and customs had been depraved rather than ele- 
 vated by the contact with the white adventurers; then the descendants 
 of the old French-Canadian voyageurs and coureurs de bois mingled with 
 a number of cultured immigrants from France and the West Indies, all 
 now designated as Creoles; and lastly the Americans from the East. In 
 his Diary, Father Dunand speaks with pity of the poor Indians, with love 
 and admiration of the Creoles and the Catholic newcomers from Mary- 
 land and Kentucky, but with anger of the irreligious, contemptuous and 
 persecuting Americans. 
 
 It was in November 1808 that the party had started for Cahokia, 
 where they arrived after walking ten days through the woods. Dunand 
 seems to have left the Abbot with M. Jarrot, he himself crossing the 
 frozen Mississippi on the eve of Christmas 1808. But let the good Father 
 continue the interesting story : 
 
 "Having arrived at St. Louis I found the district in a pitiful state. 
 Deprived of priests and all spiritual aid, the morals of the people were 
 entirely corrupt, and ignorance of religion was so general, that the in- 
 habitants scarcely recognized the name Catholic. The small number of 
 the better instructed rejoiced in their Faith. For the rest, some openly 
 mocked at it and others behaved with perfect indifference. This fatal 
 carelessness had its source in want of instruction. I am not referring to 
 the natives of the country who, generally speaking, were good. It was 
 through the incursion of foreigners that irreligion and licentiousness 
 had made their way into this distant land. Divided in language, senti- 
 ments and interests from the rest, the aliens worked against the commun- 
 ity 's good. They were the persecutors of the priests. Having gathered a 
 certain fortune by dint of crimes and injustices, and then having retired 
 to the villages to enjoy in plenty the ease and pleasures and comforts of 
 life, they naturally resented the zeal of the missionaries who exposed 
 
 « Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, pp. 3.T2 and :::-:::. 
 
l'l'2 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louts 
 
 their baseness and disturbed their peace. The very sight of a priest was 
 unendurable to them. Tt acted as a secret reproach to their consciences. 
 Their hearts were closed to the truth which condemned them, though in 
 doing so it repelled further from them those who brought them a mes- 
 sage so important." 7 
 
 It is a terrible arraignment, the man consumed with zeal for the 
 honor of God, makes of the great mass of the western people. Yet, there 
 are many facts to substantiate his severest charges. Only one of them 
 appears as an unsupported legend: No priest of that period "was put 
 in a hollow tree and abandoned to the current of the Mississippi." This 
 legend probably originated in the fact that Father Valentin, the first 
 resident priest of St. Louis, rather suddenly departed from St. Louis 
 in a pirogue. 
 
 But, as Father Dunand says, the natives of the country, those that 
 had enjoyed the mild rule of the Jesuits, were good Christians still : When 
 He announced on the evening of his arrival that he would celebrate Holy 
 Mass at midnight in honor of the Feast of Christmas, their joy was 
 intense. 
 
 "I found the church w r ell filled, despite the rigor of the cold. I felt 
 great satisfaction in seeing so many Christians unite to celebrate the 
 birthday of our Divine Saviour. The joy of these brave people was not 
 less; for they had not counted at all on having Mass on this most solemn 
 occasion. They did all in their power to induce me to remain among them. 
 I understood better than they did how much they were to be pitied for 
 having no priest, and so I was glad to accede to their request. My stay 
 w^as not entirely unprofitable." 8 
 
 "This village, which has nearly a hundred and twenty families, is 
 generally good. Everybody approached the Sacraments; nevertheless. 
 I was forced now and then to use a little strategy and have recourse 
 to pious ingenuity to induce them to do so, seeing that they were neg- 
 ligent." 9 
 
 One more sample of Father Dunand 's blunt methods: 
 
 "One day in passing near the prison of St. Louis I learned that 
 they were about to hang a man who was a Catholic. I at once entered 
 the jail. Six Protestant ministers surrounded the criminal. One of these 
 wore a torn coat, a long beard and had a wild look about him. I mistook 
 him for the criminal, as the latter on the contrary was well dressed in 
 white linen with his beard newly cut. I therefore, said fearlessly, to the 
 first, 'Of what religion are you? He answered: "I am an Anabaptist.' 
 
 7 Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 333. 
 
 s Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 334. Father Thomas Flynn had departed in January 
 of that year. 
 
 9 Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 343. 
 
Father Dunand and His Trappist Brethren 223 
 
 'so much the worse for you, then 1 said I, 'it is a religion that is worth 
 nothing. Is it possible that on the verge of death you do not seek to enter 
 the true religion?' 'I am not the criminal,' he quickly added as he 
 pointed slightingly to the condemned man, 'it is he who is the culprit.' 
 I was abashed at my error, but, without troubling myself further, I 
 promptly approached the man who had been pointed out and asked him 
 some questions. I knew from his responses that he had never been bap- 
 • tized. Then I explained to him the essential things to know, above all the 
 necessity of Baptism. He was quite touched and anxious to receive it. The 
 ministers arose in indignation against me, immediately entered into a 
 dispute and, Bible in hand, strove for four hours by the clock to prove 
 to me that Baptism was useless. They were furious and surrounded the 
 wretch merely for the purpose of keeping me away. All their efforts 
 served for nothing. I brought water and, notwithstanding their fury, 
 baptized him half an hour before they led him to his death." 10 
 
 But what was Dom Urban Guillet doing all this time ? As we have 
 seen, his purpose was to establish a Trappist Monastery at some as yet 
 undetermined place in the heart of the continent. He had two offers of 
 land : one at Florissant on the Missouri River, and the other near Caho- 
 kia. A wealthy Irishman, John Mullanphy, offered the one, consisting 
 of one hundred and twenty acres with two houses ; whilst Nicholas Jarrot, 
 one of the most intelligent, wealthy and respectable French citizens 
 countered with a tract of four hundred acres in the historic Mound 
 region of Illinois. 
 
 The good Abbot was undecided: he entered into negotiations with 
 Governor Lewis as to some grant of land to his community on account of 
 its being an educational institution, but made no headway in the matter. 
 On January 28th, 1809, he wrote to Bishop Carroll: "Both Governor 
 Lewis 11 and Governor Harrison, are desirous of having me, and the 
 habitants on either side of the river contend among themselves as to 
 who will have the college. I have found on each side of the river a suit- 
 able site for a monastery, but have been unable to proceed to a sale, owing 
 to the self-interest actuating both parties. Those of St. Louis say that 
 the Post side of the river is unhealthy, while those of the Post say the 
 same of the St. Louis side. This is why I contented myself with accept- 
 ing two houses and one hundred and thirty arpents of land near St. Louis 
 for a year only, so as during this time to get at the real truth of the 
 matter and build at the place which will suit best." 12 
 
 io Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 341 and 342. 
 
 ii Merriwether, Lewis, was stationed at St. Louis, General Harrison at the Post 
 of Vincennes. 
 
 i 2 Abbott Guillet to Bishop Carroll, January 28, 1809. 
 
l'iM History of the Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 In the meantime the colony ;ii Pottinger's Creek were busy con- 
 Structing a flat-boat, with which they were to float down the Ohio and 
 ascend the Mississippi. "They were" as Bishop Spalding relates "en- 
 abled to depart from Kentucky early in the spring of 1809; and they 
 proceeded without accident to the month of the Ohio. Here they were 
 delayed three weeks, awaiting the arrival of a body of boatmen, whom 
 Father I'rban, who had traveled by land to St. Louis, had promised to 
 send to meet them at this point, in order to aid them in the difficult 
 ascent of the Mississippi. 
 
 During their stay at the mouth of the Ohio the Monks landed on tin; 
 Illinois side of the river, near the site of the present town of ('aim. 
 
 Here they felled and sawed timber, and fitted up a temporary altar. 
 at the foot of a large widely branching tree, and there they daily sang 
 the divine praises and offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the New Law. 
 It was perhaps the first time that the voice of prayer 1 had been heard 
 amidst those dense and unreclaimed forests; the first time that the Holy 
 Victim had been offered up." 13 At length the Canadian boatmen arrived, 
 and took charge of the voyage, and towed the boats up-stream along the 
 banks by means of ropes. This mode of voyaging consumed a whole 
 month. As their final destiny was Florissant, the boat was towed up 
 to the mouth of the Missouri River. Here an accident occurred which 
 caused great consternation. "In attempting to draw the boat into the 
 rapid current of the Missouri the towline broke and the boat shot rapidly 
 down the stream. All the able-bodied men were on the shore and only 
 the infirm and disabled were on board. The boat continued to descend 
 the .Mississippi almost an entire day, before the boatmen on the shore 
 were able to check it; and several days' hard labor were required to 
 regain their former position and many more to reach the nearest landing 
 place for Florissant, the coal-hill known as La Charboniere. " 14 The whole 
 community arrived at Florissant before the end of May and established 
 themselves in the old government house, which John Mullanphy had 
 turned over to them, rent free for a year. There were only three priests; 
 Father Dunand, the Prior, Father Bernard Langlois and Father Ignatius. 
 The Abbot was absent at the old home in Kentucky, to take care of the 
 horses and the cattle, which he was to bring up to the new settlement. 
 When he did arrive on the scene in November 1809, he found his com- 
 munity shifted to the Illinois side, where Nicholas Jarrot had turned over 
 the plantation of four hundred acres, with the big Mound and a number 
 of smaller ones on it. But every member of the colony was attacked 
 by typhoid fever. Dom Urban too had the fever when he arrived at 
 
 13 Spalding, "Sketches of Kentucky." 
 1* Spalding, "Sketches of Kentucky." 
 
Father Duiiand and His Trappist Brethren 225 
 
 Cahokia; and exhausted as he was by the long, most tiresome journey, 
 he was further depressed by the news that the Prior was ill, and that the 
 whole community was near death's door. 
 
 Father Bernard, 15 two lay-brothers and the school boys, who had 
 remained at Florissant, were expected to join them soon, as Dom Urban 
 wrote to Bishop Plessis of Quebec an account of what had happened. 
 The land given by Jarrot to Abbot Urban seems to have had a 
 clouded title. In order to attain a confirmation from Congress and to 
 solicit an extra grant on account of his school, Dom Urban went to 
 Washington. On May 1st, 1810, he wrote about his purposes to Bishop 
 Plessis: "You are right in thinking that four hundred acres are enough 
 to keep us occupied for many years, they would be enough for ever, 
 were we to limit our members to a very small community without educa- 
 ting children. But, should Government reject our title, it will be 
 necessary to move again." 10 Dom Urban writes that nothing was done by 
 Congress in his favor, save that the title to the four hundred acres was 
 confirmed. 
 
 The Trappists remained at what was now called Monk's Mound 
 nearly three years. They built a cluster of houses with a Church, which 
 they called "Notre Dame de Bon Secours". Henry Brackenridge "the 
 little English boy" of St. Genevieve, now grown to man's estate, in 
 1811 paid a visit to Monks Mound and left us an interesting, if not 
 altogether just description of the Monastery and its inmates : 
 
 "The buildings which the Trappists at present occupy, are merely 
 temporary : they consist of four or five cabins, on a mound about fifty 
 yards high, and which is perhaps one hundred and fifty feet square. 
 Their other buildings, cribs, stables, etc., ten or fifteen in number, are 
 scattered about on the plain below. I was informed that they intended 
 to build on the terrace of the large mound ; this will produce a fine effect, 
 it will be seen five or six miles across the plain, and from some points 
 of view ten or twelve. They have about one hundred acres enclosed in 
 three different fields, including the large mound, and several others. 
 
 "On entering the yard, I found a number of persons at work, some 
 hauling and storing away the crop of corn ; others, shaping timber for 
 some intended edifice. The greater number were boys from ten to four- 
 teen years of age. 
 
 "I ascended the mound which contains the dwellings. This was nearly 
 25 feet in height : the ascent rendered easy by a slanting road. I wander- 
 
 ]5 Father Bernard Langlois, a Canadian and Trappist, is sometimes confounded 
 with Father Bernard de Limpach. 
 
 is Abbot Urban to Bishop Plessis of Quebec, May 1, 1910 quoted by Garraghan 
 in his ' ' Trappists of Monks Mound, ' ' 1. c, p. 88. 
 
 Vol. 1-8 
 
226 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 '•il about here for some time, in expectation of being noticed by some one; 
 it was in vain that I nodded to the Reverend Fathers, or peeped into 
 their cabins. I had the good fortune to be accosted by a young man, whom 
 I discovered to be in their employment as a kind of steward, though 
 not otherwise attached to the society. J experienced relief on being able 
 to find one who was willing to speak : I made a variety of inquiries of 
 him, but to very little purpose: he was however obliging, and promised 
 to speak in my behalf to the Principal. In a short time Father Joseph 
 made his appearance; I learned that he had the government of the 
 monastery in the absence of Father Urban. He is a sprightly, and 
 intelligent man, and, much to my surprise, talked with wonderful volu- 
 bility, which excited in me almost as much surprise as Robinson Crusoe 
 in his island felt, when his parrot addressed him. He invited me into 
 the watchmaker's shop, for they carry on several trades, to assist in 
 supporting the institution. The shop was well furnished ; part was 
 occupied as a laboratory, and library ; the latter but indifferent ; a few 
 medical works of no repute, and the dreams of the Fathers, with the 
 miraculous winders of the w y orld of Saints. Several men were at work, 
 and some boys busily employed. One poor fellow 7 , ten or twelve years of 
 age, attracted my attention and pity. He was seated by a stove, making 
 strokes on a slate, and appeared to have just risen from the bed of 
 sickness, or rather from the tomb. Emaciated to the last extreme, his 
 face was pale, cold and bloodless, his lips purpled, his sunken eve marked 
 by a livid streak, and his countenance overspread with a listless stillness 
 ... I was pleased when I saw T Father Joseph advance toward him with a 
 tenderness and benignity of countenance, which does not belong to a 
 monk : he endeavored to cheer him by speaking pleasantly to him, but 
 the poor fellow had lost the power of smiling, his physiognomy was 
 locked up in rigid coldness, which nothing but returning health, or the 
 warmth of parental affection, could soften. 
 
 "Father Joseph inquired whether I had dined, and being informed 
 in the negative, had something prepared. My fare was simple, consisting 
 chiefly of vegetables ; though not less acceptable ; for it was given with 
 good will. Having returned thanks to the Father for his hospitality, 
 I took my leave. I learned that the family of the Trappists consists of 
 about eighty persons, a considerable number of whom are not at home. 
 The boys are generally American, the men principally German and 
 French. They expect a considerable accession from Europe. It is about 
 a year since they have been fixed in this place. Last summer proved 
 fatal to five or six, and few escaped the prevailing fever/' 17 
 
 17 Brackenridge, "Visit to Cahokia, in 1811," is quoted by Scliarf, "History of 
 St. Louis," vol. I, p. 99. 
 
Father Dunand and His Trappist Brethren 227 
 
 Mr. Brackenridge 's little slurs on the Monk and the ' ' Dreams of the 
 Fathers" and "the miraculous wonders of the world of saints" tend to 
 lower our estimate of his fairness as an historian : yet in describing the 
 things he saw, he gave true and vivid views. His opinions do not concern 
 us. 
 
 "At the time the Trappists established themselves in Illinois" says 
 Bishop Spalding, "the Indian war of the Northwest was beginning to 
 rage. It terminated in the full discomfiture of the savages, at the famous 
 battle of Tippecanoe, on the 7th of November, 1811. It is a remarkable 
 fact in the history of acoustics, that the Trappists distinctly heard the 
 report of the cannon fired at Tippecanoe, though they were about two 
 hundred miles distant from the scene of action. A peculiar state of the 
 atmosphere, and the circumstance that the sound passed uninterrupted 
 over immense level prairies, may enable us to account for this curious 
 fact, which is stated on respectable authority." 18 
 
 is Spalding, ' ' Sketches of Kentucky. ' ' 
 
< Ihapter 14 
 !•' A T BEE Dl" N A X DTH E L( )N E M [SSIONAB V 
 
 The wanderings of the early Trappists in America have been com- 
 pared to those enshrined in the Odyssey of Homer. Mutatis mutandis, 
 a certain resemblance may be admitted. Yet the quest for a new home 
 was not without good results. Their nine years stay kept alive the faitli 
 iu many thousands of souls scattered like sheep in the wilderness. It is 
 true, they lost seven priests and eight lay-brothers by death : but as 
 the bodily life was as nothing to them, compared with the life of the 
 spirit, their failure seemed really a gain. It was not the American band 
 of Trappists that shrunk from the task, but rather the brighter hopes of 
 the General of their Order, that called them away to new and more 
 promising fields. While all the members of the Order, both priests and 
 lay brothers, thus returned to Europe, many of the young men who were 
 attached to it, remained in America, generally devoting themselves to 
 the trades they had learned among the Trappists. 
 
 Among them were some men of distinction, as Mr. de Hodiamont, 
 one of those who witnessed the saintly death of Father De Andreis. 
 
 But, as in the expulsion of the Jesuits, Father Meurin remained 
 behind to continue the work of his Order, so in the recall of the Trap- 
 pists, Father Dunand obtained permission from his Superior to stay with 
 the forlorn people of St. Charles, St. Ferdinand and the Barrens. 
 
 During the decade from 1808 to 1818 the Parishes above St. Gen- 
 evieve depended for the comforts of religion almost exclusively on the 
 Trappists of Monks Mound. Father Maxwell was glad to have their 
 assistance. 
 
 On the Illinois side, there was only Father Olivier, with the accession, 
 in 1812, of Father Francis Savine. It was probably through the influence 
 of Bishop Flaget of Bardstown that Father Dunand, now universally 
 called the Prior, was permitted to stay on the missions in Missouri until 
 1820. He seems to have resided, at first, in St. Charles, where there 
 was a Church. In St. Ferdinand he was pastor in residence from 1814 
 to 1820. Florissant thus became, as Father Garraghan says, "the Foun- 
 tain-head which dispensed spiritual aid to all the out-lying country." 
 A number of the pioneer Churches were built through the Father 
 Prior's exertions; at the Barrens, at Portage des Sioux, and Dardenne. 1 
 
 i Father Dunaud's Diary, in "Records of the American Catholic Historical 
 Society," vol. XXVII, p. 45. 
 
 (228) 
 
Father Dunand the Lone Missionary 229 
 
 Of the excellent Catholic Americans at the Barrens Father Dunand 
 has given such a glowing account in his Journal that we feel obliged 
 to transcribe it word for word : The first visit was made in 1814, to be 
 followed by many more : 
 
 "I arrived at the house of Mr. Tucker, a good Catholic who had 
 eight sons and one daughter, all except the youngest married and settled 
 about him in good homes. We had traveled a long time on this marshy 
 ground, in fear every minute of sinking with our horses, and surrounded 
 on all sides by wild beasts and enormous serpents. 
 
 "But we were well repaid for all our trouble by the warm recep- 
 tion of our excellent Catholic and his family. I inquired how they had 
 passed their Sundays and holy days, without Mass. They answered 
 that on these days all the families of the district assembled three times; 
 the first time they recited the prayers of the Mass; the second time 
 they recited the beads or other prayers and followed this by singing 
 hymns and canticles; and the third time some one of the better instruct- 
 ed taught catechism, not only to the children but to the married folks 
 as well. I could not help admiring this beautiful arrangement, which 
 the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of righteousness and simplicity, has 
 established among these pious planters, so simple and so free from 
 malice. 
 
 ' ' I imagined myself carried back to that blessed epoch of the birth 
 of the Church. I fancied I saw those first Christians instructed by 
 the Apostles and so united by their charity, that they were but one 
 heart and one soul. I would have liked well to have remained with 
 such good people and to have chosen this holy spot for my home, but 
 Divine Providence called me elsewhere. However, I did not wish to 
 leave these virtuous soids without giving them hope of again seeing 
 me. Finally to preserve or increase, if such were possible the concord 
 reigning amongst them. I advised them to build a church. 
 
 "It is the one thing you lack," I said to them. "From it you will 
 draw the greatest benefit. On Sundays you could all assemble there. 
 Some one of your number of good reputation and who to piety adds an 
 exact knowledge of his religion, could teach catechism or give some 
 pious reading. You might chant the psalms, some canticles or hymns. 
 All this would be a great aid to fervor and bulwark against Protestants 
 who will not dare to attack you seeing you so well united. God, for 
 His part, will bless you abundantly and when you are all assembled 
 in His Name He will be pleased to be in your midst. I added as a last 
 motive for their encouragement that, if they followed this advice I 
 would return from time to time to visit them and celebrate for them 
 the Holy Sacrifice. 1 then bade them good-bye and continued my 
 
•-'•'{O History of ilic Arrhdiocc si of St. Louis 
 
 journey. Bui it' 1 was not with them in body, my hearl remained with 
 them." 2 
 
 "On the following day they met to consider the building of a 
 church. It was resolved to do so by common agreement. They chose 
 a very beaut if id site. Beginning the next day. some prepared the materi- 
 als, and others worked at its construction with such ardor, that in less 
 than two months the edifice was under cover. There were two hundred 
 workers. When it was in readiness M. Tucker knowing where I lived. 
 came to remind me of my promise. T had been taxing my strength too 
 much, for I had travelled over a region of more than three hundred 
 and fifty leagues visiting various settlements in the Upper Louisiana. 
 I likewise had gone to visit congregations beyond the Wisconsin; and 
 this new foundation which was in the opposite direction presented fresh 
 hardships. But I had pledged myself, and it was necessary to add this 
 congregation to those I already attended, i held for these good peo- 
 ple a feeling of affection that attracted me towards them. Nevertheless 
 difficulties and dangers of travel caused a kind of repugnance. It was 
 necessary to cross several rivers which were very dangerous when high. 
 However, I overcame all these difficulties. I did not wish to show less 
 courage than the good old man whom these obstacles had not hindered 
 from coming to seek me. The journey was laborious, but their joy at 
 seeing me in their midst rewarded me abundantly and induced me to 
 return there several times." 3 
 
 "I was so well pleased with these good people that I have since 
 returned there four times a year, although they are forty leagues from 
 my parish. The good old Mr. Tucker received me in his home. One day 
 on arriving there I found him ill. I administered the last sacraments 
 to him and soon after he ended his days full of merit before God. He 
 left some valuable donations to the Church in his will." 4 
 
 It was through the agency of Father Dunand that the first Theo- 
 logical Seminary of St. Louis was located at the Barrens. But this 
 good work will be duly treated when the proper occasion shall offer 
 itself. 
 
 There is an allusion in the foregoing account to a missionary trip 
 of the Father Prior to Prairie du Chien at the junction of the Wiscon- 
 sin River with the Mississippi. It may well be that Father Marquette's 
 eye rested on the tongue of land whereon Prairie du Chien was to arise 
 in later times. Certain it is that there was a settlement of whites at 
 the place in early times. But of a Church or a missionary establishment 
 there is no trace in history up to the year 1817, and the priest's name who 
 
 2 Dunand 's Diary, 1. e., p. 46. 
 
 3 Idem, ibidem, pp. 46 and 47. 
 * Idem, ibidem, p. 48. 
 
Father Dunand the Lone Missionary 231 
 
 opened the Church Record with a large number of entries, and who 
 opened and blessed a Cemetery and urged the building of a Church was 
 our Father Prior, Joseph Dunand. 5 It was in March 1817, that Father 
 Dunand set out from Florissant for Prairie du Chien, at the urgent in- 
 vitation of the French Catholics who lived at that remote point. The 
 journey was by canoe : five men did the rowing, one the steering. Father 
 Dunand graphically describes the sufferings sustained from cold and 
 storm and privations of all kinds. Thus he continues: "Every evening 
 when we had put to land to pass the night the savages came to visit us ; 
 after they had gotten warmed up a little the chief came and gave me 
 his hand, as did also the leaders among them. I flung them a piece 
 of tobacco to mollify them, as they still were dangerous, although peace 
 had been made. 
 
 "The thirty-fourth day from the time of my departure after great 
 fatigue and hardships we reached the place where we sought to carry 
 the light of faith. I was heartily welcomed by the people who had 
 invited me to pay them this visit. The Commander of the fort, although 
 a Protestant, honored me with a visit and offered me his services. I 
 lived one month among these people who, until then, had been entirely 
 abandoned. I administered holy Baptism to a great many, large and 
 small, among whom there were many half-breeds and savages. In short, 
 all day I was occupied in the exercise of the holy ministry. Three per- 
 sons only refused to profit by my visit. Protestants came every day to 
 the instructions; even the Jews were converted. The savages of dif- 
 ferent nations were exact in attendance of Mass; the savage women 
 brought me their children in groups, some to be baptized, others that 
 they might behold a Makita Courage; that is to say, a black-robe." 6 
 
 Dreadful things were witnessed by the good Prior on this journey 
 through the Country devastated by years of Indian warfare ; and even 
 then cruelties were perpetrated that made his stout heart quail : 
 
 "One day when again going up the Mississippi I arrived with 
 my canoe and the men who accompanied me near a house which the 
 savages had set afire and where some horrible cruelties had been com- 
 mitted,. The father and mother whom they had scalped were lying 
 dead before the door. Besides this, they had massacred seven children, 
 most of them girls. The largest one they had put on the hearth of the 
 chimney to serve as a log; two they had placed as andirons, two above 
 crosswise and the two smallest in a kettle in which some one was mak- 
 ing soap. The house was on fire when we arrived. I shuddered with 
 fear lest the savages might still be there ; but a domesticated savage 
 
 ■"> The Catholic Church in Wisconsin, pp. 850-852. 
 " Idem, ibidem, p. 57 s. 
 
•_':!■_' History of thi Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 who accompanied me reassured me by saying that, from whal they bad 
 done On a similar occasion, it was safe to assume that they had promptly 
 withdrawn. With much confusion, 1 reviewed this burning house and 
 the bloody corpses, when a sight, sadder still, at least more apt to excite 
 pity, caught my eye. A poor old man, nearly sixty-five years of age, 
 came before me having been scalped and left for dead by the savages. 
 "Father Joseph," lie said to me, "save my soul! save my soul!" (speak- 
 ing in the English language). We took all possible care of him and 
 he became some better, but at the end of a few days he died." 7 
 
 Prairie i]u Chien lay in the very center of these Indian disturbances, 
 and Father Dunand naturally dwelt on them in his Diary at greater 
 length. We will give one more incident to show in what a hopeless 
 condition the greater part of Northern Illinois found itself just before 
 the dawn of its christianization : "One day two Americans fell into 
 their hands," writes Father Dunand, "and lest they might escape, they 
 brought them to a savage village. While their fate was being decided 
 they were laid on their backs on the earth; then their four exti'emities 
 were stretched out fastened to four pegs driven very deep into the 
 ground. One was condemned to be boiled in a large kettle and after- 
 wards eaten ; the other was to be roasted alive before the fire over 
 which the pot was boiling which contained his companion. The first 
 having been disembowelled was torn to pieces and crammed into the 
 kettle ; the other was stripped of his clothes and led before the fire from 
 which the flames rose more than six feet. The Indians, weapons in 
 hand, formed a circle round him that he might not escape. The women 
 were in front, each holding in her hand a pointed stick with which to 
 prod the unfortunate man and to oblige him to turn towards the fire. 
 It is worthy of note that under such circumstances the women are far 
 more cruel than the men. One of the women had her child in her arms. 
 She was the most vicious of all. The poor creature who was thus toast- 
 ing, unable to bear such cruel torture conceived the idea of making them 
 kill him at once ; and for this purpose grabbed her child and flung it in 
 the pot with his companion. Seeing this, the savages clapping their 
 hands to their mouths, cried out: "He is a hero! He is a hero! and the 
 mother of the child coming forward adopted him as her son; in this 
 way he was spared ; but on condition that he recognize as his mother her 
 whose child he had thrown into the pot. One need not be astonished 
 at this, for it is the custom among these people for the woman to adopt 
 as her husband or son him who has been the murderer, if he is caught. 
 This is the almost invariable rule." 8 
 
 " Dunand 's Diary, 1. <■., \>. <>n. 
 Mem, ibidem, p. 54. 
 
Father Dunand tltt Lont Missionary 233 
 
 But. sad to say. continues Father Dunand. "There are. among 
 these natives some white men more inhuman than the aborigines. The 
 following story gives one instance of this. One day two young Amer- 
 ican girls, about eighteen years of age, fell into the hands of some Indians 
 who carried them off to their cam]). It is easier to imagine than to 
 describe what was the fright and shock of these girls at the sisrht of 
 these wild men, thirsty for blood and always ready to shed it. How- 
 ever, whether they were moved by the tears of these two unfortunates. 
 or whether they were induced by some prospective interest, they decided 
 to sell them to some white traders. While awaiting the arrival of the 
 merchants who must have been at some great distance, they placed the 
 two young women by the side of a fire. There they kept them, trembling 
 from head to foot, more dead than alive, when a white man living among 
 the natives approached one of them with a knife in his hand; and hav- 
 ing laid her breast bare with violence, cut it off and roasted it. The 
 natives were horrified at such barbarity; they pursued the monster to 
 kill him, but he hid himself. Meanwhile the poor victim of so horrible 
 a deed was stretched on the ground bathed in her own blood and over- 
 cast with the pallor of death. A savage, bending over her said: "My 
 poor girl, we did not wish to kill thee, but since thou hast lost so much 
 blood and cannot escape death, I will do thee a kindness." With these 
 words he cleaved the head from the body with his hatchet. A merchant 
 bought the other and returned her to her parents. I learned this tragic- 
 story from those who were themselves spectators to it." : ' 
 
 Such were the prevailing conditions in all the northern portion of 
 the diocese of St. Louis before the coming of Bishop Du Bourg and his 
 missionary band of 1818. 
 
 s Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, pp. 55 and 56. 
 
PART ONE 
 
 THE ERA OF PREPARATION 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 The Church of St Louis 
 Under Bishop Du Bourg of Louisiana 
 
BOOK III 
 
 Chapter 1 
 BISHOP LOUIS WILLIAM VALENTIN DU BOURG 
 
 The twenty days from November 30th, 1803, to December 20th, 1803, 
 were fateful for three great nations, France, Spain and the United States. 
 On the first date Spain retroceded to France the province of Louisiana, 
 she had received from France forty years previous ; and on the latter 
 date the United States acquired possession of the same province of Louisi- 
 ana, bought from France, for the sum of fifteen million of dollars. All 
 Louisiana was now a territory of the great western republic. Fifty 
 thousand souls, mostly of the Catholic faith, had been added to the 
 struggling Church of America. The change had come so suddenly, un- 
 expectedly, that no one could realize the full meaning of the event. It was 
 the birth of a new and glorious period not only for liberty and progress 
 but for religion as welL It was not so plain then, as it is today, that the 
 unification of the country, under the benign principles of the American 
 Constitution, would cause an ever-widening stream of immigration to 
 flow in and invigorate the Church and make it the mighty, self-sustaining 
 body we behold with joy and pride. But the Louisiana Purchase was, 
 under God's Providence, the beginning of this wonderful change. 
 
 As the death of Father Patrick Walsh, Vicar General of New Orleans, 
 left the diocese of Louisiana without ecclesiastical government, Bishop 
 Carroll of Baltimore resolved to act under the Decree of September 1st, 
 1805, and assume the administration. He appointed Father John Olivier, 
 who had been at Cahokia till 1803, and was now Chaplain of the Ursu- 
 lines at New Orleans, his Vicar-General for Louisiana. There was one 
 man in the episcopal city, a man of great influence, who would not recog- 
 nize the new authority, Father Antonio de Sedella. 1 The character of 
 this Capuchin Monk is still an enigma. The people of New Orleans loved 
 and received him, as one that stood in highest grace with Heaven, whilst 
 he himself was continually opposing those whom the Church placed in 
 authority. It is said that he was a Free-mason and at the same time an 
 
 1 Cf. Gassier, F. L., "Pere Antoine, Supremo Officer of the Holy Inquisition 
 of Cartagena, in Louisiana," in "Catholic Historical Review," New Series, vol. II, 
 pp. 5&-63. Also vol. TV. Old Series, pp. 52-75. 
 
 (237) 
 
238 History of tin Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 officer of the Spanish [nquisition. There can be no doubt, that tie was 
 a man of great powers of mind and of a domineering character. Bishop 
 Du Bourg at one time called him the "inimicus homo," and at another, 
 proposed him to Rome for the office of his coadjutor. Father Sedella 
 w r as certainly not a "homo ecelesiae" whatever else he may have been. 
 He held the position of Pastor of the Cathedral at New Orleans, with 
 two assistants wdiose character was under a cloud. Vicar General Olivier 
 endeavored to abate the scandal, but met only stubborn resistance. 
 
 Bishop Carroll in a letter to James Madison, then Secretary of State, 
 bares the secret of his long delay in taking effective action. He had been 
 informed by Cardinal Pietro, that "the acquiescence of the American 
 government is necessary with respect to the measures to be adopted for 
 settling the ecclesiastical state of Louisiana." 2 But the only persons for 
 the difficult position of Bishop in those newly acquired parts of the 
 United States were Frenchmen, who would probably not be acceptable 
 to the Government, especially as Napoleon was known to be meddling 
 with these same affairs. The unwarranted course of action of the French 
 Government proceeded from the efforts of some Louisiana politicians 
 headed by that "artful Spanish Friar, Antonio de Sedella," who sent 
 a special mission to obtain a recommendation from the Emperor Napoleon 
 for the immediate nomination of de Sedella to the bishopric. "But, the 
 attempt has completely miscarried," wrote Bishop Carroll. This would 
 throw some light on the motives of Father Antonio in his entire course 
 of rebellion. Mr. Madison, of course, had no suggestion to offer, no criti- 
 cism to make, but expressed perfect confidence in the patriotism of the 
 Bishop of Baltimore. Cardinal Antonelli's suggestion was, that Father 
 Charles Nerinckx should be sent to New Orleans with the rank of Ad- 
 ministrator Apostolic and the "rights of an Ordinary," but the humble 
 and rather diffident missionary would not listen to any such proposal. 
 Father Lespinasse also was considered, and lastly Father Benedict Flaget. 
 As the troubles in New Orleans became more harassing from day to day, 
 Bishop Carroll bethought himself of the man that seemed entirely fitted 
 for the magnificent opportunity of bringing order out of chaos in Louisi- 
 ana, and place the Church there on the way of triumphant progress. Tt 
 was the Sulpician Father William Valentin Louis Du Bourg, one-time 
 President of Georgetown College, and Founder of St. Mary's Seminary, 
 and other institutions of learning and piety. 3 
 
 Father Du Bourg was a native of the Island of Santo Domingo, the 
 place where the holy sacrifice was first celebrated in America after its 
 discovery by Christopher Columbus. The date of his birth was February 
 
 2 Guilday, "Life and Times of John Carroll," p. 707. 
 
 3 Letter of Appointment as Administrator Apostolic, signed by Cardinal 
 Antonelli and Archbishop Carroll of Baltimore in Archives of St. Louis Archdiosese, 
 printed in "Catholic Historical Review," vol. TV, p. 56. 
 
Bishop Louis William Valentin Du Bourg 239 
 
 4th, 1766, twenty-five years before the terrible uprising of the blacks 
 drove the French colonists from the island. Cape Francois, was the 
 place of his birth, though not the scene of his childhood, as he was taken, 
 two years old, to Bordeaux, the former home of his family in France. He 
 made his classical and philosophical studies in the College of Guyenne in 
 Bordeaux, and then went to Paris for the study of Theology. On October 
 12th, 1786, he entered the Grand Seminary of St. Sulpiee and remained 
 there for two years. Owing to the troubles of the period, the Registers 
 of Ordinations were lost, and so, the date of young Du Bourg 's admission 
 to the sacred orders is not known. It was probably in his twenty-third 
 year that he became a priest, that is in the Fall of 1788. His first posi- 
 tion was that of a Professor in the College of Issy. But signs of the time 
 were ominous, both to throne and altar. 
 
 On August 1792, it became clear to the priests at the College that 
 they must fly for safety. Father Du Bourg escaped to Bordeaux dis- 
 guised as a minstrel with violin in his arm. His journey to Spain lasted 
 from August 11th to September 3rd. In 179-1 he embarked for Baltimore, 
 where he arrived December 14th. He was here admitted into the Sulpi- 
 cian Community, on March 9th, 1795. 
 
 In Baltimore the young Sulpician took truly Christian revenge for 
 the sins of the negro race against his people of St. Domingo by devoting 
 a good part of his time and energy to the instruction of the negroes and 
 negresses in their holy religion. From September 20th, 1796, Father 
 Du Bourg was President of Georgetown College. Early in January 1799 
 he went to Havana for the purpose of founding a College ; but as he met 
 violent opposition from the clergy of Havana, he returned to Baltimore 
 in August of the same year. Here he founded a College for boys, which 
 in the course of time became the Seminary of St. Mary's Baltimore, with 
 himself as President. 
 
 One of his early triumphs was the part he took in the establishment 
 of the Sisters of Charity, commonly called ' ' Mother Seton 's Daughters, ' ' 
 in 1809, and in the foundation of their Mother-house at Emmitsburg. 
 Maryland, in 1811. 
 
 Mrs. Seton, or Eliza Ann Bayley, was one of the noblest converts 
 the American Church has ever gained. After the death of her husband, 
 she felt that her vocation was the instruction of youth, but for a time 
 she could not come to a practical decision. The religious life was her ideal, 
 and yet her children had every claim upon her motherly care. It was 
 Du Bourg 's guiding and helping hand that enabled Mrs. Seton to combine 
 her seemingly conflicting duties into one great undertaking for God's 
 honor: the establishment of the new religious community of teaching 
 sisters: "Mother Seton 's Daughters." 
 
 From these apostolic labors and triumphs it can be clearly seen, that 
 Du Bourg was a man of uncommon gifts of intellect and character, and 
 
240 History of thi Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 well able and deserving to fill the most exalted positions in the Church. 
 Accordingly, Bishop Carrol] on A.ugus1 L8th, 1812 appointed him "Ad- 
 ministrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas." 
 This, of course, included all the territory west of the Mississippi and 
 easl of the Rocky Mountains, from the gulf to Canada. .\cw Orleans. 
 the former episcopal city was to he the seat of the new Administrator 
 Apostolic. 
 
 "The new Administrator. " as .John (i. Shea says, ''was a brilliant 
 and learned man. but lacked courage and firmness." 
 
 To these undeniable defects of Dr. Du Bourg's character St. Louis 
 owes a number of very important institutions, which in the natural 
 course of events ought to have gone to the older and more important city 
 of New Orleans. 
 
 This good came out of the evil thai Father Antonio did, and the 
 one weakness of Dr. Du Bourg's character helped to bring untold bless 
 ings to St. Louis. But we musl treat all these events in an orderly 
 manner. 
 
 The diocese of Lower and Upper Louisiana was, indeed, vastly rich 
 in territory, but extremely poor in every other respect: sparsely peopled, 
 the settlements widely scattered, the parishes disorganized, and the 
 clergy greatly reduced in number and in discipline. "Many Catholics 
 died without the sacraments," as a note of Propaganda states, "many 
 children are unbaptized; others scarcely see a priest once only in a life 
 time, marriages are contracted without the Church's blessing, and Chris- 
 tian doctrine is not taught, and such a decay of Christian life is to be 
 observed, that within a few years the Catholic faith will he entirely 
 obliterated." 4 
 
 New Orleans is described as a hotbed of unbelief and moral cor- 
 ruption, owing to a greal extent, to the efforts of the Freemasons, and 
 other adherents of the godless philosophy of Voltaire, but above all "to 
 the scandals given by some of the clergy." 
 
 Add to these anxieties the fact that an English army under Packen- 
 ham stood at the gates of the city ready to carry it by storm. General 
 Jackson won the victory, and Dr. Du Bourg's brave and patriotic conduct 
 during the threatening danger, won him the respect of the victorioiis 
 General and of the saner part of the people of the city. Even Father 
 Antonio yielded a kind of recognition to the Administrator's authority."' 
 But now there fell another sorrow to Father Du Bourg's lot. His good 
 priests were dying, four of them, within eighteen months, only ten re- 
 mained, three of them very old and decrepit. 
 
 ^ Souvay in "Catholic Historical Review," vol. IV, p. 53. 
 • r > Dr. Du Bourj,' preached an eloquent patriotic senium at the Thanksgiving 
 services for the victory of General Jackson. 
 
Bishop Louis William Valentin Du Bourg 241 
 
 For three Ion"' years the Administrator Apostolic bore the burdens 
 of an almost hopeless cause. The war with England was over, and the 
 way to Rome, the Seat of the Holy Father, lay open. Why not appeal 
 to Him for help, or for relief from his terrible burden? More laborers 
 for the vineyard, and larger means for their support were the things he 
 hoped for; his recall from Louisiana to private life was what he was 
 prepared for. 
 
 On April 29th, 1815 Dr. Du Bourg announced his intention of going 
 to Europe in the interest of the Diocese, and the appointment of Rev. 
 Louis Sibourd as his Vicar General to adminster the Diocese during his 
 absence. In this announcement the Administrator Apostolic stated that 
 he had all the necessary faculties for this appointment. This roused the 
 fighting spirit of Father Sedella. He demanded to be shown the letter 
 of Du Bourg 's appointment, and the special faculties received; "other- 
 wise," he said, "neither my honor nor my ministry allow me to comply 
 with your ordinance." Dr. Du Bourg immediately complied with the 
 Capuchin Father's impertinent request, by sending copies of the Ponti- 
 fical Brief signed by Cardinal Antonelli, the letter of Bishop Carroll of 
 Baltimore, which conferred upon Dr. Du Bourg the quality of "Adminis- 
 trator Apostolic with the rights of an Ordinary." And not content with 
 this he entered upon a lenghty argument with a man who would not be 
 convinced. Father Antonio's reply was a simple denial of all his Superior 
 had written. Strange to say, the Administrator Apostolic returned to 
 the charge in a letter dated May 3rd, 1815: The argument is clear, 
 concise and convincing. Its dignified tone must have made some impres- 
 sion on the Pastor of the Cathedral of New Orleans, if the argument 
 failed its purpose. Yet, the day of departure was at hand. On the 4th, 
 day of March, Monseigneur Du Bourg sailed for Europe, no doubt, 
 sorely beset by dark omens as to what might be done by the "inimicus 
 homo." Landing at Bordeaux, in July, 1815, shortly after the battle of 
 Waterloo, when all France was in turmoil, he could not proceed on his 
 journey to Rome for some time. He therefore, wrote to Cardinal Litta, 
 Prefect of Propaganda, that he had set out from Louisiana on an "ad 
 limina" visit to the holy Apostles, for the purpose of submitting to the 
 Holy See, the wretched condition of the diocese entrusted to his care ; 
 but that, owing to the disturbed condition of Europe, he was obliged to 
 postpone his visit, perhaps for a long time. 
 
 After this introduction Monseigneur Du Bourg broaches his com- 
 plaint against Father Sedella who refused to recognize the Vicar General 
 duly appointed, a man of remarkable piety and prudence. The Adminis- 
 trator finally begged for a recognition of Father Sibourd 's appointment, 
 pointing out the necessity to abstain, for prudential reasons, from any 
 reference to Father Antonio. The Cardinal Prefect may have thought, 
 that a little more firmness on the part of Monseigneur Du Bourg toward 
 
242 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, 
 
 the recalcitranl Capuchin would have served his cause much better than 
 this appeal to Rome. Of course, Dr. Du Bourg was supported in his 
 contention with Father Anthony; and Archbishop Carroll was requested 
 to notify the Catholics of Louisiana to this effect. Father de Sedella there- 
 upon ceased to exercise the jurisdiction he had usurped; but did not 
 cease to make trouble for the Bishop. 
 
 The Administrator Apostolic was received in audience by Pope Pius 
 VII, who listened with lively interest to all that the American Prelate 
 had to saj r about his hopes and fears for Louisiana. Men and means for 
 a grand effort must be provided otherwise all is lost. The Holy Father 
 assured him of his assistance. Dr. Du Bourg received the appointment as 
 Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas and was consecrated in the Church 
 of St. Louis of the French, September 24th, 1815. The consecrating 
 Prelate was Cardinal Joseph Doria. Father Felix de Andreis whom Dr. 
 Du Bourg had met at the Lazarist Home of Monte Citorio, witnessed the 
 solemn act. Bishop Du Bourg, as was his wont, gave way to his enthusi- 
 astic zeal by appealing to the Superior of the Lazarists, Father Sicardi, 
 for the very best missionary he had, Father Felix de Andreis. At the 
 very time of Dr. Du Bourg 's arrival, De Andreis was giving a mission 
 in Rome, with such remarkable fervor and success that the Prelate's 
 mind was made up at once : Him I must have for the mission or none 
 other. 
 
 Father Sicardi, however, was altogether unwilling to let him go 
 to Louisiana. But, Bishop Du Bourg, feeling that the success of his own 
 undertaking depended on the saintly priest, not only continued his im- 
 portunities with Father Sicardi, but also enlisted the powerful inter- 
 cession of Cardinal Consalvi, the Pope's Secretary of State, and at last 
 appealed to the Holy Father himself. Father Sicardi yielded to the 
 wishes of the martyr Pope, although with a heavy heart, and in an 
 interview with Cardinal Consalvi on the 27th of December, made all 
 the necessary arrangements with a view of the erection of a Seminary in 
 Bishop Du Bourg 's almost boundless diocese. 
 
 Father De Andreis' delight was not unmingled with fear, that he 
 might prove unworthy of the call. The thought of his dearest friend. 
 Father Rosati, a member of the same community, but then absent from 
 Rome, occurred to him. He, the teacher, had several years previous, spoken 
 to his disciple, that he should learn English, as they were to be sent one 
 day to a mission where they would need that language. Remembering 
 this, Father De Andreis wrote to Rosati, asking him whether he would 
 accompany him on the mission to Louisiana. Father Rosati answ-ered : 
 yes, he would. Several other priests and clerical students volunteered 
 for the mission, Father John B. Acquaroni among the number. On 
 October 14, 1815, the first band of American missionaries were ready to 
 depart with the blessing of the Holy Father, and on the night of the 21st, 
 
Bishop Louis William Valentin Du Bourg 243 
 
 they embarked for Marseilles under the leadership of Rosati, there to 
 await the coming of Father De Andreis who was detained for the time in 
 Rome. Many gifts in the form of vestments, altar-plate, linens, books, 
 and money, were made to the new mission. On the 15th of December, 
 Father De Andreis also took his departure from his brethren at Monte 
 Citorio in company with Francis X. Dahmen, the future Pastor of Ste. 
 Genevieve. They took the over-land route to Bordeaux, touching at 
 Piacenca, where he was joined by the everfaithful Brother Blanka, and 
 touching at Turin and Montpellier, on the 30th of January, 1817 ar- 
 rived at Bordeaux. Here they were most kindly received by the 
 venerable Archbishop whose guest De Andreis remained for four months 
 and a half during the collection-tour of Bishop Du Bourg. 
 
 The little community under Father De Andreis at Bordeaux repre- 
 sented only the first fruits of the new Bishop's endeavors. At Rome he 
 had received a gift of six hundred scudi from the Propaganda. "What 
 other sums he collected in Italy we do not know : yet they must have been 
 considerable. But what cheered him most, were the new members of his 
 missionary band he recruited in Milan, namely a pious association of 
 priests and students under Father John Mary Rossetti, Of these, Joseph 
 Tichitoli accompanied the Bishop : the others, Father Marcellus Borella, 
 John Rosti, John Bosoni, Peter Vergani, Angelo Mascaroni, and Joseph 
 Pifferi, followed later, and labored in various capacities in the Dioceses 
 of St. Louis and New Orleans. 
 
 At Lyons Bishop Du Bourg encouraged some pious ladies to form an 
 association for the support of the missions, which in after days was known 
 as the "Association for the Propagation of the Faith," and which for 
 many years was the main-stay of the Church in Louisiana. But whilst 
 all this was sufficiently encouraging, there was a dark cloud overhanging 
 all the Bishop 's hopes in New Orleans. ' ' The news which I received from 
 New Orleans" he writes to Cardinal Dugnani, on April 11th, "were 
 such as to almost make me give up the whole undertaking. The enemy, 
 on hearing of my appointment, renewed and multiplied his perfidious 
 wiles. There is now question of having the State Legislature pass a law 
 placing my temporalities under the absolute control of the men most 
 strenuously opposed to Episcopal authority ; and so heated are the minds 
 of the party, that my friends entertain fears about my personal safety, 
 should I appear in the city. 
 
 Your Eminence may easily realize what distress such news caused 
 me. I must say candidly that I came very near beseeching His Holiness 
 to take away from my shoulders a burden which, in circumstances such 
 as these, appeared to me simply unbearable. 
 
 6 A good and sufficient account of this period of Du Bourg 's life may tie 
 found in the "Life of Felix De Andreis," by Bishop Joseph Rosati, pp. 51-72. 
 
2i-i History of the Archdiocese of 8t. Louis 
 
 Unbearable it would be, indeed, Your Eminence, for the most 
 courageous and fearless Bishop, if he were obliged to settle in the City 
 of New Orleans, or even in Lower Louisiana, which is almost entirely 
 under the influence of that wretched Religious. Nothing at all can be 
 hoped there as long as that man is living. However, I feel how essential 
 it is, not to give up the hope of bringing back some day by dint of 
 meekness, that part of the Diocese under submission to Episcopal author- 
 ity. But this consideration itself positively forbids exposing the Bishop 
 to an uneven struggle, the inevitable result of which can be only the loss 
 of the respect due to his dignity. 
 
 I see but one means of reconciling all the interests at stake, and 
 I beg Your Eminence kindly to propose this means to the Cardinal 
 Prefect and to the Sacred Congregation : it is, that I should, for the time 
 being establish my See in Upper Louisiana, namely at St. Louis. 
 
 Apart from the peremptory motive which brought this idea to my 
 mind, several other reasons seem sufficiently strong to recommend this 
 measure. In order that I may work thoroughly for the good of my Dio- 
 cese, I must establish a Seminary and primary schools; these new 
 establishments ought to be, until they are solidly grounded, under the 
 immediate and constant supervision of the Bishop. Now everything 
 is against their being located in Lower Louisiana, whereas everything 
 looks favorable to their happy development, if they be in Upper Louisi- 
 ana: in the one place, morality is at an incredibly low ebb, it remains 
 untainted in the other ; in the one, the air is unsalubrious, it is pure 
 and healthy in the other ; in the one, real estate and living are very 
 high, they are very cheap in the other. In case I were to settle in Upper 
 Louisiana, I would appoint only a Vicar General at New Orleans, request 
 His Holiness, through the Sacred Congregation, to grant him the faculty 
 to administer, as I would deem fit, the Sacrament of Confirmation, as 
 the immense distance between the place of my residence and Lower 
 Louisiana would prevent my betaking me thither to fulfill this august 
 function of my Order. 
 
 In this case, too, it would be necessary to postpone indefinitely the 
 carrying into execution of the project which I have suggested to the 
 Sacred Congregation touching the dismemberment of Upper Louisiana 
 from my Diocese and its creation into a new Diocese." 7 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg did not wait for an answer from Propaganda, 
 before taking measures according to this plan. Less than two weeks 
 after writing to Cardinal Dugnani, he made known to Father De Andreis 
 his change of plans. He no longer intended that they should proceed to 
 Xew Orleans, but to St. Louis, which is on the banks of the Mississippi 
 River, about twelve hundred miles inland. The advantages of this change 
 
 "J Archives of Propaganda, printed by Souvay in "Catholic Historical Re- 
 view," vol. IV, p. 63. 
 
Bishop Louis William Valentin Du Bourg 245 
 
 were great, both for the Catholics of that region, and for the Indians, 
 who are far more numerous and more easily reached at St. Louis, than 
 at New Orleans. So the first House of the Mission and its Seminary 
 should be built there. But, as English and French were spoken at St. 
 Louis, it would be necessary that the missionaries should learn English. 
 The change of base surprised, but could not discourage Father De 
 Andreis and his companions. "Now then," said he, "Let us take courage, 
 gentlemen, I see that the English language will indeed be indispensable 
 to us." Father Rosati recalled what Father De Andreis had told him 
 some years before at Rome : that the English language would, one day, 
 be necessary for both." 8 In the fulfilment of this prediction Father 
 Rosati saw another proof of the fact that De Andreis was "a living 
 saint." On the eve of the Ascension, May 22nd, Bishop Du Bourg arrived 
 at Bordeaux with his band of young men, ecclesiastic and laymen, all 
 anxious for their departure. The company was divided into two bands, 
 the first one under the leadership of Vicar General De Andreis, and 
 comprising Fathers Rosati, Acquaroni, priests of the Congregation of 
 the Missions, then Fathers Caretti and Ferrari, secular priests from 
 Porto Mauritio, Francis Xavier Dahmen, Joseph Tichitoli, Leo Deys, 
 and Casto Gonzalez, Seminarians, Brother Martin Blanka, of the Con- 
 gregation of the Missions, and three young laymen, who had expressed 
 their intention of becoming brothers. The missionaries embarked on the 
 American brig Ranger, on June 12th, after a touching farewell from 
 Bishop Du Bourg. But the next day being Corpus Christi, and the ship 
 being unable to sail, all returned to land, where Father Andreis cele- 
 brated Mass and gave Holy Communion to all. Soon after their return 
 to the ship, a favorable wind sprung up, and the proud ship that bore the 
 hope of the western world, started on its voyage. For more than two 
 months this stout little ocean craft was to be their home, their temple, 
 their Seminary. The Captain and crew, as well as the only other pas- 
 senger, were non-catholics, but most respectful in their behavior. Mass 
 was said almost every day by one or the other of the priests; prayers 
 were said in common, lectures on Theology were given regularly, and the 
 study of the English language was pursued with a zeal commensurate 
 to the cause. 
 
 Father Rosati had also received the powers of Vicar General, but was 
 not to use them, save in case Father De Andreis should become incapa- 
 citated. Thus the long and otherwise tedious voyage became a fit 
 preparation for the great work awaiting the missionaries. 
 
 8 ' ' Life of Father Felix De Andreis, ' ' pp. 85 and 86. The best part of this 
 chapter is taken, frequently verbatim, from the excellent article of Dr. Ch. Souvay, 
 C. M., in vol. IV of "Catholic Historical Review," p. 52 ss. 
 
246 History of the Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 Land was sighted on the 23rd, of July. On the 26th, the company 
 landed at Baltimore. It was the Octave of the Feast of St. Vincent de 
 Paul. 
 
 Father De Andreis tells us with what delight he first beheld the 
 land of his future labors. But hungry and way-worn, as the missionaries 
 were, they sought the hospitable home of Father Simon Brute "the most 
 holy, learned, humble and affable man, I ever knew." as Father De 
 Andreis styles the President of the Seminary of St. Mary's. The 
 Sulpician Fathers did everything possible to make all the immigrants 
 feel at home in America. Meanwhile Father De Andreis wrote to his 
 Superior in Rome about their safe arrival, and to Archbishop Carroll 
 asking for faculties in his diocese, and lastly to Bishop Flaget at Bards- 
 town asking for information respecting the remainder of the journey. 
 
 Bishop Flaget advised an early start for Pittsburg, and promised 
 all possible assistance. 
 
/>/«• 
 
 (^Ch^^ 
 
 CW-^ 
 
 SIGNATURES OF THE PIONEERS 
 
Chapter 2 
 CHURCH-GOVERNMENT BY MARGUILLIERS 
 
 Although the government of the Church is vested in the sacred 
 ministry, the Pope, the bishops, and the pastors, in their respective 
 spheres, the care of the temporalities, under certain circumstances, may 
 devolve on the laity. There is nothing contrary to Catholic principles 
 in the system of Church-wardens, trustees, or as the French expressed 
 it, marguilliers, having the care and control of the property of a parish. 
 Under the French and Spanish regimes this system seems to have caused 
 no friction, a circumstance that may be ascribed to the fact that the 
 power of the marguilliers, was circumscribed by the civil authority. 
 The state paid fixed salaries to the clergy and contributed towards the 
 erection and repair of the Church-buildings. When March 10, 1804 the 
 flags of Spain and of France in St. Louis were almost simultaneously 
 lowered, and the flag of the United States was hoisted to announce that 
 Upper Louisiana had become American territory, the union of Church 
 and State, that had obtained under French and Spanish rule, was at an 
 end, and the Church was free to act as it saw proper, but also found 
 itself thrown upon its own resources. The property of the Church 
 remained with the Church-organizations as represented by the marguil- 
 liers, or board of trustees. 
 
 The office of marguillier was elective. It was the duty of these 
 wardens, generally four in number, to collect all church-dues, to engage 
 the lower officers, as the chanter, and sacristan, to keep the property 
 in repair, and to pay the priests' salary. The appointment of the priest 
 or pastor belonged to the Bishop. 
 
 Bishop Peiialver left his position at New Orleans at the close of the 
 Spanish regime. Most of the priests of Louisiana also departed with 
 the Spanish authorities. Only, Father Maxwell of St. Genevieve, Father 
 Olivier at Kaskaskia, and possibly Father Gibault at New Madrid re- 
 mained behind. St. Louis had no priest of its own, but only occasional 
 visits of Fathers Maxwell and Olivier. 
 
 Under these circumstances it was quite natural that the people 
 through their wardens took charge of the temporalities of the Church 
 and even went so far as to engage a wandering priest, Father Flynn, as 
 their cure, pro. tern. Parish meetings were held once a year, but might be 
 called at any time, if circumstances warranted action. 
 
 Through the watchful care of Bishop Rosati the "Register of the 
 lie solutions; of the Parish Meetings hell in the Parochial Residence of 
 
 (247) 
 
248 History of tfn Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 St. I. inns, from 1806 to 1830" ] were preserved for us. This Register 
 gives us a fairly good idea as i<> the manner to which the temporal affairs 
 of the Church were transacted during that period of transition. The 
 very first item in t he book under date of February Kith, 1806, contains 
 a complaint in regard to the sad condition of the Church, the ceiling 
 joists being in a state of advanced decay, and an order to the warden in 
 charge to have the roof repaired and the building whitewashed inside 
 and outside, out of the funds of the Church. A reprimand is applied 
 to Mr. Bernard Pratte for having delayed the work on the roof. 
 
 Under date of the 16th, and 23rd, day of 180G the engagement of 
 Father Thomas Plynn's spiritual services is recorded. - 
 
 After this entry there seems to have come a pause in the transactions 
 until January 21st, 1810, when the election of Antonio Soulard as church 
 warden and of Pierre Chouteau as deputy warden is recorded. As no 
 accounting for the year 1S0S had been made by Warden M.Didier, such an 
 accounting of Church-funds was ordered. "It was further unanimously 
 resolved that the Tariff must henceforth be paid in specie : in consequence 
 it will be diminished by one half, except for the sexton, to whom a piaster 
 (one dollar) will be allowed for a large grave, and seventy five sols 
 (cents) for a small one. It was also resolved that the annual salary of 
 the chanter will be reduced to sixty piasters in place of one hundred 
 and twenty. The rent for the pews will also be payable in piasters, by 
 [•educing the price by one half, and they will henceforth be computed in 
 specie." 3 
 
 On July 22nd, 1810 the following inventory of articles belonging to 
 the Church of St. Louis was recorded : A silver monstrance ; two chalices 
 and their patens; a eiborium and its cover in gold; two silver cruets: two 
 boxes of sacred oil and its case of red velvet, and one in tin for the 
 Host ; sixteen brass candleholders and ten in wood ; two buffets ; a small 
 box containing a silver plate ; two canopies ; an ivory crucifix in a gilt 
 frame out of repair, a pillow of black plush ; a bad carpet ; a missal and 
 its stand ; a gradual ; a Gospel-book ; three antiphon books ; a censer ; 
 a banner; a brass crucifix; a lead crucifix; a brass dish for the cruets: 
 two small bells for the Mass ; an incense box for the incense and the spoon ; 
 a large flambeau on a triangle in wood ; a little kettle ; a holy water font 
 in marble mounted on a wooden stand ; an armchair ; benches ; chairs ; 
 altar cards, three inferior cassocks; two good cassocks; five gowns of 
 cloth; seven cleric surplices; three altar cards; a tin lantern; eight albs; 
 two old square caps; two albs; eight large surplices; a table; three Com- 
 munion cloths; six altar cloths; four napkins for the blessed bread, a 
 veil; six amices; eight burses; a chalice case; twenty-one purificators ; 
 
 1 Archives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 
 2 Cf. Chapter 2 of Book II, of this history. 
 
 ;t Shaved deerskins seem to have been discounted 50%. 
 
Church-Government of Marguilliers 249 
 
 fifteen corporals; ten finger towels; a box and a few ribbons; a chalice 
 case; two girdles; a rng; a pall; four altar laces; a surplice; thirteen 
 chasubles, with stoles, maniples and veils; three copes; a pascal candle 
 and flambeau ; two altar stones ; a box of candles ; a bell for the belfry 
 and cord ; a lantern in church ; a heater belonging to Mr. Didier ; a 
 ladder ; a host iron ; a portable piece. 
 
 These articles of the above inventory were in the care of the warden 
 in charge. 
 
 St. Louis, July 22nd, 1810. 
 
 "On February 17th, 1812 the majority of the faithful of this parish 
 being assembled at the parsonage elected 'M. Antoine D. Enjen as warden 
 by a majority of thirty-one votes.' " 
 
 "On the same day it was unanimously decided that on St. John's 
 day, the coming June, all the pews of the Church will be put up for 
 sale and adjudged in piasters and not otherwise. It was further agreed 
 that the salary of the Cure will be one hundred and seventy-five piasters 
 per annum, and a residence in the parsonage. On the motion concerning 
 the salary of the sexton it was resolved that the sum of fifty sols (cents) 
 shall be allowed him for each house, which sum will be paid him by the 
 proprietors of said houses who are Catholics." 
 
 "The warden in charge was ordered to apportion as justly as pos- 
 sible, the sum required for the priest's salary of 175 among the various 
 families of the parish." 
 
 The Cure mentioned here was Father Francis Savine. 
 
 On January 14th, 1813 the parishioners elected Samuel Solomon as 
 warden for 1814, and assistant to the warden of the present year, Antoine 
 D 'Enjen. In 1812, Father William Du Bourg was sent by Bishop Carroll 
 to New Orleans as Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana 
 and the Floridas. This included all the territory west of the Mississippi 
 and east of the Rocky Mountains. St. Louis, therefore, came under the 
 jurisdiction of the Administrator Apostolic, soon to be made Bishop Du 
 Bourg of Upper and Lower Louisiana. 
 
 On November 14th, 1813 the parishioners of St. Louis appointed a 
 Committee for the purpose of asking the Bishop for a resident priest. 
 The members were : August Chouteau, Charles Gratiot, Gregoire Sarpy. 
 Bernard Pratte and Andre Landreville. 
 
 On January 9th, of the following year, Antoine Saugrain was 
 elected Warden for 1815, and assistant to Samuel Solomon, the warden 
 for 1814. 
 
 It was on May 29th, 1814 the Father Francis Savine, Cure of 
 Cahokia obliged himself to discharge the spiritual duties as Cure of 
 the Church of St. Louis every third Sunday until the end of April 1815, 
 a promise that was extended to October 1817, when Father Henry Pratte 
 
250 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 came up from St. Genevieve to prepare the place for Bishop I)u Bourg's 
 coming. 
 
 On January 8th, lSlf) Patrick Lee was elected assistant warden of 
 Antoine Saugrain the warden in charge. 
 
 On February 25th, 1816 Bapliste Beleour was elected warden for 
 
 1817, and assistant of Patrick Lee, warden for the present year. 
 
 On January 12th, 1817, Antoine Chenier was elected warden for 
 
 1818, and assistant to Baptiate Beleour, warden for 1817. 
 
 On January 4th, 1818 Bernard Sarpy was elected warden for 1819, 
 and assistant to Antoine Chenier warden for the present year. 
 
 On the following day, January 5th, 1818 Bishop Du Bourg, in 
 company with the Bishop of Bardstown, was to enter his quasi episcopal 
 city of St. Louis in triumphal procession. There is no further parish- 
 meeting mentioned in the Register until February 16th, 1819 in obedience 
 to Bishop Du Bourg's call. But the only resolution passed by the parish- 
 ioners was "to sell the old Church, that the profit may be used for pay- 
 ing a part of the debts contracted for the construction of the new." 
 
 We shall see in a future chapter how the system of Church wardens 
 gradually proved its incapacity for constructive work and was finally 
 brushed aside by the businesslike Peter Richard Kenrick. 
 
Chapter 3 
 BISHOP FLAGET 'S INTEREST IN ST. LOUIS 
 
 Whilst the little army of the Lord was being brought together and 
 equipped for the conquest of the Mississippi Valley, Bishop Flaget was 
 busy in preparing the way for its coming victories. From the day of 
 his appointment Bishop Du Bourg had conceived the idea of a division 
 of this vast territory into two dioceses, New Orleans and St. Louis. 
 He had spoken to his dearest friend, Flaget, about it, and had even 
 insinuated that Flaget should be appointed to the bishopric of Upper 
 Louisiana, that is St. Louis. At first the Bishop of Bardstown seemed 
 inclined to accept this solution : but later on would no longer hear of the 
 proposition. 
 
 On June 26th, 1816, Bishop Flaget wrote to Archbishop Neal of 
 Baltimore: "According to your request I candidly pass my opinion 
 about the erection of a new See at St. Louis. I firmly believe that the 
 place is of the utmost importance for the good of religion, not only on 
 account of the many Catholics that live there now, or of those that will 
 immediately emigrate thither, as soon as they hear that there is a Cath- 
 olic Bishop, but much more so on account of the many nations of Indians, 
 that have never heard of the Christian faith. The Bishop that is to 
 be sent thither must be accompanied by a good number of priests and 
 zealous ones, because the country is almost destitute of them. A seminary 
 and college must be erected in order to give to the Catholic religion a 
 superiority over all the other sects that are moving every stone to pull 
 down our faith and build their errors on its ruins. The R. R. Jesuits 
 are certainly those that would suit the best in those quarters, for sixty 
 years ago they carried on almost all the work at the missions both among 
 the French people and the Indians, and their names there are yet in 
 the greatest veneration. If the Holy Father was to send a Jesuit as a 
 Bishop and give five or six companions, I do not entertain the least doubt, 
 but in less than twenty years it would be the most flourishing diocese 
 of all those that are in the United States. But if the Pope sends thither 
 a Bishop by himself or with one or two priests only, nothing good will 
 result from his missions : he will work as a zealous missionary, but he 
 will do nothing as Bishop. 
 
 As to my translation to that See, if ever it takes place, it will be 
 attended by a great many inconveniences in Kentucky, and Upper Louisi- 
 ana will gain very little by it. Since I am in Kentucky, I have erected a 
 Seminary where there are now seven young men studying divinity, and 
 
 (251) 
 
'2s2 History of the Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 five others more or less advanced in their studies according to the time 
 of their coming; three Monasteries for public schools, in which there 
 are about thirty girls thai have taken their vows, or are ready to take 
 them. Their success in teaching and instructing their pupils of every 
 denomination has far surpassed our expectations. All these establish- 
 ments, if ever I am ordered to go, are threatened with immediate ruin, 
 because all the priests thai attend them will follow me." 1 
 
 It was only on the 8th day of August, 1816, that Bishop Flaget's 
 secret misgivings were set at rest by a letter from Bishop Du Bourg 
 that the diocese was not to be dismembered for the present, but the 
 seat of the Bishop of New Orleans would be fixed at St. Louis or possibly. 
 St. Genevieve. The reasons for this decision we have already heard. 
 Bishop Flaget was well pleased and immediately began to prepare the 
 way for Bishop Du Bourg and his band of missionaries. Concerning the 
 work of preparation Bishop Du Bourg had written to Cardinal Dugnani: 
 "However, Your Eminence, before going there, I deemed it necessary 
 to make sure of the kind of welcome 1 might expect there; for I am 
 told also that the coterie at New Orleans have spared no efforts to poison 
 the minds of the country-people, and as much as they could, of the whole 
 Diocese. In consequence, I have written to Bishop Flaget of Kentucky, 
 who is highly esteemed in Upper Louisiana, and who, being 1 well ac- 
 quainted with the dispositions of the people there, solicited the erection 
 of a new Episcopal See in that district; I have requested him to urge 
 those people to express themselves plainly, and assign to the Bishop 
 a maintenance independent from the caprice and humor of his flock. My 
 opinion is, accordingly, that I should wait for their answer before defi- 
 nitely determining to go there. 
 
 Upon these various points it is extremely urgent, Your Eminence, 
 that I should have, as soon as possible, the directions of the Sacred 
 Congregation; for without these directions I act only at haphazard, being 
 obliged to rely solely on my own judgment. I consulted, however, the 
 most enlightened and wise French prelates and ecclesiastics; and all 
 approved of my plan." 2 
 
 In answer to his friend's request Bishop Flaget, through his Vicar- 
 General, Very Reverend Donatien Olivier, sent the following circular 
 letter to all the people of Upper Louisiana: 
 
 St. Charles, Ky., February 8, 1816. 
 
 Very Reverend Brother — Without further introduction I notify you 
 
 t hat probably before the end of this year you will have a resident Bishop, 
 
 i Archives of Baltimore; printed i" "American Catholic Historical tie 
 searches," vol. XIX, pp. 108-109. 
 
 -' Archives of Propaganda, Le Codex, 3, pp. 372, 373. 
 
Bishop Flaget's Interest in St. Lams 253 
 
 cither at Ste. Genevieve or St. Louis, whose diocese, if I be not mis- 
 taken, will comprise the territories of Missouri and Illinois, whilst those 
 of Indiana and Michigan will, for the present, be added to it. This ar- 
 rangement will not be completed, however, until all the inhabitants of 
 these territories unanimously engage themselves to receive with due 
 honor the Bishop and his lawful successors and to place in his hand a 
 fund for the upkeep of a seminary. This notice is official, and I ask 
 you to forward it to all the parishes, those east of the Mississippi as 
 well as those on the western bank. In order to proceed in this matter 
 with all possible prudence, I believe it to be advisable, that every parish 
 hold a parish meeting to select a delegate, and that all the delegates re- 
 pair on a certain day to St. Louis and there deliberate. 
 
 1. On the annual income they can promise their Bishop. 
 
 2. On the ways and means of securing this income. The mode 
 must be simple and secured against all possible annoyance. 
 
 3. On the Bishop's house, its furniture and servants. 
 
 4. On a building for the seminary which must be near to the church 
 and the Bishop, or on the lands which may some day furnish, a suffi- 
 cient fund to educate a number of young men destined for the sacred 
 ministry. 
 
 5. On the funds necessary to defray the costs which the Bishop 
 may incur in coming to them, and to purchase the necessary pontifical 
 vestments. 
 
 It would not be out of place to discuss the question where it would 
 he more advantageous to erect the episcopal see. at St. Louis, or Ste. 
 Genevieve. As soon as these discussions are closed and the minutes there- 
 of made up, they shall be submitted to the Bishop of New Orleans and 
 to myself for examination. 
 
 The remarks which we may feel obliged to make on this we shall 
 send to you, and, as soon as all parties are agreed, the result shall be 
 submitted to the Roman Curia, which is waiting for them in order 
 to make out the Bulls. 
 
 The great temporal sacrifices which the people must make for 
 the erection of the episcopal see are richly repaid by the permanent 
 spiritual advantages which they will derive therefrom. 
 
 I am even convinced that within the next few years the popula- 
 tion will be increased by immigration from other states, to such an 
 extent, that in less than ten years your property will have doubled 
 or trebled in value. It would therefore be a lamentable blindness 
 against their own advantage and that of their posterity, if they would. 
 for considerations of present difficulties, reject the favors now offered 
 to them, and thus forever deprive themselves of the hope of possessing 
 an episcopal see. 
 
254 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 As the Location of the sec will mainly depend on the recommenda- 
 tion which, we, Mgr. Du Bourg and myself, will make, I am determined 
 
 to oppose with ;ill my power, the selection of St. Louis; if it he 
 true, what lias been written to me. that a theatre was opened there, 
 which must neutralize the efforts of even the most zealous and most 
 holy Bishop. 
 
 Indeed, what would it profit a prelate to inveigh ever so earnestly 
 against the vanities, luxuries and intrigues, when the play-actors may 
 preach in principle and in practice, the intrigues, the luxuries and 
 vanities of the world? That would mean to mingle light with dark- 
 ness, truth with falsehood, Belial with the God of Israel. And to 
 that I could never give my consent. I trust that the citizens of St. 
 Louis will enter into themselves, and will not, for the love of vanity 
 and falsehood, reject the imperishable goods which must of necessity 
 come to them from the presence of a Bishop among them, and from 
 all the institutions which will be established by him. Admonish a'l 
 the people of the various parishes, to bethink themselves, to bewail their 
 sins, to purify their conscience, that they may, by fervent and per- 
 severing prayers, obtain a holy Bishop, who is consumed by the zeal 
 for God's glory and the salvation of souls. 
 
 Order also, that in all parishes where there is a priest or a pre- 
 centor the Veni Creator, together with the Oratio de Sancto Spiritu. 
 he sung, either before or after Mass; or that, where there is no one 
 to sing, the Rosary be recited. I request that the priests, once a month 
 at least, celebrate the Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost with this inten- 
 tion: for their happiness will greatly depend on the choice the Holy 
 Father the Pope may make. 
 
 As the parishioners are all well known and dear to me, assure 
 them that I will unite myself with them in their prayers: for no 
 one on earth can more strongly wish for them happiness in time and 
 eternity, 
 
 In all friendship, I remain, your most devoted servant, 
 Benedict, Bishop of Bardstowai. 
 
 Vicar-General Donatien Olivier added the following words: 
 
 My dear Confrere — As I know how devoted you are to the parish 
 entrusted to you, and to the salvation of souls, I need not ask you to 
 carry out all the injunctions entered in this letter of His Grace. 
 
 Prairie du Rocher, April 9, 1816. 
 Your Confrere, 
 I). Olivier, Missionary in Illinois. 
 
Bishop Flaget'sl Interest in St. Louis 255 
 
 You will please communicate to me the result of your parish 
 meeting. 3 
 
 We have given Bishop Flaget's entire letter as it was read to 
 the Congregation in Missouri. It is, at the same time, a monument 
 of the saintly Bishop's childlike faith and a proof of his enlightened 
 views as to the future glories of the West. The people of St. Louis 
 have certainly never had occasion to regret the sacrifices their fathers 
 were called upon to make for the purpose of a diocese in those ancient 
 days. 
 
 In the meantime Father De Andreis and his companions had 
 completed all preparations for their journey to St. Louis. 
 
 Travelling by stage, eight of the company crossed the Allegheny 
 Mountains in the Fall of 1816. Rain was their almost daily compan- 
 ion. The roads became frightfully deep. An occurrence of divine 
 interposition is related by Father De Andreis: "An enormous frag- 
 ment of rock became detached from its place, and rolling rapidly 
 down the mountain side, crossed the road at the very moment that 
 two of our companions were passing. It seemed impossible for them 
 to escape death or, at least, very severe injury: but they were pre- 
 served, the immense mass passing within a hair's breadth of their 
 feet without touching them." 4 But the rain continued to fall in 
 torrents. At a place called Bloody Run, the whole caravan was de- 
 tained for three days: then the stage driver declared he would not 
 go any further, and left the forlorn party at the swollen Juniato 
 River. De Andreis sent a messenger across with the request for 
 another conveyance to bring the party to its destiny. Then another 
 delay occurred. The stage was already crowded. At last Father 
 De Andries procured an ordinary farmer's wagon for their baggage, 
 and, dividing his company into two bands, they all started on foot 
 for the rest of the journey. At last on the 19th day of September, 
 they arrived at Pittsburg, weary and footsore and almost dispirited. 
 Father De Andreis confesses, that in the midst of these frightful 
 mountains, the smiling picture of Rome, its churches and the friends 
 he had left there, presented itself to his mind in glowing colors, and 
 like daggers made him experience, all the tortures of melancholy. 
 
 It was on the Feast of the Seven Dolors that the missionary ex- 
 pedition reached Pittsburgh. Having found the Church of the place, 
 whose Pastor, Father O'Brien, was absent on one of his missions, all 
 
 3 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 4 Rosati, "Life of De Andreis," p. 113. 
 
256 History of the Archdiocesi of St. Louis 
 
 the priests said Mass, ami the others communicated for the first time 
 since the beginning of their journey. 
 
 On the 23rd of October, 1816 the missionaries started down the 
 Ohio River on a flatboat. On November 19, they reached Lonisville 
 and resolved to await the coming of the Bishop at the Seminary of 
 St. Thomas near Bardstown. 
 
 Bishop Flaget advised against going to St. Louis at that time. 
 as there were no preparations made for the missionaries, and the 
 missionaries themselves needed further practice in the English and 
 French languages. 
 
 At Bardstown the good Fathers obtained a fair knowledge of 
 what awaited them beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 On the 29th of November, 1816 Father I)e Andreis wrote to 
 Father Sicardi in Rome:. "The life of a missionary in this country 
 is pretty hard. He must be constantly on horseback, finding his way 
 here and there through immense woods, to visit the sick and attend 
 the congregations. Sometimes he is obliged to go thirty or forty 
 miles to see a sick person. The congregations are what we call parish- 
 es; the people assemble in cabins built of trunks of trees, laid one 
 upon another, the interstices being filled up with clay, like the greater 
 number of houses, in which the wind and rain enter without difficulty. 
 These are our churches, without pictures and ornaments of any kind, 
 provided merely with a poor wooden altar. They are scattered about 
 among the woods, and on festival days Catholics, and not unfrequent- 
 ly Protestants, too, for ten or fifteen miles around gather together 
 within their walls. All come on horseback, and it is really amusing 
 to behold the surrounding woods filled with horses and to hear them 
 neighing as if a regiment of cavalry were in the vicinity. Confessions 
 take up the greater part of the morning. Mass is said or sung, a 
 sermon or homily preached, and then follow the baptisms, generally 
 very numerous. The sick must be visited, and the poor priest, worn 
 out with fasting, fatigue, the journey and the heat, has at length to 
 beg his dinner here or there. This meal usually consists in some corn- 
 bread, beef-steak and water, without wine, vinegar, soup or oil. Some- 
 times he is obliged to say two Masses, and to preach in places far apart, 
 for the people are very much dispersed, every one being employed in 
 cultivating his own land. There are neither towns nor villages; all 
 the work is done by negro slaves, who are very numerous." 5 
 
 And again in his letter to Canon Martorelli, of the Lateran Basil- 
 ica, August 24, 1817: Father De Andreis gives the following descrip- 
 tion of the state of the Church in America: "Picture to yourself an 
 
 5 Bosati, "Life of De Andreis," p. 145 and 146. 
 
Bishop Fidget's Interest in St. Louis '2~u 
 
 immense tract of land, entirely covered with woods and forests, dwell- 
 ings scattered here and there without any order, the towns and cities 
 being few in number, which is very inconvenient on account of the 
 small number of priests, and for other reasons of minor importance 
 The churches are situated in open plains, surrounded by the woods. 
 On feast days, men, women and children, of every age and condition. 
 come on horseback, ten, fifteen miles, or even more to attend Mass. 
 hear the word of God, and receive the sacraments; so that, when they 
 wish to go to the Holy Communion, they are compelled, notwithstanding 
 the fatigue of the journey coming and going, to remain fasting until 
 the evening, when they reach their homes. These churches in their 
 outward appearance, resemble all the other houses, being built of 
 rude logs and trunks of trees, which are never scarce in this country. 
 put together with mud, and through which the wind, cold, heat and 
 rain enter by turns. They are entirely devoid of ornament." 
 
 "Although, with regard to the population, these churches are few 
 in number, still, as priests are likewise very scarce, every one of the 
 latter has to attend to four, five or six of these parishes, or, as they 
 are called here, congregations ; and though a priest is sometimes 
 obliged to say two Masses on one day, some of the congregations are 
 whole months without a clergyman." "On account of the great dis- 
 tance at which the congregations are situated one from another, the 
 missionary is obliged to be constantly on horseback, going here and 
 there to preach, assist the sick, etc. Hence twenty, thirty, sixty or 
 even ninety miles in one day are his customary rides. His life is, 
 indeed, a hard and laborious one. Today he is in one place, but he 
 knows not where he will be tomorrow. He depends entirely for his 
 food and lodging on the hospitality of the planters, who, thank God, 
 are delighted to show every mark of attention to a priest. Even 
 Protestants will do all in their power to receive him well, though 
 the best fare that he can expect consists of nothing but some corn- 
 bread very badly baked, tough salt pork, potatoes and water: This is 
 the refreshment that the missionary finds after a pretty long journey, 
 having heard confessions the whole morning until one or two in the 
 afternoon, said Mass, preached, baptized, etc. ; sometimes at five in the 
 evening he is still fasting." 
 
 At last in September 1817, came the welcome news that Bishop 
 Du Bourg, accompanied by about thirty priests, had arrived at Balti- 
 more. Bishop Plaget with Fathers De Andreis and Rosati and Broth- 
 er Blanka on October 1st, set out for St. Louis, a journey of about 
 300 miles, to prepare the people of St. Louis for the Bishop's coming. 
 
 6 "Life of De Andreis," p. 162 and 163. 
 Vol. 1—9 
 
258 History of tin Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Mr. Joseph Tucker served as their guide. The entire journey was made 
 mi horseback. Crossing the Ohio at Shawneetown, they rode through 
 Illinois to Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve, and leaving De Andreis there 
 in place of Father Pratte, they recrossed the river and proceeded by 
 way of Prairie du Rocher to Cahokia, and thence to St. Louis. We 
 will quote from a letter by Father Rosati, as given in the Life of 
 Rev. Father De Andreis, C. M. : "The parish priest of St. Genevieve, 
 the Rev. Henry Pratte, came to meet us with several of the parish- 
 ioners, and as they all knew T.ishop Flaget, who had given a mission 
 in that place, lie was received with many demonstrations of joy. Some 
 of us were quartered in the house of the pastor, others in good Cath- 
 olic families. On the following Sunday Father De Andreis sang High 
 Mass and Bishop Flaget preached. He spoke of the object of our 
 mission, which caused several of the principal inhabitants to assemble 
 on two occasions, when they testified their earnest desire that we 
 should remain among them; but one of their number, a worthy old 
 man, told them plainly that they need not hope for that. St. Louis 
 will have the preference, and we shall be obliged to yield ; such, in 
 fact, was eventually the case. "At length, on the 17th of October 
 1817, we arrived in the city of St. Louis, which at the period had no 
 pastor; it was attended every three weeks by a priest from the other 
 side of the river, Father Francis Savine. The Bishop and the mis- 
 sionaries went to the presbytery, which was an old stone building 
 almost in ruins, divided by planks into two portions, one of which, 
 the smaller of the two, served as a sleeping room, and the other was 
 appropriated to the parochial and municipal assemblies. In this tot- 
 tering house Bishop Flaget determined to take up his residence, and 
 as there was no bed in it, some of the inhabitants prepared one for 
 him. Father De Andreis and his companions had to sleep on buffalo 
 skins spread on the floor, in the same room or the adjoining. It is 
 true that the citizens were very willing to offer their own houses, but 
 the missionaries concurred with the Bishop in thinking that it was 
 better to he satisfied with a poor but independent abode, rather than 
 accept the offer of any private individual. The parish church, situat- 
 ed very near the presbytery, was in no better condition. It was small, 
 poor and falling into ruins. In a word, wherever the eye turned, 
 nothing could be seen but poverty and desolation." 7 
 
 "As soon as Bishop Flaget arrived at St. Louis, he interested 
 himself in the affair entrusted to him by his fellow-laborer. Bishop 
 Du Bourgr." 
 
 'Life of De Andreis," p. 168. 
 
Bishop Flaget's Interest in St. Louis 259 
 
 Having assembled the principal heads of families, he spoke to 
 them of the approaching arrival of their own Bishop and the mis- 
 sionaries he was bringing with him to fix their residence in that place. 
 He proved to them that they should feel very grateful for the choice 
 that had been made of their city; for, in consequence, it would rapid- 
 ly become not only the center of the extensive country around, but 
 the center of all religious and literary instructions, when they and 
 their families would derive immense benefit. He also told them that, 
 since the Bishop's residence among them would confer so many ad- 
 vantages on their city, they ought, on their part, to co-operate in 
 his views, and cheerfully give him all the help they could. He then 
 began to speak of what it was most requisite to do first, and mentioned 
 particularly the preparation of a suitable residence ; and, as all these 
 arrangements could not be considered in the first meeting, he held 
 several general assemblies, at which he begged everyone to express his 
 own opinion. During one of these meetings a certain Mr. L — arose 
 and addressing himself to the Bishop and his fellow-citizens, said : I am 
 far from disapproving the choice that Bishop Du Bourg had made of 
 this city for the place of his ordinary residence. He is a Bishop and is, 
 therefore, at liberty to fix his abode in whatever part of his diocese he 
 may think proper to select; but, inasmuch as it concerns the inhabitants 
 of St. Louis, I see no particular reason why they should contribute to the 
 expense that he will consequently incur. The expense of a diocese should 
 be divided among the whole population ; it is not just that they fall on 
 us alone. We have a parish church ; we will give our pastor a proper 
 salary ; this will be quite enough for our share. If the church is going 
 to ruin, it is our duty to repair it; and though we have no pastor at 
 present, let one be sent to us and we will cheerfully receive him. But 
 as to the Bishop, we are not obliged to do anything, because his permanent 
 residence belongs alike to all." 8 
 
 Such were the arguments advanced, but his words made no 
 impression on the assembly, because everyone knew that he was not 
 actuated by genuine zeal for the public good. He was a Catholic only 
 in name, who scarcely ever entered a church, attended instructions, or 
 approached the sacraments ; consequently his words produced no effect on 
 those who heard them. On the contrary, all manifested sentiments 
 of an entirely opposite nature, and willingly offered to contribute, both 
 by labor and money, to whatever the project establishment would 
 require." 9 
 
 s Eosati, "Life of De Andreis," pp. 170 and 171. 
 9 Ibidem, p. 172. 
 
"2()0 History of tht Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 One of the citizens, an [rishman by the name of Connor, 1 " con 
 tribute*! the inunitieieiit sum of one thousand dollars, and his example 
 evoked a spirit of generosity such as St. Louis had never before witness <1. 
 Among the Non-Catholies who nobly contributed to the cause was the 
 future Senator Thomas II. Benton, whose son in later years became a 
 convert to the Church. 
 
 Leaving Father Pratte in charge of St. Louis, and Vicar General 
 De Andreis at St. Genevieve, Bishop Plagel ami Father Rosati started 
 on their return trip to Bardstown, whore they arrived on the (ith of 
 November. Bishop David, the President of St. Thomas Seminary, in 
 formed them of the early arrival of Bishop Du Bourg. 
 
 i° Jeremiah Connor came to St. Louis in 1805. He was appointed Sheriff 
 of the city in 1800, and served four years, not only as Sheriff but as Collector and 
 Treasurer also. He laid out Washington Avenue, through the center of his property. 
 Besides giving the $1,000 spoken of here, he donated the site on which the Jesuit 
 
 Church and College Buildings stood in the early days. Who this "Mr. L " was 
 
 we cannot say. We trust it was not Mr. Patrick Lee, the Warden in charge in 1817. 
 Yet, as trustee for the people, he may have considered it his duty to oppose dangerous 
 innovations. 
 
a 
 
 +^u^cS2^-. (p.J^_a^£_ 
 
Chapter 4 
 BISHOP DU BOURG'S COMING TO ST. LOUIS 
 
 More than two years had elapsed since Dr. Du Bourg's departure 
 from New Orleans, June 17, 1815; eventful years and full of promise 
 for his vast diocese in the far West. Father Sedella and his adherents 
 were still scheming and threatening : but the opposition had a tendency 
 to move the newly-consecrated prelate to ever new exertions in assembling 
 the means for its final conquest. Heai'tened by his success in gaining 
 the cooperation of the Lazarist Order, not only for the establishment 
 of a Seminary, but also as a permanent establishment in Europe for 
 recruiting priests for the mission. Bishop Du Bour^ sought and obtained 
 in Paris from the saintly Mother Barat, now Saint Madeleine Sophia, 
 the promise of a colony of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart for his 
 diocese of Louisiana. On his visit to Lyons he recommended his poverty- 
 stricken diocese to the charity of the Catholic people of that great city 
 and thus gave occasion to the foundation of the "Society for the 
 Propogation of the Faith," Florence, Bologna; Bordeaux, Paris and 
 a number of other places in France and Belgium were visited by the 
 Bishop, and everywhere a generous response was made to his eloquent 
 appeals. Money, vestments, altar-plate and books were gladly given 
 by princes and nobles, to serve the needs of the American missions. The 
 Holy Father himself, Pius VII, a number of the Cardinals, many bishops 
 and priests made munificent contributions to the great missionary cause. 
 On June 12, 1816, the first company of Bishop Du Bourg's mission- 
 aries, under Father De Andreis, as Vicar General, had been sent on to 
 Louisiana, as the advance guard of the enterprise. Louis XVIII, King 
 of France promised the Bishop free passage for himself and his entire 
 following on the first ship of the royal navy to sail for America. 
 Propaganda had been informed on all these matters: yet the Bishop's 
 delay of going to his diocese seemed unnecessarily protracted. A rather 
 sharp letter urged an early departure. It seemed as if the Bishop had 
 fallen under the suspicion that he entertained greater love for la belle 
 France than for the benighted land of Louisiana. Bishop Du Bourg 
 was deeply hurt by this seeming want of confidence ; but a brief ex- 
 planation cleared up the matter to the perfect satisfaction of all; 
 Bishop Du Bourg's work of preparation was now finished: the actual 
 work of evangelizing the diocese of Louisiana was to begin without delay. 
 On June 16th, 1817, he joyfully announced: "At length the long wished 
 for day is at hand : tomorrow we shall embark, and God willing, set 
 
 (261) 
 
262 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 sail for America." 3 But another involuntary delay occurred. The 
 
 good ship, In Caravane, could not Leave its m -ings at Bordeaux 
 
 before July 1st. The Bishop had with him twenty-nine recruits for 
 the Louisiana .Mission, five priests, four subdeacons, nine clerics, three 
 Christian Brothers, four young men still in their classical course, and 
 four workmen, who had offered themselves to the Mission. The priests 
 were: De Crugui, Anthony Blanc, Auguste Janvier, Charles De la Croix. 
 Secondo Valezano; the subdeacons, Bert rand, Portier, Jeanjean, Valen- 
 tin; the Clerics. Brassac, Des Moulins, Hosten, Niel, De Parcq, Maenhaut, 
 De Neckere. I'errodin, Chauderat ; the Christian Brothers Audio, Fulgen- 
 tius, Antoninus; the College boys. Barreau, De (ieithre, Desprat, Magne. 
 Of the four workmen we have but the Baptismal names, Joseph, 
 Bernard, Isidore, Francis. 
 
 The voyage lasted sixty-five days, a rather long period of time, but 
 very fruitful in grace to the ship's crew, as w r ell as to the missionary 
 band. Father Anthony Blanc, the future Bishop of New Orleans, 
 tells us about a mission that was given to the officers and sailors on the 
 Caravane. Every day a Catechetical instruction was given to all 
 that wished to come; the Bishop himself made the opening address. 
 On August 24 the Bishop said Mass and gave holy Communion to forty 
 members of the crew, seven of whom were first communicants. Thirty- 
 five of these men received Confirmation on the same day. Some of 
 these men had neglected their duty for thirty years. All the mission- 
 aries had a share in this work, giving instructions and hearing con- 
 fessions. Most touching was the parting scene at Annapolis, when all 
 the sailors fell on their knees and asked a farewell blessing. On the 
 return voyage a hurricane struck La Caravane, in which nearly all 
 members of the crew r were lost. From Baltimore word was sent to 
 Bishop Flaget. 
 
 Whilst Bishop Du Bourg took up his abode at St. Mary's Semi- 
 nary, (September 10, -November 4) some of his companions, under Father 
 Blanc, were left* at Annapolis, where they were entertained in the man- 
 sion of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. On November 4, the entire party, 
 excepting Mr. Portier, started by stage-coach on their way across the 
 mountains to Pittsburg. The dangers and discomforts of such a 
 journey were graphically described by the Bishop in a letter to his 
 ifriend, Father Brute, dated Pittsburg, November 13, 1817 : 
 
 My good friend: — What roads! What precipices! What break 
 necks! I do not remember having endured, in my life, such fatigue. 
 After walking half of the second day to avoid dislocating our limbs, 
 on the third we could not escape the overturn of the stage which, that 
 very day, was upset three times. When the first accident took place 
 
 i Letter to Propaganda, Archives of Propaganda, 1. c, Cod. 3, Fol. 453. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Coming to St. Loins 263 
 
 we were all in the carriage, at the moment of the second, it was empty, 
 and when it was overthrown the third time, all were in except Augustin, 
 Mr. Blanc and myself. We had bravely made up our minds to foot the 
 road. All our fellow-travellers at last took the same resolution. We 
 happily executed our resolution, but not without incredible trouble. 
 This third evening especially we were obliged, for the security of our 
 luggage which had already been upset twice, to follow the stage more 
 than three hours after sunset. Without a ray of light to guide us, we 
 constantly fell into mud and water. When not in sloppy plains, we 
 had to walk over slippery rocks which hurt our feet, while wild briars 
 scratched our faces. I leave you to imagine in what a plight we arrived 
 at our stopping place. We left there at an inn our two sick, Niel and 
 Martin, with Augustin and our baggage. The two invalids availed 
 themselves of a conveyance to come to Pittsburg. Augustin was the 
 day before yesterday, forty miles from here, much embarrassed with 
 the baggage which I expect with great impatience. I fear he cannot 
 find a wagon to bring it to us. Our vanguard party, thanks to God, 
 have been better treated than we were. They had, however, their 
 share of trials, but with all their hardships not a fracture, not even a 
 bruise. I did not feel myself incommoded by reason of my 130 miles 
 walking. I would not, however, advise anyone to travel that road by 
 stage, till the turn-pike, already commenced, is completed, which can- 
 not be before three or four years. On horseback, on foot, these are 
 the best ways unless one has a wagon or carriage of his own. What is 
 most disagreeable about the stage is, that one has to start at 3 A.M., 
 to arrive ordinarily at midnight and sometimes no sooner than 2 A.M., 
 and thus has to ride in the dark over ways which in daytime, it would 
 be rash to cross in stages. We find here in the attentions of Messrs. 
 O'Brien, Ross and Beelen ample compensation for our past troubles 
 We are lodged all together in a vast house which these gentlemen have 
 procured for us. William Valentin is our steward here, he acquits himself 
 of his duties very well indeed. Our servants attend to the cooking. 
 Several of us celebrate Holy Mass in the house, and the others at the 
 Church, which is rather distant. It was only day before yesterday 
 that our rear guard reached here. On Next Sunday I intend to give 
 confirmation and Monday, if Augustin arrives with the baggage, we 
 count on taking the Ohio. I will write you from Bardstow r n. " 2 
 
 2 Letter preserved in Bishops' Memorial Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana, printed 
 in "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. IV, pp. 137 and 138. "The 
 turnpike, already commenced but not yet completed" is the Cumberland Road, 
 winding its way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois towards 
 the Mississippi, was the first National Road to the West. It was completed in 1818. 
 Cf. Archer Butler Hulbert, "Historic Highways of America," vol. X. 
 
2(i4 History of tin Archdioces< oj St. Louis 
 
 On the eve of December 2, Bishop Du Bourg accompanied by 
 Father Blanc and two Kentucky priests, Chabral and Schaefer, arrived 
 ;ii Bardstown and was enthusiastically received by Bishop Plaget and 
 
 Father David, and last lmt not least, by the Bishop's own advance 
 guard of missionaries under Rosati, who had anxiously been awaiting 
 his coming since their arrival at St. Thomas a year a<j-o. The Bishop 
 now had hut one desire, to gel home as speedily as possible. Bishop 
 Flaget was glad to make the journey to St. Louis to introduce his dear 
 friend to the people of that city and to install him in his cathedral. 
 Accordingly on December IS the two prelates with Father Badin and 
 the student, Niel, started from Louisville on the Steamer Piqua, 
 in hope of completing the journey to St. Louis before Christmas. 
 
 Bishop Flaget's humorous pen-picture of the Piqua is worth quot- 
 um here: "Nothing could be more original than the medley of persons 
 on board this boat. "We have a band of seven or eight comedians, a 
 family of seven or eight .lews, and a company of clergymen composed 
 of a tonsured cleric, a priest and two Bishops; besides others, both black 
 and while. Thus more than thirty persons are lodged in an apartment 
 (cabin) twenty feet by twelve, which is again divided into two parts. 
 This boat comprises the old and the New Testament. It might serve 
 successively for a synagogue, a cathedral, a theatre, a hospital, a parlor, 
 a dining room and a sleeping apartment. Il is in fact a veritable 
 Noah's Ark, in which there are both clean and unclean animals; — and 
 what is more astonishing, pei and harmony reign here." 3 
 
 The travellers' expectation of a speedy journey were disappointed; 
 owing to excessive cold weather, the navigation was seriously hampered 
 by huge ice-floes and even for two full days the boat was stuck fast 
 in the middle of the river. When on December 24, painfully the craft 
 reached at last, the mouth of the Ohio, the prospect looked still gloomier; 
 and indeed, as the voyagers rose up the next morning they realized with 
 dismay that they had not progressed an inch. Unable to say their 
 Christmas Masses, they resolved to make three meditations instead. 
 At the conclusion of the second, the Piqua proudly resumed her course 
 towards her goal. Slowly she plowed her way northward, and at 
 length, on the evening of the 28th of December, she arrived at the 
 landing near .Mrs. Fenwick's farm, al the mouth of Apple Creek, where 
 she was to stop a few hours. 
 
 There it was that the Bishop of Louisiana first set foot in his 
 Diocese. Near the spot a cross prepared for the occassion was solemnly 
 erected whilst the Prelates and their two companions sang the Vexilla 
 Regis. 
 
 s Spalding, Martin J., Bishop of Louisville, "Life of Benedict Joseph Plaget,' 
 1852. )i]>. 173 and 174. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Coming to St. Louis 265 
 
 At Fenwiek's Father Badin parted with the company. Only twenty 
 miles away lay the Barrens, where, some twenty years before, a number 
 of his old Kentucky parishioners — as also were the Fenwieks — had 
 come to settle. The occasion to see them was too good to miss: to the 
 Barrens, therefore, he directed his steps, intending to overtake the 
 Episcopal party a few days later at Ste. Genevieve. 4 
 
 Returning to the boat, the Bishops "found the comedians performing 
 a play — that is, engaged in a general fight among themselves, — until 
 they were separated by the Captain." At midnight, on the 30th, they 
 arrived in view of Ste. Genevieve, and early next morning they des- 
 patched a messenger to announce their coming to Fr. De Andreis, 
 the pastor for the time being in place of Father Henry Pratte who was 
 in St. Louis to prepare all things necessary for the coming of the 
 Bishop. 
 
 Two hours later, Father De Andreis, accompanied by some forty 
 of the principal inhabitants, went on horseback to the landing with 
 several young men likewise on horseback, and a carriage, to escort 
 the prelates into the town. They repaired first to the rectory, where 
 they donned their pontifical vestments; and, a few moments later, 
 headed by the cross and twenty-four altar-boys, the two Bishops, 
 under a canopy carried by four of the principal citizens, were, to the 
 accompaniment of the peal of the church-bells and amidst the universal 
 joy of all the parish assembled, and even of the protestant members of 
 the community, conducted in solemn procession, to the throne erected 
 in the sanctuary of the little village church. With that felicitous clever- 
 ness which always put on his lips the right words for the right place, 
 Bishop Du Bourg opened his heart to his St. Genevieve audience, ex- 
 pressing his delight that he was at last in his Diocese, among his 
 own spiritual children, and auguring from this happy event great 
 progress for religion in Upper Louisiana. An enthusiastic Te Deum 
 closed the ceremony, and the rest of the day was spent in receiving 
 visits. 
 
 On the 1st of January 1818, the Catholics of St. Genevieve witnessed 
 for the first time the splendors of a Pontifical High Mass, celebrated 
 by their Bishop, who once more preached to them ; and the next day, 
 the two Prelates, Father Badin who had joined them after his short visit 
 to the "Barrens" settlement, Father De Andreis and Mr. Niel, crossing 
 over to Illinois, resumed their journey towards St. Louis. They arrived 
 the next evening (Saturday, January 3) at Cahokia, the house of Father 
 Savine, where they were welcomed witli unbounded transports of joy. 5 
 
 Monday, January 5th, had been fixed for the last link of the 
 journey. Forty men of Cahokia, mounted on superb chargers, and 
 
 ■* Spalding, op. eit., p. 171. 
 Spalding, op. eit.. p. 175. 
 
266 History of tin Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 marching two by two in perfecl order, led t lit* pageanl to the lunik of 
 tlic Mississippi River, whore ;i boal was in readiness. On the Missouri 
 side, a large crowd of people, in fact all the inhabitants of the town, 
 Protestants as well as Catholics, were anxiously waiting at the landing. 
 
 It was a beautiful sight, the city of St. Louis in its early glory, 
 extending along the river two miles iii three parallel streets, each rising 
 above the other. The bank of the river was high and composed of lime- 
 stone. Most of the houses were built of the same material, some of 
 them in "rand style, and surrounded with galleries. Almost every 
 house had an extensive garden or park, enclosed by stone walls. The 
 country around and west of the town was one extended prairie, in 
 which large herds of cattle were grazing. The number of inhabitants 
 was said to be 2,500, all of whom seemed to be lined along the river 
 bank, anxiously awaiting the episcopal convoy. At last the boat landed 
 at the foot of Market Street. The episcopal party was welcomed by 
 the happy multitudes in truly French style and proceeded to the 
 "Episcopal palace," still a sorry looking, tumble-down house, in spite 
 of Father Pratte's best exertions. Soon after, the two Bishops, mitred 
 and clad in their full pontifical robes, came down the steps, were re- 
 ceived under a canopy borne by four prominent men of the church, Didier, 
 Pratte, Sarpy and Belcour and, preceded by twelve altar-boys, marched 
 to the gate; then, turning northwards along the Rue de VEglise — now 
 Second Street — they reached the door of the Cathedral, the rickety 
 log building erected in 1776, and went up to the sanctuary, where a 
 throne had been prepared, whilst the people filled the church to over- 
 flowing. Then Bishop Flaget, leading Bishop Du Bourg to the throne, 
 and installing him in his Episcopal chair, congratulated him on his 
 being in the midst of his beloved children. The sight of the Pastor, 
 now at last at the end of his two thousand league journey, the view of 
 the flock which he had loved so dearly in the days of their spiritual 
 destitution, and the comforting thought they would henceforth never be 
 in want of religious help, so enraptured the zeal-consumed soul of the 
 speaker, the saintly Bishop of Bardstown, that he could not check tears 
 of bliss and hope. For twenty-four years, the Catholics of St. Louis 
 had known him, since the far distant day of his coming to Vincennes, 
 his first mission; and they idolized him; but so delicately did he speak 
 to them of their Bishop, whom it had been his role to herald, that their 
 hearts were completely won to their new pastor. 6 
 
 G Spalding's Account of Bishop Du Bourg 's Installation and coming to St. 
 Louis is based on the letter of Father Anthony Blanc, from the Seminary of St. 
 Thomas near Bardstown, Ky., dated January 1818. His source was Bishop Flaget 
 himself and possibly Father Badin. The letter was first published in the Annates 
 df the Association for Propagation of the Faith, vol. II, pp. 330-338. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Coming to St. Louis 267 
 
 That this was no mean victory for the eloquence, and still more 
 for the personality of the Kentucky Prelate, Bishop Du Bourg could 
 judge better than anyone else. He had not been, indeed, entirely with- 
 out misgivings; for he Avas well aware that the pestilential blast poison- 
 ing the Catholic atmosphere in New Orleans, had been wafted as far 
 as St. Louis. But this was now past history. Bishop Du Bourg's own 
 winsome personality completed the victory, so well won by the eloquent 
 Flaget : "the mere presence of the Bishop," says Fr. De Andreis, "his 
 kindness, benignity and, suavity of manner have dispelled the storm, 
 dissipated, in a great measure, every prejudice, and captivated all 
 hearts." 7 
 
 Bishop Flaget 's mission was now happily completed. On the Feast 
 of the Epiphany he preached his farewell sermon, and the next day, in 
 company Avith Father Badin, he started back for Bardstown by the AA T ay 
 of Vincennes. Noav, at home, Bishop Du Bourg, Avho henceforth signed 
 himself for several years "Bishop of St. Louis," soon was to prove 
 himself, in Upper Louisiana, the efficient instrument of Him "who 
 commands the light to shine out of darkness." 
 
 7 Cf. Letter of Mrs. Anne L. Hunt written to her father, J. B. C. Lucas, at 
 Washington, dated St. Louis, January 4, 1818, with a postscript dated January 5. 
 After describing the event, the postscript concludes: "Bishop Du Bourg is certainly 
 niore eloquent than the other (Flaget). At all events, he speaks more handsomely. 
 All the people appear much pleased with their new acquisition. ' ' 
 
Chapter 5 
 BISHOP DI' BOURG'S DIFFICULTIES 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg was in almost every regard an ideal Shepherd 
 
 (if souls, of stately figure and manners, endowed with a voice clear and 
 sweet as a hell, a frank open countenance, not without a touch of languor, 
 as befitting Ids southern birth, at ease among the highest as well as the 
 lowest, yet shrinking from intentional rudeness, because himself so 
 perfect a gentleman, not strong-willed when lie met opposition, but 
 irresistible with those whom lie knew to bear him good will, and above 
 all a priest and bishop with the full realization of his high calling, such 
 was the man who was sent to preside over the rising Church in the 
 Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Very seldom has a Bishop been placed before such bewildering 
 difficulties at those that revealed themselves to Bishop Du Bourg in 
 his diocese of Louisiana. The vastness of the territory to be evangelized, 
 and the sad condition of the actual and prospective population, are well 
 described by Father Do Andreis in a letter to Father Sicardi in Rome, 
 dated February 24, 1818: 
 
 "This diocese of Louisiana covers an immense extent of country, 
 and the labor that it will require will soon render it expedient to divide 
 it; cities, towns and villages are "rowing up before our eyes with 
 marvelous rapidity; emigrants are arriving in crowds from all parts of 
 the United States, as well as from Europe. Ireland, Switzerland and 
 France send multitudes of people to the smiling and fertile plains of 
 Missouri, and in a few years the country will become so flourishing, 
 that Europe will no longer excite envy. The chief part of the population 
 is French (Creole as they call it,) and consequently Catholic, but with- 
 out any religious culture, on account of the long period during which 
 the place has been destitute of clergymen and of every means of in- 
 struction. One of the most respectable citizens said to me: 'If Bishop 
 Du Bourg had not come in time to our relief, the last spark of faith 
 would have been ext inguished in our country.' But the French part 
 of the population will soon be absorbed by the American and the English, 
 among whom only a small portion are Catholics, but these are generally 
 very fervent; the greater part are Protestants of various denominations. 
 We have, also both French and English infidels, who call themselves 
 nullifidians, that is to say, without any religion whatever." 1 
 
 In addition to his vast field of labor Bishop Du Bourg had also kindly 
 consented to take charge of the ancient missions and parishes along the 
 
 i Rosati, "Life of Father De Andreis," pp. L78 and L79. 
 
 (268) 
 
BISHOP DU BOURG'S CATHEDRAL 
 
 Was located on the corner of Second and Market Streets. Built 
 in 1818 and 1819, Blessed, January 9, 1820. The Church was 
 abandoned in the fall of 1834 and burned down April 7, 1835. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 269 
 
 eastern borders of the Mississippi, Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, 
 Prairie du Pont and a number of stations of more recent date, in Illi- 
 nois. He also offered to the Bishop of Bardstown the services of four 
 of his priests for the missions of Indiana and Michigan, until the latter 
 could make permanent arrangements for the attendance of these districts. 
 Accordingly on the 25th of April we find Fathers Anthony Blanc 
 and Auguste Jeanjean appointed missionaries for Vincennes, and Fathers 
 Louis Bertrand and Auguste Janvier for Detroit. All these distinguished 
 priests were subsequently withdrawn to Lower Louisiana. 
 
 The arrangement in regard to the western part of Illinois was made 
 permanent under Bishop Rosati, and subsisted until the erection of the 
 diocese of Chicago. Vincennes remained under Father Blanc's pastor- 
 ship until February, 1820, during which period two chapels were built 
 by him, one in Davis (now Washington) county, Indiana^ the other 
 on the Illinois side of the Wabash River twelve miles from Vincennes. 
 
 "Most of the French people at Vincennes came from Canada, where 
 religion is much respected," wrote Father Anthony Blanc, the future 
 archbishop of New Orleans. "These poor French people have gained 
 nothing by the change. Deprived of the consolations of religion, living 
 in the midst of savage natives, they have received nothing in return. 
 Although their language is not a dialect, they have mingled with it so 
 many expressions, strange even to our old French, that one must speak 
 very slowly and very simply to be understood. I found this not a little 
 difficult, but I am becoming accustomed to it." 2 Even the elements 
 seemed to be leagued against the messengers of the Gospel. Father 
 De Andreis complains to Father Sicardi, February 24, 1818 : 
 
 "The country lying between here and the Pacific is inhabited only 
 by wild beasts, and savages, whose state is not unlike theirs. Though 
 the climate ought to be rather warm, our latitude being only the 39 
 degree, the cold is so intense, that I never experienced anything like it. 
 We cannot remain very far from the fire, though we often put one coat 
 over another; the cold is so piercing, that it seems to reach the brain, 
 and almost makes one giddy. I have very frequently found nothing 
 but ice in the chalice whilst at the altar, and had some difficidty in 
 melting it by means of fire, which had to be brought to the spot ; and 
 even then in consuming the sacred species, I was compelled to make use 
 of my teeth. This extreme cold proceeds from the north winds, which, 
 descending from the icebergs of Greenland, and passing over the frozen 
 lakes of Canada, come here to freeze us to death. We can say, with 
 
 2 "Annnles do In Propagation de la Foi, " vol. II, p. 343. Englished 1>.\ Naina 
 dos Santos in ''Records of American Catholic Historical Society," vol. XIV, pp. 2D7 
 and 208. 
 
270 History of tin Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 St. Paul, 'Blessed be God in frigore,' though not 'in nuditate,' for we 
 are bul too well provided for.'.' 3 
 
 Bishop Dii Bourg deeply sympathized with his friends whom be had 
 drawn away from cultured surroundings to this inhospitable wilder- 
 aess. But his imagination painted the future in glowing colors, and his 
 unshaken trust in God and in his friends abroad, supported him and 
 his followers in all hardships and privations. What troubled him most 
 was the pressing need of money. 
 
 Finding his means unequal to the establishment of the many build- 
 ings needed in his see for religion, divine worship and education, wrote 
 as follows to one of his open-handed friends in Europe: "Say to those 
 who seem fearful of injury to the interests of Prance by working for 
 distant lauds, that the good which they will do here will return to 
 them a hundred-fold. Try to imagine how I must feel, realizing that 
 I am surrounded by an expanse of live or six hundred leagues, upon 
 which is scattered a multitude of neglected Catholics, and Protestants, 
 who are such only by the misfortune of their birth, and who are dis- 
 poned to listen to the truth when it is preached to them. Turn then 
 your eyes on hundreds of Indian tribes that seem but to wait for in- 
 struction in order to embrace the faith. How touched you would be 
 if you could see the frequent deputations which I receive from them, 
 the religious respect which they testify to me, and the urgent prayers 
 which they address to me, to be their father, to visit them and to 
 give them men of God. In the midst of the great sadness which the view 
 of so many of my neglected children causes me, I am beginning to 
 iexperience the consolation of seeing the seed of the word bear fruit. In 
 the established parishes everywhere they are beginning to approach the 
 sacraments frequently, and in a most edifying manner. A single mission- 
 ary wrote to me lately that he had had, this year, sixteen hundred Easter 
 Communions and two hundred First Communions. The schism is ex- 
 tinct. Old enemies have returned to obedience and union." 4 
 
 Among the great number of difficult problems that presented them- 
 selves to the newly arrived Bishop for immediate solution was first and 
 foremost, the erection of a Cathedral. The old Church, indeed, resembled 
 the first Christian temple, the stable of Bethlehem: but surely, the 
 people of St. Louis would be willing to prepare a more fitting abode 
 for their dear Lord. Bishop Du Bourg was full of gratitude and hope; 
 his vivid imagination, as always, hid away the difficulties of the under- 
 taking in the splendor of the prospective accomplishment. 
 
 Cnder date of January 8th, 1818, that is the second day after his 
 arrival in St. Louis, lie writes; 
 
 3 "Life of De Andrew," pp. L76 and 177. 
 
 t Annates, vol. I. pp. 20-21, Records, vol. XTV. p. 141. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 271 
 
 "Here I am in St. Louis, and it is no dream. The dream would 
 be most delightful, but the reality is even more so. I visited several 
 parishes, en route. Everywhere the people came in crowds to meet us, 
 showing me the most sincere affection and respect. My house is not 
 magnificent; but it will be comfortable, when they have made some 
 necessary repairs. I will have a parlor, a sleeping room, a very nice 
 study, beside a dining room, and four rooms for the ecclesiastics, and 
 an immense garden. My cathedral, which looks like a poor stable, is 
 falling in ruins, so that a new church is an absolute necessity. It will 
 be one hundred and fifty feet long by seventy wide ; but its construction 
 will take time, especially in a country where everything is just begin- 
 ning. The country, the most beautiful in the world, is healthy and 
 fertile, and emigrants pour in. But everything is very dear." 5 
 
 It is very difficult, as every priest knows, to start the building of 
 a church immediately after one's arrival in a parish. But Bishop 
 Du Bourg had a number of points in his favor which the ordinary 
 priest usually has not. Chief among them was the absolute necessity 
 of the case. This circumstance, together with the Bishop's imposing 
 presence and eloquent appeal quickly brought the proper decision, so 
 that Father De Andreis, who now had taken up his abode in St. Louis, 
 could write on February 24th, 1818: "The plan of a cathedral to be 
 built of stone, is already traced, and will soon be carried into execution. 
 When this is done, we will begin to think of the other buildings; it is 
 but just that we should commence by the church, for we have nothing 
 now to serve the purpose of one, but a miserable log-cabin, open to 
 every wind, and falling to pieces. The bishop has, however, bestowed 
 upon it a splendid temporary decoration, chiefly composed of the orna- 
 ments he obtained while in Europe." 6 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg having decided to make the city of St. Louis his 
 episcopal residence, at least for a time, determined to build a cathedral- 
 church worthy of the diocese he represented. The following notice 
 appeared in the Missouri Gazette, March 26, 1818 : 
 
 "Next Sunday, 29th inst., at 4 p.m., will be laid by the Rt. Rev. 
 Bishop Du Bourg, with the solemn rites used in the Catholic Church 
 on similar occasions, the first stone of the new Cathedral. The intended 
 grandeur of that fabric, together with the sanctity of the object to which 
 it is destined, cannot fail exciting a lively interest in the breasts of all 
 those who have at heart the growth and embellishment of this infant 
 city, but above all, its moral and religious improvement. The stone is 
 to be hollowed in the form of a chest, to contain and preserve to the 
 latest generations the names of benefactors, coins of various descriptions 
 and some memoirs of the present times." 
 
 s Annales, vol. II, p. 338 s. Eecords, vol. XIV, pp. 142 and 143. 
 « "Life of De Andreis," pp. 182 and 183. 
 
272 History oj tin Archdiocesi of St. Lotus 
 
 Another secrel of this rapid settlemenl of the matter may be found 
 hi the aegotiations of the Bishop of Bardstown, in the preceding fall, 
 which culminated in starting a subscription; so thai when a meeting of 
 the parish was held on the day after the installation, sonic definite ideas 
 could be discussed ; the size and materials of the church were then settled. 
 
 "When the firsl subscription was opened, $6,566 was subscribed, 
 out of which $4,271.75 was actually collected- $3,099.75 by Thomas 
 McGuire and $1,172 by Jeremiah Connor. It is often repeated thai 
 nothing is more dry and uninteresting than an account book. This may 
 he true, if one does not go beyond names and figures; but how false it is 
 when you can read between the lines! 1 give here a i\>\x names, which 
 have become household words among US: 
 
 Auguste Chouteau $400, Pierre Chouteau $200, A. P. Chouteau $50, 
 Thomas Brady $200, Jeremiah Connor $200, Bernard Pratte $300, John 
 B. Sarpy $20, Alexander McNair $100, B. Berthold $100, John 
 Mullanphy $100, Theodore Papin $20, Theodore Hunt $100, Frederick 
 Hates $100. Thomas II. Benton $100, ( added $50 later), M. Sanguinet $50, 
 Henry Von Phul $50 (paid $30), Francis Robidoux $60 (paid $30), 
 Wm. Carr $100 (paid $50), P. B. and J. P. B. Gratiot $30 (paid $50), 
 Anthony Soulard $50, J. P. Cabanne $20, Wm. Clark $100 (paid $75), 
 .Manuel Lisa $150. 
 
 I notice that by far, most of the three figure subscriptions were 
 faithfully paid; the difference between the amount subscribed and that 
 collected comes mostly from the failure of the small subscribers to keep 
 their pledged word. 
 
 A second subscription launched some months later exclusively, it 
 appears, or very nearly so, among the Catholics, netted $1,303.36, mostly 
 collected by Mr. P. Leduc. 
 
 The new church was located on the northeast corner of the church- 
 yard, that is, on the corner of Second and Market, with the entrance 
 on Second. Ground was broken early in 1818, and foundations started 
 at once, so that the corner stone could be laid on Quasimodo Sunday, 
 March 29, 1818; and in June the construction had risen to 15 feet above 
 ground (Letter of Rosati to his brother, summer 1818). Still it was 
 only on Christmas day of the next year that services were held in it for 
 the first time. The blessing took place on January !), 1820. And high 
 time it was, for the old log-church, which had to be used meanwhile, 
 could hold out no longer. Among the notable events which were enacted 
 in its walls during the last years of its existence, must be mentioned the 
 solemn Te Deum and Thanksgiving service held by Father Savine after 
 the victory of New Orleans, and leaving aside the Bishop's reception, 
 the various ordinations performed by Bishop Du Bourg during his stay 
 in St. Louis. There did Father Xiel receive minor Orders, sub-deacon- 
 ship, deaconship and, on March 19, 1818, Holy priesthood : there Mr. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 273 
 
 Portier, the future Bishop of Mobile, was elevated to the priesthood; 
 on Michaelmas day of the same year, 1818; Mr. Tichitoli, on December 
 15, 1818; Mr. Dahmen, the future pastor of St. Genevieve for many 
 years, on September 5, 1819; there, finally, were held, on December 5, 
 1818, the funeral services over the body of the lamented Father Carretti, 
 the first of Bishop Du Bourg's recruits, who died in Upper Louisiana. 
 
 The new church was not completed when it began to be in use ; 
 indeed, it was never finished. Only the middle nave, consisting of a 
 rather awkwardly narrow rectangle measuring 135 by 40 feet, had been 
 erected ; the five large arches on either side, originally intended to 
 separate the middle from the side aisles, were filled in with masonry 
 and served as outer walls. But if, from the architectural standpoint 
 the church in its incompleteness gave the idea of a narrow shouldered 
 and narrow chested consumptive body, its beauty within amply com- 
 pensated the mean outward appearance. 
 
 "The cathedral of St. Louis," says the first St. Louis directory, 
 issued in 1821, "can boast of having no rival in the United States for 
 the magnificence, the value and elegance of her sacred vases, ornaments 
 and paintings, and indeed few churches in Europe possess anything 
 superior to it. It is a truly delightful sight to an American of taste 
 to find in one of the remotest towns of the Union a church decorated 
 with the original paintings of Rubens, Raphael, Guido, Paul Veronese, 
 and a number of others by the first modern masters of the Italian, 
 French and Flemish schools. The ancient and precious gold embroideries 
 which the St. Louis cathedral possesses would certainly decorate any 
 museum in the world. All this is due to the liberality of the Catholics 
 of Europe who presented these rich articles to Bishop Du Bourg on 
 his last visit through France, Italy, Sicily and the Netherlands. Among 
 the liberal benefactors could be named many princes and princesses, 
 but we will only insert the names of Louis XVII, the present king of 
 France, and that of Baroness La Candele de Ghyseghem, a Flemish 
 lady, to whose munificence the cathedral is particularly indebted. 
 
 We know that Bishop Du Bourg had come back from Europe with 
 many beautiful and precious things, and have no doubt that, thanks to 
 these, the cathedral must have excited wonderment. But as to there 
 being among these treasures original Rubens, Raphael, Guido Reni and 
 Veronese paintings, we have very serious doubts." 7 
 
 At a meeting of the parishioners held on the 30th of January, 1820, 
 the Marguilliers were authorized to sell the materials of the old church, 
 the proceeds going to the building fund of the new edifice. From an 
 
 i From the beautiful article of the Rev. Dr. Charles Souvay, G. M., "Around 
 the St. Louis Cathedral with Bishop Du Bourg," 1818-1820, read before the "Cath- 
 olic Historical Society" of St. Louis, Nov. 21, 1917, and subsequently published in 
 the "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review." vol. V, pp. 149-159. 
 
274 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 entry in the parish account book, page 21, we learn that the sale 
 brought just $110. Another meeting, convened on .March 7, elected six 
 persons "to act jointly with the building committee for the disposal of 
 the pews; they were John 1>. C. Lucas, Antoine D'Enjen — who resigned 
 and was replaced by Francis Guyol — Francois Xavier Valois, Pierre 
 Didier, Antoine Chenie and Hugh O'Neil; and it was enacted that these 
 sis men, together with the building committee, should "take such measure 
 as in their opinion they would think fit for the disposal of the pews of 
 the old church which the aforesaid meeting abandon this day," and 
 "find the most advantageous means of selling the pews of the new church, 
 in order to defray the expenses already incurred in the construction of 
 said church." The account book shows that 9-") pews were sold for 
 $9,295, out of which $6,786.38 are entered as paid. 
 
 But all this, the two subscriptions and the sale of the pews, totaling 
 12,000 odd dollars, was far from covering the cost of the cathedral — more 
 than $20,000; nor was the building of this edifice the only undertaking 
 of Bishop Du Bourg : he had started in the summer of 1818 the Seminary 
 at the Barrens; after the wrecking of the old church, he built on the spol 
 the college which had been commenced on November 2, 1819, with Father 
 De Andreis at its head. 8 
 
 The debt still resting on the Cathedral was $4,500 for which sum 
 Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, and Bernard Pratte, as members of the 
 building-committee had made themselves personally responsible. This 
 sum did not appear exorbitant at the time building operations were begun 
 Yet, as Billon informs us, "By the time the building was covered in, 
 late in 1819, a revulsion in business had occurred, money had become 
 scarce, the fifty independent banks of Kentucky and other kindred institu- 
 tions in the West, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, etc., that had furnished 
 nearly all of our circulating medium, to use an expression of the day, had 
 all "busted up." The building was never finished interiorly, and our 
 commissioners, who had made themselves personally liable, were com- 
 pelled to apply to the state authorities for relief or pay the bills out of 
 their own pockets. 
 
 Accordingly upon the application of the three above-named gentle- 
 men, 
 
 "An Act of the Legislature, for the relief of Auguste Chouteau and 
 others, commissioners of the Roman Catholic Church, approved December 
 17th, 1822, authorized them to sell at public sale, by the Sheriff, so much 
 of the Church Block in St. Louis as was not used for Church and Ceme- 
 tery purposes, as would be necessary to indemnify them for the amount 
 they had advanced and had become responsible for in the erection of the 
 brick church to the extent of $4,500." 
 
 1 [bidem, p. 157. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 275 
 
 Accordingly, at the request in writing of the said commissioners, 
 Auguste Chouteau, Pierre Chouteau and Bernard Pratte, Sheriff John 
 K. "Walker, sold at public sale, September 16, 1823, the south part of the 
 block, being the Walnut street front, as per plat of division, made by the 
 parties interested. 
 
 Lot No. 1, 37 by 131 feet, with barn, stable, etc., for $ 301 
 
 Lot No. 2, 75 by 131 feet, with the orchard 201 
 
 Lot No. 3, 70 by 150 feet, with the Presbytere, kitchen and new 
 
 house 501 
 
 Lot No. 4, 48 by 180 feet, with the College 201 
 
 Total $1,204 
 
 Father Niel, the President of the College, was the purchaser j and 
 on May 25, 1824, conveyed to the three above-named parties the same, 
 except the College building, which he reserved with three feet of ground 
 around the same. 
 
 Bernard Pratte, Auguste Chouteau and Pierre Chouteau reconveyed 
 to Bishop Joseph Rosati, July 1, 1828, for $4,748.28, with 6 per cent 
 interest, the foregoing church property. 
 
 The old brick church continued to be occupied as such, until the 
 completion of the new stone structure on the Walnut street front of the 
 block, which was opened for divine service in October, 1834. When the 
 old one was abandoned to the lessees of the ground on which it stood it 
 was used as a warehouse for the next six months until it was destroyed by 
 fire, on the night of April 6, 1835. " 9 
 
 The erection of the St. Louis College on the site of the old Spanish 
 church, was almost coincident with the building of the Cathedral. The 
 moving spirit in this undertaking was the young curate of the Cathedral, 
 Francis Niel. The beginnings were rather humble, to be extended at a 
 future period, as might be found expedient or necessary. 
 
 "With that view", as the Annalist of St. Louis tells us, and to aid 
 the undertaking, the following document was drawn up, and received 
 the approval and signature of all the Catholic householders of St. Louis, 
 including a few, who not themselves "Catholics," were allied to Catholic 
 families. 
 
 "We, the undersigned, inhabitants and property holders of the town 
 and parish of St. Louis, Territory of Missouri, members of the Roman 
 Catholic religion, being informed that the Reverend Francis Niel, Vicar 
 of this parish, by the authority of the Right Rev. Bishop Guillaume Du 
 
 Billon, "Annals of St. Louis in Territorial Days,'' pp. 418-420. 
 
276 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Bourg, has undertaken to erect at his own cost, on ;i lot forming a part 
 of tin' yanl of the Presbytere, a house to he used for Lodging the Clergy 
 of our Church, and the keeping of a school for the education of youth; 
 considering the various useful purposes of this enterprise, and desiring 
 to protect it from all claims or molestation on the part of persons badly 
 informed, or badly disposed, as far as necessary, we hereby express our 
 entire approbation of the building of such a house, and inasmuch as in 
 our said capacities we might have a right to dispose of the lot forming 
 part of the Presbytere, we warrant the free use thereof for the purpose 
 hereinabove mentioned to the clergy of our communion by the authority 
 of our bishop. 
 
 Made and executed at St. Louis. Territory of Missouri, the 30th Octo- 
 ber, 1819." 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg 's College, built on the site of the old Catholic log 
 church, on Second, below Market, in 1820: had the following faculty: 
 Rev. Francis Niel, curate of the Cathedral, president ; Rev. Leo. Deys, 
 professor of languages; Rev. Andreas Ferrari, professor of ancient lan- 
 guages; Rev. Aristide Anduze, professor of mathematics; Rev. Edmond 
 Saulnier, professor of languages; Mr. Samuel Smith, professor of lan- 
 guages; Mr. Patrick Sullivan, professor of ancient languages; Mr. Francis 
 C. Guyol, professor of writing and drawing; Mr. John Martin, prefect 
 of the studies. 10 
 
 The College was a two-story building of brick and had about sixty 
 to seventy students. Among the pupils we find such names as Wilson 
 Primm, Rene Paul, French Strother, Jesse Benton, James O 'Toole, 
 Lewis M. Clark and the four sons of Governor McXair, with a number 
 of others who later on attained distinction, as Judges, soldiers, statesmen, 
 and merchants. Elihu H. Shepard, 11 who taught languages at the College 
 from 1823 to 1826, in his Autobiography, gives a few pleasant glimpses 
 of Father Saulnier and the other Professors of the first College estab- 
 lished in St. Louis. 
 
 In connection with the College we may mention Bishop Du Bourg 's 
 very elegant and valuable library, containing about 8,000 volumes, and 
 which was, "in the language of one of the Bishop's visitors, the most com- 
 plete scientific and literary repertory of the western country, if not of 
 the western world. Though it is not public, there is no doubt but the 
 man of science, the antiquary and the linguist, will obtain a ready access 
 to it, and find the Bishop a man endowed at once with the elegance and 
 politeness of the courtier, the piety and zeal of the apostle, and the learn- 
 ing of a Father of the Church." 12 
 
 io Billon, op. eit., pp. 4"Jn s. 
 
 n Shepard, Elihu II., "Autobiography," ji]). 98-103. 
 
 12 Edwards, "The Great West," pp. :!L':', and 324. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg's Difficulties 277 
 
 The lots on .which the church, college and other buildings were erected 
 embrace the entire square between Second and Third, and Market and 
 Walnut street, a part of which was still used as a burial ground. 
 
 On May 11, 1826 Bishop Du Bourg advised Jtosati to close the 
 ' school because there were no priests available as professors. This was 
 done on the Bishop's last visit to St. Louis. 
 
Chapter 6 
 FATHER XI EL AND THE CHURCH-WARDENS 
 
 Bishop l)u Bourg's project of making their little town of two 
 thousand inhabitants, on the frontiers of civilization, an episcopal city 
 with a costly Cathedral and expensive Cathedral clergy, must have 
 seemed visionary to the people of St. Louis, however, strongly it may have 
 appealed to their local pride. The real sentiments of the ureal majority 
 were reflected in I he curt saying i I' one of their members to Bishop Flaget : 
 "We have a parish Church; we will give our pastor a proper salary; 
 this will he (pule enough for our share, lint as to the Bishop, we are not 
 obliged to do anything, because his permanent residence belongs alike to 
 all." Nevertheless the pro-cathedral was built, and partly paid: the 
 parish residence was fitted up for the Cathedral clergy. Father Francis 
 Xiel who had been raised lo the holy priesthood on March 19th, 1818, 
 was appointed assistant to Father De Andreis, the pastor of the 
 Cathedral, and soon followed him as pastor in his own right. 
 
 It is of Father Niel's dealings with the Church wardens and parish 
 meetings this chapter would give a few particulars. 1 
 
 At the General Meeting of the Parishioners held on March 7th, 1820, 
 Charles Besseron was elected President and Mary Philip Leduc, Sec- 
 retary of the Building Committee. The wardens for 1821 were Hubert 
 Guion, and Louis Brazeau. On .January 21st, of that year the question 
 of the pastor's salary came up. " It was resolved that there should be an 
 allowance to the Cure of the city of a sum of seven hundred piasters 
 annually, which sum shall be taken from the funds of the Church and 
 regulated by the warden. It is understood, however, that this payment 
 must not affect the payment of the debts which the Building Committee 
 has contracted for the Construction of the church." 
 
 January 13th, 1822, Joseph Boju was elected warden in place of 
 Hubert Guion, and the following year 1823, there were four wardens: 
 Joseph Boju, Thomas McGuire, J. B. Duchouquette and Michael 
 Murphy: The purpose of this appears from the following resolution: 
 "The wardens shall be obliged to collect the debts due for the pews 
 as well as the rent, which they shall remit to Rev. Francois Xiel to pay 
 the expenses of the Church. But, in the meeting held on April 1st, 1824, 
 
 i The subject mutter of this chapter was derived mainly from the original 
 " Hegistrum Ecelesiae St. Ludovici. ' ' the Ms. of which is preserved in the Archives 
 of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 
 (278) 
 
Father Niel and the Church-Wardens 279 
 
 the wardens were authorized to continue to pay with the income of the 
 church the debt of the church contracted by the Committee." 2 
 
 The question of Father Kiel's salary still unsettled, there arose 
 another question of serious import to the Wardens of the Church of 
 St. Louis. In February 1823, the trustees of the town of St. Louis 
 passed an ordinance prohibiting the burial of dead within its limits. 
 The boundary line of the city ran- along Seventh Street : The old Ceme- 
 tery on Market Street between Second and Third must, therefore, be 
 abandoned and a new burying ground must be acquired. 
 
 When Laclede - Liguest laid out the village of Pain-Court, soon 
 to be known as St. Louis, he assigned an entire block for the use of 
 the Church. Here the successive churches were erected, here the ministers 
 of God had their home, and here in the church-yard were laid the 
 sacred remains of the dead as seed-grains of the harvest of eternity. 
 The first burying ground in St. Louis was, therefore, a church-yard in 
 the primitive sense of the term. It was in use since 1770. In the first 
 two years forty-four persons were buried in its blessed soil. St. Ange 
 de Bellerive found his last resting place here on December 27th, 1774. 
 From 1776 to 1789 the total number of interments were three hundred 
 and thirty-four, sixty of negroes, and fifty-four of Indian converts. 
 Governor De Leyba received the honor of being buried in the church 
 itself. A list of prominent people laid to rest in the Old Cemetery 
 was published in the Missouri Republican Weekly of September 29th, 
 1837. 
 
 The old was giving way to the new : as the old church had passed 
 away so the old grave yard, also, was doomed. 
 
 On March 17th, 1823, a parish meeting was held for the purpose of 
 meeting the emergency. Father Kiel is now in the President's chair, 
 and Gabriel Paul holds the position of Secretary. The President 
 announced, that the Cemetery must be closed before the first day of 
 April next year, 1824, and that it was an urgent matter for the parish 
 to procure a suitable plot of ground for a new cemetery. A committee 
 of four was appointed to investigate, whether the parishioners wish to 
 locate their new Cemetery on the common of the city of St. Louis, or 
 to select another location, as convenient as possible. 
 
 In the meantime the wardens circulated subscription lists among 
 the parishioners to raise the salary of Father Kiel by voluntary offer- 
 ings. 
 
 2 Father Niel, as a student, had come to St. Louis with Bishop Flaget and 
 Father Badin, was ordained by Bishop Du Bourg in St. Louis Cathedral, March 19, 
 1818, became its pastor and at the same time President of the St. Louis College, was 
 sent to Europe in March 1825, for the purpose of collecting funds for the mission, 
 and never returned. He was an eloquent preacher and published in French a book of 
 devotion. "La Voie Du Ralut," Par M. Abbe F. Niel, Paris 1845. 
 
280 History of tht Archdioces( of St. Louis 
 
 On April L3th, 1823, the Committee appointed to make inquiries 
 for a plot of ground for cemetery-purposes made its report to the 
 parish assembled under the presidency of Father Niel; and it was 
 resolved <>n motion of Rene Paul, thai the wardens be authorized to 
 accept tlic offer of Mr r Stokes, 8 who proposed to transfer the title to 
 four acres of land on the St. Charles Road, a little more than a mile 
 from the city-limits, withoul asking any consideration except the 
 assignment of a pew in the Church. The wardens were requested at 
 the same time to report on the advisability of a wood, stone or brick 
 enclosure for the proposed cemetery and to make a complete list of 
 the Members of the Congregation in alphabetical order. The question 
 as to Father Niel's salary was referred to the next meeting. 
 
 On September 31st, 18215, a meeting of the wardens was held in 
 the parsonage in which it was unanimously resolved, that there would be 
 reserved all around the new cemetery a border of land, about twenty- 
 one feet in depth, to he distributed in lots for those who might desire 
 a burying ground for their families. The price was set at two piasters 
 a foot of front. Father Niel had added the remark: "Only Catholics 
 were entitled to this privilege," but it was crossed out with heavy 
 strokes of the pen: hence non-catholics were also to be permitted to 
 purchase such lots on the borders of the Catholic Cemetery, The 
 entry is signed by Father Niel and Joseph Boju, C. W. and Thos. 
 McGuire, 2nd C. W. 
 
 ( hi June 28th, 1824 the trustees of the Catholic Church gave 
 notice of the opening of their new Cemetery about one mile from the 
 limits of the city, or rather, of the border around the Catholic Cemetery 
 open to non-Catholics as well as Catholics. The announcement read 
 as follows. "The inhabitants of St. Louis and its vicinity are made 
 acquainted that a public graveyard, under the superintendence of the 
 wardens of the Catholic congregation, and adjoining their burial- 
 ground, is now open, and that burials may hereafter take place by 
 conforming with the following resolutions passed by the committee: 
 Applications for burial to be made to the warden in office for the year. 
 The price of burial to be ten dollars, five dollars for children under 
 ten years of age. Persons who would fence in a particular spot for 
 their family, each burial, to be twenty dollars, and ten dollars for 
 children under ten years of age. The amount of burial to be settled 
 with the church warden before the burials take place. No grave to be 
 
 3 William Stokes was a member of the Episcopal Church, His career was a 
 really romantic one full of the ups and downs of fortune. John P. Darby in his 
 "Personal Recollections'' devotes Cull twenty pa^es to "Poor Old Stokes," pp. Uti 
 146. Col. John O'Fallon married a sister of Stokes. It is to Mr. William Stokes the 
 Church of St. Louis owes its second burying-ground. 
 
Father Niel and the Church-Wardens 28] 
 
 dug bu1 by the digger appointed for that purpose, and according to 
 the regulations for said graveyard. The warden in office for this year 
 is Mr. J. B. Belcour." 4 
 
 The question of Father Niel's salary came up at last in the parish 
 meeting of February 15th, 1824. 
 
 In a meeting of the members of the Catholic congregation held 
 this day in church where there were present a majority of parishioners, 
 the wardens made the following report : 
 
 "We, the Wardens of the parish of St. Louis, being assembled to 
 take into consideration the situation of affairs of the congregation in 
 general, have first proceeded to the inventory of all the articles of the 
 church committed to our care. 
 
 Having taken into consideration the letter which the Reverend 
 Father Niel addressed to the wardens and on which nothing has been 
 stated in the last meetings held for that purpose ; being unanimously 
 convinced that it is the duty of every member of the congregation to 
 contribute alike to the support of his Pastor in order to have an equal 
 right to the practice of his religion, and to the spiritual assistance of 
 our holy religion, we have agreed that 
 
 1. The annual contribution for the subsistence and maintenance of 
 the Cure of this Parish cannot be less than two piasters for each head 
 of a house and the Catholic proprietors of pews in the church, and of 
 one piaster for the bachelors and young grown people. 
 
 2. The payments to begin in the present year will be made known 
 semi-annually the first of March and of September of each year. 
 
 3. Every contributor who will refuse to pay (unless his inability to 
 pay is known) will forfeit by this act the rights and privileges attached 
 to the congregation and his name will be taken from the list of the 
 members who compose it. 
 
 4. That all the funeral and marriage expenses will always be de- 
 mandable in advance. 
 
 The said four articles read above and intelligible in French and in 
 English have been unanimously approved." 
 
 Then the question of the Cemetery was taken up by the assembly 
 and the resolutions resolved : 
 
 "We being also assured that the Bishop of Louisiana has found it 
 advisable and permitted a part of the Catholic cemeteries to be used 
 for funerals other than those of the members of the congregation, 
 have agreed upon the following: 
 
 * Scharf, "History of St. Louis," pp. 1750 and 1751. 
 
282 History of tht Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 1. The presenl Cemetery will be enclosed ;is much as possible in its 
 entirety, and it will include a section of One hundred i'eet Square, to 
 receive there the bodies of persons who do not belong. to our congregation, 
 and whose relatives or friends, will request their burial there. 
 
 2. The remuneration to be paid for such interments cannot be less 
 than twenty gourdes. 
 
 3. Every member of the congregation wdio will have bought and 
 paid for a family lot as that furnished by the agreement of the third of 
 last September can bury there those of his family who do not belong to 
 our Catholic Congregation by paying to the church the final remunera- 
 tion by the tariff for interment of the first class. 
 
 The said three articles read in French and in English have been 
 unanimously approved. 
 
 Resolved further that the list of persons who form the Catholic 
 congregation of the parish of St. Louis will be placed on a special 
 record in alphabetical order with the account of each, open for the 
 payment of the contributions." 5 
 
 They were great in making resolutions, these early fathers of our 
 diocese : but it required more than resolutions to get on the highway 
 of success. On Sunday, March 28th, 18124, the warden in charge 
 announced to the assembly a letter of Father Niel's offering to re-assign 
 the land of the church wdiich he bought. This refers to the public sale 
 by the Sheriff of so much of the Church Block in St. Louis as was not 
 used for Church and Cemetery purposes, to reimburse the Building- 
 Commissioners, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, Bernard Pratte and others, 
 for the money advanced by them on the construction of the pro-cathedral. 
 Father Niel, probably at the request of Bishop Uu Bourg, had bought 
 the lots for one thousand two hundred and four dollars. He was now 
 offering to turn them over to the gentlemen of the committee as part- 
 payment of the church debt. Only the lot on which the College stood 
 was retained by its President, Father Niel. Yet, the matter of these 
 church lots was a thorn in the flesh of both Bishops Du Bourg and 
 Rosati, for a long time after. 
 
 Father Niel now insisted on the payment of a salary of five hundred 
 dollars and four church collections a year. The petition was granted, 
 but the raising of the amount was left to the good will or sense of 
 justice of the parishioners. 
 
 Gabriel Paul served as warden in charge during 1825, and Passon 
 Ifonore was elected for 1826, but resigned in June 1827, when Louis 
 Auguste Iienoist was nominated with Manuel Alvarez as his assistant. 
 
 5 Register, passim. 
 
Father Niel and the Church -Wardens 283 
 
 In 1828 Market Street was widened. In consequence a part of the 
 old Cemetery was condemned, and all those who had relations in the part 
 which was given up were ordered to leave notice with the Sexton of the 
 Church (the Cathedral) who would remove them without charge. This 
 order is signed by Wm. Carr Lane and R. Paul, Board of Commissioners. 
 
 In the meeting of January 3rd, 1830, M. Rodiez was elected Warden 
 for the year. This is the last entry in the Register. 
 
 It is written in English, and signed by Father Edmund Saulnier, 
 Father Xiel's successor at the Cathedral, Bernard Pratte, M. P. Leduc, 
 Th. Robidoux, E. De Hodiamont and Manuel Alvarez. A number of 
 leaves have been cut out of the book ; whether they contained any 
 writing cannot be discovered. 
 
 A new project was being slowly realized, the erection of the new 
 stone Cathedral, of Bishop Rosati, in our days designated as the Old 
 Cathedral. In order to obtain means to carrv out this for the times 
 magnificent plan, the landed holdings of the Church in St. Louis were 
 reduced to a minimum, just as the place appears today. The last 
 vestiges of the old Cemetery had to disappear. But, whenever a 
 Catholic Cemetery has to be closed, and the land devoted to building 
 purposes, the Church with tender care takes up the remains of her 
 departed and deposits them in consecrated ground. This act of piety 
 was extended in 1831, to practically all the dead resting in the old 
 Cemetery on Market Street. 
 
 The circumstances of the event are given by Judge Primm in 
 one of his Sketches of Early St. Louis Catholicity. 
 
 "At a meeting of the parishioners on April 4th, 1830, under 
 1lie presidency of Bishop Rosati, M. Philip Leduc acting as secretary, 
 it was resolved to build a new Cathedral and, in order to raise funds 
 for the undertaking, to lease for 99 years the north half of the Church 
 block where is the ancient Cemetery and the pld Church stands." A 
 committee was appointed to carry out these resolutions. A loan of eight 
 thousand dollars was offered by Bishop Du Bourg, and gratefully 
 accepted, and the north half of block 59 Avas leased to George Morton and 
 Joseph C. Lavelle. This lease was executed on August 25th, 1830.° 
 
 The contract for digging up the graveyard was given to Benjamin 
 Walker. On March 18th, 1831 the president of the Committee 
 announced, that the digging of the graveyard had been completed 
 
 6 From Wilson Primm 's "Retrospective View of the First Religious Establish- 
 ment in the City of St. Louis," read before the Missouri Historical Society, Septem- 
 ber 16, 1875, and printed in "Church Progress." 
 
284 History of tin Archdiocest of St. Louis 
 
 according to contract, measured by R. Paul and round to be 46,020 
 yds : the vault 14 yds., which at 10% cts. per yard amounted to $499. 49. 
 He stated moreover, that lie had paid Benjamin Walker the whole 
 amount." 7 
 
 The remains dug up by Benjamin Walker in 1831, it would seem, 
 were deposited in a vault in what was afterwards called "The Bishop's 
 Graveyard" on Jefferson Avenue. 
 
 " Prinim, 1. e. 
 
yiiiY n£\y* fixvivi+v\ijji£. 
 
 First Superior of the Congregation of the Mission in the United States 
 and Vicar General of Upper Louisiana. 
 
Chapter 7 
 FATHER FELIX DE ANDREIS 
 
 Of all the members of that bright galaxy of missionaries that con- 
 tributed to the wonderful success of Bishop Du Bourg in evangelizing 
 the diocese of Louisiana, the first one to join was also the foremost one 
 in regard to the gifts of nature and of grace, the gentle son of St. Vincent 
 de Paul, the saintly Father Felix de Andreis. A clear and deep thinker, 
 well fitted to unravel the most knotty questions of divinity and natural 
 science, he was also gifted with a tenacious memory, that treasured up 
 for immediate use whatever he read or heard, and with a heart full of 
 the wisdom that the love of God alone can inspire, he was an ideal Super- 
 ior; his counsel and advice never failed. But this was not all. Felix de 
 Andreis was a mystic of the school of St. Bernard, St. Theresa and St. 
 John of the Cross, striving after that intimate union with God, which 
 those great mystics enjoyed, and breathing forth, now in prose, now in 
 verse, the delights of the visions God granted to him. amid the poverty, 
 the privations and the sufferings of his laborious life. 
 
 Only forty-two years of earthly existence were granted to him, but 
 in this short space of time he accomplished many great things. He was 
 a learned theologian, a profound philosopher, and one of the most eloquent 
 preachers of his time. Latin he spoke fluently and with elegance. He 
 was well versed in Greek and Hebrew. Even the natural sciences were 
 of deep interest to his inquiring mind. If he had devoted himself to a 
 literary calling, he would have attained distinguished success, as the 
 elegance of his occasional writings testify. Poetry was his great delight. 
 A volume of sacred songs written by him in moments of mystical abstrac- 
 tions was found among his numerous manuscripts, but subsequently 
 perished. Yet, though highly gifted for a contemplative life, Father de 
 Andreis was called to an active life in the Congregation of the Mission. 
 In the diocese of Louisiana he was to fill the office of Superior of his 
 Congregation and the still more arduous office or Vicar-General for Upper 
 Louisiana, at the same time holding the position of Parish priest of St. 
 Louis and Director of the Seminary of the Diocese and the Novitiate of 
 his Order. Work enough for three or four strong men; And yet, Father 
 de Andreis was never strong physically, least of all after the horrors 
 of the journey from Baltimore to St. Louis. But he did all this work 
 with remarkably rich results. Quiet and unobtrusive in his manner, he 
 went about doing good. If these his charities "that soothe and heal and 
 bless, " are not more largely stressed in the accounts of the servant of 
 God, it is because there was something greater, something more lovely and 
 
 (28."i) 
 
286 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 endearing in him; he was one of the chosen vessels of sanctity who even 
 in their lifetime diffuse all around them the beauty and fragrance of 
 paradise. Felix dc Andreis was recognized as a true saint by all who 
 knew him. Dec)) humility, the broad foundation of all virtues, and sin- 
 cere and deep love for God and God's children were the Alpha and 
 Omega of his life and all his labors. In his Soliloquy No. 9, he says: " 1 
 see very clearly, when I collect my thoughts, that Divine Bounty began 
 to call me to the sweet intercourse of contemplation from my very child- 
 hood. I can very distinctly picture to myself the unspeakable delights 
 which I once felt when a child, while listening to one of my aunts, who 
 was singing some hymns on the love of God and the infancy of Mary, as 
 Ave walked one evening in the gardens of Count Berengar. T did not 
 then foresee what would be the result and, though I was somewhat ac- 
 quainted with the writings of St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross, I 
 had no precise idea of the treasures hidden in their mystic works." 1 
 
 We have then in Father Felix de Andreis a happy union of the con- 
 templative and the active life, rich in results both for time and eternity. 
 We have in his memory a constant inspiration beautifully symbolized by 
 his luminous star that shone above the place of his happy death in broad 
 daylight, during the funeral services held in the Cathedral of St. Louis. 
 Father De Andreis died on the Feast of St. Theresa ; his earthly remains, 
 long since glorified by miraculous occurrences, are the greatest treasure 
 of St. Mary's of the Barrens. 
 
 But as history loves to dwell on the deeds and vicissitudes of her 
 heroes, it seems to be time to recall some of the things, either accomplished 
 or attempted in St. Louis by the Vicar General, Superior, Pastor and 
 Saint. On his arrival in the new episcopal See of St. Louis, Father de 
 Andreis took up his abode with the Bishop, in the "episcopal palace," 
 that is, the old stone presbytere built in 1778 by Father Bernard de 
 Limpach. Here he established the novitiate of his congregation with three 
 novices. The others were as yet with Father Rosati in St. Thomas Sem- 
 inary, Kentucky, but were soon to be established in the Seminary at the 
 Barrens. 
 
 "I have not enjoyed the consolation of seeing Father Rosati for more 
 than a year," wrote Father De Andreis at this time, "nor have I any pros- 
 pect of being soon able to do so; for the ties that bind us both to our 
 respective duties are so close, that they will not allow us to absent our- 
 selves under any pretext. ' ' 2 
 
 One of his novices died, Father Joseph Caretti, a virtuous and able 
 priest, only twenty -eight years old. "He was a Canon of Porto Maurizio, 
 and his name was Joseph Caretti" writes the Master of Novices. "1 
 attended him in his long illness, which was consumption, and he frequent- 
 
 1 Letter in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 2 "Life of Father De Andreis," by Bishop Kosati, p. 214. 
 
Father Felix Be Andn is 287 
 
 ly mentioned to me his desire of joining our Missionaries. He died on 
 the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, our great protector, at the very moment 
 that I left his bedside to receive into the novitiate his worthy companion 
 a priest named Andrew Ferrari, who was likewise from Porto Maurizio. 3 
 At the same time, two others were received: Rev. Francis Xavier Dahmen, 
 a deacon, and Rev. Joseph Tichitoli, a subdeacon. Both Ferrari and 
 Tichitoli were about 26 years of age ; whilst Dahmen was twenty-nine. 
 They were all excellent subjects, had postulated for more than a year, 
 and after the customary spiritual retreat, were admitted into our novi- 
 tiate and seminary, on the same memorial day, December 3rd." 
 
 But Tichitoli was forced to leave for the milder climate of the south, 
 whilst Father Ferrari was needed at Vincennes, and Father Dahmen at 
 Ste. Genevieve, Father Acquaroni, whom Father de Andreis had called 
 from Kentucky, was sent a few days after his arrival, to take charge of 
 St. Charles, Dardennes and Portage des Sioux. Now Father de Andreis 
 was alone once more, as the Bishop was obliged to absent himself from 
 home a good part of the time, and even Brother Blanka was transferred 
 to the Barrens, where his services were absolutely necessary. Yet the 
 brave and loyal missionary did not repine. Indeed, he deeply felt this 
 isolation and the manifold crosses of his position. "I assure you" he 
 wrote to Father Baccari, "That when I think of Italy, it appears to me 
 an earthly paradise, in comparison with America ; and I cannot con- 
 ceive, how so many Europeans undergo such privations and trials, for a 
 miserable worldly gain. I know that, were it not for the glory of God and 
 the salvation of souls, I Avould not stay where I am for all the gold in the 
 world." 4 
 
 The love of God and of immortal souls was ever the Christian hero's 
 compelling principle. "You tell me" he writes to his Superior in Rome, 
 "you tell me that I am burdened beyond my strength. Perhaps I am, 
 but this is only because of my weakness. I must however tell you some- 
 thing which redounds to the glory of God, to whom alone it is due : the 
 number of adult baptisms is very great. I have sometimes baptized 
 entire families at a time, during High Mass, explaining one by one, 
 all the baptismal ceremonies to a crowd of people." 5 As Father De An- 
 dreis tells us in another place, it was customary to preach on the occasions 
 of Baptisms and marriages as well as of funerals. The 'onus praedicandi,' 
 the office of preaching, was a real onus or burden to Father De Andreis, 
 because it had to be done in either English or French, his native tongue 
 being the liquid Italian. 
 
 In one of his letters to Father Sicardi he writes: "besides the dis- 
 charge of our daily duties, we are obliged to labor not a little to translate 
 
 3 "Life of Father De Andreis," by Rosati, p. 215, ef. p. 201. 
 * Op. cit., p. 197, ef. p. 163. 
 5 Op. cit., pp. 200 and 201. 
 
288 History of Hu Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 our sermons into French and English . Our greatest difficulty is not in 
 writing, bul in speaking and pronouncing the language." 6 
 
 Among tlic poignanl sorrows afflicting Father De Andreis' loving 
 heart was the decay of faith and morals he witnessed all around him. 
 Here are some of his experiences: "As to the Catholics, here who are 
 the "domestic] fidei, " they have the first right to the zeal of the mission- 
 ary, yet, on account of their ignorance and indolence present to the zeal 
 and vigilance of the evangelical laborer a sight similar to that formerly 
 beheld by the Prophet Ezechiel, a vast plain covered with dry bones, 
 devoid of life. This is a spectacle fit to discourage the most active zeal, 
 for really one knows not where to begin. On account of their constant 
 intercourse with sectarians and infidels of every kind, their ideas of 
 the first and most essential points of Christianity have become distorted : 
 and unfortunately they show very little inclination to reform them. 
 
 "For example, I happened to be in a place, where a rich merchant, 
 who enjoyed the credit of being the principal supporter of Catholicity, 
 treated us with all possible attention and kindness. But one evening I 
 went to visit him, he began, while we were at supper, to assert that one 
 can be saved in any sect, provided only he be an honest man. And he 
 held so tenaciously to his opinion, that it was but with the greatest 
 trouble I convinced him that out of the Catholic Church there is no 
 salvation. Another missionary told me that while he was staying in the 
 house of one of the best Catholics, whose wife was said to be the most 
 excellent Christian in these parts, this fervent lady told him one day 
 that she highly esteemed the custom of assisting at Mass and hearing 
 Sermons, but as to confession, it Avas, she said, a most abominable prac- 
 tice. We meet with others of the same description, who are not well 
 convinced of the existence of hell, and who are ignorant of the most 
 essential points of religion. It is pretty hard work to remove their 
 prejudices." 7 
 
 How very familiar these ancient objections to religion must appear 
 to the advanced thinkers of our day, inside and outside of the Church. 
 But the zealous disciple of St. Vincent de Paul, could not be discouraged 
 by the prevalence of these vagaries. 
 
 "We can do the most good with the youth of both sexes who really 
 are a consolation to our hearts. They make their first communion with 
 admirable fervor, and afterwards continue to frequent the sacraments 
 and attend catechism. The young girls, especially, delight me by their 
 candor and simplicity; they are lilies of purity, angels in human form, 
 and their piety will do much good among the rising generation. 
 
 ' ' Others are caught on their death-bed, at the latest : we have some 
 of every nation, even Italians, who know how to pay compliments, but 
 
 i; "Life of ratlin- De Andreis," by Rosati, pp. 184 and ill. 
 " Op. cit., pp. L90 an. I L91. 
 
Father Felix De Andreis 289 
 
 who are in reality, perhaps, more estranged from religion than any 
 other people. The Irish are generally very fervent, and show no mercy 
 towards Protestants." 8 
 
 Whilst in Rome Father De Andreis had witnessed the wonderful 
 effects of the devotion of the Tre Ore and introduced it among his 
 people in St. Louis, in Holy Week, 1818, as he writes to his friend 
 Rosati : "We held the best we could the functions of the Holy Week with 
 the help of Father Prior and Father Savine, making great use of the stuff 
 brought from Europe. The Bishop made the design and the Brother with 
 a carpenter built up a sepulchre which, without exaggeration, would not 
 have been out of place in Rome, so magnificent were the draperies, so 
 many the lights and so majestic the appearance of the whole. Two Civic- 
 Guards, changing every hour, kept sentry-duty day and night before the 
 Sepulchre; on the evening there was vocal and instrumental music for 
 the Stabat Mater and the Hymn; An Sang pui mi Dieu va repandre. . . 
 On Good Friday evening we had the function called the Tre Ore carried 
 out in every detail ; the setting was magnificent beyond belief. ' ' 9 
 
 There is one more gem to be noticed in the saintly missionary's 
 crown of merit, although it was but a desire never to be realized by him • 
 The idea of a missionary life among the Indians. Even before he set 
 foot upon the land to be hallowed by his labors, whilst preparing himself 
 for his life-work under the roof of St. Thomas Seminary at Bardstown, 
 he gave strong expression to his desires and hopes. Writing to the Vicar 
 General of the Congregation of the Missions at Rome, under date of 
 January 5, 1817, Father De Andreis says: "I feel strongly impelled to 
 devote myself, in a particular manner, to the conversion of the Indian 
 tribes who live beyond the Mississippi. Here (In Kentucky) no trace of 
 them remains, while on the contrary, the Mississippi, which serves as 
 a boundary to the United States, and separates them from the immense 
 wilderness, which extends even to the Pacific Coast, flows by St. Louis, 
 and makes of it the central point of all these savage nations. Among 
 these so far, the light of the Gospel has never penetrated, though they 
 seem well disposed to receive it. Wherefore I intend, when our seminary 
 is well established, to leave Father Rosati at its head, and to wend my 
 way, in Nomine Domini, along the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri 
 preaching the gospel to these poor people. Before I leave St. Louis I 
 will have the Catechism translated into their language. This I can do 
 with the assistance of some Indians who come from time to time to St. 
 Louis, and persons of the place who are pretty well acquainted with their 
 Language. I have received from men of experience much information, 
 both with regard to the difficulties to be encountered and the manner of 
 
 8 "Life of Father De Andreis," by Rosati, p. 192. 
 
 9 Letter to Father Rosati, St. Louis, April 2, 1818. A copy of this letter is in 
 the Archives of the Chancery of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 
 Vol. I in 
 
290 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 overcoming them, and, with the help of God, the undertaking seems 
 as easy as if I already witnessed its execution. I shall have much to 
 suffer, hut of this I do not think, nor will I allow my mind to rest on it 
 one moment." 10 
 
 This was not a mere romantic notion, such as many others have 
 entertained since the days of Chateaubriand: a glorious free life with 
 nature and the noble red man of the forest and prairie. No, De Andreis 
 knew better, and his aspirations were immeasurably higher. 
 
 "To tell the truth the Indians are uncivilized, ferocious, inconstant 
 and haughty. They habitually lead a very austere life, and sometimes 
 spend several days without taking any nourishment ; but then, if they 
 chance to kill a buffalo or a deer in their hunt, they will eat it all at once, 
 almost raw. They wear very little clothes and torment their bodies to 
 please 'the Great Spirit.' The old people with the women and children 
 remain in the wigwams, but the others are nearly always away hunting 
 beasts, whose skins they prepare very skillfully, to exchange them with 
 the Americans for provisions and strong liquors. They are exceedingly 
 fond of liquor, so much so, that this propensity constitutes one of the 
 principal obstacles with whieh the missionary has to contend, in the 
 work of their conversion." 11 
 
 And a little later: "They acknowledge one only God, whom, in 
 their language, they call Chissemenetu, which means, Father of Life ; to 
 him they address their prayers and offer the first fumes of their pipes. 
 To please this god they treat themselves most cruelly. Indeed, their 
 whole religion consists in these practices, some of which are too horrible 
 to relate. They live like the very animals of which they are constantly 
 in pursuit. Their chase provides them with food and scanty clothing 
 (for they go almost naked), and enables them to trade with the white 
 people, who in exchange for furs and venison, give them powder, spirits, 
 paint to decorate their bodies and silver rings for their ears and nostrils. 
 Their aspect is frightful, and one feels almost inclined to doubt if their 
 reasoning powers be fully developed." 12 
 
 Such a companionship was naturally repulsive to his feelings : but 
 the Indians were children of God, and bore the image of God upon their 
 souls. And they were the poorest of the children of God, and his heart 
 went out to them in love and tenderness. 
 
 "These poor creatures" he writes to Father Sicardi, "seem inca- 
 pable of forming any idea of spiritual and divine things. They know 
 that there is a God, and they begin all their employments by an act of 
 
 i° Op. cit v p. 157. It was the common opinion at the time that the "country 
 to the westward of our frontiers, quite to the Mississippi was intended to be a desert 
 for the Indians to hunt in and inhabit." Baeroft, vol. V, p. 64. 
 
 ii Op. cit., p. 158. 
 
 12 Op. cit., pp. 179 and 180. 
 
Father Felix Be Andreis 291 
 
 worship (a fact which should make many Christians blush with shame). 
 When they come to trade with the white people, they begin to smoke, 
 and directing the first cloud on high, they say : ' Anaregare kii chakanda ' 
 which means : ' may this ascend to the divinity. ' But these notions only 
 concern the present life. They believe that God has given them a religion 
 different from ours, and if they are told of a future life, they, under- 
 stand nothing about it. With patience and time, however something will 
 be made of them." 13 
 
 Always hopeful amid a thousand discouragements, and consumed 
 with the zeal for the kingdom of God, Father De Andreis seemed to be 
 on the point of attaining his purpose. In 1820 Bishop Du Bourg was 
 preparing to visit "those immense forests," and Father De Andreis was 
 invited to accompany him. 
 
 ' ' Alleluia ! Deo Gratias ! " he wrote from the Barrens. ' ' At length 
 we are to commence a mission among the savages. I am to have the 
 happiness of accompanying the Bishop to visit these unfortunate 
 people!" 14 
 
 But these wishes were, as Father Rosati wrote, the last sparks of that 
 flame of charity which burned within his heart ; for he was soon to 
 depart for heaven, for which he constantly sighed, that he might be united 
 forever with his God. Like St. Vincent, who was not able before his 
 death to behold the establishment of his missionaries in the Island of 
 Madagascar, for which he so ardently longed and had made so many 
 sacrifices ; like St. Francis Xavier, who had to stop on the threshold 
 of China without entering the kingdom, because God called him to Him- 
 self, so was Father De Andreis to see the Indian tribes, and to approach 
 them, without having it in his power to liberate them from the bands 
 of their ignorance. God destined others after his death, to undertake 
 this work. 
 
 13 "Life of Father De Andreis," by Rosati, p. 193. 
 » Op. cit., p. 205. 
 
Chapter 8 
 ST. MARY'S OF THE BARRENS UNDER FATHER ROSAT1 
 
 The Ecclesiastical Seminary of Louisiana, St. Mary's of the Barrens, 
 had a remarkably peculiar origin. At the command of Christ's vice- 
 gerent, Pope Pius VII, it sprang into being in the Eternal city, when 
 Father Charles Dominic Sicardi, Vicar General of the Congregation of 
 the Missions, and Bishop Louis William Du Bonrg came to an agreement 
 as tn the establishment of a mission in Louisiana under the saintly 
 Father Felix De Andreis. For the eighth article of this instrument reads 
 as follows: "They, (the Priests of the Mission) will earnestly strive to 
 promote and carry out, as soon as possible the erection of a Seminary." 1 
 The organization of the Seminary was at once completed. Father De 
 Andreis was Rector, Fathers Joseph Rosati and John Baptist Acquaroni, 
 both members of the Congregation, and Father Pereira, a postulant, were 
 the professors; and Leo Deys, a Propaganda student, represented the 
 student body, soon to be augmented by Francis X. Dahmen and Casto 
 Gonzalez. The small but vigorous shoot, was transplanted to Bordeaux, 
 where it was tenderly cared for by the Archbishop of that city, for the 
 space of four months and a half. Here the Seminary grew and prospered. 
 As Father O'Malley tells us: "All, priests and students, devoted them- 
 selves to the study of French, which they knew they would need on the 
 Louisiana Mission. While the priests exercised the functions of the 
 ministry according to the Archbishop 's dispositions, the three students 
 enrolled for the American Seminary reviewed a part of their philosophy 
 under the -direction of Father Rosati. English, too, was added to the 
 program of studies, when Father De Andreis announced the astonishing 
 news of the Bishop's abandonment of the original plan of going to New 
 ( )rleans as reasons of prudence dictated that he should settle in St. Louis. 
 A fitting conclusion to the Bordeaux seminary regime came with the 
 conferring of Minor Orders on the Feast of the Ascension, May 22. 
 Bishop Du Bourg had reached Bordeaux the day previous accompanied 
 by a young cleric from Como, Mr. Joseph Tichitoli. All were now in 
 high spirits and at once preparations Avere made for sailing. A contract 
 was finally entered into with the Master of the American brig "The 
 Banger;" and on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 13, the company, 
 thirteen in all, the priests and clerics "in short dress and round hats," 
 climbed up the ropeJadder aboard the rough sailing vessel. The wind 
 
 i "Life of Father De Andreis," p. 60. 
 
 (292) 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens under Father Bosati 293 
 
 was in their favor, the sails were set, the anchor weighed, and presently 
 t hey had left Europe for the sake of the Master. ' ' 2 
 
 The thirteen that set sail for America were : Five priests : Fathers De 
 Andreis, C. M., Rosati, C. M., Acquaroni, C. M., Caretti and Ferrari ; four 
 clerics : Messrs. Deys, Dahmen, Gonzalez and Tichitoli ; one brother : 
 Brother Blanka, C. M., and three postulant brothers: Flegifont, Boran- 
 vanski and de Latre. On board the Ranger the Seminary-life and work 
 continued as at Bordeaux. At the journey's end the growing tree was 
 replanted in American soil, first in St. Mary's at Baltimore, then, after 
 a toilsome journey across the mountains and down the Ohio River, at the 
 Seminary of St. Thomas, near Bardstown, where Bishop Flaget sheltered 
 and fostered it for a year or more, until everything should be prepared 
 for its taking root in the fruitful soil of Missouri. 
 
 At St. Thomas the two Seminaries flourished side by side. Father 
 De Andreis taught Moral Theology. During the scholastic year 1817-1 si 8, 
 after Father De Andreis' departure for St. Louis, the lion's share of the 
 ecclesiastical training fell to Father Rosati. The two daily classes of 
 dogmatic and moral theology, the ceremonies, and plain chant, the direc- 
 tion of the students — all were in his hands. "There are," he writes to 
 his brother Nicola in Sora, "among my pupils, representatives of almost 
 every nation of Europe : Italians, Frenchmen, Germans, Dutch, Spaniards 
 and English-speaking Americans. In class we speak Latin, but quite 
 frequently, if they wish to propose any difficulty, they fall into Italian, 
 French or English. For the sake of practice, I answer these difficulties 
 in the language in which they are proposed." 3 
 
 On the 2nd and 3rd of December, 1817, Bishop Du Bourg had 
 brought to land at Annapolis a party of twenty-nine new recruits for 
 his diocese, thirteen of whom were students : Louis Betrand, Auguste 
 Jeanjean and Joseph Valentine (Subdeacons) ; Hercules Brassac, Des- 
 moulins, Philip Hosten, Francis Niel, David De Parcq, Constantine 
 Maenhaut, Leo De Neckere, Perrodin and Angelus De Geithre (Clerics). 
 
 There were six priests in the party, among them Father Anthony 
 Blanc, the future Archbishop of New Orleans. The other members 
 were Christian Brothers and others religious. Bishop Flaget, "the most 
 holy, learned, humble and affable man, he ever knew," as Father De 
 Andreis said, was glad to take this little army in his safe-keeping for an 
 indefinite time, and in addition, volunteered to accompany the Bishop 
 of Louisiana to St. Louis. Only Father Stephen Badin, and one of the 
 Seminarians, Francis Niel, accompanied the prelates on their voyage 
 down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi to St. Genevieve, Kaskaskia 
 
 - O'Malley, Eev. Martin J., "The Centenary of the St. Louis Diocesan 
 Seminary," in ''St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. I, p. 43. 
 3 Letter to Nicola Rosati, op. cit., p. 46. 
 
294 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and St. Louis. They Left Bardstown on December 12th, and arrived in 
 St. Louis on January 5th, 1818. 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg's first care after the glamour and excitement of 
 his installation had subsided, was to make permanent provision for his 
 Seminary. His mind had been apparently to place it in St. Louis, but 
 Providence had ordered it otherwise. Shortly after his arrival a dele- 
 gation of Catholics of English descent, from the Barrens, a settlement 
 situated about eighty miles south of the city, and twenty-four miles from 
 Ste. Genevieve, waited upon the Bishop and made known their desire to 
 have the contemplated Seminary located among them. They had been 
 informed about the proposed institution by Father Marie Joseph Dun- 
 and, the Trappist Monk from Florissant, who for three or four years had 
 been ministering to their spiritual needs. Father Dunand, they said, 
 had also counselled them to offer the Bishop a tract of land for the new 
 foundation. They had proposed the matter to Bishop Flaget in October, 
 1817, on his visit to St. Louis as the Bishop's ambassador, and with his 
 encouragement they had acquired a tract of 640 acres, the title to which 
 they would convey to him, as soon as the establishment of the Seminary 
 at the "Barrens" was agreed upon. 4 
 
 On further inquiry, the Bishop found that the "Barrens" was an 
 ideal place for the Seminary, the name itself being, not a designation 
 for a barren and unfruitful piece of land, but rather the equivalent of 
 what the French pioneers were wont to call a "beautiful prairie" amid 
 the surrounding woods. As for the people of the Barrens, Father Dun- 
 and and others were full of praise and admiration. The earlist settlers, 
 the Tuckers and Moores and Laytons, had come to Missouri in 1801 and 
 1802, and a constant stream had followed them from Maryland and 
 Kentucky."' The first chapel in Perry County had been built and blessed 
 in 1812 by Vicar General Maxwell, Pastor of St. Genevieve, who also 
 attended the congregation until his death in 1814. 
 
 Prior to 1812 Mass had been said occasionally at the home of Old 
 Joseph Tucker. After 1814 the Trappist, Marie Joseph Dunand, had 
 visited Perryville three times a year, from his home at Florissant, as 
 guest of Old Joseph Tucker, who had eight sons and one daughter, all, 
 except the youngest, married and settled about him in good homes. 6 
 
 The April following, Bishop Du Bourg journeyed to the "Barrens" 
 in company with Father Dunand to meet the people, to learn at first 
 hand their condition, to examine personally the nature of the soil, to 
 study the prospects which the future held out. He found the people, 
 honest and industrious: "the best set I ever knew,'' 7 the ground easy 
 
 * Dunand' 's Diary in "Records of the American Catholic Historical Society," 
 vol. XXVII, pp. 49 and 50. 
 
 5 Letter of Isidor Moore in Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 6 Dunand 's Diary, 1. c, p. 45. 
 
 i Letter to Father Rosati, April 22, 1818, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens under Father Rosati 295 
 
 of cultivation, the climate healthy. He decided to build his Seminary at 
 the Barrens. Thereupon the following 1 resolutions were drawn up : 
 
 1. A tax shall be levied on all Catholics, of the settlement for the 
 purchase of the section of land destined for the new foundation (the 
 purchase price was actually $9000.00). 
 
 2. The people of the parish engage themselves to do personally 
 their share of the work in the construction of the building. 
 
 3. A sum of $7500.00 shall be subscribed by the people of the 
 parish, to be paid in five yearly instalments of $1500.00 each, for the 
 the purpose of aiding in the erection on the premises of a Seminary of 
 learning, contributing to the expense of the church services, and to the 
 maintenance of the missionaries. The total amount once paid, the 
 Catholics of the settlement shall be free from, all further obligation 
 either of assuring a salary to the priests, or of extraordinary contribu- 
 tions. Thej r shall, in return, convey the title of the property to the 
 Bishop. They agree, moreover, to feed, during the first year, the crew 
 of workmen engaged in the construction of the buildings." 8 
 
 The sum of $7,500 was certainly a most noble offering, made at 
 a time when money was scarce and many of the colonists were be- 
 ginners. It seems to have been considered a foundation, the interest 
 on which, was to go to the support of the Church and clergy forever. 
 The work to be done on the house by each parishioner was an extra 
 burden assumed by the people. It is perhaps not the most efficient way 
 to build, yet it was and is the usual one in primitive communities. 
 
 Building operations were begun at once. Father Charles Lacroix 
 was appointed architect, to draw up a plan for a house, similar to St. 
 Thomas Seminary at Bardstown, two and a half story high, with a 
 basement containing two halls, and two cellars each 25x17 feet. The 
 building eventually turned out to be "a kind of combination of log- 
 house, frame-house, brick-house and stone-house, having a little of every 
 kind ; it was to be plastered and decent inside and outside. ' ' 9 The 
 site chosen was a quarter of a mile south of the old log-church erected 
 in 1814. 
 
 The building, at the time, seemed a vast undertaking, "and it was 
 so indeed. But the Bishop, nothing daunted by the manifold difficulties 
 that arose, threw the entire force of his personality into the work, 
 not even disdaining to help the laborers in carrying lumber and re- 
 maining the whole day in the heat of the sun. On April 22nd, 1818, 
 the Bishop wrote to Father Rosati, at Bardstown, that the house would 
 be ready to receive his now homeless colony late in next Fall. But this 
 
 s Archives of the Procurator Genera] C. M. Rome — "America," p. II, quoted 
 by O 'Malley in ' ' St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. I, p. 48. 
 
 9 De Andreis to Rosati, April 20, 1818, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
296 History oj tht Archdiocesi of St, Louis 
 
 fond hope could no1 be realized. The anxious prelate was forced to 
 
 confess towards the end of July: "Whatever diligence may be made, 
 the house at the Barrens will not be ready this Winter. Still 1 want 
 to keep my word, and to have all here in October. Accordingly 1 
 have rented a house at St. Genevieve for six months, from the first 
 of October, large enough to house almost all of you. Father Pratte 
 and one or two houses of the Barrens will reeeive the rest." 10 
 
 Now, whilst patiently though eagerly, awaiting the completion of 
 his Seminary Building, the Bishop orders the exodus of the Professors 
 and Seminarians from their temporary home at Bardstown. The letter 
 of instructions for the journey is dated "At the Barrens, July 29th, 
 1818." Father Rosati and one companion is to make the journey 
 Ivy land over Shawneetown : Two horses of the Bishop had been left at 
 St. Thomas : Old Mr. Joseph Tucker was to be our guide. The main body 
 of the caravan and the baggage were to come to St. Genevieve by flat boat. 
 Some of the party were to remain at St. Genevieve, for a time, among 
 them the three Brothers of the Christian Schools, who were destined for 
 the Academy at St. Genevieve. But as the Bishop sent Father Rosati 
 several supplementary letters of instruction as to the journey, some of 
 which did not reach the leader of the caravan, some misunderstandings 
 arose. Bidding good bye to their friends at St. Thomas, the Seminary of 
 Louisiana entered upon its final remove on the 15th of September 1818. 
 With hearts full of gratitude for the kindness of their old friends of 
 Bardstown but looking forward with glad anticipations of the peace and 
 joy awaiting them in their destined home at the Barrens, the twenty- 
 three priests, Seminarians and Brothers started out on their last journey, 
 "the last of danger and distress," as they fondly hoped. For the rest 
 of the journey and its happy end we will quote the words of Father 
 O'Malley: 
 
 "From Louisville, they travelled to the mouth of the Ohio in a 
 flat-boat, not more than eighteen feet long and wide in proportion, 
 which scarcely allowed standing-room for the twenty-three passengers. 
 It leaked so badly as to be repeatedly in danger of sinking; besides, the 
 roof, in a very heavy rain which lasted sometime, proved porous, and 
 for several days they had to bear with the further inconvenience of 
 wet baggage and wet clothes. On landing on the right bank of the 
 Mississippi, which was in the Diocese of Louisiana, a cross was erected, 
 and with gladsome hearts they sang the Vexilla regis prodeunt. A 
 forced delay here of ten days, due to the miscarriage of the original 
 plans caused them added suffering. But they were at last in their own 
 ecclesiastical "home," and every obstacle vanished into air, every favor- 
 
 10 Du Bourg to Rosati, Kaskaskia, August 2, 1818, Archives of St. Louis 
 \n-hdioeese. 
 
St. Morn's of the Barrens under Father Bosatl 297 
 
 able circumstance hardened into adamant. The six horses and wagons 
 sent from the Barrens finally reached them, and presently the caravan 
 was plodding its way northward, some on horseback, some on foot. 
 On October the first, they reached the Barrens. 
 
 For some unrecorded reason, the plans of the Bishop had been 
 changed. Instead of going to Ste. Genevieve, the Seminarians were 
 conducted to the house (about two miles from the Church) which Mrs. 
 Sarah Hayden, a pious and wealthy widow of the ' ' Barrens, ' ' had placed 
 at the disposal of the Bishop until the Seminary should be ready for 
 occupancy. Here were the Seminarians housed : here was the Seminary 
 begun. The Bishop's hopes had been fulfilled, his ambition had been 
 realized, his plans had been accomplished. The tree was planted. The 
 St. Louis Diocesan Seminary, whose leafage and blossoming and fruit- 
 age we of a later day have seen, was a reality." 11 
 
 Indeed, there still remained much work to be done ere the Seminary 
 could be accounted complete, "numeris omnibus absolutum. " 
 
 It was a source of deep regret to Father De Andreis that he could 
 not take part in the erection of the material house ; God had appointed 
 him the special work of forming the spiritual edifice, whilst others, 
 and among them his friend and favorite disciple, Father Rosati, were 
 erecting the material one. The Seminarians, also, devoted their time 
 of recreation to the work on the Seminary building. On the 5th of 
 January, 1819, Father Francis Cellini, who had been Canon at the 
 celebrated Hospital de St. Spiritu in Rome, arrived with two com- 
 panions and was sent to the Barrens to make his novitiate and inci- 
 dentally to help in the building of the Seminary. 
 
 Both Father De Andreis and Father Rosati speak of Father 
 Cellini in the highest terms of praise: "Father Cellini has given the 
 most beautiful proofs of attachment to the Congregation and of the 
 virtues which must be in a missionary,'' writes Father De Andreis, and 
 again "Father Cellini has to be occupied with many things, that are 
 rather infavorable to recollection : yet Bishop Du Bourg writes to me, 
 that he is a valuable subject, and Father Rosati is most pleased with 
 him." In his letter of October 1920 Father De Andreis advises his 
 Superior in Rome: "Father Cellini has made his vows to our 
 mutual satisfaction He can now speak English sufficient- 
 ly, and exercises the holy ministry. Moreover he is the only one among 
 us who has any understanding of temporal affairs. Accordingly, I 
 have appointed him Procurator. Father Rosati 's opinion of his chief 
 assistant is summed up in a few pregnant words : ' ' Father Cellini is 
 our Procurator, Physician, Mailman, Mason." In regard to Father 
 
 u O'Malley, op. cit,, p. 49. 
 
298 History of Ihr Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Cellini's knowledge and skill as a physician, the Rector of the Seminary, 
 Rosati, writes, October 18th, 1820: "We have had eight of us sick at 
 
 the same time. Divine Providence favored us by sending Father Cellini. 
 Be is quite a skillful physician. The visit of the nearest doctor would 
 have COSl us thirty dollars." It is Father Rosati who gives us the 
 following pen picture of Cellini's humble and willing spirit: 
 
 "On recreation days we usually do not indulge in any other diversion 
 than laboring at some needed work, either in the garden or the fields. 
 Father Cellini is usually the leader. That man knows and can do any- 
 thing." From his post at the Barrens Father Cellini made regular 
 missionary visits to the ancient, yet sorely neglected parish of New 
 .Madrid, at a distance of more than two hundred miles from the Seminary, 
 where he not only kept the faith alive, hut also gained a number of 
 converts. 12 
 
 The first fruits of the beautiful tree planted and reared with so 
 much labor and watered by the tears of such holy men, were: Father 
 Francis Niel (March 19th, 1818), Michael Portier, the future Bishop of 
 Mobile (September 29th, 1818), Des Moulins and Hercules . Brassac 
 (November 1st, 1818), Joseph Tichitoli (December 14th, 1818), Eugene 
 Michaud and Edmund Saulnier (September 22nd, 1822), Martin 
 (October 1822), John M. Odin and John Audizio (May 4th, 1823). 
 On the 5th of September, 1823, Louis Tucker, a native of the Barrens 
 was admitted to the Seminary. Elated with these good results, Father 
 Rosati writes home from the Grand Seminaire, May 24, 1823: "Our 
 seminary is doing very well, every year it furnishes a few priests to 
 the diocese. True, up to the present time we have received students 
 from Europe ; nevertheless, we have some belonging to this country 
 also, who give us great hopes. Time was needed to form them. We 
 have at present four priests, sixteen ecclesiastics, twelve secular boarders, 
 and twenty-five day scholars. We have nine brothers of our Congrega- 
 tion of St. Lazarus who work, partly in the fields and partly in the 
 house. Great good might be accomplished, could we send out mission- 
 aries among the Protestants and Catholics scattered over a vast extent 
 of territory; but we are hard pressed with all we have to do at home. 
 For besides the Seminary in which we are obliged to conduct a great 
 many classes, we have a very large parish, composed of excellent Catholics 
 who approach the Sacraments frequently and who give us work which 
 is not without fatigue, hut which is not without pleasure either." 13 
 
 12 Cf. Rothensteiner, "Chronicles of an Old Missouri Parish,'' passim, and 
 Holweek, "Ein Blatt aus alter Zeit," in " Pastoral Blatt," vol. LIX, p. 82 and 131. 
 
 13 Archives of the Procurator General C. M., Rome, apud Rosati, "Life of De 
 Andreis," p. 193. 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens under Father Rosati 299 
 
 We will conclude this chapter with the noble praise given by Father 
 Rosati to the people of the Barrens. It is more than a patent of 
 nobility to the Catholics of Perry County: "You probably know what a 
 fine population we have in this country. The Catholics number more 
 than one hundred and sixty families. All approach the Sacraments 
 frequently. We are kept busy every Sunday, hearing confessions, 
 and there is always a large number of Communions. There are no 
 balls, no saloons, no luxury. It is a great consolation to see these good 
 people, even those who are employed, practicing their religion with- 
 out human respect. Judges, representatives, senators are not ashamed 
 to kneel before a priest to beg his blessing. At the doorway of their 
 court house, a cross bears witness that they glory in being Catholics." 14 
 
 14 Letter of August 16, 1823, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Chapter 9 
 THE LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART 
 
 Among the followers and helpers of Bishop Du Bourg in estab- 
 lishing religion on a firm basis in the Mississippi Valley, there were 
 two persons who, even in their life-time, were regarded as true saints. 
 Father Felix De Andreis CM. and Mother Phillipine Duchesne S. 
 de S.S.C. Both considered themselves as failures; and yet the saintly 
 lives of both are now recognized as the chief inspiration of those un- 
 propitious days of the early dawn. Both were drawn together in 
 holy friendship such as that of St. Francis de Sales and St. Frances 
 de Chantal, and both are now proposed to holy Church for the honors 
 of Beatification. 
 
 Of Felix de Andreis we have Avritten a chapter, all too meager, 
 indeed, compared with his greatness and nobility. Of Mother Phillipine 
 Du Chesne we must now give a brief account. 
 
 Four years after the foundation of the Society of the Sacred 
 Heart by Madeleine Louise Sophie Barat, now a canonized Saint, Rose 
 Phillipine Du Chesne, who had been a novice at the Visitation Convent 
 of Saint Marie D'en Haut, but whom the terrors of the revolution 
 had prevented from making the solemn vows, applied to Madam Barat 
 for admission to the new Society, and offered her the rather dilapidated 
 convent which her family had secured for her. 
 
 Mother Barat gladly accepted the offer, and leaving the house at 
 Amiens in the care of Madame Bandemont, set out with two companions 
 to found the new house of her Society at Grenoble. Here in the weather- 
 worn convent of Saint Marie-d'en-Haut she found Madam Duchesne, 
 her ever dear Phillipine, with an assembly of other religious belonging 
 to several Orders, and assumed the direction of the community. Follow- 
 ing the rule "Firmness sometimes, harshness never, charity and gentle- 
 ness everywhere and always," Mother Barat 's gentleness conquered all 
 hearts and bound them together in the love of the Sacred Heart. In 
 due time Mother Duchesne made her solemn vows, served at various 
 places and was finally elected Secretary General to Mother Barat, 1 But 
 the aspirations of the gentle Phillipine were for a very different manner 
 of life. From her earliest years her desire had been to carry the gospel 
 
 1 On the early days of Mother Du Chesne, Cf. the Life written by L. P. .) . 
 Baunard, translated by Lady Pullerton, and the recent publication by Marjory 
 Erskine, 1926. " Baunard 's Life of Mother Barat," chapters VI, VII, XVI and 
 XXIX, contain the story. 
 
 (300) 
 
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart 301 
 
 to the poor Indians across the sea. For this she had prayed and this 
 she asked as the greatest favor from Mother Barat. Now the position 
 as Secretary General seemed to preclude all hope of her ever attaining 
 her heart's desire. But Providence found a way when all hope seemed 
 to be at an end. On the 14th of January 1817, Mgr. Du Bourg, Bishop 
 of Louisiana, called on Mother Barat at the Convent in Paris, and asked 
 for a colony of Sisters for his wild-west diocese. Mother Duchesne 
 heard of it, and at once began to importune her Superior to send her 
 to the missions. Mother Barat reluctantly consented. For Bishop 
 Du Bourg would not take a refusal, and of all her sisters, Madame 
 Duchesne seemed best fitted for the onerous task. Matters were now 
 quickly arranged with the Bishop, and it was agreed that the following 
 spring Mother Duchesne and her companions should start for Louisiana. 
 Two choir-sisters, Octavie Berthold and Eugenie Aude, and two lay- 
 sisters. Catherine Lamarre and Marguerite Manteau, were chosen from 
 a crowd of applicants to accompany Mother Duchesne. On the 21st of 
 March 1818, Holy Saturday, they left the shores of France in a small 
 sailing-vessel, the Rebecca. Father Martial, one of the Louisiana Priests, 
 accompanied them. On the 25th of May, the stout little ship entered 
 the muddy waters of the Mississippi, and on Friday the 29th, the Feast 
 of the Sacred Heart, landed its passengers in New Orleans. The way- 
 worn pilgrims were hospitably entertained at the Ursuline Convent. 
 After a long delay catised by the lack of instructions from the Bishop, 
 they set out for St. Louis. Mgr. Du Bourg 's episcopal city, and arrived 
 there on August the 22nd. Here they were informed that their real 
 destination was the town of St. Ferdinand de Florissant on the Missouri 
 River, where a tract of land was bought for their use. But as their 
 convent there was not built as yet, and as the Bishop was then fully 
 occupied with his Cathedral and Seminary, they were to take up their 
 abode in the city of St. Charles, in a house belonging to Mrs. Duquet. 2 
 Their Father Confessor, Benedict Richard, was to have his residence in 
 the same house, and also to take charge of the Parish of St. Charles. 
 Father Benedict Richard had accompanied the nuns from La Fourche 
 in Louisiana to St. Louis. At Kaskaskia the chief of the Illinois and 
 his daughters came with other Indian braves to welcome him and his 
 companions. "They were on horseback, and dressed in beaded gar- 
 ments and so presented an imposing and interesting spectacle," wrote 
 Mother Duchesne. 3 Father Richard was not, it seems, entirely suited 
 to fill the office of the Spiritual Director of a newly-founded Community 
 of Sisters. A man of more cheerful disposition like Father Martial 
 would have been preferable. The kindly and humble Madame Duchesne 
 
 2 The house was at one time the residence of the Spanish Commandanl of 
 St. Charles. 
 
 3 Erskine, op. eit., p. 154, lot;, and IM. 
 
302 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 seems to imply this in her little pen-picture of Father Richard: "Mr. 
 Richard," she wrote "like his name-sake, the apostle of Michigan, is 
 a true priest, according to the heart of God. His large and emaciated 
 frame, his meditative and austere face, lend him the appearance of an 
 anchoret, rendering him better calculated to inspire respect than to 
 elicit affection. For all that, he is none the less an excellent man, and 
 a full noble character who hides beneath his extreme reserve of words 
 and manner a devoted heart." 4 
 
 The sisters felt disappointed in the place assigned to them; and 
 the priest could do but little to dispel the gloom. They had hoped to 
 found a school for girls in the episcopal city, where they might enjoy 
 the opportunities for spiritual aid and counsel, as well as of a larger 
 sphere of helpfulness to the children. Yet, in the spirit of humble 
 submission, they opened an educational institution in St. Charles, the 
 boarding school numbering but three pupils ; the day school doing fairly 
 well. 
 
 One precious consolation came to the much harassed Superior in 
 the form of the hearty approval of her undertaking by the reigning 
 Pontiff, Pius VII: Cardinal Fontana's letter read: "His Holiness has 
 been delighted to see how these courageous nuns, abandoning everything 
 to follow Christ, and rising above the weakness of their sex, have not 
 been afraid of crossing the wide ocean in order to transport their pious 
 Institute into savage countries, and thus to devote themselves to the 
 greater glory of God, the honor of the Church, and the salvation of 
 souls. His Holiness wishes them the most prosperous success, and gives, 
 in the most affectionate terms, his apostolic benediction, not only to 
 those already in America, but also to all who are preparing to join 
 them." 5 Such words of praise and encouragement were indeed, a God- 
 send, falling like heavenly dew on parched land. 
 
 Among the difficulties encountered by the sisters during their stay 
 at St. Charles, the historian of Florissant recounts the following : 
 "Scarcity of wholesome food, of firewood and of hired labor for the 
 rougher household tasks, the disorderly and dissolute ways of a frontier 
 town, the prairie-fires which stole up to the very edge of the settlement, 
 alarming the timid nuns, and above all, the utter lack of prospect that 
 the school would ever develop to such an extent as to make it a means 
 of support for the community." 6 
 
 Mother Barat also was dissatisfied with the choice of St. Charles as 
 the home of the Sisters. "How much I regret, my dear daughters, that 
 
 4 "History of Florissant," Conway, 35. Cf. Erskine, p. 190. 
 
 5 "Life of the Venerable Madeleine Louise Sophia Barat," Roehampton, 1900, 
 p. 199. 
 
 6 Father Gilbert J. Garraghan, in his beautiful history of "Saint Ferdinand 
 de Florissant," p. 127. 
 
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart 303 
 
 Monseigneur has established you in a place so little suited for your 
 -works. In a village and so far from the families who would be inclined 
 to send their daughters to your school, it can never get on. ' ' 7 The Bishop 
 himself became convinced of the necessity of a change of location when 
 he heard Mother Duchesne, the ever-patient soul, complain: "We 
 merely vegetate in this place and forego the good we might do elsewhere." 
 This circumstance, and the fact that the lease of the house was about 
 to expire seemed to call for a removal. Florissant was suggested by 
 the Bishop. In company with Monseigneur and Father De Neckere, 
 Mother Duchesne and Madam Berthold visited the place and accepted 
 the offer of the site. Arrangements were made with Father Dunand, 
 the Pastor of Florissant, for the erection of a brick-building 8 for the 
 nuns. As a temporary home the Bishop assigned the nuns his farm near 
 Florissant, where on a little knoll near the river, there stood a few log 
 cabins of the most primitive kind. The community was to occupy these 
 cells, whilst Father Charles De La Croix, supervisor of the "Bishop's 
 Farm," chose the corn-crib for his temporary shelter. 
 
 September 5th was set for the migration of the Religious of the 
 Sacred Heart, with their pupils and their belongings, from St. Charles 
 to the Bishop's Farm. Like the landing of the Trappists, tenyears before, 
 the landing of the Nuns was effected at the Charbonnier, a hill on the 
 right bank of the Missouri, near St. Ferdinand. Mother Duchesne has 
 recorded in her Journal some of the picturesque incidents of this migra- 
 tion, illuminating what was unpleasant and sordid with the quiet golden 
 gleams of Humor; "Sister Octavie and two of our pupils next embarked. 
 I was to close the march in the evening with Sister Marguerite, the cows 
 and the hens. But the cows were so indignant at being tied, and the 
 heat was so great, that we were obliged to put off our departure to the 
 cool hours of the Morning. Then by dint of cabbages, which we had 
 taken for them in the cart, they were induced to proceed. I divided 
 my attention between the reliquaries and the hens. AVe crossed the 
 Missouri opposite Florissant. On landing Marguerite and I drew up 
 our charges in line, she the cows, and I the hens, and fed them with 
 motherly solicitude. The Abbe de La Croix came on horseback to meet 
 us. He led the way galloping after our cows, when in their joy at 
 being untied they darted into the woods." 9 Father De La Croix, the 
 mananger of the Bishop's Farm had vacated his cabin in favor of the 
 Sisters, so that room could be made for about ten to fifteen persons. An 
 addition of rough boards was made to Father De La Croix's corn-crib 
 
 t Garragkan, op. eit., p. 127. Baunard, p. 190. 
 
 8 Father Dunand finished the Sisters' Convent before he set out for Prairie 
 du Chien, about 1920. 
 
 9 Baunard, op. cit., p. 192. 
 
304 History of tfu Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 residence, and a small chapel was also hastily constructed. Father De La 
 Croix now served as the Sisters' chaplain and confessor: during his mis- 
 sionary trips to the Indians on the Gasconade and the Osage Rivers the 
 saintly Father De Andreis supplied his place: In December 1819, the 
 latter conducted a spiritual retreat for the nuns and their pupils. 
 
 Whilst the gentle Ladies were busy with their school and the 
 manifold duties of farm-life, their building in the nearby town of St. 
 Ferdinand was making steady progress. At last the "Holy Land,'' as 
 Father Dunand called the new establishment, was ready to receive the 
 community. It was toAvard the end of December that the transfer was 
 made, in bitter cold and driving snow. But on Christmas eve all the 
 members of the institution, sisters and pupils, were reunited in their 
 Convent at the village, and assisted at the mid-night Mass, Father De La 
 Croix celebrated for them. All were full of gratitude and holy joy. 
 
 But the climate of early Missouri, so changeable and severe in heat 
 and cold proved a sore trial to the ladies accustomed to the mild and 
 equable climate of France. In 1820 all the sisters became seriously ill, 
 but the boarding-school they had established grew apace, numbering in 
 May 1820, twenty-one students. A Novitiate of the Order was established 
 and soon brought most happy results. It was urged by some, Bishop Du 
 Bourg among them, that American girls could not be won for the re- 
 ligious life as practiced by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart : Mother 
 Barat and Mother Duchesne were of the contrary opinion and refused 
 to accept any change. Bishop Du Bourg then approved the Rule for 
 his entire diocese. In their effort to gain recruits in America, the 
 sisters Avere assisted by Father Dunand. On December 22, 1820, Mary 
 Layton, a Native Missourian from Father Dunand 's favorite parish at 
 the Barrens, received the habit of a lay-sister. It was the first Sisters ' re- 
 ception in Upper Louisiana since the beginning of the world. Other de- 
 vout and earnest souls soon followed : Emilie Saint Cyr and Mary Anne 
 Summer then Eulalie Hamilton and Matilda Hamilton of Kaskaskia. 
 Illinois. "They are more pious than we are when they are Catholics, and 
 more constant in their resolutions," 10 wrote Mother Duchesne in the joy 
 of her heart at seeing a beautiful future assured to her Society. 
 
 Another precious consolation came to the much harassed superior of 
 the struggling community in the form of generous gifts from her old- 
 world friends in Paris and Grenoble. Her brother wished to send her 
 money in order to bring her back to France. "Tell him," she wrote back, 
 "that I beg him to give that sum for the travelling expenses of two 
 more nuns for Louisiana." 11 No regrets, no misgivings, amid all the 
 destitution and endless labor; "We are very happy in our brick-built 
 
 io Baunard, op. cit., p. 214. 
 ii Erskine, op. cit., p. 227. 
 
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart ;J05 
 
 house," wrote Madeline Berthold. "In Madame Duchesne we have an 
 example of every virtue." And in the love of the Sacred Heart all 
 found their comfort and joy. 
 
 It had been one of the pious dreams of Mother Duchesne to erect 
 a monument to the Sacred Heart in the form of a public oratory. 
 Bishop Du Bourg helped to realize her desire by dedicating the new 
 Church of Florissant to the Sacred Heart under the invocation of St. 
 Ferdinand and St. Francis Regis. On the 19th of February 1821, the 
 cornerstone was laid by Father De La Croix. 12 In the same year three 
 more missionary sisters arrived from Paris. The Institute thus en- 
 larged and strengthened was now ready to send out new shoots into 
 other parts of the diocese. The first colony of the Nuns of the Sacred 
 Heart was established at Opelousas, in Lower Louisiana, about 900 miles 
 south of St. Louis, where a Mrs. Mary Smith, a wealthy convert, had 
 offered to Bishop Du Bourg a tract of land on her estate at Grand 
 Coteau and a Convent school to be built and provided at her expense, 
 for the purpose of educating girls and young ladies. The outlay also 
 for bringing the sisters there was to be borne by the foundress. Bishop 
 Du Bourg was pleased with the offer and at once communicated its 
 tenor to Mother Duchesne, who was delighted with the prospect that 
 opened before her. "A hundred years might elapse before Ave received 
 such another offer in a country like this," 13 she wrote to Mother Barat. 
 As Mother Barat approved the plan, Mother Duchesne proposed Madam 
 Eugenie Aude as the superior of the new establishment. "God made 
 her to be a superior," she wrote, "There is no one in the Community 
 who has an equal power of attracting both mothers and children." 14 
 Mother Eugenie, accompanied by Sister Mary Layton, embarked on the 
 Steamer Rapid for the South, on August 5th. At Plaquemine the steamer 
 grounded. All passengers were landed, the Sisters had to continue their 
 journey in a cart, and then on horse-back. At last, on the 25th of 
 August, they arrived at the house of their benefactress, Mrs. Mary 
 Smith. They were anxious to resume the regular order of religious 
 life in their own house, which, however, was not ready for occupation. 
 The Parish Priest of St. Landry was Father Hercules Brassac. 13 
 
 It could not be expected that no trials would attend the first days of 
 this new establishment. Sister Mary became ill, and the superior had to 
 take over her duties. She herself began to suffer; a malignant fever 
 
 12 Erskine, op. cit., p. 226. 
 is Baunard, op. cit., p. 220. 
 i* Baunard, op. cit., p. 220. 
 
 1 5 Cf. Messrner, S., Archbishop, Hercules Brassac, in "Cath. Hist. Review," vol. 
 III. pp. 392 ss. 
 
306 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 brought her to death's door. Her faith in the power of the Sacred 
 Heart restored her. Mrs. Smith expected to live in the community, 
 without becoming a member; which Madam Aude could not permit. The 
 unpleasantness caused by this misunderstanding was soon overcome by 
 the prudence and gentleness of Mother Aude. In the meantime the 
 sisters sent from France had arrived at Florissant. They were but two : 
 Madame Matheson and Madame Murphy. Madame Murphy, an Irish 
 lady of a generous, amiable and candid disposition, was destined for 
 Grand Coteau, whilst Madame Lucille Matheson remained at Florissant. 
 Grand Coteau soon supplied its share of recruits to the little band of 
 missionaries. Two novices, Madame Gerard and Madame Carmelita 
 Landry, received the habit in 1822. Bishop Du Bourg, who had been at 
 Opelousas, requested that two Sisters from the novitiate at Florissant, 
 Josephine Saint Cyr and Mary Mullanphy, should be sent to Grand 
 Coteau. Mother Duchesne accompanied them to their destination. On 
 the return voyage, the dread scourge of the south, Yellow Fever, attacked 
 the travellers on board the Hecla. Madame Duchesne here became a 
 true Sister of Charity to the afflicted, until her strength was gone. She 
 and her companion were landed on the shore near Natchez and, being 
 denied admittance to the city, at last found a refuge with a good 
 Catholic family across the river. Only after months she found herself 
 strong enough to continue her journey homewards on the steamer Cin- 
 cinnati. She arrived at St. Louis on the 28th of November 1822. 
 
 The Society of the Sacred Heart was now firmly established on 
 American soil; after many dangers encountered, sorrows and privations 
 borne, and contradictions endured, the little tree, planted by the waters 
 of tribulation, was beginning to stretch forth its branches over all the 
 land. But the fervent though now silent wish of Mother Duchesne, the 
 work of converting the Indians, seemed as far from fulfilment as when 
 she uttered it first to Madam Barat. The romantic glamour of the plan 
 had, indeed, vanished now: "Formerly we entertained the pleasing 
 thought of instructing docile and innocent savages, but the women as 
 well as the men are idle and addicted to drinking. Moreover we have 
 half-castes who unite all the moral miseries of the two races. ' ' 16 
 
 Yet in spite of this saddening knowledge, she still held sacred the 
 ideal of her youth. Not now, not for a long time to come, will she 
 be permitted by Providence to gratify her yearning for the labors and 
 perils of the missionary life among the children of the forest and prairie. 
 There is work to be done, there are prayers and sacrifices to be offered 
 
 is Baunard, op. eit., p. 183. 
 
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart 307 
 
 up, there are tears to be shed for the immigrant from the Eastern states 
 and from all the countries of Europe, the material for the rising walls 
 of the Church in the Valley of the Mississippi. The care for the Indians 
 was reserved as the reward of her life-work, the crown of all her labors. 
 And the means of accomplishing it were the Jesuit Fathers, who came 
 from far-off Maryland to establish their home on the Bishop's Farm in 
 the immediate neighborhood of her convent in Florissant. 
 
Chapter 10 
 
 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX AND JUS RELATIONS 
 WITH ST. LOUIS 
 
 The Reverend Charles Nerinekx is one of the most admirable 
 characters in the early annals of the Western Church. His works and 
 words have been recorded by some of our most distinguished writers, 
 Archbishop Martin Spalding of Baltimore, Bishop Maes of Covington, 
 Father De Smet, the great apostle of the Indians, Rev. W. J. Howlett 
 and others of note. Being next to Father Stephen Theodore Badin, the 
 earliest priest to foster and spread the faith in the wilderness of 
 Kentucky, and furthermore being the founder of the illustrious Society 
 of the Lorettines, properly styled "The Friends of Mary at the Foot 
 of the Cross," Father Charles Nerinekx deserves a memorable page in 
 our record of the Church's early struggles and triumphs in Kentucky. 
 A place of honor is due to him also in the history of the Diocese of St. 
 Louis. It was through his instrumentality, that the Lorettine Sister- 
 hood was planted in the state of Missouri ; and that, what is perhaps 
 the grandest of all our religious institutions, the Society of Jesus, was 
 brought to the West. Father Nerinekx 's part in these two far reaching 
 events deserves more than a passing notice in our History. 
 
 Charles Nerinekx was born on October 2nd, 1761, in the village of 
 Herft'elingen in Brabant. He was the oldest of a family of seven brothers 
 and seven sisters, the majority of whom had the happiness of becoming 
 priests or religious. After a regular college course, the youthful Charles 
 entered the Seminary at Mechlin to prepare himself for the priesthood 
 and was there ordained on November 4, 1785. 
 
 During his stay of eight years at Mechlin, the zealous priest had 
 every opportunity of studying the undercurrents of life among the rich 
 and the poor, the pride and covetousness of the one, the human frailty 
 and contempt of authority of the other class. What wonder then, that 
 Father Nerinekx, like so many other priests of the revolutionary time, 
 became a stern and uncompromising advocate of justice and right, to 
 such a degree, as to incur the charge of Jansenism. 1 
 
 The invasion of the Netherlands by the French revolutionary armies 
 under Dumourier and Pichegru in 1793, changed the entire course of 
 Father Nerinekx 's life. Being condemned to death by the revolutionary 
 
 1 Not the heresy of Jansenism, but a certain rigorism which savored of the 
 spirit of Jansenism. The quarrel of Fathers Nerinekx and Badin with the Dominicans 
 is exhaustively treated by Father O'Daniel in the "Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. VI, pp. 15-45. 
 
 (308) 
 
Father Charles Nerinckx and His Relations with St. Louis 30<J 
 
 tribunal, he was obliged to hide and eventually to turn his eyes toward 
 the struggling Church of America. "On the 2nd day of July 1804," he 
 writes, "having left my parents and friends in ignorance of my de- 
 parture, I started from the Hospital of Dendermonde, where I have 
 remained concealed from the world." 2 His destination was America. 
 He arrived at Baltimore on the 14th day of November, 1804, and on 
 the Feast of Pentecost, June 2nd, 1805, he left Georgetown for Baltimore, 
 and thence travelled with a company of Trappists 3 to his appointed 
 missionary field. On the 2nd day of July, 1805, he arrived at St. 
 Stephens, the home of Father Badin, who, at that time, was the only 
 priest in all the wide territory of Kentucky. 
 
 In 1808, Pope Pius VII wished to appoint Father Nerinckx Ad- 
 ministrator Apostolic of Louisiana, Upper and Lower, and the good 
 Father would undoubtedly have become bishop of that vast diocese, 
 including St. Louis as well as New Orleans, if his humility and distrust 
 of himself had not prevented the promotion. 4 What Father Nerinckx 
 desired was an appointment as missionary in Upper Louisiana, where 
 the Church seemed poorer and more in need of priests, than it was in 
 Kentucky, and where, he hoped to realize his life-long dream, the con- 
 version of the Indians. Bishop Carroll of Baltimore at that time held 
 jurisdiction over all Louisiana, and so could have given Father Nerinckx 
 the desired faculties and instructions for the missions near St. Louis, 
 of which he writes in his petition in 1809. 
 
 1. There are two villages, St. Louis and St. Charles, about twenty 
 miles from each other, which have a population of about 200 families, 
 and are fifty miles from the nearest priest. 
 
 2. There is a congregation called Tucker's Settlement of about 
 60 families, seventy miles away from the former place. (St. Louis), and 
 another called Fenwick, twenty families and thirty miles away from 
 Tucker's. 
 
 3. Many heathen Indians live in the vicinity, and it is asserted, 
 that my labors among them would not be without fruits. 
 
 4. This extensive field is never visited by a priest. 
 
 5. There are but two priests in the entire region. One is Rev. Mr. 
 Olivier, a very pious man, but old and totally ignorant of English. The 
 other priest, Rev. Mr. Maxwell is sufficiently known. He resides seventy 
 miles from Tucker's Settlement." 5 
 
 2 Maes, 1. eit., p. 42. 
 
 3 The Trappists of Abbot Guilet and Joseph Marie Dunand. 
 
 4 Letter of Bishop Carroll, September 5, 1809, Maes, "Life of Nerinckx," 
 p. 195. 
 
 8 Father Maxwell of Ste. Genevieve. The Petition can be found in Maes, 
 Camillas, "Life of Charles Nerinckx," p. 202. 
 
310 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 This request of Father Nerinckx seemed just and proper : yet it was 
 not granted, as Bishop Carroll did not wish to embarrass the newly 
 appointed Bishop of Bardstown, Benedict Joseph Flaget. Under this 
 saintly Prelate the untiring missionarj 7 was yet to reap his most 
 abundant harvests in the old field of Kentucky. By Bishop Flaget 's 
 order he took charge of the Parish of Hardin's Creek, with a missionary 
 field extending from Washington County to Union County and embrac- 
 ing about half the State of Kentucky. What his piety and zeal accom- 
 plished here for the glory of God and the upbuilding of a staunch 
 Catholicity, is extraneous to our subject. Only two great and loyal 
 deeds, that have a bearing on the history of St. Louis Diocese, shall 
 occupy our attention in this chapter. 
 
 As Father Nerinckx was not permitted to serve in the ranks of 
 the consecrated hosts that were to establish the diocese of St. Louis, he 
 welcomed the opportunity of sending others in his place. The Society 
 of Jesus which, in spite of the decree of dissolution, had been permitted 
 to continue its canonical existence in Russia and Prussia, was re-estab- 
 lished everywhere by affiliation with the Russian Province. In 1803, 
 Bishop Carroll of Baltimore took the first steps in the matter, and in 
 May 1805, the former Jesuit Fathers of Maryland reassumed corporate 
 existence. They at once established Georgetown College, and a Novitiate 
 of the Order, which in 1819 was removed to Whitemarsh, Maryland. 
 
 Father Nerinckx, eleven years after his arrival in Kentucky, made 
 a visit to his old home in Belgium, then a part of the Netherland King- 
 dom. He there published a pamphlet in Flemish on the American 
 Missions, which had a wonderful effect on the youthful ecclesiastics 
 of Brabant. Nine young men volunteered to go with the American 
 missionary to the wilds of America, three of them were, in the course 
 of time to find their way to St. Louis ; John Oliver Van de Velde, Peter 
 Joseph Timmermans and Peter de Meyer. All of them with one excep- 
 tion, however, were won by Father Nerinckx for the Society of Jesus. 
 On May 16th, 1817, the company embarked at the Island of Texel, on 
 the brig Mars. They had an eventful and perilous voyage. Pirates 
 boarded the ship but would not do harm to any one, as they saw how 
 poor the passengers were, a storm of the most violent kind assailed them 
 and threatened shipwreck, but owing to the ceaseless labor of all, 
 passengers and crew, no harm was done ; lack of food and water reduced 
 the voyagers to the last extremities, but favorable winds at last sped 
 them on to their destination, Baltimore and the Jesuit home at George- 
 town. 
 
 In 1820, Father Nerinckx made a second trip to Belgium with even 
 greater results, both for the Society of Jesus and the Diocese of St. 
 Louis. On his return in 1821, he had in his party most of the young men, 
 who two years later, were to emigrate from Maryland to the West under 
 
Father Charles Nerinckx and His Relations with St. Louis 311 
 
 the leadership of Father Charles Felix Quickenborne and there lay the 
 foundations of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus. 
 
 On his way to Europe Father Nerinckx paid a brief visit to the 
 Jesuits at Georgetown, Maryland, and there met Father Van de Velde, 
 one of the companions of his former journey, who handed him a letter 
 intended for a friend and former pupil, Jodocus Francis Van Assche, 
 then a student in the Seminary of Mechlin. Young Van Assche would 
 have gladly gone with Van de Velde, if too great youth and lack of 
 means had not prevented him. But his desire of joining the Jesuits in 
 America still persisted. Father Nerinckx delivered the letter at Van 
 Assche 's home, and the father of the young man took it to his son in 
 Mechlin. The heart of Jodocus took fire at once. For a time he could 
 not get into communication with Father Nerinckx, who was obliged to 
 conduct his affairs in utmost secrecy, as the government was unfriendly 
 to all Catholic endeavors, and would surely have arrested the missionary 
 from America on one plea or another. In his search for Father Nerinckx, 
 Van Assche was accompanied by John Baptist Elet, a student of the 
 Grand Seminary at Mechlin. At last they found Father Nerinckx, who 
 told them, when and from what part he would start again for America. 
 On the reopening of school, Elet communicated his and Van Assche 's 
 plan of going to American to John Baptist Smedts, a college friend, 
 and won him over to the pious and romantic project. A layman of 
 Tournhout, Pierre de Nef, gave the young men a large contribution 
 for the voyage and letters of introduction to a number of well-disposed 
 people of his acquaintance. Now Peter Verhaegen, a Professor at the 
 Petit Seminaire at Mechlin, Felix Levinus Verreidt of Diest, Francis 
 De Maillet of Brussels, Van Horzig of Hoogestraten, all students of 
 the Grand Seminaire ; and a little later, Peter De Smet of Termonde, 
 were made partners iu the enterprise. A certain merchant of Mechlin 
 named Ketelaer, the confidential agent of Father Nerinckx, kept the 
 company informed regarding the vessel in which Father Nerinckx in- 
 tended to sail. In his house they stored their baggage and deposited 
 their funds. At last the news came that their guide and protector would 
 sail from Amsterdam in August. Thereupon they started for that city, 
 but hid their identity as much as possible for fear of being detained 
 for evading military service. They then crossed the Zuider-Zee for 
 Texel, the place of embarkation, where M. Ketelaer had made arrange- 
 ments for their stay. Meanwhile Father Nerinckx himself had arrived, 
 incognito, upon the island, accompanied by Charles Gilbert of London, 
 and James Van Rysselberghe, both of whom wished to become lay- 
 brothers. Father Nerinckx had some trouble in dampening the effer- 
 A'escent zeal of the young men, that threatened to bring ruin to the 
 enterprise. 
 
312 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 At last their long expected ship, the Col inn bin, was announced. 
 They hastened to take their seats on the pilot-boat and boarded the 
 vessel. Father Nerinckx appeared among them a little later. 
 
 It was on Assumption Day, August 15th, 1821, that the voyage start- 
 ed, and Sunday, September 23rd, that it came to a close at Philadelphia. 
 On Monday they resumed their journey for Baltimore, where two of the 
 party were prevailed upon to stay : the remaining seven, Van Assche, Elet, 
 De Smet, Verreidt, Verhaegen, Smeedts and De Maillet, hastened on to 
 Georgetown College, to be admitted into the Society of Jesus by Father 
 Anthony Kohlman. On October 6th, 1821, they began the period of 
 their probation, under their fellow countryman, Father Charles E. Van 
 Quickenborne, who had come to America a few years before. Father 
 Nerinckx, having magnificently fulfilled his promise to Father Kohlman, 
 to bring him fresh accessions from Belgium, now retraced his steps to 
 his old missionary field in Kentucky. As to the ultimate destiny of his 
 •Jesuit proteges the following chapter of our History will give all neces- 
 sary information. 
 
 During the period that elapsed between his first and second recruit- 
 ing expedition across the sea, Father Nerinckx met the great opportunity 
 of his life, to found a religious Sisterhood, that was to furnish, under 
 God's Providence, many of our most successful educational institu- 
 tions, the Sisters of Loretto. In the year 1812 Miss Mary Rhodes, a 
 native of Maryland, asked permission of the Pastor of St. Charles to 
 open a school for girls. Her request was readily granted. Soon two 
 other young ladies offered their services as teachers. We will let 
 Father Nerinckx finish the story: "The sight of three young women 
 joined in the same work revived the old idea of a convent, and it 
 was thoroughly talked over. The project was laid before Rt. Rev. 
 Benedict Joseph Flaget, and he willingly consented to the plan. Miss 
 Nancy Rhodes, Mary's sister, who was afterwards the first Superior, 
 bought the small tract of land on which Loretto is built, for 75 dollars, 
 and gave her negro, who was sold for $450.00. A subscription of some 
 hundred dollars was made up, and the congregation was called upon to 
 assist in building a more convenient house. In the beginning of July 
 1812, the first log was cut for the new convent. Great difficulties, hard- 
 ships and labors were met at every step. The nuns increased, the houses 
 grew in number, the schools continued, yet they had nothing to depend 
 upon but the sole providence of God and the gracious protection of the 
 Blessed Sorrowful Mother Mary. " G 
 
 The Society was at first governed according to the Rule devised by 
 Father Nerinckx and approved by Bishop Flaget. But Rome considered 
 
 6 Father Nerinckx Journal in " Howlett, " p. 246. 
 
Father Charles Nerinckx and His Relations with St. Louis 313 
 
 some portions of it too rigid and made some changes, which were of 
 course, readily accepted by Father Nerinckx and his sisterhood. This 
 rule, corrected and approved by Rome, still seemed rather severe to 
 many, but, as Father Nerinckx repeatedly stated, the sisters loved its 
 austerities, and were happy under its severity. In fact, they regretted 
 the mitigations made by Rome, whilst they loyally, as good religious, 
 accepted them. 
 
 In the winter of 1822 Bishop Du Bourg wrote to Father Nerinckx. 
 requesting a colony of Lorettines for his diocese of St. Louis. 7 Father 
 Nerinckx gladly acquiesced and expressed his deep satisfaction on hear- 
 ing that Father Rosati, Superior of the Seminary of St. Mary at the 
 Barrens, was willing to accept the direction of the young colony of sisters. 
 The first letter of Father Nerinckx in regard to the Lorettines to be 
 sent to Missouri, was written to Father Joseph Rosati, C. MD., at the 
 Barrens, dated Loretto, 15 January, 1823. In this letter Father Nerinckx 
 expresses his readiness to send on a band of nine sisters to the Barrens, 
 and asks that, beside the log-house which they are to inhabit, they should 
 have a chapel of their own. He declares his wish to have the new-house 
 distinguished by some name that bore some relation to the sufferings of 
 Our Lord and his Blessed Mother. The foundation was named Bethle- 
 hem. 8 
 
 In the meantime Father Rosati had been appointed Coadjutor to 
 Bishop Du Bourg. There is a note of anxiety in Father Nerinckx 's letter 
 as to the alterations that might possibly be made in the rules and prac- 
 tices of his dear Lorettine Sisterhood : changes, as he believed, not for 
 the better but for the worse, Father Nerinckx may have been too fearful 
 in the matter, yet in principle he was certainly right. There is no greater 
 danger to the religious life, than a lax Rule or lax observance of the 
 Rule. 
 
 All preparations for the exodus were now completed and a long and 
 interesting letter was despatched to Bishop Du Bourg giving brief char- 
 acter-sketches of the thirteen sisters that made up the colony of the 
 future Bethlehem in the Diocese of St. Louis. Father Nerinckx reiterates 
 his injunctions as to the necessity of maintaining the Rule. There are 
 now six house with one hundred and thirty Sisters. "Our only aim," 
 
 " Our account of this later phase of Father Nerinckx 's life is based on the 
 original letters addressed to Bishop Du Bourg and Rosati, preserved in the Archives 
 of the St. Louis Archdiocese and first published in Rothensteiner 's "Father Charles 
 Nerinckx and his Relations to the Diocese of St. Louis, ' ' in St. Louis Cath. Hist. 
 Society," vol. I. pp. 157 ss. 
 
 8 Rothensteiner, 1. eit., p. 160. 
 
314 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 he says, ' ' in starting the poor institute was to provide a Catholic School 
 for girls of the lower classes. ' ' 9 
 
 The Convent of Bethlehem was now established; the sisters were 
 happy amid their hardships, and sent glowing accounts of their new 
 home to the Sisters at Loretto. Father Nerinckx felt relieved and very 
 grateful. He wrote a touching letter in excellent Latin, to Bishop Rosati, 
 Dated September 24, 1823, in which he gratefully acknowledges the 
 paternal solicitude rendered to his one time, " Lorettines, " now Bishop 
 Rosati 's ' ' Bethlehemites. ' ' 10 
 
 Father Nerinckx 's life was drawing to a close, as he himself ex- 
 pressed it. But the storm was already brewing that was to drive him 
 away from the scene of his long and fruitful labors, A Brother Priest, 
 Father Guy Chabrat, the Confessor to the Lorettines at Bethania Church, 
 was the prime mover of an attempt to change that which was dearest to 
 the heart of Father Nerinckx, the Rule of the Friends of Mary at the 
 Foot of the Cross. Father Nerinckx resented this uncalled-for interfer- 
 ence and strenuously resisted the attempt. The piety of Father Ner- 
 inckx was described by Father Chabrat as visionary, his government 
 as too rigorous, the practices he prescribed as too austere. But a valiant 
 fighter as Father Nerinckx was in the cause of righteousness and justice, 
 he would not give scandal by continuing the quarrel, in which he saw 
 Bishop Flaget on the side of his opponent. The desire, long repressed 
 of going among the Indians, or of leading the life of a hermit in the 
 wilderness of Missouri, filled his heart to overflowing. 11 
 
 Bishop Rosati was glad to make such an acquisition for St. Louis, 
 as was offered in the person of Father Nerinckx ; and he wrote to him 
 about a tract of land which he thought suitable. Father Nerinckx 's 
 answer is dated Loretto, Ky., January 1824. Bishop Flaget, however, 
 was not willing to let the grand old man and missionary leave his diocese. 
 Yet, Nerinckx held that he was justified in his proposed course to seek 
 a new home in the woods. 
 
 Among other causes for his desire to withdraw from the cares of 
 the public ministry, the good Father touches on a question of Theology 
 which has since that time exercised and disturbed many a mind and 
 heart, the question of usury or taking interest on money lent. The Church 
 had always held that money was unproductive and should not bear 
 interest. Usury in all its ramifications was sinful. But the opinion 
 
 9 Kothensteiner, 1. cit., p. 163. 
 
 10 Kothensteiner, 1. cit., p. 166. 
 
 11 Father Guy Chabrat, the second Superior of the Lorettine Sisterhood, in 
 June, 1826, moved the MotheThouse from Hardin's Creek to the Farm of St. Ste- 
 phen's. This is the new Loretto. The Sisters themselves on their departure set fire 
 to the old Loretto Convent. 
 
Father Charles Nerinckx and His Relations with St. Louis 315 
 
 gradually prevailed that modern conditions of business had made a 
 change imperative, and that a reasonable rate of interest was permissible, 
 so that the word usury would apply only to an excessive rate of interest. 
 Father Nerinckx's remarks on this vexed question may seem strange in 
 our capitalistic age : but they are based on facts, and so merit our atten- 
 tion. 12 
 
 In conclusion Father Nerinckx touched upon a new St. Louis pro- 
 ject. 
 
 As early as 1823 a "Female Charitable Society," consisting of 
 ladies, Catholic and Protestant, French and American, had been founded 
 in St. Louis, intended to "ameliorate the conditions of the poor and sick 
 and the orphans. In consequence of the exertions of these good ladies 
 a movement was inaugurated to obtain a colony of the Lorettines for 
 the purpose of caring for the sick and the orphans. Father Nerinckx 
 heard of this plan, and expressed his willingness to further it. Nothing 
 came of the matter at that time. A project of far greater importance 
 began to agitate the old lion's soul. Bishop-elect Rosati had notified 
 Father Nerinckx of his coming consecration as Bishop of Tenagra and 
 Coadjutor of Bishop Du Bourg, which was to take place at Donaldson- 
 ville, on March 25th, 1824. Hereupon Father Nerinckx sent a letter of 
 hearty congratulation, and at the same time offered to bring 'all his 
 sisters to the diocese of St. Louis. This letter is the last one addressed to 
 Bishop Rosati from Loretto. It is dated January 24th, 1824» Alluding 
 to the grave misunderstanding that had arisen between him and Bishop 
 Flaget, he says : 
 
 "It will cause me to make still more diligence in leaving these parts. 
 The Bishop told me, if I went, I could take the sisters along with me. 
 I know not whether he was in earnest, but supposing he was and they 
 would, perhaps some might have the notion to follow such a poor leader, 
 could they find a place, or be received in your diocese or anywhere in 
 your parts? What number? And what means to transport them? I 
 have some money to bear expenses, but then to find a place. I would 
 decline to be their director except for a while, if I should suit. Provi- 
 dence perhaps, which permits this little change, might provide. I wish 
 before-hand to come to your parts, unless you could and would give 
 sufficient information by writing, which by this present I humbly re- 
 quest you to do as soon as possible. I wish your Lordship to recommend 
 this affair to the Sisters of Bethlehem, that the Lord may be honored by 
 it." 13 
 
 12 Eothenstciner, 1. c. p., 169. 
 
 13 Eothensteiner, 1. c, p. 171. 
 
•>16 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 This desperate plan of removing the entire Sisterhood of more than 
 two hundred persons from Kentucky to Missouri was, of eourse, impos- 
 sible, yet, Bishop Plaget's hasty word rankled in the good Father's 
 heart. Besides, the Bishop had informed him as to complaints urged 
 against him. There was no alternative but to leave Kentucky. On the 
 29th of May 1824, he wrote the farewell letter, "to the dear Mother, 
 Mothers and Sisters of the Loretto House and Society," in which he 
 gives a brief account of his life and states the three great causes for his 
 departure : 
 
 1. The impossibility of holding out for want of temporals, having 
 no help but from Europe ; 
 
 2. The sake of peace which is already somewhat interrupted : 
 
 3. The rest and tranquillity of conscience, "which I cannot have 
 here on account of difficulties in practice, which are lately come and 
 surely increased, for which it seems no remedy can be obtained. These 
 are the main motives. ' ni 
 
 On the 16th day of June 1824, Father Nerinckx left Loretto and on 
 July 2nd, 1824, he arrived at Bethlehem near St. Mary's Seminary. 
 Perry County, Missouri. 
 
 "The Sisters were not expecting him," says Sister Eulalia, "he 
 stepped into the hall and thus took them by surprise." Going to the 
 chapel he gave benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and then departed 
 for the Seminary, where he remained a few weeks. On the 26th of July, 
 he left the Barrens, said Mass for the last time in the Sister's chapel at 
 Bethlehem, and then rode away to St. Louis. From St. Louis he made 
 a visit to his friends, the Jesuit Fathers at Florissant ; thence he returned 
 to St. Louis, made arrangements with the Indian agent in regard to 
 sending twelve Indian girls to Bethlehem. On the 2nd of August he 
 set out for Bethlehem convent, full of glad anticipations in regard to 
 his Indian venture. On his way, however, he stopped at a little village, 1 "' 
 where he preached, heard confessions, and said Mass, and even started 
 a building fund for a new church. But the exertions undergone by the 
 noble priest brought on a fever. In company of Mr. James Van Ryssel- 
 berge, Father Nerinckx set out for Ste. Genevieve, where he was 
 received with great kindness by the Pastor, Father Dahmen, C. M. On 
 Sunday, August 8th, Brother James assisted him into the chapel. Unable 
 to say Mass, he would at least attend. 
 
 On August 12th, 1824, at five o'clock in the evening Father Nerinckx 
 expired in the 63rd year of his age. His remains were buried in the 
 humble church-yard of Bethlehem. Bishop Rosati performed the last 
 
 14 Maes, op. cit., pp. 521 and 522. 
 
 15 French Village, also called Little Canada. 
 
Father Charles Neritickx and His Relations with St. Louis :>17 
 
 sacred rites. In December 1833, the remains of Father Nerinckx were 
 translated to Loretto and reinterred in the Sisters' Cemetery, where a 
 beautiful monument was erected over his tomb. 
 
 A most beautiful and touching tribute to the memory of the Apostle 
 of Kentucky was rendered by Bishop Flaget, and published in the 
 Ignited States Catholic Miscellany, Wednesday, December 8th, 1824. 
 
 One hundred years have elapsed since Father Charles Nerinckx 
 passed to his eternal reward. But, as Bishop Flaget wrote, "he still lives 
 amongst us in his works," and the Archdiocese of St. Louis may well 
 be proud of its early intimate relations to the saintly Founder of the 
 Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross, and the resourceful pathfinder 
 for the Jesuits to their earlier field of glory on the banks of the Miss- 
 issippi River. 
 
Chapter 11 
 THE INDIAN MISSIONS AND THE JESUITS 
 
 In answer to some of his friends in Europe who had gently disap- 
 proved of his waste of time and energy, and money on foreign lands 
 which might be more profitably spent on France itself, the Bishop of 
 Louisiana pointed out the essential humanity of educating and chris- 
 tianizing the Indians. 
 
 "Turn then your eyes, "he wrote/' on hundreds of Indian tribes 
 that seem but to wait for instruction in order to embrace the faith. 
 How touched you would be if you could see the frequent deputations 
 which I receive from them, the religious respect which they testify to 
 me, and the urgent prayers which they address to me, to be their 
 father, to visit them, and to give them men of God. In the midst of 
 the great sadness which the view of so many of my neglected children 
 causes me, I am beginning to experience the consolation of seeing the 
 seed of the word bear fruit." 1 
 
 Father Eugene Michaud, who came to the American Mission with 
 Odin, J. B. Blanc, Audizio, Peyretti and Caretta in 1822, and was 
 raised to the priesthood by Bishop Du Bourg on September 22nd, of the 
 same year, "a pious and learned young man, with an excellent character, 
 and, above all, very good judgment," wrote a few letters for the Annals 
 of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, concerning the Louisi- 
 ana missions. We cull from his account the following passages in regard 
 to the early missionary activities among the Indians of the Western 
 Plains. 
 
 "In 1820, a number of chiefs of the Osage nation came to St. Louis 
 by the order of the Indian agent. 2 Sans-Nerf (principal chief of this 
 nation) was at their head. They all visited our Bishop, whom they call 
 the 'Chief of the Black Robes'. As they have a high opinion of him, 
 and as respect for priests seems natural to them, since they know by 
 tradition that 'Black Robes' visited their forefathers, they came in full 
 dress. Their copper-colored bodies were coated with grease, their faces 
 and arms were striped in different colors, white lead, Vermillion, ver- 
 digris and other colors formed a great variety of furrows, all starting 
 
 1 Du Bourg to a Friend in Europe about 1818, in "Annales de la Propagation 
 de la Foi," vol. I, p. 20. 
 
 2 William Clark, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804- 
 1806. The Osage Indians had been on friendly terms with the Jesuit Fathers of 
 Kaskaskia under the French Eegime. 
 
 (318) 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 319 
 
 at the nose. Their hair was arranged in tufts. Bracelets, ear-rings, rings 
 in their noses and lips completed their head-dress. Their shoes are made 
 of buckskin which they ornament with different designs in feathers of 
 various colors; hanging from their robes are little pieces of tin, shaped 
 like small pipes. These are to them the most beautiful ornaments. Their 
 great object is to make a noise when they walk or dance. Their heads 
 are ornamented with a sort of crown in which are mixed up birds' heads, 
 bears' claws and little stag's horns. A woolen robe hung over the shoul- 
 ders, covers nearly all the rest of the body ; and again, to this robe are 
 fastened the tails of different animals, etc. Such is the attire in which 
 the chiefs of the Osages paid their respects to the Bishop of Louisiana. 
 He has in his room a handsome ivory crucifix, a small picture of St. 
 Thomas, and a few other paintings. The sight of the crucifix struck 
 them with astonishment. They gazed at it, their expression wondering 
 and softened. The Bishop profited by this occasion to announce to them 
 Jesus Christ. 'Behold' (said he to them through the interpreter who 
 accompanied them), 'behold the Son of the Master of Life, who came 
 down from heaven to earth, who died for us as much for the redskins 
 as for the white skins. It was to gain our happiness that Ho suffered so 
 much and that He shed all His blood. It is He,' added the Bishop, 'who 
 has sent me here to make known to you His will. ' 
 
 "It is impossible, the Bishop said, to describe the attention that all 
 these poor savages paid to him, and the emotion which they experienced 
 when the interpreter repeated to them the words of the Bishop. They 
 raised their eyes and their hands to heaven and then to the crucifix. All 
 the spectators were moved by the scene. Before taking leave of the Bishop, 
 Sans-Nerf said to him through the interpreter, that if he wished to 
 come and visit them in their homes he would be well received ; that he 
 could do a great deal of good, and that he could pour waters on many 
 heads. The Bishop promised to do so, and presented each one with a 
 little crucifix and also a medal which he hung around their necks by 
 a ribbon, admonishing them to guard them carefully. They promised 
 him to do so, and have kept their word." 3 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg, enthusiastic as he was, and of a romantic turn 
 of mind, at once decided to assist the Osages himself, and De Andreis 
 was to accompany him. But De Andreis died, and Bishop Du Bourg had 
 so many calls on his time and talent, and cherished as many grand 
 dreams, that he soon decided to entrust the Osage Mission to one of his 
 most excellent priests, Father Charles de La Croix. As the beginnings 
 of a great undertaking, be they ever so humble, deserve to be remember- 
 ed in all their details, we will give entire the second part of Father 
 
 3 ' ' Annales de la Propagation, ' ' vol. I, pp. 53 and 54. 
 
320 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 ftlichaud's letter, which treats more fully of the events thai 
 transpired in the first Osage Mission : 
 
 "In 1821 Father La Croix set out to open the mission to these savages. 
 On the occasion of his first visit, as they were about to depart on a hunt- 
 ing expedition, he could only see one village. He was very well received 
 and baptized a great many children. As he had promised to visit all the 
 villages of the nation of Indians, he was obliged to return last summer. 
 He left Florissant, which is situated five leagues from St. Louis, on 
 the 22nd of July. After traveling tw T elve days on horseback across 
 prairies, broken by forests and streams, he reached the first village 
 which he had already visited in the spring. They were delighted to 
 see him again. He was accompanied by several persons who intended 
 to trade with the savages. All the warriors came to meet them. 
 
 They were conducted, with great honor to the head chief and invited 
 to feasts, prepared by the savages, and so were kept going until evening, 
 from cabin to cabin. At these repasts they were presented with a wooden 
 dish, filled with boiled maize or buffalo meat (boeuf sauvage), but each 
 dish had to be duly tasted. 
 
 The head chief and six of his principal warriors offered to accompany 
 the missionary in his visit to the other villages. Ten days were passed 
 thus, and the missionary was received everywhere with the same eager- 
 ness. At one of these villages more than a hundred warriors, covered 
 from head to foot with their handsomest ornaments, came quite a distance 
 to meet him. They rode finely trained horses. The occupations of the men 
 are war and hunting. The women are very hard working. They it is 
 who build the cabins, and who carry loads of firewood on their backs. 
 The quantity they take at one time is astonishing. The whole nation is 
 clothed, decently at least. Everyone is covered with a robe. 
 
 Polygamy is practiced among them, for it is the custom that, when 
 a savage demands a girl in marriage and is accepted, not only she, but 
 all her sisters also belong to him and are looked upon as his wives. They 
 pride themselves greatly upon having several wives. Another great 
 obstacle to their civilization lies in their strong distaste for the culti- 
 vation of the soil and for all kinds of work. They care for nothing but 
 war and hunting. 
 
 One day the missionary celebrated the Holy Sacrifice. All the chiefs 
 were present, and also as many savages as the place would hold. He has 
 told me that he was greatly moved by the respectful attention which 
 they showed, and the exactitude with which they rose and knelt, raising 
 their arms and eyes to heaven. After Mass he distributed to all the 
 chiefs a number of crosses, fastened to ribbons, which he threw around 
 their necks. He also baptized several children. 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 32] 
 
 The soil of this portion of Missouri is very fertile, and there are 
 prairies six or seven Leagues in extent. In summer the heat is excessive. 
 It was during this journey that the missionary was attacked by burning 
 fever, which forced him to leave the Osages. He was obliged to travel, 
 twelve days on horseback, sleeping at night in the woods, not coming 
 across a single miserable cabin. This is how they go about arranging 
 their camp. Having chosen the most suitable place, they unload and 
 unharness the horses, which they let run loose in the woods that they 
 may pasture during the night. They build a hut with the branches of 
 trees, and having gathered wood they light a big fire. Over this they 
 boil a piece of young buck placed on a stick planted before the fire, 
 (he meat being turned from time to time. This fire serves also to drive 
 away bears and other wild beasts. After their repast, they roll them- 
 selves up in a buffalo skin and fatigue renders this poor bed very 
 comfortable." 4 
 
 As Father Michaud intimates, the chief obstacles to the conversion 
 of the Indians, were, next to the wandering instinct and lazy life of the 
 Indian himself, the trader with his fire water, and the salaried preacher 
 with his calumnies and impositions. "For several years Protestant 
 missionaries, sent out and well paid by the American government, had 
 been settled among these savages, and had built up establishments where 
 they cared for the children of this nation for a certain time. But they 
 were not successful, and nearly a year ago the Indians took away all 
 their children, saying that they had realized that they were not Black- 
 robes, as they had thought they were at first. ' ' 5 
 
 Black-robes, that is Catholic priests, these poor people wanted. 
 "Their affection for the Black-robes is touching, especially for the French 
 priests," writes Father Michaud 's companion on the voyage to America, 
 John Marie Odin, then in deacon's order. "Some time ago, a great 
 number of savages were in St. Louis. One of them was taken on some 
 errand to a house where the Bishop happened to be. The moment he 
 perceived the Bishop, he ran to him, seized his hand and kissed it with 
 every demonstration of friendship. Having departed without remember- 
 ing to go through the same ceremony, he recalled his mistake, only when 
 already at some distance from the house. He turned back immediately. 
 
 * Annales, vol. I, pp. 57 and 58. Father Garraghan's "Saint Ferdinand de 
 Florissant" contains a chapter, the seventh, on Father Charles De La Croix. Mon- 
 signor Holweck in the "Pastoral-Blatt, " July, 1919, gives a well-authenticated 
 sketch. Bishop Du Bourg was won't to call this noble priest his "angel." Mother 
 Du Chesne admired him for his angelic piety and absolute fearlessness. 
 
 5 Annales, vol. I, p. 58. Records, vol. XIV. 
 
 Vol. I 11 
 
322 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 running all the way, and uttering loud cries, kissed the Bishop's hand 
 and departed once more." 
 
 The Administration of President James Monroe, was hailed as the 
 "era of good feeling." All danger of foreign interference seemed to 
 have been eliminated by the so-called Monroe Doctrine, and the govern- 
 ment could now apply all its energies to internal affairs. The Indian 
 population demanded special attention. The Indian wars, though confined 
 to the frontier, had been very costly in blood and treasure. Education 
 was proclaimed as the panacea for all evils. The Indians were to share 
 in its blessings. The President and John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of 
 War, expressed their willingness to aid in a substantial manner those 
 who would undertake the task of civilizing and christianizing the In- 
 dians. "Upon the whole" as Von Hoist says, "he (Calhoun) advocated 
 a policy towards these wards of the nation which it would have been 
 well for all parties concerned to adopt and pursue with undeviating 
 honesty. Even in our days his Indian reports might be profitably studied 
 with regard as well to the cardinal mistakes committed in the Indian 
 policy as to what ought to be done. ' ' 7 
 
 Congress had set apart the sum of $10,000.00 for the purpose of 
 aiding the schools that were then and might be established for the in- 
 struction of young Indians. Secretary Calhoun, into whose hands the 
 distribution of the fund was laid, announced that "Government will, 
 if it has the means, and approves the arrangement, pay two-thirds of 
 the expense of erecting the necessary buildings. The President of the 
 United States will contribute out of the annual appropriation to each 
 institution which may be approved by him, a sum proportionate to the 
 number of pupils belonging to each, regard being had to the necessary 
 expense of the establishment and the degree of success which has at- 
 tended it. 
 
 ' ' But it will be indispensable, in order to apply any portion of the 
 sum appropriated in the manner proposed, that the plan of education, 
 in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, should in the instruction 
 of boys, extend to the practical knowledge of the mode of agriculture, 
 and of such of the mechanic arts as are suited to the condition of the 
 Indians; and in that of the girls, to spinning, weaving and sewing. It 
 is also indispensable that the establishment should be fixed within the 
 limits of those Indian nations who border on our settlements*, " 8 
 
 6 Annales, vol. I, p. 52. Becords, vol. XIV, p. 181. 
 
 7 Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun in ' ' American Statesmen Series, ' ' p. 45. 
 
 8 Calhoun's Circular, Feb. 29, 1820, supplementary to that of September 3, 
 1819, both published in "American Catholic Historical Eesearches, " vol. X, pp. 154- 
 159. 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 323 
 
 In the additional regulations issued by Secretary Calhoun, it was 
 stated that regard would be had, not only to the number of pupils of 
 each institution, but also to the necessary expense incurred and the 
 degree of success attained. Bishop Du Bourg saw his opportunity. In 
 a letter to the Secretary, under date of February 15th, 1823, he developed 
 his plan of civilizing the Indians of Missouri: "The work of civilization 
 should commence with harmonizing them by the kind doctrine of 
 Christianity, instilled into their minds, not by the doubtful and tedious 
 process of books, but by familiar conversation, striking representations, 
 and by the pious lives of their spiritual leaders. 
 
 "Men, disenthralled from all family cares, abstracted from every 
 earthly enjoyment, inured to fatigue and self-denial . . . are well calcu- 
 lated to strike* the child of nature as a supernatural species of beings, 
 entitled to almost implicit belief. Thus their unremitting charity will 
 easily subdue the ferocity of their hearts, and by degrees, assimilate their 
 inclinations to those of their fellow-christians. "I would be for aban- 
 doning the whole management of that great work to the prudence of 
 missionaries as the best judges of the means to be progressively employed 
 to forward the great object of their own sacrifices. Such at least was 
 always the policy observed in Catholic Indian missions, the success of 
 which in almost every instance answered and often surpassed every 
 prudent expectation. 
 
 Upon these principles I would be willing to send a few missionaries, 
 by way of trial at least, among the Indians of Missouri, should Govern- 
 ment be disposed to encourage the undertaking. The Appropriation of 
 monies for the object, being, I understand, very limited and in a great 
 measure already disposed of, I feel extremely delicate in proffering any 
 specific demand. I would only beg to observe, that hardly a less sum than 
 200 dollars would suffice to procure a missioner the indispensible ne- 
 cessities of life. With this abridged view of the subject, I beg you will 
 have the goodness to inform me, Sir, whether and to what extent, Govern- 
 ment would be willing to favor my scheme : 1. What allowance it would 
 grant to each missionary ? 2. To how many that support might be 
 extended ? 3. In case establishments could be made, what help would be 
 made towards them either in money or land ? ' ' 9 
 
 The President and Secretary Calhoun gave their hearty approval, 
 saying that the Government would contribute $200.00 annually towards 
 the support of the missionaries to be sent out. But, for the present only 
 three were to be sent. The Government would also contribute towards 
 the expense of the buildings for the accommodation of the missionaries. 
 
 9 Du Bourg to Calhoun, February 15, 1823. Original letter in "Indian Office 
 Records. ' ' 
 
■'!_-] History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Further encouragement would be extended in accordance with the results 
 
 attained. 
 
 Cheered by this initial success with the Government the Bishop 
 asked and obtained the pledge that four instead of three missionaries 
 would receive the annual allowance of $200.00. From the Bishop's letter 
 it appears that these missionaries were intended for the tribes on the 
 Upper Missouri, and Mississippi, Council Bluffs, Prairie du Chien and 
 Riviere St. Pierre. William Clark, the Indian Agent at St. Louis, was 
 instructed by Calhoun, to befriend the missionaries in their endeavors. 
 "It is believed," says the Secretary to General Clark, "that the 
 missionaries will, besides preparing the way for their ultimate civiliza- 
 tion be useful in preserving peace with the tribes among which they 
 may fix themselves." 10 
 
 So far not a word had been spoken in regard to schools for the 
 Indian children. The plan had in view the erection of Indian missions 
 among the remote tribes, and an allowance of $200.00 for each of the 
 four missionaries. Bishop Du Bourg now conceived the idea of a school 
 for the training of missionaries. Writing to Secretary Calhoun on 
 March 17th, 1823, he says: "I have the honor to submit to your con- 
 sideration a plan of operation, which the most serious reflections have 
 presented to me as best calculated to insure permanency to that estab- 
 lishment and to enlarge its sphere of usefulness. 
 
 "The basis of that plan would be the formation (on an eligible spot 
 near the confluence of those two large streams) of a Seminary or nursery 
 of Missionaries, in which young candidates for that holy function would 
 be trained in all its duties; whilst it would also afford a suitable re- 
 treat for such as, through old age, infirmity or any other lawful cause, 
 would be compelled to withdraw from that arduous ministry. — The 
 chief studies pursued in that Seminary would be : the manners of the 
 Indians, the idiom of the principal Nations, and the arts best adapted 
 to the great purpose of civilization. — And, in order to facilitate the 
 attainment of some of these objects, I would at once try to collect in 
 that Institution some Indian youths of the most important tribes, whose 
 habitual converse with the tyros of the Mission, would be mutually of 
 the greatest advantage for the promotion of the ultimate object in con- 
 templation. — The result of that kind of Novitiate would be a noble 
 emulation among the Missionaries, uniformity of system, a constant 
 succession of able and regularly trained Instructors, and a gradual 
 expansion of their sphere of activity. 
 
 "I am willing to give for that establishment a fine and well-stocked 
 farm in the rich valley of Florissant about one mile from the river 
 Missouri and fifteen from St. Louis. 
 
 io Calhoun to Clark, "Indian Office Records," Washington, D. C. 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 325 
 
 Seven young clergymen, from twenty-two to twenty-seven years of 
 age, of solid parts and an excellent Classical education are nearly ready 
 to set off at the first signal under the guidance of two Superiors and 
 professors and with an escort of a few faithful mechanics and husband- 
 men to commence the foundation. I calculate at about two years the 
 time necessary to consolidate it and to fit out most of those highly 
 promising candidates for the duties of the missions, after which they 
 will be anxious to be sent in different directions according to the views 
 and under the auspices of government, whilst they will be replaced in 
 the Seminary by others destined to continue the noble enterprise. 
 
 "So forcibly am I struck with the happy consequences likely to re- 
 sult from the extension of that same project that I hesitate not to 
 believe that Government, viewing it in the same light with myself, will 
 be disposed to offer me towards its completion that generous aid with- 
 out Avhieh I would not be warranted to undertake it 
 
 "It has already condescended to allow $800 per annum for four 
 missionaries. But it was on the supposition that they would be im- 
 mediately sent to the Missouri, whilst in the proposed plan the opening 
 of the missions would take place but two years after the opening of 
 the Seminary. Yet though not actually employed among the tribes, 
 the missionaries, whilst yet in their novitiate, would not be less profitably 
 engaged in the cause; since besides having a number of young Indians 
 to feed, to educate and maintain, they would be laying the foundation 
 for far more extended usefulness for the future 
 
 The true object of this memoir is to demand that the allowance 
 granted by government, to be increased, if possible, to $1000 per annum 
 (on account of the great additional expenses incident on the present 
 scheme) should be paid from the first outset, on my pledging myself as 
 I solemnly do, that, at latest, in two years from the commencement, 
 I will send out five or six missionaries and successively as many more 
 as Government may then be disposed to encourage. 
 
 For the attainment of the object of collecting some Indian boys in 
 the Seminary, it would be of great service, Sir, that you should please 
 to invite General Clarke and Colonel O 'Fallon to lend me their assis- 
 tance." 11 This letter bears date of March 17, 1823. 
 
 To this communication of Bishop Du Bourg, Secretary Calhoun 
 replied on March 21 : 
 
 "I have received your letter of the 17th instant and submitted it 
 to the President, (Monroe) for his consideration and direction, who 
 has instructed me to inform you. in reply, that believing the establish- 
 ment of a school on the principles which you have suggested, is much 
 better calculated to effect your benevolent design of extending the 
 
 11 Du Bourg to Calhoun, "Indian Office Records." 
 
326 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 benefits of civilization to the remote tribes, and with it the just influ- 
 ence of the government, than the plan you formerly proposed for the 
 same object, he is willing to encourage it as far as he can with propriety, 
 and will allow you at the former rate of $800 per annum to be paid 
 quarter-yearly towards the support of the completed establishment. No 
 advance, however, can be made consistently with the regulations, until 
 the establishment has actually commenced its operations with a suitable 
 number of Indian youths ; of which fact and the number of pupils the 
 certificate of General Clark will be the proper evidence. 
 
 "A copy of this letter will be sent to General Clark with instructions 
 to give proper orders to such of the Indian agents under his charge, 
 as you may think necessary, to facilitate the collection of the Indian 
 youths to be educated, and to afford every aid in his power to promote 
 the success of the establishment." 12 
 
 These arrangements, though not perfectly satisfactory to the Bishop, 
 were accepted as the basis for further action. Bishop Du Bourg himself 
 writes on this subject to his brother in Bordeaux, March 17, 1823 : 
 
 "Providence deigns to grant a success to this negotion, far in excess 
 of my hopes. The government bestows upon me two hundred dollars 
 a year for each missionary and that for four or five men, and it promises 
 to increase the number gradually, and I am sure that it will do so. 
 For an enterprise such as this, it was essential that I should have men 
 especially called to this work, and I had almost renounced the hope of 
 ever obtaining such, when God, in His infinite goodness, has brought 
 about one of those incidents which He alone can foresee and direct the 
 results." 13 
 
 12 Calhoun to Du Bourg, "Indian Office Records." 
 
 13 Annales, vol. I, p. 5. Records, vol. XIV, p. 156. 
 
Chapter 12 
 THE INDIAN MISSIONS AND THE JESUITS 
 
 II 
 
 The incident related in the foregoing chapter was the providential 
 answer to Bishop's long and anxious meditations summed up in the 
 following passage of a letter to his brother in Bordeaux: 
 
 "I have long been convinced that nothing could be accomplished 
 here without the Religious Orders. A man living isolated from his kind 
 grows weary of the apparent uselessness, of his efforts. The intense 
 heat exhausts his strength and checks his ardor. Too often he loses 
 his life or, in the fear of losing it, he abandons his post. He is fortunate 
 indeed, if he does not prove the truth of those words of the Holy Ghost : 
 "Woe to him who is alone!" and from a being, full of vigor and activity 
 he becomes a good-for-nothing, and the scorn of his fellowmen. There 
 in not the same danger for the religious community. Union makes 
 strength of all kinds. Their members are constantly renewed and in- 
 creased, hence they are able to provide for their own losses. 
 
 It is to this end that I have worked from the very beginning, to 
 secure the help of the Order of Saint Vincent de Paul, and that I have 
 made every effort to induce the Jesuits to come here, the former Order 
 for the seminary, the latter for the Missouri missions, and more es- 
 pecially, for work among the Indians. The expense of all this has been 
 great, but I am far from regretting it." 1 
 
 As early as February 24th, 1821, Bishop Du Bourg had written to 
 the Prefect of the Propaganda, Cardinal Fontana, asking His assistance 
 in gaining the Jesuits for the work of converting the Indians, who, as 
 he states, are very numerous in the upper part of his diocese. The 
 Holy Father, himself wrote to the Superior General with a view to en- 
 dorse his wishes. But up to that date all efforts had proved unavailing. 
 
 "However," concluded Bishop Du Bourg, "I understand that the 
 Superiors of the Society are now showing more willingness to undertake 
 the work. I have accordingly recommened to Father Inglesi 2 to make 
 use of every resource his intelligence and zeal could muster, in order 
 to bring this project to maturity. I beg likewise Your Eminence to 
 second his efforts. There is particularly one of the Fathers of the 
 Society, De Barat by name, now in the Little Seminary of Bordeaux, 
 
 i "Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, " vol. II, p. 394. "Kecords of the 
 American Catholic Historical Society, ' ' vol. XIV, p. 160. 
 
 2 Father Angelo Inglesi, Bishop Du Bourg 's protege, Vicar-General and 
 proposed Coadjutor. 
 
 (327) 
 
328 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 whom I know to be most anxious to conic here; his piety, knowledge 
 and zeal arc beyond par. I beg most earnestly the Vicar General to 
 give him to me, and beseech to this end the aid of Your Eminence's 
 most powerful influence. With him some of the younger French Jesuits 
 will be glad to come, and also others, of riper years, from among those 
 who came lately from Russia to Prance. Five or six at most, would 
 be sufficient, if to them were added two or three from Maryland — a thing 
 most desirable, on account of their knowledge of English, and also be- 
 cause, as they are well provided financially, they could supply the want 
 of their brothers. With this help, the Gospel cannot fail to make head- 
 way among the numberless nations on both sides of the Mississippi 
 and the Missouri.'' 3 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg petitioned Father Aloysius Fort is, the General 
 of the Jesuits at Rome, for some members of the Society to be established 
 in Louisiana, and received a courteous refusal ; but as he himself de- 
 clares, he seemed to hear out of the refusal the voice of God repeating, 
 "Et si perseveraberis pulsans, propter improbitatem dabunt." Lucas 
 VII.,4. 
 
 All applications so far had failed to attain the purpose. But nil 
 desperandum, thought Bishop Du Bourg. And really, as, the poet of 
 the Seasons tells us, "What makes the hero truly great, is never, never, 
 to despair." The Bishop's persistent efforts in this regard were at last 
 to be crow T ned with perfect success, though not in the manner he had 
 expected. 
 
 There was at Whitemarsh near Baltimore a Novitiate of the 
 Jesuits whom Father Nerinckx had brought from Belgium in 1821. 
 Their Master of Novices was Father Charles Felix Van Quiekenborne, 
 a native of Ghent. Born January 21st, 1788, the energetic young man, 
 after being raised to priesthood, and acting as Vicar of a parish in 
 Ghent and as Professor at the Seminary of Rottanen, was admitted into 
 the Novitiate of the Jesuits at Roulers. During this time he had as 
 pupil Ferdinand Helias de Huddeghem. 
 
 It was the good Father's love and sympathy for the benighted 
 Indians that inspired the desire of going to America, in teacher as well 
 as in pupil. The young missionary Charles Van Quiekenborne obtained 
 permission to go, and arrived in Georgetown at the end of 1817. The 
 student Helias was obliged to wait a few years. 
 
 Father Van Quiekenborne was appointed Master of Novices within 
 four years after his ordination. The novices were making excellent 
 progress under their kind and sympathetic master: but a dark cloud 
 had arisen over the institution threatening disaster to all . Owing to 
 
 3 Archives of Propaganda, Scritture Referite, Cod. 7, America Centrale, pub- 
 lished by Dr. Souvay in "Documents from Our Archives." "St. Louis Catholic 
 Historical Review," vol. II, p. 136. 
 
The I)i<li<ni Missions and the Jesuits 329 
 
 ;i heavy indebtedness of the Society, and a dispute with the Archbishop 
 of Baltimore concerning the title of ownership to Whitemarsh Plantation, 
 the Jesuit Superior was about to dissolve the Novitiate, so auspiciously 
 begun. The Father Superior, Charles .Wale, on hearing of Bishop 
 Du Bourg's desire to have a colony of Jesuits for the Western Missions, 
 freely offered him the entire Novitiate at Whitemarsh. Bishop Du 
 Bourg was surprised and delighted. It was a boon he could never have 
 expected and it came at the crucial moment. The government furnish- 
 ing the means for a grand advance, and here were the men to under- 
 take it. 
 
 A Concordate with many important clauses was drawn up at once 
 and signed by Bishop Du Bourg for the Diocese of Louisiana, and Father 
 Charles Neale in behalf of the Society of Jesus in the United States. 
 This was in accordance with the request Cardinal Pedicini made to the 
 Bishop in 1821, "to define and circumscribe the limits of the mission 
 to be placed entirely under the care of the Jesuit Fathers, so that no 
 collision or disturbance arise subsequently." This remarkable document 
 was dated March 19, 1823. 
 
 A Concordat or Agreement. 4 
 
 Entered into by the Rt. Rev, Louis Wm. Du Bourg, Bishop of New 
 Orleans, on the one part, with the Rev. Father Charles Neale, Superior 
 of the Society of Jesus in the United States of America, on the other 
 part, respecting the missions about to be undertaken by the said Society 
 in the Diocese of the said prelate. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. Bishop of New Orleans, animated by the desire of 
 propagating and extending the Gospel through his extensive diocese, and 
 anxious to promote as much as possible, the temporal as well as the 
 spiritual welfare of the numerous savage tribes inhabiting the shores 
 of the Missouri and its tributary streams, by conferring on them the 
 benefits and comforts of civilization and at the same time instructing 
 them in the ways of God and opening their eyes to the truths of His 
 holy Religion, as taught by Jesus Christ His Divine Son and proposed by 
 the Church, seizes with joy a proposal made to him by the Superior of 
 the Society in the United States, to co-operate with him and to carry 
 into effect so laudable a design, by furnishing him with a number of 
 able and zealous missionaries, who shall immediately proceed to the work. 
 And, in order that a fair understanding may always hereafter subsist 
 between the Bishop of New Orleans and his successors in the See and the 
 Superior of the Society of Jesus and his successors, the following Con- 
 cordat or Agreement is entered into, and has been signed by each of the 
 
 4 This document is transcribed from Bishop Du Bourg's own copy, preserved in 
 the Archives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Father Neale's copy was published 
 in Hughes', "History of the Society of Jesus in North America," Documents, 1 
 1021. 
 
330 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 parties; and when approved and ratified by his Holiness as well as by 
 the General of the Society in Rome, the same shall be perpetually binding 
 on them and their successors. 
 
 1. The Bishop of New Orleans cedes and surrenders to the Society 
 of Jesus for ever, as soon and in proportion as its increase of members 
 enables it to undertake the same, the absolute and exclusive care of all 
 the missions already established and which shall be hereafter established 
 on the Missouri River and its tributary streams; comprising within the 
 above grant and cession the spiritual direction, agreeably to their holy 
 institute, as well of all the white population, as of the various Indian 
 tribes inhabiting the above mentioned district of country together with 
 all the churches, chapels, colleges and seminaries of learning already 
 erected and which shall hereafter be erected, in full conviction of the 
 blessed advantages his diocese will derive from the piety, the learning 
 and the zeal of the members of the said religious Society — Reserving, 
 however, at all times to himself and his successors the right of visiting 
 in charity said portions of his diocese, agreeably to the canons of the 
 Church made and provided; also of requiring the removal of any mem- 
 ber or members of the Society from any post or station in the ministry, 
 when such removal for impropriety of conduct is deemed by him neces- 
 sary ; and also of requiring upon all occasions, when a Superior shall 
 desire to withdraw a member or members from any post of the mission, 
 the name of the individual or individuals he appoints to succeed him or 
 them; in order that he (the Bishop) maj r judge of his or their quali- 
 fications, etc., and empower him or them to exercise jurisdiction 
 accordingly. 
 
 2. The Bishop, to enable the Superior and the Society to enter 
 immediately upon the work so laudably undertaken by them, engages to 
 cede and transfer to said Society all right and title to a tract of valuable 
 land at Florissant, of which he is now legal proprietor, consisting of 
 three hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, with all its buildings and 
 improvements, and to make over the same immediately in such way and 
 to such person or persons, in trust for the Society, as the Superior shall 
 think fit. 
 
 3. The Bishop futhermore pledges and hereby binds himself and 
 his successors to support, encourage and promote to the best of his ability, 
 and with such pecuniary aid, collections and donations, as his circum- 
 stances and means will allow, the missions herein ceded to the Society 
 and their respective establishments, colleges, seminaries, churches, etc., 
 which are and which shall be hereafter made and erected, — and especially 
 the seminary immediately to be commenced on the above mentioned tract 
 of land at Florissant. 
 
 4. The Superior of the Society on the other hand engages himself 
 to send immediately to Florissant, in the State of Missouri, two priests 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 331 
 
 of the Society of Jesus, with seven young men, candidates for the same, 
 for the purpose of forming an establishment there, which shall serve 
 for the present as a seminary of preparation for the objects above speci- 
 fied. He promises moreover to send, with the above, two or three lay- 
 brothers of the same Society, with at least four or five negroes to be 
 employed in preparing and providing the additional buildings that may 
 be found necessary, and in cultivating the land of the above mentioned 
 farm. 
 
 5. The Superior also engages that, at the expiration of two years, 
 counting from the time of their arrival, four or five, at least, missionaries 
 duly qualified shall proceed to the remote stations, (i. e.) to the Indian 
 settlements in the vicinity of Council Bluffs, and shall there labor towards 
 the attainment of the great object specified above for the greater honor 
 and gloiy of God. 
 
 6. The Superior pledges himself to foster and promote, as much 
 as he is able the above mentioned missions with their several departments ; 
 and, until it shall be deemed necessary for the greater good of the mission 
 to fix upon some other site for the principal residence of the Society 
 engaged in this mission, to retain at the establishment at Florissant at 
 least two capable Fathers, whose chief care it shall be to superintend 
 and to direct the same, in qualifying the youth who shall offer themselves, 
 and who shall have been received there with the approbation of the Super- 
 ior, for the purpose of the mission. 
 
 7. The Bishop of New Orleans in his desire of promoting the estab- 
 lishment about to be commenced at Florissant, and to benefit the mission 
 at large, obligates himself and his successors to pay into the hands of 
 the chief of the mission whatever sum or sums of money the United States 
 Government shall think fit to advance, and to apply towards this object, 
 and to transmit to the same whatever sum or sums it shall hereafter 
 appropriate, and as long as it shall continue to appropriate it or them, 
 towards the furtherance of the work of God in this section. 
 
 In confirmation of this mutual agreement this instrument is signed 
 by both parties. 
 
 George Town, Dist. of Cla., March 19, A. D., 1823. 
 L. Wm. Du Bourg, Bp. of N. Orleans. 
 ( 'liarles Xeale, Superior of the Mission of the Society of 
 Jesus in the United States of America. 
 When the Master of Novices at Whitemarsh, was informed of the 
 transaction, he readily acquiesced; his assistant, Father Timmermans 
 likewise: the novices Van Assche, De Smet, Verhaegen, Verreidt, Elet, 
 Smedts, De Maillet and the Brothers, Peter De Meyer, Henry Keisselman 
 and James Strahan expressed their joy at going to the West, "We left 
 
332 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 our home and country for the conversion of the Indians;'' they said, 
 "the Indians are in the West, to the West let us go.""' 
 
 In order to procure money for the travelling expenses, Father Van 
 Quickenborne started on a collecting tour in New York, Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore, realizing in a short time the sum of one thousand dollars. 
 On April 11th, 1823, at dawn, the entire novititate left Whitemarsh 
 under the leadership of Father Van Quickenborne, with bag and baggage 
 and six negro slaves, Toni, Moses and Isaac with their respective wives 
 Polly, Nancy and Suecy. 
 
 The journey from Whitemarsh to Wheeling was made on foot. Travel 
 by stage-coach seemed beneath contempt and was really beyond their 
 reach. The trunks and the baggage were placed on two large wagons. 
 At their resting places on the way the novices copied Father Plowden's 
 Instructions on Religious Perfection. At Frederick in Maryland the 
 Jesuit Father McElroy presented Father Van Quickenborne with a roan 
 horse, which proved so obstreperous, that Father Van Quickenborne, as 
 he told the giver afterwards "would have sold the animal very promptly, 
 had the opportunity presented itself." 
 
 Frederick was the farthermost western outpost of the Society of 
 Jesus : here the travelers entered upon the Great National Pike Road to 
 the banks of the Ohio. At Cumberland the ascent of the Allegheny 
 Mountains began, replete with beautiful and sublime scenery, but full 
 of toil and danger too. After nine days of mountain travel they reached 
 the hospitable home of a Mr. Thompson, to spend three days of rest and 
 recuperation. Wheeling was reached on May 7th. Here the travelers 
 procured two flat-boats, which they lashed together, and with the help of 
 a "Riverman's Guide" Brother Strahan piloted the happy company 
 down the Ohio to Louisville. Here their joy was made complete by a 
 visit from their friend and benefactor Father Nerinckx, who had come 
 to Louisville to see, safe on board a steamer, the Colony of Lorettines 
 destined for the Barrens in Missouri. 
 
 The shooting of the Falls of the Ohio was successfully made, four 
 of the novices taking part in the perilous passage, the others, more 
 prudent or less courageous, walking around the point of danger. At 
 Shawneetown they left part of their baggage and began the long journey 
 on foot through the broad expanse of two hundred and fifty miles of 
 prairie to St,. Louis, which they reached on Saturday, May 30, 1823. 
 That same evening Father Van Quickenborne rode on horseback to 
 Florissant, accompanied by Father De La Croix. Here the Novitiate 
 of St. Stanislaus was founded by the advent of the pilgrims from White- 
 marsh in Maryland. A letter written by Bishop Du Bourg to his brother 
 at Bourdeau, March 17, 1823, throws an interesting sidelight on this 
 providential occurrence : 
 
 5 The Indians are in the West; to the West let us go. 
 
The Indian Missions and the Jesuits 333 
 
 "The Jesuits of whom I speak (says he) had their institution in 
 Maryland, and finding themselves embarrassed, were on the point of 
 disbanding their novitiate, when I obtained this pecuniary encourage- 
 ment from the Government. They have seized this opportunity and 
 have offered to transport the whole novitiate, master and novices, into 
 Upper Louisiana and form there a preparatory school for Indian mis- 
 sionaries. If I had had my choice, I could not liave desired anything 
 better. Seven young men, all Flemings, full of talent and of the spirit of 
 Saint Francis Xavier, advanced in their studies, about twenty-two to 
 twenty-seven years of age, with their two excellent masters and some 
 brothers ; this is what Providence at last grants to my prayers. 
 
 "Near the spot where the Missouri empties into the Mississippi, out- 
 side the village of Florissant, already so happy as to possess, the principal 
 institution of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. I have a good yielding farm, 
 excellent soil, which, if well cultivated (which it is not at present), could 
 easily provide sustenance for twenty persons at least, so far as the 
 important question of nourishment is concerned. True, there is only a 
 small house on the place, but in this country a big cabin of rough wood, 
 such as will be suitable for the apostles of the savages, is quickly built. 
 It is there that I will locate this novitiate, which will be, for all time, 
 a seminary especially intended to form missionaries for the Indians 
 and for the civilized and ever-growing population of Missouri. As soon 
 as the actual subjects are ready we will commence the mission in good 
 earnest. In the meantime, I propose to receive in the seminary a half- 
 dozen Indian children from the various tribes, in order to familiarize 
 my young missionaries with their habits and language, and to prepare 
 the Indians to serve as g-uides, interpreters and aides to the missionaries 
 when they are sent to the scattered tribes." 6 
 
 The rigors of the journey from Whitemarsh to Florissant as well 
 as the kindly reception of the pilgrims at their new home, are briefly 
 sketched by the Bishop : 
 
 "These good fathers are in possession of my farm at Florissant. 
 To reach it they walked more than four hundred miles, of which two 
 hundred miles were through inundated country, where the water was 
 often up to their waists; and far from murmuring, they blessed God for 
 granting them such an Apostolic beginning. They were very agreeably 
 surprised, not expecting to find such a pretty place ; for it is my policy 
 to speak only of the drawbacks to those whom I invite to share my 
 labors. The superintendent of Indian affairs, upon whom depends much 
 of the success of our missions to the savages, received them with an in- 
 terest both kind and 'active, and shows, himself in an especial way, their 
 protector. ' ' 7 
 
 6 Annales, vol. I, 5, pp. 37-41; Records, vol. XIV, pp. 150 and 15l'. 
 " Annales, vol. I, 5, pp. 37-41; Records, vol. XIV, p. 153. 
 
334 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 They certainly deserved the hearty praise of the Bishop who says : 
 "The Fathers, including their novices, are well calculated to inspire 
 confidence. An unlimited devotedness, which is proof again the greatest 
 dangers and privations, is associated in them with rare goodness and 
 talents of a high order. They complain of nothing, they are satisfied 
 with everything. Living in the closest quarters in a little house, sleeping 
 on skins for want of matresses, living on corn and pork, they are happier 
 than the rich on their down-beds, surrounded by luxury, because they 
 know happiness far more exquisite, and are not hampered by self-indul- 
 gence. It is my duty, however, to try to procure for them, at least the 
 necessaries of life, and also the means of exercising their zeal and extend- 
 ing their field of labor. It is in this that I hope to be seconded by the 
 Association of the Propagation of the Faith." 8 
 
 8 Annales, vol. I, 5, pp. 37-41; Becords, vol. XIV, p. 154. 
 
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Chapter 13 
 THE JESUIT BEGINNINGS AT ST. FERDINAND 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne with his little Jesuit community of one 
 priest and six novices were now ready to take possession of what was 
 called the Bishop's Farm, a tract of land of about 212 acres in the 
 Common Field of St. Ferdinand, which according to the Concordat was 
 to be the Jesuit Fathers' property. But Bishop Du Bourg had leased the 
 place for ten years to a Mr. O'Neil, who demanded the payment of 400 
 dollars, ere he would give peaceable, possession to Father Van Quick- 
 enborne. An amicable settlement of the unpleasant matter was finally 
 arranged, and the community set to work to make the buildings on the 
 farms inhabitable. How poor and devoid of all comfort these cabins 
 were appears from a description made by Father Walter Hill who saw 
 them in 1847. 
 
 "The dwelling given up to them by Mr. O'Neil was a log cabin 
 containing one room, which was sixteen by eighteen feet, in dimensions ; 
 and over it was a loft, but not high enough for a man to stand erect in it, 
 except when directly under the comb of the roof. This poorly lighted 
 and ventilated loft, or garret was made the dormitory of the seven 
 novices, their beds consisting of pallets spread upon the floor. Tbe 
 room below was divided into two by a curtain, one part being used as 
 a chapel and the other serving as bedroom for Fathers Van Quickenborne 
 and Timmermans. This main room of the cabin had a door on the 
 south-east or front ; a large window on the north-west side ; without 
 sash or glass but closed with a heavy board shutter ; on the south-west 
 side was a notable chimney with a fire-place having a capacity for logs 
 of eight feet in length. At a distance of about eighty feet to the north- 
 east of the building were two smaller cabins, some eight feet apart, one 
 of which was made to serve as a study hall for the novices, and as a 
 common dining-room for the community ; the other was used as a kitchen 
 and for lodging the negroes. These rude structures were covered with 
 rough boards, held in place by weight poles ; the floors were ' puncheons, ' 
 and the doors were riven slabs, and their wooden latches were lifted with 
 strings hanging outside." 1 
 
 But nothing daunted, the Superior added a second story to the main 
 building, and surrounded the house with a gallery. In making excavations 
 for a wing to the structure, the scholastics, Van Assche, De Smet, Ver- 
 haegen and Verreidt, were each assigned a quarter section of the proposed 
 cellar. The timber was procured from an island in the Missouri river. 
 
 Hill, Walter H., S. J., "Historical Sketch of St. Louis University," p. 282 
 
 (335) 
 
336 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The work of cutting and handling the logs was done by the novices and 
 the negro slaves. De Smet is reported to have been the champion with 
 the axe, whilst Van Assche excelled all others with the spade and mattock. 
 Father De Smet left us an interesting record of these exhilarating ex- 
 periences. 
 
 "Every day after breakfast the Rector led his little band with 
 cross-cut saw, and each one with an axe in his hand, to an island in the 
 Missouri River, three miles distant, containing about a thousand acres 
 of forest trees of all sizes. They were free to all comers, so that we had 
 our choice of chopping and felling. Hundreds of logs were secured and 
 safely landed ashore and hauled to St. Stanislaus. These logs were 
 intended for the construction of two large cabins of hewn timbers, for 
 rafters, servant cabins, stables and barns. This immense forest island, 
 which was just above the Charboniere, shortly after disappeared in a 
 great rise and freshet of the Missouri River, not leaving a vestige of tree 
 or soil. It stood on a flat, naked bed of lime stone rock, on which it had 
 been forming perhaps for centuries, as some of the largest trees seemed 
 to indicate." 2 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne wrote: "Our house will be comfortable 
 and spacious enough to lodge two or three fathers more. The Novices 
 agreed on all this and did the work willingly and joyfully." Funds were, 
 however, growing less, and there was no source from which they could 
 be replenished. Bishop Du Bourg, indeed, had pledged himself to sup- 
 port, encourage and promote the Jesuit Missions and foundations to the 
 best of his ability and with such pecuniary aid, collections, and donations, 
 as his circumstances and means would allow." He also recognized his 
 duty "to try to procure for them, at least, the necessaries of life, and 
 also the means of exercising their zeal and extending their field of 
 labor. "It is in this," he said, "that I hope to be seconded by the As- 
 sociation of the Propagation of the Faith." 3 
 
 In the meantime the six novices, Peter Verhaegen, John Baptist 
 Smedts, John Felix Verreidt, Jodocus Van-Assche, Peter John De Smet 
 and John Elet were permitted to pronounce the three simple vows that 
 made them members of the Society of Jesus. 
 
 The first winter at St. Ferdinand was noted for its severity. The 
 building operations had to be suspended, although all the material was 
 on hand. Another winter in the old lodgings might have been disastrous. 
 Work was resumed in the Spring and the house was furnished in the 
 summer of 1824. 
 
 2 Garraghan, S. J., "History of the Missouri Province of the Society of 
 Jesus," in MS. 
 
 3 Du Bourg to his Brother, August 6, 1823. " Annales de la Propagation de 
 la Foi," vol. I, 5, pp. 41 and 42. 
 
Tin .1 '( suit Beginnings at St. Ferdinand 337 
 
 But troubles were multiplying for the good Superior of the Jesuit 
 Novitiate : his ouly assistant, Father Peter Timmermans, died unex- 
 pectedly. He had been in feeble health for some time ; yet he continued 
 his missionary work without complaint. On Sunday. May 30, he held 
 usual services at St. Charles, but was unable to preach. Returning to the 
 Novitiate, he retired for the night, hoping that he would be well in the 
 morning. Father Van Quickenborne left the house for St. Louis, having 
 been assured that Father Timmerman's ailment was not of a serious 
 nature. In the afternoon, however, the patient grew worse and shortly 
 afterwards died. Father Timmermans was buried on the following 
 Tuesday in the parish Church of St. Ferdinand. ' ' He died like a soldier, 
 with armor in hand on the field of battle, in the actual exercise of his 
 truly apostolic zeal. His death has produced the effect which is ordinarily 
 produced by the death of a saint." 4 was the final judgment pronounced 
 on Father Timmermans by his brother in arms, Father Van Quickenborne. 
 But the loss must be repaired, or the foundation is doomed, thought 
 the Superior, and immediately requested that Father Dubuisson be sent 
 to St. Ferdinand. "It is a dreadful thought, in moments of depression, 
 to think oneself abandoned. Our difficulties must needs increase with 
 the arrival of the Indians. Those that we have are quite sick. If we are 
 to have with the Indians the success we look for, it is imperative that 
 some Father be sent to us : and would to God that he may come as Super- 
 ior. I ask your Reverence to send lis Father Dubuisson.""' 
 
 Again and again. Father Van Quickenborne 's cry for help went out 
 to his Superior in Maryland, but no help came. "This is alarming.*' he 
 wrote, "I hope that Father Dubuisson with Brother Meade, have by this 
 time started." But the year drew to a close, and the petition for help, 
 still remained unanswered. Father Van Quickenborne had to tread the 
 wine-press alone. Yet an unexpected recognition of his worth came 
 to him in his distress. 
 
 Father Rosati, who had now become Coadjutor Bishop, in December 
 of the same year appointed Father Van Quickenborne his Vicar General 
 for Upper Louisiana. Bishop Du Bourg also interceded with the Jesuit 
 Superior in Maryland for the "infant establishment" in Missouri. 
 
 All the Catholic population of Missouri west of St. Louis was in the 
 care of Father Van Quickenborne. In order to fulfill his obligation at 
 least in some measure, he said mass every Sunday at the village church of 
 St. Ferdinand, whither all the inmates of the Novitiate repaired for the 
 occasion. 
 
 4 Van Quickenborne to his Maryland Superior, Father Dziorizynski, Juno :->, 
 1824, in "Archives of Georgetown," furnished me by Father Garraghan. 
 
 5 Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, ibidem. 
 
 6 Idem, ibidem. 
 
338 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 St. Charles and Portage des Sioux were visited once a month, on 
 some week-day. The scholastics Elet and Verhaegen visited St. Charles, 
 holding prayer-service and giving catechetical instructions. Two other 
 scholastics attended Florissant in a similar manner. In April 1825 the 
 Father Superior spent a full week in visiting the outlying western sta- 
 tions, Hancock Prairie, Cote-sans-dessein and Franklin. 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg cautioned the zealous missionary against over- 
 working himself, and suggested to him the advisability of having two of 
 the scholastics raised to the priesthood. Father Van Quiekenborne was 
 not averse to the Bishop's suggestion and submitted the names of 
 Smedts and Verreidt. They would be ready for ordination in September 
 1825. Yet circumstances necessitated a delay of almost a year. Father 
 Van Quiekenborne was attacked by a malignant fever and for a time ex- 
 pected to die. Gradually sinking under the strain, he wrote to Father 
 Dzierozynski, his Superior in Maryland, to send him help. The Novitiate 
 now lacking novices, had become a Scholasticate, a house of Studies, and 
 the Kector appointed two of the scholastics, Elet and Verhaegen, Profess- 
 ors of Dogmatic Theology and of Sacred Scripture. Father Van Quicken- 
 borne took the class of Moral Theology, which, however, he was soon 
 forced to relinquish in favor of his many other spiritual and temporal 
 concerns. Sometimes the scholastics were left without Mass for a week at 
 a time. The Professor of Dogma, M. Elet, wrote to Father Dzierozynski : 
 "Would that you could send us," so young Elet expressed himself, 
 "Father De Theux, a man remarkable alike for piety and learning. Then 
 we would forget the past and make light of the discomforts created here 
 by an oppressive climate, incessant rains and unfinished house. We 
 should gladly take upon ourselves the work of the house and even spend 
 our recreation days outdoors in manual labor." 7 
 
 What neither Bishop nor Superior could accomplish, was quickly 
 attained by Elet, the Scholastic : Father De Theux was appointed to the 
 vacancy left by Father Timmerman's death. John Theodore Mary -Joseph 
 De Theux was born at Liege, on January 25, 1789. He was of noble 
 extraction, his father being the Count De Theux. Being the eldest son 
 and heir of the house, the young John Theodore resigned his rights in 
 favor of his brother Bartholomew, and followed the divine call into the 
 priesthood. He was ordained at Namur on the Feast of St. Aloysiusl812, 
 and became Vicar of St. Nicholas at Liege. The hospitals of the city were 
 crowded with sick Spanish prisoners. Father De Theux went in to them 
 to bring spiritual help and consolation and thus contracted the pesti- 
 lence. Nursed back to health under the roof of his parents, he was ap- 
 pointed Administrator of the diocese of Liege, whilst teaching Dogmatic 
 Theology in the Seminary. 
 
 7 Elet to Dziorizynski, December 31, 1825, ibidem. 
 
The Jesuit Beginnings at St. Ferdinanel 339 
 
 The tireless servant of God, Father Nerinckx, met Father De Theux 
 and won him over to the American Missions. In March 1816 he was on his 
 way overseas with Father Leken. Both sought and obtained admission 
 into the Jesuit Mission of Maryland. After a novitiate of two years 
 Father De Theux was admitted to the first vows, and now, after six years 
 of parochial work in Georgetown, he was sent to the Far West, with 
 Brother O'Connor as companion. On the way he learnt of the death of 
 his father, the old Count De Theux. On his arrival in St. Ferdinand in 
 August 1825, he took up the duties as Professor of Dogmatic Theology. 8 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne began to realize that a visit of the Mary- 
 land Superior to the House of Studies at St. Ferdinand would quickly 
 solve many of the difficulties in his way. An invitation with the closing 
 words: "your Reverence does not know Missouri,'' brought the desired 
 visit. Father Dzierozynski reached St. Ferdinand on July 18, 1827. 
 Affable and kind as he was, he entered into the far-reaching plans of 
 Father Van Quickenborne with a lively interest. No doubt a number of 
 important questions in regard to a school of higher education in St. 
 Louis, were discussed between the two representatives of the Order. 
 Certainly, there was a better understanding shown after this visit by 
 the Maryland authorities, of the needs of the Missouri Mission. 
 
 On January 29, 1826 Smedts and Verhaegen had been ordained at 
 St. Mary's of the Barrens, by Bishop Rosati. And on September 23, 
 1827, at Florissant, the four remaining Jesuit scholastics, John Felix 
 Livinus Verreidt, Jodocus Francis Van Assche, Peter John De Smet and 
 John Anthony Elet were added to the ranks of the prieshood by the 
 Bishop of St. Louis. Father Van Quickenborne was now greatly re- 
 lieved of care and work. Yet, there were many difficulties confronting 
 him. The farm called for a number of necessary improvements to put 
 it on a paying basis. And the Indian School at St. Ferdinand, opened 
 on May 11, 1824, according to the Concordat, was becoming a serious 
 problem owing to the Government's broken faith. But the spiritual 
 interests of his community were uppermost in the mind of the Superior. 
 After the Christmas holidays the eight Jesuits entered upon what is 
 called the Tertianship, under the direction of Father Van Quickenborne. 
 "On the 9th of last January" wrote Father De Theux to his widowed 
 mother, "I began with my six pupils the third year of probation." 
 After the close of the retreat, February 7, 1828, the Fathers were as- 
 signed to various duties : John Elet to the Salt River District in North- 
 eastern Missouri, Verhaegen to St. Charles and Smedt to Portage des 
 Sioux; De Theux was assigned to parochial duties at Florissant; De Smet 
 gave a Retreat to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and Van Assche to 
 the lay-brothers at the Jesuit Home; the Superior undertook a second 
 missionary journey to the Osage Indians. 
 
 8 Father De Smet incorporated a sketch of Father De Theux in his book, 
 "Western Missions and Missionaries," pp. 474-486. Also of Elet and Smedts. 
 
Chapter 14 
 THE FIRST INDIAN SCHOOL IN MISSOURI 
 
 It was mainly for the purpose of establishing Indian Missions in 
 his vast diocese of Louisana, that Bishop Du Bourg had been so insistent 
 on getting a colony of Jesuits. "Pending the ordination of our Jesuit 
 novices and their going forth as apostles," the Bishop wrote from 
 Georgetown to his brother Louis, March 17, 1823, "I propose to receive 
 into the Seminary a half dozen Indian children from different tribes, 
 so as to begin to familiarize my young missionaries with their manners 
 and languages and in turn to prepare the children to become guides, 
 interpreters and helpers to the missionaries, when the time comes to 
 send the latter forth to the scattered tribes." 1 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne was heart and soul in the work: The 
 authorities in Maryland however counselled a prudent restraint, until 
 the necessary means of success were assured. 
 
 "On the subject of the education of the young Indians of whom you 
 speak," wrote Father Benedict Fenwick, "the Superior requires thai 
 you act with the utmost prudence and circumspection in that affair 
 and that you keep yourself altogether within the Concordat. He wishes 
 you to undertake no more than what is specified therein and what the 
 Society has engaged itself to perform. He has no wish to enlarge the 
 sphere of your operations until adequate means be procured, either from 
 Government favoring such a design, or from the quarters of which he 
 will give you due notice. 
 
 "The Superior would have yon cultivate in a particular manner the 
 good esteem of the Governor, and United States Agents, civil as well, 
 as military, and whenever they speak to you of the education of the 
 Indian youth to assure them of your willingness to undertake the same ; 
 but at the same time to let them know that such a thing will be quite 
 impracticable without the aid of Government .... In the meantime let 
 the engagement, as far as it goes, which the Society has entered into, 
 be fully and completely executed, No one can blame you for not doing, 
 what the Society has never engaged to do. You have, I presume, a copy 
 of that contract. Let that be your polestar. "- 
 
 The Government's promise of a subsidy, however, depended on 
 the previous establishment of the School. Nothing remained to Father 
 Van Quickenborne, but to proceed with the matter in the hope that 
 
 i "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, " vol. I, 5, p. 37; Records, vol. XIV, 
 p. 152. 
 
 2 Fenwick to Quickenborne, September 10, 1823, printed in Garraghan, "St. 
 Begis Seminary" in "Catholic Historical Review, " vol. IV, p. 458. 
 
 (340) 
 
The First Indian School in Missouri 341 
 
 Government would eventually meet its obligations. General William 
 Clark, the Indian Superintendent, offered to place six boys of the Iowa 
 tribe in the School. Two others of the Sauk Indians had already been 
 promised. Father Van Quickenborne accepted them on the understood 
 condition that the Government pay for their board and tuition. On 
 June 11th, 1824, the pupils, in company with their parents, and Gabriel 
 Vasquez, U. S. Agent for the Iowas, appeared at the Seminary. The 
 institution was dedicated to St. Francis Regis. 
 
 "The Indian youths" Father Van Quickenborne tells us, "did not 
 submit without a protest to what must have seemed to them, accustomed 
 as they were to the freedom of the forest, as nothing short of imprison- 
 ment. They began to cry piteously as their parents prepared to depart, 
 whereupon one of the scholastics took up a flute and began to play. 
 The music had the effect of quieting the lads and making- them resigned, 
 as far as outward indications went, to their new environment. But 
 Vasquez, the agent, warned Father Van Quickenborne that a sharp 
 eye would have to be kept on the boys, as flight was an easy trick for 
 them. Accordingly, Mr. Smedts, the Prefect, rose at intervals during 
 the first night of the Iowa's stay at the Seminary to see that his young- 
 charges were all within bounds, while another scholastic was also as- 
 signed to sentry duty. But somehow or other the watchers were out- 
 witted. About one o'clock in the morning the Iowa made a clever 
 escape. Their flight was soon detected, and immediately a party of two 
 were on the track of the fugitives. These were nimble runners, for they 
 Avere five miles from the Seminary, when their pursurers came up to 
 them. They made no resistance to capture and returned, apparently 
 quite content, though determined, no doubt, to repeat the adventure 
 when opportunity offered, as Father Van Quickenborne intimates in 
 his account of the incident." 3 
 
 The Indian school now being a reality, it devolved upon the Govern- 
 ment to extend its friendly supporting hand. 
 
 "The Seminary," Father Van Quickenborne wrote to Clark, "went 
 into actual operation the eleventh of May ultimo with two boys of the 
 (Sauk) nation; on the eleventh of June three more were received of 
 the (Iowa) nation ; thus since that time I have had five boys. The build- 
 ings are commodious and can contain from forty to sixty students. They 
 are nearly complete and fifty-four feet long by seventeen wide one way 
 and thirty-four feet by seventeen feet the other way; three stories high, 
 the lowest of stone, the two others of logs, brick chimneys and galleries 
 all around. They have cost $1500 and when completed will cost $2000. " 4 
 
 3 Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, June 12, 1824. "Catholic Historical Re- 
 view, ' ' vol. IV, p. 460. 
 
 4 Quickenborne to Clark in "Records of Indian Office,'' "Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. IV, p. 461. 
 
342 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 To Secretary Calhoun Van Quickenborne wrote: "The Seminary is 
 built on a spot of land remarkable for its healthiness and which, on 
 account of its being somewhat distant from the Indian tribes and its 
 being sufficiently removed from town, is possessed of many advan- 
 tages .... I have persons belonging to the Seminary well calculated to 
 teach the boys the mechanical arts such as are suitable for their con- 
 dition, as a carpenter, a blacksmith, etc., whose names I do not place on 
 the report, because the boys are not thoroughly fit as yet to begin to 
 learn a trade. I have the comfort to be able to give my entire appro- 
 bation to their correct comportment and, from the sentiments they 
 utter, I have strong hopes that they will become virtuous and industri- 
 ous citizens warmly attached to the Government that has over them 
 such beneficent designs. I have been prepared these six months past 
 to receive a considerable number more than what I have at present. 
 The number of boys would have amounted to a few more, had not some 
 on account of sickness returned to their village, after having gone a 
 part of the way." 5 
 
 These letters were written on November 21, 1824 : In January of 
 the following year the answer came from the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
 which had just been established at Washington, to the effect, that the 
 Government could not pay more than one hundred dollars for each 
 pupil, and as the School had but five Indian children, five hundred 
 dollars was the amount apportioned to St. Regis Seminary. A remit- 
 tance of five hundred dollars was accordingly made. There was no 
 "breach of promise" here, as had been charged by Bishop Du Bourg; 
 yet the amount was not in proportion to the importance and difficulty 
 of the work undertaken by the Jesuits, at the request of that prelate. 
 One point in the matter is memorable, as Father Garraghan states : 
 
 "The five hundred dollars which Calhoun directed to be paid to 
 Father Van Quickenborne at St. Louis was the first money ever appro- 
 priated by the United States Government to a Catholic Indian School. 
 As the number of boys at the St. Regis had increased beyond eight, the 
 appropriation in its favor for the years 1825 and 1826 was $800. In 
 1827, however, the appropriation was cut down to $400, extra demands 
 on the funds of the Indian Office, so it was alleged, making a larger allow- 
 ance impossible, and it remained at this figure until 1830, when the pay- 
 ments ceased altogether. The total amount of money paid by the Govern- 
 ment to the Florissant School during its brief career of six or seven 
 years was about $3100. The cost of maintenance had been a little in 
 excess of $10,000. " 6 
 
 5 Quickenborne to Calhoun in ''Records of Indian Office,'' "Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. IV, p. 461. 
 
 6 Garraghan, "St. Regis Seminary," "Catholic Historical Review," IV, pp. 
 463 and 464. 
 
The First Indian School in Missouri 343 
 
 But the Government had promised Bishop Du Bourg to contribute 
 towards the erection of buildings for the purpose of Indian education. 
 This the Indian Bureau declined to do on the ground that "the building 
 was not within the limits of those Indian nations, that border on our 
 settlements." 7 
 
 Not discouraged by these evasions of a plain duty, Father Van 
 Quickenborne enlarged the usefulness of his school for Indian boys by 
 prevailing on Mother Duchesne to undertake the foundation of a similar 
 school for girls. Mother Duchesne asked the saintly Mother Barat for 
 her consent to this apostolic work, which was gladly given. 
 
 "The board costs little," she explained to her; "lodging is already 
 available and as for clothes, we shall beg them. We must omit nothing 
 to further this interesting work, the object of so many desires, the 
 very thing that has brought us here." Five weeks later, she wrote 
 again: "I sometimes think that God has spoiled our first plans and our 
 first undertaking, the boarding-school, I mean, in order to build up, 
 little by little, the more fascinating work of the education of the savages. 
 We must merit it by humiliations and other sufferings." 8 
 
 Mother Duchesne's holy ambition was quickly realized: 
 
 "One evening during Office," Madam Mathevon records in her 
 Journal, "Father Rector called at the convent and asked to see the 
 Superior. Picture the surprise of Madam Duchesne on seeing two 
 little Indian girls before her, who, greatly embarrassed, were trying to 
 hide themselves behind the Father's flowing mantle. He had brought 
 them up in a cart." 9 Thus the Sisters of the Sacred Heart had another 
 great care added to their former ones. Father Van Quickenborne gave 
 aid whenever he could, corn and potatoes and firewood for a whole year. 
 But should not the Government lend its aid to this new educational in- 
 stitution ? Similar institutions of Protesant denominations were draw- 
 ing regular allowances : why not the Catholic Sisterhood engaged in 
 work for the wards of the Government ? They were ready and anxious 
 to take forty or fifty Indian girls under their care. The underlying idea 
 of Father Van Quickenborne is thus expressed in his letter to the Sec- 
 retary of War: "Should Congress adopt the plan suggested by the late 
 President of the United States and adhered to by the present President 
 in his inaugural speech, the two establishments in this place would be 
 able in a very short time to give a solid beginning to the adopted plan, by 
 placing with the consent of Parents, those of the boys who would wish 
 to marry girls educated in the female establishment, in a given district, 
 with some assistance for husbandry, in which case I would offer to send 
 
 i McKenney to Quickenborne, April 28, 1825, 1. c, 464. 
 8 Baunard-Fullerton, ' ' Mother Du Chesne, ' ' p. 264. 
 8 Baunard-Fullerton, ibidem. 
 
:!-!4 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 two of our Rev. Gentlemen to reside among them. These giving to their 
 already known flock, filled with confidence in their Fathers, the aid 
 which the Catholic religion affords, would be well calculated to maintain 
 in them the spirit which they would have imbibed in the Seminaries, a 
 spirit of the fear of the Lord, a spirit of regularity, industry and sub- 
 ordination, a sincere attachment from principle and religion to out- 
 most beneficient Government in their behalf. And in case several dis- 
 tricts should be formed, from each of them a small and selected number 
 might be sent to the establishment here, to be instructed more fully and 
 fitted out for the important stations they might be called by the nation 
 to fill." 10 
 
 Government aid failing him, at least, in the measure anticipated; 
 Father Van Quickenborne addressed himself to the Catholics of Europe : 
 
 "At Mackinac last summer the Presbyterians put up a school-house 
 about a hundred feet in length. In this school they have re- 
 ceived a large number of Indian children, whom they feed, 
 clothe and instruct gratis. The Catholics of America are in general poor 
 and unable to build churches for their own needs. . . It is then to the 
 generosity of the Catholics of Europe that we must look for effective 
 aid. The ministers of error are quick to profit by the ample means 
 placed at their disposal by their rich merchants, who subscribe liberally 
 for all their institutions. Moreover, as they were on the ground 
 before us, they make off annually with nearly all of the ten thousand 
 dollars which the President of the United States is authorized to spend 
 on the civilization of the Indians. There is so far only one Catholic 
 school for the instruction of Indian children, that namely at Florissant, 
 near St. Louis ; this establishment receives a subsidy from the Govern- 
 ment and this owing to the clever tact and engaging address of the 
 Bishop of New Orleans, Mgr. Du Bourg. . . The Jesuits of France, 
 England and Italy should come here and take possession of their old 
 missions, the ruins of which cry out for them on all sides. . . What would 
 I not do to make my voice heard all over Europe ! I would speak to 
 it of the poor Indians in these terms: "Parvuli petierunt panem et non 
 erat qui frangeret eis. " (the little ones ask for bread and there was no 
 one to break it unto them.) " n 
 
 The scholastic M. Smedts, the first prefect, was succeeded by M. 
 Verreidt, who gives us a good account of the progress of his pupils, 
 and the cares incumbent upon himself : 
 
 "The boys rise in the morning during our meditation and 1 am with 
 them till half-past eight o'clock when they go to the field and return 
 
 10 Van Quickenborne to Barbour, June 15, 1825, in "Records of the [ndii 
 Office," communicated by Father Garraghan. 
 
 11 Annates, vol. Ill, p. 333. 
 
The First Indian School in Missov/ri 345 
 
 a quarter before twelve, at which time I am with them till two o'clock 
 (after dinner) when they go again to the field till a quarter before 
 five. At this time I used to teach some to spell till half-past six ; but 
 since eight boys have left us so that we have at present but seven 
 Indian ami three French boys, our Reverend Superior has allowed 
 me to employ this time in the study of moral divinity, the study of 
 which I resumed since last Easter. On Sundays and Holydays I have 
 to be with them the whole day ; whenever it rains I have to be with them. 
 They must be watched at night. I often sleep in the day in order to 
 watch at night." 12 
 
 The greatest difficulty the instructors had with the Indian boys, was 
 in teaching them the necessity and nobility of manual labor. This 
 part of the teaching had to be done by example, words alone made no 
 impression. "They work two hours before dinner and two after dinner 
 with the greatest satisfaction. They all wept when the hoe was put 
 into their hands for the first time." 13 
 
 The approval of the Indian Bureau was not wanting. The school 
 however, was not in the place desired by the Government, and so nothing- 
 substantial could be done for its expansion. The letter of the law -was 
 mightier than its spirit. Father Quickenborne at length grew weary 
 of the unequal contest. 
 
 With a view of locating nigher to the Indian villages," he wrote 
 to Secretary of AVar, Eaton, "I have ceased to admit pupils in the 
 Indian school of this place. I am convinced that the youth of the 
 Aborigines stand in need of as much, perhaps more, assistance after 
 they have left the school than when they actually enjoy its advantages. 
 I hope to be able, perhaps in the course of another year, to afford that 
 assistance according to the plan I have had the honor to lay before your 
 Excellency and of which I have obtained the verbal approbation of 
 our venerable President (Jackson) a few months ago. I conducted home 
 four sons of the principal chief of the Osages, who had received their 
 education at our establishment. Whilst in their villages I proposed the 
 subject of the plan in full council with the approbation of the agent 
 and the previous leave of the President. They have unanimously ex- 
 pressed a most ardent wish to see it put into execution. I will deem it 
 a great favor if the allowance hitherto given to the school of this place 
 could be applied to the new establishment as soon as it will go into 
 operation." 14 
 
 12 Verreidt to Dziorizynski, 1826, "Records of Indian Office," "Catholic His- 
 torical Review," IV, p. 472. 
 
 !3 For particulars cf. Garraghan. op. cit., 473. 
 
 1* Van Quickenborne to Eaton, December 30, 1830, in "Records of Indian 
 Office. ' ' 
 
346 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 With this letter the business relations of St. Regis Seminary with 
 the Government ceased : The Indian School closed its doors ; lack of 
 financial support being the chief cause of its decline. Yet it had 
 produced a great deal of good. Some of the Indian pupils, later on, 
 became the chief supporters of the missionary enterprises of their 
 Jesuit teachers. The really great work of the Jesuit Fathers in Missouri 
 was just beginning to take form. But high praise is due to the path- 
 finder and pioneer laborer Father Felix Van Qnickenborne. 
 
Chapter 15 
 THE FIRST INDIAN MISSIONARY EFFORTS OF THE JESUITS 
 
 The Concordat entered into by Bishop Du Bourg and the Superior 
 of the Maryland Jesuits denned, in a sufficiently precise form, the 
 scope, purpose and methods of the new enterprise centered at St. 
 Ferdinand's. The spiritual jurisdiction of the Jesuit organization 
 extended over the northwest part of the diocese, the Indians were to 
 be their special care, but all the settlements of Europeans fell under 
 their jurisdiction likewise. A number of missionaries were to be pro- 
 vided for the Indians within two years. The Bishop, on his part, 
 agreed to give to the Society his farm at Florissant, and also to ex- 
 tend moral and financial support to the institution. The agreement 
 was approved by the General of the Society of Jesus, Father Aloysius 
 Fortis ; but the Holy See never took action on the matter. Yet, in the 
 eyes of Bishops Du Bourg and Rosati, as well as in the Jesuit Superior 's 
 estimation, the Concordat was considered binding on both sides. The 
 Jesuits built their House and opened their Indian school and attended 
 the various parishes and stations on and beyond the Missouri River, 
 whilst Bishop Du Bourg sent Father Van Quickenborne the title-deeds 
 for the Florissant farm. A brief delay in this was caused by the 
 fact that John Mullanphy held a mortgage of $2000.00 on the property, 
 which the Bishop was unable to cancel, until in 1824, a timely con- 
 tribution from the Association of the Propagation of the Faith saved 
 the situation. The deed was executed in New Orleans on May 25, 1825. 
 The most important stipulations of the Concordat were thus fulfilled, 
 whilst others in their very nature, awaited fulfilment. There was 
 only one clause that caused friction between the Bishop and the 
 Jesuits : the stipulation in regard to the Indian Mission. According 
 to Article V the Jesuits had engaged, "that at the expiration of two 
 years, counting from the time of their arrival at least, four or five 
 missionaries duly qualified, shall proceed to the remote missions, that 
 is, to the Indian settlements in the vicinity of Council Bluffs, and 
 shall there labor towards the attainment of the great object specified 
 above, for the greater glory of God." 
 
 The two years had now elapsed and only casual visits had been 
 made to some of the less remote tribes, none whatever to the Indians 
 at Council Bluffs or at Prairie du Chien. Bishop Du Bourg became 
 insistent that a beginning be made. General William Clarke, the 
 Indian Superintendent, also urged the necessity of applying to the 
 
 (347) 
 
348 Hist or ji of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Government for some of the Indian Stations. Father Van Quicken- 
 borne acknowledged that both were right, but pleaded for time, until 
 the work could be undertaken with some hope of success. In the 
 meantime he drew up, at General Clarke's solicitation, the following 
 plan for the civilization of the Indians. 
 
 1. Our little Indian Seminary should continue to support the pres- 
 ent number of boys from eight to twelve years of age, while the 
 Ladies of the Sacred Heart in our neighborhood should bring up about 
 as many girls of the same tribe. They should be taken young, from 
 eight to twelve, to habituate them more easily to the customs and in- 
 dustry of civil life, and impress more deeply on their hearts the 
 principles of religion. 
 
 2. After five or six years' education, it would be good that each 
 youth should choose a wife among the pupils of the Sacred Heart, 
 before returning to his tribe. 
 
 3. Within two or three years two missionaries should go to reside 
 in that nation to gain their confidence and esteem, and gradually per- 
 suade a number to settle together on a tract to be set apart by Govern- 
 ment. Agricultural implements and other necessary tools for the 
 new establishment to be furnished. 1 
 
 4. As soon as this new town was formed, some of the couples 
 formed in our establishment should be sent there with one of the 
 said missionaries, who should be immediately replaced, so that two 
 should always be left with the body of the tribe till it was gradually 
 absorbed in the civilized colony. 
 
 5. Our missionaries should then pass to another tribe and proceed 
 successively with each in the same manner as the first. 
 
 6. As the number of missionaries and our resources increase, the 
 civilization of two or more tribes might be undertaken at once. 
 
 The expense of carrying out this plan might be estimated thus : 
 Support of 16 to 24 children in the two establishments. . .$1900. 
 Three missionaries 600. 
 
 Total $2500. 2 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne's plan was never carried out, in a 
 manner it deserved to be. Two years later the indefatigable friend 
 of the Indians, proposed it to President Jackson, and received a verbal 
 approval: yet, as larger schemes were then agitating the General's 
 mind, the Van Quickenborne plan was dropped. Hoping against hope, 
 the good Father wrote to the Father General in Rome for a formal ap- 
 
 Cf. Concordat, Part I, Book III, Chapter 12, of this History. 
 
 Indian Office Papers, cf. Shea, "History of Indian Missions," p. 406. 
 
Tin First Indian Missionary Efforts of tin Jesuits 349 
 
 proval. "Follow, as far as possible," came the answer, "the methods 
 employed of old by our Fathers in Paraguay ; for these have been tried 
 and found successful." 3 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne made use of the first opportunity given 
 him by the ordination of his six scholastics in 1827, to pay a missionary 
 visit to the Osage Indians beyond the boundary of Missouri. The 
 Osage nation was once in possession of a large portion' of Central Mis- 
 souri, but being pushed back to the west by hostile tribes, they made 
 a treaty with the United States in 1808, by which they ceded almost 
 all their holdings in the State in exchange for new homes on the banks 
 of the Neosho River in Arkansas. They were fine, stately fellows, 
 physically, as Washington Irving describes them. Stern and simple 
 in garb and aspect, with Roman countenances and deep chests, with 
 bust and arms bare, they looked like so many bronze figures. In 1822 
 they had been visited by Father De La Croix in their old Missouri 
 homes. Father Van Quickenborne found them in 1827, in what is now 
 South-eastern Kansas. A full account of this journey to the Osage 
 country is contained in two of his own letters, written whilst the events 
 were still fresh in his memory. The first letter is addressed to Father 
 Dziorizynski : 
 
 "I started, as your Reverence knows, on the octave of our Holy 
 Father St. Ignatius, in company with Mr. Hamtranck, who has been 
 always very kind and obliging to me. I traveled as a missionary, hav- 
 ing with me my chapel. I had to take, moreover my tent, mosquito bar 
 and blankets for my bed and some little presents which made my burden 
 rather heavy. The distance is about 350 miles which we travelled in six- 
 teen days. In those parts of the country, this is the way of travelling. 
 At night the horses are let loose, hobbled however, and they must look 
 (Hit for themselves, for all the way from Jefferson City to the Neosho, 
 there is no corn to be had. In the morning, the first thing is to catch 
 the horses. Saddling and packing being done, the day's journey begins, 
 and this always before sunrise. Betwixt ten and eleven o'clock the 
 march stops, the horses are unsaddled, unpacked and permitted to 
 feed. At this hour breakfast and dinner is taken. About three o'clock 
 you start for your place of encampment, which is always taken about 
 rivers or woods with springs; water has always been a-plenty. The 
 lied eonsists of a skin which covers the ground, and two or three blankets. 
 The whole is covered by a mosquito bar, and I can assure you that I 
 slept as comfortable as I ever did on a bed of down. Until we reached 
 the Neosho we had no river to swim. Harmony is a place on the Osage 
 river. Here the Society of Presbyterians of Boston have a missionary 
 
 3 Woodstock Letters, 25, 354. 
 
350 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 establishment called by them Harmony. It is about 120 miles from the 
 city of Jefferson, and as many from Lexington on the Missouri. Pour 
 years ago the great village of the Osages was but eight miles from this 
 establishment. Two or three years ago the Indian title to this land 
 was extinguished, and now Harmony and the old site of the Osage 
 village are within the limits of the State. In consequence of the sale 
 of their lands, the Indians (Osages) have removed their village to the 
 banks of the Neosho river 70 or 68 miles further in a south-west direc- 
 tion. Here (On the Neosho within 20 miles) the whole nation is gath- 
 ered in four villages, one called the great village (to this Clairmont 's 
 band must join itself next spring) another called the village of the 
 Little Osage. There are besides two small ones of little importance. 
 The site of these villages is not likely to be changed." 4 "In fact the 
 government, with a view of preventing any removal, has built there 
 three houses, and very good and large houses too, for the three prin- 
 cipal chiefs." 5 
 
 Besides, the country was liked by the Osages on account of its 
 natural beauty of forest, prairie and streams. Then, as the nation 
 had only a strip of fifty mile width left to them, and was surrounded 
 on all sides by other nations and the European settlements, they could 
 not move, even if they should wish to do so. 
 
 As to their numerical strength, Father Van Quickenborne informs 
 us that, "The Agent, Superintendent and Secretary of War think there 
 are 20,000 Osages. Some think they are not so numerous. "The prin- 
 cipal chiefs," continues the letter, "have invited me to their lodges, 
 have been very kind towards me and have promised me their boys. 
 They are, I believe, good Indians. You will have an opportunity to 
 see them next winter at the college, if you choose. I would be glad of 
 it," 6 
 
 Regarding the halfbreeds, of whom there were a large number 
 among the Osages the Father tells us that most of them had been 
 baptized Catholics, either at St. Charles, Cote Sans Dessein or Florissant, 
 and all of them had a strong aversion for the Protestant religion yet 
 that all neglected the practice of their own. "The establishment at 
 Harmony is governed as to the general concerns, by a board of com- 
 missioners. The Reverend gentlemen at Harmony are of the Presby- 
 terian persuasion. They have an establishment at Harmony, a station 
 on the Neosho and another at Union on the Arkansas River near Clair- 
 
 4 Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, Oct. 21, 1827. Archives of Georgetown. 
 
 5 Idem, ibidem. 
 <5 Idem, ibidem. 
 
The First Indian Missionary Efforts of the Jesuits 351 
 
 mont's Band. Each received from Government $600. The Superin- 
 tendent at Harmony is called Dodge." 7 
 
 With his consent all the children of the government school came 
 to Father Quickenborne's improvised chapel. 
 
 "The church vestments which M. De La Croix had used there, 
 had been given to the care of Mr. Dodge and were found in good order. 
 They are nicer and richer than any we have at home. Instead of an 
 altar-piece, I had a banner of fine silk elegantly embroidered and bear- 
 ing a fine engraving of the Blessed Virgin. I can say that my altar 
 was well fixed. Early in the morning the place was crowded with In- 
 dians. The first that came to confession was an Osage of twenty-one 
 who knew a little of the French language. I was extremely pleased 
 with his modest behavior. About the hour appointed for Mass I began 
 to baptize those whom I had prepared. Mr. Dodge and Mrs Dodge with 
 the Rev. Mr. Jones and Mr. Hasten with all their families came to 
 mass, sermon and the ceremonies of Baptism. In their presence I bap- 
 tized about one-third of their school, in all eighteen ; but of those eighteen, 
 several, perhaps six, were not of their school." 8 Mr. Dodge also de- 
 sired to make an address to the children ; but the missionary said 
 it was against the rule of the church. 
 
 The next day Mr. Dodge invited him to visit his school and there 
 he saw his little and big fellows whom he had baptized, with their 
 medals and crosses on their necks. 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne expresses his sincere regard for these 
 people of alien faith. "They appeared to me to be moral, industrious, 
 peaceable and good-natured. They related to me how much they had 
 to suffer in the beginning ; what privations they had to undergo, how 
 many days they had been without bread and corn ; how many days 
 they had to live in tents. When will the time come that we will have 
 at least as much courage as these men? If Your Reverence cannot 
 give me a Superior or a Companion, I am willing to go alone." 9 
 
 From Harmony Mission Father Van Quickenborne traversed the 
 country in a south-easterly direction to the Osage villages along the 
 Neosho River. What further befell the missionary in the Osage country 
 is told in a letter of his to Madam Xavier, one of the nuns of the Sacred 
 Heart : ' ' From Harmony I set out for the great village situated on 
 the bank of the Neosho River, two days journey from Harmony. About 
 a hundred Indians came out to meet the Agent, in whose company I was. 
 We put up at Mr. Chouteau's place. On the feast of St. Louis, August 
 25, I had the happiness of saying the first mass ever said in this country. 
 
 7 Van Quickenborne to Pziorizynski, Oct. 21, 1827. Archives of Georgetown. 
 
 8 Idem, ibidem. 
 
 9 Idem, ibidem. 
 
352 History of tht Archdiocesi of Si. Louis 
 
 It was a Saturday and the following day I proclaimed a jubilee for 
 the few Creoles living among the Osage. Three days after our arrival, 
 I was invited to dinner by the chief of the great village, and two days 
 later by the chief of a village of the Osage, twenty miles farther up the 
 Neosho. 1 was delighted with the reception they gave me as well as 
 with the dispositions they manifested. I remained with them ten weeks 
 and baptized seventeen persons. The three principal chiefs have said 
 that they would send their children to the Seminary and I am inclined to 
 think that they will do so." 10 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne's main object in making this excursion 
 was to get boys for his Indian Seminary and to acquaint himself with 
 Indian life : he came to the following conclusion : To christianize the 
 barbarians you must first humanize them : that is to say, you must 
 teach them to abandon their savage manner of living. The greatest 
 obstacle to a genuine conversion are the plurality of wives and the 
 barbarous custom of selling their daughters in marriage. In order to 
 combat their vices successfully, the Indians must live under the eye 
 of the missionary. The devoted Father offered to serve in the difficult 
 mission, but not as Superior. With a quick and sure judgment, he 
 proposed the youthful Father De Smet for this great opportunity. He, 
 the old and tired man was willing to take his former novice as his Super- 
 ior. 
 
 In the Spring of 1828 the zealous Superior made a second journey 
 to the Osage Indians. "Visiting first the Harmony Mission on the 
 Marais des Cygnes, where he renewed acquaintance with the Osage 
 children he had baptized the preceding year he continued his journey 
 thence to the Great Osage village on the Neosho. Here and in the other 
 Indian villages in the vicinity he practiced his ministry, of preaching 
 and administering the sacraments. He performed seventeen baptisms 
 in the course of this second Osage excursion, but no record of them 
 has survived. Many adult Indians were eager to be baptized ; but of 
 the number, he found only five or six worthy of the grace, the loose, 
 savage ways of the average Osage adult being an effectual barrier to 
 the practice of a Christian life. When Father Van Quickenborne set 
 out on his return journey from the Neosho, he had in his company a 
 little Osage "prince," who had been delivered to his charge with a 
 display of Indian ceremony, to be educated in the Indian school at 
 Florissant." 11 
 
 io Van Quickenborne to Madam Xavier. 
 
 li " Annates de la Propagation de la Foi,'' vol. IV, p. 572. 
 
The First Indian Missionary Efforts of the Jesuits 353 
 
 "In 1830 Father Van Quiekenborne paid a third visit to the Osage. 
 His route brought him first to the villages they had formed along the 
 Mariton River in what is now Bourbon County, Kansas, not far from 
 the present Fort Scott. From the Marmiton he turned to the south- 
 west, visiting on his way all the Indian lodges on the Neosho as far as 
 its junction with the Saline, about forty miles north of Fort Gibson and 
 establishing missionary stations in the Osage settlements on Chouteau, 
 Prior and Cabin Creeks. His zealous labors extended therefore, far 
 within the limits of what is now Oklahoma and very probably represent 
 the earliest exercise of the Catholic ministry in that part of the 
 Union." 12 
 
 !2 Garraghan, Gilbert J. "History of the Missouri Province of the Society of 
 Jesus," in MS. 
 
 Vol. 1-12 
 
Chapter 16 
 THE ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY 
 
 The Catholic Church is in its very nature the world's great educa- 
 tional institution in spiritual matters. It is her divine commission to 
 teach all nations and to teach them to observe all things that Christ 
 taught her. But, as all truth is one, whether it be of the natural or the 
 supernatural order, the Church has at all times endeavored to combine 
 with her divine teaching of religion, the subsidiary instruction in the 
 human sciences and arts. In other words, the Church has always sought 
 to establish schools of learning in the shadow of her temples of faith. 
 So it was in the diocese of St. Louis. As soon as religion had been es- 
 tablished on a solid foundation by the first resident Bishop, a college was 
 founded at the Cathedral. As early as January 8th, 1818, Bishop Du 
 Bourg wrote : ' ' The people are most anxious that I should erect a 
 college." 1 The college was established and ran its course of usefulness, 
 to be merged at last in the Jesuit College that was, under God's blessing, 
 to grow into what we now hold so dear, the St. Louis University. "They, 
 (the Jesuits) will take the College of St. Louis," wrote Bishop Du 
 Bourg from Bordeaux, on June 24th, 1824, "in this way they will insure 
 its stability. ' ' 2 The Jesuits themselves had, during their early days at St. 
 Ferdinand, devoted most of their time and energy to educational pur- 
 poses : the Novitiate was a school of divinity ; St. Regis Seminary was 
 a primary school for boys. Out of these educational ventures grew 
 the true universitas literarum, a school that united in its teaching every 
 branch of knowledge necessary for a liberal education. St. Louis Uni- 
 versity had to pass through a long course of heroic endeavor and sac- 
 rifice to attain its high position among the educational institutions 
 of the country. It was the pioneer of higher education in the Mississippi 
 Valley, and sustained all the vicissitudes of pioneering. 
 
 The connection between the old and the new College of St. Louis is 
 indicated in Bishop Du Bourg 's letter to Father Francis Neale, the 
 Maryland Superior of the Jesuits, dated November 27, 1823 : 
 
 "I would feel disposed to give your Society two beautiful squares 
 of ground in the City of St. Louis and to help in the erection of a house 
 for an academy as a preparation for a college, if you thought you could 
 spare a couple of your Maryland brethren, even scholastics, to com- 
 
 i "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, " vol. II, p. 339. 
 2 Annales, vol. I, p. 474. 
 
 (354) 
 
The St. Louis University 355 
 
 meuee the establishment; in which case I will shut up the one that is 
 now kept by some of my priests on the Bishop 's premises. ' ' 3 
 
 In a subsequent letter to Father Van Quickenborne the prelate 
 once more offered to close his own college, in case the Jesuits should 
 open an institution in St. Louis. Father Van Quickenborne, in com- 
 municating this offer to his Superior, mentions the difficulties in the 
 way of such a foundation: Yet, he observes: "The City of St. Louis 
 is the principal one of the state, and near other rising towns in Illinois. 
 If our men were there, many day-scholars would attend school ; of 
 these, some would enter the Society, especially if, according to the In- 
 stitute, we teach gratis." 4 
 
 Father Charles Nerinckx, on his visit to Florissant, was also con- 
 sulted on the matter, and commissioned to submit Father Quickenborne 's 
 ideas to Bishop Rosati at the Barrens. Bishop Du Bourg answered from 
 Xew Orleans : ' ' First in importance among these matters is your es- 
 tablishment in St. Louis. To forward it and give it all desirable sta- 
 bility and independence, I offer you two fine squares in Connor 's addition 
 to the city on the same conditions on which they were given to me, to 
 wit, that a college should be built upon one of them (it does not matter 
 which) and that it should be in operation within seven years of the 
 date of the bond of conveyance, which was made over to me in the 
 year 1819 or 1820. There still remains sufficient time to put up a small 
 house, either of log or frame ; for, as the dimensions and material of 
 the building were not specified in the bond, any kind of structure suited 
 to receive some thirty day-scholars, or even fewer, will meet the re- 
 quirements. I f orsee two difficulties in the way of your acceptance ; 1st. 
 the expense and 2nd your rules. As to the first, I am persuaded that 
 you will receive aid from the inhabitants, if you make the rounds of the 
 city for such purpose. I will myself contribute one hundred dollars. 
 As to the rules of your Society or the difficulty of your taking in charge 
 the direction of the school, there is nothing to prevent you, while these 
 hindrances last, from putting the school in the hands of some master, 
 to whom you can lease it or even lend it gratis. I regard this property 
 as too precious a thing, in view of the future interests of religion and 
 of your Society, not to urge you to make every effort to assure yourself 
 of its possession ; moreover, as the time is approaching after which re- 
 grets will be useless, I am persuaded that you can go far in this matter 
 on your own responsibility, with the understanding that, in view of the 
 urgency of the case, you cannot fail to obtain subsequently the approval 
 of your Superior." 5 
 
 3 Du Bourg to Francis Neale, S. J., Nov. 27, 1823. 
 
 4 Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, Jan. 1, 1824. 
 
 5 Du Bourg to Van Quickenborne, Nov. 9, 1825. 
 
356 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne was anxious to undertake the great work : 
 yet he advised the Bishop to propose the matter to the Maryland Su- 
 perior, adding this characteristic sentiment: "It will require a miracle 
 to give us a college at St. Louis, such as our Institute demands, namely, 
 one which is free for day-pupils, and which for that reason must have 
 an adequate revenue. Still I dare to hope it of the Divine goodness." 6 
 
 The two squares offered by the Bishop to Father Van Quickenborne 
 were the gift of Jeremiah Connor, who had laid out Washington Avenue 
 through his land. He was always open handed, where the cause of 
 the Church was concerned. It was he who had made the generous 
 contribution to the fund collected for the purpose of putting Church 
 and presbytere in order for the proper reception of Bishop Du Bourg 
 in 1818. But Connor's loyal intention came very near to being nullified 
 after his premature death. His estate was sold under the sheriff's 
 hammer, and bought in by Col. John 'Fallon. 
 
 The new owner of the College lot sold it to Jesse Lindell for $210.00. 
 But Father Van Quickenborne recovered it for its original purpose by an 
 exchange sale. The lot had a frontage of 270 feet on Washington Avenue, 
 between Ninth and Tenth Streets. 
 
 Greatly elated by his success, Father Van Quickenborne wrote to 
 Father Dzioryzinski : ' ' I got the College lot. The agreement is written 
 and signed by both parties, Mr. Lindell and myself. I pay nothing, but 
 give the same quantity of land to Mr. Lindell, and that quantity I take 
 from lots belonging to Bishop Du Bourg, but placed at my disposal." 7 
 In the summer of 1828, towards the end of the Third Year of Probation, 
 Father Van Quickenborne wrote out for his Superior the mighty reasons, 
 why the St. Louis College plan should be carried out at once. The deeds 
 for the College lots had been accepted, which implied the duty of open- 
 ing a school : The time was now favorable : a further delay might keep 
 the Jesuits out forever; the future progress of the Order depended on 
 the establishment of a College in a populous city like St. Louis: many 
 complaints were made by the inhabitants of St. Louis about not having 
 a single Catholic school. 
 
 "Your Beverence sees that we must now go on," Father Van 
 Quickenborne concludes his long letter, "I have a beautiful square, 
 270 ft. by 225 ft. belonging to me, of which I shall send the deed to your 
 Reverence. The Bishop must and does approve it ; I have no doubt but 
 a fine church will be built also for us in process of time. Mr. Saulnier, 
 Dusaussois, Loisel, priests at St. Louis, also approve it. The people de- 
 mand it and are willing to subscribe for the building. They highly 
 
 Van Quickenborne to Du Bourg, Annales, 1827. 
 i Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, Feb. 12, 182fi. 
 
The St. Louis University 357 
 
 cry for a church where sermons in English are preached. The French 
 want the present church for themselves. The Bishop is willing, i. e. has 
 given me his word that, not only is he pleased that we should have a 
 church, but also a parochial school for the Americans. The Bishop has 
 waited now for two years. If we do not do it, the people will expect 
 it from him and he should and would do it. St. Louis (that is, an es- 
 tablishment there) is necessary for our Indian mission. 1) there we can 
 easily and with all possible advantage see and treat with the chiefs of 
 every nation. 2) There we can easily know every event of importance 
 concerning affairs connected with the Indian mission. 3) There reside 
 the Superintendent of Indian Affairs and all the agents and traders 
 whose good will we must cultivate. 4) There we must transact almost 
 all our affairs to begin, continue and support our establishment in the 
 Indian country. 5) By opening a free school we oblige those very 
 men whose assistance we want, and gain a good share of popularity. 
 6) St. Louis' fate is decided as to its becoming a large and very im- 
 portant city in the West. From this place we may expect a succession, 
 (of novices) as the classical education of a child will not be expensive 
 to the parent, and as there are many families truly pious who would 
 be glad to see their children embracing a religious life. 7) The choice 
 of a proper place for our establishment is of the highest importance. 
 About St. Louis being the proper place there can be no doubt, and 
 the time of making the choice is now and precisely and only now. 
 
 "As to the means of supporting Ours, 8 let me, Rev. Superior, bring 
 to your recollection the poor estate in which we came out. Great im- 
 provements we are making on our farm in conformity with your 
 Reverence's instructions and, when they will be finished, I will give an 
 accurate account of them. We have a fine new church in St. Charles, 
 a fine house, the whole worth $10,000, and burdened with no debts. 
 Ours in St. Louis will be supported in the following way : From our 
 farm, which will be fully competent to support eight persons in St. 
 Louis and twelve novices in Florissant; moreover, forty Indian boys; 
 for their support we have received and will receive from the charity 
 of the faithful whatever is necessary. Having a negro family there, 
 the produce of the farm will sell much higher, as we would be enabled to 
 attend market to our advantage. Our farm has given now a surplus 
 of $1000 yearly, and we hope that it will continue to do so and that 
 the Almighty will not dimish His liberality. We have now a very 
 fine and large crop of corn, wheat and potatoes. 
 
 "Twelve boarders could be and, I dare say, almost should be kept, 
 paying for board and tuition $100. This would put lis on the advance 
 
 8 ' ' Ours " is a Jesuit expression for our members. 
 
358 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and help towards paying for the future church. This once built, the 
 pew-rent would give from four to five hundred dollars a year. The 
 intentions of masses and alms which we get now regularly from St. 
 Louis and which amount to $120 a year would surely not be diminished. 
 
 "At present two Fathers would do at St. Louis to begin, and two 
 would remain for the Indian mission. I would place at St. Louis Father 
 Verhaegen, Elet and De Smet with Rev. Father De Theux, whom, how- 
 ever, I would not fix at St. Louis ; in my absence among the Indians, 
 he should be at Florissant. At any rate I would not fix more than 
 two fathers at the college so as to have one or two to spare for emer- 
 gencies. Some offer themselves for lay-brothers who seem to be pretty 
 well calculated to teach after their noviceship, spelling, reading, writing, 
 arithmetic, and in that case we would gain a Father. The main point 
 will be to have one who would give a reputation to the college, would 
 maintain strict religious discipline among Ours, and have things in 
 the school go on with great regularity. 
 
 "Of the two, Father De Theux and Verhaegen, I would give the 
 preference to Father Verhaegen. For my part, if I cannot go to the 
 Indians, I would be very willing and satisfied to teach, for the remainder 
 of my days, a grammar class." 9 Father Dziorizynski gave his approval, 
 and Father Van Quickenborne now publicly announced his intention of 
 opening a College at St. Louis : 
 
 ' ' In response to your solicitations as well as those of Msgr. Du 
 Bourg, we have decided to do the same thing here, namely, to open, as 
 soon as possible, a college, in which, day-scholars will be taught free 
 of charge. I have made an exchange for the College lot, donated by 
 Mr. Connor and it is there I propose to erect a building such as the 
 subscriptions will allow. By order of Our Superior the Third Year of 
 of Probation came to an end on the feast of St. Ignatius, so that now 
 we are entirely free." 10 
 
 Building operations were begun in November 1828 : and subscrip- 
 tions rapidly assumed the splendid proportion of half the cost of the 
 edifice. Father De Smet added $3000. to the fund, and Father Van 
 Quickenborne himself offered to contribute his patrimony, estimated 
 at $2000. Bishop Du Bourg 's good will was assured. Bishop Rosati was 
 delighted. 
 
 An attempt, however, of Senator Thomas H. Benton to obtain from 
 Congress an allowance of a whole township of land for the endowment 
 of the College, was bound to fail, though the movement did no harm. 
 
 o Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, Fall of 1828. 
 io Van Quickenborne to Rosati, Sept. 1, 1828. 
 
The St. Louis University 359 
 
 The school was. opened on November 2nd, 1829, with an enrollment 
 of ten boarders and thirty externs, which quickly increased to a total 
 of one hundred and fifty pupils. Father Peter Verhaegen was oppointed 
 Acting President, as representath'e of Father Van Quickenborne, until 
 the Maryland Superior should have made a permanent assignment. 
 Father Elet was made Procurator; Father Peter Walsh, S. J. a recent 
 accession, Prefect of Studies ; Father De Theux, as Minister, took charge 
 of the domestic affairs. 
 
 This staff of four professors did not appear sufficient to man a 
 College : in fact, for the first and second year the institution was but a 
 grammar school. Within two years, however, the study of Latin and 
 Greek was introduced. In consequence the staff also had to be in- 
 creased. In October 1837, Father John Van Lommel and M. Jodocus 
 Van Sweevelt arrived from Georgetown, to be followed by Father James 
 Oliver Van de Velde. Father Van Lommel was soon assigned to mis- 
 sionary work. 
 
 On December 28th, 1832, the St. Louis College was raised to the 
 dignity and style of the ' ' St. Louis University ; ' ' under a charter granted 
 by the State Legislature, by which it was enabled to combine with its 
 literary and scientific department the faculties of theology, law and 
 medicine, as it did in later years. 11 
 
 The Asiatic cholera, that visited St. Louis in 1832 and again in 1833, 
 did not claim a single victim in the College, though the mortality in the 
 city was very high. 
 
 In 1832, Father Van de Velde made a trip through the South in 
 the interest of the College. The foundation of another Jesuit College in 
 Louisiana began to be mooted in 1831. Yet, new buildings were required in 
 St. Louis. Father Verhaegen humorously describes the difficulties of 
 building operations in Missouri. "Our new wing is now ready to re- 
 ceive the roof. Our workmen in Missouri are mighty slow. They al- 
 ways promise ; they never refuse : but without any ceremony on their 
 part, they let us wait. We have now come to the resolution of stop- 
 ping improving our place till we get out of debt. Hence, when I will 
 have erected, constructed, raised, put up and completed, a smokehouse, 
 the expense of which may not reach $150. I must consign all my other 
 plans to the darkness of one of the drawers of my desk, there to lie, till 
 they shall be called into action again. When the happy time shall have 
 arrived, I will begin to crow as loud as I ever did." 12 
 
 n Hill, "Historical Sketches of St. Louis University." 
 12 Verhaegen to McSherry, Oct. 16, 1823. 
 
360 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 And again on May 14, 1836, Father Verhaegen writes to Father 
 MeSherry at Georgetown: "You are not unacquainted with the severe 
 trials we experienced here, and certain it is that they have heen the 
 means used by Providence to crown our labors with a success which 
 five years ago we did not anticipate Father Elet started for Louisi- 
 ana on the 14th of this month. He will spend the winter in the South 
 and try to collect what is due the institution. Times are hard at St. 
 Louis, and money is scarce .... Before next April we shall have our 
 full number, 150 boarders. This is the ne plus ultra. Our buildings 
 cannot accommodate more. Thank God I have at present very able 
 and edifying secular professors — They assist at Mass with the students 
 every day and they regularly frequent the sacraments." 13 
 
 The Jesuit College, now the St. Louis University, was an ac- 
 complished fact. 
 
 13 Verhaegen to MeSherry. For further data on the Beginnings of the St. 
 Louis University, cf. Garraghan, G. J. in "St. Louis Historical Review," vol. I, pp. 
 85-103. 
 
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Chapter 17 
 STE. GENEVIEVE UNDER FATHERS PRATTE AND DAHMEN 
 
 The oldest town on the Missouri side of the river, having a cor- 
 porate existence at the time of Bishop Rosati's appointment, was Ste. 
 Genevieve. The church there was a Jesuit foundation dating back to 
 the palmy days of Kaskaskia. The succession of pastors or missionary 
 priests had been : the Jesuit Fathers : Philibert Watrin, John B. 
 Salleneuve, J. Morinie, from 1760-1768, Father Pierre Gibault, 1768- 
 1773 : the Capuchin Father Hilaire, from 1773-1777 ; the Jesuit Sebastian 
 Meurin and Father Gibault, 1778-1784: the Capuchin Louis Guignes, 
 from 1786-1789 : the Carmelite Paul de St. Pierre, from 1789-1796 : then 
 Father James Maxwell, from 1796-1814, and the pastor of Prairie du 
 Rocher, Father Donatien Olivier, from 1814-1816. The succession 
 of pastors was carried down with but few and short intervals, a cir- 
 cumstance which in a large measure, accounts for the staunch Catholicity 
 and good moral condition of the people in the town and its surrounding 
 districts. It was Ste. Genevieve that gave to the Church the first native 
 priest of Missouri, Father Henry Pratte. Born at Ste Genevieve, Jan- 
 uary 19, 1788, and baptized by Father Louis Guignes, on February 18th, 
 young Henry attended the village school taught by Francis Moro. From 
 childhood on he was noted for his gentle and pious disposition. In 1803 
 he was sent to the Sulpician Seminary, at Montreal, where he was or- 
 dained to the priesthood in 1815. In the previous year Father James 
 Maxwell the pastor of Ste. Genevieve had been thrown from his horse 
 and killed. On hearing this the newly ordained priest called on Bishop 
 Flaget at Bardstown, then administrating the affairs of the Louisana dio- 
 cese, and asked to be appointed pastor of his native town. Bishop 
 Flaget, being well acquainted with the people of Ste. Genevieve and hav- 
 ing a high regard for the young priest's family, granted the request. 
 Father Pratte entered upon his duties in October 1815. The parish of 
 Ste. Genevieve included the dependencies : Old Mines, Cape Girardeau, 
 Little Canada, St. Michaels, and of course the neighboring New Bourbon. 
 The young cure's field of labor was very extensive, and laborious: but 
 contrary to the proverb, "a prophet is not acceptable in his own coun- 
 try," Father Pratte was idolized by the people among whom he had spent 
 his childhood. He took possession of the little house which had been 
 bought by the people of the town in 1786 from Nicholas Roussin for 
 a parochial residence, enlarged it, and his father came to live with him. 
 The old log-church had been moved in 1794 by Father De Saint Pierre 
 from the Old Village to the new location on the hills, and had inci- 
 
 (361) 
 
362 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 dentally changed its name from St. Joachim to Ste. Genevieve. Father 
 Pratte enlarged it by building a new sacristy, using the old one for a 
 sanctuary, thus increasing the seating capacity, he put in a new floor, 
 a new roof and plastered the building. 
 
 Ste. Genevieve owes to Father Pratte the renewal of its piety 
 and the blessing of Christian education of the children ; to teach the 
 Catechism was his delight. The preparation of the First-Communicants 
 was always a long and thorough course. But, the numerous stations 
 where the miners and farmers might gather for divine worship often 
 called him away from home. Bishop Rosati in his beautiful obituary 
 of Father Pratte gives him credit for the foundation of two Churches, 
 one at Old Mines in Washington County, and the other in St. Michael's 
 near Fredericktown, in Madison County. Both were log structures. Old 
 Mines is, as we have shown, the earliest place that sprung up at the 
 headwaters of the Black River, tributary to the Meramec, in the days 
 of Renault. It is very probable that the Jesuit Fathers from Kaskaskia 
 visited the place at times, though they had no mission there. 
 
 The record of the church of Ste. Ann of Fort Chartres, in an entry 
 under date of September 28th, 1748, shows that one Pierre Vivarenne, 
 of Picardy, France, and his wife, Marianne Rondeau, were inhabitants 
 of the Village of the Mine. This Vivarenne certainly came from France 
 with Renault. 
 
 As early as 1793, the church records of Ste. Genevieve make mention 
 of Old Mines and in 1803 the population consisted of thirty-two men, 
 thirteen women, seventy-two children and eighteen slaves. The church 
 records of Ste. Genevieve show that Father Maxwell frequently visited 
 the Mine, but it was Father Pratte who built the first church of which 
 records exist. These records begin April 20th, 1820, in his handwriting. 
 The little church he built was of logs and was used until 1828, when 
 Father John Bouillier, C. M., the first resident pastor, built the present 
 brick church, which Avas begun in 1828 and blessed by Bishop Rosati 
 October 9th, 1831. 
 
 These facts are derived from Ida M. Schaaf's article on Father 
 Henry Pratte. 1 
 
 A few more statements from the same authority on Ste. Genevieve 
 will be acceptable. 
 
 The distance from Ste. Genevieve to Old Mines, being about sixty 
 miles over steep, rocky hills was long and tiring. At a point about 
 midway was a wonderful spring, and at this place travelers were wont 
 to stop and rest and perhaps, spend the night in camp. A few men of 
 Ste. Genevieve and Old Mines, some of them related by blood to Father 
 
 i Schaaf, Ma M., "Henri Pratte, Missouri's first native-born priest," "St. 
 Louis Catholic Historical Eeview," vol. V, pp. 129-149. The letters of Father 
 Pratte to Rosati are to be found in the Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Ste. Genevieve Under Fathers Pratte and Dahmen 363 
 
 Pratte, built a blacksmith shop there and later, a road house. Antonine 
 Aubuchon built a home there in 1826. 
 
 Although the first church built at this little settlement, called Petit 
 Canada, was in 1828, it is quite probable that Father Pratte offered 
 the holy sacrifice of the Mass for these settlers many a time when passing 
 along the way. 
 
 The village of St. Michaels in Madison County owes it origin to a 
 number of French Creoles from New Bourbon and Ste. Genevieve, who 
 in 1799, obtained a grant of 5200 arpents of land between the headwaters 
 of the Saline and Castor Creeks. They built their log-houses in the 
 valley, south of the Mine La Motte claim, near a ridge on which the city 
 of Fredericktown was founded later on. But owing to an inundation 
 they removed their village a little distance to the northeast. It was here 
 on the road from Ste. Genevieve to Mine La Motte that Father Maxwell 
 was wont to stay and minister to the Catholics of the neighborhood. 
 But the people gradually drifted back to the old location, and in 1820 
 Father Pratte built for them the first Church of St. Michaels. It was 
 constructed of walnut-logs and served the parish there as a place of 
 worship until Father Cellini moved it to the higher location just on 
 the edge of the newly founded village of Fredericktown. Mine La 
 Motte one of the earliest settlements of the State is within the limits 
 of the parish of Old St. Michaels. 
 
 In addition to looking after his own parish of St. Genevieve and 
 establishing the two new parishes at Old Mines and St. Michaels, to 
 which he was obliged to travel on horseback, his house was the half-way 
 house between St. Louis and the Seminary at the Barrens, where he 
 entertained all priests passing back and forth. Many and various were 
 the services Father Pratte rendered to the Fathers of the Seminary at 
 the Barrens. 
 
 As the Church Records of Ste. Genevieve, beginning October 22nd, 
 1817, to January 30th, 1818, are in the hand writing of Father De 
 Andreis, it may be inferred that Father Pratte was in St. Louis the 
 greater part of three months, superintending the repairs and prepar- 
 ing for the Bishop's reception. Then, at the end of the year 1817, 
 he returned to Ste. Genevieve to welcome Bishop Du Bourg to his 
 diocese, and to be present at the first Pontifical Mass of that prelate 
 on January 1st, 1818. 
 
 After the arrival of Father Rosati and his band of Professors and 
 Seminarians at the Barrens there began a regular exchange of letters 
 between Fathers Pratte and Rosati, the remains of which are preserved 
 in the Archives of St. Louis Archidocese. The great helper in all needs, 
 the great counselor in all doubts, was the kindly yet shrewd pastor of 
 Ste. Genevieve. Still, he had a temper, though he generally succeeded 
 in keeping it under control. Even the venerated Rosati once came in 
 
364 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 for a sharp rebuff : Father Pratte had announced Confirmation services 
 for the 22nd day of August 1819. Father Desmoulin of Kaskaskia, 
 and Father Olivier of Prairie du Rocher were invited to be present at 
 the solemnities. Now came an order from Rosati that Father Pratte 
 should notify both Fathers Desmoulin and Olivier, that the Confirmation 
 services were postponed, and that Father Olivier should fill the place of 
 Father Desmoulin at Kaskaskia on the day they were to be held. Father 
 Pratte answered under date of August 14, 1819 : 
 
 "Monsieur: — I am much affected by the humiliating letter you have 
 written to me, and I have not sent the letter for Mr. Desmoulin of 
 Kaskaskia as you ask me to do in your letter. I will retain it until 
 I have an order from Monseigneur who gave me instructions just con- 
 trary to the requests you have addressed to me. It seems to me that 
 an order that has been fixed by Monseigneur 2 cannot be changed without 
 a shock to the public and to myself. I have announced to my parish that 
 Monseigneur will confirm at Ste. Genevieve on the 22nd of this month. 
 Many persons are already prepared and waiting. These people come 
 thirty or forty miles to have this pleasure. Furthermore, this is the 
 fourth time that I have announced publicly something on the part of 
 the Bishop which has failed to take place, and this seems to me to be 
 too much. They have already complained at Ste. Genevieve; what will 
 they say this time ? I shall not make any announcements and things will 
 come out all right according to the original orders. 
 
 You tell me to inform Mr. Olivier to go to Okaw. I have invited 
 him, and he will be in Ste. Genevieve. Furthermore, you seem to 
 ignore the fact that a man of seventy years cannot travel fifteen miles 
 to assist at a ceremony after having said Mass in his own parish. It 
 would be for him a journey of half a day. I have the honor to be, 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 II. Pratte, Cure" 
 
 As a sample of Father Pratte 's priestly zeal and provident care 
 the following extracts from his letters give fair evidence. 
 
 A Mission was to be held at Ste. Genevieve the last week in December, 
 1820. On October 28th, 1820. he writes to Father Rosati: "I shall 
 have, I hope, an opportunity to write to Mr. Niel (then pastor of St. 
 Louis and noted as an orator) next week. He promised he would come 
 for the feast of Ste. Genevieve. I will write, and ask him to preach the 
 panegyric. We shall have on that day, the installation of a beautiful 
 picture of Ste. Genevieve, which has been given for the occasion. They 
 say it is very beautiful. Mr. Desmoulin will come and preach on hell, 
 I shall preach two sermons — one on the judgment, penance and the delay 
 
 2 "Monsigneur" is, of course, Bishop Du Bourg. Rosati was Vicar-General of 
 this diocese. 
 
Ste. Genevieve Under Fathers Pratte and Dahmen 365 
 
 of conversion — one on contrition and the difficulty of saving your 
 soul." 
 
 Later, on December 20th, he writes : "I have already announced 
 a Mission for the last week of the year, and it will be finished the 
 next Sunday, which is the feast of Ste. Genevieve. I hope to have Mr. 
 Niel with me on that day. ' ' The same letter is followed by a postscript : 
 
 "I learn at this moment of the accident to Mr. Rosati. I sympa- 
 thize with him in his sufferings, and pray you to present to him my 
 very humblest respects, also those of my father who is much grieved 
 to learn of this trouble. If this accident should disarrange the Mission, 
 I beg of you to let me know before Sunday." 
 
 Of Father Pratte 's innate kindness and gentle manner many fine 
 traits are preserved in our documents : One or two must suffice : Thus 
 he writes on June 24th, 1821 to Father Rosati at the Barrens. "I have 
 just received a letter from Shawneetown from an unfortunate woman 
 who recommends herself to me and asks if I can give her news of her 
 husband who was to have joined her at Shawneetown last fall. This 
 unfortunate creature lived some time at Ste. Genevieve and is now in 
 your county at the house of a man named Logan on Apple Creek. His 
 name is Edward McGinnis, aged about thirty years, of a red complexion, 
 of Irish birth. You can perhaps inquire among your people if he goes 
 to church and try to get him to return to his poor wife and four 
 children who are in great distress. I have replied to this woman and 
 told her that I have written you on the subject." 
 
 A certain sly humor lurks in the following passage of a letter to 
 Rosati: "I am returning by Francois and Medard the little horse on 
 which the laborer came from the Barrens. This man came to me early 
 Monday morning and shoAved to me a billet de banque, which you gave 
 him. He told me he could not buy the tools he needs, as the cheek will 
 not pass here. I did not want to let him go without tools, so I loaned 
 him five gourdes, which I charged to the Bishop. Since then I have 
 never seen him again ; whether or not he has returned, I do not know ; 
 so I return to you the horse." 
 
 The Louisiana Academy established by Father Maxwell in 1808 
 had been closed after the founder 's death, as its principal, Mann Butler, 
 the historian of Kentucky, had withdrawn from the position. Father 
 Pratte realizing the necessity of a Catholic school, sought to reestablish 
 the Academy on a thoroughly Catholic basis. It was known that Bishop 
 Du Bourg had brought along with him three Brothers of the Christian 
 Schools, Aubin, Antonin and Fulgence. They had been obtained from 
 the Superior General, Brother Gerbaud at the personal intercession of 
 Pope Pius VII, who wrote, December 30th, 1815 : 
 
 "Our Venerable Brother William Du Bourg, consecrated and named 
 by us as Bishop of New Orleans, ardently desires to have some of your 
 
366 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 subjects to instruct the youth of his vast diocese which is in great 
 need. We earnestly recommend to you, our dear son, this affair, and 
 we wish, if you have some subjects who are willing to devote themselves 
 to go into this region and whom you judge fit for this pious work, you 
 would send them if this can be conveniently done. This will be a work 
 very pleasing to God and to ourselves. ' ' 3 
 
 The Brothers were lodged for a time with the Vincentian Brothers 
 under Father De la Croix at the home of Mrs. Layton, for the purpose 
 of acquiring the English language and helping in the building oper- 
 ations of the Seminary. Bishop Du Bourg had been told by Brother 
 Gerbaud, that the Brothers must maintain community life, and should, 
 therefore, not be separated. But when Father Pratte's request for one 
 of the Brothers came, he sent Brother Antonin alone, because he had 
 made greater progress in English than the others. 
 
 Early in January 1819 the Pastor of Ste. Genevieve wrote Father 
 Rosati his satisfaction that Brother Antonin was at Ste. Genevieve. 
 Brother Aubin and Fulgence soon joined • Brother Antonin and they 
 continued to teach at Ste. Genevieve for three years. They kept school 
 in the Building which had been erected in 1808 by the citizens of Ste. 
 Genevieve under the direction of Father Maxwell for the Louisiana 
 Academy. After the death of Father Pratte, when the Parish was 
 placed in charge of the Vincentian Fathers, the three Brothers were 
 separated by the Bishop and placed at the head of three schools in 
 widely separated localities. Finding communication with each other 
 and with their Superiors very difficult, they seem to have gradually 
 lost the spirit of their state and, one by one, left the Order. 
 
 In a letter written to Father Rosati on July 18th, 1822, Father 
 Pratte regrets that he cannot accept the invitation, ' ' so often repeated, ' ' 
 to assist at the celebration of the feast of St. Vincent, "because of the 
 great number who are ill at Ste. Genevieve and at Kaskaskia, from where 
 they send for me very often." This seems to have been the last letter 
 written by him, for in August he was stricken by a fever and, after 
 three weeks of illness, died on September 1st, 1822. He was so beloved 
 that he was mourned by everyone, Protestants as well as Catholics, and 
 his funeral was attended by all the inhabitants of the village and 
 surrounding country. He was interred under the sanctuary of the 
 church. Father Rosati conducted the services, assisted by Father Olivier 
 of Prairie du Rocher, and wrote on the record a beautiful tribute to 
 his departed friend which concludes with these words : ' ' His memory 
 will be a benediction not only in the parish but in all the rest of the 
 Diocese, and particularly, to the Seminary, which will always regard 
 him as one of its principal benefactors." 4 
 
 3 Archives of Christian Brothers, Poeautico Hills, New York. 
 
 4 Eegister of Burials, Ste. Genevieve Parish. 
 
Ste. Genevieve Under Fathers Pratte and Dahmen 367 
 
 After Father Pratte 's unexpected death Bishop Du Bourg had 
 the intention of appointing his favorite Angelo Inglesi as his successor 
 in Ste. Genevieve. Inglesi was at that time in Europe, hobnobbing with 
 almost all the royalty and nobility of the Old world, and making large 
 collections for the poor Mission of Louisiana. If he had been present on 
 the spot, he would have certainly received the appointment. But Inglesi 's 
 unworthiness was already suspected by many: and for some reason or 
 other, not the clerical highflyer, but a most excellent priest, Father 
 Francis Dahmen, a Lazarist, was sent to Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 Father Dahmen was born at Dueren on the Rhine, March 23, 1789, 
 and in due time entered the Seminary, probably at Cologne. As all the 
 country west of the Rhine was under French dominion during the 
 Napoleonic wars, young Dahmen, as we have already stated, was obliged 
 to enter the army of the Corsican as a cavalry soldier. As such he took 
 part in several great battles. As Canon O'Hanlon tells us: "He had a 
 vivid recollection of the dreadful scenes he had witnessed on the battle- 
 field: his anecdotes of the Emperor Napoleon were original and most 
 interesting ; he was ready at all times to relate his own personal adven- 
 tures, and freely to pronounce a very sound opinion on the maneuvers 
 and policy of his renowned leader, having had an enthusiastic regard 
 for his genius and resources as a general. Father Dahmen 's undoubted 
 courage, sense of honor, uprightness and integrity of character won our 
 admiration; his brusque and military air was independent of forms, 
 while his courtesy and kindliness rendered him lovable to a degree. 
 His piety and learning were well recognized, when he was obliged to 
 quit his Saxon Seminary and serve as a young conscript, and he returned 
 to resume his religious vocation and studies when the great army was 
 disbanded." 3 
 
 The discharged soldier did not, however, return to his former 
 Seminary but journeyed to the Eternal City where a brother of his 
 had already entered the holy priesthood. When Bishop Du Bourg 
 visited Rome for the purpose of . gaining recruits for the diocese of 
 Louisiana, young Dahmen was glad to join his standard, and when 
 Fathers De Andreis and Rosati started on their long and wearisome 
 journey across the mountains and plains to Bordeaux and thence across 
 the sea to America, he was with them. He received the four minor 
 orders at Bordeaux, subdeaconship at St. Thomas Seminary near Bards- 
 town, deaconship at Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 In December 1818 he entered the Novitiate of the Congregation 
 under Father De Andreis in St. Louis, where also he was ordained 
 priest by Bishop Du Bourg on September 5th, 1819. He was then a 
 little over thirty years of age. His first mission was Vincennes, from 
 which he was recalled on account of non-support. 
 
 O'Hanlon. 
 
368 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 On May 28th, we find liim at the Barrens, where he made his final 
 vows. As the people of Vincennes petitioned the Bishop to send back to 
 their parish the good Father Dahmen, the Bishop relented, and the 
 priest returned. But as no efforts were made to give him a 
 decent support, the recall was made final. After a short stay at Floris- 
 sant during Father De La Croix' visit among the Indians tribes of the 
 Missouri River in 1822, Father Dahmen received the appointment to Ste. 
 Genevieve, where he arrived on September 29th, 1822. This selection was 
 an admirable one in more than one respect. He spoke and wrote French 
 as his mother tongue, though he was of German stock. The schools in the 
 Rhineland in his youth were French, whilst the language of the common 
 people remained German. In the army French had been spoken almost 
 exclusively. As Canon O'Hanlon tells us, he had a correct knowledge 
 of the world and of its ordinary pursuits, with a practical manner of 
 appreciating and utilizing them. He had a natural gift of eloquence 
 in French, English and German. His cheerful disposition won every 
 heart : his fine figure and military bearing and sturdy manliness im- 
 pressed the judgment in his favor. He was, all in all, a representative 
 man. When the citizens of Ste. Genevieve wished to form a Literary 
 Society, Father Dahmen was with them heart and soul. 
 
 The Church of Ste. Genevieve was a large log-building erected in 
 1794. Now after thirty-seven years of constant use the building had 
 become ruinous. The parishioners voted to erect a new Church of stone. 
 The old log structure was accordingly torn down, and the cornerstone 
 of the new edifice was laid on the 27th of July 1831. The building, 
 though completed at an early date, was consecrated in 1837. 
 
 It was in Father Dahmen 's hospitable home that the celebrated 
 Father Charles Nerinckx died the death of a saint. He came from Lor- 
 etto in Kentucky to Bethlehem Convent near the Barrens on a visit to 
 his Sisterhood there : then he made a visit to Florissant, the home of 
 the Jesuits, whom he had brought to America, and on the return journey 
 took seriously ill, and found a kind welcome in Ste. Genevieve, where 
 he died, August 12th, 1824. 6 
 
 Of the former dependencies of Ste. Genevieve, New Bourbon was 
 now no more ; St. Michaels had a pastor of its own in the person of 
 Father Potini, and after his departure, of Father Francis Cellini ; Cape 
 Girardeau was attended from the Barrens, and only St. Joachim's of 
 Old Mines remained in his care until in 1828. Father John Bouillier 
 was appointed its pastor. Yet, St. Genevieve was growing in population, 
 and certain parts of the district were steadily gaining swarms of immi- 
 grants from Germany. At the opening of the Nineteenth Century there 
 were but few Germans in the parish ; but in the second decade of that 
 
 G Kothensteiner, "Father Charles Nerinckx, and his Relations to the Diocese of 
 St. Louis," in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. I, 157-201. 
 
Ste. Genevieve Under Fathers Pratte and Dahmen 369 
 
 Century, German immigration assumed considerable proportions in both 
 Ste. Genevieve and Perry Counties. At first this stream came from 
 Alsace, then almost exclusively from the Duchy of Baden. Matthew 
 Ziegler seems to have been the first German, after Father de Saint Pierre, 
 to come to Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 As the ever increasing immigration of German Catholics neces- 
 sitated a corresponding increase of the number of German priests, the 
 authorities were on the look-out for German Seminarians. 
 
 In 1833 the Seminary counted four students of German descent, 
 among its pupils : J. H. Fortman from Westphalian Muenster, Ambrose 
 Heim, Charles Rolle and Nicholas Stehle from Lorraine, Casper Ost- 
 langenberg and Joseph Fischer arriving a little later. 
 
 When Father John Timon became Superior of the Lazarists, he 
 thought of Father Dahmen 's capabilities as a teacher, especially his 
 knowledge of German, and he determined to recall him to the Seminary. 
 Bishop Rosati appointed the Frenchman J. Bergeron as successor to 
 Dahmen as pastor of Ste. Genevieve. On the 18th of May Father Dahmen 
 left the parish for the Seminary. But the people of Ste. Genevieve 
 were determined that the good pastor, who during the fourteen years 
 of his ministry among them, had enjoyed their confidence and reverence 
 and love, should be sent back to them. As the best means to attain this 
 much desired object, they determined, at a regular parish meeting, held 
 on Pentecost Sunday, at the parish residence, to sell, at a nominal 
 price, the Church and all pertaining to it, to Father Timon the Superior 
 of the Congregation of the Missions. In notifying their Bishop of this 
 proposed step they hint, that this offer is made in the hope that Father 
 Dahmen be left in charge of the parish as before, a measure, as they 
 declare, "as conductive to the progress of religion, as it is calculated 
 to secure the prosperity of the village." 7 
 
 Bishop Rosati prevailed upon Father Timon, who was then Supe- 
 rior of the Vincentians and Vicar General of the diocese, to send 
 Father Dahmen back to Ste. Genevieve. The transfer of the Church 
 property to Father John Timon was duly affected. Father Bergeron 
 gracefully accepted the inevitable and retired to the "more hospitable 
 land, New Orleans." Father Dahmen returned to his flock and received 
 as assistants Father Mignard and, after him, the Italian Father Gan- 
 dolfo. For a short time Father Brandts administered the parish until the 
 pastor's return, November 13th, 1836. The Catholic Directory for 1836 
 remarks in regard to Ste. Genevieve: "Sermon in French and German, 
 and sometimes in English." On the 12th day of November, "post sex- 
 ennium absolutum," the new Church was consecrated, by Bishop Rosati, 
 assisted by a large concourse of priests. 
 
 7 The title to the church-property of Ste. Genevieve was restored to the parish 
 in the days of Archbishop Kain. 
 
370 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Five months after this memorable event, June 25th, 1837, the Sisters 
 of Loretto opened a Convent School for girls in the old Detchmendi 
 Mansion. The community consisted of nine religious : Sister Agnes 
 Ilartt was Superior. One of the nuns was Sister Catherine, formerly 
 Odile Valle. The number of boarders in 1837 was twelve, of day-scholars 
 forty-five. 
 
 After a few years the school was placed in care of the Sisters of 
 St. Joseph. There Avas also a school for boys under a lay-teacher. 
 
 The priests of Ste. Genevieve, at that time, had in charge as stations : 
 Ste. Annes' at Little Canada, Ste. Philomenas at Reviere aux Vases 
 and St. Matthews on Establishment Creek. Later on when chapels 
 were built at these places, the parish of Reviere aux Vases received 
 the title St. Anthony, and the Establishment, now Bloomsdale, that 
 of Ste. Philomena, which it still bears, whilst that of Reviere aux Vases 
 has been changed to S. S. Philip and James. Father Dahmen remained 
 in charge of Ste. Genevieve until 1840, when his Superiors recalled him 
 to the Seminary. He was succeeded by Father Gandolfo, with the French 
 Father Brands and the German Nicholas Stehle as assistants. German 
 immigration was literally flooding the Counties of Ste. Genevieve and 
 Perry and, in lesser degree, Cape Girardeau and Madison. "One hun- 
 dred thousand Germans are expected, or are on the way to the United 
 States," writes Father Gandolfo to his Superior in Paris, "one can 
 scarcely form an idea of the multitude arriving daily. The German 
 language is getting to be as necessary as English and French, and we 
 need a priest here, who speaks the language. The few men we have 
 are over-loaded with work. Mr. Huland, (Father Uhland) instructs 
 the boys in the Little Seminary in German : I myself take German 
 lessons from Father Stehle; but "durus est hie sermo. " s 
 
 It was in Father Gandolfo 's day, July 17th, 1841, that the rock- 
 church built by Father Dahmen was injured by lightning. The electric 
 fluid struck the gable end and, descending along the roof to the sacristy, 
 pierced the solid wall on its way and struck the frame of the picture 
 of Ste. Genevieve without doing any harm to the painting itself, then 
 descended to the altar, taking away its guilding, and passed to the 
 ground floor. A pious parishioner, John Doyle, kneeling in prayer at 
 the altar rail, was touched by the lightning-stroke and stunned, yet 
 recovered from the shock. The new brick church was built long after, on 
 the site, and partly on the very foundations of Father Dahmen 's rock 
 structure. 9 
 
 s Draft of Father Gandolfo 's letter in the Archives of the Parish of Ste. 
 Genevieve, Mo. 
 
 9 Rozier's, "History of the Early Settlement of the Mississippi Valley,'' p. 117. 
 
Chapter 18 
 CATHOLIC NEW MADRID 
 
 After the death or departure of Father Gibault, Pastor of New 
 Madrid and the Post of Arkansas, Father Maxwell of Ste. Genevieve 
 was the only priest left, and to his charge fell all the parishes in the 
 wide territory of Upper Louisiana, soon to be called Missouri. Then 
 occurred that terrible visitation, the New Madrid earthquake, which 
 agitated the country around the mouth of the Ohio from December 1811 
 to February, 1812, and which, as Senator Linn, of Missouri, wrote, 
 "after shaking the valley of the Mississippi to its center, vibrated along 
 the courses of the rivers and valleys, and passing the primitive mountain 
 barriers, died away along the shores of the Atlantic." 1 
 
 Such an appalling phenomenon, which changed the course of rivers, 
 submerged many of the higher pieces of land and elevated others that 
 had been submerged before, drained many of the numerous lakes, and 
 formed others, with bottoms deeper than the Mississippi, had a most 
 discouraging effect on the progress of the settlement. Instead of gaining 
 accessions, New Madrid was losing many of its inhabitants, and to 
 accelerate the decline of the town the river threw the weight of its current 
 against the higher ground on which New Madrid was built so as to 
 constantly reduce its eastern limits and either wash away the habitations 
 or drive them further West. The ancient site of New Madrid is now 
 the channel of the Mississippi. Father Gibault 's church of St. Isidore, 
 together with his residence and kitchen and bake house, were swallowed 
 up by the mighty river. New Madrid seemed dead, at least spiritually, 
 for about twenty years after Father Gibault 's death, without church 
 or priest or the Holy sacrifice. But the people did not lose the faith, 
 and a rivival of religion was preparing under the counsels of Divine 
 Providence. But the Parish of St. Isidore was gone with its Spanish 
 patron, and when the church of New Madrid emerged once more from 
 its dark night into the broad light of history, it was under the new 
 name of St. John the Baptist. 
 
 It is neither a very interesting nor a very important account we 
 have to offer in regard to the religious growth of the old river-town 
 of New Madrid during the last hundred years. Political upheavals, 
 destructive earthquakes, a sanguinary war with armies traversing the 
 territory from south to north, from north to south, and chiefly the 
 dearth of priestly help in the very extensive diocese of St. Louis, were 
 
 1 Cf. Eozier's History, pp. 109-208, and Houek, "History of Missouri,"' vol. I, 
 p. 172. 
 
 (371) 
 
372 History of I In- Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the main causes of the slow development, often looking, for all the 
 world, like a sad retrogression of Catholic life, in the city of New Madrid 
 and vicinity. 
 
 About three years after his arrival in the diocese, November 1820, 
 Bishop Du Bourg wrote to Father Rosati from New Madrid : 
 
 "I stopped here to see what condition Religion is in at this place. 
 These poor people, in all sixty Catholic families, have been in the last 
 twenty years without any religious assistance whatever, no marriages, 
 no baptisms, no sacraments. Still they wish to have a priest ; but I do 
 not think they have the means to support one ; neither do I believe that it 
 would be good for a priest to stay here. Nevertheless, I deem it necessary 
 that a missionary should come here three or four times a year. Mr. Robert 
 McCoy, 2 at whose home I am now, will give him lodging and board ; 
 he has a nice hall where Mass may be said. The congregation will give 
 the Priest $70.00 every time he comes : he shall remain each time a 
 fortnight to instruct, etc. I wish that Fr. Potini should undertake this 
 mission. He may go first to Cape Girardeau to Mr. Steinbeck, whose 
 family are Catholic, and will say Mass there for the few Catholics of 
 that quarter. Thence he will go to Mr. Hopkins, 29 miles farther. He 
 will fare very well there; Mr. Hopkins' family also are Catholic. From 
 Mr. Hopkins' to New Madrid the distance is about 30 miles, and I am 
 told the road is good all the way down. Father Potini should take along- 
 whatever is needed for the celebration of Mass and the administration 
 of the Sacraments. I think that at Cape Girardeau, they will also 
 contribute their share of the expense for the priests' journey. He may 
 begin as soon as possible. 
 
 L. Wm. of La. 
 
 On further reflection, I think Father Cellini will be more suitable 
 for this mission than Father Potini, on account of his more mature 
 age." 3 
 
 There is a slight mistake in this letter as to the length of time during 
 which New Madrid was deprived of priest and altar. From a letter of 
 Father Maxwell to Father Gibault at New Madrid it appears that the old 
 missionary was still the pastor of New Madrid in October 1801. Louis 
 Houck in his History of Missouri states that "until his death in 1802 he 
 (Gibault) was active in all spiritual matters, and as priest of the 
 parish received a regular salary from the government." 
 
 Others give the year of Father Gibault 's death as 1804, which 
 opinion seems, at least, probable. 
 
 Besides, Father Maxwell from Ste. Genevieve and Father Lusson 
 from St. Charles, visited the place after Father Gibault 's death: the 
 
 2 Kobert McCoy had been in the service of the Spanish Government, as Secretary 
 of the Civil Administration. 
 
 3 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, Du Bourg 's letters. 
 
Catholic New Madrid 373 
 
 period of utter desolation, therefore, was considerably less than twenty 
 years. Yet it was sufficiently long and dreary to bring on spiritual 
 decay. In consequence of the Bishop's recommendation, not Father 
 Potini, but Cellini was sent to New Madrid. On May 24, 1821, Father 
 Rosati writes to Father Francis Baccari, Vicar General of the Congre- 
 gation of the Missions in Rome as follows: "Father Cellini, besides 
 the sick calls and confessions, has the charge and direction of the work 
 here at home. Moreover, he has a parish of French people, amounting to 
 70 families, at New Madrid, on the Mississippi river, more than 100 
 miles from the Seminary. He goes there three or four times a year, 
 and the trip takes him four or five weeks each time. Those poor people 
 have had no priest for twenty years. You may well imagine in what 
 condition they were. Ignorance cannot go any farther. It is morally 
 a forest to frighten the stoutest heart. However, there are good dis- 
 positions. Father Cellini went there for the first time during the month 
 of March; he baptized there a great many people, even adult persons, 
 and two Protestants ; he urged them to build a church, and in a short 
 while, when that church is finished (it does not take long in this coun- 
 try to build), he will go there again." 4 
 
 The church was not built at that time, and there is nothing to 
 show that Father Cellini repeated his visit, except an obscure allusion 
 to other visits in a letter of Father Cellini to Father Rosati, dated Oc- 
 tober 22, 1821: "I have written to Mr. McCoy on the subject you men- 
 tioned to me in your letter ; and I hope that when our Brothers arrive 
 there, they will be assisted as we wish. ' ' 5 
 
 The McCoys were, no doubt, the family of Robert McCoy of New 
 Madrid, with whom Bishop Du Bourg had made arrangements for fu- 
 ture priestly services in 1820. 
 
 By an acident, or rather a dispensation of Divine Providence, Mother 
 Duchesne of blessed memory, the first Superior of the Ladies of the 
 Sacred Heart, was to bless the sadly-forsaken place with her presence. 
 Baunard-Fullerton gives the following account in The Life of Mother 
 Duchesne : 
 
 "On the return trip the "Cincinnati" ran aground on a sandbank 
 opposite New Madrid, a hundred (nearly two hundred) miles from 
 St. Louis. The river was so low that it was impossible to forsee when 
 the boat could proceed — this delay and uncertainty were harassing! 
 Mad. Duchesne . . . resolved to turn this interval to account by making 
 her annual retreat ... A fortnight elapsed in this way, and then she re- 
 ceived a pressing invitation from Catholics in the neighborhood, Mr. 
 
 ■* Rosati to Baccari, Archives of Procurator-General of the Lazarists in Borne. 
 5 Cellini to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
374 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and Mrs. Kay, to come and stay in their house. Mad. Dchesne and 
 Miss Pratte accordingly spent five days with these kind people." 6 
 
 The next visit made to New Madrid by Lazarist misionaries was that 
 of Father John Mary Odin, just ordained, accompanied by the deacon 
 John Timon, who was to rise, in the course of time, to the dignity of the 
 first Bishop of Buffalo. The trip was made during September and 
 October 1824. In their report the missionaries write: "After a three 
 days' journey (from Jackson) we arrived at New Madrid. Our sojourn 
 there was short, in spite of the great needs and the earnest prayers of 
 the inhabitants, who have not had a resident priest among them for 
 nearly twenty-five years." 7 Mentioning their return in his Diary, on 
 October 31, 1824, Rosati writes: "One priest should be sent to New 
 Madrid where he is much needed." 
 
 And under date of December 1, 1824, the Diary of Rosati reads : 
 
 "I have promised two men of New Madrid to send a priest to that 
 city at the opening of the Spring of next year. (1825)." 
 
 Some one must have been sent, for on April 12, 1825, Bishop Du 
 Bourg writes to Rosati evidently in answer to some good and hopeful 
 news communicated to him by Bishop Rosati : " I am much pleased with 
 the dispositions manifested at New Madrid." 
 
 From the Diary of Bishop Rosati it appears, that Father John M. 
 Odin, CM., made another visit to New Madrid, this time in company of 
 Father Leo DeNeckere, also a future bishop of New Orleans. Under 
 date of April 3, 1826, he writes: "I have sent De Neckere and Odin to 
 New Madrid to remain there until Pentecost." And on April 17: 
 "Through the courtesy of Mr. McCoy I have received a letter from Mr. 
 Odin, whom I had sent to New Madrid on the 3d with Mr. De Neckere. 
 On April 4th, De Neckere preached a sermon at the town of Jackson, 
 having been very kindly received by the people of that place, among 
 whom there were some few Catholic families." And again, on May 
 20th, he records the return of De Neckere and Odin to the Seminary 
 from New Madrid: "There (at New Madrid) they endeavored to 
 instruct the people (about eighty families) who had for many years 
 been deprived of all spiritual help, by giving Catechetical instructions 
 twice a day, and two sermons on each Sunday and Feast-day. On As- 
 cension day they gave First Holy Communion to fifteen boys and 
 girls. The number of communions would have been much larger, if 
 the inhabitants of the country had not been prevented from attending 
 by frequent and heavy rains, which caused an inundation, and by ur- 
 gent labors on the farms. They gave Baptism to more than fifty in- 
 
 6 L. Cit., cf . Erskine, p. 259. 
 
 i "Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, " vol. II, p. 380. 
 
Catholic New Madrid 375 
 
 fants. Being now fully convinced of obtaining a resident priest the 
 people of New Madrid have decided to erect a church-building, for 
 which purpose they have started a subscription and have already raised 
 five hundred dollars. It is a pity that such a dire spiritual need con- 
 nected with so much good will could not at once find relief." 8 Still 
 a number of years had to pass before New Madrid was again to have 
 a church and a priest of its own. 
 
 But Fathers Odin and Timon were to return to New Madrid once 
 more; Timon having been ordained priest on the 24th of September, 
 1826. Bishop Rosati's Diary tells us that Odin and Timon started for 
 New Madrid on October 1st. On the 12th of October (1826) the Bishop 
 writes to Odin at New Madrid: "Father Niel has already seven priests 
 for this country. We will have wherewith to have someone at New 
 Madrid.'" 9 On October 19th, Rosati received letters from Timon and 
 Odin who were still at New Madrid. On October 20th, the Bishop 
 wrote to Odin : "The news that you and Father Timon sent us, caused us 
 much gratification. You may assure those gentlemen that they will not 
 be deprived of the visits of the priests, and that, as far as possible, we 
 shall send them the same. The next visit may take place in the be- 
 ginning of January, vita comite. " On October 31st, both missionaries 
 are at the Seminary once more. Bishop Rosati remarks that they had 
 endeavored to excite the people of New Madrid to the proper spirit of 
 gaining the indulgence of the Jubilee. Their success was marked by 
 more than sixty confessions, forty holy communions, and a number of 
 baptisms. ' ' 10 
 
 Whether the promised visit was made in Spring of 1827, we can- 
 not say, as Bishop Rosati, at that time, was absent in Kentucky. 
 
 In searching the Archives for a document concerning Father Lewis 
 Tucker, we found a weatherbeaten paper of great importance for our 
 present purpose, the Report of Father John Timon, CM., concerning 
 New Madrid and the Post of Arkansas for 1830. It is addressed to 
 Bishop Rosati and dated December 4, 1830 : 
 
 "I can send, You, Monsigneur, but very imperfect accounts of 
 New Madrid and Arkansas. The length of time has effaced much from 
 my memory, and I cannot now lay my hands on my notes. What I can 
 recollect is that at New Madrid there are about 90 Catholic families, 
 almost all Creole French, and all in utmost want of instruction, ignorant 
 but attached to their religion. During the last five years about eighty 
 
 « Rosati, Diary, passim. 
 
 9 Father Niel was sent abroad to collect funds and engage missionaries for 
 the Diocese of St. Louis. In 1845 he published, at Paris, "La Voie Du Salut. " 
 lo Diary of Rosati, passim. 
 
376 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 persons received the Holy Communion, about one hundred and twenty 
 went to confession, and a great many children, both of Catholic and 
 Protestant parents, were baptized, as were also about eight adults. Be- 
 fore the visit Mr. Odin made to them, they had not a priest, save on 
 a passing visit, for many years, and now they are without one these 
 three years. New Madrid is one of the oldest posts of Louisiana; it 
 had its Commandant in the times of the French and Spanish domination, 
 and a church which has been swallowed up by the river. The ancient 
 site, by the encroachments of the Mississippi, is now a quarter of a 
 mile from the shore of the river. The inhabitants lately made a sub- 
 scription for building a new church, about $650.00 were subscribed, but 
 they seem little inclined to begin, until they can have assurance of a 
 clergyman. All professions desire that one might be sent. They would 
 also wish that the priest might superintend a school ; and that, if possible, 
 some nuns might be sent for the instruction of female children, I do 
 not know any point, where, as I think, after some privations and sacrifices 
 in the beginning, a good school or college might be more advantageously 
 placed." 11 
 
 Father Timon's suggestion was favorably received by the Bishop 
 but could not be carried out until two years had elapsed. Now, two 
 young and energetic men were detached for the upbuilding of New 
 Madrid. 
 
 On April 27th, 1832, Rev. Victor Paillason departed for that place 
 from Kaskaskia, where he had been pastor since December 22, 1830, 
 in company with the newly ordained Peter Paul Lefevere as assistant. 
 On October 13, 1832, Bishop Rosati had given the Sisters of Loretto 
 permission to found a monastery and school of their order at New 
 Madrid. Father Paillasson entered upon this laborious task with great 
 zeal and energy. But on the 29th of June he came to St. Louis with 
 the sad news that the house he had almost completed was destroyed by 
 fire. The particulars of this undertaking and failure we learn from a 
 letter of the youthful Peter Paul Lefevere to his Bishop : 
 
 "You are undoubtedly already informed of the great misfortune 
 that happened to us on the eve of Corpus Christi by the combustion of 
 our house which was already nearly completed. At that dreadful event, 
 struck with sadness and grief, we both thought immediately to abandon 
 our post, and to return to St. Louis; but seeing the apparent anxiety 
 and activity of the people to renew what we had undertaken, Mr. 
 Paillason found it expedient that he alone should go up in order to in- 
 form you of the sad and serious condition to which this misfortune has 
 brought us, and to know what there should now be done. As he seems 
 
 u Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Catholic New Madrid 377 
 
 to have more courage than I, and to show a kind of punctilio to re- 
 commence the establishment : I write these lines by his instigation to 
 expose to you my depression, and also the embarrassment and grief which 
 might cause too dangerous an engagement. You know Most Reverend 
 Sir, that in the prospectus he has given of this establishment, he has 
 expressly specified and determined, that it would be erected and directed 
 on the same plan as that in the Barrens, and also that there would be 
 erected a convent of nuns for the purpose of keeping a female school. 
 Besides, he has expressly given notice that in both of these Seminaries 
 or Academies, as they call them here, no mention would ever be made 
 of Religion, or of whatever regards the Catholic doctrine and worship. 
 Now the people, seeing the loss of so great an improvement and benefit 
 for this place, offer willingly to subscribe for the rebuilding of that 
 Seminary. We, after a sufficient inquiry and information, find that the 
 building, in the manner the people desire and will have it, would cost, 
 at least, from nine hundred to a thousand dollars, making deduction of 
 all superfluities and considering the building as rough and simple as 
 possible ; and the sum of the subscriptions, calculating at large, could 
 only amount to five hundred dollars. So that we would run into debt 
 four or five hundred dollars. Moreover, being once engaged, we would 
 incur debts upon debts ; later, for the convent and after that, for the 
 church. You conceive very well that this could never be paid with 
 the revenue of the school, which, I am sure, will never exceed the 
 expense of our corporal sustenance. 
 
 "Besides you know very well that the school we would be able to 
 teach could and Avould never be able to satisfy the idea and expectation 
 of the people ; which, since our arrival, they have continually kept up 
 and increased, thinking to establish and erect themselves upon the 
 ruins of the Barrens. So, considering the little prospect and hope of 
 future progress in the propagation of faith, knowing the inconstancy of 
 the people, and that their only motive and intent is their temporal in- 
 terest, having no money in cash, I shall never venture to engage myself 
 for one dollar, under the obligation of paying it with the revenue of 
 a precarious school. Because, Most Rev. Sir, knowing the dreadful 
 situation of many priests of America merely on account of debts, I 
 dread them more than death itself, and would prefer to cultivate the land 
 from morning till evening rather than entangle myself so far. It would 
 also be very painful to me to depend upon the whim of the people, for 
 a worldly subsistence, because they would have subscribed for the house, 
 without having ever the consolation of seeing any conversion to God, 
 and even without having any time of working for my own salvation. 
 Till now we never said Mass in public, but always privately, and even 
 missed it often ourselves on account of manual labor. AVe preached 
 
378 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 about six times in the court house, where the people assembled merely 
 to see one anotber for amusement and pass-time, as they say it them- 
 selves. You see that the present and future consolation either temporal 
 or spiritual, is very small, and besides our characters differ in many 
 points, one from another. If, therefore, you could apply some remedy 
 to my present situation which is lamentable, or assign me some place, 
 where by means of a frugal sustenance, I could work with more fruit 
 for the salvation of others and that of myself, which is the only motive 
 that brought me to America, you would infinitely oblige. Your most 
 humble servant." 12 
 
 Bishop Rosati requested Father Lefevere to stay at New Madrid 
 until Father Paillasson's return from the Post of Arkansas, whither he 
 had been sent. Then on August 29, 1832, Lefevere was appointed to the 
 mission of Salt River in Northeastern Missouri, to do valiant work for 
 holy Church and to become in due time Bishop and Administrator of 
 Detroit. 
 
 Father Victor Paillasson continued his ministrations at New Madrid 
 until 1836, when he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at 
 Florissant, May 18th. 
 
 After a brief interval Father Paillasson found a successor in the 
 person of the newly ordained Ambrose Heim. Being born at Rodalbe 
 in the diocese of Nancy in 1807, Father Heim came to St. Louis June 
 15th, 1833, and was raised to the priesthood July 23rd, 1837, by Bishop 
 Rosati in the chapel of St. Mary's of the Barrens. Immediately after 
 his ordination the youthful priest became pastor of New Madrid, and 
 remained there until 1841. Father Heim built a church of wood and 
 dedicated it in honor of St. John Baptist. This was the second church- 
 building after Father Gibault's church of St. Isidore had been washed 
 away by the river in 1816. Father Heim became pastor of Prairie du 
 Long, and in 1843 chaplain of the Sisters of the Visitation at Kaskaskia, 
 and in 1847 Secretary to the Bishop. Father Heim was the First Spiri- 
 tual Director of the first Conference of St. Vincent de Paul in the 
 United States. 13 
 
 12 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 13 Sehulte, Rev. Paul, ' ' The Old Cathedral Conference of St. Vincent de Paul So- 
 ciety, " in " St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. Ill, pp. 5-14. 
 
OC 
 
 X 
 
 f. 
 
 if. 
 
Chapter 19 
 ST. MARY'S OF THE BARRENS UNDER FATHER TORNATORE 
 
 The Seminar}- of St. Mary's at the Barrens had been under the 
 rectorship of Father Rosati from the time of its foundation and re- 
 mained so even after Rosati 's election to the Coadjutorship : x but when 
 he became Bishop of St. Louis in his own right and Administrator of 
 New Orleans, this burden, as well as the Superiorship of the entire 
 congregation in America, was felt as a hindrance to all efficient work 
 as Bishop, Superior and Rector. But where shall he find a substitute 
 as Seminary director? He applied to his Superior at Rome; for the 
 American Congregation of the Mission was- still a part of the Roman 
 Province. 
 
 In 1827, Bishop Rosati was gladdened by the news that Father 
 Angelo Boccardo, a distinguished member of the Congregation of the 
 Mission, was on his way to the Barrens to take the position of Superior. 
 In order to make his advent a most joyful event, Father Baccari had 
 intrusted to his care two-thousand francs, partly granted by the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Faith, partly donated by private individuals, 
 and by Father Baccari himself, all to be delivered to Bishop Rosati for 
 the use of his missions. 
 
 But, on July 27th, 1827, the sad news was brought from New 
 Orleans, that Father Boccardo had accidentally dropped the package that 
 contained the money and also a number of letters, into the swirling 
 waves of the Mississippi. But worse still; Father Boccardo, weakened 
 by the hardships of the long voyage, Avas shocked so dreadfully by the 
 accident, that he in his anguish and dread, determined to return to Italy 
 with the next ship. Nothing could shake his resolution, and so they 
 had to let him depart. In writing to Cardinal Cappellari about this 
 double loss, Bishop Rosati reminded him, that he, as Bishop of one 
 See and Administrator of another, really could not perform the duties 
 of a Superior of the Lazarists, and begged him to send back to him the 
 good Father Boccardo, whom he could use so very advantageously at 
 the Barrens. But, Father Boccardo never returned, and the heavily 
 burdened Bishop continued his gentle importunities. 2 
 
 i Propaganda and the Vicar-General C. M., had stipulated that Rosati "must 
 remain Superior of the House and Seminary over there, and head of the whole mis- 
 sion in America." Cf. "Catholic Historical Review," III, p. 171. 
 
 2 Rosati to Cardinal Cappellari, July 27, 1827, rough draft in Archives of St. 
 Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (379) 
 
380 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father John B. Tornatore, the one time professor of Dogmatic 
 Theology as successor to Father De Andreis, and now Assistant to the 
 Vicar General at Monte Citorio, seemed the proper person. Father 
 Baccari intended Father Tornatore for other important work, and 
 would not grant Bishop Rosati's request: At last, a very urgent letter 
 to the Superior General at Paris elicited the order that Father Tornatore 
 should be sent to America. Great was Bishop Rosati's joy when in 
 April 1830, the long-desired Father arrived in New Orleans. Having 
 assisted at the consecration of Bishop De Neckere, the new Superior 
 assumed control of the house at the Barrens in the early part of July, 
 and was appointed Visitor, (January 6, 1831) and also Vicar General 
 of the diocese of St. Louis. 
 
 There were at the Barrens four priests, Odin, Paquin, Timon and 
 Brands, who had charge of a College with more than one hundred 
 boys, and a number of Seminarians. The College was the main support 
 of the entire establishment. As Father Shaw tells us: "The 'Barrens' 
 of that far-off time boasted a log church, poor, small and crude. The 
 Home of the Missionaries was likewise poor and incommodious. They 
 themselves, with hands unused to such labor, felled trees and hewed 
 them into logs wherewith to fashion their first home. The record of 
 those days spells toil and trial and much resignation. They fared fru- 
 gally, went scantily clad, and endured with extreme difficulty the rigors 
 of the climate, unused as they were to extremes of heat and cold. 
 
 "Steps were soon taken to build a larger and better church. They 
 designed to build a replica of the Lazarist church in Rome. Only when 
 confronted with overwhelming odds did they consent to narrow the 
 dimensions of the original plans. The corner stone was laid in 1827. 
 Work progressed slowly and funds were meager. ' ' 3 
 
 Father Tornatore entered upon his new duties with right good 
 will. The four priests were with him, heart and soul. But among the 
 brothers dissatisfaction was rife. Complaint after complaint, accusa- 
 tion after accusation, flew to Rome, all clothed in, the garb of piety and 
 zeal for the glory of God. The rigor of the climate, the barrenness of 
 the land, the multiplicity of occupations, were only the reasoning of 
 the great accusation that the observance of the Rule was made impossible 
 by the presence of seminarians and college boys in the same house. Some 
 of the priests insisted on Father Baccari 's order that all members of 
 the Congregation should be withdrawn from the parishes, a measure 
 that would have ruined the prospects of the diocese for many years. 
 
 All were for getting rid of the College, which they said, was the 
 business of the Jesuits, and not of the Lazarist Community. Indeed, 
 
 3 Shaw, T. M., "Our Lady of the Assumption. 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens Under Father Tornatore 381 
 
 they would have closed the Seminary at the Barrens and transferred it 
 to Lower Louisiana, where under a milder climate and with greater 
 facilities it would be possible to work for the glory of God and the good 
 of souls. 
 
 Father Rosati, during his rectorship, had experienced this secret 
 opposition. Father Cellini seems to have been one of the chief fomentors 
 of trouble. 
 
 "As to the observance of the Rule," Bishop Rosati wrote in 1828, 
 "I have tried my very best and I think I have succeeded. Our priests 
 who live here in community are rather over-zealous than negligent. It 
 it difficult to satisfy the brothers. Cellini is not built for community 
 life ; he should not come back to us. ' ' 
 
 Father Tornatore met the same difficulties with much less power 
 of resistance, than Bishop Rosati had displayed. He was not gifted as 
 a speaker, he never did acquire the idiomatic use of English, his health 
 was precarious. Yet he made use of his authority. He gave orders 
 to the priests employed in parochial work to repair to the Seminary. 
 Not one of the five obeyed him. With the brothers he had recourse to 
 reproofs and penance, and even the denial of the sacraments, but all to 
 no avail. Within one year after he had assumed the reins of govern- 
 ment, no fewer than nine subjects had left the community. Though 
 there was no priest among the recalcitrants, the loss was a serious one. 
 Father Baccari ordered that the Seminarians be kept separate from 
 the College boys : Father Tornatore claimed that this was impossible, 
 as some of the seminarians had to be employed as teachers of College 
 classes, others as prefects, others as infirmarians. The Seminarians 
 were needed in the College, the College was needed for the support of 
 the community. An old grievance in regard to the presence in the 
 kitchen of female negro slaves, which had been remedied long ago, still 
 lingered in the mind of the Roman authorities. Father Tornatore 
 brushed aside the old spiderweb and proceeded to enlighten his Superior 
 on the real condition of things in America: 
 
 "Now in regard to the observance of the Rule, here is our order of 
 the day: At 4:30 rising for us of the congregation (The Seminarians and 
 College boys get up at 5:00). At five, meditation in the chapel. At 
 six Community Mass; mass is said at the same time at the College. At 
 7 :30 breakfast in common for Seminarians, College boys and those of 
 us who care to have any ; Fifteen minutes are allowed for this meal, 
 which is taken in silence and during which there is reading. After 
 breakfast, fifteen minutes of recreation in silence. This practice I 
 found when I came here : it had been introduced by Bishop Rosati ; 
 and accordingly I have maintained it. After this recreation, that is, 
 at 8 o'clock all are occupied, the ones to teach school, others to study, 
 
382 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the others to various employments, the College boys being' apart from 
 the Seminarians,. At twelve, particular examen and dinner in silence, 
 during which there is always reading, and, after dinner our customary 
 recreation. There is no siesta, but spiritual reading for Seminarians 
 in the Seminary and for the boys in College. Then study and class for 
 Seminarians and College boys until four. At four, Seminarians and 
 College boys are given half an hour of recreation, after which they are 
 occupied in their respective duties until 7:15 at which time there is 
 particular examen. Supper as usual, and recreation which the Sem- 
 inarians take in the Seminary, and the boys in the College, under the 
 Supervision of their Director Father Paquin. 
 
 Besides, we have for us members of the Community, the Conference 
 on Tuesday; and on Sunday, all assist at the explanation of the Gospel 
 at high Mass, and the same is to be said of other spiritual exercises. 
 
 Regarding food and clothing, no one is wanting anything: all 
 are provided both in health and sickness. 
 
 Now would Your Reverence please tell me whether in all this there 
 is anything out of order, whether there is anything to add or suppress ; 
 if there is, it will be done with the fullest submission and alacrity. ' ' 4 
 
 Whether these explanations were considered satisfactory or not 
 by Father Baccari, they were quickly followed by a notification to the 
 writer that a successor would be given him ere long. Father Torna- 
 tore accepted in all submission his removal from office, awaiting only 
 his successor's letter of appointment. 5 The death of Father Baccari 
 intervening, Father Tornatore was continued in the office of Superior. 
 Even the erection of America as an independent Province of the Order 
 with Father Timon as Visitor, did not change the status of Father 
 Tornatore as Superior of the Barrens. 
 
 Better days were in store for the Community, the departure of the 
 malcontents proving a blessing in disguise. The Institute began to 
 flourish once more, the number of priests rose to fifteen, with five 
 students of theology and eight novices. Concord now reigned among 
 the brothers, working for the cause of God under the direction of 
 obedience. It was under Father Tornatore 's administration that the 
 construction of the Seminary Church was finally completed, and its 
 solemn consecration held by Bishop Rosati, October 29th, 1837. Father 
 Odin had in the meantime journeyed to Europe to solicit alms from 
 the wealth of the old world to speed the upbuilding of the Seminary 
 Church. 
 
 4 Tornatore to Baccari, April 18, 1833. 
 
 5 Tornatore to Baccari, November 1834. 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens Under Father Tornatore 383 
 
 The danger to the Seminary, however, was not as yet completely 
 removed. In 1836, Father Nozo, the Superior General of the Lazarists 
 issued a decree, suppressing the College at the Barrens and demand- 
 ing a payment of 600 francs from the Bishop for every Seminary 
 student's board and tuition: Another decree recalled all the Lazarist 
 priests from parochial work, and ordered them to live in community. 
 
 Under date of March 4, 1836, the Diary of Bishop Rosati has the 
 following entry : 
 
 "I answered the Rev. D. Nozo, the Superior General of the Con- 
 gregation of the Mission, and proved with plain evidences, that the 
 decrees concerning the House of the Congregation in my diocese had 
 been made inconsiderately, and that I could not possibly give my assent 
 to the proposed suppression of the College of St. Mary's and the annual 
 payment of 600 francs for every clerical student : but, that I did consent 
 to the measure of recalling all the priests (of the Congregation) who 
 are now in the Parishes of the Diocese, to Community life. I asked 
 him that the Seminary and College be left in their present condition, 
 and that another Seminary be erected in St. Louis, and still another 
 in New Orleans according to the request of the Illustrious and Most 
 Reverend Mr. Blanc." 6 
 
 What came of these wishes and plans must be reserved as subject 
 matter for a future chapter. The consecration of the Seminary Church 
 of St. Mary's calls for our attention. The Catholic Telegraph of Cin- 
 cinnati, November 30, 1837, brought the minute account of the great 
 event by an eyewitness ; from which we have extracted the following 
 particulars : 
 
 "The ceremony of the consecration of this beautiful church, the 
 corner stone of which was laid on the 6th of January, 1827, took place 
 on the 9th of October, (1837). The building is of stone and is 124 feet 
 long and 64 wide. The front is of dressed stone, as well as the two 
 towers at the corners. Over the door is an inscription in letters of 
 gold, 'The Lord is in His holy Temple: let all the earth keep silence be- 
 fore Him.' The whole front is a lasting memorial of the devotedness 
 and perseverance of the venerable Angelo Oliva, one of the Brothers of 
 the Congregation of the Missions, who died about two years ago. Al- 
 though occupied alone in cutting the stone for this church and super- 
 intending its erection, this excellent man found time to contribute 
 a considerable portion of his labour to the churches of St. Louis and 
 St. Genevieve. 
 
 The interior of the church is of the Tuscan Order. The grand altar 
 at the extremity is of stone, elegantly painted in representation of green 
 
 6 Rosati 's Diary, March 4, 1836. 
 
:>S4 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 marble, the mouldings and front being beautifully gilt. At each side 
 of the nave are three altars, one larger in the centre chapel and two 
 smaller ones adjoining it. The sanctuary is 30 feet square under a dome 
 45 feet in height ; there is a small gallery on each side of the sanctuary, 
 in one of which is the organ, and a large one over the principal entrance 
 of the church. Two capacious sacristies are entered from the sanctuary 
 by lateral doors. 
 
 The consecration commenced at 7 o'clock in the morning. After 
 the blessing of the exterior, the Bishop and his numerous clergy entered 
 the church and, the doors being closed and the people excluded during 
 a considerable portion of the ceremony, one of the Reverend Gentlemen 
 explained the ceremonies before the grand entrance. He entered into 
 a minute detail of the rites they had assembled to witness, and concluded 
 by vindicating the use of ceremonies, in general, and proving the an- 
 tiquity of those by which churches are dedicated to Almighty God. 
 
 The Bishop and clergy then proceeded from the church to the 
 chapel of the Seminary, to transport the relics which were to be placed 
 in the great altar. These relics were placed in a shrine under a 
 richly decorated canopy, and were borne upon the shoulders of 
 four priest clad in chasubles. On returning to the church the 
 procession with the relics passed around the Church and then enter- 
 ing the main door proceeded to the altar near which the relics were 
 deposited. The venerable Bishop of Vincennes, who, at the invitation 
 of the Superior, had come to assist at the ceremony, accompanied the 
 procession. His delicate state of health did not permit him to be present 
 at the commencement of the ceremony. The aged and pious, Mr. Olivier, 
 one of the devoted pioneers of the West, and now in his 91st year, was 
 also present, and contributed by his very appearance to inspire the 
 assembled multitude with devotion and recollection. 
 
 After the great altar was consecrated, by our Right Rev. Bishop 
 with all the dignity and fidelity to the Roman Pontifical for which he 
 is distinguished, the Pontifical Mass was celebrated, and the whole 
 concluded at about half past two. At half past four the same Right 
 Rev. Prelate celebrated the Pontifical Vespers. 
 
 There were present on the occasion forty-one clergymen, including 
 seventeen priests, four deacons, three subdeacons and the seminarians 
 and novices of the Congregation of the Missions. 
 
 It is not in the language of exaggeration we speak when we say that 
 with the exception of the consecration of the Cathedral of St. Louis, 
 a more imposing and truly religions spectacle has not been witnessed in 
 the Western Country. The church itself may compare with, in point of 
 architecture, if it does not surpass, any other religious edifice in the 
 
St. Mary's of the Barrens Under Father Tornatore 385 
 
 United States; and a visitor from our Eastern cities, if suddenly trans- 
 ported to it, could scarcely believe that he was in the Barrens of 
 Missouri. ' ' T 
 
 Father Tornatore was overjoyed at the completion of the church 
 after a decade's hard struggle and patient waiting. 8 He attended two 
 Provincial Councils at Baltimore (1843 and 1846) as theologian of 
 Bishop Kenrick, who had a high regard for his learning and piety. He 
 died at the Barrens February 20th, 1864, in his 81st year, and was 
 buried in the Community Cemetery at the Barrens. Many are the relics 
 preserved here. But the greatest treasure this church possesses is the 
 body of the saintly Father Felix De Andreis, which was reinterred in 
 September 1837, on the gospel side of the chapel of St. Vincent, 
 directly beneath the pavement. 
 
 i St. Louis, at the time, had no Catholic paper; hence the report was sent to 
 Cincinnati for publication. 
 
 8 Father Tornatore in his transport of joy, wrote a month after to Father 
 Ugo, in Rome: "The service lasted 7% hours. Some 40 Ecclesiastics were present; 
 during all the time of the function, which is beautiful and devotion-inspiring, there 
 was singing. A large crowd of people were present, both Catholic and Protestant, 
 and all were astonished and edified. Our church is quite piety-inspiring. No one 
 enters, be he Catholic or Protestant, who does not feel like saying: This is truly 
 God's house; and this is a great boon for religion and the cause of the conversion 
 of many heretics, who never experienced in their meeting-houses such a sweetness of 
 feeling as they experience when they come to our church and assist at the sacred 
 functions, which, thanks be to God, are carried out there with great accuracy and 
 devotion. ' ' 
 
 Vol. 1—13 
 
Chapter 20 
 BISHOP DU BOURG AND THE COADJUTORSHIP 
 
 The strangest and most complicated event of Bishop Du Bourg's 
 Episcopate is the series of negotiations with Rome for the appointment 
 of a coadjutor for the diocese of Louisiana. That the immense diocese 
 could not be properly administered by one man, was plain to everybody 
 concerned. Rome would, no doubt, have gladly consented to any proper 
 appointment. But the Louisiana prelate had several minor considerations 
 in view, and proved so vacillating a petitioner, that the Propaganda, 
 at last, resorted to measures of its own. 
 
 The first candidate proposed by Bishop Du Bourg for episcopal 
 honors, though not for the coadjustorship, was his old enemy, the 
 "inimicus homo" of former days, Father Antonio de Sedella. This 
 was early in 1819. The unhappy dissensions in the church of New 
 Orleans, once fostered by Father Sedella, were gradually being com- 
 posed. 
 
 "In order to promote and hasten such a great work," wrote the 
 prelate to the Cardinal Prefect, "I requested Father Anthony de 
 Sedella be elevated to the episcopal dignity with the title in partibus, 
 as my assistant, suppressing however, the right of succession. Through 
 this I judged that the estranged sheep might be more easily brought back 
 to the obedience and love of their Shepherd, and that all might gradually 
 coalesce in one mind. 
 
 "According to subsequent communications the work of pacification 
 progresses more happily from day to day. For when Father Anthony 
 noticed that the trustees of his church, formerly most inimical to me, 
 were now, through the influence mainly of my very dear friend, the 
 Reverend Mr. Martial, greatly inclined to my side, he sent me a letter, 
 full of submissiveness and reverence, and after that showed himself 
 intent in correcting the abuses against which I had frequently protested 
 in vain." 1 
 
 "Having, therefore, received the above mentioned profession of 
 Father Anthony, I sent him the decree of suspension of his vicar, and he, 
 as well as the trustees, yielded immediate obedience, and also most 
 earnestly requested that I appoint, as soon as possible, three of my best 
 
 1 Souvay, Dr. Charles, L., "Correspondence of Bishop Du Bourg with Propa- 
 ganda," gives all the documents on the matter preserved in the Archives of the 
 Propaganda, America Centrale, and in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. The 
 correspondence was printed in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, " vol. I, p. 73, 
 vol. Ill, 223, passim. 1. c. vol. I, p. 194. 
 
 (386) 
 
Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutorship 387 
 
 priests as vicars of his church, which I did: I even constituted one of 
 them, the Reverend Mr. Joseph Moni, of Bologna, a man of lovable 
 character and truly sacerdotal discretion, who, whilst holding for a 
 time the place of Vicar General of New Orleans, had completely 
 captivated the mind of Father Anthony, as his assistant with the right 
 of succession. The peace and government of that church being thus 
 established, I think there is nothing to prevent you offering the mitre 
 to Father Anthony as a sign of approbation and a means of confirming 
 him with a new bond of union. Moreover, as after such a long vacancy, 
 after such deplorable quarrels, after so many denunciations directed 
 against their actual bishop and even against the Roman See, the in- 
 habitants not only do not feel the need of a bishop, but even show 
 themselves disinclined to receiving any bishop, no one appears to me 
 more suitable, than the Father Anthony to conciliate and gradually 
 accustom the minds of men to the episcopal dignity and the authority 
 of the Sovereign Pontiff. The way being thus paved by him, any prudent 
 man will, after his death, with little trouble take his place. I therefore 
 ask you again and again that, unless it seems otherwise to Your 
 Eminence and the Sacred Congregation, the Brief of his election as 
 bishop in partibus, be sent." 2 
 
 In order that this appointment of a man of doubtful character 
 do as little harm as possible, the Bishop requested, that the new Bishop 
 should have only delegated authority in the diocese. But, as Du Bourg 
 continues: "in this manner the danger of schism will be effectively met, 
 yet the needs of the diocese, both present and future, will not yet be 
 sufficiently provided for. I would not have Your Eminence forget : 1 ) 
 that this diocese is the most important one of all North America, not 
 only on account of its well-known extension, running, as it does three 
 thousand miles in length, but also on account of the multitude of Cath- 
 olics, who compose by far the greater number of inhabitants; 2) that 
 the religious condition has greatly deteriorated through the long inter- 
 ruption of the episcopal succession, the paucity of priests, and what is 
 even worse, the bad example of many, and other local circumstances. 
 Its extension brings it about that, with my increasing infirmities, I 
 cannot without greatest detriment to my salvation, and danger to my 
 life, visit the more remote parts of my diocese. And therefore a great 
 number of the faithful are deprived of Confirmation, the priests lack 
 the supervision and counsel of their bishop ; the old abuses continue, 
 and new ones spring up every day. And if the hope of a coming better 
 age has already risen, and as the work of reform is just beginning, 
 it will certainly be levelled to the ground once more, if the exercise 
 of episcopal solicitude should cease for a few months. 3 
 
 2 Souv.-iv, op. cit., vol. T, p. 194. 
 
 3 Ibidem, p. 195. 
 
388 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "Neither of these will be remedied by the promotion of Father 
 Anthony; for he would neither, on account of his advanced age, be able 
 to go out beyond the limits of the city, nor would he, on account of 
 his deficiency of learning and the sad memories of the past, be able 
 to administer the diocese. It would, therefore, be expedient in my 
 judgment that, besides him, another be given me as a real coadjutor, 
 with the right of succession, who being endowed with virtue, learning, 
 and vigor of mind and body, might be capable, not only of assisting 
 my weakness, but also of seizing the reins of Government in case I should 
 be prematurely taken away. I fear, indeed, that my supplication may 
 seem exorbitant to the Sacred Congregation, as the case of two titular 
 bishops being given to help one ordinary, if there be any at all, must 
 be very rare indeed. But I would ask the Most Eminent Fathers to 
 consider that to extraordinary evils extraordinary remedies are usually 
 applied." 
 
 "If the Sacred Congregation should accept my judgment, no one 
 would appear more worthy to receive this sacred dignity, than the 
 Reverend D. Joseph Rosati, a Neapolitan, a most distinguished priest 
 of the Congregation of the Missions, about thirty years of age. He is 
 wanting in nothing that would enable him to gain the reverence and the 
 love of all : Virtue, especially prudence beyond his age, copious learning, 
 a burning zeal for souls, resourceful eloquence, singular modesty, a 
 venerable gravity of appearance, and an untiring strength of body. But 
 as it is to be feared that he might, through his great lack of confidence 
 in himself, refuse the proffered honor, I believe that force should be 
 applied to his modesty and the command should be added to the 
 appointment so, that all occasions for dangerous procrastination might 
 be removed." 4 
 
 The Bishop quickly realized that he had made a serious blunder 
 in requesting the appointment of Father Sedella, and hastened to retract 
 it. But this was a difficult and dangerous matter, as it had been 
 bruited about in New Orleans that the request for Sedella 's appoint- 
 ment had been urged at Rome. 
 
 "The only means I can think of to settle matters," writes the 
 Bishop in his anguish to the Cardinal Prefect, "is that Your Eminence 
 oppose in the Sacred Congregation this appointment on account of the 
 age of the person, and have an official letter sent me with the remark 
 that, no matter how great the merit of this religious might be, his ad- 
 vanced age would preclude the hope of his surviving me, and the 
 expectation of his being of assistance to me in my travels ; that, there- 
 fore, it would be against the spirit of the Church to appoint him as my 
 
 4 Souvay, op. cit., pp. 195 and 196. 
 
Bishop Dn Bourg and the Coadjutorship 389 
 
 coadjutor; furthermore, that the partition of my diocese would be a 
 premature measure." 5 
 
 "In consequence it will be advisable to postpone, for a time, the 
 appointment of Rev. Mr. Eosati, whom I have already proposed for 
 the Coadjutorship and, above all, not to mention it in the aforesaid 
 letter. I ask Your Eminence's pardon for my inconsistency, and my 
 precipitation in such an important affair. But I beseech you by the 
 love of religion to support my views, if you take any interest in the 
 progress of the faith in this poor country, and in the consolation of this 
 poor bishop, whom his sorrows, would long since have brought to the 
 grave, had not God sustained him." 6 
 
 The friends and supporters of Bishop Du Bourg, hearing of his 
 precipitate action, were surprised and hurt. Father Rosati was their 
 choice, and Sedella's candidacy was regarded as preposterous. Father 
 Martial, the admired of Sedella and Du Bourg alike, sums up the feelings 
 of the clergy in Lower Louisiana in a letter to a friend at the French 
 Embassy in Rome ; "It is likewise necessary that they should know in 
 Rome that the wish of all the Missionaries in Louisiana is that Father 
 Rosati be made Coadjutor : his wisdom, enlightenment, virtues and pru- 
 dence fit him pre-eminently for that office. What a disregard of all 
 proprieties, not to say more, in presenting at one time Father Anthony, 
 a Capuchin Monk, Rector of the Church in New Orleans, and a man 
 who caused so much disturbance, and whose wily polity succeeded in 
 keeping away the lawful Ecclesiastical Superior." 7 
 
 On June 25th, Bishop Du Bourg proposed to Cardinal Litta another 
 solution of the whole matter: "I asked Your Eminence to lock up this 
 whole affair in your bosom, to let no one near or far suspect that I 
 withdrew my petition, and to command me to designate another subject 
 who would be younger and more active. I had, however, already pro- 
 posed one in the person of Mr. Rosati to be my veritable Coadjutor, 
 not imagining that I would ever think of giving that title to Father 
 Anthony. But I have just received news which changes once more all 
 my batteries and at last opens to me a door of escape from this 
 labyrinth, whilst securing the welfare of the diocese. For five years 
 I had at New Orleans, in the person of Mr. Sibourd, a vicar general 
 who, by his prudence and great virtues, won the esteem of all, even of 
 my enemies. The fortitude with which he devoted himself to his dan- 
 gerous and disagreeable post, his many qualities which enabled him to 
 fill it well, induced me at an early date to take him in consideration 
 as my Coadjutor, when God, who, to try us, seems to play with our 
 apparently best concerted plans, sent him an illness which forced him 
 
 5 Souvay, op. cit., p. 302. 
 
 6 Ibidem, p. 302. 
 
 » Souvay, op. cit., p. 302. Note 5. 
 
390 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 to leave the country without hope of return. Now since the Good God 
 has made the worthy man well and, against all expectations, even his 
 own, has led him back to us under these painful circumstances, I have 
 no doubt, but that he is the person upon whom He wants this dignity 
 to fall. He is more fit for it than anyone else, by his age, which is 
 equally distant from the two extremes, as well as by his experience, 
 and his long services in the administration, as also by the general esteem 
 and consideration by which he is surrounded ; I therefore write to the 
 Sacred Congregation a Latin Letter (which I ask Your Eminence to 
 read with particular attention) in which, whilst keeping absolute silence 
 about Father Anthony, I ask to substitute Mr. Sibourd for Mr. Rosati. 
 I beg Your Eminence, in conformity with my last letter, to address 
 to me a communication which I may show, written by Yourself, from 
 which it appears that I have made a petition for this Religious, but 
 that His Holiness, on account of the great age of the subject, has not 
 thought proper to grant it, and that, to avoid delay, having heard from 
 the Sacred Congregation of the merits of my Vicar General Mr. Sibourd, 
 He has designed, Motu proprio, to confer upon him the dignity which 
 I had solicited for Father Anthony." 8 
 
 On June 25th, Bishop Du Bourg returns to the charge in favor 
 of Father Sibourd as his coadjutor, giving a reason also for his with- 
 drawal of the name of Father Rosati : Alluding to his former letters to 
 Propaganda the Bishop writes: "I presumed to designate the Reverend 
 Joseph Rosati, a priest of the Congregation of the Missions, in whom 
 I said nothing is wanting, except, possibly the proper age, to bear worth- 
 ily this formidable burden. However, I should not have brought him 
 forth, if I had had the least hope, that my \ T icar-General, Rev. Louis 
 Sibourd who, suffering from some illness a few months since, was 
 forced to leave New Orleans for foreign parts, should ever return. For 
 I have no priest to whom I am bound by a stronger claim ; I know none, 
 who enjoys among all, the laity as well as the clergy, a higher esteem 
 for prudence and holiness of life, and who has acquired a fuller knowl- 
 edge of the diocese. 
 
 "As he now, against the expection of all, has returned well and 
 strong, with the intention of remaining in New Orleans until his end, I 
 would recall the former designation, and ask most humbly, that the 
 above-mentioned Rev. Louis Sibourd, a priest of the diocese of Embrun, 
 later parish priest in the Island of San Domingo, and during the last 
 five years Vicar General of this diocese, a man, though burdened with 
 a number of years, yet not too far advanced in age, nor broken by 
 infirmities, be given to me as Coadjutor, with the right of succession. 
 To the other things that speak for him, this fact may be added, a fact 
 making his appointment so desirable in the present state of the diocese, 
 
 s Souvay, op. cit., p. 306. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutorship 391 
 
 namely that he enjoys sufficient income, to serve almost at his own 
 expense. Lastly, that the Rev. Joseph Rosati, whose Congregation is 
 not yet firmly established in the diocese, cannot without grave detriment 
 be separated from it so soon, as he is the main-stay thereof." 9 
 
 Being asked by the Congregation of the Propaganda to propose 
 some other priest, not older than himself, besides Vicar General Louis 
 Sibourd, Bishop Du Bourg submitted the names of Fathers Bertrand 
 Martial from Bordeaux, and Joseph Rosati, both men of genuine piety, 
 remarkable power of mind and manners. But, "as the Rev. B. Martial 
 and the Rev. J. Rosati have undertaken under my auspices, the one 
 the foundation of a college for the religious and literary education of 
 boys in Lower Louisiana, and the other that of an Ecclesiastical Seminary 
 in Upper Louisiana, these works which are, I shall not say very useful, 
 but really necessary above all others, will fatally crumble down, if 
 these two gentlemen are taken away. There remains, therefore, but one 
 candidate to whom the Coadjutorship may be given without grave 
 inconvenience, namely, the Rev. Louis Sibourd. The fact that he is a 
 few years my senior does not seem really to be in the way : first, 
 because his vigor and his virtue are in proportion to his years ; secondly 
 and mainly, because, as the principal reason for giving me a Coadjutor 
 is that the minds in Lower Louisiana may gradually grow reconciled 
 with the government of the Bishop, it is of the utmost importance to 
 select a man with whom they are already quite accustomed." 10 
 
 As the age of Father Sibourd seemed to militate against his chances, 
 Bishop Du Bourg in his next communication substituted the name of 
 Father De Andreis for that of Sibourd adding, however, that De An- 
 dreis and Rosati were indispensible for the establishment of their 
 community, as Martial was for the College he had founded in Lower 
 Louisiana. When the question of dividing the diocese arose once more, 
 the Bishop strongly disadvised such a step for the present. "Lower and 
 Upper Louisiana are so necessary to each other, that if they be separated, 
 the later could not get temporal, and the other spiritual help. The 
 Episcopal mensa, and the support of the seminary are somehow supplied 
 by Lower Louisiana ; from Upper Louisiana alone can priests be supplied. 
 Each one, therefore, needs the society of the other ; hence, if a division 
 is made, both must of necessity suffer. At some future day, perhaps 
 it will be possible to make this division, otherwise, desirable, without 
 such great detriment ; yet it will always be profitable to proceed slowly 
 in a matter of such importance, lest, under the specious appearance of 
 greater utility, the strength of both parts be impaired. For the present, 
 at any rate, it is evident that the division would be a calamity ; and it 
 
 s Souvay, "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. II, pp. 309-310. 
 io Ibidem, vol. II, p. 48. 
 
392 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 is of the utmost importance that both sections remain under the author- 
 ity of only one Bishop, to whom, however, a Coadjutor should be given, 
 to take a portion of his solicitude.'' 11 
 
 As St. Louis was even then (1820) mentioned as a Metropolitan 
 See, Bishop Du Bourg, gave his views on the question. "But the matter 
 is not yet ripe for consideration," he wrote. Now, as Cardinal Fontana 
 declined to give the Prelate his first choice, Father Sibourd, as Coad- 
 jutor, Du Bourg expresses his willingness to bear the burden alone, as 
 long as his strength might last. In the meantime the Bishop of Louisi- 
 ana felt it incumbent upon himself to visit the lower part of his diocese. 
 On St. Mathias' Day 1821, he relates to Cardinal Fontana in triumphant 
 tones the welcome news of his victory over all obstacles: "Your Em- 
 inence is aware, I believe, of the amount of hatred first aroused against 
 me in this Lower Louisiana; it went so far that I could go there only 
 at considerable risk. It will be to you, therefore, a source of great 
 wonder to hear that, in this visitation of my Diocese, I have met, all 
 the way to NeAv Orleans, a practically unanimous welcome from the 
 clergy and the people. 
 
 ' ' This is truly the work of the Lord, and so wonderful has this change 
 of spirit appeared, that the persons who knew the distress I was in, can 
 scarcely believe their eyes when they behold the consolations with which 
 the all-merciful God gladdens my soul. Among those who exhibited 
 the greatest signs of joy and reverence at my coming, one of the most 
 conspicuous was the Rev. Father Anthony De Sedella, the very same 
 man who, in former times, I know not why, was most hostile to me. 
 Words are unavailing to describe the honors with which he welcomed 
 me, and I would dare say that there is no one more in harmony with 
 me, no one to whom genuine affection prompts to more solicitude in 
 my behalf. This example has given the tone to the whole city, so that 
 I was not afraid to celebrate publicly a Synod in that same city where 
 a year ago, merely to show myself would have meant extreme danger. 
 
 "This Synod was made up of some twenty priests from Lower 
 Louisiana. All manifested in unison both their obedience to me and 
 their zeal for the maintenance of Ecclesiastical discipline. It afforded 
 me likewise much consolation to see the change in morals and the increase 
 of piety which, thanks to the labors of my brother-priests, has been 
 effected in almost every parish within so short a space of time. 
 
 "As to the rest, the S. Congregation will be made fully cognizant 
 of it by the Rev. Angelo Inglesi, a native of Rome whom I mentioned in 
 my preceding letter. I would not hesitate to ask him for my Coadjutor 
 were it not proper, according to my judgment, to wait a few years, until 
 he is more fully appreciated by his brother-priests. 
 
 n Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 131. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutor ship 393 
 
 However, permit me, My Lord, to give you this hint of my wish, 
 so that in ease I should depart this life before this wish is fulfilled. 
 Your Eminence may know that I deem no one to be more acceptable as 
 my successor. I am glad that the present occasion is offered Your 
 Eminence and the other Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation to know 
 him and bring about the fulfilment of my desires." 12 
 
 The first mention of Angelo Inglesi by Bishop Du Bourg is found 
 in his letter of October 4th, 1815, to Father Simon Brut6, in which he is 
 styled a "Roman Count," an acquisition of the first order, and a man 
 who had made his studies for the priesthood, and lacked but the final 
 touches. On October 8th, he sings the praises of Inglesi to Father Rosati. 
 On March 20, 1820, he ordains Inglesi and in May, 1820, he sends him 
 to Rome as his personal representative. 13 
 
 On the death of Father De Andreis, October 1820, Bishop Du Bourg 
 proposed to appoint Father Rosati his Vicar-General, "sans reserves," 
 But the episcopal visitation in Lower Louisiana has once more forced 
 upon his consideration the appointment of a coadjutor. If he gets no 
 help, all may be lost. He now realizes that an old man will not do. He 
 makes no complaint that Propaganda refused to give him Sedella and 
 Sibourd, both old men, "But then it remains to me to choose from among 
 the younger clergy one who, by the maturity of his judgment, his sin- 
 cere devotion and his other remarkable qualifications, may make up 
 what he lacks in years. 
 
 Such a one, unless affection misleads me, I have found in the 
 person of my most beloved son, the Rev. Angelo Inglesi, whom Divine 
 Providence has placed by my side to be to me a comforter in my sorrows 
 and the staff of my coming old age. To tell plainly the truth, never did 
 I have anyone so congenial to me, and who ever showed greater affection 
 for; me and greater solicitude for my flock. This solicitude it was 
 which, when he saw me destitute of almost every means either of support- 
 ing myself, or of promoting the interest of our missions, led him to 
 Europe, in order that both with his own fortune, which is not small, 
 and with the offerings that he would beg from the faithful he might 
 supply our want, and recruit a new band of laborers that we are so 
 much in need of. For this reason I do not hesitate to salute him from 
 afar as the chief founder of the Diocese. I believe that Your Eminence 
 is aware of the journeys he has already undertaken for that purpose, 
 of how worthily he has acquitted himself of his mission, and of the 
 honors bestowed opon him everywhere, even by the greatest princes and 
 
 12 Souvay, op. eit., vol. II, pp. 134 and 135. 
 
 i3 Msgr. Holweek hns given a very interesting though saddening account of 
 Angelo Inglesi in the ' ' St.. Louis Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. V, pp. 14-39. 
 The so-called "Montmorency Loan," one of Inglesi 's transactions, is treated by Dr. 
 Souvay in the same Review, vol. II, pp. 199-203. 
 
394 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the potentates of various countries. All this evinces certainly a prudence 
 beyond his age and leaves no doubt that this new Timothy will so con- 
 duct himself in the Episcopate that no one shall despise his youth. Why 
 should not, therefore, this satisfaction be given, not only to my own 
 wishes, but also to those of the whole clergy and people of Louisiana, 
 who unanimously desire him for Coadjutor and successor." 14 
 
 In Bishop Du Bourg's fervid imagination, Inglesi is the Novus 
 Timotheus; he is received by princes and nobles, he deserves the title 
 of the praecipuus dioceseos fundator. On July 16th, 1822, he praises 
 Inglesi for sending a small band of missionaries, and on September 
 16th, he writes to Rosati, that he has reserved Ste. Genevieve that had 
 become vacant through the death of Father Hem-i Pratte, for his 
 beloved Angelo. On the same day he receives the first inkling of Inglesi 's 
 scandalous conduct in Rome. How pitiful this whole episode ! Bishop Du 
 Bourg would not act rashly. Yet, as the hasty ordination of Inglesi was in 
 conflict with the Constitution "Speculatores" of Innocent XII, Novem- 
 ber 4th, 1694, enacting "that no Bishop can lawfully raise anyone not 
 his own subject to Sacred Orders, unless the candidate has established 
 there his domicile for at least ten years, and affirmed under oath that 
 he has truly the intention of remaining there ; bringing testimonial 
 letters from the Ordinary of the place of his birth," Bishop Du Bourg 
 had incurred suspension, ipso facto, for one year, from conferring 
 Orders. He was so notified by Cardinal Fontana in the name of tin 1 
 Sacred Congregation, who, however added "As their Eminences are fully 
 convinced that Your Lordship broke the Apostolic Constitution in good 
 faith, and not out of contempt, they w T ere of opinion that the Holy 
 Father, should be beseeched to deign absolve from the afore-mentioned 
 penalties, by his Apostolic authority, insofar as needs be, both Your 
 Lordship and those who were thus ordained by you. The Holy Father, 
 in the audience granted to the undersigned Secretary of the 15th inst., 
 kindly acceded to the request of the S. Congregation. I wish, however, 
 to warn Your Lordship and all the other Prelates of the United States, 
 that they should henceforth conform in every point with the above 
 mentioned Constitution." 15 
 
 The division of the diocese, and the erection of St. Louis into 
 an episcopal See, was again broached by Cardinal Fontana : Bishop Du 
 Bourg answers on February 8th, 1822: "As to the erection of another 
 See in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, no one certainly can be pleased 
 with it and desire it more than myself, as it means for me relief from 
 immense labors and cares. Still, there is one reason why I delay asking 
 at once for it, namely, the most earnest desire I have to free from all 
 debts and obligations certain quite extensive properties which I have 
 
 i* Souvay, op. cit., vol. IT, pp. 139 and 140. 
 15 Souvay, op. cit., vol. Ti. p. 14fi. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutor ship 395 
 
 bought as an endowment for that See : I trust that, God helping, I may 
 within a year reach this happy goal. When this is accomplished I shall 
 most gladly resign this part of my solicitude into the hands of the 
 Sovereign Pontiff, hesitating at no sacrifice, in order that the Prelate 
 who is appointed to this new See may be spared the temporal cares and 
 the utmost destitution which were my lot for several years." 16 
 
 Early in 1822 Bishop Du Bourg received from the Holy See the 
 magnificent sum of four thousand Roman scudi as a contribution to the 
 support of the diocese of Louisiana. 17 But Father Inglesi was active 
 among the Roman nobles, and promised to send even larger sums. Bishop 
 Du Bourg defended him in a letter to Cardinal Consalvi, Pro-Prefect of 
 the Sacred Congregation, submitting a letter of a certain Mrs. Perret. 
 The Cardinal answered : 
 
 "I have received copy of a letter supposed to be written by the 
 Perret woman to Father Inglesi ; but even if the latter would try to 
 justify himself of the grave misdemeanor which is imputed to him (right 
 or wrong, I know not), still, he exhibited other signs of levity and 
 impropriety, both by taking part in dances and by a mode of dress 
 in no way befitting an Ecclesiastic. For this cause, clever and most 
 skillful in business though he be, yet I do not wish that your high 
 estimate of him should dispense you from watching and from carefully 
 investigating his character. ' ' 18 
 
 "I am confident," wrote Bishop Du Bourg to Father Martial, "that 
 Father Inglesi is entirely justified." He evidently disbelieved the report. 
 At any rate, writing to Father Rosati on Easter Sunday (April 7), 1822, 
 he spoke of Inglesi in the following terms: "Father Inglesi will bring us 
 recruits. He is not a Bishop, neither does he wish to hear of it. He 
 was sorry to have written to me a certain letter which I communicated 
 to you. He announces, he will be here about the beginning of the year 
 (1823). I cannot tire of admiring his devotedness and zeal. But as 
 you may imagine, this disappointment causes me some uneasiness. But 
 it matters not ! God knows what is best. We ought not to lose courage. ' ' 19 
 Four months later, and certainly after he had received Cardinal Consal- 
 vi 's letter, speaking of the unecclesiastical behavior of Inglesi, and 
 recommending watchfulness, Du Bourg 's enthusiasm had not yet abated. 
 On August 7, be wrote to Father Rosati: "Good news! Five or six 
 subjects have just arrived from France for the Seminary. One of them 
 is Subdeacon, the other have Minor Orders. There is, moreover, a 
 Deacon, who, I believe, is ready for Ordination. . . This reinforcement 
 
 1(1 Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 150. 
 
 17 Cardinal Consalvi to Du Bourg, original in Archives of St. Louis Arch- 
 diocese. ' ' 
 
 la Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 212 and 273. 
 !'' Souvay, op. lit., vol. II, p. 212, nolo. 
 
396 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 which has just come to us from Europe is but the forerunner of another 
 including four or five, perhaps even ten, priests. You understand that 
 it is the indefatigable Father Inglesi who is sending them to me. I expect 
 him towards the end of this year." 20 The following month (September 
 6) very much the same note is sounded. "I am in a quandary in regard 
 to St. Genevieve" (it was only a few days after the death of Father 
 Pratte). "The thought came to my mind to keep that place for Father 
 Inglesi. I have strong reasons for so doing." 
 
 Inglesi was a man of extraordinary gifts and graces, chief among 
 them his power of captivating those with whom he came in contact. 
 He was received at the Courts of Versailles, Naples, Lucca, Parma, 
 Piacenza and Turin. He sent a number of excellent missionaries to 
 Louisiana, among them such a remarkable man as John Mary Odin, 
 According to his own report, published in Europe, he received the 
 following sums, in virtue of his commission from Bishop Du Bourg : 
 
 From the King of France 4.000 Francs 
 
 The King of Holland 1,085 Francs 
 
 The Emperor of Russia 20,000 Francs 
 
 The Emperor of Austria 20,000 Francs 
 
 His Holiness the Pope 20,400 Francs 
 
 The Duchess of Tuscany 11,474 Francs 
 
 The Duchess of Lucca 5,100 Francs 
 
 The King of Sardinia 5,000 Francs 
 
 Sundry Individuals . . . 29,192 Francs 
 
 116,251 Francs 
 
 Deducting the expenses and the sums required to fit out the mis- 
 sionaries from France, there remained a balance of 95,051 francs, which 
 Mr. Inglesi has remitted to Bishop Du Bourg, and he publicly appeals 
 to him for the correctness of this statement. 21 
 
 The Roman authorities, however, had full proof of Inglesi 's scan- 
 dalous conduct and expelled him from the city. Cardinal Consalvi wrote 
 to Bishop Du Bourg on April 27th. 1822. "In regard to the Rev. 
 Angelo Inglesi, I reckon you are now in possession of the letter of this 
 S. Congregation in date of September 22nd, last, in which we informed 
 you of his improper demeanor in Rome ; hence you must no longer 
 be thinking of his promotion. One thing in this connection vexes me very 
 sorely, namely that we heard from New Orleans, that as the rumor was 
 spread there that Your Lordship wanted him as Coadjutor, a great 
 deal of trouble arose throughout Louisiana, and all the missionaries 
 
 20 Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 212. 
 
 21 Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 215. 
 
Bishop Du Bourg and the Coadjutors]) ip 397 
 
 were so downhearted that some left the Diocese, while others, forgetful 
 of their former zeal and solicitude, became slack and careless in the 
 discharge of their duties. Wherefore I earnestly beg you in the Lord to 
 do everything in your power to suppress that evil rumor, and to recall 
 the clergy to their duty, in order that what you have built up with so 
 much pain and care may not, on this account, fall in ruin." 22 The 1 fears 
 of Cardinal Consalvi were not without foundation. Father Martial 
 reports. "The opposition which manifested itself at the time when it 
 became known he (Bishop Du Bourg) wished to have Father Inglesi 
 for coadjutor rent his soul asunder to such an extent that he fulminated 
 a Circular Letter to frighten the priests ; but he was very sorry for it 
 when he saw the effect it had produced; clever men may sometimes 
 make great mistakes. There remains in the heart of some missionaries 
 a wound which will be hard to heal. I tried, but in vain, to stop some 
 from going away ; they replied to me : " One 's first duty is to save one 's 
 self. Assure us that in exercising the ministry as we do here, we 
 can save ourselves." 23 
 
 From Washington, where he had just made his arrangements with 
 the Government and with the Jesuits for the missions among the 
 northern Indians, Bishop Du Bourg gave his parting injunctions to 
 Father Philip Borgua CM. on the eve of his journey to Rome : 
 
 "1. For your soul, do not forget your spiritual exercises, ct in 
 omnibus exhibe tr sicui Dei ministrum. 
 
 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 rig- 
 orism, and something attractive in their manners. 
 
 4. Make known to the Cardinal Prefect by what artifices the no- 
 torious Inglesi magnetized me, and Father De Andreis and all, both 
 priests and lay people, who know 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 re- 
 tire, 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. 
 
 22 Souvay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 215. 
 
 23 Ibidem, note 5. 
 
398 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Whoever speaks to you of this sad affair, have no hesitation to 
 disown the wretched imposter, and to depict the sorrow wherein he has 
 plunged me." 24 
 
 Of Angelo Inglesi's affairs from now on we have but little to say. 
 He returned to the United States, became entangled in the scandalous 
 Hogan schism in Philadelphia; was then shown up by the Bishop of 
 Quebec that he had been a strolling player, and then a saloon-keeper, 
 and was married to a Catholic woman by a Presbyterian preacher. 
 From Philadelphia he retired to the "West Indies and died at Port Au 
 Prince, June 13, 1825, whilst ministering to the dying during an epi- 
 demic of cholera. 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg states in his letter that he had proposed his 
 friend Simon Brute for his coadjutor, but it is not known at what time. 
 In regard to Fathers Sibourd and Kosetti who were repeatedly men- 
 tioned for the dignity, Bishop Du Bourg had this to say: "The former 
 who is now advanced in years and infirm, is moreover, afflicted by a 
 polyp of the nose, so that he has become quite incapable to stand the 
 work of the Episcopate. As to the latter, he never had the bodily and 
 mental qualifications fitting one for that dignity. Still less since he has 
 become insane, a calamity which, to the extreme sorrow and annoyance 
 of us all, occurred two years ago." 25 
 
 Propaganda thought it expedient to appoint Father Rosati Ad- 
 ministrator of the Church in Alabama and Mississippi, with the title 
 of Bishop (August 13, 1822) a dignity and burden which Rosati 
 promptly declined. Rosati was now Du Bourg 's only candidate for the 
 Coadjutorship. 
 
 24 Souvay, op. fit., vol. Ill, p. 123. 
 
 25 Souvay, op. tit., vol. II, p. 224. 
 
Chapter 21 
 ROSATI'S ELECTION AS COADJUTOR BISHOP 
 
 In opening his Diary of 1823, Father Rosati writes in truly lapi- 
 dary style, every word pregnant with meaning : "As the Most Rev. 
 Ambrose Marechal, Archbishop of Baltimore had, of his own accord, 
 resigned in the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VII, all the juris- 
 diction which he held, and the care which he exercised over the ter- 
 ritories of Mississippi and Alabama, the Holy Father at the request 
 of the S. Congregation of Propaganda appointed me Vicar Apostolic 
 of these two States, with the character and title of Bishop of the 
 Church of Tenagra, in partibus infidelium, by an Apostolic Brief in 
 date of August 13, 1822. 
 
 ' ' On receiving this Brief, and other letters from the S. C. of Prop- 
 aganda, dated respectively September 7th, and 13th, of the same year, 
 together with the faculties both ordinary and extraordinary, sent on 
 September 8th, after mature consideration, feeling that I was unable 
 to bear such a burden, I answered the S. Congregation to deign to 
 appoint somebody else ; and, at the same time, I begged earnestly 
 Rev. F. Baccari, Vicar General of our Congregation, the Right Rev. 
 William Du Bourg, Bishop of New Orleans, and the Right Rev. B. J. 
 Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown, to plead with the Sovereign Pontiff in 
 order to deliver me from the obligation of accepting that dignity. 
 Meanwhile, at the request of the S. Congregation, the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 by another Brief in date of January 21, 1823, added to the aforesaid 
 Vicariate the territory of the Floridas. This Brief, however, never 
 reached me. 
 
 "At any rate, yielding to the joint entreaties of the Right Rev. 
 Bishop of New Orleans, the Archbishop of Baltimore and the Bishop 
 of Bardstown, Pius VII, always at the request of the S. Congregation, 
 abrogated the aforesaid Briefs of Aiigust 13, 1822 and January 21, 
 1823, and maintaining to me the title of Bishop of Tenagra, made 
 me Coadjutor to the Right Rev. Bishop of New Orleans, with this 
 provision ; for three years I was to discharge the office of Coadjutor 
 with right of succession ; at the end of this period the Diocese was to 
 be divided into two : the Bishop of New Orleans would then choose 
 whichever portion he preferred, and the administration of the other 
 would be given to me by new Apostolic Letters to be then sent to me. 
 I was notified of all this by a letter of the S. Congregation and a Brief 
 dated July 14, 1823. Deterred by the advice of our Vicar General and 
 
 (399) 
 
400 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of the Right Rev. Bishops of New Orleans and Bardstown from re- 
 sisting the will of the Sovereign Pontiff and of the S. Congregation, 
 to the latter, by a letter of December 6, 1823, I made known my ac- 
 ceptance, together with my purpose of receiving Episcopal Consecration 
 as soon as possible." 1 
 
 Thus far Bishop Rosati's account of his elevation to the Episcopacy. 
 The vexed question of the coadjutorship was now solved to the satis- 
 faction of all; and the eventual division of the diocese Avas removed 
 from the changing fancies of Monseigneur. Within three years St. 
 Louis was to have corporate existence as a diocese under one or the 
 other prelate. How did this solution come about? How did the influ- 
 ential men whose intercession for relief had been invoked by Rosati 
 respond to his petition? We shall take up point by point, the state- 
 ments made by Rosati in his Diary. 
 
 It was Archbishop Marechal of Baltimore who gave the first impetus 
 to the Avhole proceeding by explaining the necessity of new Sees in the 
 rapidly expanding Church of America. He succeeded in obtaining at 
 least this much, that out of the two territories of Mississippi and Ala- 
 bama, taken away from the jurisdiction of Baltimore, a Vicariate Apos- 
 tolic was formed, to which Father Joseph Rosati was appointed with the 
 title and dignity of Bishop. A Pontifical Brief which settled these 
 matters was issued on August 13, 1822 ; the Archbishop took it along 
 with him when he went back to America, and on reaching home sent it 
 at once to Father Rosati." 2 
 
 "This action of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda caused 
 consternation in the circle of Father Rosati's friends. Father Rosati 
 himself did not hesitate for a moment to decide that, as the Episcopal 
 dignity and burden were beyond his strength, it was his duty to refuse. 
 He wrote so much to Cardinal Consalvi, to our Vicar General, and to 
 some others. Bishop Du Bourg, whom this oppointment threatened 
 to deprive of a most active co-laborer, at once wrote to Rome, ground- 
 ing his plea on three arguments ; First, the uselessness of the recently 
 created Vicariate, for the Catholics were few in the territory alloted to 
 it; secondly, the inopportuneness of the erection, as there few Catholics 
 were unable to support a Bishop ; and thirdly and foremost, Father 
 
 1 Two volumes of Bishop Eosati's Diary are preserved, the one in the Archives 
 of Kenrick Seminary, the other in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Dr. Souvay 
 has published a large portion of this Diary in the ' ' St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Review/' commencing in vol. IV, p. 311, and continuing in installments till vol. V, 
 p. 88. "Our Vicar-General" is Father Baceari. 
 
 2 "Life of Bosati, " MS. in "Archives of Procurator of the Congregation of 
 Mission," Rome. Quoted by Souvay in "Catholic Historical Review," vol. Ill, p. 13. 
 
Bosati's Election as Coadjutor Bishop 401 
 
 Rosati's departure would surely mean the ruin of the establishment 
 of the Mission, which was the object of his care and solicitude, and 
 on which so much money had been spent. It would consequently be 
 an irretrievable loss to religion." 3 
 
 The Prelate also sent the most urgent request to Father Rosati 
 to remain firm in his refusal of the proffered honor, as his removal 
 to the wilds of Mississippi and Alabama would certainly bring ruin 
 on the Seminary and the diocese of Louisiana. "I pray God to direct 
 you in your answer; but in. my opinion all is lost in the whole of 
 Louisiana, if the thing comes to effect. And, besides the damage caused 
 to Religion, what an injustice to me ! and what motive of despondency 
 for all the Bishops ! God preserve me from ever believing that this 
 affair may be consummated ! Did I believe it I would not go back to 
 my Diocese, but I would go and tender my resignation at the feet of 
 the Pope." 4 
 
 To the Congregation of Propaganda he wrote in his old impulsive 
 way : " It is the downfall, in all Louisiana, of the Congregation of the 
 Mission, which, under his care was beginning to nourish nicely, and at 
 the head of which no one, besides him, can be put for the time being. 
 It is the downfall of our Ecclesiastical Seminary, our only hope for 
 this immense country ; and this downfall will bring about the dispersion 
 of excellently trained priests and of the pupils, whom I had secured 
 at so great a price. As to me, seeing my endeavors frustrated, if I do not 
 die of sorrow, I will at least languish in despondency. Oh ! Your 
 Eminence ! What have you done ? Who ever prompted you to this 
 advice to take from the poorest of Bishops the last and only anchor 
 of his hope ? I had accepted the Episcopate only on the condition 
 that priests of the Congregation of the Mission would be given me to 
 help me. I got only two capable to build up that Congregation in my 
 Diocese, Father De Andreis and Father Rosati. One was taken away 
 by death, and now you are depriving me of the other, when I have 
 consumed immense labors and a great deal of money for the foundation 
 of their Society. In one day are annihilated the fatigues and efforts 
 of seven years. It is all over : if that appointment takes effect, there 
 is nothing for me to hope, nothing to attempt. Dejected I shall sit, 
 bemoaning the ruin of the edifice which, with the help of God, my labors 
 had begun to erect." 3 
 
 3 Souvay, "Rosati's Election to the Coadjutorship of New Orleans," in "Cath- 
 olic Historical Review," vol. Ill, p. 15. 
 
 4 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 5 Archives of Propaganda, in Souvay, "Correspondence of Bishop Du Bourg 
 with Propaganda," in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. II, p. 221. 
 
402 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The Holy Father, had in the meantime, placed an additional burden 
 on Father Rosati's shoulders, assigning the temporary care of the two 
 Floridas to the newly appointed Vicar Apostolic. 
 
 "We, by the advice of our Ven. Brethren the Cardinals of the 
 Congregation of Propaganda, have resolved to dismember from the 
 Diocese of New Orleans the two Floridas and to unite and annex them 
 provisionally to the recently created Vicariate Apostolic of the Ter- 
 ritories of Mississippi and Alabama; and finally, it being our wish that 
 our Ven. Brother Joseph Rosati, recently elected Vicar Apostolic with 
 Episcopal dignity and title of the two territories of Mississippi and 
 Alabama, should have care and jurisidiction over the two Floridas as 
 well, with all the faculties enjoyed by the other Bishops of the United 
 States; so, in virtue of our Apostolic authority by the tenor of the 
 present letter we decree, this to stand, until other provision shall be 
 made by this Holy See." 6 
 
 This new decree did not reach Father Rosati, yet he learnt of its 
 tenor, after he had taken the bold step to send back to Rome the 
 Pontifical documents. It was Father Philip Borgna, a priest of his 
 Community, that was commissioned by Father Rosati to carry them 
 back to Propaganda and to do all in his power to obtain the annulment 
 of the appointment. 
 
 Archbishop Marechal, Bishop Du Bourg and Bishop Flaget had 
 meanwhile, carefully reviewed and sifted the whole matter, and their 
 reports were unanimously against the erection of the new Vicariate 
 Apostolic. These reports placed Propaganda in a rather embarrassing 
 position. Yet the wisdom and resourcefulness of Rome is proverbial. 
 The Cardinals quickly found a favorable way out of a difficulty to the 
 attainment of a long-desired end. Suppressing the impossible Vicariate 
 Propaganda fell back upon the old idea of dividing Louisiana. But, 
 taught by experience, it carefully postponed taking measures for a 
 period of three years, meantime appointing the Bishop-elect of Tenegra 
 Coadjutor to the Bishop of New Orleans. 
 
 A quotation from the Brief of Pope Pius VII, dated July 14th, 
 1823, will be very acceptable here as being probably the last official 
 act of the great Pope, but even more, as being the great charter of 
 the diocese of St. Louis. Alluding to the divisions that had been made 
 by Propaganda, the Holy Father continues: "But now a recent report 
 of the Secretary of the same Congregation based upon a letter of the 
 Bishop of New Orleans, has apprized us of the fact that the establish- 
 ment of the above-mentioned Vicariate and the Union thereto of the 
 
 6 Brief of January 21, 1823, in Souvay, "Catholic Historical Review," vol. 
 Ill, p. 16. 
 
Bosati's Election as Coadjutor Bishop 403 
 
 Floridas made later, as well as your designation for that Vicariate are 
 not only purposeless, owing to the small number of Catholics in the 
 countries forming it; not only inopportune because these countries are 
 utterly unable to support a Bishop, but also your very appointment 
 will be a calamity for the cause of Religion in all Louisiana, for your 
 departure from Louisiana will strike the death-blow, it is asserted, to 
 the house of the Congregation of the Mission recently erected and 
 working so usefully in Louisiana, and to the Ecclesiastical Seminary, 
 and finally to the College founded for the education of young men in 
 Religion and in 'the liberal arts, as you are the only person, on account 
 of the scarcity and youth of the sacred ministers residing in those 
 parts, who can be usefully at the head of these establishments. 
 
 Therefore, the afore-mentioned, Apostolic Letters whereby We made 
 you Vicar Apostolic of the Territories of Mississippi and Alabama in 
 the United States and added to it the Floridas dismembered from the 
 Diocese of New Orleans, and elected you Vicar Apostolic, We, in virtue 
 of the apostolic authority, by the tenor of these presents cancel and 
 abrogate ; and thus, as We had elected you Bishop of Tenegra as per 
 our former Apostolic letter of August 13th, 1822, and as you now have 
 possibly received already Episcopal Consecration, canceling likewise your 
 appointment as Vicar Apostolic, We designate you to aid the Bishop of 
 New Orleans in the administration of his Diocese in quality of his coad- 
 jutor, the following, however, being understood both by you and by 
 that bishop : Louisiana shall be divided into two Episcopal Sees within 
 three years ; if, which may God avert ! the Bishop of New Orleans should 
 depart this life before the division be made, you shall at first take the 
 administration of the whole of Louisiana; then when the division will 
 be made, you shall have the government of only one of these two Sees, 
 and the other shall be turned over to the person designated by the Ap- 
 ostolic See." 7 
 
 Father Borgna reached Rome in the First days of November. 
 Since leaving America on April 10th, he had had ample time 
 to make reflections, and he had come to the conclusion that the 
 good of religion in America imposed upon him the duty of disregarding 
 the wishes of his Superior, and of urging strongly Father Rosati's ap- 
 pointment. In November 1823, Propaganda sent back to Father Rosati 
 the Brief of August 13th, 1822, and accompanied it with a letter ap- 
 pealing to the appointee's sense of obedience. But he had already sub- 
 mitted himself to the inevitable. Both Bishop Du Bourg and Bishop 
 Flaget made it clear to the Bishop Elect that it was his duty to resist 
 no longer. Father Baccari also had advised acceptance. On December 
 
 7 Brief of July 14, 1823, in Souvay, 1. e. pp. 18 and 19. 
 
404 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 6th, Father Rosati wrote to his brother Nicola: "I wrote to you sonic 
 time ago that last year 1 had been elected Vicar Apostolic and Bishop 
 of Tenegra (in partibus) ; 1 refused to accept. My refusal has been 
 taken into consideration in so far as the Vicariate Apostolic is concerned ; 
 but instead I have been elected Coadjutor to Bishop Du Bourg. I con- 
 fess to you that that burden affrights me. But I find myself in the 
 necessity of refusing no longer, as this was made to me a grave duty 
 of conscience by our Bishop and by others whom I consulted. I must 
 therefore submit." 8 
 
 "However, as T had sent back to Rome the Apostolic Letter of 
 August 13, 1822, the S. Congregation returned it to me, adding a 
 new letter, dated November 22, 1823, commanding me to obey the 
 will of the Apostolic See. In compliance with these orders of the Holy 
 See, and receiving from the Bishop of New Orleans letters advising 
 me of the place in Lower Louisiana where the Consecration was to be, 
 and of the most convenient time for that ceremony, I made my prep- 
 arations for the journey. Accordingly I started from the Seminary 
 for Ste. Genevieve as winter was at its fiercest. Received there most 
 amiably by Father F. X. Dahmen, priest of our Congregation, and 
 Rector of that Church, I stayed with him waiting for a boat. On the 
 Sunday, (February 1st) preached at high Mass to the people. 
 
 Septuagesima Sunday (February 8th) preached at high Mass to 
 the people. 
 
 Sexagesima Sunday ; preached at high Mass to the people. 
 
 Quinquagesima Sunday : celebrating Mass early in the morning, 
 went on board, and we left Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 ' ' Until the mouth of the Ohio, river trip quite difficult, owing to the 
 low stage of the water. Five times we struck sand bars, so that it 
 was only after twelve days, that is, on March 4, that we reached there. 
 The remainder of the journey we made most rapidly, for the Ohio, 
 brimful of water, bringing to the Mississippi its most generous tribute, 
 permitted the latter to carry the largest vessels ; accordingly in three 
 days we made Natchez, and the following day late at night I left the 
 boat and landed near Donaldsonville. There for two days I enjoyed 
 the hospitality of Father Brassac, welcomed Father Acquaroni, who 
 came to see me ; and, accompanied by Father Brassac, went over to 
 see the Bishop at the house of his nephew nine miles from the Church 
 of the Ascension on the left side of the river; we welcomed him jnst 
 as he was coming back from New Orleans. Two days I enjoyed there 
 his company and conversation, and accompanied by him I came back 
 to Donaldsonville. The next day, after the divine service. Father Brassac 
 took me over to the Parish of the Assumption ; there, as the guest of the 
 
 8 Bosati to his brother Nicola, December (5, 1823, in Souvay, 1. (it., p. 20. 
 
Rosati's Election as Coadjutor Bishop 405 
 
 Pastor, Father Bigeschi, I made a few days retreat, after which Fathers 
 Bigeschi, Tichitoli and myself set off for Father Bernard de Deva's, 
 where we remained over night ; the following day we reached St. 
 Joseph 's where we spent the rest of that day and the night with Fathers 
 Potini and Rosti, priests of our Congregation who have charge of 
 that Parish. The next day after Mass we went back to Father Bernard's 
 and remained with him until the following day, being detained by 
 rain. After dinner we came to the Assumption and finally to Donald- 
 sonville, where I found the Rt. Rev. Bishop of New Orleans and most 
 of those who had been invited to the Consecration. Everything in 
 the church was in readiness; the joyous peal of the church bell, the 
 roar of the mortar, the sound of innumerable pipes, first from the 
 houses near the church, then from every other house inside and even 
 outside the Parish of the Ascension heralded to all the faithful the 
 morrow's celebration. 
 
 "Accordingly, on the day devoted to commemorate the Lord's In- 
 carnation, in the church of the Ascension at Donaldsonville, amidst a 
 great concourse of people, the following pastors and members of the 
 clergy of the Diocese being in attendance : Revs. Bernard Deva, former 
 pastor of the Assumption; Joseph Bigeschi, present rector of the same 
 parish; Charles De la Croix, pastor of St. Michael's; Anduze, of St. 
 James'; Brassac, of the Ascension; Potini, of St. Joseph's; Rosti and 
 Tichitoli, priests of the Congregation of the Mission; Millet, pastor 
 of St. Charles ; Peyretti, Janvier ; Mr. Hermant, a cleric ; the Very Rev. 
 L. Sibourd, Vicar-General, and Father Anthony de Sedella, O. M. C, ful- 
 filling by dispensation the office of Assistant Consecrators. I was 
 anointed and consecrated by the Right Rev. Louis William Du Bourg ; 
 Father Anduze preached the sermon. 
 
 Assisted at the High Mass, after which I administered the Sac- 
 rament of Confirmation to five persons." 
 
 After the consecration in the Church of The Ascension, Donaldson- 
 ville, Bishop Rosati made a round of visits to his old and new friends 
 in Lower Louisiana. His first visit was to Father Francis Cellini, then re- 
 siding in the Parish of St. Charles of Opelousas. Father Hercules Brassac 
 accompanied him. Travelling partly by boat, partly on horseback, they 
 reached their destination, the house of Madam Mary Smith, where 
 Father Cellini and Rosti were staying on April 1st. On the next 
 morning the Bishop visited the Convent of the Ladies of the Sacred 
 Heart, erected there under the auspices of Madam Smith, and said. 
 Mass, and gave the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament to the Nuns 
 and to thirty girls who were educated there. 
 
 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
406 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The next two days Rosati said Mass in the same place, and preach- 
 ed to the Nuns and the girls. 
 
 After Mass said at an early hour, he was taken back to the boat 
 by Father Cellini ; and going on board, the party sailed through the 
 Bayous, the next day; thence in a carriage they came about night fall 
 to the Mississippi river; the next day they reached Donaldsonville 
 where Father Rosti was waiting for them. 
 
 On the 9th, the Bishop took a boat to carry him down the river, 
 and at halfpast six he landed in New Orleans. From the boat he went 
 straightway to the Bishop's residence, and remained there. He said 
 Mass in the Church of the Ursulines, after which he paid a visit to 
 their Superior and to Father Anthony ; and saw at the Bishop 's res- 
 idence all the priests living in the city, namely, Father Sibourd, Moni, 
 Jeanjean, Richard, Acquaroni, Portier, Janvier, Midland, and Bertrand. 
 On Palm Sunday, he said Mass early in the morning in the church of 
 the Nuns; and, later on, in the cathedral, before the solemn Mass, he 
 blessed and distributed the Palms and was present at the procession 
 and solemn Mass. 
 
 On Maundy Thursday, he celebrated pontifical Mass in the church 
 of the Nuns, to whom he gave Holy Communion. He assisted at the 
 solemn Mass and the solemn Consecration of the Oils by the Bishop of 
 New Orleans in the Cathedral, also at the office of Tenebrae. 
 
 On Good Friday, he celebrated the service solemnly in the church 
 of the Nuns, and at the cathedral attended the office of Tenebrae, after 
 which he went to visit the tomb of Father Ferrari, priest of the Con- 
 gregation. On Easter Sunday, Celebrated solemn pontifical Mass in 
 the Cathedral; during Mass the right Rev. Bishop Du Bourg, preach- 
 ed the sermon from the communion rail, assisted at Vespers in the same 
 place. 
 
 On May 10th, the Coadjutor Bishop finally sailed on the Dolphin : 
 his companions were Father Potini and the Seminarian Hermant. 
 After ten days the boat landed at Bois-Brule, twelve miles from the 
 Seminary. Here the student disembarked, whilst the Bishop and Father 
 Potini continued the journey to St. Louis, arriving there on May 20th. 
 After a brief rest at the Cathedral in company of Father Niel, Audizio 
 and Saulnier the Bishop set out for St. Ferdinand to visit the Novitiate 
 of the Jesuits under Father Van Quickenborne and the Convent of the 
 Ladies of the Sacred Heart and Mother Duchesne. The next morn- 
 ing the Bishop returned to St. Louis where he had a long conversation 
 with General William Clark, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for 
 the West, about the Indian Missions. From St. Louis the Bishop 
 started back to the Seminary. The good people of the Barrens wished 
 to give the returning Father and Shepherd a loud and hearty welcome, 
 
Rosati's Election as Coadjutor Bishop 407 
 
 and had sent Mr. Paquin to Ste. Genevieve, to give them timely warning 
 of the Prelate's approach. The Bishop forbade the young man to carry 
 out the plan. Hence the people had no chance of giving the Bishop 
 a solemn reception on his home coming. 10 
 
 "I shall continue to reside at the Seminary and to live in one 
 Community, teaching my classes," wrote Bishop Rosati to Propaganda 
 on accepting the Episcopacy, as it had been stipulated by Father 
 Baccari, as well as by Bishop Du Bourg. The former wrote : 
 
 "By virtue of an agreement entered into with Propaganda, you 
 must remain Superior of the house and Seminary over there, and head 
 of the whole Mission in America, with the ordinary powers of Visitor. 
 or even of Vicar General, for all cases where there is no time to write 
 to Rome and wait for an answer; and therefore you are empowered to 
 appoint confreres to rule the houses with the title of Vicar-Superiors." 11 
 
 The latter had written to Propaganda: "In a former letter I 
 asked that Father Brute, a Sulpician priest of the highest merit, be 
 given me for Coadjutor, as I was afraid that if Father Rosati were ap- 
 pointed he would be taken away from the superiorship of his Society. 
 But now that he has already been designated for the Episcopate, I ask 
 that he be given the preference over Father Brute for the Coadjutor- 
 ship, and may continue at the same time to be Superior of his Congrega- 
 tion until some one else may take his place in this office. This is an 
 easy way of reconciling every interest. Father Rosati, residing in 
 Upper Louisiana, where are the headcpiarters of his Congregation and 
 the Seminary, will administer, in my name, with Episcopal authority, 
 the portion of the Diocese, while at the same time he will foster the 
 progress of the infant Society. I. on the other hand, shall principally 
 take care of Lower Louisiana, and continue to provide for the little 
 flock in Mississippi; finally, the Catholics of Alabama and Florida will 
 have their own Bishop." 12 
 
 10 Diary. 
 
 11 Souvay, "Rosati's Elevation to the See of St. Louis," 1. fit., p. 171. 
 
 12 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, ef. Souvay, "Correspondence of Du Bourg 
 with Propaganda," 1. eit., vol. II, p. 223. 
 
Chapter 22 
 LINKING OLD AND NEW 
 
 The appointment of Rosati as Coadjutor Bishop with residence 
 in the northern part of the diocese of Louisiana, established St. Louis 
 an episcopal See, de facto, though not as yet de jure. By Bishop Du 
 Bourg's consent Bishop Rosati exercised full jurisdiction in Missouri, 
 Arkansas, Western Illinois, and all the territory to the North and 
 West. Within three years this arrangement was to become permanent, 
 de jure also ; St. Louis with the surrounding territory was to become 
 i separate diocese with Joseph Rosati as its first Bishop. It seems 
 proper, therefore, at this juncture, to link up the new regime that 
 Bishop Du Bourg had initiated, and Bishop Rosati was to continue 
 and extend, with the remnants of the old regimes of the French Jesuits 
 and the Spanish Monks, that survived the period of change and disaster. 
 
 There were the ancient parishes on the east bank of the Mississippi, 
 Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher in Illinois; the Post of Arkan- 
 sas, the former Parish of New Madrid, Ste. Genevieve, then Father 
 Dunand's stations in Perry County, the Catholic villages of St. 
 Michael's, Old Mines, Potosi, Little Canada; then the old Catholic 
 towns on the Missouri River, St. Charles, St. Ferdinand with Dardenne 
 and Portage des Sioux, and lastly St. Louis itself with Carondelet as 
 a dependency. The numerous recruits brought from overseas by Bishop 
 Du Bourg and his supporters were, of course, distributed over all 
 Louisiana, Upper and Lower as well. 
 
 Father Felix De Andreis, the first and foremost member of the new 
 clergy, was stationed at the Pro-Cathedral in St. Louis, where Bishop 
 Du Bourg also had his residence. Father De Andreis was retained as 
 Vicar-General, Superior of the La^arists and Pastor of the Cathedral 
 until his holy death. It was in the primitive parsonage of Father 
 Bernard de Limpach on Church St., now Second, between Market and 
 Walnut, that the Servant of God spent the last years of his life. It 
 was here that he established the first novitiate of his Congregation with 
 Father Ferrari and M. M. Tichitoli and Dahmen as novices. Father 
 De Andreis' successor as pastor of the Cathedral, and President of the 
 College established under his auspices, was the Rev. Francis Niel, with 
 Leo Deys and A. B. Anduze as assistants, and Edmund Saulnier, then 
 but a student, as teacher of languages. 
 
 The Rev. Aristide Anduze, a native of the diocese of Rennes, in 
 France, came to Missouri in (he summer of 1820, after making his 
 
 (408) 
 
Linking Old and New 409 
 
 theological studies at Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and was 
 raisedto the priesthood in November 1821. After teaching a while at the 
 College of St. Louis, Father Anduze was called to Lower Louisiana. 
 He was chosen to preach the sermon on the occasion of Bishop Rosati 's 
 consecration ; and a very eloquent sermon it was, as Bishop Rosati 
 bore witness. Of the three original novices of Father De Andreis. 
 Joseph Tichitoli, was a member of that little band of clerics who had 
 gathered around the Milanese priest, John Mary Rosetti, and were ac- 
 cepted by Bishop Du Bourg, when he came to Milan in 1816. And he 
 alone of all the band was permitted to accompany the advance guard 
 under De Andreis; whilst the others had to wait until 1818. 
 
 Tichitoli was a native of Como. Bishop Du Bourg raised him to 
 the priesthood on the 15th of December 1818 and sent him to Lower 
 Louisiana. Father Rosati speaks of him as a most precious subject, 
 full of zeal and a very able preacher both in English and in French, 
 the proper man for giving missions." 
 
 The second member of this noble trio, Fr. Andrew Ferrari, a 
 native of Port Maurice, was already a priest when, in 1815, he resolved 
 with his friend, Canon Caretti, to enlist for the American mission. 
 While in Kentucky he begged admission into the Vincentian Order, 
 and after six months' novitiate, was sent to Vincennes, as assistant 
 of Father -Anthony Blanc, whom he succeeded as pastor in January 
 1820. He died in New Orleans, of the yellow fever, November 2, 1822. 
 Father Sedella held the funeral services over the remains of his faith- 
 ful assistant. 
 
 The third and last of Father de Andreis' novices was a native of 
 Germany, the Rev. Francis Xavier Dahmen, who Avas born at Dueren, 
 in the diocese of Aix-la-Chapelle, on March 23, 1789. 
 
 But of good Father Dahmen we have given a partial account in 
 the chapter on Ste. Genevieve. We shall meet him again in a future 
 chapter at St. Vincent's Church St. Louis. 
 
 Father Henry Pratte of Ste. Genevieve was one of the golden links 
 that clasped the new regime to the old. He was the first native priest 
 of Missouri, having been born in Ste. Genevieve on January 19, 1788. 
 He made his theological studies in Montreal and, after his ordination, 
 called upon Bishop Flaget, the Administrator, and was appointed 
 pastor of his native city. The parish of Ste. Genevieve had been with- 
 out a priest since the death of Father Maxwell, May 28th, 1814. 
 
 Kaskaskia, the glorious mother of Ste. Genevieve, but now a mere 
 wreck of former greatness, was assigned to Father Pierre Desmoulins. 
 who came from France to America, with Du Bourg in 1817, and 
 journeyed to the Barrens with Father Rosati. After his ordination 
 at Ste. Genevieve, November 1, 1818 ; he was appointed to Kaskaskia, 
 
•110 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in 1819, and there opened a school. As pastor of Baton Rouge, Father 
 Pierre Desmoulins caused much excitement by refusing to suffer masonic 
 symbols to be united with the ceremonies of the church at a funeral. 
 The trustees of the church applied to the Bishop of Louisiana that 
 he might direct the curate to conform to their wishes on the subject. 
 
 In 1822 Prairie du Rocher was still attended by that grand old 
 man, Father Donatien Olivier, then in his 73rd year, but soon to 
 retire to the hospitable shelter of St. Mary's of the Barrens (1827). 
 Bishop Rosati says of him: "He is a saint, who has labored for many 
 years in the service of all the Catholics of these regions." The parish 
 was attended from the Seminary by Father Cellini, De Neckere, Mascar- 
 oni, and from Kaskaskia by Father Paillasson until 1832, when Father 
 Vitalis Van Clostere became its pastor. Father Van Clostere came 
 to Missouri under the auspices of Father De Neckere, in company of 
 Peter Doutreluigne and Peter Paul Lefevere. He was, as his name 
 indicates, a Belgian. Cahokia, the oldest town in the valley, still had 
 its old pastor, Father Francis Savine, the last of the Canadian priests 
 to serve the people of the Illinois. On his departure for the South, 
 Father Peter Doutreluigne officiated at the church of the Holy Family 
 every Sunday. 
 
 St. Ferdinand of Florissant remained in charge of the Trappist 
 Prior, Mary Joseph Dunancl, until 1820, when Father Charles De 
 La Croix took charge. The Nuns of the Sacred Heart, on their transmi- 
 gration from St. Charles, were deeply indebted to him for his paternal 
 solicitude. Mother Duchesne's character sketch of Father De La Croix 
 will be of interest here: "Simple as a child and valiant as a soldier, 
 Mr. De La Croix was afraid of nothing, he dreaded neither the floods nor 
 the depths of the forest swarming with serpents and wild beasts, nor 
 the pathless deserts he had to travel through at night. In all dangers 
 his shield was the sign of the cross, and he had an unbounded confidence 
 in the Angels. On entering into any negotiations he took care, before 
 speaking to the persons he had to treat with, to pray to their guardian 
 angels, and experience had proved to him that this expedient always 
 succeeded. The Bishop used to call him 'his Angel.' And he had in- 
 deed, an angelic love of God and an activity in service which made him 
 fly whenever work was to be done for religion. ' n 
 
 During their stay at St. Charles, the devoted sisters had for their 
 Director and Confessor, the very Rev. Benedict Richard, the pastor 
 of St. Charles. Father Richard — not to be confounded with Father 
 Gabriel Richard, pastor of Detroit — had come to Louisiana about the 
 same time as Mother Duchesne and her companions, reaching St. Louis 
 
 1 Erskine, "Mother Du Chesne, " p. 208. 
 
Linking Old and New 411 
 
 on the 20th of August 1818. He was first assigned to. St. Charles, 
 thus remaining in close contact with the Sacred Heart Nuns. Some 
 time after the departure of the Community to Florissant Father 
 Richard himself was transferred to Louisiana, where he was appointed 
 chaplain of the Ursulines. During the epidemic of yellow fever in 
 1822, Father Richard was attacked by the disease, but "heaven" wrote 
 Father Odin some time later, "did not Avish to deprive the Mission 
 of such a holy man." 
 
 He became Vicar-General of New Orleans under Bishop De Neckere. 
 
 St. Charles of the Little Hills on the Missouri, had been a parish 
 under the Spanish regime, but lay forsaken until the arrival of Father 
 Benedict Richard. He was succeeded by Father John Baptist Acquar- 
 oni, a native of Porto Maurizio, who as a priest of the Mission had 
 joined Father De Andreis and Rosati on their journey from Rome to 
 America. He remained in St. Thomas' Seminary, until the arrival of 
 Bishop Du Bourg and arrived in St. Loins on April 25th, 1818. A few 
 months later Bishop Du Bourg put him in charge of the two parishes 
 of Portage des Sioux and La Dardenne, Mo. In October 1820 he ac- 
 companied from St. Louis to the Barrens the body of Father De 
 Andreis. In the summer 1822 he departed for the South. "He lacks 
 a little the polite manners which some people want to see in a priest." 
 
 The village of Carondelet, or as it was usually called, Vide Poche, 
 with about one hundred French families, had no priest in 1825, but 
 was later on visited by Father Edmund Saulnier. St. Michaels at 
 Fredericktown also had no resident priest, but was attended from the 
 Barrens until 1827, when Father Potini took charge of the parish, to 
 be succeeded by Father Francis Cellini. In Old Mines the two hundred 
 Catholic families had a church, but no priest. It was visited a few 
 times a year from Ste. Genevieve. At New Madrid there was neither 
 church nor priest in 1824: but Father Cellini went there from the 
 Barrens about four times a year, and remained about a month at a 
 time. 
 
 There now remains but one of the old foundations in Missouri, 
 to be spoken of, the Barrens, having about two hundred Catholic fam- 
 ilies, and very good ones at that. They were of Anglo-American stock, 
 and spoke only English. It was here that the Seminary was planted in 
 1818. In 1825, the faculty of this institution of learning was composed 
 of Bishop Rosati and the Lazarist Fathers Leo De Neckere, Francis 
 Collins, and Bernard Permoli, with Father John Odin and the Deacon 
 John Timon as travelling missionaries, in Arkansas and Texas. There 
 were fourteen ecclesiastical students at the Barrens. 
 
 Father Francis Cellini was accompanied on his voyage to America 
 by two scholastics, Anthony Potini and Philip Borgne, both of whom 
 
412 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 became members of the Congregation of the Mission. Father Cellini's 
 long, and, at times, rather tempestuous life will be treated in a chapter of 
 its own. His predecessor al St. Michaels Fredericktown deserves a 
 brief notice here, if it were only for the trouble and grief he caused 
 his Superior by his unpriestly eonduel and his constant complaints. 
 
 Rev. Anthony Potini a native of Velletri, where he was born in 
 1799, entered the Congregation of the Mission at Monte Citorio, Rome, 
 in January 1816, and was sent to America while yet a scholastic in 
 1818, arriving at the Barrens January 5, 1819. Ordained to the priest- 
 hood on the Sunday before the feast of All Saints 1820, he was sent 
 during the Spring of 1821 to take charge of the parish of St. Joseph, 
 in Lower Louisiana. 
 
 Father Philip Borgna was a man of far different character. Born 
 at Saluzzo in Piedmont he came to America with his firends Cellini and 
 Potini in October 1818, and arrived at the Barrens January 5, 1819. 
 Borgna was raised to the priesthood by Bishop Du Bourg, in St. Louis, 
 March 19, 1820. He then returned to the Seminary, but soon after 
 was stationed at the Cathedral in New Orleans. During the cholera 
 epidemic he vied with Father Ferrari, in his devotedness to the stricken 
 people. He was sent to Italy in 1823 as Bishop Du Bourg 's agent. He 
 remained in Italy until the fall of 1824 and then came back to New 
 Orleans, and after a few years Avas recalled to Missouri, where he be- 
 came Vicar-Genera! of the Diocese. 
 
 Father Leo De Neckere, Bishop Rosati's right hand man at the 
 Seminary, who was destined to become Bishop of New Orleans, calls for 
 a passing notice here. 
 
 He was born at Wevelkhem, in the diocese of Ghent, Flanders, 
 on June 5, 1800. Being received by Bishop Du Bourg for the Louisi- 
 ana Mission, he sailed from Bordeaux, with Bishop Du Bourg, arrived 
 in Kentucky with the others and there studied theology for a year 
 under Father Rosati ; left Kentucky with Rosati for the Barrens, and 
 thence was sent to St. Louis, where he was put to teach in the College. 
 He was received into the Congregation of the Mission by Father De 
 Andreis, on June 9, 1820. He went back shortly after to the Barrens, 
 whence Bishop Du Bourg called him again to St. Louis in September. 
 He was there when Father De Andreis died, and a few weeks later 
 returned to the Barrens. He was ordained subdeacon in the fall of 
 1821, and the next year after his vows, deacon and priest. 
 
 Concerning Father Permoli we have but little to say. Born at 
 Piacenza, Italy, on February 26, 1797, he entered the novitiate in Rome, 
 the 25th of November 1815, he was some time later sent back to the 
 Alberoni College in his native city, as a student. There he made his 
 vows and was ordained in due time. When Father Borgna returned 
 
Linking Old and New 413 
 
 to America in the fall of 1824, he obtained permission to take along with 
 him Father Permoli. 
 
 The two "travelling missionaries" mentioned by Bishop Rosati in 
 his report of 1825, in the course of time, became Bishops, John Mary 
 Odin and John Timon, the one in the South, the other in the East. 
 
 John Mary Odin, born February 25, 1800, at Ambierle, France, 
 arrived at the Barrens in August 1822, with five companions; he 
 completed there his theological studies, and was ordained to the priest- 
 hood 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 Cape Giradeau, he returned 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. 
 
 Deacon John Timon, Father Odin's companion on the missionary 
 tour, was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1797. Hav- 
 ing stayed six months at St. Louis at the Bishop's, was sent to 
 the Seminary where he arrived the 19th of July 1822. He was ap- 
 pointed instructor in English and infirmarian. He received tonsure on 
 October 12, 1822, and was put at the head of the catechism class in the 
 church, was admitted to the Novitiate April 25, 1823. Father Timon 
 eventually became Superior of the Lazarists, Vicar-General of the Di- 
 ocese, and Bishop of Buffalo. 2 
 
 In 1822 there appeared in New York the First Catholic Directory 
 in the United States called "The Laity's Directory to the Church 
 Services. 1822." It is a small volume but full of important matter 
 concerning the Church of that early date. The chapter on the Diocese 
 of Louisiana is of special interest to us. As the booklet is a rarity we 
 will give in full the pari that refers to the diocese of St. Louis. 
 Bishopric of Louisiana. 
 Rt. Rev. Dr. William Du Bourg, Bishop. 
 Consecrated In Rome, Sept. 24, 1815. 
 
 This diocese includes the whole ancient Louisiana, as sold by 
 France to the United States, together with the Floridas; The Episcopal 
 
 2 Most of the biographical data of this chapter were selected from that rich 
 collection of historical facts bearing on the history of Bishop Rosati and his times, 
 made by the loving yet critical zeal of the Very Rev. Charles L. Souvay, C. M., D. D., 
 President of Kenrick Seminary, and laid up for use in the "St. Louis Catholic 
 Historical Review," of which he was the Editor. 
 
■±14 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 See was erected in 1796, when the country yet belonged to the crown 
 of Spain. 
 
 Ancient Louisiana is now divided into the state of that name, whose 
 capital is New-Orleans; the state of Missouri, the chief town of which 
 is St. Louis, and the territory of Arkansas. The extent of the diocese 
 has induced the bishop to divide his residence between New-Orleans and 
 St. Louis, in each of which he has his Episcopal chair. In the probable 
 event of his soon obtaining a coadjutor, the two Prelates would then 
 settle one in each of these two extremities. 
 
 The Clerical Seminary, founded about two years ago, is in the 
 state of Missouri, Perry county, in a settlement called Barrens. It 
 is held by the priests of the Mission of St. Vincent of Paul, under the 
 superiority of the Rev. Joseph Rosati. The novitiate of that venerable 
 congregation is at present composed of six or seven members. Several 
 priests of the same holy Institute are disseminated in parishes through 
 the Diocese. The Seminary begins to flourish, and promises a succes- 
 sion of well informed and pious missionaries. Among the priests of 
 the seminary, one is devoted to the neighboring missions as far as New 
 Madrid. 
 
 St. Louis has a Catholic college, under the inspection of the Bishop 
 and several clergymen, either priests or juniors, the priests are the 
 Rev. M. M. F. Niel, Leo Deys, and A. B. Anduze, who beside their 
 collegiate duties perform also the service of the Cathedral, and attend 
 to other parochial functions, both in St. Louis and neighboring settle- 
 ments. 
 
 The officiating clergymen in the upper part of the Diocess, be- 
 sides the above named, are the Rev. Henry Pratte, in St. Genevieve, 
 a thriving town, sixty miles south of St. Louis; the Rev. P. Desmoulins, 
 Kaskaskias, the Rev. N. Olivier, Prairie Du Rocher ; the Rev. N. Savine, 
 Cahokias; the Rev. Charles De La Croix, St. Ferdinand; who also at- 
 tends the infant missions on the Missouri : The Rev. Joseph Aquaroni, 
 P. of the M. for St. Charles, Dardenne, and Portage des Sioux. 
 
 There are churches in all the above places, the most remarkable 
 of which are the New Cathedral in St. Louis, a brick building 130 feet 
 long, not yet completely finished, adorned with valuable paintings, 
 organ and furniture ; the brick church now building in St. Ferdinand, 
 on a very handsome plan, and that of St. Genevieve. 
 
 The State of Missouri is also blessed with the institution of the 
 Religious Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a precious colony ar- 
 rived, from France in 1818, established in the village of St. Ferdinand. 
 15 miles north of St. Louis, where they have set up a novitiate, now 
 composed of five novices and several postulants; a thriving seminary. 
 
Linking Old and New 415 
 
 the resort of the daughters of most of the wealthy inhabitants of this 
 and adjacent states, and a day school for the girls of the poorer class. 
 
 The state of Louisiana has eighteen ecclesiastical parishes, viz, 
 New Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, 
 St. Michael, Ascension. Assumption. St. Joseph, St. Gabriel at Iber- 
 ville, Baton Rouge, Point Coupee, St. Martin, and St. Mary, (Attacap- 
 pas), St. Landry. St. Charles Borremeus (Opelousas), Avoyelles, Nat- 
 chitoches, to which is to be added Natchez, in the state of Mississippi.'' 3 
 
 The members of Du Bourg's caravane and their immediate suc- 
 cessors, who labored in the southern part of the diocese of Louisiana 
 and, in consequence, became members of New Orleans, we will have an 
 opportunity to meet on the occasion of Bishop Rosati's consecration and 
 his subsequent Visitation of that diocese, of which he was appointed 
 administrator. All of them have a share in the upbuilding of the diocese 
 of Louisiana, the mother of the twin Sees of St. Louis and New 
 Orleans. 
 
 3 "The Laity's Directory to the Church Services,'' 1822, New York. A copy 
 is in the Chancery's Office of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
PART TWO 
 
 THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 BOOK I 
 Bishop Joseph Rosati oj St. Louis 
 
 Vol. 1-14 
 
PART II 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 Chapter 1 
 THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 In spite of the friendly relations that subsisted from the beginning 
 between Bishop Du Bourg and his Vicar-General Joseph Rosati, there 
 now appeared several ominous clouds on the horizon to disturb the 
 peace and equanimity of both. One was Bishop Du Bourg 's oppo- 
 sition to an early division of the really unmanageable diocese of Louisi- 
 ana; another was the Prelate's urgent proposal to have the Seminary 
 removed to the south, or at least, to have a Seminary of his own in 
 Louisiana ; the last and perhaps the most disquieting one was the ap- 
 parent determination of the New Orlean 's Prelate to withdraw to Lower 
 Louisana the greater number of the St. Louis clergy. 
 
 As Bishop Du Bourg had already chosen New Orleans as his 
 special field of activity, it seemed highly probable that, at the division 
 of the diocese, he would retain, as he had a right to do, the southern 
 portion for his own. Although the Coadjutor Bishop was rather reticent 
 in regard to Bishop Du Bourg 's frequent calls for northern laborers 
 to southern fields, his faithful brethren of the Congregation spoke out 
 more boldly. Thus, among others, Father John Mary Odin, wrote 
 from the Seminary on August 2, 1823: "On his return to his diocese, 
 (from Washington) our Bishop (Du Bourg) remained a few days with 
 us; he went afterwards to St. Louis and departed almost immediately 
 for New Orleans, where he intends to spend the winter. He has not 
 written for a long time. He is busy visiting his missionaries. It is 
 possible that he will locate his residence in New Orleans or its suburbs. 
 Bishop Rosati, who has been appointed his coadjutor, will administer 
 in Upper Louisiana. The Bishop is bringing nearly all his priests 
 down into Lower Louisiana. It is sad to see so many congregations 
 neglected in the upper part of the state. If Providence does not send 
 help, oh, how many souls will be lost ! 
 
 "From Pointe-Coupee to Ste. Genevieve there is not one missionary. 
 In St. Louis they have but three priests ; and besides that city and 
 
 (419) 
 
420 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the neighboring' villages, they have a college with fifty pupils to look 
 after. Beyond St. Louis there are but two Jesuits. In the whole of 
 Upper Louisiana there are only ten priests, and one a good and holy 
 man, who can scarcely venture out of doors. The cities of Natchez, 
 New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Kaskaskia, St. Michael, Portage, St. 
 Charles, and several small posts, are entirely abandoned. We have 
 had the misfortune of losing several missionaries who have returned 
 to Europe, and their departure has left a great want in our poor 
 mission. Now and then we are called great distances on sick calls, 
 and very often we cannot go, and these poor people must die with- 
 out the consolations of religion." 1 
 
 Bishop Rosati was inclined to justify or, at least, to excuse the 
 Ordinary's seemingly arbitrary acts, although he had repeatedly sent 
 remonstrances: "With regard to the Bishop's disposing of the sub- 
 jects of the Congregation," he writes to Father Baccari, "I have had 
 sometimes to complain that I had not been forewarned of the moves ; 
 but the case was urgent, and I was far away; he never failed to notify 
 me, and when I insisted, he changed his policy. It is but just to add 
 that our own men were the first to ask him for their change, some 
 even without vouchsafing a word to me about it." 2 
 
 To a man less generous and considerate than Rosati, it might 
 have appeared that the New Orleans Prelate was providing against 
 the day, when Louisiana should be separated from Missouri, and when 
 Du Bourg should be Bishop of the lower part of the diocese. 
 
 As early as February 8, 1822, Du Bourg entertained the idea of a 
 Metropolitan See in New Orleans with three suffragans : 
 
 "As to the erection of another See in the City of St. Louis, 
 Missouri, no one certainly can be pleased Avith it and desire it more 
 than myself, as it means for me relief from immense labors and cares. 
 Still, there is one reason why I delay asking at once for it, namely, 
 the most earnest desire I have to free from all debts and obligations 
 certain quite extensive properties which I have bought as an endow- 
 ment for that See ; I trust that, God helping, I may within a year 
 reach this happy goal. When this is accomplished I shall most gladly 
 resign this part of my solicitude into the hands of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, hesitating at no sacrifice, in order that the Prelate who is 
 appointed to this new See may be spared the temporal cares and the 
 utmost destitution which were my lot for several years. When this 
 is achieved I will set to work to pave the way for the formation of a 
 new Diocese midway between St. Louis and New Orleans, which may 
 
 1 "Anuales de la Propagation de la Foi," vol. 1, 5, pp. 68-77, Records, 
 vol. XIV, p. 187. 
 
 - Rosati to Baccari, Archives of Procurator, Borne. 
 
The Diocese of St. Louis 421 
 
 include the State of Mississippi and the Territory of Arkansas. Thus 
 from one Diocese four shall be made out within a few years, and if it 
 please the Holy See, these may constitute a new Ecclesiastical 
 province." 3 
 
 But in the course of time it became plain that this flattering dream 
 could not be realized for a long time to come. Whilst, therefore, con- 
 stantly imploring the Sacred Congregation for a Coadjutor for his 
 vast diocese, "he was always particular about the integrity of its 
 present boundaries. His reasons were : the disturbed condition of New 
 Orleans, the poverty of Upper Louisiana, the mutual dependence of 
 New Orleans and St. Louis one upon another. After Rosati's appoint- 
 ment to the Coadjutorship Bishop Du Bourg's importunities in regard 
 to the postponement of the dismemberment, became even more pro- 
 nounced. When Florida was erected into a diocese with Father Michael 
 Portier as its head, Bishop Du Bourg, finds fault with the appoint- 
 ment of the new prelate. 
 
 "I would not have Your Grace conceive the least suspicion," he 
 wrote to Archbishop Caprano, "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 affection 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 at I am personally concerned, I have no other 
 longing and no other thought but for my 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 promote its increase by all 
 means in my power." 4 
 
 Whilst Bishop Du Bourg returns to the fruitless charge again and 
 again, Bishop Rosati, expressed himself as well pleased with Father 
 Portier 's elevation: "I have just heard your appointment to the Bishop- 
 ric of Alabama, and at the same time, your refusal. I was glad that 
 you are known in Rome and hope your refusal will not be accepted. 
 Owing to my great affection for you since I have had the privilege to 
 know you, I feel a personal satisfaction at your elevation. I would 
 not speak thus if the Episcopate in this country Avas a source of honors: 
 
 3 Archives of Propaganda, cf. Souvay, "Correspondence of Bishop Du Bourg 
 with Propaganda," in St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, " vol. II, p. 150. 
 
 4 Du Bourg to Cardinal Caprano, Propaganda Archives, Souvay, 1. cit., p. 211. 
 A Life-sketch of Bishop Michael Portier may be found in Richard H. Clarke's, 
 ' ' Lives of the Deceased Bishops, ' ' vol. I, pp. 438-456. 
 
422 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 but crosses, afflictions, privations, humiliations, labors, and sufferings 
 are our lot. Courageously, therefore, take up these crosses, and you 
 will be on the high road to heaven." 3 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg was no longer in harmony with his surroundings 
 and felt it keenly, at a time when his pet scheme of another Seminary 
 in Louisiana had failed, through the personal initiative of bis own best 
 friends, Rosati, Flaget and David. 
 
 Father Odin in his letter just quoted, thus alludes to Bishop Du 
 Bourg 's plan of a new Seminary: "Opelousas, a parish of Loavci- 
 Louisiana, in Avhich there is a community of the Ladies of the Sacred 
 Heart, has made a generous donation for the establishment of a seminary 
 in that parish. The Bishop is deeply interested in this seminary. He 
 wishes to have the Lazarist Fathers there and to make of it a retreat 
 for his priests, who, constantly in the midst of the world, at great 
 distances from one another, feel the necessity of retiring into solitude 
 from time to time, to look after their souls' AA-elfare. " 6 
 
 It was at Opelousas that Father Francis Cellini had obtained from 
 Mrs. Charles Smith, a valuable tract of land and the promise of a 
 suitable building for the establishment of a Seminary. This institution 
 Avas to be conducted by the Congregation of the Mission, of which 
 Father Cellini was then a member. Bishop Du Bourg was delighted 
 with the prospect, although the offer contemplated only a ' ' Preparatory 
 Seminary." Father Rosati, the Superior of the Community, at first 
 accepted, and then, revoked the acceptance. Meanwhile Mrs. Smith 
 Avrote her will, in which she bequeathed all her property to Father 
 Cellini, the understanding being that he was to use it for the good of 
 religion and education. The act of the pious lady greatly irritated the 
 Bishop, and caused much very unpleasant comment among the priests 
 and people of Louisiana. Bishop Du Bourg 's strictures on Father 
 Cellini's character at this time, are too passionate and seA-ere to be true. 
 Father De Neckere judged the priest far more kindly; Father 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. 
 
 These facts go far to shoAv that Father Cellini's conduct Avas not 
 as bad as it had been represented. When one remembers the great praises 
 bestowed on Father Cellini when the latter was in Missouri, and even 
 sometime after he had gone to Grand Coteau, La., one cannot resist 
 the impression that this total reversal of feeling in the Bishop was due 
 to some personal wound receiA'ed directly or indirectly from Cellini. 
 
 5 Rosati to Portier, in Rosati 's Diary, "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. XIV, p. 180, note. 
 
 *> Annales, vol. I, p. 5, Records, vol. XIV, p. 190. 
 
The Diocese of St Louis 423 
 
 No doubt the latter 's influence on Mrs. Smith, and the donation made 
 by her of the property to Father Cellini, had a great deal to do with 
 the Bishop's judgment. In consequence of this notoriety Father Cellini 
 asked and obtained permission to go to Rome, where he formally left 
 the Congregation of the Missions. "Had Father Cellini been less 
 precipitate, and followed my wishes, everything would have been done 
 without noise, scandal and opposition," is Bishop Rosati's final judg- 
 ment. 7 
 
 But, though frustrated for the time, the idea of a seminary in the 
 South had now became fixed in the mind of Bishop Du Bourg. At 
 Bishop Rosati's consecration in Donaldsonville the two prelates discussed 
 the matter in all its bearings. A donation of 1,000 acres of good land 
 had already been received through the generosity of Father Bernard, 
 the retired Capuchin at La Fourche: $4,000.00 were offered by one 
 of the priests of the diocese, for the erection of the buildings. The 
 proposed location appeared to Bishop Rosati as "one of the most de- 
 sirable in Louisiana." As Superior of the Lazarists, he immediately 
 submitted the offer to Father Baccari at Rome, with his own recom- 
 mendation. 
 
 In the course of a year, however, the plan took on a new and dis- 
 quieting form : the actual suppression, namely, of the Seminary at 
 the Barrens in favor of the new Seminary in Southern Louisiana. 
 In the summer of 1825, the Coadjutor Bishop was requested by Bishop 
 Du Bourg to meet him at Assumption, La., for a most important con- 
 sultation. The topics discussed were the straitened circumstances of 
 the Seminary at the Barrens, which seemed to necessitate its discon- 
 tinuance, as well as the pressing needs of the South, and the favorable 
 opportunity to secure the future of the Church in Louisiana and 
 in Missouri. The Coadjutor could not see the matter in this light. 
 "His soul was pierced to the quick," as he himself expresses it, and 
 lie represented to the eager prelate the dismal condition into which the 
 Church of Missouri would be plunged by this move, depriving it of all 
 spiritual help. But Bishop Du Bourg retorted with vehemence, that 
 the refusal to consent was tantamount to bringing ruin upon the whole 
 Diocese. Thereupon the gentle Son of St. Vincent consented, though 
 reluctantly, and wrote to the Vicar-General of the Congregation for 
 his approval. This occurred in August 1825. Bishop Rosati spent 
 the next few months in deep anxiety concerning the outcome of the 
 matter. 8 
 
 On meeting the Prelate on November 8th., at St. John the Baptist's 
 La., he urged the difficulties besetting the contemplated foundation: 
 and after weighing them carefully, both came to the conclusion that 
 
 i Holweek, " Pastoral-Blatt, " vol. 59, pp. 82 ss. 
 8 Diary, August 16, 1825. 
 
424 History of I lit Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 it was of the utmost importance, before anything else be done, that 
 Bishop Rosati should find out what the priests of the Congregation 
 in Missouri thought about the change. Upon his return to the Barrens, 
 Bishop Rosati, on Friday, November 25th, assembled all the priests of 
 the Congregation, that is, Father De Neckere, Assist, nit, Fathers Dahmen, 
 Permoli and Odin, and manifested to them the Bishop's desire of erecting 
 another Seminary in Louisiana, and the utility which might be derived 
 therefrom for Religion in general, and their Congregation in particular; 
 the means which the Bishop thinks of employing to realize it; the 
 very great difficulties to be encountered in employing these means, 
 and the harm eventually to result from this project for the Seminary 
 at the Barrens and for practically all the Catholics of the State of 
 Missouri and of the neighboring country, owing to the lack of priests. 
 All these things being duly weighed before God, it was unanimously 
 resolved that the Bishop of New Orleans should be begged to postpone 
 the erection of that new Seminary in Louisiana, until they had the 
 money and the men necessary for the undertaking. Bishop Rosati there- 
 fore, wrote to Bishop Du Bourg for that purpose. 
 
 It may be of interest here to learn how the Coadjutor's council met 
 the proposals of the Bishop of New Orleans. Bishop Du Bourg had told 
 Rosati, that, in order to make the foundation of the Seminary a success : 
 1) he intended to buy a house and a plantation, that is, cultivated land, 
 adjacent to the uncultivated land which had been donated for the 
 foundation of the Seminary: this purchase, might be concluded by 
 the immediate payment of $3,000 and the obligation to pay a yearly 
 life-interest of $1,200 to the owner, who is a man 74 years of age, but 
 enjoying good health. 2) In order to have the funds necessary to build 
 the College and furnish it, he would ask a loan from the State Bank : 
 this establishment exacts an interest of 7 per cent and the annual pay- 
 ment of one-fifth of the principal. 3) To put in cultivation the land on 
 which sugar-cane may be raised, he would enter into partnership with 
 some one who would attend to the cultivation ; the surplus realized 
 over and above the expenses would be equally divided. All this appeared 
 very objectionable to Rosati and he communicated his misgivings to 
 the Bishop, telling him that, before coming to any definite conclusion 
 he would have to consult the priests on his return to the Barrens. 9 
 
 Upon these propositions, the members of the Council made the 
 following observations : " 1 ) It would be dangerous for us to run so much 
 into debt ; crops are uncertain ; we might expose ourselves to bankruptcy, 
 and would be forced to sell everything to the disgrace of the Congrega- 
 tion and Religion at large. 2) The number of our priests is too small 
 to be divided into two houses ; it will be difficult to find one capable of 
 
 9 Eosati to Baccari, cf. "Catholic Historical Eeview, " vol. Ill, p. 177. 
 
The Diocese of St. Louis 425 
 
 being Superior ; this division will oblige us to withdraw the priests from 
 the missions where they are now so fruitfully employed ; again, it would 
 be unjust to do violence to the reasonable inclination these confreres have 
 for the works of the holy ministry, if Ave were to compel them to spend 
 the greater part of their lives in teaching reading, writing, spelling, 
 etc. 3) It looks like downright injustice to abandon Upper Louisiana, 
 that is to say, the State of Missouri, and practically to deprive of 
 workers a country where there is such immense fruit to harvest." 10 
 
 This decision was communicated to Father Baccari and to Bishop 
 Du Bourg. How it was received by the latter is not known, yet it 
 must have nettled the all too sensitive prelate, in a letter from New 
 Orleans, dated December 9th, 1825, Du Bourg sadly notifies his Coadjutor 
 of his Fiat to the deliberation of the priests of the Seminary, deciding 
 to postpone undertaking the establishment of another Seminary, in 
 Lower Louisiana, and then gives vent to his feelings: "As I have 
 only a few years to live, I shall probably not see the extinction of the 
 Diocese ; and even if I do see it, I shall have nothing to reproach 
 myself with." 
 
 But gentle and unselfish as Bishop Rosati was, he would not act 
 upon his own judgment ; though seconded by that of his colaborers ; 
 but laid the matter before the saintly Bishop Flaget and his Coadjutor 
 Bishop David for their impartial decision to be sent to Rome. Their 
 letter to Propaganda was couched in the following strong language : 
 
 1. My Coadjutor and I firmly believe it is not only expedient, 
 but urgent, to make the division : because, until it is made, all the zeal 
 and talents of Bishop Rosati are kept, as it were, in concealment ; 
 and for this cause, the time limit stated in the Bull for the division 
 ought not to be extended. 
 
 2. Our firm conviction is, that the projects explained by Bishop 
 Du Bourg to Bishop Rosati are prejudicial in every respect. If, in- 
 deed, the transfer of the Seminary takes place, the blow will be fatal 
 to Religion in Upper Louisiana, entailing a loss that cannot be easily 
 repaired. 
 
 3. We are convinced, moreover, that the project is fraught with 
 danger, because it involves the contracting of debts without any hope 
 of being able to meet them. Furthermore, we believe it necessary 
 that the division should be made as soon as possible, so that Bishop 
 Rosati may have the right to call back such clergymen as he may 
 deem fit to help him in his administration. This recall will have, of 
 course, to be made with prudence ; but it is absolutely inperative. 
 
 This is our conclusion grounded principally on the perfect knowl- 
 edege we have of Bishop Du Bourg. When Father Martial, V. G., 
 arrives in Rome, you may get more information touching Bishop Rosati 's 
 
 Rosati to Baccari, 1. cit., pp. 177 and 178. 
 
426 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 situation, which will enable you to take prompt measures to extricate 
 him from his painful position." 11 
 
 The measure of Bishop Du Bourn's troubles and bitter disappoint- 
 ments was now full to overflowing. He could bear the strain no longer, 
 but he wrapped his intentions in secrecy. 
 
 On Thursday, April 20th, 1826, he arrived at the Barrens and in- 
 formed the Coadjutor that he intended to leave for Europe in the 
 interest of his New Seminary in La Fourche. Both Bishops went 
 to Ste. Genevieve on their way to St. Louis. On Ascension day he 
 preached at the Cathedral and immediately after Mass went to the 
 steamboat, to which he would allow no one to accompany him, on 
 his way to Prance. From New York he wrote to his Coadjutor, and 
 on June 1st, sailed for Havre, never to return. 
 
 At the request of the departing Prelate, Bishop Rosati had gone 
 down to Louisiana, returning to the Barrens on July 19th, to celebrate 
 the Feast of St. Vincent de Paid. Resuming his ordinary duties at 
 the Seminary, he was deeply surprised and grieved when on October 
 5th, he received from Father Niel, now his agent in Europe, the intelli- 
 gence of Bishop Du Bourg's resignation. At first Bishop Rosati re- 
 garded the report as a pure invention of the papers at home and abroad. 
 Bishop Du Bourg had not dropped a single hint as to resigning : in 
 fact, his conversations with and his' letters to the Coadjutor had all 
 been of a hopeful nature. But on November 4th, Bishop Rosati, who 
 had gone to St. Louis for the consecration of Bishop Portier, re- 
 ceived the Pontifical Brief notifying him, that Bishop Du Bourg's 
 resignation had been accepted, that Louisiana had been divided, and 
 that he himself had been appointed administrator of both. Bishop 
 Rosati at once informed all the pastors of what had occurred: "Two 
 briefs wherewith His Holiness has honored me confirm most unfortu- 
 nately the rumor which for several weeks has caused me very pain- 
 ful anxiety. Bishop Du Bourg has actually resigned, and his resigna- 
 tion has been accepted. The former Diocese of New Orleans, as Pius 
 VII of holy memory had decided by the brief of my election as coadju- 
 tor of the same Diocese, has just been divided: the one part including 
 the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the other the state of 
 Missouri and adjacent territories. The See of the one shall be New- 
 Orleans; and of the other St. Louis. The Holy Father has entrusted 
 to me, until further orders, the care of them both and grants me the 
 necessary faculties. 
 
 You will certainly share in my regrets for the departure of the 
 illustrious Prelate to whom the Diocese owes its priests, its colleges, 
 
 ii Flaget to Baceari, January 1, 1826. 
 
The Diocese of St. Louis 427 
 
 its monasteries, its Seminary, in a word, all the good done in it since 
 Divine Providence had confided it to him." 12 
 
 The question as to what See Bishop Rosati was ultimately to 
 occupy as his own, was for the present left in abeyance. But it was 
 clear that a decision must soon be made. A mere wish of His Holiness 
 would appear to the Administrator as a command. And yet Bishop 
 Rosati felt that his going to New Orleans would be fatal to him and 
 to the diocese. He decided once more to seek counsel from his trusted 
 friend, at Bardstown : but in the meantime he wrote a letter to Father 
 Baccari, stating the reasons, why he should be left at St. Louis. The 
 letter is dated January 6, 1827, and reads in part: "My motives are 
 the following : 
 
 "I am now perfectly inured to the climate of Missouri, whereas 
 that of Louisiana does not agree with me, as I have experienced in 
 my various trips there : as I am now rather stout, the excessive heat 
 prevailing there is so hard on me, that I am then unable to study or 
 apply myself to anything: and moreover it occassions me great incon- 
 venience. 
 
 "New Orleans is a large city, the population of which is for the 
 most part made up of unbelievers and other enemies of Religion. There 
 is needed there a man capable of speaking the language eloquently, so 
 as to impose respect for the Word of God, and not expose it to the danger 
 of being scoffed at in the newspapers by such as go to listen to the 
 preacher, ut capiant < um in sermone. Now, I have not the talent re- 
 quisite for a ministry so important and, in that city, so difficult. On 
 the other hand, in Missouri people are more religious, they come to 
 church with upright intentions, and on that account, no such bad 
 effects are to be feared as in New Orleans, and some good is actually 
 done; moreover all here know and esteem me." 13 
 
 In the depth of winter, January 7th, Bishop Rosati with Brother 
 Blanka, started for St. Genevieve, where Father Dahmen joined them. 
 Their journey was most difficult and trying, but they arrived safe and 
 sound at Bardstown on January 19th. Their welcome there was cordial. 
 All the loved and hallowed spots in the neighborhood, the Cathedral, 
 St. Thomas Seminary, Loretto, Nazareth, were visited. In long and 
 earnest conferences the subject so new to Bishop Rosati 's heart was 
 discussed by the three prelates, Flaget, David, and Rosati and the con- 
 clusion was reached that Bishop Rosati should decline New Orleans, 
 and that the friends should write to Rome on the matter. The home- 
 ward journey was to touch Vincennes. At Nazareth the Bishop of St. 
 Louis in spe took leave of Bishop David, and at Bethany two days 
 
 12 Rosati 's letter to the Pastors of St. Louis and New Orleans, November 
 6, L826, in " Catholic Historical Review," vol. Ill, pp. 181 and 182. 
 
 13 Archives of the Procurator General C. M., Rome, in Souvay, 1. cit., p. 183. 
 
428 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 later, of Bishop Flaget. Here it was that took place the touching scene 
 described by Archbishop Spalding so characteristic of the faith, humility 
 and child-like simplicity and candor of the two prelates. "So deeply," 
 says the historian, "was Bishop Rosati impressed Avith the sanctity of 
 his reverend friend, that on taking his leave he fell on his knees, and 
 refused to arise until he would receive a blessing. Bishop Flaget, taken 
 by surprise, on the impulse of the moment, imitated the example of the 
 other prelate ; and the scene closed with a mutual benediction imparted 
 to each other, and a parting embrace." 14 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg, who soon after his arrival in France became 
 Bishop of Montauban, was enlisted by Bishop Rosati in favor of his 
 relief from the threatening burden. Under date of May 1st, 1827, he 
 wrote from his new episcopal city to the Cardinal Prefect of the 
 propaganda : 
 
 "I regret to see, Your Eminence, that the extreme modesty of 
 Bishop Rosati inspires him with an unsuratountable 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 virtues. His constitution, 
 moreover, 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 too great a danger. 
 
 "There is only, that I can see, one means to reconcile all the in- 
 terests at stake, namely to leave to Bishop 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 
 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 eloquence 
 
 14 Spalding, "Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky," p. 261. 
 
The Diocese of St. Louis 429 
 
 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 wisdom 
 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 Bishop Rosati. So. 
 as there is, after all, question of conferring upon him only a dependent 
 authority, 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 succeed- 
 ing 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." 15 
 
 This was really the course pursued by the Sacred Congregation. 
 Bishop Rosati was appointed to the newly erected See of St. Louis on 
 May 20th, 1827, but continued in the office of Administrator of the 
 diocese of New Orleans until August 4th, 1829, when Father De Neckere, 
 notwithstanding his remonstrance, was elected Bishop of the southern 
 See. Owing to continued ill health Bishop De Neckere 's consecration 
 could not take place until June 24th, 1830. 
 
 Bishop Louis William Valentine Du Bourg, in 1833, was promoted 
 to the Archiepiscopal See of Besancon where he died December 12th. 
 1833. There can be no doubt that the Church in the Mississippi 
 Valley is deeply indebted to the strange combination of romantic hope- 
 fulness and almost fool-hardy enterprise, with genuine piety, solid learn- 
 ing and a deep sense of justice, as embodied in Bishop Du Bourg. The 
 real harvest was reserved for others : But the praise of having pre- 
 pared the soil and cast the seed into the furrows belongs to him. Well 
 may his heart have exulted at the close of his thorny career in the 
 thought of his small beginnings, of his triumphs and of the glorious 
 promise of his work, as he did in his retrospective letter to Abbe 
 Lespinasse : 
 
 "Feeling that it was impossible to plunge into my episcopal city 
 (New Orleans) without compromising, from the very start, the holy 
 character and authority with which I was invested, I decided to begin 
 
 15 Du Bourg, to Propaganda, May 1, 1827. Propaganda Archives, ef. Souvay, 
 Correspondence of Du Bourg, in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. Ill, 
 pp. 219 and 220. Sketch of Bishop Du Bourg 's Life in Clarke, "Lives of the De- 
 ceased Bishops," vol. I, pp. 205 ss. 
 
430 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 operations by attacking the weakest points of my diocese. Thence, 
 as from a stronghold in which I could muster my forces I would sally 
 forth, and having conquered the surrounding territory, the citadel wouli 
 finally be obliged to surrender. St. Louis and the immense territory 
 of the Missouri were the first scene of my maneuvers. I had difficulties 
 here, of all kinds to struggle with. Profound ignorance, and its at- 
 tendant evils, general corruption, lack of morals, dire poverty. I had 
 not whereon to lay my head, and I was accompanied by fifty-three 
 brothers in arms. 
 
 "We fell back into the woods, to serve as a shelter. We laid the 
 foundation of an edifice, which after four or five years of trial, we 
 had the happiness of seeing completed. The fields were cultivated; 
 the live stock increased; a mill was built. From this center, my pioneers 
 went forth in all directions. They cleared the country. They even 
 penetrated into the chief city, were received with confidence, and 
 finally succeeded in disposing the inhabitants to accept their leader. 
 
 "This seminary, finally established in Missouri, I turned my at- 
 tention to St. Louis. I renovated the dilapidated parsonage. I built 
 a school house, which was taken in charge by my clergy. They also 
 contributed to its support, the parish giving absolutely no aid. Each 
 one contributed so much, however, towards the construction of a church. 
 We established the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, in the neighborhood, 
 and their institution was flourishing, for a time. Then, on account of 
 great poverty in that section of the city, it languished, but is now en- 
 joying its former success. This convent is in a beautiful locality. 
 They have a fine house, a church, etc., and accomplish a great deal 
 of good. They have a great many poor girls and also some little 
 savages. I had the happiness of establishing the Jesuits in the same 
 quarter, sometime after, in a very pretty house, which I gave them. 
 They are seven in number, Avithout counting the brothers. They will 
 surely do great good in the future, but they are destitute of everything, 
 save what they can raise themselves. I trust that Providence will come 
 to their aid. God never abandons those who work for Him, though He 
 sends them trials, sometimes, to try their faith and increase their merit. 
 The government pays them for the support of a few savages. In order 
 to secure a piece of bread for the bishop and his clergy, I bought 
 some waste land near the city, but through lack of laborers to work 
 upon it, it produces nothing as yet. It will perhaps, be a source of 
 revenue in the future, as will be also about ten other lots, in the city 
 itself. To sum up, five years ago, I arrived for the first time in 
 New Orleans.""' 
 
 16 "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," vol. II, pp. 403 and 409. Eecords, 
 vol. XIV, pp. 163 and 164. Concerning Bishop Leo De Neckere see Clarke, vol. T, 
 pp. 518 ss. 
 
Chapter 2 
 ROSATI'S VISITATION IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 One of the chief duties of a Bishop is the visitation of his diocese 
 at regular intervals. Accordingly Louisiana claimed the Adminis- 
 trator's immediate attention. 1 Early in March 1827, he had gone to 
 New Orleans to organize an Episcopal Council, composed of Father 
 Sedella, the Vicar-General, and Fathers Moni, Richard, Borgna and 
 Jeanjean as members. The first meeting was held on Thursday, March 
 29th. On June 16th, the Administrator returned to his own flock in Mis- 
 souri : but in November he started once more for the South, to set 
 everything in order pending the coming of the new Bishop. The 
 journey down the river proved a vivid exemplification of St. Paul's 
 "perils bj r water." 
 
 Of the events which marked the journey the Bishop's Diary 
 affords a narrative worth quoting here : 
 
 "At about two o'clock, the boat, which was going downstream 
 at quite a rapid pace ran into a huge snag lying some four feet under 
 water; and such was the impact that a hole was torn in the craft, so 
 that the latter filled rapidly. The wheels, now deep in the water, could 
 no longer obey the force of steam. Then the helmsman turned all his 
 might to directing the boat, now full to overflowing, towards the shore ; 
 providentially it happened that we soon reached in the attempt a part 
 of the river where the water was only nine feet deep; there the boat 
 stopped, resting on the bottom, and so we were snatched from what 
 seemed imminent death. When we were told by the Captain that all 
 danger of death was now over, we went down into a rowboat which 
 carried us to the bank of the river ; and there, after we had somewhat 
 recovered from the stupor caused us by the imment danger of death 
 which we had just escaped, we had to think about the necessary means 
 of building up some huts to spend the night and the following days. 
 For we were on a desert river-bank, and there was no hope of saving 
 our boat. Accordingly before night we had some huts erected which 
 we roofed with pieces of linen and of cloth." 
 
 i For a detailed account of this Episcopal Visitation of the Diocese of Mew 
 Orleans, see the article of Dr. Souvay in ' ' St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, ' ' 
 vol. 1, pp. 215, ss. As most of the facts are taken from Rosati's Diary, March 
 16-29, 1827, we need not mention the source of information for the various state- 
 ments. 
 
 (431) 
 
432 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The boat is destroyed, and out of its planks a few huts are con- 
 structed. At last, ten days after this shipwreck, the passengers are taken 
 up by the Steamer Lafayette, with the Amazon in tow. Nine days later, 
 December 28th, when about twelve miles from New Orleans, the Laf- 
 ayette caught fire, and it was feared she was to be the prey of the 
 flames. Fire had broken out in the hold. As soon as the alarm was 
 sounded, Ave all rushed to the Amazon near-by. But our fear did not 
 last long, for in a short while the crew-men were able to put out the 
 fire completly. "We reached New Orleans about 3 p.m. 
 
 On Monday the Episcopal Visitation began at the Parish of the 
 Ascension, Donaldsonville, where Father Joseph Tichitoli was Pastor. 
 On the following Wednesday the Bishop, accompanied by Father John 
 Bouillier, reached the parish of the Assumption. 
 
 Returning to Donaldsonville for the Christmas festivities, he jour- 
 neyed to St. Josephs, seven leagues from the Assumption, where Father 
 Audizio received him with great joy. Returning from St. Josephs to 
 Assumption and Donaldsonville he started, on January 4, 1828, for St. 
 Gabriels, Iberville, where Father Paul de Saint Pierre had spent his 
 declining years. A Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose 
 of the soul of the former pastor of Cahokia, Ste. Genevieve and St. 
 Gabriels. On January 8th, the Bishop in company with Father Eugene 
 Michaud, the pastor of St. Gabriels and Father Bouillier, set out for 
 Baton Rouge, the home of Father Anthony Blanc. Illness compelled 
 the Bishop to prolong his stay at Baton Rouge. 
 
 On the following Saturday he was at last able to take his departure 
 on the boat The Lady of the Lake, which took him and his companion 
 Father Bouillier to St. Michael's where they arrived on Sunday, rather 
 late in the morning, during the celebration of the parochial High Mass. 
 
 Following the Visitation, Father Auguste Jeanjean was appointed 
 Confessor and Superior of the Sacred Heart Convents of St. Michael's 
 and Grand Coteau, while Father Dussossoy was officially Rector of 
 St. Michael's. 
 
 Once more, on the morning of Friday, January 25, Bishop Rosati 
 and his fidus Achates, Father John Bouillier, crossed the Mississippi; 
 they were headed this time towards the parish of St. John the Baptist, 
 on the German Coast, where they arrived in mid-afternoon. The evening 
 and the next day were given to rest and to the enjoyment of the whole- 
 hearted hospitality of the pastor Father Louis Mina and his guest 
 for the time being, Father De Angelis. From St. John the Baptist the 
 Administrator, together with his inseparable Father Bouillier and Father 
 De Angelis, boarded the Paul Jones, for New Orleans. Thus ended the 
 first round of Visitations. 
 
Rosati's Visitation in the Diocese of New Orleans 4:!:! 
 
 Trouble had been brewing in the City during the Bishop 's absence. 
 "The Trustees," Bishop Rosati tells us, "led and persuaded by one Mr. 
 Cavelier, had been circulating among the Catholics a petition which 
 they requested the latter to sign, and which they meant to present to 
 the Legislature of Louisiana, in order to obtain from that body that a 
 law be passed enabling the same Trustees to refuse henceforth any 
 pastors in whose appointment they did not concur. I summoned to- 
 gether to a meeting all the clergy actually present in New Orleans; the 
 Right Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Oleno and Vicar Apostolic of 
 Alabama and Florida, and the Right Rev. Bonaventure Esperon, Bishop 
 of Jericho in partibus, who happened to be then in the city, were pleased 
 to grace our meetings by their presence. There were at this meeting 
 the Very Rev. Anthony de Sedella, V. G., and Pastor, the Reverend 
 Fathers Moni, Richard, Borgna, De Angelis, Maenhaut, Ganihl, Per- 
 moli, Bouillier, Medina and Cunsade. Having read the aforementioned 
 petition, I asked; 1. Whether or not it was in conformity with the 
 doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church; 2. Whether or not 
 a Rector elected by the Trustees was to be regarded as an interloper. 
 It was answered unanimously: 1. that the petition was contrary to 
 the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church ; 2. that the priest 
 elected to a pastorship by the Trustees should be held to be an interloper. 
 Then it was decreed that the Proceedings of this meeting should be 
 written in full and signed by all present, and that an authentic copy 
 of these proceedings should be sent to the Trustees by a Committee 
 made up of Father Anthony de Sedella, Moni and Maenhaut. Accord- 
 ingly, minutes of the meeting were at once written by Father Ganihl 
 and signed by all present." 
 
 The Administrator did not believe his action in the matter should 
 be ended by the holding of this meeting ; he made it a point to see some 
 of the members of the Senate of Louisiana, and to impress upon them 
 the idea that the petition circulated by the Trustees was in opposition 
 to the laws of the Catholic Church, and that, therefore, the State law- 
 makers could not legislate on the matter without violating the Consti- 
 tion of the United States which guarantees the freedom of all worship. 
 
 In explanation of Bishop Rosati's action the following passages 
 from his letter to the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda will be service- 
 able : 
 
 I am under the impression that Your Eminence is well aware that 
 The temporalities of all the parishes of the Diocese of New Orleans, 
 and their revenues are administered by a Board of laymen, commonly 
 called Marguilliers (Trustees), elected by the Catholics of the Parish. 
 Whatever is done by these Trustees is approved and held valid before 
 
434 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louix 
 
 civil law. Now it occurs quite frequently that men who have no idea 
 whatever of religion, moved; by the Inst of authority, present their 
 candidatures to such an office, and are actually elected. A majority of 
 Trustees of that kind, who are administering the revenues of the church 
 of New Orleans, sent in to the State Legislature a petition, which they 
 persuaded quite a number of the Catholics of New Orleans to sign, 
 asking the privilege to refuse to accept any Pastor in whose appoint- 
 ment or election they, or the whole Catholic people, had no part. 
 
 The argument of the Trustees is that in a Republic the people ought 
 to enjoy the same rights as are exercised by kings and princes in 
 monarchies. But they do not advert to the fact that those rights are 
 in no way inherent in the monarchs or in the Republic officials; but 
 were bestowed by the Church herself, as a recognition of some impor- 
 tant temporal benefits conferred upon her by these monarchs and princes. 
 As, on the other hand, there has never been made here any such 
 concession, and there is no reason why any should ever be made, because 
 the Government has never granted nor can grant any benefices, or any 
 privileges to the Church, without violating the Constitution, one does 
 not see whence this right to make appointments could ever arise. They 
 argue that the jus patronatus gives to the patron the faculty to appoint 
 to parishes and benefices; but this jus patronatus is granted by the 
 Church to the Founders, not to the parishioners. Even here, in New 
 Orleans, this right was not granted to that Spaniard who built the 
 Cathedral at his own expense ; nor was it ever asked by him ; therefore, 
 even though his heirs should claim the exercise of this right, they could 
 not, because prescription to the contrary has intervened. Moreover, what 
 has not the Church to fear, if ever the election of a pastor should 
 depend on laymen with no ecclesiastical knowledge whatever, men of 
 whom scarcely a few have any religious sense, and some are openly 
 haters of religion? God avert this calamity, the worst that could befall 
 this Diocese ! ' ' 2 
 
 Bishop Rosati then requests a declaration by the Holy Father 
 on the matter in order to settle once for all the disturbances constantly 
 raised by the marguilliers. "For," says he "the Constitution of the 
 United States, and of the State of Louisiana provides that nothing can 
 be enacted which would tend to impede the free exercise of religion. 
 Accordingly as soon as it will be proven, and will be made evident 
 that it is contrary to the principles and to the discipline of the Catholic 
 Church, that the people of any parish refuse to receive a Pastor, because 
 
 2 The draft of this letter is preserved in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Rosati's Visitation in the Diocese of New Orleans 435 
 
 they had no part in his appointment or election, ipso facto any con- 
 cession made on this point by the Legislature will be null and void" 3 
 
 It was an appeal to the law-makers the enemies of the Church 
 had made : Bishop Rosati countered their move by an appeal to the 
 supreme law of the land, the Constitution of the United States. Who 
 should win could no longer be doubtful. 
 
 In any case the Bishop's courage and firmness, so different from 
 his predecessors vacillating policy, quelled the incipient revolution for 
 the time being ; so that the visitation of the diocese could proceed in 
 peace. 
 
 On February 11th, the Bishop always with Father Bouiller, boarded 
 the Integrity, bound for Western Louisiana. Slowly the craft plowed 
 its way along, passing on February 12, in sight of St. Michaels 's and, 
 the next day entering the Bayou Plaquemine. Up the stream they 
 proceeded that day and the whole of the next day ; and about night- 
 fall they reached the Caron landing, where they disembarked and spent 
 the night. Early the next morning Father Flavius H. Rossi, Pastor of 
 Opelousas, came to fetch our Apostolic traveler to his residence, three 
 miles away, and after a suitable refection put them on their way to 
 the tOAvn of Vermillionville, which was already beginning to be popularly 
 designated by the name, destined to supplant the former, of Lafayette. 
 Before night the weary travelers had reached the Rectory of St. John 
 the Evangelist's and were enjoying the hospitality of the pastor, Father 
 Lawrence Peyretti. From Vermillionville to St. Martinville, the dis- 
 tance is only fourteen miles ; it was easily covered in the afternoon of 
 the 18th. Old Saint Martins, the quaint Acadian village, amid its 
 venerable oaks, from whose branches garlands of Spanish moss, and 
 mystic mistletoe flaunted, is one of our Country's most venerated 
 shrines of poetry. But Bishop Rosati's visit to St. Martin was no 
 pilgrimage to poetry's shrine, but an errand of mercy. "For," he tells 
 us, "the pastor, Father Marcel Borella, had been lying abed for three 
 months with his thigh-bone broken, and five days ago, as he was 
 beginning to convalesce, the thigh was broken again. We were most 
 kindly received by him, and I could not but admire the sweetness of his 
 character and his patience." Two full days the Bishop edified himself 
 at the bedside of the pious rector. 
 
 St. Charles du Grand Coteau was the next parish scheduled to be 
 visited. From St. Martin the Administrator had first to retrace his 
 steps to Vermillionville, whence he started on Friday, February 22, 
 Just on the bridge crossing the Bayou Carencro, the horse draAving the 
 
 3 Rosati to Cardinal Prefect oi' Propaganda. 
 
436 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 episcopal carriage fell, and it was only by the narrowest of margins 
 that horse, carriage and travelers escaped being thrown into the Bayou. 
 At the Rectory of St. Charles, Bishop Rosati was at home, as the Pastor. 
 Father John Rosti, was a Lazarist. 
 
 Moreover, the prelate was keenly interested in the welfare of the 
 new Sacred Heart Convent of Grand Cotean, which was as yet quite 
 a modest establishment — five choir Sisters, and one lay Sister; the 
 Academy numbered thirty-three pupils — indeed during the whole length 
 of his sojourn at St. Charles, he made the Convent chapel his Episcopal 
 oratory : Particularly worthy of notice is the fact, carefully recorded 
 in his Diary, that on Friday, February 29, at half past three in the after- 
 noon, he solemnly administered the Sacrament of Baptism to three of 
 the Academy girls converted from Protestantism : Mary Elizabeth 
 Gordon and Martha Frances Bell, both twelve years old, and Mary 
 Clarissa Curtis, nine j'ears of age. All three had obtained the consent 
 of their parents. 
 
 After a full week at St. Charles, it was now the turn of Father 
 Rossi, pastor of Opelousas, to entertain the Administrator. Father 
 Rossi, indeed, went to St. Charles to bring the Prelate to his home and 
 to the new church of St. Landry which he was to consecrate. Although 
 the journey by a driving rain and through muddy roads had been 
 rather trying, still the Prelate was, the next morning, second Sunday in 
 Lent, ready for work. March 4, was the day appointed for the conse- 
 cration of the new church of Opelousas, and everything was in readiness. 
 All the requirements of the Pontifical were carried out, Father Flavius 
 Rossi, the pastor, and Father Bouiller, C. M., acting as assistants to 
 the Bishop. There was, too, an immense crowd of people in attendance, 
 and the Prelate marks with wonderment that there had been counted 
 no less, than five hundred saddle-horses, and thirty carriages of every 
 description parking around the church. 
 
 In the meantime the Mississippi River had risen to extreme height 
 and broken the levees at Point Couppee and Iberville ; all the low lands 
 were flooded seven feet deep. The Bishop left for Donaldsonville and 
 spent two weeks there in company of Father Joseph Tichitoli. Thence 
 he went down the river on a passing flat-boat and arrived at New Orleans 
 on Holy Thursday. 
 
 On the 12th of May, Bishop Rosati boarded the steamship Jubilee 
 Captain Price, bound for the Barrens where he arrived on the 22nd. 
 
 This visitation of the parishes of Louisiana was Bishop Rosati 's 
 fond adieu to the priests wdth whom he had been connected so long 
 both officially and in holy friendship. Most of them he was not to see 
 
Rosati's Visitation in the Diocese of New Orleans 437 
 
 again in life. But he remained in charge of the diocese as Administrator, 
 and consequently took a lively interest in its affairs. 
 
 The closing words of his letter to the Cardinal Prefect of the 
 Propaganda manifest his deep interest. 
 
 "I have now gone through the two Dioceses committed to my care, 
 and made the Visitation of almost all the parishes. Everywhere, in the 
 midst of difficulties which confront Religion in this Country. I have 
 found ample motives to extol and bless the infinite goodness of God, 
 for the graces which He bestows so abundantly upon the Faith. During 
 the last six months I have confirmed more than twelve hundered persons, 
 all of whom had gone to communion and were in excellent dispositions; 
 everywhere the word of God is bringing fruit — more or less — , in 
 patience; everywhere the Protestants show veneration towards the Cath- 
 olic religion and its priests, and in many places some Protestants 
 embrace the Catholic Faith ; all are willing to listen to the word of 
 God preached by the Catholic priests ; nay more, I myself, after preach- 
 ing in French to the Catholics, was asked by Protestants to preach in 
 English. There are, in the two Dioceses, nine religious Communities and 
 Monasteries, two of men and seven of women : in them piety and regu- 
 larity are flourishing and their success is evidenced by the number of 
 their pupils. New churches, either of stone or brick, have been erected ; 
 in the Diocese of St. Louis two are not yet completely finished, but three 
 are finished in the Diocese of New Orleans; of these I have already 
 consecrated one, and shall consecrate another in a short while." 4 
 
 -i From Kosati's letter to the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. 
 
Chapter .'1 
 PROGRESS OF A DECADE 
 
 After the visitation and confirmation trip in Louisiana, Bishop 
 Rosati, with energy and prudence, devoted himself to the reorganization 
 of his own diocese and especially his episcopal city. From New Orleans 
 he had written on January 7, 1827: "The diocese of St. Louis which 
 includes the State of Missouri and the territory of Arkansas, is much 
 more prosperous than New Orleans, although destitute of the means 
 necessary for the support of priests. The Bishop has as yet no income; 
 he has only land; but the outlay necessary to render it of value, is 
 greater than the revenue it brings in. The church is burdened with 
 debts contracted in building it. I have sent Father Niel to beg for help 
 from the charitable in Europe. I trust his mission will be successful." 1 
 
 The financial difficulties of the church in St. Louis dated from the 
 early days of Bishop Du Bourg. Immediately on his arrival in the city 
 liberal subscriptions had been obtained for the purpose of building a 
 worthy house of God in place of the ramshackle building that had served 
 the people for divine worship since the early Spanish days. The ex- 
 pense of the ' ' Cathedral ' ' was very great, and funds were soon lacking 
 to continue building operations. Various circumstances contributed to 
 this depressing fact, among them the money-stringency that hampered 
 trade and reduced the number of inhabitants who had or might have 
 subscribed. Every nerve was strained to put the church under roof; 
 the commissioners giving their bond to the workmen for the amounts due 
 Them. As no new sources of revenue opened themselves, the commission- 
 ers, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau and Bernard Pratte and others who. 
 as we have already shown, had become personally responsible for the 
 church debt of $4500, obtained from the Legislature the authorization 
 "to sell at public sale by the sheriff, so much of the church block in St. 
 Louis as was not used for Church and Cemetery purposes, as would be 
 necessary to indemnify them for the amount they had advanced and 
 had become personally responsible for in the erection of the Brick church 
 to the extent of $4500.00.- 
 
 The sale of the southern half of the church-block inherited by the 
 parish of St. Louis from its founder, was effected: the northern half 
 with the church and the cemetery remained in control of the trustees, 
 
 i "Annates de la Propagation <le la Foi, " vol. II, p. 410. 
 
 2 Cf. Bishop Du Bourn's Difficulties in Part I, Book III, c. 5, of this history. 
 
 (438) 
 
-^/-J&yJ. A . o&- o&g&U, 
 
Progress of a Decade 439 
 
 and the lot on which the College stood was the property of Father 
 Niel. 
 
 At the time Bishop Rosati made his first report to Rome, November 
 1, 1825, almost all the property of the church of St. Louis was in alien 
 hands. The Bishop had no home in the city, only an unfinished church 
 already crumbling away. Truly, the affairs of St. Louis were in a bad 
 condition. 
 
 Father Francis Niel, the successor of the saintly De Andreis as 
 pastor of the Cathedral, was not a man of ecclesiastical learning, but 
 a good manager and enjoyed the reputation of an eloquent preacher. 
 One of his sermons on Charity was reprinted in the United States 
 Catholic Miscellany of July 1824, and the editor, Bishop England, 
 praised it saying: "What strikes us as peculiarly remarkable is, this 
 is the English composition of a gentleman, who is, we believe, a native 
 of France and who has but lately become conversant with our lan- 
 guage. ' ' 3 
 
 Yet, this sermon alone would show why Father Niel found so much 
 opposition among his people : though intended as a charity sermon, it 
 contained an intemperate attack on the morals of the men of St. Louis. 
 Father Niel also led the movement of establishing an Orphanage for 
 Catholic and Protestant children. 
 
 The College of St. Louis caused its President many a worry and 
 heart-burn. But his main difficulty was the debt of $4500, on the 
 Cathedral, and a personal debt of $1200, which he could not pay. Col- 
 lections were pitifully small ; An attempted lottery failed to work. The 
 creditors were importunate; prospects were gloomy, indeed, and at last, 
 Father Niel gave way to the haunting idea of returning to France. 
 On December 2, 1824 Father Niel was commissioned to go to Europe to 
 collect funds and engage priests for the diocese of Louisiana. He left 
 in March 1825, after a splendid farewell celebration. Father Saidnier 
 was appointed his sucessor at the Cathedral. On March 14, 1828 Bishop 
 Rosati wrote to the new pastor : " I am very sorry on account of the 
 condition of affairs in St. Louis. If they (the Commissioners) could 
 have a little patience, things could be adjusted in a friendly way without 
 noise. Still if they insist to sell the lots and the house which was origi- 
 nally destined for the use of the priests, and if they want to throw 
 you out of it, I ask you to protest and to publish your protest in the 
 papers and to stop all ecclesiastical functions. I set my hope on the 
 piety and religiousness of the inhabitants of St. Louis, that things will 
 not go that far." 4 
 
 3 July 1, 1824. 
 
 4 Rosati to Father Saulnier. Letter in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
440 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 On the next day he wrote Father Niel at the College Stanislaus 
 Paris: "The temporal affairs of St. Louis are in a deplorable condition. 
 Interest amounts to $2000. These gentlemen threaten to sell the house 
 and lots, if they are not paid by May 25th, or if the contract is not 
 renewed. Tiny want my signature. If the sum collected had been 
 sent, we might have paid part of the interest and restored confidence. 
 Please answer and send what you have collected. After Easter I shall 
 go to St. Louis and renew the contract in my name." 5 
 
 On the 23rd the Bishop wrote a touching appeal to Mr. Bernard 
 Pratte, the chief creditor, in which he praises him for what he has done 
 in the interest of the church, collecting funds and superintending the 
 workmen, concluding with these words: "You have just claims, you 
 must be paid. But collections from Europe are poor. M. Niel suffered 
 an apoplectic stroke and cannot do much. I hope to satisfy your claims 
 right soon: but have patience, and do not precipitate matters." 6 
 
 This was done on July 1, 1828, when the Commissioners conveyed 
 all their holdings in the Church-Block to Bishop Joseph Rosati in con- 
 sideration of his personal note for $4748.28 at 6 percent per annum. 
 
 On April 4 he had made a personal appeal to Cardinal de Croy, 
 Archbishop of Rouen, Grand Almoner of France, for help to pay the 
 debt on the Cathedral. On December 22 he writes to Father Saulnier : 
 "We need not hope for anything from Niel, at present:" 7 His anxieties 
 were relieved, however, by a remittance from the Society of the Pro- 
 pagation of the Faith, amounting to about 20,000 francs, intended for 
 the immediate needs of New Orleans and St. Louis. Of this sum the 
 Bishop devoted 6325 frs. to the Jesuit establishment, 1000 to the Nuns 
 of the Sacred Heart, 9532 to pay the debts of the Bishop's House 
 in New Orleans and of the rest he paid 1582 dollars to Messrs. Pratte 
 and Chouteau, as the first installment on the Cathedral debt in St. Louis. 
 The entire debt, capital and accrued interest, was eventually paid out 
 of funds sent to, Bishop Rosati from Europe. In April 1829 Father 
 Niel sent 2400 frs. to pay for the debts he had made whilst at the 
 Cathedral. At various other dates up to March 1830 he forwarded 
 smaller sums amounting to $2252. ' ' If you have not done what we 
 expected," wrote Bishop Bosati, with all the kindness of his nature, 
 "it is not your fault." 8 
 
 Father Niel had been sent to Europe by Bishop Rosati, not only 
 for the purpose of collecting funds for the diocese, but also of gaining 
 
 Rosati to Niel, Draft in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 Rosati 's Letter Book in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 Ros.-iti, to Saulnier in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 Rosati 's Letter Book. 
 
Progress of a Decade 441 
 
 new recruits for the missions. In this also, he was a disappointment, 
 for the only time he did send new recruits to St. Louis, he let them 
 borrow the money for the journey, which the Bishop had to repay. 
 Among these recruits) was Father Joseph Lutz of Odenheim in the 
 Black Forest, who was appointed by the Bishop to assist Father Edmund 
 Saulnier at the Cathedral. He arrived November 5, 1827. As Father 
 Francis Savine left Cahokia for the south in May 1826, the priests 
 of the Cathedral visited his forsaken mission and also Carondelet. 
 Father Holweck has written a very lively account of Father Edmund 
 Saulnier 's checkered career. 9 
 
 Much of what the loquacious Gascon said and wrote is of no value 
 for the history of the Diocese, however characteristic it may be for the 
 man. He never could get along with any assistant : he often quarrelled 
 with his bishop; he was jealous of De Neckere's popularity; he con- 
 stantly complained of his "beggarly income;" he was a kind of clerical 
 Pepys. whose letters would enrich the world with a very picturesque 
 memoir. 
 
 The one memorable event of Father Saulnier 's long life must find 
 its record here. On February 1829 Saulnier wrote to Bishop Rosati 
 that he gave the last sacraments to Auguste Chouteau who received 
 them with great devotion. Auguste Chouteau was the man who on February 
 15th, 1764 had directed the founding of St. Louis. It seems that Auguste 
 Chouteau had been a practical Catholic all his life — at least according 
 to Colonial ideas. On February 24th Choteau died; the following day 
 Saulnier sang the Exequial Requiem; he received three dollars and 
 fifty cents for his services — also according to Colonial ideas! 
 
 We shall meet Father Saulnier again when we come to the account 
 of the Arkansas Mission in November 1831. 
 
 The old Brick Cathedral was to witness a number of solemn func- 
 tions before its lurid destruction. But the ordinations usually took place 
 at the Seminary. On January 29, 1826, the Jesuit John E. Smedts, 
 and on March 11 of the same year, Peter J. Verhaegen were ordained 
 to the priesthod. Both were placed at Florissant with Fathers Van 
 Quickenborne and Theodor de Theux; the latter had joined the St. Louis 
 Province in August 1825. At the Barrens the Lazarist John Bouillier 
 was ordained on the 11th of March 1826, and on the 23rd of September 
 of the same year, three other Lazarists, Peter Vergani, John Timon and 
 Joseph Paquin, likewise received Holy Orders. Father Paquin was the 
 second native-born Missourian to be raised to the priesthood ; Father 
 Henry Pratte of Ste. Genevieve being Missouri's native proto-priest. 
 
 9 Holweck, F. G., Father Edmond Saulnier in "St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. IV, pp. 189-219. 
 
442 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The third in the list is Father Francis Regis Loisel, ordained in 
 1828. 10 
 
 "In the Jesuit house at Florissant there were now four priests, 
 five ecclesiastics, a few brothers and a dozen little savages who were 
 being instructed in their religion. Of the Jesuit novices of early St. 
 Stanislaus, John Felix Livinus Verreydt, Jodocus Francis Van Assche, 
 Peter John De Smet and John Anthony Elet were ordained to the 
 priesthood at Florissant on September 23, 1827, by the Administrator 
 Bishop of Louisiana. As they were assigned to the establishment at Floris- 
 sant ; the four priests there had now become eight. 
 
 In 1828, ten years after Bishop Du Bourg's arrival in St. Louis, 
 the new diocese contained sixteen parishes or missions with churches, 
 six stations without churches, one Bishop, seven secular priests, six 
 Lazarist Fathers and eight Jesuit Fathers, making a total of twenty- 
 one priests under their own Bishop. But as Bishop Rosati wrote: "We 
 need a great many priests, and moreover a little more constancy and 
 perseverance among those who come to work in this mission." 
 
 "Therefore" continues the Bishop, turning to brighter vistas, 
 "When I am in Missouri, I reside at the Seminary. It is about eighty 
 miles from St. Louis, in a parish which is a model of piety. This semi- 
 nary is conducted by the Lazarists. It has sent forth, inside of eight 
 years, over twenty-five priests, some of them natives of the country. 
 Their studies were pursued in some cases, entirely, in others, in part, 
 in this Seminary. The community, consists at the present time, of 
 about fifty individuals, of whom five are priests, twelve ecclesiastics, 
 ten brothers, and the others are pupils." 11 
 
 "I am fortunate" Bishop Du Bourg had written about 1827, "in hav- 
 ing, besides my Seminary in Missouri, a colony of sisters founded in Ken- 
 tucky. They live by the work of their hands and devote themselves, 
 almost gratuitously to the instruction of poor children, in religion, 
 reading, writing and the first rules of arithmetic." 12 
 
 "This Institution" Bishop Rosati now tells us, contained seventeen 
 religions, some orphans and a large boarding school. Of Florissant he had 
 written : "In the same village the Ladies of the Sacred Heart have a 
 convent. They have many pupils and a few little savages. Another 
 house of the same Order has just been established in St. Louis, chiefly 
 for orphans and day scholars." 13 
 
 io Rosati 's Diary, passim. 
 
 ii Rosati to Abbe Perreau, June 7, 1827, "Annales de la Propagation de la 
 Foi," vol. II, p. 416. Records, vol. XIV, p. 202. 
 
 12 Du Bourg, to Abbe Lespinasse, Annales, vol. II, p. 409. Records, XIV, p. 
 166. 
 
 1^ Ibidem. 
 
Progress of a Decade 443 
 
 This convent, the third foundation from Florissant ; Grand Coteau 
 and St. Michael, both in Louisiana, having preceded it, was established 
 in 1827 by Mother Duchesne through the munificence of John Mullanphy. 
 It was opened May 1 of that year, Mother Duchesne being its superior. 
 In the same year at the request of Father Verhaegen, S. J., the con- 
 vent at St. Charles was reestablished, Thus, in less than ten years. 
 Mother Duchesne had planted five successful houses of the Society in 
 the United States, and, when at the direction of Mother Barat, she 
 called a Provincial Council of the Superiors in 1829, she was. able to 
 report to the Mother-house a most satisfactory condition of affairs in the 
 Xew World. 
 
 The great event of the Year 1826 was the consecration of Bishop 
 Michael Portier, first Bishop of Mobile, by the Bishop of St. Louis. 
 It took place on the second Sunday of November, in the Cathedral 
 built by Du Bourg, now beautifully and splendidly prepared "for the 
 grand occasion." Bishop Rosati in his Diary records the names of all 
 the clergymen of Illinois and Missouri gathered from the various par- 
 ishes to be present at the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Portier : Father 
 Olivier, pastor of Prairie du Rocher, and Father Van Quickenborne, Su- 
 perior of the House of Socitey of Jes;is at St. Ferdinand and pastor 
 of that Parish, supplied the place of Assistant Bishops, according to 
 Apostolic dispensation ; Father Odin, priest of the Congregation of the 
 Mission, exercised the office of assistant priest in cope ; Father Saulnier, 
 Vice-Rector of St. Louis, and Father Verhaegen S. J., that of Deacons 
 of Honor ; Father Dahmen C. M., pastor of Ste. Genevieve, and Bouiller 
 C. M., Deacon and Subdeacon of the Mass ; Father De Theux. S. J. 
 preached in English after the Gospel ; Father Permoli, Vergani and 
 Paquin, C. M. and Father Smedts S. J. assisted in chasubles; Messrs. 
 Loisel and Chalon, subdeacons, Saucier cleric of the Seminary and one 
 of the scholastics of the Society of Jesus, in Dalmatics. Mr. Labadie 
 with three other scholastics of the Society of Jesus, in copes, were, 
 respectively, mitre, book, candle and crozier-bearers. 
 
 Mr. Mascaroni was first, and Mr. Jourdain second Master of cere- 
 monies; Messrs. Hilary Tucker and Isaac Walker were acolytes and 
 Mr. Louis Tucker censer-bearer. Two other ecclesiastics in surplice and 
 ten altar -boys in red cassocks and white surplices served also at the 
 Mass. After chanting Tierce, the consecration was performed solemnly 
 according to all the prescriptions of the Roman Pontifical, in the 
 presence of an immense crowd. The ceremony ended at three P. M. 
 
 At 5 P. M., solemn Pontifical Vespers were chanted by the Rt. 
 Rev. Portier, who at the end, addressed the people in French, the 
 function being concluded by the Benediction of the Bl. Sacrament. 14 
 
 14 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
444 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Bishop Rosati mentions "the clergymen of Illinois and Missouri 
 gathered from the various parishes," as one body: the examination 
 of the Parish Records of the old Illinois towns along the river, shows 
 that the priests in charge were subjects of the See of St. Louis. The 
 somewhat anomalous condition of Illinois is explained at length by 
 Bishop Rosati in his report to Propaganda, dated March 21, 1828 : 
 
 The boundary line of the diocese of St. Louis to the East — to the 
 West which is a desert, there is no need of assigning limits — is con- 
 stituted by the Mississippi river; so that the State of Illinois and the 
 so-called North-West territory are outside the diocese. If these regions 
 were properly settled by Catholics, the ecclesiastical division might 
 well be made to coincide with the civil division ; but in proportion to 
 the area, the number of the inhabitants is quite small, and among these, 
 Catholics are few. These Catholics are established on the east bank 
 of the Mississippi River. Most of the Catholics of the diocese of St. 
 Louis are likewise in villages or in districts near the river. In Europe 
 and in countries thickly populated, large rivers are on the outskirts; 
 here in this part of North America, they are centers. On this account 
 both banks of the river are naturally connected together, and would 
 seem to belong to the same diocese. Owing to the small number of 
 Catholics, it happens, that the same priest has charge of parishes, or 
 congregations, as they are called here, situated on both banks of the 
 river ; this is even necessary for his maintenance, for none of these 
 parishes is able by itself, to support a pastor. Thus, .for instance, the 
 rector of Carondelet, in Missouri, looks also after the parish of Caho- 
 kias, in Illinois; so likewise the Missionary in charge of Portage des 
 Sioux, west of the Mississippi, visits the settlements and the Catholics 
 east of the river. The Bishop of St. Louis himself, going from one to 
 another of the parishes of his diocese, - has to pass through several par- 
 ishes of Illinois, because this is the shorter and better road. If, on the 
 other hand, these Illinois parishes were in the diocese of a Bishop 
 residing at Vincennes, he would have to undertake a two-hundred mile 
 journey to visit them. For this reason, as soon as the Right Reverend 
 Louis William Du Bourg established his residence in St. Louis, he was 
 asked by the Right Reverend Bishop of Bardstown to take these 
 parishes under his charge. At the request of the same prelate and of 
 the bishop of Cincinnati, I too, continue to take care of them." 15 
 
 This private arrangement of the prelates concerned was made official 
 by Decree of Propaganda, assigning the western half of Illinois to 
 the diocese of St. Louis. Bishop Rosati always showed a lively interest 
 in the old French towns of the Illinois border. In October 1824 he 
 
 15 Kosati to Propaganda, draft in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Progress of a Decade 445 
 
 made his first episcopal visitation of Cahokia and repeating it in 1827 
 met a most hearty reception from the parishioners and their pastor 
 Father Lutz. In August of the same year he came to Kaskaskia for 
 confirmation. In September 1826 and October 1827 Prairie du Rocher 
 was taken into the circuit. These confirmation trips were repeated every 
 year, or at least even- other year, until 1839. 
 
 "Among the Illinois missions entrusted to Bishop Rosati's care" 
 says Dr. Souvay, "those of Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher had 
 the first claim upon his solicitude. The prelate, indeed ever kept a 
 heart-stirring remembrance of that evening of October, 1817, when, 
 on descending the Illinois bluffs after a harassing journey of nine days, 
 he, with Bishop Flaget and Father De Andreis, beheld at a distance 
 the cross looming above the old church of the Immaculate Conception 
 of Kaskaskia ; and a few moments later, as the sun was sinking beyond 
 the Missouri hills in autumnal splendor, felt their hearts swell to over- 
 flowing on hearing the old French church-bell tolling the sweet notes 
 of the Angelus. But much more than mere sentiment, did the zeal of 
 God's house enter into the Bishop's solicitude. Kaskaskia, the oldest 
 Illinois town, which but yesterday had been the capital of the young 
 State, was now only an out-mission of Prairie du Rocher, overtaxing 
 the rapidly waning strength of saintly, but age-worn Father Donatien 
 Olivier. The church, moreover, much dilapidated, was in sore need 
 of repairs. Furthermore, there were Catholics scattered about, and they 
 too, had to be taken care of. Truth to tell, the priests were few at the 
 Seminary, and around the "Barrens" there were a few out-missions to 
 attend. However, the Bishop would see to it that someone went over 
 to Illinois from time to time. The first to be sent was Father Francis 
 Cellini, lately arrived from Louisiana (November 5, 1824) for a visit 
 to the Bishop. Starting from the Seminary in November 22, he returned 
 on the 30th. " 1G 
 
 Father Cellini returned to Louisiana, on his way to Rome, and 
 the Bishop had no one to send to Illinois. But the Seminary priests, 
 and Father De Xeekere on their journeys to and from St. Louis would 
 stop at Prairie du Rocher or Kaskaskia and the other Catholic settle- 
 ments by the way. On September 27, 1826 Bishop Rosati was at Prairie 
 du Rocher. He had started from Ste. Genevieve with Father Dahmen, 
 C. M., the pastor of the old Missouri village, and Mr. Loisel, a subdeacon 
 from the Seminary. He records with emol ion the hearty welcome tender- 
 ed him by Father Olivier, and tells, how he himself, the next morning. 
 September 28 "at half past seven celebrated Mass; and after Mass, foi- 
 
 ls Souvay, "The Lazarists in Illinois," iu "Illinois Catholic Historical Review,' 
 vol. r, p. 310. 
 
446 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 lowed by a short exhortation, administered the Sacrament of Confir- 
 mation to twenty-five boys and girls." Nor is this all. For he, who, as 
 a Bishop, continued to discharge the duties of a country pastor at "the 
 Barrens" was ever eager to do missionary work, and after Mass, heard 
 the confessions of seven Americans living in the neighborhood, who, for 
 fifteen months, had not been able to receive the sacrament of Penance, 
 because there was no English-speaking priest whom they coidd go to. 
 
 Father John Timon preached the Jubilee of 1826 in St. Louis, 
 Cahokia, and Prairie du Rocher, and Father John Bouillier was appointed 
 to perform the same service at Kaskaskia. Bishop Rosati's return from 
 Bardstown, February 20, 1827, marked the departure of the last res- 
 ident priest of Illinois. 
 
 ' ' Crossing the Mississippi, we arrived at half -past eleven A. M. at 
 at Ste. Genevieve. . . In the afternoon came Father Olivier, who is 
 going to go with us to the Seminary. This most saintly priest, well- 
 nigh eighty years of age, is now, after thirty years spent on the Illinois 
 missions, quite broken by old age and his labors; still he could hardly 
 be prevailed upon to leave his parish of Prairie du Rocher, where he 
 lived alone, without even a house-keeper, to come and spend the rest of 
 his life in the Seminary." 17 
 
 For some months priests from the Seminary attended regularly, 
 Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia, The Parish Registers of Prairie 
 du Rocher show that Father John Timon and Father Peter Vergani 
 were visiting the parish regularly ; once or twice a month they went 
 to Kaskaskia. There is reason to believe that of the two, Father Timon, 
 perhaps because he spoke French better, had the preference of the 
 people. At any rate, on August 26, when the Bishop came to Kaskaskia 
 for Confirmation, a number of the parishioners called on him at the 
 house of Madame Saint-A ;r rain, Avhere he was staying, to obtain the ap- 
 pointment of a resident priest, and preferably Father Timon, who, they 
 said, was held in high esteem by Protestants, as well as by Catholics. As 
 owing to the scarcity of priests, the Bishop could dispose of only one 
 for Illinois, it was decided that Father Cellini, appointed pastor of 
 Prairie du Rocher, would give one Sunday every month to Kaskaskia, 
 and that Father Timon would also come one Sunday every month from 
 the Seminary. 18 
 
 it Rosati's Diary, February 20, 1827. 
 is Rosati's Diarv. 
 
Chapter 4 
 THE SISTERS OF CHARITY 
 
 An event of uncommon importance to the city and the entire 
 diocese of St. Louis now demands our attention; the advent of the 
 Sisters of Charity and the establishment of the first hospital west of 
 the Mississippi River. These Sisters of Charity were of the branch 
 planted in Amercan soil by that noble convert, Mrs. Elizabeth Seton, 
 and in consequence, were often styled Mrs. Seton 's Daughters. Since 
 July 30, 1809, they had their mother-house at Emmetsburg, Md. At 
 the time, they were not affiliated with the Daughers of Charity of 
 Prance, founded by St. Vincent de Paul, but their institute was modelled 
 on that of the great apostle of Charity. "The poor of all descriptions 
 and ages, the sick, invalids, foundlings, orphans and even insane persons 
 were embraced within the sphere of their solicitude and care." An- 
 other object of their zeal was the instruction of young persons of their 
 sex in virtue, piety and various branches of useful knowledge, to be 
 given gratis to poor orphans. This rule of St. Vincent was modified 
 so as to include the education of young ladies who were able to pay 
 for their instruction. Through this modification it was hoped to obtain 
 the necessary means of subsistence, and of carrying on the main work 
 of charity. The care of hospitals, orphan-homes, foundling asylums, 
 institutions for the insane and academies for young ladies was, there- 
 fore, within the competence of the American Sisters of Charity. In St. 
 Louis they began with a hospital. 
 
 June 23, 1828, Bishop Rosati reports to Father Brute at Emmets- 
 burg, that Mr. John Mullanphy had offered land in the city of St. 
 Louis as the site of a hospital and two houses for an endowment. The 
 rent of the houses would amouHt to $600. a year. Besides this the 
 founder would give $150 for the journey of these Sisters of Charity 
 to St. Louis. "It is too difficult to get them from France; the Sisters 
 of Kentucky will not take hospitals — my only hope is Emmetsburg." 
 "Mr. Mullanphy made his offer without being asked," the Bishop writes. 
 "Besides the two houses he will give another lot with other houses; 
 $350 he will give to furnish house of Sisters. Please, send the Sisters." 1 
 This hearty appeal was bound to bring results. On August 28, Bishop 
 Rosati could write to John Mullanphy, "I have received a favorable 
 answer from Emmetsburg. They will send four sisters to take charge 
 of the hospital." 2 
 
 i Bishop Rosati 's Letter-book in Diocesan Chancery. 
 
 - Ibidem. 
 
 (447) 
 
448 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Archbishop Whitfield of Baltimore also gave his consent, writing' 
 or October 11, 1828: "The request you make as to a colony of Sisters 
 of Charity going into your Diocese, I willingly grant, hoping thai 
 these good Sisters will do much good, as they do, I hope, wherever they 
 have been placed."'* On November 25, of the same year there 
 arrived in St. Louis, Sister M. Xaverius, Superior, with Sisters, M. 
 Elizabeth, M. .Martina and M. Regina. On November 16, the Bishop 
 uotified Father Deluol in Emmetsburg of the arrival, and on the 28th 
 wrote to Mother Augustine. "The Sisters will depend on nobody but 
 the Bishop of St. Louis. The buildings are poor, the furniture is not 
 splendid, everything bespeaks the poverty of the country." 4 
 
 But Per aspera ad astro. The work of the sisters grew apace with 
 the growth of the city, and in a few years a new and larger building 
 became a necessity. 
 
 In his first letter to the Leopoldine Society of the Austrian Empire, 
 dated March 10, 1830, Bishop Rosati speaks in the highest terms of 
 praise of the Hospital, in care of the Sisters of Charity of Emmetsburg. 
 "This is the means Divine Providence makes use of in order to preserve 
 the lives of a large number of laborers, sailors, negroes and others, 
 who are there received, gratis, and treated with a kindness and solicitude, 
 which moves Protestants as well as Catholics to admiration and pious 
 veneration. Conversions are frequently effected there, which bestow 
 on those who came there with the sole intention of regaining bodily 
 health, true life and vigor. It is to be regretted, however, that the 
 Institution has no suitable building, for it was not possible to acquire 
 any other than old and dilapidated houses of wood." 5 
 
 Mr. Mullanphy, seconded by other charitable citizens, again came 
 to the rescue, and the spacious Mullanphy Hospital, on Spruce and 
 Fourth Streets, was the result. On .December 6, 1831, Bishop Rosati 
 blessed the new chapel and hospital which the Sisters entered on this 
 day. On December 20, John Mullanphy bought the lot adjoining the 
 Hospital and gave it to the Sisters of Charity. There were two houses 
 on the lot, one of them was to be set aside for the orphan boys. In 
 February 1830, the good Bishop gave them $500 out of the funds con- 
 tributed by the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. On March 12, 
 1832, Dr. Fiffin gave the Sisters a lot of ground in Carondelet, which 
 was to be used for the purpose of giving the sick and convalescent 
 
 3 Whitfield to Eosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. A small collection of 
 Archbishop Whitfield's Letters to Bishop Eosati in "St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. V, pp. 237-248. 
 
 i Letter-Book of Eosati. 
 
 5 "Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung, " vol. I, p. 29. 
 
The Sisters of Charily 449 
 
 members of the Order a place to recuperate. 6 The Directory for 1833 
 mentions the Sisters of Charity as conducting a Hospital, an Orphan 
 Asylum in St. Louis and a house in Carondelet with twelve nuns. On 
 October 22, 1832, Bishop Rosati makes the first reference to that dread- 
 ful visitation, the Asiatic Cholera: "The disease is spreading; there are 
 no nurses to take charge of the Hospital conducted by the city authorities 
 for the care of the cholera patients. The Sisters of Charity eight in 
 number, considering it impossible to form two separate bands, offered 
 their own Hospital for the reception of all the afflicted. The Mayor of the 
 city gladly accepted the offer. They (the Sisters) removed their printing- 
 press from the old Hospital-building and all the cholera patients were 
 brought there. They were visited by us day and night with the greatest 
 alacrity and without any fear of death. Not one of the Catholic 
 patients refused to receive the sacraments, and day by day some of 
 the Protestants desired a visit from the priests, that they might pre- 
 pare them for their return to the Catholic religion before death. 
 Some of those unaffected by the plague, also were converted. What- 
 ever time was left us after visiting the sick, was devoted to hearing 
 confessions of men and women. Invalid marriages were validated ; 
 Catholics who had neglected their duties for thirty, twenty, or ten 
 years, were noAV seen to approach the Sacred banquet . . . The names 
 of the priests who so readily exposed their lives for the salvation of 
 their brethren are : Joseph Anthony Lutz, Benedict Roux, Peter Paul 
 Lefevere and August Boniot. Some of the Protestant ministers fled 
 the city. The Sisters of Charity filled the hearts of all with admiration 
 and brought them to a better understanding of the Church. Father 
 Borgna joins the priests visiting the cholera patients." 7 
 
 It is also recorded that two of the Sisters of Charity died as martyrs 
 of charity. On November 7 the epidemic begins to decline. On the 14, 
 three new sisters arrive from Emmetsburg. 
 
 In 1834 Bishop Rosati gave to this most charitable Sisterhood a 
 small house on Third and Walnut Streets, to be used as an asylum for 
 boys and girls. Prior to this the orphan boys were cared for at the 
 Mullanphy Hospital, whilst the girls were with the Ladies of the Sacred 
 Heart. In 1835 six Sisters of Charity had charge of a band of forty- 
 six orphan boys and an equal number of day-scholars from the city. 
 This, the first Catholic Orphan Home of the West, stood within the 
 church block, west of the Cathedral. 
 
 The St. Louis Hospital of the Sisters of Charity or, as it was 
 afterward named in memory of its most generous patron, the Mullanphy 
 Hospital, being the first institution of its kind west of the Mississippi 
 
 6 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
 7 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
 Vol. 1-15 
 
450 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 River, was singled out for a special favor by the State authorities. In 
 1832 some influential friends of the Sisters obtained the passage of a 
 bill in the legislature of the State, authorizing a lottery for the purpose 
 of creating a sum of ten thousand dollars for building a hospital for 
 them. The commissioners appointed by the legislature had sold this 
 lottery to James S. Thomas. It was now made to appear that the 
 purchaser would derive untold gains for himself from his system of 
 lottery-drawing. A committee of investigation was appointed con- 
 sisting of seven representative citizens. After a thorough examination 
 of Mr. Thomas' system, the Committee reported as follows: "the charge 
 made against the scheme, that it affords the manager an opportunity 
 of fraudulently realizing a great and unusual proportion of profit is 
 not sustained." After this declaration the public looked with addi- 
 tional favor on the lottery, thinking that all the profits went to the 
 erection of a hospital under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, which 
 it certainly did not. 8 
 
 August 29, 1833, was the last day of John Mullanphy's life. With 
 him died the noblest Catholic layman, St. Louis has ever known ; in 
 his death the orphans and afflicted have lost a most liberal benefactor, 
 and the Church, as sincere and practical a Christian as ever lived. Still, 
 John Mullanphy was a shrewd business-man, and remarkably success- 
 ful in his ventures. He was one of the leading spirits in the political 
 life of the city, a far-sighted open-handed citizen. Brave in battle, 
 loyal to his friends, just to all, he was indeed "A man with men, with 
 God a trustful child.'' The Sisters of Charity lost in him their great- 
 est benefactor. 9 
 
 On August 30, 1833, the Bishop assisted at the last solemn rites 
 for John Mullanphy, whom he praised as a great benefactor of the 
 Church and religion, a generous helper of the poor, the founder of the 
 hospital and the orphanage of the Sisters of Charity and the girls 
 orphanage conducted by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. The Bishop 
 himself presided at the ceremonies in "pontificalibus," and preached 
 the funeral sermon, stressing above all the charity of the departed 
 benefactor. 10 
 
 On the 3rd, 4th and 5th of June, 1834, from 3 o'clock to 10, a Fair 
 and Festival was held at the National Hotel by a number of prominent 
 young ladies and matrons of the city for the benefit of the proposed 
 Orphanage for boys conducted by the Sisters of Charity. The pro- 
 ceeds amounted to $1507. n 
 
 8 Edwards' "Great West," p. 348. 
 
 9 Cf. Kenny, Laurence, S. J., "The Mullanphys of St. Louis," in "Historical 
 Eeeords and Studies," vol. XIV, pp. 70-111. 
 
 10 Eosati's Diary, 
 n Eosati's Diarv. 
 
The Sisters of Charity 451 
 
 The Mullanphy Hospital on Fourth and Spruce Streets remained 
 for a long time one of the show-places of the city, partly for its own 
 sake, partly for its historical associations. In 1842 Canon Salzbacher, 
 on his tour of inspection for the Leopoldine Society, came to St. Louis 
 and, in company with Coadjutor Bishop Kenrick, paid a visit to the 
 Mullanphy Hospital and the other institutions of the Sisters of Charity. 
 He gave high praise to the Sisters for their kindness and unselfish love 
 for the poor and afflicted. He mentions a department for the insane 
 at the hospital, and describes the Orphan Asylum and Day-School of 
 the Sisters as flanking the Cathedral on the left side, as the Bishop's 
 house flanked it on the right. The Superior at the Orphans Home at 
 the time was Mother Angela Hughes, the sister of Archbishop Hughes of 
 New York. 12 
 
 The Sketch Book of St. Louis published by Taylor and Crooks in 
 1858, writes as follows of the St. Louis Hospital: "The buildings are 
 ample and possess every requisite necessary to alleviate the suffer- 
 ings of the sick. The Sisters Hospital has been many years in operation 
 and was the first establishment of its kind west of the Mississippi. 
 It has been judiciously managed and has acquired, as it doubtless 
 richly deserves, the confidence of the community. It is not, however, 
 a public charity in the general acceptation of that term : the public 
 use it, but it is self-sustaining : very many go there and pay for at- 
 tendance, preferring it either to a public or private hospital. There they 
 can have their room, their attendant, their own physician if they wish it. 
 or the services of those, among the best, who are physicians to the 
 hospital. 
 
 The following are the names of the gentlemen of eminence and Pro- 
 fessors of the St. Louis Medical College, who attend the wards of the 
 sick daily : 
 
 Surgeons: Drs. Charles Pope and E. Gregory. 
 
 Physicians: M. L. Linton, J. B. Johnson and T. Papin. 
 
 It should be here stated that the professional services of the above- 
 named gentlemen are administered to the poor of the Hospital gratui- 
 tously. ' ' 13 
 
 The patients treated in the Hospital during 1857 numbered about 
 2000. 
 
 12 Salzbacher, Jos., "Meine Keise Nach Nord-Amerika, im Jahre 1842," p. 217. 
 
 13 Taylor and Crook's "Sketch Book of St. Louis," 1858, pp. 44-46. 
 
Chapter 5 
 FATHER JOSEPH ANTHONY LUTZ, INDIAN MISSIONARY 
 
 One of the earliest efforts to bring the Indian nations of the West 
 into the pale of the Catholic Church was made by a member of the 
 secular clergy of St. Louis, the Rev. Joseph Anthony Lutz. It was 
 early in May 1827, that a delegation of the heathen Kansas Indians 1 
 with their great Chief White Plume, came to Governor AVilliam Clark, 
 the Superintendent of Indian affairs for the West, residing- at St. Louis, 
 for the purpose of obtaining Catholic missionaries. General Clark sent 
 them to the Cathedral. Here Father Lutz heard of their wishes and 
 immediately decided to undertake the mission, if Bishop Rosati would 
 consent. The Bishop was absent from St. Louis at the time. But 
 on his return Father Lutz gave him no respite, begging him to grant 
 his request that the Kansas mission be assigned to him. General Clark 
 seconded the petition of the enthusiastic young missionary. At last 
 Bishop Rosati yielded to his importunities, not, however, without some 
 misgivings. Joseph Anthony Lutz was born on June 9th, 1801 at Oden- 
 heim in the Grand Duchy of Baden. He made his studies with the 
 Jesuits at Brieg in Switzerland, and coming to Paris, then the center 
 of missionary activities, he received ordination, and was engaged for 
 the Louisana mission by Father Francis Niel, whom Bishop Rosati had 
 appointed as his representative in Europe. He was sent to St. Louis 
 by Father Niel in company of the subdeacon Chiavarotti and the cleric 
 
 i The first mention of the Kansas or Kanzas tribe of Indians is that in 
 Don Juan de Oiiate's account of his Expedition to the Great Plains in search of 
 the elusive city of Quiviras, in 1601: "Proceeding on the day of the glorious 
 levite and martyr, San Lorenzo" Oiiate's narrative states: "God was pleased that 
 we should begin to see those monstrous cattle called cibola (buffalo). Although 
 they were fleet of foot, on this day four or five of the bulls were killed, which 
 caused great rejoicing. On the following day we saw great droves of bulls and cows, 
 and from there on the multitude which we saw was so great that it might be 
 considered a falsehood by one who had not seen them. . . they were so tame, 
 that nearly always, unless they were frightened or chased, they remained quiet, 
 and did not flee." 
 
 Marching onward, the Spaniards came to the temporary villages of the roving 
 Escanjaques (Escansaques) or Kansas Indians. "They wore not a people that 
 sowed or reaped, but lived solely on cattle (buffalo) meat," Ofiate reports. "They 
 were ruled by chiefs, and like communities that are freed from subjection to any lord, 
 they obeyed their chiefs but little. They had large quantities of hides, which, 
 wrapped about their bodies, served as clothing, but the weather being hot, all the 
 men went about nearly naked, the women being clothed from the waist down. Men 
 and women alike used bows and arrows, with which they were very dextrous." Cf. 
 Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt, O. F. M. in "Franciscan Herald," March, 1920. 
 
 (452) 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 453 
 
 Sarault. The gentlemen had to borrow part of their traveling expenses 
 from some Flemish Nuns, and Bishop Rosati was obliged to repay the 
 amount. Father Lutz was assigned to the Cathedral as assistant to 
 Father Saulnier. 
 
 On December 18th, the Pastor of the Cathedral wrote to the Bishop 
 about his new acquisition : ' ' Mr. Lutz appears to be a zealous missionary. 
 I sent him to Kahokia and to Vide Poche on account of the Jubilee. 
 He is all afire to convert others. Now he has learned to mount a 
 horse, but a short time ago he tumbled down, without however, hurt- 
 ing himself. He is timid and does not speak French well, but the 
 present practice will encourage him and be useful for his knowledge 
 of French." 2 
 
 Another remark is in a letter of February 24th, 1827: "Mr. Lutz 
 performs miracles. He now is very busy at Kahokia or at Vide Poche. 
 He has effected several reconciliations." 3 
 
 But Father Lutz had the consuming zeal of youth and of a ro- 
 mantic turn of mind : he conceived it to be his vocation to preach the 
 Gospel to the savage children of the forest and prairie. Chateaubriand's 
 glowing descriptions of the noble red men in Atala and Rene had cast 
 a glamour over American seenei-y and life. Father Lutz's impression- 
 able nature dreamt of the wonderful things that might be accomplished 
 among the unspoiled children of nature. Bishop Rosati was not un- 
 willing to send him, but in company of another priest. Saulnier writes 
 on July 2nd, 1827 : ' ' Mr. Lutz is well satisfied, since you will let him 
 go to the savages. He is zealous, but, as you say, needs a companion. 
 It seems, he does all things 'primo motu, sed sine nimia prudt ntia-' (on 
 the spur of the moment, but without much prudence). He has some 
 peculiarities, which very much betray his youth. He is only twenty-four 
 years of age. Perhaps he is so peculiar, because he is a typical German." 4 
 
 Everybody at St. Louis knew by this time that the ambition of 
 Father Lutz was to be a missionary to the Indians. On March 1, 1828, 
 Father Bouillier, CM., wrote to the Vicar-General of Lyons: "At St. 
 Louis there is a priest who for quite a length of time has been begging 
 Monseigneur Rosati to send him into the Indian Mission. His name 
 is Lutz ; he is full of glowing zeal. He has presented himself to General 
 Clarke of St. Louis, who is superintendent of the affairs of the 
 savages with the government. Hardly had the redskins heard of this, 
 when they begged him to come to them. They assured him that they 
 would respect him in every way, that, when out hunting, they would 
 give him the best pieces of meat. The saintly priest, touched by their 
 good will, does not cease beseeching Monsigneur to consent and permit 
 
 -' Saulnier to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 3 Idem, ibidem. 
 * Idem, ibidem. 
 
454 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 him to go. I believe, Monseigneur will give him permission when he 
 returns to St. Louis. He is to start a mission amongst the Kansas, 
 a tribe which lives to a still greater distance than the Osages and whose 
 village is on the Kansas River which empties into the Missouri." 5 
 
 When Bishop Rosati returned from New Orleans Father Lutz again 
 and again "implored the Bishop to let him go to the Indians ; General 
 Clark, himself not a Catholic, insisted that a Catholic mission must be 
 established among the Kansas, but the Bishop hesitated: he did not 
 dare to send Lutz alone. Events proved that the Bishop was right. 
 Rosati returned to the Barrens without having given a decision in favor 
 of Lutz. But, when it was found .that a Protestant preacher who re- 
 peatedly had offered his services to General Clark, was ready. to go to 
 the Kansas Indians, Lutz hurried to the Barrens and on the very day 
 when the cornerstone of the new church was blessed, July 23rd, Father 
 Lutz was given the major faculties for the Indian Mission. The same 
 day Lutz hastened back to St. Louis : His appointment was dated 
 from the Barrens, July 23rd, 1828: 
 
 "As you have manifested to us from the very first day of your 
 coming to St. Louis your ardent desire of devoting yourself to the 
 salvation of the indigenous tribes that wander through the forests of 
 this vast diocese ; and as Divine Providence seems now to open a way 
 to the conversion of the nation called the Kansas, we, in accordance 
 with your fervent wish, and knowing you well qualified as to the science, 
 prudence and doctrine necessary for this undertaking, send you as 
 messenger of the Gospel to the aforementioned people and appoint you 
 as missionary of that and of the neighboring tribes, giving you the 
 necessary faculties arbitrio nostro valituras. In the meantime, we hum- 
 bly pray the Supreme Pastor of souls that he may deign to accompany 
 you on your journey with His all-powerful grace, sustain you in your 
 undertaking and give abundant fruit to your labors." 6 
 
 Father Lutz was only 26 years old when he set out for the land 
 of the Kansas. Father Saulnier in his letter to Bishop Rosati expressed 
 grave doubts as to the young man's qualifications. Not very robust 
 physically, of a lively disposition, impatient of contradiction, and lack- 
 ing in perseverance. Father Lutz, indeed was not the man to make 
 an ideal missionary among savages ; yet, though his zeal outran his 
 discretion, he certainly deserves credit for his good will and for the 
 results obtained. On July 30, 1828, the young and enthusiastic apostle 
 of the Kansas started in company of the Indian Agent, Baronet Vasquez, 
 and several others, for his destination near the mouth of the Kansas 
 
 5 ' ' Annales de 1 'Association de la Propagation de la Foi, ' ' vol. Ill, c. 18, 
 pp. 519 and 520. 
 
 C Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 455 
 
 River. Baronet Vasquez 7 was a Catholic. The great influence of this 
 gentlemen with the Indians seemed to insure the success of Father 
 Lutz's mission. But before the end of the journey, early in August, 
 Baronet Vasquez died, and the good Father had to convey the sad news 
 to the family of the departed. The Chouteaus had a great trading es- 
 tablishment on the Kansas River. They, too, were Catholics, and most 
 of their employes also. Father Lutz speaks of the morals of these 
 frontiersmen in rather harsh terms. Of the savages his opinion was 
 even worse, so much so that he declined for the present to confer bap- 
 tism on any adult among them saying "that they must first be made 
 human beings, then members of Christ's body." As far as we know, 
 Father Lutz sent three letters from the Kansas mission to Bishop Rosati. 
 The first of these seems to be lost. It contained an account of the death 
 of the Indian Agent, Baronet Vasquez. The opening of the second 
 letter, dated September 28, 1828, alludes to this unfortunate circum- 
 stance. This second letter is of utmost importance and interest. It 
 is, in the words of Father Garraghan, "the earliest record extant of the 
 exercise of the Catholic ministry along the Kansas River." 8 It is dated 
 from the Territory of the Kansas Indians, and the river of the same 
 name, September 28, 1828, and addressed to Bishop Rosati. It reads 
 like one of the old Jesuit Relations and gives the clearest possible view 
 of what transpired among this heathen Kansas in those shadowy days 
 of 1828: 
 
 "Your Grace must realize that, owing to the great distance between 
 the settlements here, it is very difficult to send letters from this country. 
 The agent's house, where I fixed my residence is on the banks of the 
 Kansas River sixty-five miles from the former home of the late Mr. 
 Vasquez. The little towns, however, which supply mailing facilities, 
 are more than fifteen miles away. Therefore, when we wish this thing 
 to be done, we have either to take our letters there ourselves or send 
 them by a trusted messenger. One of these towns is named Liberty, the 
 other Independence. The latter town is situated on our side of the 
 Missouri River, the former on the opposite side. . . . The town of Lib- 
 erty I was not as yet able to visit, but in a little while I can and must 
 do so, as I am resolved to see the entire surrounding region. Indepen- 
 dence I have visited but once, and at times I have sent messengers 
 there for my mail, if there was any. Camp Leavenworth, which is 35 
 miles from our home, has no service of public conveyances, so that its 
 inhabitants are forced to send their mail to Liberty, a distance of 36 
 miles. Considering 1 these facts, you will eertainlv not blame me if you 
 
 ~i Baronet Vasquez, son of Benito Vasquez, of St. Louis, was of Spanish 
 extraction. 
 
 8 Garraghan, "Catholic Beginnings in Kansas City," p. 27, note 24. 
 
456 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 should fail to receive a letter from me. . . In regard to this preliminary 
 visit to the country of the Indians, it must he confessed that it was 
 altogether necessary. I myself feel deeply its various advantages. I 
 will relate them briefly : It is there I began to learn the very alphabet 
 of apostolical life, to accustom the body to its hardships, and to put a 
 correct estimate on the greatness as well as the excellance of my office ; 
 then to know the Indian ways of living, their mode of feeling and their 
 superstitions, the various conditions of these regions and the distance 
 between places ; to understand the characters of the various persons with 
 whorn I certainly or probably may have to live, to decide what per- 
 sons should be consulted, what persons avoided by me, who of them are 
 of good will, who of evil disposition. I also learned the peculiarities of 
 the Kansas dialect, wherein it seemed different from our idioms, and 
 what special difficulties it offered ; lastly, I was helped to decide where 
 the missioner's residence should be established, what provisions could 
 be made for their sustenance, and what matters we should lay before the 
 civil authorities. I hope and wish that an occasion may be offered when 
 I can speak to you about these matters. 
 
 Now permit me to recount in detail how my time in these parts 
 was passed. I departed from St. Louis on July 30th ; on August 
 12th I arrived at the former home of Mr. Vasquez, the Indian agent, 
 where I remained five days before starting for the Kansas River; 
 on August 19th I reached the house erected by the government 
 on the banks of the Kansas River. On August 20 I had the 
 first interview with the chief of the Kansas nation ; on August 
 24, I, together with an interpreter, visited the family of the chief and 
 other families, sixteen in number, living only about two miles from our 
 stopping place ; and this I did several times. On September 17th I 
 obtained my fervent wish of organizing a meeting with the barbarians. 
 On September 18th, I set out for Camp Leavenworth, where I remained 
 six days, certainly longer than I had intended. On October 1st I will 
 return to the home of Mrs. Vasquez, as I find no means of subsistence 
 here, and the Kansas tribe, with the exception of three families, has al- 
 ready gone on its hunting excursion. These things here mentioned in 
 a general way, you may be pleased to read at greater length. The house 
 of the agent, Vasquez, on the banks of the Missouri River, was hereto- 
 fore considered the meeting place of the Indians, but now, after his 
 death, the visits of the Indians are becoming less frequent, the house of 
 the new agent having been established elsewhere, I believe on the Kansas 
 River. The widow Vasquez still resides at the old house. She is a matron 
 of great piety. She has a small family, but a well-educated one ; she 
 takes good care of me, almost as if I were one of the children of the 
 household, providing me with the necessaries of life on my journey ; she 
 shines forth with good example in frequenting the sacraments and prac- 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 457 
 
 ticing devotion; and she edifies her family with her virtues. Not so 
 the other Catholics, alas ! that live in the neighborhood. They are "sloth- 
 ful bellies," not much different from the Cretans, addicted to drink and 
 much talking 1 , ignorant, to pass over in silence the rest of their vices. T 
 except two or three persons from this charge. Some of them live with 
 Indian concubines, refusing the grace which is offered to them by my 
 ministry. Only two could I prevail upon to dismiss their concubines 
 and contract in legitimate marriages. The third one tried to deceive 
 me, but in vain. . . 
 
 "I leave this corner of the earth with no small regret, but I feel 
 a stronger impulse towards the Barbarians, and I desire to arrive among 
 them as early as possible, as it is to be feared that, through a longer 
 delay I might find the chief of the nation (Nombe-ware, i. e., the Furious, 
 or Moushouska, White Plume), no longer among the living. Having 
 been ailing for a long time he began to carry things to extremes, and 
 that in a two-fold manner. Indignant at the evils that had befallen 
 him, White Plume, armed with a pistol, rushed forth and threatening 
 death to God, directed a shot towards heaven, exclaiming, "Oh, would 
 that I had destroyed thee this time for having sent so many evils to 
 my family and to my whole nation!" (During the past year about 180 
 of the Kansas tribe, together with the chief's principal wife, twd sons 
 and many other members of his family, were taken by death). As White 
 Plume's illness became worse, he repented of his word and deed and 
 earnestly asked forgiveness from Heaven. But Ood delayed hearing 
 the prayer of the sick man and willed that the barbarian should begin 
 to improve in health only two days before my advent. White Plume 
 was hardly notified of my coming when he gathered all his strength 
 and had himself placed on a horse, in order to welcome the Tabosco" 
 (the name by which he always addressed me). I was greatly surprised 
 at seeing him enter my room, especially as rumors were current that 
 he had died. I ran to meet him, and as he seemed to stagger, I supported 
 him with my hand, offered him a chair and pressed his proffered hand. 
 He that was wont to speak with stentorian voice now gave forth such 
 a gentle whisper that the meaning of his words covdd hardly be gathered 
 by the interpreters: "0, my Father, you are welcome. At last you 
 are here whom I have so long desired. I am happy ; but I would rejoice 
 still more if I could celebrate your coming in perfect health. .May the 
 Great Healer (Washkanta), I pray, restore my health. It is my inten- 
 tion to assist you in all things thai you wish to do among the Kansas. 
 My only son (the others had all died), I will, send to be educated by 
 you as soon as you have a home. Tn the same way all the chiefs of our 
 
 9 The Tabosco is the Kansas word for Black down, or Black Robe, meaning 
 the Catholic priest. "Washkanta" also Wakonda, is the Great Spirit. 
 
458 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 nation in my obedience shall act towards you. How long will you stay 
 with us ? When will you house ? Remember this : Do not have your 
 house too far away from mine. The nearer it is the more it will please 
 me, so that I may consult with you in the government of the Kansas. 
 I am not able to talk with you very long to-day, my voice having be- 
 come so weakened ; but I am expecting our hunters, who will bring me 
 buffalo meat, with which I can regain strength." Knowing full well 
 what authority this great chief wielded among his people and how 
 necessary it was for the prosperous course of my undertaking, I deter- 
 mined to leave no stone unmoved in order to restore his health. I 
 wanted to give him medicine, to keep him in my house and to take 
 watchful care of the sick man, but prudence objected to all those 
 things ; if he should die using my medicines this whole wild and super- 
 stitious nation would blame me. The two interpreters, who stood by, 
 seemed to hint at the same thing. I, therefore, superseded the medicine 
 with a goblet of rich wine, after drinking which the chief said that it 
 had warmed his stomach, and begged earnestly that after a few days I 
 should send him another specimen of the same medicine. This I readily 
 promised to do. 10 
 
 ' ' Returning home he sent ten messengers, men and women, in various 
 directions, to meet the hunters and to announce the coming of Tabosco. 
 They smoked in honor of Tabosco on the whole journey, they sang 
 and shouted for joy. At last the inhabitants of the four villages arrived 
 from their long journey and brought heaps of buffalo meat. White 
 Plume overflows with vigor, enjoying as perfect health as he did when 
 he was most robust. Two chiefs brought me a very large portion of 
 buffalo meat, and they stood wondering at me eating of it, although it 
 was not cooked. "Behold," one said, "Tabosco has no aversion to us. 
 He is not squeamish and delicate, as the Fathers of the Osages," (mean- 
 ing thereby the Protestant missionaries). "Do you not see in his eyes 
 how he loves us, how affable he is," said one to another in a low voice. 
 They desired to spend the night in my bedroom, and I readily obliged 
 
 10 As to the Indian hero whom Father Lutz restored to health by a generous 
 draught of rich wine, we have a pleasant account in 1832: Washington Irving, in 
 his "Adventures of Captain Bonneville, II. S. A., in the Kocky Mountains and the 
 Far West" says: "White Plume gave proofs of having acquired some of the lights 
 of civilization from his proximity to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of 
 driving a bargain. He required hard cash in return for some corn with which he 
 supplied the worthy captain and left the latter at a loss which most to admire, his 
 native chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a trader. ' ' From the same 
 account it appears that the Kansas had begun to raise corn, but had not left off 
 their hunting excursions. White Plume was still inhabiting the great stone house on 
 the Kansas River, "A palace without, a wigwam within" as Irving says. The Kansas 
 were still at war with the Pawnees. 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 459 
 
 them. Like two satellites they enclosed me, lying on the floor in the 
 middle of my room, one on my right side, the other on my left. With 
 great big eyes they looked at me performing my morning prayers. 
 They hardly dared to breathe. Having returned home the next day, 
 White Plume visited me once more. But he now spoke in loud tones, 
 talking much of his joy and that of the entire tribe and asking many 
 questions. He inquired attentively of Tabosco, what is the purpose of 
 his mission, what are the causes which led him to stay with them four 
 months of this year, what education he would give the children, and 
 what obedience would be required. At last I suggested that I desired 
 very much he should, as opportunity offered, convoke the other Kansas 
 to whom I could then explain the things I had at heart. He answered 
 that this could hardly be done before the middle of September, because 
 not all would be back from their hunting excursion before that time. 
 It would seem more satisfactory, he said, to select the time when they 
 would come together for the Government's annual distribution of 
 gifts. I acquiesced and dismissed the man. I then began to cut the 
 timbers and to adorn the chapel. When I had finished this work I took 
 care to examine the country and to consider what I must build if I 
 should happen to come to reside here. White Plume now visited me for 
 the third time: "Write," he said, "to Red Hair (General W. Clark), 
 that as Vasquez is dead, he should send us another agent who will prop- 
 erly attend to our affairs. We do not want an American. We ask for 
 a Frenchman, certainly none other than Cyprian or Francis Chouteau. 
 The five other chiefs of the Kansas are likewise in favor of these two. 
 Sign my name and the names of these, and urge at the same time 
 your own undertaking, so that you can more easily and more quickly 
 come to stay with us. I have great hopes that our nation will, by your 
 help, be shortly changed for the better." 
 
 ' ' I wrote immediately commending their request and my own to the 
 Governor and, impatient of delay, I expected the new agent from day 
 to day. And, behold, there arrived Mr. Dnnnay McNair, 11 a youth of 
 about twenty years sent by Governor Clark, who has no little confidence 
 in the young man. He is to take the place of the agent with the Kan- 
 sas. Governor Clark, having been advised by me of the death of Mr. 
 Vasquez, had immediately appointed him, not having as yet received 
 my first letter. The young man is a Catholic of good morals, and en- 
 dowed with sufficient knowledge, sincere and prudent, a friend and 
 defender of religion, most attentive to his work, and friendly to me. 
 
 u Dunnay McNair, son of the first Governor of Missouri, Alexander McNair, 
 was a Catholic, although his father probably never became affiliated with the ehurch. 
 Cf. Edward Brown's Sketch of the Life of Alexander McNair, in "St. Louis Catholic 
 Historical Review/' vol. T, y. 231 ss. 
 
460 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 We do not yet know whether he will be agent with full power or not. 
 He helps me very much by his authority and his kindness. lie frequent- 
 ly says that nothing is to be despaired of (nil desperandum,) under the 
 auspices of Governor Clark, who really takes great interest in the 
 success of the mission, and he assures me that the sale of thirty-six 
 sections of land will certainly be held in the month of October or 
 November, and then our work could be begun. The vice-agent requested 
 White Plume to call an assembly of the Indians, telling them that he 
 wished to explain some matters to them in council. The messengers 
 go out and call together the warriors of four of the villages. The third 
 day after the call had gone out about two hundred and forty Indians 
 from the surrounding country came there and listened to what the vice- 
 agent might proclaim. For the whole day the Kansas remain in session. 
 The medals are distributed and the laws and the treaties are explained, 
 the thieves are whipped, and the cultivation of the land is urgently 
 recommended, and the permanent location in one village is demanded. 
 The Tabosco is presented to them. The annual distribution is promised 
 when the Kansas shall assemble at Fort Leavenworth, and many other 
 things are approved. The barbarians agreed with almost everything 
 except the plan of permanently locating in one village, and abandoning 
 their hunting life. Rumors, clamors and complaints arose, in vain. With 
 all my strength I urged the necessity of the matter contained in the 
 first point (uniting the tribe in one village), and I argued against the 
 foolish and destructive plan adopted by them, to remove their home 
 a hundred and fifty miles from our house. This, a large party among 
 them had decided on, against the wishes of White Plume, at the very 
 time that they returned from their hunting grounds, and had seen for 
 the first time the elegant place offering such various conveniences. 
 They now understand how proper and useful it would be to unite in 
 one village, where all their tents should be fixed. The place selected at 
 a distance of about one day's journey, was approved by all with the 
 exception of a few stiff-necked people, who, however, have to follow the 
 crowd. After having visited, as I hope to do, the four villages, I will 
 examine the proposed location and describe it in my next letter. 
 
 The agent now having finished what he wished to propose, I arose 
 and demanded in a loud voice that all should remain the next day, also 
 as I had some things to announce to them. The next day at 8 o 'clock all 
 were gathered in the chapel, which is as large as the study hall in 
 St. Louis College. They all assembled at the ringing of the bell. Those 
 present were the new agent, two interpreters, three other Catholics; 
 a large altar, beautifully ornamented, the picture of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary in the middle of the altar, on the right side a large crucifix, 
 on the left a picture of the sorrowful Virgin of the same si e. The 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 461 
 
 Tabosco, clad in bis sacred vestments, gravely walked from his chamber 
 and entered the chapel. All genuflect, the Veni Creator with the oration 
 is intoned. High Mass is sung. At the consecration all are commanded 
 to bend the knee, there is deep silence. After the Mass all sit down. 
 Tabosco stands at the epistle side and preaches. After every sentence 
 the barbarians exclaim "How!" That is, "Good!" It would take too 
 long to repeat word for word what I said ; let it suffice that I preached 
 on the purpose of my coming and mission, on the desire of my heart to 
 procure the salvation of all the Kansas, on the One God and His at- 
 tributes, making no mention, for the present, of the Trinity, on God 
 the Creator and Giver of all good, on the human soul being immortal, 
 on God the Judge and Rewarder, on the eternal fire, and the joys of 
 Heaven, on sin and the sins in particular, to which the Kansas are 
 specially addicted, on the necessity of hearing Tabosco 's preaching, on 
 the obedience due to him, on Christ the Lord crucified, on the gratitude 
 to God, who is now offering to them his grace in abundance ; lastly, on 
 the education of their children, to be undertaken by us, on the raising 
 of the Holy Cross among them, and on the visits to be made to the four 
 villages, and the children to be baptized. These are in brief the things 
 which I had explained to them in our first meeting. The ceremony 
 concluded with the canticle 'Bcnedictus Dominus Deus Israel' and the 
 'Our Father' and the 'Hail Mary.' The Canticle pleased them very 
 much. Their tears flowed in the presence of the Crucified Lord. They 
 repeated to one another what they had heard, one the things concern- 
 ing heaven, the other the things concerning hell, another the sufferings 
 of Christ. "Ah," exclaimed White Plume, "how I was enlightened to- 
 day!" "Wazzeche, wazzeche, " that is, how good to have a Tabosco! 
 others exclaimed. But I sigh ; give me souls, Jesus ; may thy kingdom 
 come. As regards the baptism of the infants, it is very much desired 
 by the Kansas. This reason, besides others, moved me to promise them 
 in public not to return to St. Louis before I had baptized all the little 
 ones ; especially as so many of them have died since the time I came 
 here. Indeed, an old man, when dying, asked day and night, to see the 
 Tabosco, in order to receive baptism. He was deprived of baptism by 
 a sad circumstance and died, leaving to his relatives his anxieties about 
 their future state and the punishments to be undergone by them unless 
 they were willing to receive the salutary waters. Certainly, a firm 
 faith in this sacrament, forcing others also to believe in it. At the time 
 when this Indian called me I was detained at Port Leavenworth. After 
 the death of the old man the family asked me what I thought concern- 
 ing his doom. Having given the proper answer I sent the greatly relieved 
 inquirers home. 
 
462 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 ' ' Perhaps Your Paternity will ask, why I have not already made my 
 home in the country of the barbarians. This I had certainly wished to 
 do and already fixed the day on which I should undertake the journey 
 with an interpreter, but the contrary seemed to be more advisable on 
 account of the celebration of certain feasts, which occupy the barbarians 
 for the space of two weeks, and which are the occasion of great tumult, 
 drunkenness and strife. I preferred to postpone the visit rather than 
 expose my dignity to insult. I take great care to preserve the authority 
 of my person, never tolerating even the least thing contrary to the 
 respect due to me. In the beginning some loose women of the barbar- 
 ians began to uncover their bodies immodestly in my presence, to whom 
 I said indignantly that they should cover themselves or go away. On 
 another occasion, when I happened to see some immodest women lying 
 on the floor of our house, surpassing the former ones in looseness. I 
 took to flight and requested the interpreter to report the matter to 
 White Plume, which having been done, I never had another similar 
 experience. 
 
 Two warriors have been assigned to me, to be at my service, but 
 only when I am exercising my religious functions. It is their office 
 to preserve order and silence whilst I say Mass or preach, to accompany 
 me and to close the door, and call the people to church by ringing the 
 bell. This is considered a great honor and much desired by many. 
 Having explained to them their duties, I promised to give each one 
 a little cross when I should return from St. Louis. The name of the 
 one is "Tatsche Sagai" (Wild Wind) : of the other, "Nikananseware" 
 (Exterminator of Men). 
 
 Let me add a few words on the location of the buildings 
 erected by the government on the banks of the Kansas River. 
 Fancy a valley, half a league wide and long, with five large houses, 
 of which one is for the agent of the nation, the second for the inter- 
 preter, the third for the blacksmith, the fourth for the farming expert, 
 the fifth, built of stone, is for White Plume. The first four follow one 
 another in a straight line, the fifth is two miles farther on. As to 
 the mission house, I intend to build it where the air is purer, if this 
 be agreeable to the Governor and to the other members of the mission. 
 The soil is most fertile ; there are many forest patches all around, but 
 not too many ; but the salubrity of the air is not the same everywhere. 
 Every newcomer is forced to pay tribute to the bilious fevers and chills 
 obtaining here. In all these parts around the Missouri and Kansas 
 Rivers there is nothing more usual than that the new settler is attacked 
 by fevers, headaches and pains of the stomach. I for myself had the 
 bilious fever five days; after that I felt well and had an insatiable 
 appetite. The air at Camp Leavenworth is even worse. Just now there 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 463 
 
 are at least one hundred persons there on the sick list. I went there 
 with the vice-agent (McNair), the interpreter, and 108 of the Indians, 
 to attend the annual distribution of gifts to the tribesmen. At first I 
 felt very well ; on the third day I myself and Mr. McNair had to fight 
 against an attack of chills and fever for the space of four days. Here 
 I heard the confessions of two soldiers, one an Irishman and the other 
 a Frenchman; I baptized six infants and comforted the sick. I will 
 go there once more in the beginning of November, to baptize a number 
 of the infants of the officers and to perform the other Religious 
 functions. I was received with the highest honors by the officers, who 
 invited me to their mess, and in the evening entertained me with 
 military music. I have distributed various books, of which I have a 
 great number, treating of the truth of the Catholic Faith. There is a 
 murderer in the prison, soon to suffer the death penalty. I will try to 
 convert the doomed man and to prepare him for death. I have baptized 
 at other places and at different times 28 infants, and shall baptize 
 many more. 
 
 ' ' Of the other Indian nations I have visited only the Shawenons, 
 who seem to be more intent on acquiring temporal goods than those 
 that will last forever. Their time seems not yet come. Nevertheless, 
 I will try again and see if an opening can be made there. It would, 
 indeed, be gratifying if I could win to Christ this tribe, living along 
 our way in elegant houses. An invitation to visit the Iowa tribe, about 
 60 miles from our house, was extended to me by their agent, General 
 Us, who also promised to do what he could to provide shelter and 
 food for me, if I should decide to take up my abode with his nation. 
 The next neighbors of the Iowas are the Ottawas, who use about the 
 same language. This journey cannot possibly be made, that is at present, 
 because the agent is now absent from home, to return to those tribes 
 only about the middle of November. The gifts you intended for White 
 Plume I have delivered and thereby given great pleasure to the chief. 
 The barbarity and superstition of the Kansas tribe is too great to 
 find ready belief. Therefore, I am in no hurry to admit any adult to 
 holy baptism. They must first be made human beings, then members 
 of Christ's body. . . . 
 
 To-morrow I will go to the home of Mrs. Baronette Vasquez to 
 prepare her several daughters for First Holy Communion and instruct 
 the faithful in the duties of Christian life . . . " 
 
 This letter held out great hopes for the imminent conversion of 
 the Kansas Indians; yet the work seemed beyond the power and en- 
 durance of one man. Father Lutz, White Plume's Tabosco, never 
 returned to the promising field. On November 12, 1828, he wrote his 
 last letter Ex Agro Kanzas Rivi to his beloved Bishop. It contains 
 
464 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 only a few points of minor interest. The reasons for his premature 
 return to St. Louis are an early and probably very severe winter, and 
 the hopelessness of achieving any good in the unknown and pathless 
 country. The Kanzas had promised to return home by the end of Octo- 
 ber, and had even now, November 12, given no sign of fulfilling their 
 promise," thus making it doubtful whether the Tabosco could adminis- 
 ter baptism to all their children before his departure for St. Louis." It 
 seemed they were purposely delaying their home-coming. It would, 
 therefore, be their own fault if their children should not receive the 
 sacrament of regeneration. As to the mission-cross, I will in any 
 case, erect and bless it, if not solemnly, then privately, in the presence 
 of some of the Kansas. 
 
 The last month he had spent at the home of Mrs. Vasquez, teach- 
 ing, preaching, baptizing, hearing confessions and saying Mass. "Visit- 
 ing the town of Liberty, he found but one Catholic in the whole place, 
 the wife of Dr. Curtiss, a native of St. Louis." His attempts to visit 
 Fort Leavenworth once more was frustrated by his guide, who left 
 him, media in via, so that he had to return home. Messrs. Francis, 
 Cyprian and Frederick Chouteau were putting up a grand building on 
 the Kansas River, which would serve as the Emporium, or trading 
 post, for all the Shawneons and Kansas. "Francis Chouteau treats 
 me very kindly and promises me his continued support," 12 Father 
 Lutz concludes his last letter from the Kansas River. His missionary 
 attempt was but a faint promise of the greater things to come. 
 
 Disappointed, yet far from being discouraged, Father Lutz bided his 
 time in patience. He was kept busy at the Cathedral, at Cahokia and 
 Prairie du Rocher : but another Indian mission remained uppermost 
 in his mind. In June 1827, a letter arrived at the Cathedral of St. 
 Louis from far-away Prairie du Chien. The writer was Father Vincent 
 Badin, the brother of the "Apostle of Kentucky," and the purpose was 
 to learn under whose jurisdiction the mission really was, St. Louis 
 or Detroit. "It is now the third week since my arrival. I have much 
 to do, and that is not surprising: for since the days of the Jesuits, 
 that is, since time immemorial, no priest, save the good Trappist Prior, 
 
 12 "The Chouteaus," as Father Garraghan states in his beautiful booklet, 
 "Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City," "were the most prominent of the early 
 Indian traders in the region around the mouth of the Kaw, " p. 47, giving as 
 references in regard to the various Chouteau trading houses an article in "Kansas 
 Historical Collection," No. 9, pp. 573-574. The letters of Father Lutz from the 
 country of the Kansas contain a few scathing denunciations of treacherous, lying and 
 stealing white trash he met on his excursions. Of the Chouteaus themselves he speaks 
 in the highest terms of respect. 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 465 
 
 made his appearance at Prairie du Chien." 13 The letter was forward- 
 ed to Bishop Rosati, who answered it on August 5, 1827, granting 
 the necessary faculties. 
 
 After witnessing the most horrible scenes of cruelty of an Indian 
 uprising around Prairie du Chien Father Badin proceeded to Galena, 
 in the Fever River country and thence returned to Green Bay by way of 
 St. Louis. In the following year he returned to Galena and Prairie 
 du Chien. The lead mines of Galena, in the extreme northewestern 
 corner of Illinois had been discovered at. the beginning of the eighteen- 
 th Century, and in consequence a settlement had sprung up which, at 
 this time, was attracting great numbers of men. "During the year 
 1825 to 1827," as Father Holweck states on excellent authority, "thou- 
 sands of persons came from Missouri and Illinois to work in the 
 diggings. In 1827 there were six or seven thousand miners in the 
 country around Galena. The principal town was the Irish-American 
 settlement of Galena ; nearby was a Creole town, called Gratiot Grove, 
 the leading men there being the Gratiots from St. Louis. Many of these 
 miners made it a practice to run up the Mississippi by boat, work in 
 the mines during the summer and return to their homes at the approach 
 of winter." 14 A population of such a character is not the best material 
 for building up a substantial congregation. Still, on April 27th. 1827, 
 five Irish Catholics from Galena who had come from Pennsylvania, 
 sent a petition for a resident priest to Bishop Rosati. Their names 
 were Patrick Walsh. Patrick Hogan. James and Patrick Foley and 
 Michael Byrne. Two days later the same men sent another petition to 
 Father Rafferty at Brownsville. Pennsylvania, to be transmitted by 
 him to the proper authorities. They were not sure to which diocese 
 the Fever River district belonged. Rafferty forwarded the document 
 to Bishop Rosati of St. Louis. The Bishop answered, that he was 
 truly delighted to see the great zeal they had shown for their religion : 
 and he hoped that God would grant them what they urgently desired, 
 but that he had no priest to spare at present. They had, as he knew, 
 but lately received a visit from Father Badin. But the good Irishmen 
 at Galena wanted a resident priest who could preach to them in their 
 language, and Father Badin fulfilled neither the one nor the other 
 condition: they accordingly once more petitioned "the Bishop of 
 St. Louis and Administrator of Fever River, State of Illinois," for a 
 resident clergyman, competent to preach in the English language, 
 promising him a salary of five hundred dollars a year, and such other 
 
 i^ Badm to Rosati, in Archives of St. Louis, Archdiocese, printed in "North- 
 eastern Part of Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati," "Illinois Catholic His- 
 torical Beview, ' ' vol II, p. 185. 
 
 n Holweck. AM..' Lutz in St. Louis "Pastoral-Blatt," Sept. 1917. 
 
466 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 perquisites as by custom he may be entitled. They also pledged them- 
 selves to build a decent church, and other buildings for his private 
 accommodation, as their circumstances will afford." The petition bears 
 three names : all Irish — Thomas Gray, Michael Finnelly and Patrick 
 Doyle. Bishop Rosati answered this appeal by a promise to get a 
 priest for them from Europe. 15 
 
 Bishop Rosati, the very next day, wrote a letter to Cardinal 
 Cappelari, the Prefect of the Propaganda: "I received lately a letter 
 written in the name of two hundred Catholics of Galena, a town about 
 five hundred miles north of St. Louis. These poor people, who are 
 destitute of all spiritual help, ask for an English speaking priest. I 
 beseech Your Eminence most earnestly to send to this diocese, either 
 from the College of Propaganda, or from the Irish College, two priests 
 who can speak English : for at present, I have absolutely no means to 
 provide for the spiritual needs of so many Catholics." 16 As this re- 
 quest and two succeeding ones did not elicit a favorable response, 
 Bishop Rosati looked around among his clergy for a priest who could 
 supply the most urgent need until the proper person should be found. 
 
 In the Spring of 1828, Father Badin unexpectedly came back to 
 the mining camp. He did not feel at home, however, among the Irish, 
 nor did they conceive a particular love for him. So, in summer, 1828, 
 he left the district in disgust and went to Prairie du Chien. During 
 the entire year 1829 and the spring and summer of 1830 no priest came 
 to Fever River. 
 
 On November 9th, 1828, nineteen families of Sangamon City, 111., 
 petitioned Bishop Rosati for a priest. They had moved to the fertile 
 soil of that region from Kentucky. Bishop Flaget had directed them 
 to look to Bishop Rosati for spiritual help. 
 
 At last, the good prelate yielded to the importunities of his spiri- 
 tual children and gave Father Lutz the major faculties for the North- 
 western district of his diocese and sent him to Sangamon, Galena and 
 Prairie du Chien. The missionary went to Galena by steamboat and 
 arrived there toward the end of September. On September 26th, he 
 said Mass for the first time in the house of Mr. Soulard. He made a 
 brief visit to Gratiot Grove, a settlement of French Creoles, about 
 fifteen miles distant from Galena. As the Creoles, with the exception of 
 Soulard and Gratiot, were poor, he had to rely mainly upon the Irish • 
 for his support. Owing to the disturbed condition of the country, 
 he did not visit Prairie du Chien as he had proposed to do. 
 
 is The originals of these petitions are in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 10 Kosati to the Prefect of the Propaganda, draft of letter in Archives of St. 
 Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, Indian Missionary 467 
 
 On his return trip by land Father Lutz paid flying visits to the 
 Catholics of Peoria and Sangamon City (Springfield) and arrived at 
 St. Louis about November 14th, weary and exhausted, but hopeful 
 still. 
 
 In the Spring of 1831, Father Lutz again started for the North, 
 bound for Prairie du Chien to open a mission among the Indians. 
 He lived in a tent, about half a mile from the camp of the Menomenies 
 on the Wisconsin River. But his hopes were to meet a sudden and 
 sad disappointment. The incident that brought about Father Lutz's 
 departure from Prairie du Chien is related by Father Louis Rondot in 
 a letter to Mgr. Cholleton, Vicar-General of Lyons, dated St. Louis, 
 May 21st, 1831 : 
 
 "We have just received a letter from M. Lutz, who is actually 
 at Prairie du Chien. The savages of four nations two months ago 
 caused a great deal of uneasiness, but peace had been made, when 
 suddenly the Foxes, a wild tribe, came down secretly in canoes, follow- 
 ing the course of the Mississippi. The missionary, who that evening 
 happened to be at the shore of the river, heard the splash of the paddles 
 without suspecting what was going on, since the night Avas dark. 
 Hardly had he returned to his house, which is situated half a mile from 
 the camp of the Memonis (Menommenies), a savage nation which is 
 allied to the United States, when he heard gun-shots and frightful 
 bowlings. The Memonis had been surprised in their sleep, most of 
 them drunk. They were thirty victims, — men, women and children. 
 The Foxes had retired before the news came to the Fort. There is 
 reason to fear that this event causes new obstacles to the spread of 
 the gospel. ' n " 
 
 The terrified missionary hurried away from the scene of disaster, 
 and started on his way to St. Louis. But at the distance of twelve 
 miles from Sangamon he overcame the temptation and turned his 
 horse's head north again. Although his infirmity, the gravel, caused 
 him much suffering, he rode through the Rock River country, which was 
 to be the scene of the Black Hawk War in the following year and said 
 Mass at the house of Madame Saint -Vrain. Then he returned to Galena, 
 where the people promised to build a house for him. He resolved to 
 establish himself, not among the Creoles at Gratiot Grove, but among 
 the Irish at Galena. It was his intention forwith to erect the buildings 
 required and raise the funds by a collection. No doubt, his inten- 
 tions were good, but he soon lost courage. Collecting, if ever, at that 
 
 Annalos de L 'Association de la Propagation de In Foi, " vol. V. p. 581. 
 
468 J list or y of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 time was a very dismal affair, and a sick man cannot build up a 
 parish, unless he be inspired with the burning zeal of St. Francis 
 Xavier. But Lutz was not of heroic mould. Besides, the general 
 disturbances among the Indians in consequence of the Black Hawk 
 War made all missionary efforts hopeless and rendered the missionary's 
 stay at such an exposed position as Fever River and Prairie du Chien 
 almost foolhardy. So Father Lutz did w T hat any ordinary mortal would 
 have done under such unfavorable conditions: he left his post and 
 went home. 
 
Chapter 6 
 
 FATHER EDMOND SAULNIER AND THE CHURCH OF 
 
 ARKANSAS 
 
 The history of the Church in Arkansas from the end of the 
 Spanish regime until the erection of the diocese of Little Rock had a 
 rather fitful and checkered course. The state, wedged in between 
 Missouri and Louisiana has the climate of the latter state, subject how- 
 ever, to sudden changes. The western part is mountainous, the eastern 
 part low and flat, and, to a great extent, marshy. The river Arkansas, 
 rising in the Rocky Mountains, traverses the state from the north- 
 west to the southeast. It was the natural highway of travel and im- 
 migration in the early days; on its banks are found the earliest traces of 
 Catholicity. Near the mouth of the river De Tonti, the companion 
 of La Salle, founded the earliest settlement of whites in the 
 Mississippi valley, the Post of Arkansas. The towns of Pine Bluff, 
 and Little Rock are situated on the southern bank of the Arkansas 
 River. The population consisted of the descendants of the French 
 settlers, and of the half savage American hunters and trappers, and scat- 
 tered remnants of the aborigines. The hunter-communities were chiefly 
 located on the White River in the eastern part of the state and the 
 Red River towards the boundary of Indian Territory and Texas. 
 
 "In these 1,000 to 1,500 souls," says Schooleraft, in 1818 "we 
 behold the descendants of enlightened Europeans in a savage state." 
 Learning and religion were alike disregarded. "When the hunting 
 season arrives," writes Schooleraft, "the ordinary labors of a man 
 about the house devolves upon the women. They pursue a similar 
 course of life with the savages, having embraced their love of ease and 
 their contempt for agricultural pursuits, with their sagacity in the 
 chase, their mode of dressing in skins, their manners and their hos- 
 pitality to the stranger. The furs and peltries which are collected 
 during repeated excursions in the woods are taken down the river 
 in canoes and disposed of to traders who visit the low parts of the 
 river for that purpose." 1 
 
 The population along the Arkansas River, being for the most 
 part Catholic, had not sunk to so low a level, yet they too had deter- 
 iorated greatly through neglect. The Post of Arkansas was the only 
 place in the diocese south of New Madrid where there were enough 
 
 i "Journal of a Voyage, View of the Lead Mines in Missouri and Arkansas," 
 p. 120. 
 
 (469) 
 
470 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Catholics to maintain a priest. The Records of the Post show the 
 name of Father Gibault for the last time on July 28, 1793. On April 
 21, 1794, an entry states that a marriage was solemnized by the Cap- 
 uchin Father Plavien by special commission from Father Patrick Walsh, 
 Vicar-General of the Province of Louisiana. 
 
 Father Janin, after his departure from St. Louis, became cure 
 of Arkansas, and stayed from August 5, 1796, to December 28, 1799. 
 He assisted at twenty-one marriages, performed seventy-two baptisms 
 (infants and adults), and twenty-six funerals. The register shows, 
 under date of February 18, 1798, that Father Janin assisted at a 
 wedding and he put these words after the dispensation from the three 
 bans: "granted by Msgr. the Bishop in favor of them, after they had 
 been married before Mr. the Commandant of this Post, May 4, 1797." 
 
 After December 28, 1799, dense darkness settled down around 
 the lonely Post on the Arkansas, until April 14, 1820, when a hazy 
 light in the person of Father L. A. Chaudorat, a Missionary Priest, 
 as he styles himself, arrived upon the scene without a canonical mis- 
 sion. He had been one of Bishop Du Bourg's party, which in 1817 
 crossed the ocean from France. Ordained in Kentucky, he soon left his 
 charge and crossed the Mississippi into the diocese of Louisiana, where 
 he had no faculties. Still he performed all the functions of a parish 
 priest and caused great scandal by his avarice. He remained here 
 from April 1820, to the Spring 1821. He left behind him a memor- 
 able reputation for avaricious practices, which was duly recorded 
 by Father Saulnier. 2 
 
 On September 8, 1824, Father John Mary Odin, C. M., who had 
 been ordained only some months previous, with the subdeacon, John 
 Timon, started from the Barrens, Perry Co., Mo., upon a missionary 
 tour to Texas. They traveled on horseback, and the journey, as far 
 as New Madrid in Missouri, was performed without more than the 
 ordinary fatigues and hardships of such traveling at that time, in that 
 country. At New Madrid, Father Odin gave a most effective mission. 
 Beyond this place their journey lay over swamps and sparsely settled 
 regions, and every kind of hardships and privation was encountered. 
 Rivers which could only be crossed by swimming, muddy marshes, 
 hunger and thirst, flies and mosquitoes, lack of proper lodging, present- 
 ed no insuperable impediments to these holy men. The desertion of 
 their guide only aroused their energy. They reached the Arkansas 
 River near Little Rock (Petit Rocher) ; from there they rode down 
 along the river to Pine Bluff, and the ancient settlement of Arkansas 
 Post. Their journey was full of the most comforting results, both 
 
 2 Certified copy of Records, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Edmund Saulnier and the Church of Arkansas 471 
 
 amongst Catholics and Protestants. Marriages were revalidated, num- 
 bers of children and adults were baptized, confessions heard and many 
 who had not been to the Sacraments for forty years, now approached. 
 
 Near the Post of Arkansas they visited the Quapaw Indians, to 
 whom they announced the word of God through an interpreter. A 
 rustic altar was erected in front of the wigwam of the Chief Sarrasin, 
 and the Holy Mass offered by Father Odin. It was the intention of 
 the two missionaries to visit also the Catholics along the Red River, 
 the Washita and the Bayou St. Pierre, the Attakapas and Cherokee 
 Indians, and the Osages on the Neosho River, then to return to St. 
 Louis through Missouri. But the miserable condition of their horses, 
 lack of money, and a malignant fever which attacked Father Odin 
 caused them to change their plans. From the Post of Arkansas, they 
 retraced their steps to the Barrens. The commission given to Odin and 
 Timon, to visit the southern missions, dates from August 24, 1824. 
 
 Three years later, June 13, 1829, Bishop Rosati commissioned 
 Father Martin of Avoyelles, La., to undertake a missionary trip to 
 the Arkansas River. He went to the Post, and ascended the river as 
 far as Pine Bluff ; but the poor man was of a scrupulous and stubborn 
 disposition having been ordained when somewhat advanced in years, 
 he did not know how to treat the long neglected and careless Cath- 
 olics of Arkansas. Disgusted and discouraged, he returned to his 
 parish. 3 
 
 In his first letter to the newly founded Leopoldine Society of the 
 Austrian Empire, dated March 10, 1830, forwarded to Vienna by 
 Vicar-General Rese of Cincinnati, Bishop Rosati wrote : "In the ter- 
 ritory of Arkansas and especially at the Post, there are many Cath- 
 olic families of French extraction. These Catholics have no priest 
 with them, and are visited once a year by a priest of the Seminary. 
 The immense distance of the Seminary from the place named, offers 
 so many difficulties, so that more frequent visits to the forlorn brethren 
 in the Faith in Arkansas cannot be thought of. The small number of 
 priests in my diocese, and the lack of means to support them in a land 
 of great poverty, have so far prevented me from sending these Cath- 
 olics a resident priest. If Providence should bless me with means, I 
 would gladly place two priests in those regions, where religion could 
 make wonderful progress, and to erect there a convent-school for girls. 
 Such an undertaking would be of incalculable benefit to the numerous 
 tribes of savages in the surrounding country." 4 
 
 3 Letters and Eeports in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 4 "Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung, " vol. I, pp. 31-32. 
 
472 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The noble Leopoldine Society was moved by the pathetic pleas of 
 the Bishop of St. Louis and on October 1, 1831, sent him 10,000 fl. 
 about $2,500 in American money, for his struggling missions, and 
 especially for Arkansas. Bishop Rosati now had the means, but where 
 should he find the priest to undertake the most difficult task. Father 
 Lutz came to his mind: but he was needed in Galena and the North. 
 It was evident after the preceeding failures of one-man missions, that 
 two must be sent to the Arkansas River. 
 
 At last, in the fall of 1831, the plan approached realization. Father 
 Edmond Saulnier, acting pastor of the Cathedral of St. Louis, dis- 
 contented with his position, entreated Rosati to relieve him and give 
 him some mission outside the city. He expected to be sent to Vide 
 Poche (Carondelet), or Prairie du Rocher or Cahokia. But since the 
 Bishop had at the Barrens five students nearly ready, for ordination, 
 he resolved to send Saulnier from the cultured parish of St. Louis to 
 the wilderness of Arkansas. His companion was to be Father P. 
 Beauprez. 5 
 
 Pierre F. Beauprez was born at Wouver near Ypres in West 
 Flanders, Belgium. It seems he was won for the mission of St. Louis, 
 and New Orleans, as a student by Father Leo De Neckere, when the 
 latter was forced by illness to leave St. Louis and retire to Flanders 
 to recuperate. At that time Msgr. Rosati was Bishop of St. Louis and 
 Administrator of New Orleans. Beauprez finished his studies at Perry- 
 ville. Besides Flemish and French he spoke German, tolerably well, 
 but English very poorly. 
 
 On November 20, 1831, Bishop Rosati ordained his candidates at the 
 Barrens and November 28, gave Saulnier his faculties for Arkansas. Saul- 
 nier took along a young Irishman, named Patrick, to whom he was 
 very much attached, and who then intended to study for the priest- 
 hood. At Ste. Genevieve he met Father Beauprez whom he had never 
 seen before. On the 5th of December they reached Montgomery 's, 
 above the mouth of the Arkansas, on December 14th they arrived 
 at the Post. There the reception was more than cold. There was no 
 house, no chapel ; they rented an old hut, but the first Sunday not a 
 soul came to Mass, the ground being covered with sleet. Besides, the 
 impulsive Gascon and the phegmatic Fleming could not agree. 
 
 "My companion, Mr. Beauprez, seems to be a good man who fol- 
 lows the rules of his profession, but appears to be much attached 
 to his own opinions and hates to give them up. Besides, he is not 
 very active; if the house would fall on his back, he would hardly 
 
 5 Father Beauprez' letters were translated by Msgr. Holweek for the ''St. 
 Louis Catholic Historical Eevicw," Vol. V. pp. 40-93. 
 
Father Edmond Saulnier and the Church of Arkansas 473 
 
 move. Although he is only a novice, he wants to be my equal," wrote 
 Father Saulnier to his Bishop. There were quarrels and mutual re- 
 criminations. It was well that the missionaries had more than one 
 mission. Pine Bluff, they were told, had the majority of the French 
 Catholics, Baraque's Landing, afterwards called New Gascony, requir- 
 ed attention. There was really more work to do, than could be ac- 
 complished by two priests. 
 
 ' ' It would be good to have a priest at Little Rock, ' ' advised Father 
 Saulnier, "there are many ignorant Protestants there and very few 
 Catholics ; but the priest would have to know English well and be a 
 good controversialist. Three priests, I believe, would for the moment 
 be sufficient in the territory, but not two together, because the means 
 of support are small : one at the Post, one at Pine Bluff and one at 
 Little Rock. These three would have to teach school; if there were 
 more priests for the school, so much the better. The Sisters of Charity 
 would also be of great assistance at Pine Bluff, for the education of 
 the girls who are scattered along the banks of the river, from the 
 Post until just below Little Rock. The two central points are the 
 Post and Pine Bluff. The inhabitants of the Post are very indifferent 
 and ignorant; they have forgotten nearly everything." 
 
 On Christmas morning the missionaries had fifty people at Mass. 
 Father Saulnier laid down the law to them. He told them that they 
 would have to subscribe for the construction of a chapel and a house 
 for the priest, and for the support of the priest, and that Mr. No- 
 trebene would give them another arpent of land in addition to the 
 arpent he had given for a cemetery. The amount subscribed by 
 twelve French families, $137.00 for the Chapel, and $42.00 for the 
 support of the priest, was encouraging, especially as the English 
 speaking people, Protestants and Catholics, were also preparing to do 
 their part. But now rose a question as old as the times of Abraham 
 and Lot. "I do not know yet, what I shall do, after these two sub- 
 scriptions," wrote Father Saulnier, "because the settlers of the Post, 
 as well as of Jefferson County, want to have me. They, themselves, have 
 told me so or sent me word to that effect. I am very much embarrassed 
 to bring Mr. Beauprez to reason, for he will hardly listen to reason, 
 when I tell him, that we two cannot stay together at the same place ; 
 because there is just as much need in one place as in the other, and 
 the inhabitants cannot raise enough money to support two priests 
 in one place. Besides, for nearly six days there has been an altercation 
 between us, and on New Year's day we were both in ill humor; I even 
 
 o Saulnier to Kosati, December 24, 1831. Holweck, 1. eit., vol. I, p. 248. 
 
474 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 feared at one time that he was going to leave me, as he threatened 
 to do so about the 2nd, or 3rd, of January." 7 
 
 But the storm blew over and the dove of peace returned. The 
 people also were showing their really fine disposition, so long hidden 
 under a careless exterior. "I commence to notice that, in the course 
 of time, something can be done with the settlers of this place ; they 
 have a pretty good fund of religion, which, by and by, can be revived. 
 I could not help admiring them, when I saw them come to Mass, these 
 last two Sundays, from six to seven miles, in spite of the cold and 
 the frightful mud; I also noticed their desire to have a priest either 
 here, or at Jefferson County, or at Pine Bluff. We have performed 
 eight baptisms; some have the custom of the inhabitants of New 
 Orleans. At baptism they give us horns of sugar-plums (cornets de 
 dragees) with two or three dollars on top." 8 
 
 Father Saulnier now decided to stay at the Post and to send his 
 companion to Pine Bluff. At both places a chapel was to be built im- 
 mediately. Father Beauprez accordingly left for Barraque Landing 
 on his way to Pine Bluff. Both places lay in Jefferson County, but 
 separated one from the other by the windings of the Arkansas River. 
 Soon after his arrival, Father Beauprez wrote to his Bishop: "Re- 
 garding the congregation of Jefferson County, fifty or sixty miles 
 above the Post, there are about thirty-eight to forty families who live 
 so far apart that sixteen of them are now located twelve miles be- 
 low Pine Bluff, and twenty-two at Pine Bluff. Thus if all would co- 
 operate in building a church and supporting a priest, they could 
 easily do so. But their minds are so divided that they cannot agree. 
 Those from below want to have the church with them, those from 
 above want it at Pine Bluff, whilst the contending parties have not 
 means sufficient to build a chapel at each place. You see, Monseigneur, 
 the difficulties which surround me now. What still sustains me are 
 the promises of both parties." 9 
 
 When Father Saulnier saw that at the Post he could not collect 
 funds sufficient to erect a chapel and a house, he went to New Orleans 
 in February and, in less than two months, collected about $400.00. 
 When he came back to Arkansas he found a check for a hundred dol- 
 lars from the Bishop. When Beauprez heard that Saulnier had re- 
 turned, he at once took a boat and went down the Arkansas River to 
 the Post; from there his next letter to Bishop Rosati, April 5, 1832 
 is dated : 
 
 7 Idem, ibidem, p. 250. 
 
 s Saulnier to Rosati, Januarj' 7, 1832, vol. I, p. 249. 
 
 9 Beauprez to Rosati, 1. cit., p. 254. 
 
Father Edmond Saulnier and the Church of Arkansas 475 
 
 "I am here destitute of everything; I have no chapel, no house, 
 no money. The settlers have only a poor cabin with one room and 
 two beds; for the whole family. Nevertheless I have been well received 
 by them, but it pained me much, to see them so inconvenienced on 
 my account. I say the Mass on Sundays, and fulfil rny duties of 
 obligation, but I shall be obliged to build two chapels because the 
 Catholics are too scattered, as I have written to you in my last letter. 
 You see my situation is very critical and I shall be obliged to abandon 
 it if you do not send me help.'"'" 
 
 Beauprez would have preferred to remain at the Post, where Saul- 
 nier had rented a house which he used as a chapel, but Saulnier in- 
 sisted that he should return to Pine Bluff. 
 
 Now that he had $800.00 Saulnier 's fanciful mind grew enthus- 
 iastic; he conceived great plans; a church and residence for $1,200.00; 
 two or three Sisters of Charity to teach catechism, etc. 
 
 "It is a great privation for me," he wrote, "not to be able to 
 assist at the ceremonies of Holy Week. Oh ! for wings to fly and 
 transport myself to St. Louis this week ! But I must be patient ; per- 
 haps, after a little while, we can have all these things here also." 
 
 "But, how sad it is to be here after having been so busy in St. 
 Louis, especially about Easter. How sad, to have only two miserable 
 huts to serve as chapel and dwelling ! And how shall I raise the money 
 to build a chapel for $1,200.00? Beauprez is still here. We performed 
 the ceremonies of Holy Week as well as we could. Easter Sunday we 
 had High Mass, Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament." 11 
 
 According to his next letter, of May 7, 1832, he has made no 
 contract for a chapel, but he has a chance to buy a plot of ten arpents, 
 with a two-story house, a kitchen, stable and smoke house, for 1,000 
 or 1,300 dollars. 
 
 On June 28, however, an unexpected tragi-comic event robbed 
 the sensitive Gascon of all his courage, destroyed his hopes and plans 
 and cut short his career on the Arkansas River. We shall permit 
 Saulnier, himself to tell the story. ' ' Last Saturday afternoon, the son-in- 
 law of the gentleman with whom I board arrived from a place six 
 hundred miles up the Arkansas River, and passing in front of me, 
 whilst I was saying my breviary, saluted me and bid me "bonjour," 
 calling me by my name ; I thought to myself : This can only be the 
 son-in-law of the gentleman, with whom I board, especially when I saw 
 him take the direction of his wife's room and notice that trunks were 
 being unladen. When I finished my office, I went to see the father- 
 
 10 Beauprez to Eosati, April 5, 1832. 
 
 11 Saulnier to Eosati, April 10, 1832. 
 
476 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in-law and asked him, if the man who arrived was not his son-in-law. 
 He answered, " Ves, " and told me that he could not get along with his 
 wife, thai his wife had locked herself up and would not speak to him. 
 We were talking about this affair, and the father-in-law and myself, 
 when the young man entered, holding in his hand a cocked revolver 
 which the father-in-law tried to seize, thinking that he intended to 
 shoot himself. Meanwhile the daughter arrived with her baby in her 
 arms ; but, how astonished was I, when the son-in-law pointed his 
 pistol at me and said: "Speak out, Sir, is it not you who gave bad 
 ;k 1 vice to my wife? I am going to shoot you for it." "What do you 
 mean, Sir, ' ' I answered ; " I have no knowledge of the difficulties be- 
 tween you and your wife; how could I have given her bad advice? I 
 have not the honor to know yott ; I arrived only recently and have no 
 know ledge of what happened in the families. If you see me faint and 
 trembling, it is because I thought you were about to kill yourself; on 
 the contrary, instead of wanting to give bad advice, I am trying to 
 reconcile you." Then I fell on my knees before the woman and her 
 husband and making them take each other's hand and ask pardon. I 
 reconciled them. Then the husband apologized. I answered that I not 
 only pardoned him. but that I would have forgiven him even if he 
 had killed me. On hearing this he wanted to shoot himself in order not 
 to survive the shame of having cast suspicion on me. I fell on my 
 knees once more imploring him not to commit sucide and asking him 
 to promise me, that he would not make another attempt. He did 
 promise, but said: "To promise is one thing, and to keep is another." 
 For several hours he went about muttering, and threatening to shoot 
 himself ; until I told the father-in-law, for the love of God, to take the 
 revolver from him and keep it. This was done. The affair is now settled, 
 the reeoncilation between him, his wife and myself : but I still feel 
 nervous and trembling at the thought that I was so near death, although 
 I think, had I been killed, myself, I should have been saved. I may 
 possibly get sick over it. I cannot compose myself, so much the less, 
 because I still take my meals at the same house. . . " 12 
 
 Most men would have considered this affair a trifle. Not so Saul- 
 nier : the excitement of that Saturday afternoon worked up his nerves 
 to such a pitch that he surrendered to his feelings and, five Aveeks 
 later, left his mission to his confrere. Beauprez was disconsolate. He 
 wrote to Rosati, June 12, 1832 : 
 
 "The departure of my confrere, Mr. Saulnier, afflicts and dis- 
 courages me much. I do not think I shall see him again. Here I am, 
 in this wretched country, abandoned, alone ! With tears in my eyes, 
 
 12 Saulnier to Rosati, June 4, 1832. Archives, St. Louis Archdiocese, Cf. "St. 
 Louis Catholic Historical Review, " vol. I, p. 255. 
 
Father Edmond Saulnier and the Church of Arkansas 477 
 
 I have wished a hundred times that I never had heard mention of 
 America, never had seen it. In Europe, in my own country, I could have 
 saved my soul; but here is much to fear. But Father, for the love of 
 my salvation, have pity on me! take me from this suburb of hell!" 13 
 
 On board of the steamboat Telegraph Saulnier wrote these lines 
 to the Bishop : 
 
 "You may be surprised to see me coming up the river (pardon, the 
 steamboat trembles so much that I can hardly write) : Your last letter, 
 although trying to encourage me greatly, has discouraged me, and I 
 am coming up, totally suspending my will ; but I must see You and 
 speak to You ; my books, if necessary, must pay for the expense of my 
 journey. Tomorrow I go to the seminary, to let Patrick study and 
 make a seminarian of him, according to his desire. . .1 shall stay a 
 day or two at the Seminary ; then I shall come to see You, talk to You 
 and arrange matters. ' ' 14 
 
 As soon as he received this letter, Bishop Rosati wrote to Father 
 Lefevere at New Madrid, Aug. 2, 1832: "I have asked Mr. Paillason to 
 go to Arkansas to see what could be done. . . Mr. Saulnier has returned 
 from there. I ask you to stay at New Madrid, until Father Paillasson 
 comes back. Then you may go down and join Beauprez at the Post. 
 I shall give a hundred and fifty dollars a year for the support of the 
 two priests who stay there." 15 But Lefevere never received the defini- 
 tive commission to start for Arkansas, and on December 3. 1832, he was 
 appointed for the missions on Salt River, Ralls Co., Mo. 
 
 When Saulnier arrived at St. Louis, on August 3, the Bishop saw 
 at once that he could not send him back to Arkansas, and on August 
 17, he appointed him Pastor of the church of Our Lady of Mt, Carmel 
 at Vide Poche (Carondelet). To Beauprez he wrote : 
 
 "I am grieved to see that Mr. Saulnier has left Arkansas. Do not 
 lose courage I shall do all in my power to sustain this mission. Mr. 
 Paillasson shall come to see you ; together you will select the spot where 
 the residence of the priests must be established. You shall accept a 
 plot in my name and build a large log-house, half of which will serve for 
 church, the other half for a residence. I shall send you another priest 
 and I shall give you $150.00 a year for your subsistence, until the 
 country itself can support you." 16 
 
 But Beauprez became ill. He had written to Rosati from the Post, 
 July 23 : " Greetings, Monseigneur, in Our Lord : 
 
 13 Beauprez to Rosati, June 12, 1832. 
 
 14 Saulnier to Rosati, July 24, 1832. 
 
 15 Rosati to Lefevere, August 2, 1832. 
 1G Rosati to Beauprez, August 7, 1832. 
 
478 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 It is now nine days since Mr. Saulnier left for St. Louis, a depart- 
 ure which I greatly regret, especially as I fell sick, in a new country 
 where diseases are so frequent, particularly for strangers. Here is 
 what happened. Yesterday, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, during 
 Mass, I felt ill and had to leave the altar at the Memento in the Canon. 
 It was a weakness of the stomach, caused by the excessive and stifling 
 heat. This illness attacked me the preceding night and left me in such 
 a state of weakness that I could hardly stand on my feet. It was my 
 injudicious zeal which caused this attack during Mass, for I catechized 
 and preached too long." 17 
 
 And in another very long and very tearful letter of July 23, 
 decipherable only with a magnifying glass, he explained all his diffi- 
 culties to his Bishop and told him" that if Paillasson was coming to 
 stay, it was all well ; but if he came only to return to New Madrid, 
 there was no need to undergo such a heavy expense. 
 
 At last, October 7, the Bishop wrote to Beauprez : 
 
 "You may go down to Donaldsonville and then come up to the 
 Seminary. I appoint you to Apple Creek." 
 
 Having received the Bishop's letter, Father Beauprez took the boat 
 for Louisiana, October 25. Thus the apostolate of Saulnier and Beau- 
 prez on the Arkansas River ended in dismal failure. 
 
 Father Beauprez soon after left the diocese for New Orleans, whilst 
 Father Edmond Saulnier continued for many years in his twofold 
 office of Pastor animarum and censor morum fratum suorum. 
 
 it Beauprez to Eosati, July 23, 1832. 
 

 mm 
 
 i it, 1 1 i i i ) 
 
 Sbiv ^1 
 
 Map of Post of Arkansas drawn by Father Saulnier, Jan. 13, 1832. 
 
Chapter 7 
 POST OF ARKANSAS, NEW GASCONY AND LITTLE ROCK 
 
 Painful, as the sorry display, made by his missionaries on the 
 Arkansas River, must have been to Bishop Rosati, it certainly did not 
 discourage him, but rather spurred him on to quick action. Father 
 Ennemond Dupuy, who had been ordained with Father Beauprez, 
 but remained at the Seminary for the study of English, was the man 
 chosen to wring victory from defeat. He had some experience in 
 missionary work, for he had attended Kaskaskia twice a month from 
 the Barrens. He was ready to go at once. The Bishop turned over 
 to him the $400, which Father Saulnier had collected in New Orleans, 
 and fifty dollars for his support. After a long delay at the boat-landing 
 in Perry County, he set out for the mouth of the Arkansas River, where 
 he arrived on the morning of October 27, 1832. Thence he rode over 
 knee-deep roads and through lakes and creeks, in water up to the 
 horses girth, and arrived at the Post about noon October 29th. It 
 was Sunday. Here is what he says about his reception : 
 
 "Of the inhabitants some were out hunting, others were busy at 
 the gin mill, others trying or selling their horses, others playing bil- 
 liards. Not knowing where to begin, I went directly to a certain Fred 
 Notrebene. I asked him for news about Mr. Beauprez : ' Six days ago 
 he came to settle up, ' he told me ; ' I do not know where he is at pres- 
 ent.' ,n 
 
 "At the first report that a new priest had come to take the place of 
 those who had left a crowd gathered around me, asking me a thousand 
 questions : who I was, what had become of Mr. Saulnier, etc. ; then 
 they turned around laughing outright and saying: 'This one won't 
 stay long.' 
 
 I have now talked to a great number of the inhabitants; it seems 
 they are not particularly anxious to have a church and a priest. They 
 never stop ridiculing Mr. Beauprez. Most of them would be willing to 
 build a church, if they could own the church as well as the land on 
 which it is built. You see, Monseigneur, that this is not very encour- 
 aging. Do not give credence to the report, that Saiunier and Beauprez 
 have exaggerated : No, what they said is but too true. Everything here 
 is excessively dear. I have already spent fifty dollars and suffered 
 much. I see but too well that all I shall have to endure surpasses my 
 
 * Holweck, ' ' The Arkansas Mission under Rosati, " "St. Louis Catholic 
 Historical Review, " vol. I, pp. 243-267. 
 
 (479) 
 
480 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 strength ; but no matter ; I left my country with the firm resolution 
 to lay down my life, if necessary. I went away from St. Louis con- 
 vinced that I was going to death; so I shall carry out my resolutions; 
 I shall conquer or die for the Name of Jesus and of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary, from whom I expect all, my help and my reward. Tomorrow I 
 shall start for Pine Bluff, seventy miles from here." 2 
 
 The journey to Pine Bluff was calculated to reassure the mission- 
 ary \s drooping spirit. "I found there much better dispositions than 
 at the Post. The people are much more simple, more religious and less 
 arrogant. Conditions for a religious center are better there. The people 
 of Pine Bluff, which is a village of about fifty families, Catholic and 
 Protestant, scattered over the space of twelve miles, are less prejudiced 
 against religion and its minister: although a certain individual has 
 raked me over the coals for all the various occurrences in connection 
 with Father Beauprez. " 3 
 
 But what troubled Father Dupuy more was the absence of all 
 the requisites for saying mass. Father Beauprez had taken along with 
 him the vestments, the chalice and the missal, articles not to be found 
 within five hundred miles of the place. Besides this, Father Beauprez 
 had left the people under the impression that he would return to them 
 ere long. 
 
 In his letter of November 12, 1832, Father Dupuy tells the Bishop 
 of the plans for the advancement of religion among such an apathetic 
 people: "I shall first try to build a log house and to teach school; this 
 is the only thing they ask for, and that they expect to be done almost 
 gratis ; no matter, I shall do it ! I said a log house, for there is no 
 carpenter in the country ; no tools can be bought, and things are sold 
 here at twice the price you pay at St. Louis. I shall build my hut, I 
 think, at Pine Bluff, because only there can I find some land. A 
 Frenchman there let me have sixty acres of cleared land, for seventy- 
 five dollars; I shall have to pay to Congress eighty-four dollars. This 
 is the best bargain I can make ; and this man thinks he is doing me a 
 great favor by letting me have the land for the same price he paid 
 himself. So I will bring my belongings there. I shall start for 
 this place. In conclusion, Monseigneur, please, see that I get the 
 articles which Mr. Beauprez has taken away from here, all the vestments, 
 the chalice, the missal and the cupboard. Above all, please write to the 
 inhabitants to undeceive them as to Beaupre's alleged return; other- 
 wise there will be no end of disorder. At the least proposition I make 
 to them, they either say, that they cannot trust me, that I deceive 
 
 2 Dupuy to Eosnti, St. Louis Archives, Review, 1. c, p. 250. 
 
 3 Idem, ibidem. 
 
Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Little Rock 481 
 
 them, or that Mr. Beauprez has deceived them, that all priests are 
 liars, for, they say, every single one coming here promises to stay ; then 
 they accnmnlate money and off they go. There You see, Monseigneur, 
 how they receive me, and how I have to suffer for the faults of others. 
 In fact, I do not understand all this gossip. I had to promise them 
 that I would teach school in order to be permitted to buy this plot of 
 ground. As far as the sacred ministry is concerned, I have no work, 
 except a few baptisms, some, but very little catechism and preaching, 
 which they once or twice come to hear through curiosity. Still I trust 
 in God's mercy. It is useless to speak to them of abstinence, fasting or 
 confession, or of the duty to marry before a priest or of the Real 
 Presence. Some sometimes assist at mass ; this is all their religion. 4 
 
 As soon as Father Dupuy had established his center three miles 
 below Pine Bluff, the prospects became brighter. In a letter of April 
 12, 1833, he was of good heart, although, he said, during winter, nearly 
 half of the population of Arkansas Post died without asking for the 
 assistance of a priest. During his entire stay in Arkansas, since the 
 5th of October, when he left St. Louis, his income amounted to three 
 dollars, whilst he had expended over $300.00. But he must have an 
 assistant priest, "a man, stouthearted, disinterested, gentle." Rosati 
 had promised that Father Bouillier of Old Mines, on his way to New 
 Orleans, May 1833, would visit him, but Bouillier never came. 
 
 At last, to better put forth his hopes and needs, he went up the 
 Mississippi River and, July 22, wrote a letter to the Bishop from the 
 Seminary. A great flood had destroyed the harvest in the villages 
 along the Red and Arkansas Rivers, he and his flock needed help. 
 From August 20 to 22, he was in St. Louis, then he descended to 
 New Orleans, where the Yellow Fever had broken out. Two months 
 and half he spent with Father Mina at St. John the Baptist on the 
 German Coast, on December 16. he Avas back to his Mission below 
 Pine Bluffs, Jefferson Co., Ark. He found his house nearly wrecked by 
 the flood. At first he thought he would relinquish the place and move 
 to the hills of Little Rock; but he gave up this plan because he could 
 show no title of those half fabulous lands which Bishop Rosati was 
 said to possess at or near Le Petit Rocher, that is Little Rock. 
 
 According to this letter of Dupuy there seemed to be an improve- 
 ment at the mission St. Mary's, at Easter, in church attendance and 
 reception of the Sacraments, in spite of the "vociferations" of three 
 Protestant preachers who went about calumniating the Church. Even 
 Protestants came to the little mission and everybody said it was "shame- 
 ful" not to have a larger church which would contain the congregation. 
 
 4 Dupuy to Eosati, p. 261. 
 Vol. 1—16 
 
482 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 When, however, lie visited Arkansas Post, nobody came to fulfill the 
 Easter duly, so that Dupuy did not even celebrate Mass there. 
 
 In his next letter he relates that the projected chapel at St. Mary's 
 has not been commenced as yet. The overflow of 1833 was a great 
 drawback to the good work; his present chapel-house, however, is filled 
 every Sunday. The land which the Bishop owns near Little Bock has 
 been discovered ; it is situated thirty-six miles from the town in a sparse- 
 ly settled district. Little Rock itself is growing rapidly, there are also 
 three hundred "Dutch" families. 
 
 At last, in the summer, of 1834, Father Dupuy undertook the 
 journey to Little Rock, two years and a half after the reestablishment 
 of the Arkansas Mission by Bishop Rosati. He writes about this trip, 
 August 7, 1834: 
 
 "I have just returned from a journey to Petit Rocher (Little 
 Rock), satisfied in every respect. I found about twenty Catholic families 
 in the neighborhood, separated some 20 miles from each other. They 
 earnestly ask for a priest and complain that You desert them; and, 
 feeling the necessity of serving a Supreme Being and not being able 
 to have the instruction required they are compelled to receive it from 
 the mouth of a false minister. Most of these Catholics have subscribed 
 for two Presbyterian churches at Little Rock ; one, of wood, is finished ; 
 the other, of brick, is not completed. In the city itself no Catholic could 
 be shown to me, but there are said to be three families, who, seeing they 
 were abandoned, did not declare themselves Catholic. About twenty 
 German families had settled here, but about a month or two ago, 
 they went twelve miles higher up the river. The city of Little Rock 
 is superbly situated. Placed on a small hill on the right bank of the 
 river Arkansas, the city dominates an immense plain on both sides 
 of the river. Most of the land is laid in very rich cotton fields. All 
 the bottoms bristle with cypress forests, of which boards are made 
 in large quantities; these are transported to New Orleans. The peo- 
 ple here are very gentle, but the prejudice against the true religion 
 is deeply rooted. Numbers of these circuit-riding preachers pass here ; 
 all they do is spread calumnies against the Church. It is incredible, 
 Monseigneur, in what perplexity these poor people are. The Prot- 
 estants are mostly Deists, and the Catholics are not very far from 
 the same condition, so much so, that several of them neglect to have 
 their children baptized. Amongst, those whom I visited, and who 
 have not seen a priest since the coming of Father Martin, I baptized 
 only one infant. But I am sure, that, if a priest came here, he would 
 
 s Dupuy to Rosati, 1. cit., p. 262. The "Dutch" spoken of here were partly 
 remnants of the German Colonists settled by John Law on his seigniory on the 
 Arkansas River before 1720. 
 
Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Little Bock 483 
 
 soon overcome the prejudices and refute the calumnies. But he will 
 have to go through sufferings of every kind. A person must have been 
 here to understand." 6 
 
 In September 1834, Father Dupuy fell sick of bilious fever ; to 
 recuperate and make a retreat at the Seminary he took the steam- 
 boat Revenue; then he visited the city to see the new Cathedral, and 
 with new courage, returned to his forlorn mission on the Arkansas. 
 The Bishop had promised that he would send him an assistant. 
 
 Half a year later, April 13, 1835, Bishop Rosati ordained Charles 
 Rolle, a native of the diocese of Nancy, and on April 21, appointed 
 him assistant to Father Dupuy. According to a letter written by 
 Dupuy in Latin (all his other letters were written in French), June 
 18, 1835, Father Rolle first descended to New Orleans, then, on the 
 eve of the Ascension, he came up to Pine Bluff, in utter poverty, 
 "without money, without a chalice, without a horse, without saddle;" 
 but Dupuy welcomed him heartily ; for to be debarred from the 
 company or at least proximity of a brother priest was to him the 
 greatest of all privations. And Dupuy wrote to his Bishop about 
 Father Rolle : "I love him, it is sweet to me to live with him ' ' ( Ilium 
 amo, vivere cum eo mihi est dulce). 7 
 
 But the peaceful colaboration of the two priests lasted hardly 
 two months. After a sick call under the noonday sun, Father Rolle 
 fell sick and died July 22, 1835. Dupuy himself again suffered an 
 attack of bilious fever and was so ill that, for a while, his recovery 
 was despaired. 
 
 Improved in health, at last, December 7, 1835 Father Dupuy let 
 the contract for the erection of a small chapel at his mission ; he 
 also intended to establish a school ; even at the Post the settlers became 
 interested in religion and talked of building a chapel, if the priest 
 would promise to say mass there now and then. He even had visited 
 some place on the distant Washita River, to refute certain preachers 
 who "tormented" the Catholics. On Christmas, he had twenty com- 
 munions. 
 
 In another letter of May 4, 1836, Dupuy relates that, at the end 
 of April, he was called two hundred and sixty-seven miles up the 
 Arkansas River to marry an officer of the 1 T . S. troops, stationed among- 
 st the Indians; he was enchanted with the beautiful scenery along 
 the river; it took him over seven days to make the trip. The people 
 at Pine Bluff are losing patience, since they get no school, no church, 
 no division of missions. The chapel is commenced, but cannot be 
 
 G Dupuy to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 7 Latin Letter to Rosati in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
484 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 finished, because nobody wants to contribute, unless they get also a 
 school ; he feels disheartened — nothing worth while can be done if he 
 must remain alone. 
 
 But months passed and no assistant came. Now Dupuy decided 
 1 o throw the weight of his personal presence into the scale : on November 
 5, 1836, he suddenly appeared at the Bishop's house in St. Louis. 
 What could the prelate do? Indeed, he had four deacons at the 
 Barrens; Guibride, Heim, Kenny and Donnelly. To satisfy Dupuy, 
 he sent for Donnelly and ordained him priest at St. Louis, November 
 20, and four days later handed him his papers for Arkansas. Both 
 Dupuy and his Irish assistant, Peter Donnelly, at once set out for the 
 South. After their arrival, Dupuy, in the joy of his heart, wrote 
 a letter in English to Father Timon of the Seminary. We reprint 
 it as it is : 
 
 "Pine Bluffs, Jefferson Co., Jan. 9, 1837. 
 "Rev. Sir: 
 
 "I just seize the chance to write you a few words. Our travelling 
 was lucky enough coming down, with the exception that Mr. Donnelly 
 had to stay some eight days at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Our 
 labors look to be fruitful till now, and everything is growing better 
 and better. Mr. Donnelly looks to be satisfied with the place, and the 
 people like him well enough too. I hope firmly that our hardships 
 will be in the advancing of the knowledge of Christ and his glory in 
 these remote countries. We are both in good health, though we have 
 been in a pretty long and muddy riding for a week. Great motions 
 have been made among the folks, even the dissentients, to convert our 
 church into a school house, being too small for a church and agreeing 
 to build a large one. As my subscription in St. Louis was a little 
 more than nothing, I am going to New Orleans to try again. For we 
 can do nothing if we have no servant." 8 
 
 On the sixth of March 1837 he went to New Orleans to raise some 
 funds, since his efforts at St. Louis in this direction had proven futile. 
 Father Dupuy wrote : 
 
 "The number of Catholics, nominal and others, does not go be- 
 yond six hundred ; they are scattered in the four corners of the state. 
 Most of them are in Jefferson Co. : then follows the Post in Arkansas 
 Co., then Little Rock. There are four places, where mass might be 
 said, if we had the money to travel, by using the cabins in which the 
 settlers live. 1) Three miles below Pine Bluffs, which is the seat of 
 justice of Jefferson Co. ; on the left river bank is the chapel and the 
 
 s Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Father Dupuy was much 
 better at French than English. 
 
Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Little Rock \>-> 
 
 priest's house which I built. 2) At New Gascony, fifteen miles lower 
 down and in the same county, fifteen families could be gathered, if 
 mass was celebrated there. 3) At Arkansas Post, sixty miles from 
 my chapel ; but there is no chapel and it is so difficult to build one, 
 because the people do not pull together. I tried it more than ten 
 times, but did not succeed. 4) At Petit Rocher (Little Rock) ; but 
 first a chapel must be built there, so that mass can be celebrated with 
 pomp and with a forceful sermon. Wherefore I asked you to be 
 
 permitted to build a school house and then go there As 
 
 far as the school goes (in Pine Bluff), I am afraid I cannot have it, 
 because neither at St. Louis, nor at New Orleans, could I raise enough 
 to pay a teacher. Mr. Donnelly is not capable to teach what is re- 
 quired, because he cannot write his own language correctly; besides 
 his health is poor." 9 
 
 Since everybody is crying for a school which cannot be had, Father 
 Dupuy asks Bishop Rosati to be relieved of his charge as soon as pos- 
 sible; perhaps, he thinks, the Bishop of New Orleans might adopt him 
 in his diocese, or he might retire to Lyons, his home city. 
 
 A few days later Mr. Antoine Barraque, from New Gascony, an 
 apostate, but an educated man who even knew some Latin, in the 
 name of the sixteen families of his district sent a petition to St. Louis, 
 asking Bishop Rosati to appoint Father Donnelly pastor of the mis- 
 sion of New Gascony. And now something happened that Father 
 Dupuy certainly never expected. When Donnelly saw that radical 
 changes were required, and that he could not work in harmony with 
 Dupuy, he abruptly, August 15, 1837, took a boat for St. Louis, promis- 
 ing to return at the end of September. The result of this journey 
 was that, on September 2, Donnelly was appointed pastor of Arkansas, 
 whilst Dupuy was transferred to New Orleans. Dupuy was hurt to 
 the quick. The touching letter which he wrote to Rosati, when the 
 new pastor arrived at St. Mary's Mission, is in the archives of the 
 Archdiocese. He concluded to go to St. John the Baptist's, La. 
 
 Father Donnelly, no doubt, was successful in his missionary work, 
 although he could not, as Father Dupuy charges, write correct English. 
 On October 31, he claimed to have a subscription of $900.00 for a 
 school at the Mission below Pine Bluff, the establishment of which 
 Dupuy had despaired. At New Gascony, Barraque furnished a house 
 for the priest's residence and another house for church purposes. On 
 November 26, Mass was to be said there for the first time by Father 
 Donnelly. On January 6, 1838, he even went down to the ill-omened 
 
 9 Dupuy to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Hohveck, 1. cit., vol. I, 
 pp. 264 and 265. 
 
486 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Post of Arkansas and, on the 8th commenced to take up subscriptions 
 for a church and house; he collected $630.00 in one week, but he did 
 not see more than one-half of the inhabitants. A Mr. Farrelly was 
 to donate the lots. At St. Mary's the carpenters commenced to work, 
 November 17; they finished it in February; it had cost $960.00 (car- 
 penter work) ; in the fall, October 11, Sister Agnes Hart, with two 
 other Sisters of Loretto, from Ste. Genevieve, Mo., opened the school. 
 Their principal benefactor was Mr. Creed Taylor, a convert who had 
 been baptized by Father Dupuy. 
 
 In March Father Donnelly traveled to Little Rock, to see what 
 could be done to give to the Catholics there a small place of worship. 
 He arrived on March 23rd, and collected in subscriptions $620.00 in 
 one day. This subscription list is interesting in more than one regard. 
 
 "We, the subscribers, whose names are affixed hereunto promise, 
 bind and oblige ourselves to pay the sums annexed to our names for 
 the purpose of purchasing a lot of ground and building a church in or 
 at the City of Little Rock, under the superintendence of the Bishop 
 of St. Louis or his agent, for the use and benefit of the Catholics 
 of Little Rock and adjoining country. 
 
 Witness our hands, etc. 
 
 Subscribers ' names, Protestants 
 
 Charles Ashley $100.00 
 
 Judge Cross 50.00 
 
 Captain Collins 50.00 
 
 J. H. Tucker 50.00 
 
 L. M. Lincoln 25.00 
 
 J. C. DeBauer 20.00 
 
 W. Woodruff 25.00 
 
 Jud. Johnson 50.00 
 
 Subscribers' names. Catholics 
 
 Hewes Scull $ 50.00 
 
 D. W. Carroll 50.00 
 
 Jacob Rider 100.00 
 
 S. Marchong 50.00" 
 
 Father Donnelly was justly proud of his success. 
 
 "Thus far the encouragement that we have at Little Rock and 
 the fruit of our day 's labor ! If I could but spend twelve or fifteen 
 days in this city, that I might have an opportunity to make ac- 
 quaintances, I could get a good subscription. It is my opinion that 
 this place offers the best prospect of any other place of the description 
 in America. The Catholics are but few, still I am discovering Cath- 
 
Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Little Rock 487 
 
 olics every day and persons that were considered heretofore to be 
 Protestants." 10 
 
 He stayed in the house of Mr. Dugan. In this house, on the 
 second floor over the store, he said the first mass, ever celebrated at 
 Little Rock. He visited Little Rock on two other occassions before the 
 end of 1838, collecting the greater part of the subscriptions. But his 
 health was fast declining. In the Spring of 1839 he wrote : 
 
 "The number of Catholics is increasing daily at Little Rock. There 
 are several families that came within last month. It is said there are 
 many more coming from Vicksburg ; they have heard it said that there 
 was a church to be built at Little Rock shortly. A good opportunity 
 offers if it be only attended to. I hope and pray that Almighty God 
 may enable you in making a good selection or appointment for that 
 city, who will complete St. Peter's church in the Rock and on the 
 Rock, which I may say is now begun. ' ni 
 
 From New Gascony Ant. Barraque wrote, on August 5, that the 
 chapel was ready for services, and that it was dedicated to St. Irenaeus 
 of Lyons ; also that a house was ready for a school. As Donnelly was going 
 to St. Louis, Barraque sent a statement of what had been done. In 
 the excess of zeal, he even proposed to have a seminary built at New 
 Gascony and offered forty acres of land for that purpose. 12 
 
 But Father Donnelly's health did not improve. In a letter of 
 November 27, he saj'S that his weakness kept him from pushing the work 
 in Little Rock. The money he collected was in Mr. Dugan 's hands. 
 It seems that Rosati intended to give the missions of Arkansas, at least 
 Pine Bluff, into the hands of the Congregation of the Missions. After 
 Christmas, Donnelly intended to go to New Orleans, probably to col- 
 lect. 
 
 In 1838, October 28, three Lorettine Sisters from Ste. Genevieve 
 had founded St. Mary's Convent School in Pine Bluff. 13 Father 
 Donnelly was delighted. On December 12, he writes that the school 
 promises well; it killed the rival Methodist school at Pine Bluff. He 
 now also has a lot for a chapel at Napoleon. He did not go to New 
 Orleans, because his health was declining fast. He desires to return 
 to Ireland. 
 
 On May 26, Donnelly wrote his last letter to Rosati from Arkansas. 
 It brought him a happy message : the conversion of Frederick Notre- 
 bene of Arkansas Post and of Antoine Barraque of New Gascony. 
 "They were the champions of this State in infidelity; but they now 
 seem to be quite the reverse. It is said that repentance never comes 
 
 io Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 ii Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese 
 
 i^ Barraque to Eosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 13 On August 20, 1839, Sister Agnes Hart, the superior at Pine Bluff died there. 
 
488 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 too ' lait, ' I hope and pray that Almighty God may 'inable' you in 
 'meaking' a good selection or appointment for Little Rock, who will 
 'complait' St. Peter's church on the Rock." 14 
 
 On May 21, a few days before Father Donnelly's last letter was 
 written, Bishop Rosati, considering the feeble health of the young 
 missionary permitted him to return to Ireland and on the same day. 
 appointed Father Joseph Richard-Bole pastor of the Arkansas mission, 
 and Father August Simon Paris his assistant. These two priests, with 
 Rev. Francis Joseph Renaud, had arrived in St. Louis from France, 
 November 16, 1838; all three had been parish priests in the diocese of 
 Besancon. 15 As soon as Richard-Bole arrived at Pine Bluff, he took 
 an inventory, in which he also mentions the mission at Little Rock. 
 
 After visiting Little Rock he describes conditions: "I have been at 
 Little Rock, last week. I am convinced that Mr. Donnelly has spoiled 
 everything there by his wild promises, which he could not realize and 
 which are difficult to carry out. He had received 505 dollars ; he bought 
 a plot of land for one thousand dollars and with this asset he wanted 
 to build church, school, etc. Wherewith? With the money he expects 
 from Your Lordship and with the collections he intended to take up 
 at New York, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc. At first, when we came, he 
 was glad to see us. But when we spoke to him of his promises, im- 
 possible to realize with empty wishes, where there are no means to 
 accomplish them, he changed his behavior. I told him that great things 
 will be wrought here, because man in them, it seems, shall be nothing: 
 God will do it all." 16 
 
 Father Richard-Bole's sarcastic prophesy was fulfilled in a manner 
 that could hardly be anticipated. Little Rock is now an espiscopal See. 
 
 Both Fathers Joseph Richard-Bole and Augustus Simon Paris at- 
 tended the Diocesan Synod in April 1839. Father Donnelly was not 
 present. From the Diocesan Report for 1839 it appears that the Church 
 in New Gascony was dedicated to St. Mary, the Mother of God, and that 
 of the Post of Arkansas to St. Denis. Both were built of wood. Father 
 Richard-Bole was in charge of St. Mary's and Father A. S. Paris of 
 St. Denis. Little Rock and Napoleon are given as stations without a 
 church. 
 
 Father Richard-Bole sold the land Father Donnelly had bought 
 for church purposes in Little Rock and acquired an entire square, on 
 an elevation which dominates the whole city. The cost was $2400.00. 
 
 "I have also furnished a plan for a church, 55 by 35; but 15ft. will 
 be taken off for a sacristy and a living room for* the priest. If I stay 
 
 14 The spelling is Father Donelly's. 
 
 15 Eosati's Diarj-. 
 
 16 Letter in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Post of Arkansas, New Gascony and Littlt Bock 4^ ( J 
 
 here. I hope to raise enough money for the foundation and for the 
 brick. I do not intend to go further at present; we shall see "what 
 can be done later on. We expect Mr. Timon, and we shall make use of 
 his presence for the blessing of the foundation, for I shall not dare to 
 undertake a solemn blessing alone. I am expecting Mr. Timon or your 
 instructions on his point. If anything is to be accomplished at Little 
 Rock, there must be a resident priest here. One for the Post, one for 
 St. Mary's; both shall have several stations and more work than they 
 can do. How I would wish to see you for a few moments about these 
 missions, to get your advice and your instructions, if it were possible 
 to get some subscriptions at St. Louis for Little Rock!" 17 
 
 On April 21, 1840, Father Richard-Bole sent his last letter to the 
 Bishop : 
 
 "I shall leave St. Mary's for some weeks and take the next steam- 
 boat to Little Rock to labor there. The people have been very negligent, 
 and we need the assistance of your prayers. I shall now start to build 
 the church of which I wrote to you in my proceeding letter. 
 
 I hear from Mr. Renaud that you are preparing to go to Rome. 
 We shall pray daily that the Angel of the Lord may accompany you 
 and lead you back safely like the son of Tobias. I shall not have the 
 pleasure of receiving your benediction before you start, but I hope 
 to have it when you return. You will visit the tombs of the Apostles. 
 You know what this mission is ; would your Lordship ask for me for 
 some of that apostolic spirit, needed to carry on the work of God? 18 
 
 It seems, after Rosati was gone, Father Richard-Bole did not venture 
 to erect a church at Little Rock. There was certainly not even the 
 beginning of a church at the place, when Bishop Byrne. 1844. arrived 
 there. But the Lorettine Sisters, in 1841, opened a school at Little 
 Rock. The Superior of the four Sisters was Sister Alodia Vessels. 
 
 When it became known that a diocese had been erected with the 
 episcopal See at Little Rock, and that a perfect stranger. Rev. Andrew 
 Byrne, of St. Andrew's Church. New York, was to be its first bishop. 
 Father Richard-Bole left Arkansas, to return to St. Louis. The Lorettine 
 Sisters, were compelled by poverty to give up their schools, both at the 
 Post and at Little Rock ; | the academy at Pine Bluff had been closed in 
 1842), and to return to Ste. (renevieve and to Kentucky. The old 
 French and Creole regime was buried forever. All the St. Louis 
 priests had withdrawn, but. in 1845. Bishop Byrne, with the Irish 
 Fathers John Corry, Peter Walsh, P. Canavan, John Monaghan. Thomas 
 McKeone and others, ushered in a new era for the Church of Arkansas. 
 
 17 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, 
 is Archives of St. Louis Arehdio 
 
Chapter 8 
 THE CHURCH IN CAPE GIRARDEAU 
 
 The settlement of Cape Girardeau dates from 1793 : it was named 
 in memory of Ensign Sieur Giradot who from 1701 to 1720 was sta- 
 tioned with the French troops at Kaskaskia, and after the withdrawal 
 of France from the American continent, became an Indian trader. But 
 the real founder of the city was the French Canadian, Louis Lorimier, 
 born in the district of Montreal in the year 1728. Prior to his com- 
 ing to Upper Louisiana, Lorimier had married a half-breed Shawnee 
 woman, a circumstance that greatly endeared him to the Indians. He 
 was a man of considerable ability, but of little education. "In 1795," 
 as the distinguished Church-historian Everhard Pruente tells us, "he 
 presented a petition to the governor-general, Baron Carondelet, for 800 
 arpents of land at Cape Girardeau, fronting on Cypress Island, Avhich 
 was granted. At about this time, Spain thought it advisable to populate 
 Upper Louisiana as a barrier to the English in Canada, and accord- 
 ingly, offered great inducements to settlers, especially 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 gratui- 
 tously, and they were exempted from taxation. The extent of the con- 
 cession was usually regulated by the wealth and importance of the 
 settler, the size of his family and his ability to cultivate the land; ex- 
 cept for special services, however, it did not often exceed 800 arpents 
 which is equally to about 680 acres." 1 
 
 "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 settle- 
 ment 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 numbered 416 whites and 105 
 slaves. In 1803 a second census was taken, which showed a total popula- 
 tion of 1206 whites and 180 slaves." 
 
 1 Pruente, Everhard, "The Beginnings of Catholicity in Cape Girardeau, 
 Missouri," "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, " vol. Ill, pp. 50 and 51. 
 
 (490) 
 
-~f-^/^^z Jj^i u&^flJfi- j> &<jZ,£> 
 
The Church in Cape Girardeau 491 
 
 Don Louis Lorimier was appointed Civil and Military Commandant 
 of the post of Cape Girardeau and held this position until the transfer 
 of the government to the United States. 
 
 For a long time the members of the Commandant's family were 
 the only Catholics in the entire district. The town was incorporated 
 in 1808, the County in 1813. 
 
 "Louis Lorimier," as Father Pruente states, "lived in a long low 
 frame house, which he built three or four years before the town was 
 laid out, on the lot now occupied by St. Vincent's Academy. His son- 
 in-law, D. F. Steinbeck, lived on the corner, now occupied by the 
 Sturdivant Bank, where the early missionaries were want to stop on 
 their way to New Madrid and Arkansas. Joseph McFerron, an Irish- 
 man 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 Jack- 
 son. 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. Its superior location soon made it the 
 metropolis of Southeast Missouri and the shipping point for a portion 
 of Arkansas also." Cape Girardeau became a noted home of religion and 
 culture through the missionary labors of the Lazarist Fathers established 
 at the Barrens in Perry County. The first mention of religious work 
 done in Cape Girardeau is found in a letter of Bishop Du Bourg to 
 the President of St. Mary's Seminary. Father Rosati. November 24, 
 1820, directing the Superior of The Barrens to send a priest to New 
 Madrid 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. I believe that at Cape Girardeau, 
 too, they will contribute to defraying the expense of the Priest." 2 
 
 Father Cellini was appointed to the mission in New Madrid, and, 
 no doubt, he stopped at Cape Girardeau, on his way to and fro. It is 
 probable that Father Odin and the deacon John Timon also visited 
 Cape Girardeau in September 1824, although only the neighboring 
 town of Jackson is mentioned in their account of the journey. Father 
 Saulnier was at the Cape in December 1831, but as he states, he found 
 no Catholics there. 
 
 The real beginning of Catholicity must be traced to a remarkable 
 event in the life of the future Bishop of Buffalo, John Timon, then a 
 
 2 Du Bourg to Rosati, November 24, 1820, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
492 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 professor at St. Mary's Seminary, which shows at once the denseness 
 of bigotry of the population, and the conquering power of Divine 
 Providence. 
 
 Bishop Timon, in his "Diary of our Starting the Barrens," narrates 
 the incident. "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 news- 
 paper 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 the privilege of speaking alone and in private to the 
 condemned 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 fastened post. Finding that he would only be allowed to speak 
 in the presence of the hostile crowd, the priest lay 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 morning till nine at night, told the prisoner that he would end 
 the instruction by reciting with him the Apostles' Creed. The con- 
 demned 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 in 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 the venerated Creed?' 
 'Oh!' he replied, 'but your Church 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 and so near.' The minister, after 
 
The Church in Cape Girardeau 49:5 
 
 some vague and insulting charges challenged the priest to meet him in the 
 Court House 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, 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 : ' Gentlemen, is it right that in a prayer to the God 
 of Charity, and of truth this gentlemen 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. ' ' 3 
 
 By arrangement a religious discussion was held the following day 
 at the Court House of Jackson, in which Father Timon completely 
 routed his antagonist and, by invitation of the audience, held a dis- 
 course on the Faith of Catholics to their entire satisfaction. The con- 
 version of Ralph Dougherty and his children followed on September 
 28. Through the violent prejudice of his wife, the children were kid- 
 napped by her father, whereupon Mr. Dougherty, in attempting their 
 recovery, was confined in the jail at Jackson, in company with a man 
 who was sentenced to death for murder. Having comforted his f rk nd 
 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 commenced 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 morn- 
 ing 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 ! 
 
 3 Timon 's Diary, quoted op. cit., pp. 57 and 58. 
 
494 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father Timon obtained Mr. Dougherty's release from prison. 
 He soon after received the elder Dougherty and the family of 
 Jermiah Able, and Paul A'. Sanford into the Catholic Church. These 
 conversions roused the persecuting spirit of the protestants to fever- 
 heat. Mr. Dougherty being in danger of losing all his property through 
 law-suits, sold his lands in Cape Girardeau and vicinity, for a con- 
 sideration of thirty two hundred dollars. "It is the most beautiful 
 property in the County" wrote Father Timon. "The Seminary with 
 its noble and spacious grounds and the beautiful Church of St. Vincent 
 stand on part of it." Ralph Dougherty's father died of the cholera on 
 June 24, 1833, after having received the last sacraments at the hands 
 of Father Timon. Mrs. Dougherty, his wife, became a Catholic and 
 made her first confession with great compunction and to the great edifi- 
 cation of all present. Father Timon arranged everything for the decent 
 interment of Mr. Dougherty, and on his return to Jackson visited and 
 consoled many cholera patients. Near Jackson, Father Timon admin- 
 istered 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 finish- 
 ed the prayers, her mother had no more pain and recovered in a few 
 hours her usual health. On the 6th of July, 1833, Father Timon said 
 Mass in the home of Samuel Morion in Cape Girardeau, very few Cath- 
 olics being present. On July 7th, he turned an old frame warehouse, 
 the former residence of the Spanish Commandant, into a chapel, and 
 held the first public l'eligious service. Many Protestants attended witli 
 the few Catholics of the town. But the Congregation was growing apace, 
 through conversion to the Faith and accessions from abroad. "At first, 
 once in three months, then once a month, Father Timon rode down from 
 the Barrens, said Mass, preached and catechized, with very happy 
 results in dissipating the prejudice of the people." 4 
 
 In October 1835, Father Tornatore and Father Timon came to 
 Cape Girardeau unannounced, but immediately after their arrival came 
 a call to visit some sick lady, a Protestant, who wished to be received 
 into the Church. She had heard voices saying almost continually: "If 
 you want to be saved you must become a Catholic." Her relations 
 would not consent to get a priest from the Barrens: but, hearing of 
 the priest's arrival in Cape Girardeau, they gratified her wish. Father 
 Timon came at once and finding the room filled with the children and 
 relations of the sick woman, explained the main doctrines of Faith to 
 
 4 Gleaned from a MS. account in Archives of St. Vincent's College, written in 
 1861, entitled "God is Wonderful in All His Works." Dean Pruente published a. 
 large part of it in his article already quoted. 
 
The Church in Cape Girardeau 49.") 
 
 all, and then administered conditional Baptism to her. She lingered 
 on another day, full of joy and peace. Her name was Esther Bradley. 
 In the sequel all those that were present on this occasion were received 
 into the Church. 5 
 
 On April 9th, 1836, Cape Girardeau received its first resident 
 priest in the person of John M. Odin, who was, in the course of time, to 
 become Archbishop of New Orleans. He was accompanied by J. B. 
 Robert, a postulant, and a negro family. Under the charitable and 
 zealous administration of Father Odin the Congregation began to assume 
 distinct 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 Father Odin arrived 
 at the Cape, the inhabitants 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 number ; Mrs. Nathan and 
 her son-in-law, eight persons; Mr. Marto and two children (all the above 
 recent immigrants from Maryland) ; Bernard Layton and family, five 
 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, Avho had to fly 
 from Ireland, being a United Irishman. (This man's brother, a priest, 
 was shot by the Orangemen ; John was kneeling on his coffin to be shot 
 when his reprieve came from the King;) Mrs. Hannah Smith, eleven in 
 the family, from Maryland ; Jeremiah Able and his mother-in-law, con- 
 verts, six in number at Jackson ; Mrs. Sanf ord 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 the 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 fre- 
 quently on high feasts it could not contain all that came from 
 a great distance. Those of different denominations composed the greater 
 number of the audience. They expressed a desire to hear the word 
 of God explained by the priest. Prejudice, so deeply rooted in this place, 
 seemed to die away gradually and even the most strict among the 
 various 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. 
 
 The catechism was regularly taught every day, even when only a few 
 children presented themselves. On Sundays the catechism class was held, 
 
 'God is Wonderful," MS., 1. cit., p. 62. 
 
496 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loins 
 
 once for the white children, and a second time for colored persons who 
 manifested a desire to be instructed, many of whom became good Cath- 
 olics. Father Odin visited occasionally the few families scattered about 
 the country, at -Jackson, .Moses Byrne's across the big swamp and Golden 's 
 at Commerce, etc. The family of Moses Byrne have all fallen away 
 from their religion. There were about twenty persons belonging to 
 Protestant families baptized by Father Odin, and many others were 
 preparing when he was recalled to the Seminary on November 3, 1836. 
 A few months before his departure, 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. 6 
 
 Father Odin was succeeded by the Rev. John Bouillier and Rev. 
 John Rossi. Brother Daniel Harrington accompanied them to take 
 charge of the farm. John Hutcheson and family, together with 
 some work-hands for the farm arrived the same day that Father Odin 
 left Cape Girardeau. The number of Catholics began to increase. Rev. 
 John Bouillier 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. He had just begun to make preparations for 
 the erection of a new Church when he was called to the Seminary at 
 the Barrens. 
 
 During this year 1837 Cape Girardeau was visited from time to 
 time by Father Timon as formerly. It was on one of these occasions that 
 Mrs. Sarah Watson, wife of Wm. Watson, in consequence of what she 
 had seen and heard at the death of her mother, applied to Father 
 Timon, to be received into the Catholic Church. Her request was grant- 
 ed; she was instructed and baptized by Father Timon that same day, 
 and subsequently made her first Communion. She had always persevered 
 and remained a fervent Catholic. The members of her family were of 
 extraordinary assistance to the missionaries, as they always took care 
 of the chapel, and also of the priests, whenever they happened to become 
 ill. 7 
 
 On March 17, 1838, Rev. John Brands was sent to the Cape to 
 replace Rev. John Bouillier. The number of adults, viz., those who had 
 made their first Communion, was, at Cape Girardeaii and vicinity, forty- 
 three ; of those who had not made their first Communion about the same : 
 in all about eighty-six persons. On April 2nd, 1838, Mary, the wife of 
 Mr. John Doyle was baptized, sub conditione, 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 confirmation at the 
 Cape to ten persons, among whom were three converts, viz., Mrs. 
 
 e "God is Wonderful," 1. (it., p. (35. 
 i Ibidem, pp. 66 and 67. 
 
The Church in Cape Girardeau 497 
 
 Doyle, Mrs. Wm. Watson and Mrs. Geraghty. This was the first time 
 that Confirmation was administered at the Cape. April 30th, 1838, Bishop 
 Rosati laid and blessed the cornerstone of the new church, assisted 
 by the Very Rev. John Timon, the Revs. Brands and Rossi. A very 
 numerous assemblage of people of all denominations were in attendance 
 and behaved with great respect 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. Mr. Andrew Gibony, not 
 a Catholic, gave the width of twenty feet of the two lots adjoining the 
 parish property, for the purpose of building the church thereon. On the 
 same day the Bishop baptized the wife of Miles Doyle and validated 
 their marriage. May 1st Rev. J. Rossi left the Cape, and a short time 
 after the Rev. John Alabau was sent as companion to Father Brands, but 
 remained only until the feast of St. Vincent, July 19, 1838. 
 
 On May 29th, 1838, Rev. J. Brands crossed the big swamp to bury 
 Moses Byrne. He found a large number of people who had gathered 
 there for the occasion. Before going to the burying ground, Father 
 Brands explained the meaning of the ceremonies performed at the funer- 
 al 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 then baptized the youngest son of Mr. 
 Byrne and two of his grandchildren. The people of this neighbor- 
 hood were opposed to the Protestants, and particularly displeased with 
 the Methodist preachers, who had been 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. 8 
 
 Thus the seed of God's word was springing up and bearing rich 
 fruit on all sides : Cape Girardeau had become a parish of importance. 
 On October 22nd, 1838, the day school, called St. Vincents Male Academy 
 was opened under Mr. M. Flinn as its teacher. The attendance 
 was not large at first, but there was a distinct promise of healthy 
 growth. 
 
 On October 23rd, 1838, The Sisters of Loretto from Bethlehem 
 Convent, Perry County, arrived at Cape Girardeau, seven in number, with 
 six boarders whom they brought with them. The Sisters were lodged 
 in the priests' house, where they remained until July of the next year. 
 whilst the priests occupied the small house on the opposite side of the 
 street. In July the Sisters removed to the house purchased for them 
 from M. J. Doyle. They commenced their school in the new house with 
 
 "God is Wonderful," 1. 'it., pp. (>7 and 68. 
 
498 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 as little human prospect as the Fathers had commenced their school 
 for boys. Many of the citizens were still very much prejudiced 
 against them. John McLane, a Presbyterian preacher, did all in his power 
 to oppose their school, and for this purpose he opened a school for boys 
 and girls. However, his preaching and teaching so much displeased 
 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. 9 
 
 Cape Girardeau now had two outlying missions, Jackson, the County 
 Seat, and Tywappity Bottom in Scott County. At Jackson Mass was 
 said once a month, the number of first Communions in 1838 was eighteen 
 in a total of thirty-two. In Tywappity there were twenty-seven. The 
 number of adults in the Congregation of Cape Girardeau in 1839 
 was fifty-eigbt. 
 
 On the 30th of April 1838, Bishop Rosati had blessed the first stone 
 of the new Church of St. Vincent in Cape Girardeau, and July 21, 1839 
 he had the happiness of consecrating the completed edifice. "It is a 
 fine stone building with cut stone front and 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 denomina- 
 tions. Whilst the ceremonies were performed within 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 larger, had it been previously announced. Solemn 
 Vespers were sung in the evening and Benediction was given with 
 the Blessed Sacrament. Here again the Very Rev. Timon preached. 
 On September 15th, 1839, Rev. J. Brands, by permission of the Visitor, 
 J. Timon, blessed the chapel of St. Francis of Sales, and the grave-yard 
 attached to it, in Tywappity Bottom, about two hundred persons being 
 present. 10 
 
 Thus within the brief period of ten years the wilderness of Cape 
 Girardeau County was changed into a flourishing garden of God, still 
 infested with noxious weeds, but everywhere embellished Avith the 
 flowers of Catholic life. The three Congregations have prospered unto 
 the present day, Jackson, Tywappity Bottom, now St. Henry's of 
 Charleston, and St. Vincents of Cape Girardeau with its German off- 
 spring, St. Mary's. Truly the hand of God is visible in this work, that 
 promised so little and rendered so very much. 
 
 a "God is Wonderful," 1. eit., p. 69. 
 o Ibidem, p. 71. 
 
Chapter 9 
 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA 
 
 On December 31st, 1824, Bishop Rosati sent Father Saulnier the 
 communication that he had appointed Father Van Quickenborne, the 
 Superior of the Jesuits, as his Vicar-General. Father Saulnier was 
 grieved and disappointed, and wrote some arrogant letters to Bishop 
 Rosati, for which he had to apologize ; yet his request, that he receive the 
 "major faculties" which included the power of dispensing from certain 
 inpediments, was granted. 
 
 On April 25th, Father Saulnier asked for a priest who might be 
 sent to the English settlement at James (Prairie du Long, 111.) and to 
 O'Hara's (now Rtuna, 111.) Saulnier was actually alone in St. Louis, 
 the priests at the college were gone, and the college itself had sunk 
 into utter insignificance. He feared that it would have to be closed. 
 "The president, Mr. Brun," he writes "is a pious man, but otherwise 
 amounts to nothing. Mr. Shepard is a Protestant, and the revenues 
 are not sufficient to pay the meagre salaries : 200 and 400 dollars. ' ' 
 He wants Rosati to send him Father De Neckere for the College and 
 for the parish, especially for the English sermons. 
 
 As Father De Neckere was needed elsewhere, the Bishop sent him 
 Father Audizio, an Italian who knew little French and less English. At 
 last the ardently desired Fleming De Neckere arrived, in May l*l'!>. 
 Father De Neckere was an ideal priest, filled with the spirit of his holy 
 mission. He spoke French and English with equal facility and correct- 
 ness. Besides he had the rare gift of true apostolic eloquence. The 
 people were delighted. His English sermons attracted great crowds. 
 The Irish Catholics rejoiced, as the change seemed to augur their 
 victory in the socalled language question in the Cathedral. St. Louis 
 Avas originally a French City, and even under the Spanish regime the 
 French language remained predominant. When" the City came under 
 American control, the English language began to supersede the French 
 in public life, but received no recognition in the Church until the 
 arrival of Bishop Du Bourg. 
 
 AVhilst Bishop Du Bourg resided at St. Louis the sermon at High 
 Mass was always preached in French. But because a considerable 
 number of Irish Catholics had made the city their home, men who were 
 good Catholics and liberal to the Church. Bishop Du Bourg made the 
 new rule, that every Sunday, after Vespers, a sermon should be preached 
 in English. This appears from a letter of Rosati: "On every Sunday at 
 
 (499) 
 
500 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 morning services we preach in French, and in the afternoon at Vespers 
 in English." 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg wrote and spoke English well. The English 
 of De Andreis shows that he thought in Italian. Also Father Niel, 
 after the demise of De Andreis pro-rector of the Cathedral and Presi- 
 dent of St. Louis Academy, was able to preach the English sermon, 
 but he seemed to have discontinued the pratice. In 1823, therefore, 
 when he made an attempt at regulating the financial affairs of the 
 congregation, the Irish Catholics "were led to believe that there would 
 be an English sermon every second Sunday at High Mass." But if 
 any such promise was ever made by Father Niel, it was never realized. 
 It was difficult for the French clergy of those days to leave the estab- 
 lished groove. The expectations of the Irish Catholics were not complied 
 with. 
 
 Father Edmond Saulnier who was appointed prorector of the 
 Cathedral, was notoriously a poor speaker, hardly able to preach in 
 French, still less in English. Naturally, the Irish Catholics became 
 impatient of being treated as stepchildren, whilst they were the main 
 contributors to the support of the church. It was their right to 
 have the word of God announced to them in the language they could 
 understand. Their petition to the Bishop to make permanent Father 
 De Neckere's appointment to the pulpit of St. Louis Cathedral and 
 to order him to preach an English sermon twice a month, at the time 
 of the Highmass, made an impression, though it did not meet with 
 immediate success. Bishop Rosati sent his answer to the Trustees of 
 the church of St. Louis on September 1st, 1826: "As God is no 
 respector of persons, so those of his ministers whom he has appointed 
 the pastors of his flock, make no distinction between the souls entrusted 
 to their care. French and Americans, Creole and Irish, are equally 
 dear to us, because we think them equally entitled to the 
 spiritual assistance which is in our power to afford them. But 
 imperious necessity often renders ineffectual our most ardent desires 
 and reduces us to the painful impossibility of doing what we would 
 think our happiness to do. The parish of St. Louis has hitherto had 
 a greater share in the solicitude of her pastors than any in the diocese ; 
 and if those amongst the parishioners who speak the English language 
 have been often deprived of instructions from the pulpit, it has not 
 been the effect of neglect or disregard on our side. We have been more 
 deeply affected than any other by the consideration of the sad results 
 that are to be expected from this inconvenience. But we cannot give 
 what is out of our power and. in such circumstances, the only remedy 
 which we can find for our evils is to have recourse to the Lord of the 
 harvest and beseech him to send evangelical workmen into his harvest. 
 
The Dawn of a New Era 501 
 
 In the meantime we think it our duty to exert ourselves in order to raise 
 a national clergy, who knowing the language spoken in the country, 
 may be able to assist all their countrymen. ' n 
 
 The practice of preaching the English sermon, not at Highmass, 
 but after Vespers, was continued. Then, as Father De Neckere's health 
 was declining, Bishop Rosati gave him permission to go to Europe. 
 The people were surprised and indignant. Father Saulnier had to 
 bear the blame for the loss of Father De Neckere. "What is to become 
 of the Catholics of poor St. Louis?" he exclaimed in a letter to Bishop 
 Rosati, "If you could do without Mr. Timon, he could attract crowds 
 to the Church. You can hardly conceive how glad the Protestant 
 ministers are since Mr. De Neckere is gone. Whilst he was here 
 they complained that their church was deserted." 2 
 
 In November and December of the same year, the Irish Catholics 
 of St. Louis enjoyed a pleasant surprise ; Father Timon, C. M., the son 
 of one of their citizens, preached the jubilee in English. But after that, 
 for eighteen months, Father Saulnier had to supply the English ser- 
 mons. He even went beyond the episcopal instructions, and to satisfy 
 both parties, gave two short sermons, one in French, and the other in 
 English, at every High Mass. On February 28, 1828, he wrote to 
 the Bishop on this subject : 
 
 ' ' If the inhabitants of St. Louis would have you among them and 
 if you had a priest for the American Catholics who could preach to 
 them in English, things would turn out better in the Church in regard 
 to religion as well as to those continual financial troubles. ' ' 3 
 
 On June 29, 1828, Father Regis Loisel was ordained priest at the 
 Cathedral, and immediately became Father Saulnier 's assistant. He 
 was the first native of St. Louis to attain the priesthood. He spoke 
 French and English very well. Father Loisel was instructed to preach 
 the English sermon every Sunday at 9 o'clock. Father Saulnier 
 complained to the Bishop, that nine o'clock was too early for the English 
 sermon, and hinted that the English sermon should be preached twice 
 a month at the Highmass, thus alternating with the French sermon. But 
 the Bishop clung to the old practice. He would not permit Father 
 Saulnier to preach in English during High Mass ; on August 17, 1828, 
 he instructed him: "Preach in English at Vespers or even after High 
 Mass." 
 
 Father Loisel, like Father Saulnier, was no orator; and the sermon 
 of that day in the style of Bourdaloue required an orator. Besides 
 the state of his health was precarious. Consequently, the English 
 
 1 Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 2 Saulnier Letter of September 12, 1826, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 3 Saulnier to Kosati, February 28, 1828, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese 
 
502 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 sermon at the Cathedral was omitted, because there was no one to 
 preach it. 
 
 In December, 1831, Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, having returned 
 from his Indian Missionary ventures, became Father Saulnier's successor 
 at the Cathedral. 
 
 The new pastor knew English fairly well, although he was only 
 five years in this country. In his missionary trips to Kansas, Illinois, 
 and the Northwest Territory he had been thrown together with Indian 
 agents and other English speaking men and had acquired some facility 
 in using the English idiom. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of Father Lutz, after a retreat made by 
 Bishop Rosati in the Bishop's house, with Fathers Rondot, Lutz, Con- 
 damine, and Roux, a new ride was announced regarding the sermons. 
 
 English sermons were to be preached at High Mass on the first 
 and third Sunday of every month ; on all other Sundays, French. 
 After Vespers the sermon was to be preached in English, when the 
 morning sermon had been in French and vice versa. The Jesuits were 
 to preach the English sermons in the morning. Catechism was to begin 
 at 2 :30 P. M., in French by Roux, in English by Lutz, as long as Lent 
 lasted. Every evening, on week days and Sundays, there should be a 
 sermon. At the Lenten devotions Father Lutz sometimes preached in 
 English. 
 
 On Monday, April 2, 1832, at the Lenten devotions, for the first 
 time, prayers were said in English at the Cathedral. So the contest 
 for recognition of the English speaking part of the parish at High Mass, 
 a contest which had lasted six years, was won to the satisfaction of the 
 Irish Catholics. 4 
 
 Since his appointment to the See of St. Louis in 1827 until the 
 consecration of Bishop De Neckere as Bishop of New Orleans, June 24, 
 1830, Bishop Rosati held spiritual charge of the vast territory once 
 designated as Upper and Lower Louisiana. This double burden was a 
 severe drain on his resources, as well as on his strength. 
 
 Realizing that his own diocese needed his exclusive attention, he 
 used all the means in his power to secure a Bishop for the See of New 
 Orleans. The Seminary at the Barrens also was in need of a competent 
 Rector: Father Leo Raymond De Neckere was absent on account of 
 ill health, and might never return. Accordingly, petition after petition 
 went to Father Baccari in Rome, that a Superior be sent : Father John 
 Tornatore was the man whom Bishop Rosati thought an ideal selection. 
 When he heard of Father De Neckere 's appointment to the See of New 
 
 4 The whole language question was treated by Msgr. Holweek in "St. Louis 
 Catholic Historical Review," vol. II, pp. 5-18. 
 
The Dawn of a New Era 503 
 
 Orleans, he wrote to Father General at Paris: "De Xeckere's nomi- 
 nation is a great loss for the Seminary, please send Tornatore." From 
 the 1st to the 18th of October he was in attendance at the Council 
 of Baltimore : On the closing day of this great assembly he appointed 
 De Neckere his Yicar General. 
 
 On his return voyage he heard of De Xeckere's appointment as a 
 certainty : but on meeting the newly designated Bishop, who had in 
 the meantime returned to the Barrens from abroad, he found him 
 stubbornly opposed to accepting the proposed honor. At last on Jan- 
 uary 7, 1810 Father De Neckere consented to be consecrated. All 
 arrangements were now made for the consecration which was set for 
 May 16th, at New Orleans. But when Bishop Rosati started for the 
 South, Father De Neckere refused to go. Bishop Rosati journeyed on 
 without De Neckere. The priests assembled for the Consecration peti- 
 tioned the Holy See that De Neckere 's resignation be not accepted. 
 In the meantime Father Tornatore arrived at the Barrens. (May 26) 
 Bishop Rosati was overjoyed at having a new Superior of the Congre- 
 gation. Father Dahmen had proved a failure as Superior : Father 
 Timon was needed elsewhere. On June 30th, the good Bishop wrote to 
 Father Anthony Blanc: Annuntio tibi gaudium magnum: De Neckere 
 is in New Orleans and readj^ to receive consecration. 
 
 A very interesting letter of Bishop Rosati to Father Baccari, dated 
 June 6, 1830, recounts the moving scenes that had occurred before De 
 Neckere would acquiesce. "At last I am rid of New Orleans. De Neck- 
 ere surely has the gift of speech. The priests petitioned him to become 
 their Bishop. Bishop Portier fell on his knees before him, I (Rosati) 
 knelt beside him. How could De Neckere refuse any longer." 5 
 
 On his return to St. Louis, Bishop Rosati appointed Father 
 Tornature his Vicar General. 
 
 On November 21st, the Bishop wrote to his brother Nicola at 
 Sora in answer to an invitation to come on a visit to his old home and 
 friends : " I am rid of New Orleans, and of the Seminary, but I have 
 only two priests with me, and one is almost always absent on Sundays. 
 I must preach twice every Sunday, in French and in English. I am 
 burdened with the building of a Church at the Barrens, and of the 
 Cathedral, as the old Cathedral is threatening to fall in ruins. How 
 can I undertake a journey to Italy." To Cardinal Cappellari the 
 Bishop gives the following description of the old Cathedral, and the 
 reasons for undertaking to build a new one : 
 
 5 Rosati to Baceari, June 6, 1830, in "Letter Book of Bishop Eosati," cf. 
 Diary of the dates mentioned above. 
 
 6 Archives of Kenriek Seminarv. 
 
• )() -l History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "The building of it was commenced with great courage; all the 
 citizens contributed willingly according to their ability to erect only 
 the walls; the roof and the floor cost about 24,000 dollars. It was 
 never finished and the interior remained rustic, and looked like a barn. 
 The work was badly done, so that a side wall 130 feet long is about 
 to collapse. . . this Church could not serve much longer because it 
 is dangerous to leave it in its present state and because it cannot be 
 repaired for a sum smaller than it will take to erect a new Church. 
 In the meanwhile we celebrate the holy mysteries in this barn, which 
 is about to fall, is open to rain, snow and wind. In winter, and the 
 winters in these parts are rigorous, we cannot pass an hour at the 
 altar without freezing (Senga Gelarsi) and often the sacred ceremonies 
 are disturbed by the rain which the storm carries to the very steps 
 of the altar. I have applied everywhere, I sacrificed what I could, 
 but if the Lord does not open to us some way, we have to do without 
 a Church. Without revenues, without income from our own country, 
 a poor missionary bishop can only recommend his needs to Divine 
 Providence, explain them to those who can help him and hope that 
 the Lord will speak to their hearts in his favor." 7 
 
 When at last, after a long period of anxious waiting Bishop Rosati 
 was relieved of the administration of New Orleans, he turned his full 
 energy to the upbuilding of his episcopal city, St. Louis. The old brick 
 Church was an ugly structure, and in its half-finished condition in- 
 adequate to its purpose and the dignity of the diocese : To replace 
 it by a magnificent temple of God seemed a sacred duty. The finest 
 Church in the entire west his Cathedral was intended to be, the grand 
 outward symbol of central authority and general leadership in the 
 Church. A meeting of the parishioners was called for the fourth day 
 of April, 1830. The Bishop presided and Marie Philip Leduc acted 
 as secretary. 8 It was resolved to build a new Cathedral, worthy of 
 the city and diocese. In order to raise funds for the undertaking 
 it was decided to lease the north half of the Church-block, where, the 
 record says, "is the ancient cemetery, and the old Church stands." 
 William Higgins, M. P. Leduc, John O'Rourke, Michael O'Rourke, 
 Louis Menard, and James Lynch were selected as a standing Com- 
 
 7 Eosati to Prefect of Propaganda, December 30, 1821. Original draft of 
 letter in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 8 The facts stated in the following account of the building of the Cathedral 
 are derived from an address delivered before the Missouri Historical Society, Sep- 
 tember 16, 1875, entitled "Retrospective View of the First Religious Establishments 
 in the City of St. Louis, ' ' published by Msgr. Tannrath, Chancellor, in the ' ' Church 
 Progress," December 14, 21 and 28, 1916. The author, Wilson Primm, was secretary 
 of the Cathedral Building Committee. 
 
The Dawn of a New Era 505 
 
 mittee, with full power to adopt all measures necessary and conducive 
 to accomplish the proposed end. Wilson Primm was appointed Perma- 
 nent Secretary. Subsequently, William Higgins having died, and Lewis 
 Menard, Patrick Walsh and John O'Rourke, resigned, Col. Rene Paul, 
 Hugh O'Neill, and General Bernard Pratte were appointed to fill the 
 vacancies. 
 
 The committee set on foot private subscriptions, for the building 
 of the church and the removal of the dead from the graveyard ; a loan 
 of eight thousand dollars, generously proffered by Bishop Du Bourg, 
 was gratefully accepted; and the north half of block No. 59 was leased 
 to George Morton and Joseph C. Lavelle. This lease was executed on the 
 25th of August 1830, in "presence of St. Gamier and Wilson Primm 
 of the committee, and the said Lavelle and Morton." 
 
 On the 15th, upon the report of this special committee, it was 
 determined "that the walls should be three feet thick from the foun- 
 dations to the floor, and two and a half above the floor ; the foundation 
 should be sunk four feet in the ground and raised five above the 
 ground ; that the church should be eighty by one hundred and thirty, 
 and thirty-four feet high from the floor ; that the front should be of 
 neat hammered stone, and the sides of good range work." 
 
 On the 20th, the proposal of John Darst for the carpenter work, 
 and of John Goodfellow for excavating the foundation, were accepted. 
 
 On the 20th of December "the proposals of Hugh O'Neil for 
 building the stone Avails were read and accepted, provided he binds 
 himself to finish the whole of the stone work, except what is to be made 
 according to contract by the stone cutters and the columns inside, for 
 $6000," and that the further sum of $500 be granted for grouting the 
 whole work. 
 
 The proposals of John Withnell and Charles Coutts for the stone 
 cutting work and furnishing all the materials therefor for $5300, were 
 read and accepted, provided they make themselves responsible for the 
 accidents that might happen in putting up the stones, and make the 
 steps of the portico returned to end." 
 
 On August 1st, 1831, the work was so far advanced that the 
 cornerstone of the new edifice could be laid with the prescribed solemni- 
 ties: 
 
 "At five o'clock in the afternoon," as Bishop Rosati writes, "the 
 people having been called together by the ringing of the bells, and 
 having vested ourselves in the sacristy, in company of the Rev. Fathers 
 Edmond Saulnier, assistant priest; John Elet, deacon, and Michael 
 Condamine, subdeacon ; Rev. L. Doutreluingne, Cruciferarius, together 
 with the Revs. L. Rondot, P. Verhaegen, S. J., and A. Mascaroni, 
 master of ceremonies, we proceeded to the Church, where Rev. Rondot 
 
506 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 delivered a sermon in French. Having chanted the 'Veni Creator' 
 we proceeded to the foundation of the New Cathedral. Then having 
 observed all that the rubrics prescribed, we blessed and placed the 
 cornerstone in the front angle of that part of the Church which looks 
 to the East. The stone contained a metal case in which was placed a 
 glass vase well sealed; this vase contains several coins of the previous 
 year, a parchment on which is written the early history of the foun- 
 dation of the City of St. Louis, and a parchment with the following 
 inscription: "In the year of our Lord, 1831, on the 1st day of August, 
 the 55th year of our American Independence, during the pontificate 
 of Pope Gregory XVI, Andrew Jackson being President of the United 
 States, and John Miller Governor of Missouri, the cornerstone of this 
 Cathedral Church, in honor of St. Louis of France, to be erected by the 
 Catholic citizens of St. Louis, was blessed and placed by the Right 
 Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, assisted by the Rev. Fathers 
 E. Saulnier, P. J. Verhaegen, S. J., L. Rondot, P. W. Walsh, M. 
 Condamine, J. A. Elet, A. Mascaroni and L. Doutreluingne. There 
 were present Messrs. Bernard Pratte, P. M. Leduc, Hugh O'Neill, R. 
 Paul, James Lynch and M. O'Rourke, the Cathedral trustees, and a 
 large concourse of people. Having finished this ceremony we returned 
 to the Church, where Rev. P. J. Verhaegen, S. J., preached a sermon 
 in the English language. A collection was then taken up for the benefit 
 of the new Church, and the sum collected amounted to $62.50. " 9 
 
 On January 2nd, 1832, the good Bishop is happy to record a 
 large contribution. "I received a letter from the Propaganda at Rome, 
 which contained an order from Pope Gregory XVI for $3,000 in gold, 
 to be devoted to the building of the new Cathedral. Needless to add 
 that this communication brought me great consolation and joy." 10 
 
 The Bishop had now taken up his residence at the Cathedral with 
 Very Rev. Louis Rondot as Vicar General, and the Fathers Saulnier, 
 J. A. Lutz, Benedict Roux, as Cathedral clergy. 
 
 There were chapels at the Jesuit College, the Convent of the 
 Sacred Heart, and the Hospital of the Sisters of Charity. The priests 
 at the Jesuit College in 1831 were Fathers P. J. Verhaegen, Rector, 
 Charles Van Quickenborne, Peter Walsh, P. J. De Smet, J. Van Lommel, 
 James Van de Velde, and J. A. Elet, all members of the Society of 
 Jesus. The city was now well provided in this regard: But there was 
 ample work for all, and above all, for the Bishop. On July 27th, 1831 
 he had blessed and laid the cornerstone for the new Church at Ste. 
 Genevieve, where his old and trusted friend, Father Dahmen. was 
 
 9 Eosati's Diary. 
 io Eosati's Diary. 
 
The Dawn of a New Era 507 
 
 pastor : On October 9th, of the same year he consecrated the new brick 
 church at Old Mines built by Father Philip Borgna, C. M. 
 
 On April 23rd, 1830, the Bishop paid $4000, out of the annual 
 allowance derived from the Society of the Propagation of the Faith 
 to Pratte and the Chouteaus on his note of $4500 . . Relieved of the 
 burden of the Cathedral debt, the Bishop took steps to insure a quick 
 expansion of the Church into the numerous new settlements of Euro- 
 peans, that had suddenly sprung up like the corn in the fields after the 
 first warm spring rain. From all corners of his vast diocese came the 
 call for priests. We shall see how nobly Bishop Rosati responded. 
 
Chapter 10 
 BISHOP ROSATI'S CATHEDRAL 
 
 In the meantime building operations had proceeded slowly but 
 steadily, until in September 1834 the massive structure stood there in 
 solemn grandeur, the finest House of God this side the Allegheny 
 Mountains. 
 
 A final meeting of the committee was held on the 3rd of October 
 1834, at which were present the Rt. Rev. Bishop Rosati, Mary P. Leduc, 
 Hugh O'Neil, Sr., and Rene Paul. The arrangements for the conse- 
 cration of the Cathedral were now made. Bishop Rosati records in his 
 Diary under date of November 12th: "I have written a full report, 
 in Italian, of the consecration of our new Cathedral Church to His 
 Holiness, Pope Gregory XVI, as also to Cardinal Pedicini, and have 
 sent a copy to the Leopoldine Society. 1 As a memorial of Bishop 
 Rosati 's most memorable triumph, the first part at least, of the document 
 containing a full description of the building deserves a place in the 
 History of St. Louis r 
 
 "This august temple, raised in the City of St. Louis, Mo., was begun 
 about three years ago. The first stone thereof was blessed and set 
 in place with the customary ceremonies on August 1st, 1831, by the 
 present Bishop of the Diocese. Thanks to the munificence of the reign- 
 ing Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XVI, through the generous aid given by 
 the Association for the Propagation of the Faith established in France, 
 and of the Leopoldine Institution established in the dominions of His 
 Majesty the Emperor of Austria; by means of the repeated efforts of 
 the inhabitants of St. Louis who have contributed according to their 
 capacity, either by subscriptions, or by collections taken a number of 
 times for this purpose ; finally owing to other resources drawn from 
 a piece of property adjacent to the old church, and loans of various 
 sums of money obtained at reasonable rates, this edifice has been con- 
 
 1 Eosati 's Diary. Card. Pedicini was Prefect of the Congregation of Pro- 
 paganda from 1831-1834 in succession to Card. Maurus Cappellari. 
 
 2 Bishop Eosati 's letter to the Leopoldine Society was, no doubt, identical 
 with that sent to the Pope and to the Cardinal, but it was published in Heft IX, in 
 abbreviated form. The complete letter was first published in English by Eev. Dr. 
 Souvay in his excellent booklet, ' ' The Cathedrals of St. Louis. ' ' For the sake of 
 brevity and greater clearness, we have omitted a few irrelevant remarks, indirect 
 requests for help, and minor details. Nothing of historical importance was sacrificed. 
 The account of the Consecration we have used, but not quoted. The sums expended 
 on the building before it was completed reached the grand total of $85,000. 
 
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Bishop Rosati's Cathedral 509 
 
 tinned without other interruptions than those which were caused by 
 the rigor of the winter, which in this country does not permit building 
 operations; and has at length been put in condition of being conse- 
 crated. 
 
 "The dimensions of the church are as follows: length, 136 feet; 
 width, 84 feet; and height, 40 feet. The entire facade, as also 27 feet 
 of the sides near the facade, are of beautiful polished stone, much like 
 marble. The portico is sustained in front by four columns of the same 
 material, 27 feet high, and of a diameter of four feet. It is 40 feet 
 long and 12 feet deep, Doric, after the fashion of the ruins of Paestum. 
 On the frieze of that portico and of the whole facade' is read in relief 
 the following inscription : In honor em 8. Ludovici. DEO UNI ET TRINO 
 DICATUM. A. MDCCCXXXIV. Above the three doors are placed three 
 slabs of Italian marble, upon which is engraved the following text of 
 the Apocalypse: Ecce Tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, et habitabit 
 cum eis; this inscription is in Latin over the middle door, in English 
 over the door to the east and in French over the other. The Gospel text : 
 Domus mea Domus orationis vocabitur, is inscribed on two other slabs 
 in French and in English on either side of the facade. Over the parapet 
 surmounting the outer cornice of the facade are placed six candelabra 
 of stone. The portico is crowned by a beautiful pediment in the 
 center of which is engraved in large gilded Hebrew characters the 
 ineffable Name of God surmounted by rays. Back of that pediment 
 arises the belfry, about 20 feet square and 40 feet high above the apex 
 of the facade which itself is 50 feet high; it is all constructed of 
 polished stone, ornamented with two rows of pilasters and cornices. In 
 the center of the lower row of pilasters there is on the four sides a clock 's 
 dial face ; and in the center of the upper row are the openings of the 
 bell-house. Time has not permitted to finish the octagonal spire, 45 
 feet high, before the consecration of the church; the approach of 
 winter having compelled the workmen to suspend work until next 
 spring. The skeleton of this spire is of wood; it will be covered out- 
 side with sheets of tin, and surmounted by a ball of gilded brass, on the 
 top of which will be raised a cross ten feet high covered likewise with 
 gilded brass. The entire roof of the church is covered with sheets of 
 brass. The portico rests upon a platform of stone, which is raised 
 five feet above the level of the street, and reached by steps all around 
 the three sides. The front of the church is separated from the street by 
 a narrow space, surrounded by an iron fence resting on a low stone 
 wall and interrupted in five places by gates, two of which lead to a 
 beautiful passage-way paved with brick, which runs all around the church 
 and is intended for processions; the other three lead from the street 
 to the church steps. 
 
510 Histori/ of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 " Inside the church is: 
 
 In the first place, the Sanctuary, four feet higher than the floor of 
 the rest of the church. It is 40 feel Long and 30 wide, and is separated 
 by Corinthian balusters, which form the communion rail, reached by 
 several steps running all the Length of the sanctuary. The back of the 
 sanctuary is decorated with four fluted columns, with their gilt capitals, 
 an architrave, a frieze and a cornice, all of Corinthian style; in the 
 pediment above is an oval window before which was placed a trans- 
 parent picture representing the Holy Ghost under the form of a dove, 
 emitting on all sides rays of light, some of which lose themselves in clouds 
 in the midst of which may be seen many angels; on either side of the pedi- 
 ment is the gilded figure of an angel carrying the two tables of the Old 
 and the New Law respectively. The organ loft is placed on one side 
 of the sanctuary ; and on the opposite side is a gallery destined for 
 the children of the orphanage. Underneath these two galleries are 
 the doors giving access to the two side sacristies. The picture of the 
 main altar represents our Lord crucified, with the Blessed Virgin, St. 
 John and the holy women at foot of the cross. This picture impresses 
 greatly the Protestants who see it. The altar is of stone, and it is 
 covered with antipendia. 
 
 "The two side chapels with their altars next arrest our attention. 
 These two chapels are on the same level as the sanctuary and the 
 sacristies. They are decorated with two Ionic columns with gilded 
 capitals, which support, an architrave, frieze, cornice and pediment of 
 the same style. The one is dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul, secondary 
 Patron of the Diocese, and the other to St. Patrick, the apostle of 
 Ireland. 
 
 "Underneath the sanctuary, the side chapels and the sacristies is 
 a large underground chapel, measuring 84 feet in length and 30 ft. 
 in width. It may be reached from the two side aisles of the church 
 by two flights of stone steps; and likewise from the two sacristies and 
 from the outside. This chapel is consecrated to the Blessed Sacrament; 
 it is also destined for the administration of the Sacrament of 
 Penance, and for this purpose four handsome confessionals have been 
 placed in it. There also are the stations of the Way of the Cross. 
 Hence it will be a place where the faithful shall be able to cultivate 
 and exercise their devotion without distractions. Although this chapel 
 is five feet under ground, yet it is well lighted by means of six 
 windows. 
 
 "To return to the church above, its main body is made up of three 
 aisles divided by two rows of five columns; these are of brick covered 
 with stucco and tinted so as to imitate marble; they measure 27 feet 
 in height and 3% in diameter; the capitals, which are of stone 
 
Bishop Rosati's Cathedral 511 
 
 painted in brass finish, the architrave, the friez and the large cornice 
 running along both sides of the nave,, are Doric. The vault of the nave 
 soars forty feet above the floor; it is in the shape 5 of a surbased arch, 
 and divided in eighteen rectangular panels corresponding to the spaces 
 between the columns, each decorated with cornice, rose and other orna- 
 ments of stucco. The ceilings of the two side aisles are likewise stuccoed 
 and painted so as to figure panels. The church is lighted by fourteen 
 large windows, sixteen by eight feet, semicircular in the upper part ; 
 there are also a number of other smaller Avindows, semi-circular, oval 
 or rectangular. Alongside the wall in front are several spacious gal- 
 leries for the use of the people ; these galleries are so arranged that 
 the men will be separated from the women, the boys from the girls. 
 Attention was also given to the accommodation of the poor negroes : for 
 their special use are two beautiful galleries, where the persons of both 
 sexes belonging to this class may assist separately at divine offices. Fin- 
 ally, a handsome recess closed by an iron gate contains the Baptismal 
 Font at a short distance from the church door. The pulpit, located 
 by one of the columns in the middle of the church, is of varnished wood, 
 and of a quite elegant shape. Two hundred pews, disposed regularly 
 in the body of the church, and a number of others in the various gal- 
 leries, offer to the Catholics of the city, and to the Protestants who come 
 with pleasure and in goodly numbers, the necessary accommodations 
 to hear comfortably the word of God and the expounding of the 
 dogmas of the Catholic religion. As winter here is quite rigorous, there 
 were constructed in the basement two furnaces on the model of the 
 heating apparatus invented recently and used successfully in various 
 cities of this country; thus the furnaces are out of sight, and the 
 hot air is let into the church by means of two circular openings, two feet 
 in diameter, covered with a metal grate ; the cost of heating is very 
 little, owing to the abundance of coal in this country ; and thus are 
 removed the pretexts and excuses of those who invoked the severity of 
 the cold to dispense themselves from coming to church. 
 
 "The new Cathedral is alongside the residence of the Bishop, from 
 which it is separated only by an alley eighteen feet wide. The secular 
 priests residing in St. Louis and exercising the parochial ministry 
 with the Bishop, live with him a kind of community life, with its 
 rules, its regular exercises of piety, spiritual conferences, reading of 
 Holy Scripture at table, etc. Their life is one of retirement from all 
 useless relations with seculars, from whom they never accept any in- 
 vitations either to dinner or to supper outside the house, so that they 
 may always be ready for any calls. Their number is still inadequate 
 to the needs, which in this city are harder to satisfy than elsewhere, 
 because the population speaks three languages, French, English and 
 
■ill.' History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 German. A large number of German Catholics have come, and are 
 continuing to come, to settle in the Diocese and the city of St. Louis. 
 As a rule, they are very pious, industrious, and they do honor to the 
 religion which they profess by word and deed. It is therefore necessary 
 to preach in these three languages; yet all the clergy employed in the 
 service of the parish at present consists only of the Bishop, two priests 
 and a cleric. From time to time a Jesuit comes from the College to 
 preach in English ; and on solemn feast days, these Fathers come to 
 assist at pontifical functions, so that, with the further aid of altar boys 
 vested in red cassocks and surplices, who fulfill the minor offices, the 
 solemnities may be celebrated with proper dignity. 
 
 ' ' On the west side of the Cathedral there is a beautiful piece of 
 ground belonging to the church, which might otherwise have been turned 
 into a source of revenue ; however, in order to obviate the inconvenience 
 resulting from having living houses so near the church, the Bishop has 
 reserved this piece of property for the Orphan Asylum. The charity 
 of the faithful is much interested in these children, of whom, after 
 the outbreak of the cholera, twenty-five were gathered together and 
 are raised in a small house; a fair held by the most respectable ladies 
 of the city in favor of the Orphanage has returned $1,000, besides $800 
 for the building of a new asylum. Providence will certainly do the 
 rest. Building operations for this new Orphanage will commence next 
 spring. 
 
 "The Church is now completed; but far from being paid, and there 
 is a dearth of vestments and other articles of ornament and use. 
 
 "The twenty -third Sunday after Pentecost. October 26th, was set 
 apart for the solemn consecration of the Cathedral. Nothing was left un- 
 done, that could add to the splendor of these festivities. Bishop Flaget 
 of Bardstown and Bishop Pureed of Cincinnati were invited by the 
 Bishop of St. Louis to grace the occasion with their presence and to 
 perform the consecration of the newly-appointed Bishop of Vincennes, 
 Simon Brute, in the newly consecrated Church. The Bishops consented. 
 All the missionary priests of the diocese, the Jesuits with their clerics 
 and novices, the faculty of the Seminary and University of the Blessed 
 Virgin at the Barrens, made their appearance on the appointed day. 
 The inhabitants of the city were full of joy, the ladies brought all kinds 
 of ornaments to decorate the altars. The citizens vied with each other 
 in giving assistance in their military uniforms, in keeping order and 
 marching to the tune of trumpet and drum. 
 
 "On the eve of the celebration the three bells of the Cathedra! 
 rang out the glad tidings of the coming festivities; the roar of the 
 cannon invited all to the consecration. In the old Cathedral the sacred 
 
Bishop Rosati's Cathedral 513 
 
 relics were exposed on the altar, richly decorated and covered with 
 a crown. Matins were sung by the assembled Bishops and clergy. 
 
 "On the morning of the 27th of October, the Bishop of St. Louis, 
 and the other Bishops and priests, assembled in the old Cathedral, 
 and put on their vestments. The procession moved, under an escort 
 of honor and cheered by martial strains, to the new church. The 
 number of onlookers increased from minute to minute. The sacred 
 functions were carried out in accordance with the Roman Ritual. 
 Two missionary priests explained the sacred ceremonies to the people, 
 in French and in English. The procession with the sacred relics from 
 the old to the new Cathedral exceeded in splendor anything that St. 
 Louis had ever seen of religious ceremonies. Good order was not 
 disturbed for a moment. A stranger might have imagined, that all 
 inhabitants of St. Louis were Catholics, so attentive, so quiet, so devout 
 were even the non-catholics at the celebration. 
 
 "After the ceremony of consecration was completed all the clergy 
 vested themselves in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament to assist at 
 the first Holy Mass in the newly-consecrated Church. The Bishop 
 of St. Louis pontificated, the other Bishops assisted. The Bishop of 
 Cincinnati moved the entire audience to enthusiasm by his eloquent 
 sermon. Three o'clock in the afternoon saw the conclusion of the holy, 
 never-to-be-forgotten, celebration, of which all St. Louis, Catholic 
 and Protestant, old and young, men and women, as well as the sur- 
 rounding country, spoke and will speak for years to come, and whose 
 holy results the Church will soon experience in the return of numerous 
 non-Catholics to the bosom of Mother Church. 
 
 "Vespers were held at 6 p. m. by the Senior Bishop of America, 
 Flaget, assisted by a large number of the clergy. An American priest, 
 Mr. Abell, delivered the sermon in English. During the entire month 
 of October Solemn High Mass and Vespers were held with sermons in 
 the English and French languages, the visiting prelates taking turns. 
 
 "On the 28th of October, the feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude, 
 the solemn consecration of the newly appointed Bishop of Vincennes, 
 Simon Brute, was performed by the Bishop of Bardstown, Flaget, 
 assisted by the Bishops of St. Louis and Cincinnati. The latter preached 
 an eloquent sermon on the divine institution of the Episopacy, paint- 
 ing in the most glowing colors the rapid spread of the Catholic 
 religion in America. 
 
 "On the Feast of All Saints the Bishop of Cincinnati participated, 
 and at the close of the entire festivities of the consecration, the newly 
 consecrated Bishop of Vincennes held Pontifical High Mass and Vespers, 
 with the Te Deum before the Blessed Sacrament. After Benediction the 
 
 Vol. 1-17 
 
51-1 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession to the chapel of the 
 Blessed Sacrament and reposed on the altar. 
 
 On the 3rd of November the visiting prelates departed to install 
 the newly consecrated Bishop of Vinccnnes in his See. 
 
 "There it stands, the temple of God in glory. Would that all its 
 children were living stones in the grand Temple of God, the Catholic 
 Church."? 
 
 A new era had now begun, an era of progress, and expansion, no 
 more to be arrested by adverse powers. The old order had changed, 
 and its symbol, the Brick Cathedral of Bishop Du Bourg, too, was 
 destined to disappear. Bishop Rosati writes in his Diary, in 1835, on 
 the 7th day of April, of a very serious fire, which destroyed a livery 
 stable situated in the neighborhood of the Cathedral. The fire occurred 
 at midnight. There was great consternation and fear among all the 
 people that the new Cathedral would be destroyed, but he adds that 
 the strenuous efforts of the citizens saved the Church building, and he 
 offers thanks to the Almighty for His great favor. The Catholic Herald 
 of January 8th, 1835 copied the following item anient the consecration 
 of the St. Louis Cathedral from the "Catholic Telegraph" of Cincinnati, 
 which had a poem on the subject : 
 
 "At the dedication of the Cathedral at St. Louis, when the solemn 
 moment of the Consecration approached, and the Son of the Living God 
 was going to descend for the first time upon the new residence of His 
 glory on earth, the drums beat the reveille, three of the Star Spangled 
 Banners were lowered over the Balustrade of the Sanctuary — The ar- 
 tillery gave a deafening discharge — the bells were again rung, and tears 
 flowed from every eye . . . . " 
 
 Miserable alarmists endeavored to seize on this circumstance and 
 affected to see the subversion of the temporal liberty of the country." 4 
 
 3 Bishop Rosati 's Cathedral is still one of the monumental buildings of the 
 city. The "St. Louis Republican" of August 15, 1875, said of it: "It is fit that 
 all who cherish memories of the past, who have regard for the preservation of this, 
 the most important historical monument left to us, should join in the work of main- 
 taining and keeping in order the Cathedral of St. Louis. It is not alone a work for 
 the Catholics to do, but in a large sense it is a special work for the Protestants as 
 well. It belongs to all ; it is historical. ' ' 
 
 4 It was on the 7th day of April, 1835, that the Eev. Samuel Parker arrived in 
 St. Louis to meet Dr. Marcus Whitman, his associate, on their way to Oregon and 
 incidentally to witness two memorable events in the history of the Catholic Church: 
 namely, the completion of the new Cathedral of Bishop Rosati and the passing of the 
 old brick church of Bishop Du Bourg. Of the former, he says in his journal: "The 
 Catholic Cathedral is built of a firm light brown sandstone, and is a large expensive 
 building." Concerning the latter, he remarks: "A fire last night destroyed a very 
 large livery stable, in which we lost a horse, saddle and bridle. The Old Cathedral, 
 which was used for a store house, Was also burnt, together with a very large quanti- 
 ty of crockery, which it contained." Du Bourg 's brick Cathedral had served the 
 people of St. Louis until the consecration of the new one, for the noblest purposes 
 of religion, and now, six months after its disuse, it was saved from all vulgar use 
 by an act of Divine Providence, the great fire of 1835. 
 
Chapter 11 
 THE MISSOURI RIVER PARISHES 
 
 By virtue of the Concordat of 1823, the Jesuits of Florissant had 
 spiritual sway over the entire Northwest part of the diocese between 
 the Missouri and the .Mississippi Rivers. Consequently the ancient but 
 sadly reduced parishes of St. Charles, St. Ferdinand, Dardenne, and 
 Portage des Sioux became dependent upon their ministrations. Every 
 one of these parishes had landed property, and a rude structure of 
 logs they called their church. These, as well as the trustee-system 
 were an inheritance from the Spanish regime. Father Van Quickenborne 
 assumed charge of the spiritual affairs, succeeding the Lazarist Father 
 Aquaroni. Bishop Du Bourg had ordained, in the case of St. Ferdinand, 
 that the authority of the trustees was to cease as soon as the new 
 church, begun by Father De La Croix, should be blessed. The work 
 of constructing tins brick building consumed eleven years, so that 
 the consecration services had to be deferred until September 2nd, 
 1832. The church was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the 
 secondary patron saints being St. Ferdinand and St. Francis Regis. 
 
 The Creole population of St. Ferdinand was, as a matter of course, 
 Catholic, but, owing to long neglect, rather poorly instructed or sadly 
 oblivious of duty. "At the same time," as Father Van Assche wrote, 
 "there were many conversions and a better state of things could be 
 hoped for." 1 
 
 "The revivals preached by the Fathers," wrote Mother Duchesne, 
 "bring into the church, and then to the sacraments, almost all the 
 village. One hundred and sixty men have made their Easter Com- 
 munion. On the Feast of Corpus Christi the procession, folloAved 
 by all the parishioners, w 7 ent along the streets and through the fields. 
 The Blessed Sacrament rested on an altar erected in our outfield. 
 These Fathers would convert a kingdom." 2 
 
 What attracted these naturally devout people most was the annual 
 Corpus Christi procession, held in the open, accompanied by soldiers, 
 who would discharge their muskets in salute to their Divine King, 
 at Benediction. The earliest Jesuit pastor in residence at St. Ferdi- 
 nand of Florissant Avas Father Jodocus Van Assche. At first he 
 attended his parish from the Novitiate : but in 1832 he took up his 
 residence near the church. For a time the presence of a pastor in their 
 midst had no palpable effect on the people of the sleepy village. The 
 
 1 Van Assche to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 2 Baunard-Fullerton, "Life of M. Du Chesne," p. 261. 
 
 (515) 
 
516 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 spiritual harvest remained as small as ever: even the pomp and splen- 
 dor of Confirmation, administered by Bishop Rosati, had, as the An- 
 nalist regretfully remarks, "very few spectators" in Florissant. 
 Father De Theux, the Superior at the Novitiate, in September 1835, 
 opened a school for boys, which Avas taught by the Jesuit Brother De 
 Meyer, whilst the Ladies of the Sacred Heart continued their day- 
 school and boarding school for girls. As "The Annual Letters" of 
 1837 put the matter: "The reformation of the parish must begin with 
 the children." That was Father De Theux 's last hope, short of a 
 miracle. AVe can, therefore, sympathize with his strong protest to 
 Bishop Rosati against the contemplated withdrawal of the Ladies of 
 the Sacred Heart from their educational field in St. Ferdinand. 
 
 During the period, May 1835, to August 1836, Father Van Assche 
 was pastor of St. Charles, his place at Florissant being taken by Father 
 James Busschotts; then he returned to Florissant to remain until 
 April 1838, when he was made Rector and Master of Novices. He was 
 succeeded by Father Paillasson 3 and, after four months, by Father 
 James Gleizal. Through the prayers and exertions and, above all, 
 through the priestly conduct of these Fathers, a marked transformation 
 was effected in the religious life of the Congregation. Where, in 
 former years, scarcely two hundred members made their Easter duty, 
 in the year 1839 the number of Easter Communicants reached eight 
 hundred. Of all the parishes on the Missouri River, St. Charles was 
 at this time the most considerable. It had enjoyed the ministry of 
 resident priests for a number of years before the coming of the Jesuits. 
 But in the general collapse of ecclesiastical affairs after the with- 
 drawal of the secular arm that had supported the spiritual, sad days 
 of almost utter destitution fell upon the people. Father Benedict 
 Richards, soon after his appointment to the pastorship, was called 
 away to New Orleans. The first Jesuit to exercise the sacred ministry 
 in St. Charles, was Father Timmermans, and his last visit to St. Charles 
 was the occasion of his death. Father Van Quickenborne, in his isola- 
 tion, could do no more than visit the place on week days, or send the 
 scholastics Verhaegen and Elet to hold religious services for the people. 
 Immediately after his ordination at the Barrens, Father Peter Ver- 
 haegen was assigned as visiting missionary to the parishes of St. Charles 
 and Portage des Sioux with three other stations. 
 
 Religious and moral conditions among the Creoles of St. Charles 
 were most deplorable. "Bacchanalian orgies of pagan days" seemed to 
 have returned to the Christian settlement ; men and girls spending their 
 time in public dancing and drinking whisky." 4 
 
 3 Father Paillasson, after his unfortunate attempt to build up the School in 
 new Madrid, was sent to various places in Missouri and Illinois; in 1836 he entered 
 the Novitiate at Florissant. 
 
 4 Baunard-Fullerton, "Mother Du Chesne," p. 182. 
 
The Missouri River Parishes 517 
 
 The conditions obtaining' in 1819 were slowly changing for the 
 better; but all too slowly for the Father's fiery zeal. "I do not hear 
 regularly more than twenty confessions a month, "Father Verhaegen 
 wrote in 1827, at a time when the Catholic population of St. Charles 
 was about five hundred, "and I do not see how, without a change in 
 circumstances, this number Avill increase. The French spend the spring, 
 summer and fall on the river, finding thus their only means of support. 
 During their absence, their wives almost perish of hunger and are 
 often without decent dress, whilst the children are in a miserable state. 
 When the voyageurs return, a mass of debts contracted during their 
 absence has to be paid. I am convinced it will require a miracle for 
 our missionaries to gather in anything like a spiritual harvest. For 
 if, according to the old saw, occasion makes the thief, here navigation 
 makes the devil." 5 
 
 The old log church of Blanchette's time (1792) was in danger of 
 falling to pieces. Father Van Assche called it "a barn, not of stone 
 but of wood, without foundation of any kind except a few stones placed 
 under the joists to keep them from rotting. The windows are now 
 without glass. If I receive money from Europe, as I expect, I shall 
 buy in the town of St. Charles a piece of property nine acres in extent, 
 together with the house in which the Ladies of the Sacred Heart for- 
 merly resided. In that case I will build a church there and lease the 
 land on which the old church now stands, if your Lordship approves 
 the plans, and the parishioners consent.'" 5 According to Bishop Du 
 Bourg's policy, the trustee-system was abolished by the parish, and 
 the pastor was named sole administrator of all the church-property 
 of St. Charles Parish. 
 
 Not long after his ordination in 1826, Father Verhaegen came 
 to superintend the construction of the new Church which Avas to be 
 the finest sacred edifice in the entire diocese. It was to cost upwards 
 of five thousand dollars. Whence the funds were to come remained 
 the secret of Father Van Quickenborne. All the contributions in money 
 and labor did not amount to one thousand dollars. Yet the work pro- 
 gressed, and the bills were duly paid, and in 1828 the church was ready 
 for divine worship. It is believed that Father Van Quickenborne had 
 devoted a considerable part of his patrimony to this great undertaking, 
 and had obtained generous sums from some of his Belgian friends. 
 Father Verhaegen felt greatly relieved at the completion of the beauti- 
 ful building, with its "facade of cut stone, surrounded by a pretty 
 cornice, which rested upon four pilasters." "It was eighty feet long," 
 
 5 Verhaegen to Dziorizynski, November 7, 1827. 
 o Van Assche to De Nef, January 9, 1825. 
 
518 History of the Archd/iocese of St. Louis 
 
 he proudly tells lis, "forty feet wide and twenty-nine feet high, and 
 the only church in the diocese which was plastered." 7 
 
 The consecration of the new edifice by Bishop Rosati, was an affair 
 of unprecedented splendor. Nine priests were in attendance ; the laity 
 of St. Charles and neighboring places took a real interest in the 
 proceedings. The Ladies of the Sacred Heart were deeply impressed: 
 "The new Church," Madam Duchesne wrote to Bishop Du Bourg in 
 France, "looks out upon the Missouri, and is built upon the site of 
 Your former garden, and just over the spot, from which You helped 
 with Your episcopal hands to pull up a young sapling." 8 Father 
 Verhaegen to whom a great part of the credit was due, now retired 
 to Florissant, and on August 15, 1828, Father John Baptist Smedts 
 was commissioned as the first Superior of the St. Charles Residence. 
 Father Felix Verreydt came as his assistant, but was principally em- 
 ployed in the out-missions. The logs of the old church were conveyed 
 to the lot where the dwelling stood, and were built up into two apart- 
 ments, one of which was to serve as a school room for the boys of the 
 parish. 
 
 In 1828, the tireless energy of Father Van Quickenborne succeeded 
 in reestablishing the Ladies of the Sacred Heart in the now thriving town 
 of St. Charles. Just prior to his departure for the Osage Excursion, 
 he sent a deed of donation of their former house in St. Charles, which 
 he asked them to occupy. The sainted Mother Barat gratefully ac- 
 quiesced, and in June 1828, Mother Duchesne took possession of the 
 new residence. But a new building of brick for the Sisters was under- 
 taken by Father Van Quickenborne in 1833. Madame Lueille Mathevon 
 was then in charge of the Convent and school. The school for boys 
 had opened its doors under the Jesuit Brother Henry Rysselman, with 
 thirty-five pupils. If the school for girls should not languish, a new 
 building was requisite. But whence can the means be obtained? "Sure 
 of $300." says Father Verhagen, "he, (that is Father Van Quicken- 
 borne) will get the rest, though he should wear out six pairs of shoes 
 by running through St. Louis on begging excursions. " 9 And he did 
 get the requisite sum, he whose very name designated a living fountain. 
 Owing - to an attack of sickness, Brother Henry was not able to teach 
 for about three months, during which time Father Verreydt took his 
 place in school. 
 
 This school at St. Charles was established in 1828 ; it was followed 
 in 1835 by the school at Florissant under Brother De Meyer, and 
 
 " "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi. " That a church was plastered was 
 considered a real distinction, as most of the log structures "gaped unplastered and 
 unceiled. " 
 
 8 "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," apud Erskine, p. 296. 
 
 9 Verhaegen to McSherry, October 16, 293, Archives of Baltimore. 
 
The Missouri River Parishes 519 
 
 others. After the pioneer efforts of the Christian Brothers at Ste. 
 Genevieve, the St. Charles School for boys is the earliest parochial 
 school, west of the Mississippi River. 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne certainly deserves the gratitude of all 
 lovers of Catholic education, for his foresight and energy in laying 
 the foundation for the wonderful system of parochial schools, Ave now 
 behold in the shadow of almost every Catholic Church in the country. 
 The valiant and wise pioneer did not always meet the encouragement 
 he deserved in the matter of such schools. Yet he urged their necessity : 
 
 "All of our Fathers are of opinion," he wrote to Father 
 Dziorizynski in 1829; "that schools like Brother Henry's are of the 
 greatest importance, and without them the young in this poor region 
 cannot be raised Catholics. I saw somewhere in the history of the 
 Society that one of our Generals declared this to be in accordance 
 with the spirit of the Institute." 10 Religious conditions were improv- 
 ing in St. Charles in 1829: "A great part of the good done there," 
 Father Van Quickenborne reported to Bishop Rosati, "must, under 
 God, be attributed to the schools." 11 
 
 On the west bank of the crystal-clear Mississippi River a few 
 miles above its junction with the turbid Missouri, lies the dreamy 
 village of Portage des Sioux. It has seen more lively days: one of 
 the greatest Indian gatherings met here to deed away their landed 
 possessions for a pittance. But like the other Creole settlements the 
 place never attained its full stature. American, German and Irish 
 settlers have now supplanted, to a great extent, the early French 
 population. In the days of Van Quickenborne it Avas still exclusiA-ely 
 French. It had a church, of the traditional log construction, but 
 it had no resident priest until the advent of the Italian Lazarist 
 Acquaroni in 1818. Father Timmermans Avas wont to say Mass at 
 Portage every second Sunday. Father Smedts attended the place 
 from the Seminary and later on from St. Charles. In 1835 it re- 
 ceiA'ed its first resident pastor in the person Father Felix Verreydt. 
 It Avas as late as 1827 that the parish, at last, gaA-e possession of the 
 Church presbytery and cemetery to the Jesuits : thus eliminating the 
 dangers of the old trustee-system. 
 
 In sharp contrast with the other Creole parishes of St. Charles 
 County, the parish of Portage des Sioux always enjoyed the reputa- 
 tion of excelling in religious feiwor. "Here if anywhere in Missouri," 
 witness the Annual Letters for 1837, "the life of the first Christians 
 is reproduced. None can be called rich and there are few Avho do 
 not have to toil for a living. Perhaps it is this circumstance AA-hich 
 preA'ents A'ice from entering in and preserA'es the innocence of the 
 
 111 Van Quickenborne to Dziorizynski, November 13, 1829, Archives of Baltimore. 
 11 Van Quickenborne to Kosati, Archives St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
520 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 inhabitants. A Father attended by a lay-brother is stationed here. He 
 is poor among the poor but he is fortunate, for all that, seeing that 
 those committed to his charge are rich in virtue." 12 
 
 But in spite of their poverty the people of Portage were anxious 
 to build a new Church. Father Verreydt met their wishes cheer- 
 fully, and on May 1st, 1836, the cornerstone of the new temple of 
 God was laid by Bishop Rosati. In 1839, Church and parsonage, 
 both of brick, were completed ; the Church was solemnly blessed under 
 the title of St. Francis Assisi. 
 
 The village of Dardenne, with its Church of St. Peter, was one 
 of the missions of the "Good Father Prior," who built the log-chapel 
 the Jesuits found there on their arrival in 1824. The names of 
 .Fathers Timmermans and Verreidt occur most frequently in connec- 
 tion with the early history of the parish. It was under Father 
 Verreidt 's administration in 1832, that the young Jesuit Missionary 
 Father John Van Lommel gave his three-days mission at Dardenne, 
 then the most forlorn and spiritually destitute corner of the diocese. 
 The exercises had been announced to begin on Saturday evening, 
 August 14th. A dreary spot with a few miserable cabins in sight, 
 and a church that might easily be mistaken for a barn. He entered 
 the church and began to ring the bell, but no sign of life far and 
 wide. Yet, as the good Father himself tells us : " After ringing 
 the bell at intervals I gathered about fifteen hearers, partly French 
 and partly American. I said to myself, this will never do. But re- 
 membering St. Jame's experience in Spain, I took courage and began 
 to preach in English, and as well as I could in French, a thing I 
 never attempted before. I announced the regulations of the triduum, 
 firmly resolved to speak three times a day in French and English, 
 even though there should be but a single hearer. But God, who does 
 not place too great a strain upon the weak, came to my assistance at 
 once. The next day there were about seventy, among them many 
 Protestants. This was not so remarkable, but it was remarkable that, 
 on Monday and Tuesday, the same gathering of about seventy should 
 be present at the three exercises. There were thirty-eight communions 
 (never so many before in Dardenne), fifty confessions and three bap- 
 tisms of converts. I need not say that T returned from the excursion 
 in high spirits." 13 
 
 A great change was in store for Dardenne : Father De Theux 
 writes in 1835: "Father Verreydt has succeeded in finishing his 
 church of St. Peter, at least to the extent of being able to say Mass 
 in it on the 29th of last March 1835. A great number of persons 
 assisted at the services. The children, very modest and well-pre- 
 
 12 Litterae Armune, 1837. 
 
 13 Van Lommel to Dziorizynski, September 20, 1832. 
 
The Missouri River Parishes 521 
 
 pared, made their first communion ... It is possible that with time 
 the needs of the people arid the growing number of Catholics will 
 require that a resident priest be stationed there. The church is of 
 wood, but well constructed and, when plastered, will be a very hand- 
 some one for Missouri. It is strongly built too, and has already 
 .cost more than $700. I suppose $300 more will finish it." 14 
 
 The population in the Country around Dardenne was increasing 
 by leaps and bounds. The constant stream of immigration, chiefly 
 of German farmers and artisans filled every nook and corner of St. 
 Charles County. As early as November 1831, when Fathers Kenny, 
 McSherry and Van De Velde sojourned at the newly established Jesuit 
 College in St. Louis, Father Van De Velde wrote: "Another object 
 of curiosity to us "Three Wise Men from the East," is the almost 
 continuous influx of strangers from other states ; the public road 
 which leads to the interior of this State passes before our College 
 and along it you may see every day, men, women and children, on 
 foot or in wagons and other vehicles, cows, horses, carts, emigrating 
 westward and forming a complete procession. Whole bands have to 
 wait at the ferry-boat, which is a pretty large steam-boat and is al- 
 most always crowded. Others arrive from Pittsburg, Wheeling and 
 other places on the Ohio, especially Louisville, in steamboats and flat- 
 boats. Even this morning, 17th of November, a part of an Indian 
 tribe has arrived here from the limits of Canada via Pittsburg and the 
 remainder of the tribe is soon expected . . . they are all civilized, 
 dress like white men and are going to form a settlement in the Arkansas 
 Territory. I would suppose that they are Catholics." 1 "' 
 
 St. Charles County retained a large part of these seekers of 
 new homes. For two years after the erection of the new church at 
 Dardenne it Avas found too small for the crowd of worshippers who 
 flocked to it from all sides. The Catholic settlers of Dardenne dis- 
 trict had indeed become a church-going people, as the ' ' Annual Letters ' ' 
 frequently testify. 
 
 Two other missionary stations on the Missouri River must be 
 mentioned here, although they Avere first visited by Father Charles 
 De La Croix, Cote Sans Dessein and Franklin. Mother Duchesne 
 writes to the sainted Mother Barat from St. Charles under date of 
 February 15, 1819: "Father De La Croix, a Fleming, and our ex- 
 traordinary Confessor, has just come back from a part of Missouri 
 which no missionaries had yet visited. There are noAv two stations 
 there, one at Cote Sans Dessein, which he has consecrated to the 
 Apostle St. Paul, and Avhere there are twenty-two families; the other 
 
 14 "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi," vol. VIII, p. 285. 
 1 -"> A T an de Velde quoted by Garraghan in M. S. "History of the Missouri 
 Province, ' ' p. 430. 
 
522 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 at Boonslick or Franklin, he has dedicated to St. Francis de Sales. 
 There he gave a mission attended even by Protestants, and fruitful 
 for the Catholics. Some Protestants there are allowing their children 
 to be instructed in the true faith by a catechist lately appointed" 10 
 
 Cote Sans Dessein was first mentioned in authentic writing by 
 Brackenridge in his Journal, published in Pittsburg in 1814: 
 
 "Cote Sans Dessein is a beautiful place situated on the N. E. 
 side of the (Missouri) river and in sight of the Osage. It will in 
 time become a considerable village. The beauty and fertility of the 
 surrounding country cannot be surpassed. It is here that we met 
 with the first appearance of prairies on the Missouri, but it is hand- 
 somely mixed with woodland . . . The name is given to the place 
 from the circumstances of a single detached hill filled with limestone, 
 standing on the bank of the river, about 500 yards long, and very 
 narrow. The village has been established about three years; there 
 are thirteen French families, and two or three of them Indian. They 
 have handsome fields in the prairies, but the greater part of their 
 time is spent in hunting." 17 
 
 Brackenridge 's prophesy was not fulfilled, as the village was 
 swept away by the waters of the Mississippi. Cote Sans Dessein 
 lay in Callaway County opposite the mouth of the Osage River, 
 Franklin in Howard County opposite Boonville. 
 
 Bishop Du Bourg had told the Ladies of the Sacred Heart that 
 the Jesuits of Georgetown intended to build a large establishment 
 in Franklin. Father Verreidt visited both places on his quarterly 
 rounds, which usually lasted six weeks. Father Timmermans, how- 
 ever, was the first Jesuit to come to Cote Sans Dessein. 
 
 16 Erskine, Marjorie, "Life of Mother Du Chesne, " p. 198. 
 i" Brackenridge, Henry, Journal, p. 209. 
 
Chapter 12 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 The great currents of immigration that had set in towards the 
 northwest from the eastern and southern states and from beyond the 
 sea, naturally followed the courses of the rivers and streams and, spread- 
 ing over the valleys and hillsides, formed innumerable settlements 
 under primitive conditions. In the diocese of St. Louis there 
 were three main arteries of this modern wandering of the nations, the 
 Missouri, the Mississippi and the Illinois: these and their tributaries 
 received the almost exclusive benefit of the mighty vivifying inunda- 
 tion. In regard to the spiritual interests of these newcomers, especial- 
 ly of the Catholics among them, the chief duty devolved upon the Jesuits, 
 who were now firmly established in St. Louis, St. Charles and Floris- 
 sant. The three great districts of recent settlements of Catholics were 
 along the Missouri as far as Westport at the mouth of the Kansas 
 River, then the Salt River district north of St. Louis along the 
 Mississippi, and finally the northern part of Illinois which was under 
 the jurisdiction of the Bishop of St. Louis. 
 
 As the Lazarist Fathers, and the secular clergy were settled in 
 the old parishes and missionary stations of Missouri and Illinois south 
 of the episcopal city, the Jesuits felt it incumbent upon themselves 
 to foster the virtue of faith in the wilderness of the north on both sides 
 of the Mississippi. In this work the newly established residence at 
 St. Charles, being north of the Missouri River, proved a true coign 
 of vantage to them. 
 
 The early Catholic immigration from beyond the sea to the valley 
 of the Missouri was from the various parts of Germany, preeminently 
 from Westphalia and Bavaria, and the Rhineland. These Catholic 
 immigrants, however, were not the pioneer settlers : others had pre- 
 ceded them from Virginia and the Carolinas, from Illinois and Kentucky : 
 The towns of Franklin, Boonville, Columbia, and Liberty had been 
 founded by them. But the work of the Germans began in the early 
 thirties and continued long after Father Quickenborne's advent in North 
 Missouri. The land was cheap yet very good, and the glowing descrip- 
 tions of Missouri's beauty and fertility by travelers like Duden, 1 as 
 well as his followers already settled on their farms, drew ever in- 
 
 1 Duden, Gottfried, "Bericht ueber eine Reise naeh den westlichen Staaten 
 Nord-Amerika's, " 1829. Translation into English by William S. Beck in the 
 "Missouri Historical Eeview, " vol. XII, ss. 
 
 (523) 
 
524 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 creasing numbers of sturdy, honest, and deeply religious families to 
 that "Paradise of the West," Missouri. Though disappointed in their 
 fervid anticipations, they did not despair, but set to work resolutely 
 and created their own little paradise of a home for themselves out of 
 the rough materials of the wilderness. 
 
 By one provision of the Concordat the Bishop of New Orleans 
 ceded and surrendered "to the Society of Jesus the absolute and ex- 
 clusive care of all the missions already established, and which shall 
 hereafter be established on the Missouri River and its tributary streams. ' ' 
 We have seen with what energy and holy zeal Father Van Quicken- 
 borne and his assistant Father Timmermans undertook this work Provi- 
 dence had carved out for them. Hancock Prairie and Cote-Sans-Dessein 
 were among the earliest stations visited by the latter. Father De 
 Theux in the Spring of 1827 sought out the Catholic settlements scat- 
 tered within one hundred and twenty miles distance to the north and 
 west. In 1828 Father Verhaegen arrived in Jefferson City, the first 
 priest to set his eye on the rising walls of Missouri's Capital. Father 
 Verreydt's quarterly rounds carried him over a great part of north- 
 western Missouri as far as Council Bluffs in Iowa and Sugar Creek 
 and St. Mary's in Kansas. One excursion .in the direction of Franklin 
 in Howard County lasted six weeks and brought him through Hancock 
 Prairie, Cote-Sans-Dessein, the fords of the Gasconade, Jefferson City, 
 Franklin and Booneville. These journeys had to be made on horse- 
 back; the hospitality extended to the missionary, though hearty and 
 cheerful, was in accordance with -the condition of the settlers, rough 
 and poor. The Catholic population of the Missouri River district, in 
 1836 had grown to about six hundred. No doubt, many more lay 
 hidden away in the nooks and corners of this wide area: but the 
 actual number was, as yet, very small. What there was, however, 
 formed the seed-grain for coming harvests. Here is the statement of 
 the status of Catholicity in the interior of the state as preserved for 
 us in the Annual Letters of 1837. The number of Catholic inhabitants 
 follows the name of the town visited. 
 
 "On the right bank of the Missouri: (1) Manchester, 10, a great 
 crowd of non-catholics, many of them well disposed towards the faith, 
 also attended the services. (2) Merrimac, 14. (3) Washington, 11 8. 
 The people here are building a church for us, 39 by 49 feet, and 
 have given us ten acres of land. (4) Burbus, 11. (5) Bailey's Creek, 
 22. Preparations are here being made for a church. (6) French 
 Village, 24. (7) Mary Creek, 80. The people wish to build a church. 
 The place seems suitable for a residence. (8) Jefferson 9. (9) Boone- 
 ville, 20. On the left bank: (10) Fayette, 1. (11) Columbia, 11. 
 (12) Chariton, 2. (13) Rocheport, 26. A church here is projected. 
 
The (load Shepherd in the Wilderness 525 
 
 (14) Cote-Sans-Dessein, 63. (15) Hancock Prairie, 14. (16) Port- 
 land, 14. (17) Lay Creek, 34. (18) Marthasville, 3. (19) Mount 
 Pleasant, 30. On a single circuit of these stations, about 150 confes- 
 sions were heard and 115 Communions distributed." 2 
 
 One of the two principal highways of immigrant travel starting 
 from St. Charles led in a northwesterly course through Lincoln, Pike, 
 Ralls and Marion Counties and beyond. Along this road were a number 
 of small towns, Troy, Alexandria, Bowling Green, New London, Palmyra. 
 This entire region was called the ' ' Salt River district, ' ' named so from 
 a tributary of the Mississippi, having its mouth at Louisiana in Pike 
 County. The first missionary to visit the Salt River district was Father 
 Felix Verreydt. He reported that the Catholics were scattered over a 
 wide stretch of territory. They were for the most part immigrants from 
 Kentucky. Father John Elet, coming a little later, found that the chil- 
 dren of all families excepting one, had been baptized by Protestant 
 ministers: But he also records one beautiful instance of heroic faith 
 among these forlorn settlers. A Mrs. Shields, whose Inisband was a 
 Presbyterian, journeyed several times, with her daughters, all the way 
 to Kentucky, for the purpose of receiving holy communion. She did 
 not know that there were English-speaking priests any nearer. Accord- 
 ing to the report made by Father Van Quickenborne to the Maryland 
 Superior, "Father Elet had three stations, Buffalo Creek, Louisiana 
 and New London. Mass was said in private houses: and the services 
 were well attended even by Protestants. 
 
 Many a touching scene the good Father witnessed in suddenly 
 coming upon some poor Catholic family in some forest glade, believing 
 itself to be forsaken by all and bereft forever of the consolations of 
 religion, and now to have a visit, an unhoped for visit, from a Catholic 
 priest. It filled the missionary's heart with joy and the hearts of the 
 people with new hopes and aspirations/ 1 
 
 Father Verreydt continued his ministrations from his base of oper- 
 ations in St. Charles until the arrival of Father Peter Paul Lefevere, 
 the future Bishop of Detroit in 1833. No Jesuit Residence was estab- 
 lished in the district, although the plan of placing one at New London 
 was spoken of by Father De Theux in 1831. 
 
 It was only after the Black Hawk war that the northern half of 
 Illinois was opened to white settlers. Indeed, there were some small 
 towns and villages on the Mississippi, and on the Illinois River : Yet the 
 interior was one great primeval wilderness of prairies, with small 
 
 2 Annual Letters of 1837. 
 
 a Letters of Fathers Elet, Verreydt and Van Quickenborne in the Archives of 
 St. Louis Andidiocese. 
 
526 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 clumps of woodland scattered here and there The Indians, or rather 
 the dread of Indian power and cruelty, held sway over the dreaming 
 solitude. 1 
 
 The Jesuit apostle of Northern Missouri had returned from the 
 mission to a quiet nook in the College of St. Louis, where he taught 
 Latin and thought of new conquests for Christ. 
 
 In the Spring of 1832 he began his missionary journeys in Illinois 
 and southern Iowa, which earned for him the title of the Apostle of 
 the Faith in Northwestern Illinois. Father Van Quickenborne made at 
 least six missionary excursions during the years 1832, 1833 and 1834. 
 The first of these made in May and June 1832 through the Salt River 
 country in Missouri resulted in 42 baptisms : then crossing over to 
 Illinois in August he exercised his ministry in Edwardsville, Wood 
 River, Springfield, Lick Creek, Brush Creek, Bear Creek, Flat Branch, 
 Sangamon River, Indian Creek, Head of the Rapids, (Warsaw) Crooked 
 Creek, Fort Edwards and Quincy, then crossing over to Keokuk, Iowa, 
 he returned to St. Louis by way of the Salt River country, including 
 Florida in Monroe County. Palmyra and Louisiana. The next apostolic 
 journey in February and March 1833 was confined to Illinois, chiefly 
 Calhoun and Schuyler Counties, with a harvest of twenty-two bap- 
 tisms. The fourth, during May and June 1833 led through St. Clair, 
 Madison, Sangamon, Montgomery and Shelby Counties; the fifth in 
 July 1833 included visits to Galena, Dubuque, Mill Seat and Gratiot's 
 Grove. These names of places thus hurriedly enumerated may mean 
 but little or nothing to a modern reader : Yet to Father Quickenborne 
 they meant very much, each one representing a little oasis of the Faith 
 amid the broad extent of a new world just rising from the dereliction 
 of six thousand years. 5 
 
 "In the course of a single year," as Father De Theux informs 
 us, "Father Van Quickenborne travelled 4,373 miles, baptized 213 
 persons, 83 of whom were converts to the Faith, discovered more than 
 600 Catholics in Illinois and more than 700 in a part of Missouri, 
 where eight or nine years before he knew of scarcely more than eight. ' ' 6 
 
 These toilsome journeys in search of the scattered members of 
 Christ's flock in Illinois and northeastern Missouri were after 1835 
 continued by other missionaries, diocesan and regular, Mazzuchelli, 
 McMahon, St. Cyr, Lefevere, Hilary Tucker, Briekwedde, Hamilton 
 and the Lazarists Raho and Parodi. the ever ready and tireless Van 
 Quickenborne even then turning up in unexpected calls where his 
 
 4 Cf. Ford's "History of Illinois," passim. 
 
 5 Van Quickenborne to Eosati in Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 6 De Theux to Eosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
The Good Shepherd in the Wilderness 527 
 
 presence seemed desirable. But in the Missouri settlements the Jesuit 
 ministrations to the Catholic pioneers in town and village and country 
 were extended, until 1838, from the Indian Missionary centers among 
 the Kickapoos, the Potawattomi Indians both of Council Bluffs and 
 of Sugar Creek. 
 
 To these important foundations we must, after reviewing the work 
 done by the diocesan clergy and the Lazarist Fathers, turn our attention. 
 It was pre-eminently for the Indian Missions the Jesuits had come 
 to the West. What they accomplished in this arduous line of evan- 
 gelization, so long delayed by adverse circumstances, yet so gladly 
 undertaken, forms one of the crowning glories of the devoted Society 
 of Jesus. 
 
Chapter 13 
 THREE CROWDED YEARS OF BISHOP ROSATI'S LIFE 
 
 The period of Cathedral building by Bishop Rosati in St. Louis 
 was also a period of strenuous and, we may add, efficient upbuilding 
 of the spiritual edifice of the church in ever widening circles from 
 the episcopal city as its center. The wisdom and energy and patient 
 care of the Bishop in choosing the proper men for the various positions 
 of trust, then supporting them as best he could, with the slender 
 means at his disposal, and bearing with their shortcomings and indio- 
 syncraeies and even flat failures, are really worthy of the deepest 
 admiration. On the other hand the spirit of devotion to their calling 
 manifested by the great majority of the clergy, both regular and 
 diocesan, and the members of the various sisterhoods, is truly inspiring. 
 There may have been but few among Bishop Rosati 's secular priests 
 who could be called extraordinary men in natural gifts, or cultural 
 acquirements : yet, for the most part, they were true priests, of strong 
 and simple faith, and burning zeal for the salvation of souls. Of the 
 two religious Orders, laboring in the diocese at that time, the Lazarists 
 and the Jesuits, the same can be said and more: They had among their 
 members a number of men, whose superior talents, made them worthy 
 of the episcopate, though not all attained it, men like Portier, De Neck- 
 ere, Odin, Timon, Van de Velde and others. Theirs was the honorable 
 and arduous office of pathfinders and pioneers, aud nobly have they 
 fulfilled its requirements. But the secular clergy also were employed 
 in the laborious task of planting the faith in the wild and refractory 
 soil of early Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. 
 
 Men of heroic mold like Peter Paul Lefevere, or at least, approach- 
 ing the height of that untiring missionary's courage and constancy, 
 men like John McMahon of Galena, Ennemond Dupuy of Arkansas. 
 Irenaeus Saint Cyr of Chicago, Benedict Roux of Kansas City, Hilary 
 Tucker of Quincy, Florentine Brickwedde founder of the German 
 parish in Quincy and of the first parochial school in Illinois, and 
 George Hamilton of Springfield and Alton, must forever occupy a 
 distinguished place in our early ecclesiastical Annals, side by side 
 with the great names of Van Quickenborne, Timon and Mazzuchelli and 
 their associates. But the greatest name of all, the guiding spirit and 
 loyal supporter of the grand missionary movement of the Thirties was 
 Joseph Rosati, the Bishop of St. Louis. Before we enter upon the 
 cheering account of the work of these lowly apostles of the diocesan 
 
 (528) 
 
Three Crowded Years of Bishop Rosati' s Life 529 
 
 clergy, a brief conspectus of the more personal acts and events of the 
 Bishop's life at this time must be given. The Diary of Bishop Rosati 
 contains the story. 1 
 
 On August 1st, 1831, Bishop Rosati blessed and laid the corner- 
 stone of his Cathedral, thus solemnly initiating a new era of religious 
 life in the city and of the greatest expansion of the diocese. On the 
 26th, he visited Major Biddle, wounded in the duel with Benton and, 
 on the 29th, received him into the church, Father Saulnier administer- 
 ing the sacraments to the dying man. 
 
 On September 27th, the Bishop gave permission to the Sisters of 
 Loretto at the Barrens to found a house at Apple Creek, where a new- 
 church was then near completion. Speaking of the German immigrants 
 that made up the progressive settlement of Apple Creek, Bishop 
 Rosati writes: "It is a good acquisition for the community at large and 
 for religion in particular. These good Germans are very industrious 
 and useful citizens and excellent Catholics." 
 
 On October 1st, the Bishop with a great cavalcade of priests and 
 Seminarians rode from Perryville to St. Michaels, Fredericktown, and 
 thence to Old Mines, where he dedicated the new church of St. Joachin, 
 (October 9th.) and visited Richwoods, a new mission twelve miles distant 
 from Old Mines. On November 3rd, Bishop Rosati and the trustees 
 of St. Louis Cathedral sold to Bishop Du Bourg a part of the annual 
 payments due from Messrs. Martin and Lavail on account of the lease 
 of the northern half of the church block. 
 
 On the 20th, at St. Mary's Seminary he ordained John McMahon. 
 Ennemond Dupuy, Vital Van Clostere, Peter Paul Lefevere and Peter 
 F. Beauprez to the priesthood, and Irenaeus St. Cyr to deaconship. 
 Proceeding across the river to Kaskaskia he confirmed Mrs. Morisson, 
 once a bitter opponent of the Catholic religion, but now its most 
 strenuous defender. 
 
 On the 28th, he sends Father Saulnier and Beauprez to the mission 
 (.(' Arkansas. 
 
 The diocese now had seventeen churches and thirty-five priests. 
 The year 1832 opens auspiciously with the announcement from Rome 
 that the Pope had assigned three thousand dollars to the building fund 
 of the Cathedral. On March 6th, the Bishop received a visit from an 
 emissary of John Smith, the Mormon leader, who requested the privi- 
 lege of preaching his doctrine in the Cathedral. 
 
 The Bishop demands, as an evidence of the divine origin of his 
 mission, that the preacher of the new religion perform the miracle of 
 raising the dead to life. The Mormon preacher then departs. On March 
 
 i Diary in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
530 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 11th, a large number of German Catholic families arrive in St. Louis: 
 the bishop directs them to the neighborhood of Old Mines. On the 
 17th, Deodal Taylor, a convert from Montreal, proposes to bring his 
 paper The Catholic Press to St. Louis. "1 will assist him with 
 all my power." The first Shepherd of the \'<ttl< y was the outcome 
 of this visit. On April 22nd, two students from the Barrens leave for 
 Home to pursue their theological studies in the College of the Propa- 
 ganda. They were Hilary Tucker and George Hamilton. Both of these 
 young men kept up a spirited correspondence with Bishop Rosati 
 all through their stay in the Eternal City. On the next day Fathers 
 Paillasson and Lefevere start for their mission in New Madrid. On 
 May 6th, Father Verhaegen, at the Bishop's request, blessed the chapel 
 of St. Mary, in the building that once housed the St. Louis College, now 
 suppressed in favor of the new St. Louis College of the Jesuits. St. 
 Mary's Chapel was assigned to the Catholic Negroes: In 1834 it became 
 the house of worship for the German Catholics. 
 
 On May 15th, the Bishop was overjoyed at receiving from the 
 Leopoldine Association of the Austrian Empire the munificent sum 
 of 20,000 francs. Of this sum he gave to Deodat Taylor $200.00 for 
 the paper to be established in St. Louis, and to Father Francis Cellini 
 $100, for the Sisters House of Fredericktown, and $500, for the new 
 church at Apple Creek. July 4th, the national holiday was celebrated 
 with all patriotic appurtenances of the occasion. On the 16th, the 
 Bishop administered confirmation at Portage des Sioux. Sixty new 
 German Catholic families have lately arrived to infuse fresh life into 
 the old parish. 
 
 Bishop De Neckere is determined on resigning his charge of New 
 Orleans and wishes Anthony Blanc to succeed him. Father Blanc is 
 appointed De Neckere 's coadjutor, but sends back the bulls of appoint- 
 ment. Both are in earnest consulation with Bishop Rosati. On August 
 10th, Bishop Rosati promises $300 to Father Bouillier for his new 
 house at Old Mines. On the 16th, Father Van Clostere is appointed 
 to Prairie du Rocher, O 'Haras, English Settlement, James Settlement 
 and Harrisonville. On the 20th, Father Verhaegen blessed and laid 
 the cornerstone for the new stone church of St. Peter at Gravois, now 
 called Kirkwood, and two days later the Bishop sent Father McMahon 
 to the northernmost part of the diocese, Fever River and Prairie du 
 Chein. On September 2nd, the Bishop consecrated the new Church 
 of St. Ferdinand of Florissant. On October 4th, he sends Father Dupuy 
 to the Arkansas mission, promising him an annual subsidy of $150, and 
 giving him the $400, which Father Saulnier had collected in New 
 Orleans for a church at the Post of Arkansas. 
 
Three Crowded Years of Bishop Eosati's Life 531 
 
 On Oct. 13th, the Bishop instructs Father Timon at the Barrens 
 that the little Loretto community of Apple Creek be recalled to the 
 Motherhouse, and that the Sisters may proceed to St. Michaels, Fred- 
 ericktown and New Madrid. 
 
 On December 3rd, Father Lefevere is appointed to the missions 
 of the Salt River region in Northeastern Missouri, with residence at 
 St. Paul. 
 
 Almost all December was spent by Bishop Rosati in Bardstown 
 in giving comfort and counsel to Bishop Flaget in what was probably 
 his most serious trouble. The venerable Bishop of Bardstown had re- 
 signed his position, and Bishop David succeeded him. But the entire 
 diocese was shocked and grieved at the idea of losing their saintly 
 prelate. . . Bishop Rosati 's advice was decisive. Bishop David sent 
 his resignation to Rome, which was accepted, and Bishop Flaget was 
 reappointed, with Father Chabrat as his coadjutor. Thus Bishop Flaget 
 came to be the first and the third Bishop of Bardstown, David being 
 the second. 
 
 Bishop Rosati started for St. Louis on January 24th, 1833, and 
 arrived there on February 1st. He brought with him M. Marellano as 
 Cathedral organist at a salary of $100. On the 4th, he promulgated the 
 Decrees of the First Provincial Council of Baltimore and issued the 
 call for a Diocesan Synod to assemble on the third Sunday after Pente- 
 cost. On the 12th, he gives Father Timon permission to send Loretto 
 Sisters to Old Mines. The Sisters of Charity are building a house 
 on their lot in Carondelet. The Easter Collection in the Cathedral 
 amounted to $150. 
 
 On April 16th, Bishop Rosati received a petition from Chicago, 
 which was then a rough little frontier town, asking for a priest. A. 
 H. Taylor, a brother Deodat, brought the petition and explained that 
 there were about one hundred Catholics in the place, and many more 
 non-catholics inclined to join the Church : and that the Indians at 
 Chicago had received permission from the U. S. Government to donate 
 2500 acres of land near the town to any priest that might be sent 
 there. Prompt action was necessary, said Mr. Taylor. The Bishop 
 acted immediately. On the next day he wrote in his Diary that, 
 considering the urgent necessity in which the Catholics of Chicago 
 found themselves, he had made use of the faculties of Vicar General 
 conferred upon him by the Bishop of Bardstown, the ordinary of the 
 Eastern part of the State of Illinois, he had decided to send Father 
 John Mary Saint Cyr to that place, until further notice, and that he 
 had informed Bishop Flaget concerning his act and the motives for it. 
 On April 18th, Father St. Cyr was on his way across the boundless 
 prairie to Chicago where he arrived on May 1, 1833. 
 
532 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 In Augusl the Bishop receives an invitation to attend the Second 
 Provincial Council of Baltimore. John B. Pureed had been appointed 
 Bishop of Cincinnati and Frederick lire of Detroit. The latter invited 
 Bishop Rosati to act as his consecrator on October 6th, in Cincinnati 
 on his way to Baltimore. Bishop Rosati accepted both invitations. 
 
 ( >n September 23rd, the Bishop starts for Baltimore in company 
 of Fathers John M. Odin, C. M. and Peter De Smet, S. J. At Cincin- 
 nati he consecrates Bishop Reze (October 6th). The Council opens 
 on October 20th. As far as Bishop Rosati was concerned, the most 
 important business was the division of Illionis lid ween the dioceses of 
 St. Louis and Vincennes. The special Committee of three Bishops, 
 with Rosati as chairman, proposed that the limits dividing the two 
 adjoining dioceses, should be a line drawn from Fort Massac on the 
 Ohio River, and north to that part of the Illinois River called the 
 Great Rapids, eight miles above the town of Ottawa in La Salle County 
 and thence to the Northern limits of Illinois. The report was approved 
 by the Council and later on by the Holy See, thus rendering the 
 provisional administration of Western Illinois by St. Louis, a perma- 
 nent one. The Mission of Chicago now fell to the care of the Bishop 
 of Vincennes: but at Bishop Brute's earnest request, Father St. Cyr 
 was sent back to Chicago. 
 
 It w T as on the occasion of the Council that Bishop Rosati made the 
 acquaintance of Peter Richard Kenrick of Philadelphia, Vicar General, 
 President of the Seminary, and editor of the Catholic Herald. 
 
 The young priest seems to have made a favorable impression on the 
 visiting prelate : on a later occasion Bishop Rosati described our Peter 
 Richard with the comprehensive term: sacerdos numeris omnibus 
 dbsolutus. A Decree was proposed and accepted by which all the 
 faculties which the priests of all American dioceses enjoyed outside 
 of their own through a certain compact of the various bishops, were 
 declared to have ceased. But all the Bishops gave each other the privi- 
 lege of exercising all priestly functions in their respective dioceses. 
 
 By the end of the year Bishop Rosati was at home once more. 
 On December 28th, he records that he had given Withnell and Coutts 
 the contract to build the bell tower of his Cathedral, of cut stone, forty 
 feet high, at a cost of $4000. 
 
 According to Bishop Rosati ? s report on the condition of the diocese 
 there were nineteen Congregations wdth churches, and ten without church- 
 es. Thirteen with resident priest, fourteen that received regular visits 
 from elsewhere, and four that had been founded within the year. There 
 were thirty-six priests, the bishop included: three had died in the year, 
 six had joined the diocese, and two had been ordained. Ten of the total 
 
Three Crowded Years of Bishop Rosati's Life 533 
 
 number were Lazarists, eleven Jesuits and fourteen of the diocesan 
 clergy. 
 
 The congregations with churches were St. Louis, Carondelet, Floris- 
 sant, St. Charles, Portage des Sioux, Dardenne, Gravois, Salt River, 
 Old Mines, Potosi, St. Genevieve, Little Canada, The Barrens, Apple 
 Creek and New Madrid, all in the State of Missouri: then in Illinois. 
 Cahokia, OTiarasburg, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia. St. Mary's 
 Seminary had four priests and five brothers and fourteen Seminarians, 
 the College at the Barrens had four priests : the St. Louis College of the 
 Jesuits had six priests : the Novitiate of the Jesuits at Florissant had 
 one priest and a number of brothers and novices. 
 
 Father De Smet is marked as having been transferred to another 
 diocese. He was absent in Europe, on business of his Order, from 1833 
 to 1837. 
 
 On his return to St. Louis he was sent with one Father and two 
 brothers to found the Mission among the Potawattomi at Council 
 Bluffs. The Nuns of the Sacred Heart had three Convents: in St. Louis 
 in Florissant, and in St. Charles with twenty-one members. The Sisters 
 of Loretto had four houses : Bethlehem at the Barrens, St. Josephs at 
 Apple Creek, St. Michaels at Fredericktown and the late foundation 
 at New Madrid with twenty-seven sisters. The Sisters of Charity had 
 the Hospital and Orphanage in St. Louis, and House in Carondelet with 
 twelve sisters. The Sisters of the Visitation at Kaskaskia were the latest 
 accession to the Sisterhoods of St. Louis Diocese, numbering six choir- 
 sisters, one lay-sister, one novice, the well known Mary Josephine Barber, 
 and one postulant. The Orphanage of the Sisters of Charity contained 
 twenty boys, and that of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, seventeen 
 girls. 
 
 Thus the New Year 1834 dawned upon many slowly evolving plans 
 for the perfection and extension of the diocese. Everything looked 
 propitious. 
 
 The new Cathedral was nearing completion ; St Louis was firmly 
 established as the center of Catholicity in the West. The great waves 
 of immigration from Catholic Ireland, and the Catholic portions of 
 Germany were carrying their precious human freight to all parts of 
 Missouri and Illinois, and depositing it, along the rivers in towns and 
 villages and country settlements. "A good number of German Cath- 
 olics have come to St. Louis," writes Bishop Rosati about this time. 
 ' ' I directed some of them to Mr. Roussin at Richwood, where there is 
 a large body of public land vacant, and I think they will find the place 
 suitable to them. Others have been to look at the country towards St. 
 Charles, others towards Belleville. A large number of the same class 
 are to come. I expect a good priest from Lorraine, who speaks French 
 
534 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and German and is actually parish priest in the diocese of Nancy. 
 St. Mary's will soon be finished, and any congregation in this diocese 
 would feel proud to have such a fine church." 
 
 On January 26th, Father Joseph Anthony Lutz said Mass for the 
 German Catholics in the Chapel of St. Mary and preached to them in 
 their native language. The Bishop ordered this practice to be continued 
 throughout the year, and all Sundays and Feast days of obligation. On 
 this matter we would quote Msgr. Holweck: 
 
 "When Father Lutz. the 'German priest,' in November 1831, set- 
 tled down at St. Louis permanently, a new field of labor opened to him. 
 A large number of Catholic families had emigrated from the various 
 principalities of Germany and had settled in the rising city on the 
 western bank of the Mississippi. For their religious needs they came 
 to Father Lutz, for he alone could speak their language. He has 
 been accused of purposely neglecting his countrymen. He may have 
 shared the feeling then prevailing at the Cathedral, the fear of a third 
 language raising its head and demanding recognition. There had been 
 so much bitter feeling in the parish of St. Louis on account of the 
 two languages, English and French; and now the Germans also de- 
 manded sermon and prayer and instruction in their own language, the 
 compatriots of those Germans who had caused so much strife at Phil- 
 adelphia, Baltimore and elsewhere. Good Bishop Rosati, so full of zeal 
 for the salvation of souls, was mortally afraid of them and their priests. 
 
 Still, something had to be done for the Germans. Because a third 
 language coidd not be introduced in the Cathedral, the Bishop gave 
 orders that the German sermon should be preached in St. Mary's 
 chapel, south of the Cathedral, in the church block. This chapel had 
 been blessed May 6th, 1832, and had been used for the negroes. There, 
 on Septuagesima Sunday, January 24th, 1834, Father Lutz, for the 
 first time in the history of St. Louis, preached in German to his as- 
 sembled compatriots. Probably this was the first German sermon Lutz 
 preached in his life. 2 
 
 In the "Relation of the Consecration of St. Louis Cathedral" which 
 Bishop Rosati sent to Rome, he writes about the language question and 
 the Germans: "The people speak three languages: English, French and 
 German. Very many Catholics belonging to the German nation, have 
 come and are still coming and have settled in this diocese and city. 
 Most of them are pious and industrious and are an honor to the religion 
 which they profess in word and deed. We have to preach in these three 
 languages. Two priests and one cleric, with the Bishop, constitute the 
 
 2 Holweck, F. G., "Public Places of Worship in St. Louis Prior to Palm Sun- 
 day, 1843," "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, vol. 4, pp. 6 and 7. 
 
Three Crowded Years of Bishop Rosati's Lift 535 
 
 clergy of this parish. In the meanwhile a Jesuit Father preaches in 
 English." 3 
 
 In the course of time it proved irksome to the Jesuit Fathers to 
 be obliged to preach every Sunday at the Cathedral, after their labori- 
 ous duties of teaching at the College. But they continued their office of 
 charity until after the Synod of 1839. 
 
 On April 2nd, 1834, the consecration of Father Bouillier's beauti- 
 ful Church at Old Mines, under the invocation of St. James the Greater, 
 was performed by Bishop Rosati, Father John Timon preaching on 
 the occasion. 
 
 The Pentecost collection at the Cathedral amounted to $94.10. On 
 June 29th the corner-stone of the new Church at Carondelet, was bless- 
 ed and laid by Bishop Rosati under the invocation of "Our Blessed 
 Lady of Mount Carmel. " On the same day the Bishop received notice 
 from Rome, that Father Jean-Jean had been appointed Bishop of New 
 Orleans. Father Jean- Jean refused to accept. On October 21st, Bishops 
 Flaget, Purcell, and Brute arrived for the solemnities of the consecra- 
 tion of the Cathedral. The consecration was held on the 26th by the 
 Bishop of St. Louis, the sermon was preached by the Bishop of Cin- 
 cinnati. 
 
 On the 28th, the Bishop Elect of Vincennes, Simon Gabriel Brute 
 was consecrated by Bishop Rosati, with the assistance of Bishops Flaget 
 and Purcell. On the following Sunday after Solemn Highmass and 
 Benediction the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession to the 
 lower chapel, and placed in the altar, dedicated to its cultus, where it 
 shall be preserved hereafter : on November 3rd the three visiting 
 Bishops departed for the east. As a kind of diversion the Bishop 
 started on a round of episcopal visits to the Barrens, thence to St. 
 Michaels, the Old Mines and back again to St. Michaels. The journey was 
 performed on horseback. On the way to St. Michaels the Bishop lost 
 his pectoral cross. On December 26th, 1834, Bishop Rosati received 
 the Papal Bull extending his diocese to the line he had suggested, 
 from Fort Massac to the Great Rapids of the Illinois River, eight miles 
 above the town of Ottawa in La Salle County, Illinois. The varied 
 incidents and activities recorded in this chapter of Bishop Rosati's life 
 during the three years intervening between the inception and the comple- 
 tion of the building of the Cathedral, convey but an inadequate idea 
 of the total work accomplished by him. His multifarious correspondence 
 with all manner of men, high and low, clergy and lay-men, official and 
 private would, in itself, have exhausted the mental and physical re- 
 
 3 Cf. Chapter IX of this book. 
 
536 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 sources of an ordinary man. 4 Then the " sollicitudo omnium eccles- 
 iarun," which he could not share with any one, the constant study and 
 effort to find the men and the means for his projects, and the kindly 
 offices of friendship extended to all his priests, the pious care for the 
 various Sisterhoods employed in his diocese in their labor of love for 
 the Indians, the poor, the sick, the aged and the orphans, and lastly his 
 private devotions and meditations and public functions and instruc- 
 tions fdled almost every moment of his laborious life. But, really great 
 is lie that can accomplish through others the great things he could 
 never accomplish by himself: and such a man was Bishop Joseph Rosati 
 of St. Louis. 
 
 4 Bishop Rosati was a graceful writer of letters, combining the weight of 
 matter with the lightness of touch. 
 
l^r^&Z- ft/*/*— YtvtiaSrv^ **^r^5y ^oUtm^J- r " S*«**l^ 
 
 
 
 BISHOP BRUTE MAP OF WISCONSIN 
 

Chapter 14 
 GALENA, DUBUQUE AND PRAIRIE DU CHIEN 
 
 I 
 
 When the Black Hawk war came to an end in the Fall of 1832, 
 and opened the Rock River country, just south of Galena, to immigra- 
 tion, the necessity of providing for the spiritual needs of the Catholic 
 population of the Fever River country, became insistent once more. 
 The name of the region was sufficiently ominous, and proved to be 
 justified by the early death of the two first resident priests sent there 
 by Bishop Rosati. Fever River is the name of a little stream in 
 the northwest corner of Illinois. The region round about it and also 
 beyond the Mississippi, is rich in lead mines, and very early drew a 
 considerable number of Irish settlers, to the towns of Galena, Gratiots 
 Crove, Irish Grove and farther north to Prairie du Chien. Galena 
 was considered the best location for a church and priest in the Fever 
 River country. But who shall undertake the arduous task? An 
 Irish priest would seem to be best adapted to meet the prevailing con- 
 ditions ; there was but one available priest in the diocese, Father John 
 McMahon, quite recently ordained at the Barrens. 
 
 It is a strange pathetic figure that here breaks into the light of 
 day, one whose brief career in the priesthood called forth a good deal 
 of wonderment and even ungentle criticism Yet Father John McMahon 
 of Fever River was a good man and faithful priest, and his career, 
 though extraordinary, was perfectly in order. 
 
 John McMahon and his wife Judith emigrated from Ireland to the 
 United States about the year 1825, but having no children, and be- 
 ing desirous of a higher life, they determined on a separation, he 
 to enter the holy priesthood, and she to become a Dominican nun in 
 Ireland. With the consent of Bishop Rosati, who was fully informed 
 on these circumstances, Mr. McMahon was admitted to the Seminary 
 of St. Marys of the Barrens, whilst Judith, his wife, returned to 
 Dublin, for the purpose of entering a convent of the Dominican 
 Sisterhood. But, as Bishop Rosati wrote to Mr. McMahon, November 
 6th, 1828, "Mrs. McMahon, not being able to pay the sum required 
 for admission into any of the religious houses of the Dominican Order 
 in Ireland, was intrusted by the Archbishop of Dublin with the care 
 of the Penitent's Asylum, Townsend Street, Dublin. She will make 
 a vow of perpetual chastity to facilitate the dispensation for your be- 
 insr promoted to Holy Orders, which T shall ask from Rome." 1 Mr. 
 
 i For further documents of. Rothensteiner, "The Northeastern Part of the 
 Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati," in "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. II, p. 175 ss. 
 
 (537) 
 
538 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 McMahon continued his studies with marked earnestness and profit, 
 and taught English and some other branches of learning in the College 
 at the Barrens. Dimissorials having arrived from Dublin, April 17, 
 1829, and dispensation being granted by Pope Pius VIII, John 
 .Me. Malum was ordained to the priesthood on November 20th, 1831, 
 in company with that indomitable servant of God, Peter Paul Lefevere 
 After his ordination Father McMahon was employed in the sacred 
 ministry in the vicinity of the Seminary. On April 13th, 1832, he 
 obtained permission to build a church at Baily's Landing, about 
 eighteen miles below St. Mary's on the Mississippi. Of this first 
 missionary venture he writes to his Bishop with youthful fervor : ' ' The 
 inhabitants of Baily's have unanimously agreed to build a church 
 immediately, provided it meets Your approbation. I replied that 
 I had no doubt about that and further, that there was a probability 
 that You would also subscribe five dollars towards the undertaking. 
 I promised two dollars which will exhaust my purse. 
 
 The Church is to be thirty by twenty-five for the present, the 
 Catholics being only few. But it is presumed that many Protestants 
 will attend each Sunday. I marked out the ground for the erection 
 of the Church on a beautiful mound within about five hundred yards 
 from the river." 2 Bishop Rosati granted the desired petition on con- 
 dition, however, that the people set aside a piece of land sufficient 
 for the purposes of a parish ; and he subscribed five dollars towards 
 the building fund, as we learn from a letter of April 13th, 1832. 
 
 On August 22nd, 1832, Father McMahon, the priest of less than 
 a year's experience in the ministry, was appointed pastor of Galena 
 and Prairie du Chien, whilst his fellow student, Peter Paul Lefevere, 
 was sent to the wilds of northeastern Missouri with his residence at 
 St. Pauls, Salt River. Bishop Rosati must, at an earlier date, have 
 intimated to Father McMahon his destination to the far northern 
 mission, for on July 28th, 1832, the restless priest expresses his fears 
 that, if his journey be very much delayed, the river might become 
 so shallow as to render it impossible for boats : or, still later might 
 become frozen. In view of these possibilities he requests the Bishop's 
 order by return mail, to prepare immediately for the intended journey. 
 Besides his position at the Seminary had become so disagreeable and 
 irksome, that it appeared impossible for him to continue under present 
 arrangements. The Bishop answered on August 7th, 1832: "You 
 must come to St. Louis as soon as possible not to lose the opportunity 
 of the steam boats, that yet go up to Galena. Take notice that you 
 go alone. When there, you will see if the inhabitants of Prairie 
 du Chien are able and willing to support a priest." 3 By August 27th, 
 
 2 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, McMahon to Eosati, May 27, 1832. 
 
 3 Archives, Eosati to McMahon, August 7, 1832. 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien 539 
 
 Father McMahon was on his way to his final destination. From the 
 "Foot of the Kapids" near the present Keokuk, he sent a letter to 
 his Bishop with a brief account of his experiences by the way. In 
 the hurry and excitement of his departure from St. Louis he had 
 forgotten to take along some of the things needed for Mass, as altar- 
 breads and wax-caudles, and a pair of large smoothing irons for baking 
 hosts. On the boat he had met an "intelligent passenger" with whom 
 he had discussed the subject of the Real Presence. This discussion he 
 had then written out in the form of a dialogue. Would the Bishop 
 not be kind enough to hand it to Mr. Taylor, the newly arrived editor 
 of the Catholic Press. This paper was to be brought from Hartford 
 to St. Louis, but the plan was never carried out ; Deodat Taylor began 
 publishing the Shepherd of the Valley. 
 
 On his arrival at Galena, Father McMahon found himself im- 
 mersed, day and night, in ministerial avocations. He found no time to 
 write to his beloved Bishop until September 27th, 1832. He had already 
 gained two converts, and baptized several children, the parents of 
 whom were Protestants, and "ferreted out some of the careless ones" 
 among the Catholics and got them to Confession. He had validated 
 several marriages invalidly contracted, one of them being "a desperate 
 case," the Catholic having lived with a Baptist woman for three 
 years. Of another case the zealous Father writes: "I have been 
 about forty miles in the interior of the country, where I had to marry 
 a couple who were living in the state of sin for a long time, and have 
 had children, some of whom I baptized. This affair giving much scandal 
 in the neighborhood, I concluded it as quickly as possible, without any 
 requisition relative to banns, or anything else, but gave them some 
 instructions in the presence of a considerable number, who assembled 
 upon the occasion, and departed." 4 But amid all his labors and en- 
 deavors dire poverty and want were staring him in the face. His 
 trunk with books and clothes had not arrived : the weather was turn- 
 ing cold, and he had no money to buy even firewood. "People are 
 talking of building a church here," he wrote consoling himself with 
 the bright prospect: "besides they have employed a man to attend 
 me, so things may be better after some time." 5 
 
 Conditions at Galena must have improved after this : perhaps 
 Father McMahon learned the knack of placing his wants before the 
 people, so that they could no longer disregard them. In his next 
 letter of October 4th, 1832, he strikes a more cheerful note. "The 
 people have rented for him a commodious house which will suit for 
 the twofold purpose, a Church and apartments for the priest, until 
 they get able to build a new one. I have now got carpenters at work 
 
 4 Archives, McMahon to Eosati, September 27, 1832. 
 
 5 Idem, ibidem. 
 
540 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 making some necessary alterations." Then lie begs the Bishop "To 
 send him some ornaments for the altar, particularly a picture, and also 
 a missal. "I am kept continually going; so there is not much danger 
 of getting the gout and from the cholera, O Lord deliver us." 7 
 
 As to the cholera Father McMahon wrote on November 16th, 
 1832 : "We have had no cases of cholera here for some days, I continue 
 thankful to my God for having spared the whole of my congregation 
 except one, who it is believed, died by her own want of timely care 
 of herself." But the ordinary demands of life were pressing heavily 
 on Father McMahon 's buoyant spirit. "I called a meeting last Sunday 
 to ascertain what I had to depend on for my support. A list was 
 formed which contains the amount and individual names, who sub- 
 scribed about $360.00. I told them I wanted a sum immediately to 
 buy my winter's wood and some clothes, but none has as yet come. 
 Winter is already commenced here, and no wood, nor warm clothes." 
 Bishop Rosati's letter had informed the lonely missionary of the death 
 of his wife Judith in Dublin, for which kind attention as likewise for 
 every other connected with my solicitude," he begged the Bishop "to 
 accept the breathing of a grateful heart." 8 
 
 "Our little church," Father McMahon writes, "is crowded every 
 Sunday with a few of all the town's people. I look forward to better 
 times, but at present my situation is not to be envied .... I have 
 been thinking of selling my books by auction to get some money. If 
 you have any masses, send me a few." As to going to Prairie du 
 Chien, Father McMahon, excused his failure, first, because no con- 
 veyance was offered him by the people of that district, and second 
 because he had been informed, that a French priest had been there 
 for some time and intended to stay all winter. Father McMahon did 
 not know, who he was. 
 
 Father McMahon was of a naturally cheerful disposition. But 
 Galena was a lonely place for a priest who had always enjoyed the 
 company of cultured people. How glad he was when he heard that 
 a certain Mr. Rattigan, a student of the Barrens, was coming to share 
 his hospitality and to recuperate his health, that had been shattered. 
 But instead of a boon this visit proved to be a heavy burden and vexation. 
 
 On February 14th, he writes to his Bishop: "Mr. Rattigan has 
 left my place having previously abused me in the presence of a lad 
 who stops with me for his education." Father McMahon had opened 
 a school, to make out a living. Mr. Rattigan went to Pittsburg and 
 asked admission into the diocese of Philadelphia. But Father McMahon 
 was too busy to be worried long by such incidents. Making converts 
 
 6 Archives, McMahon to Rosati, October 4, 1832. 
 " Archives, McMahon to Eosati, 1. e. 
 s Letters of McMahon, passim. 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien 541 
 
 to the Faith, was his constant endeavor. "I received on Friday, in 
 due form, a lady of quality into the Church, and today I received a 
 visit from one of the principal prostitutes of the town, attired in all 
 her grandeur. During her stay, I gave her some instructions and 
 advice, lent her a book to read and dismissed her until next Tuesday, 
 when she promised to come to Confession. Vice of all kind was ram- 
 pant in the town filled with wild adventurers; among them also the 
 vice of gambling." I delivered three discourses on several Sundays 
 on the nefarious practice of gambling, on which God has evinced 
 His disapprobation. For immediately after, the cards and card-tables 
 of the various houses in the town were upset and committed to the 
 fire. If God grants me like success in overturning the rendevous of 
 iniquity called "bad houses," I shall call my time well spent, indeed." 9 
 
 Father McMahon, nothing daunted by the opposition he met, re- 
 turned to the attack again and again, with some success, it seems, in 
 changing even stony hearts, as his letter of March 3rd, would testify : 
 
 On Quadragesima Sunday I administered the Sacrament of Bap- 
 tism to a young creature, who has hitherto been progressing through 
 the most vile path of immorality. In the course of my instructions on 
 the Sacrament, I called her the Magdalen of Galena. Two of her- 
 former suitors were present, whose countenances seemed to speak dis- 
 approbation at being thus deprived of a companion on their road to 
 perdition. My instructions after Mass were on the Epistle of the 
 day, at the close of which, looking steadfastly at these heroes of in- 
 iquity, I exclaimed in emphatical language: 'Let the night stroller 
 now divest himself of the works of darkness and put on the armor of 
 Light, Justice, Sobriety and Chastity. Say, ye candidates for perdition, 
 what have you hitherto been doing, what is your mind now plotting, 
 though curiosity detains your person here? Shall I answer the ques- 
 tion for you? Adding further iniquities to the black catalogue of 
 your crimes, which, like an accumulated heap of stubble, the Justice 
 of an offended Deity will one day set fire to, when you shall burn, if 
 you repent not, for all eternity.' One of these sinners has signified his 
 wish to be instructed. I also received publicly into the Church a few 
 days ago a lady of respectability in the church, and have now more 
 under a course of instruction. One of the noted gamblers has also 
 come forward and is about getting his family baptized. He has al- 
 ready put down his name as a subscriber to my support. The Rosary 
 I say every evening during Lent, after which I give an instruction. 
 The Catechism I teach every day to the children, some of whom I am 
 preparing against Easter for their first Communion, and every Sunday, 
 I preach to a crowded audience, thus far, thanks to God. I feel my 
 health somewhat shaken and have taken the liberty to take a little 
 
 9 McMahon to Rosati, February 14, 1833. 
 
')■!- History of (he Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 bread every morning with a cup of coffee, which I hope will not dis- 
 please you." 10 
 
 .Must humbly submissive to his Bishop and the rules of the Holy 
 Church, Father McMahon would not brook any interference with his 
 spiritual authority from laymen, however powerful they might be. On 
 .March 17th, he wrote his last letter to Bishop Rosati : "Since my last 
 I have received one more of the unfortunate girls of the town, who is 
 now undergoing the preparatory steps toward becoming a good Chris- 
 tian. 1 have much hope of her continuance, but the people in general 
 are of a different opinion and seem not quite pleased that she has been 
 thus far countenanced, but I laconically replied to their insinuations, 
 that I am determined to do my duty at the point of the sword, and 
 that I could not suffer any layman to dictate to me. Ever since they 
 are silenced, and the poor girl is every day growing more fervent, 
 etc. An Episcopalian lady makes her first communion today, I feel 
 confident she will make a good R. Catholic." 11 
 
 But troubles of a more serious kind were threatening the Church 
 of Galena: "The person that owns the house, that I at present occupy 
 as a Church, has given notice for us to quit. What will be done, I am 
 not able to say : but, I know the people are too poor this year to build 
 one. I shall see You, God willing sometime in May." 12 These pathetic 
 words were Father McMahon 's last message to his beloved Bishop. On 
 June 19th, 1833, he died at Galena, without a priest to cheer and com- 
 fort his last hours. It was the cholera that struck him down ten months 
 after his coming to Fever River, a martyr of his devotion to duty and 
 of his love for poor, wayward souls. 
 
 From a brief note of Father Charles Quiekenborne, S.J. it appears 
 that Father Joseph V. Wiseman was sent to Galena immediately after 
 Father McMahon 's death came to the notice of Bishop Rosati. Father 
 Wiseman performed the last rites of the Church over Father McMahon 's 
 remains which were laid to rest in the public cemetery of Galena. 
 
 lo McMahon to Eosati, March 3, 1833. The Lenten Fast, at that time, did not 
 permit bread in the morning; but McMahon was dispensed on account of impaired 
 health. 
 
 ii McMahon to Eosati, March 17, 1833. 
 
 12 Ibidem. 
 
Chapter 15 
 GALENA, DUBUQUE AND PRAIRIE DU CHIEN 
 
 IT 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne, S. J., spent a few clays in July 1832, 
 at Dubuque and Galena in order to make arrangements for the develop- 
 ment of the religious possibilities of both places. Dubuque as a village 
 is coeval with Galena; as a trading-post, however, it is much older, 
 being visited and explored for its mineral wealth as early as 1786 by 
 Julien Dubuque, who two years later obtained from the Indians a grant 
 of 140,000 acres of land. Here M. Dubuque built his trading post 
 around which the city that bears his name was to rise and flourish and 
 prosper. Up to 1835 only three visits of priests at Dubuque are record- 
 ed, and no serious move had been made to form a religious establish- 
 ment. But now, with the return of order and the opening of vast tracts 
 of land to settlers, the time seemed propitious. 1 Meetings were held at 
 Dubuque and at Galena, of which Father Van Quickenborne, S. J., 
 has given a full account in his Memorandum left with James Fanning 
 at Dubuque, July 19, 1823. 
 
 "At an aggregate meeting of the Roman Catholics living at the 
 Dubuque Mines on the 14th of July, 1833, the following resolutions were 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 1. That, as it is the general wish that a Catholic Church be built 
 in this vicinity, the permit shall be obtained in the name of the Right 
 Rev. Dr. Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis. 
 
 2. That, as a majority of four have declared the town of Dubuque 
 or its vicinity to be the most suitable neighborhood for the contemplated 
 church, the designation of the precise spot shall be left to the decision of 
 the committee to be appointed, or a majority of these. 
 
 3. That, the following gentlemen do form the said committee : 
 Viz., James Fanning, James McCabe, Patrick O'Mara, N. Gregoire, and 
 Thomas Fitzpatrick. Mr. James Fanning was unanimously chosen 
 treasurer, into whose hands the subscriptions and donations shall be 
 paid ; of which moneys received and expended an account shall be 
 given by the same treasurer to the clergyman appointed by the Bishop to 
 the congregation. 
 
 i All the facts contained in this chapter are derived from MS. sources in the 
 Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese. In our citations from Archives, the Archives 
 of the St. Louis Archdiocese are meant. They are found in the Chancery Office. 
 
 (543) 
 
544 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 4. That the said committee shall have power to nominate a president 
 out of their number, and he or two of its members to have power to 
 call for a meeting of the committee, and a majority of them to be a 
 quorum to transact all the business relative to the building of the church. 
 
 5. The building to be raised by the subscriptions of the Catholics 
 at this place and to be as follows: A hewed log building, 25 feet by 
 '20 feet and 10 feet or 12 feet high, with a shingle roof and plank 
 floor, with four windows, each having 28 lights of 8 by 10 and shutters, 
 the door to be 8 feet by 5 feet. ' ' 
 
 From Dubuque Father Van Quickenborne crossed over to Galena 
 for the purpose of placing that congregation on a solid financial basis. 
 The people were willing, and a good start was made, as the following 
 document, signed by Father Van Quickenborne, would indicate : 
 
 "A copy of the subscription paper for Galena left with Nicholas 
 Dowling. 
 
 The enclosed five acres of ground near Galena have been made over 
 by Patrick Gray to the Right Rev. Dr. Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, for 
 the purpose of raising thereon a church and a house for the officiating- 
 clergyman. The inhabitants of this town and its vicinity are respectfully 
 requested to give their assistance towards the accomplishment of so es- 
 timable an object. 
 
 The frame building in contemplation is to be 25 feet by 35 feet. 
 The moneys to be collected by the committee consisting of five gentle- 
 men, and they to give their accounts to the clergyman sent by the Bishop 
 to the congregation. Therefore, we the undersigned, do oblige ourselves 
 and assigns to pay within six months from this date the sums annexed 
 to our respective names. 
 
 Galena 19th of July, 1833. 
 Patrick Gray, . . . Blockhouse 
 Laurence Ryan, pd. $20 .... $30.00 
 Alexander Butterworth .... 10.00 
 
 James Nagle 25.00 
 
 Michael Murphy 10.00 
 
 John Reilly 10.00 
 
 Patrick Murphy, paid 10.00 
 
 Claymore Le Page 5.00 
 
 Thomas Drum 20.00 
 
 Martin Grav 20.00 
 
 Leopold Massner $10.00 
 
 Patrick Colligan 10.00 
 
 Laurent Robidoux 10.00 
 
 Kiernan Murray 10.00 
 
 Pat, Sullivan 5.00 
 
 James Murphy, 
 
 Dennis Murphy & Pat, S. ... 25.00 
 
 John Ryan 10.00 
 
 Dennis O'Neil 5.00 
 
 140.00 
 
 85.00 
 140.00 
 
 C. F. Van Quickenborne. 
 
 225.00 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chit n 545 
 
 Other sums which can be relied on 200.00 
 
 425.00 " 2 
 This Memorandum had reference to the church itself. In regard 
 to the affairs of Father McMahon we have from Father Van Quicken- 
 borne 's hand the following : 
 
 "Memorandum left with Nicholas Dowling and published in the 
 church of Galena. 
 
 1. The Catholics of this country, to whom great praise is due 
 for their liberality in the support of religion, are respectfully re- 
 quested by the underwritten to persevere in these laudable sentiments, 
 and to pay the subscription they may have made heretofore for the sup- 
 port of the late Rev. Mr. McMahon, some of which have not as yet 
 been paid. The proceeds of these subscriptions will be employed 1st, 
 in paying the debts contracted by Mr. McMahon and not paid. 2. 
 In raising the building of the contemplated church, or for the support 
 of the clergyman who, it is hoped, will be sent by the Bishop. 
 
 2. The debt contracted by Mr. McMahon amounted to $273. It 
 is hoped that the sale of furniture which is in his house, including horse 
 and dearborn, will cover this sum. However, as these things are sold 
 sometimes very cheap, it would be very desirable that they should be 
 bought for the use of the next clergyman, and in this case the pay- 
 ment of the sums subscribed for the support of Mr. McMahon which 
 are not as yet paid would be absolutely necessary. 
 
 3. The sacred vestments and everything appertaining to the chapel 
 will be kept as things belonging to the Bishop. 
 
 4. The books of Mr. McMahon show that he has received from 
 these subscriptions made for his support about $340. 
 
 The carpenter's bill or fitting out the chapel amounts to $75 and 
 has been paid by a subscription. The house rent is as yet to be paid 
 and amounts to $15. The rent of the house belonging to Mrs. Farra 
 and used as a church has been paid by a subscription. 
 
 5. The proceeds of the subscriptions will be placed in the hands 
 of Mr. Nicholas Dowling, Sr., subject to the order of the Bishop for 
 the purposes for which they shall have been paid." 3 
 
 The erection of a Church-building was, of course, the main pur- 
 pose of Father Van Quickenborne's visit. Four hundred and twenty 
 dollars does not look very large as a building fund, yet in these early 
 days it went much farther than it would at present. How very prudent 
 
 2 Archives, Reports to Bishop Eosati. 
 
 3 Archives, Memorandum of Van Quickenborne in regard to affairs of Father 
 McMahon; Galena, July 16, 1833. 
 
 Vol. 1—18 
 
546 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and circumspect Father Van Quickenborne was in his building opera- 
 tions will appear from the following 
 
 "Memorandum concerning the church 
 
 "The church is to be a frame building, 4:! feet by 24 or 25 and 
 12 feet high, the sill must be mortised and tenented. 
 
 "The side sills shall receive eight posts and the spaces filled with 
 studding two feet apart. There are to be three openings on each side 
 to receive 24 lights each, 8 by 10. The side posts are to be braced in 
 four places, both above and below, and those of the front and rear 
 shall have two above and two below. The front and rear shall have 
 four posts each. The front door to be 5 feet wide 7 feet high, with 
 a circular sash above. In the rear there shall be two doors, 3 feet 
 wide, each so placed as to leave in the middle a place of 8 feet free, the 
 spaces to be filled up as above. 
 
 Twenty-two pairs of rafters shall be put up of the proper length 
 to be of scantling 6 inches by 3, to have collar beams, then sheeting and 
 shingling — the making of door and window frames and casings out- 
 side and inside — weather-boarding — the laying of the sleepers, but the 
 three next to the rear should be one foot higher than the rest. A girder 
 is to go across to make a gallery 8 feet high, 6 feet wide, and two girders 
 more to receive the frame of a steeple. 
 
 Let a contract be entered into for the above bill, but divide it 
 into four jobs. 
 
 The 1st to consist of the raising of the frame to the square, 
 which will cost say $40.00 
 
 The 2nd to embrace the roof, viz., rafters, sheeting and 
 shingling, cost of shingles added 82.00 
 
 The 3rd to include window frames and casings 25.00 
 
 The 4th will be made out of the balance, planks, walls and 
 labor 95.00 
 
 $242.00 
 
 Keserve to yourself the privilege of stopping at each of these 
 
 jobs, and I will be responsible for the payment of each of them ; but 
 
 none of them is to be commenced without my paying beforehand. 
 
 Galena, 16th of July, 1833, 
 
 C. F. Van Quickenborne, S. J." 4 
 These desultory notes jotted down by Father Van Quickenborne 
 will, no doubt, be of interest as giving not only the bright prospects 
 of these early Catholic settlements, but also the difficult and sometimes 
 sordid circumstances in which the ministers of God were constrained 
 to live. 
 
 4 Archives, Memorandum of Van Quickenborne, dated Galena, July 16, 1833. 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien 547 
 
 It will be remembered that Father McMahon alluded to the pres- 
 ence of a French priest at Prairie du Chien who, as the rumor went, 
 intended to stay there all winter. This was the Dominican Father 
 Samuel Mazzuchelli, as we learn from a letter written by him to 
 Bishop Rosati, September 29, 1832. In view of the fact that this letter, 
 the first of a long series, Father Mazzuchelli gives a sor t of critical 
 estimate of the priests that had preceded him at Prairie du Chien, 
 whilst it introduces a man who was destined to accomplish great things 
 for religion on both sides of the Upper Mississippi, we will insert it here 
 as in its proper place : 
 
 "Praire du Chien, September 29, 1832 
 
 Right Rev. Bishop — the Rev'd. Mr. Jean-Jean, who in July last 
 visited with Bishop Fenwick the Island of Mackinac, informed me 
 that your Lordship had given him a letter for me, bnt that at his 
 return to St. Louis, he forgot it. I should have been extremely flatter- 
 ed to have had such a token of my being still present to your mind. 
 A useless servant as I am, in the vineyard of the Lord, I have nothing 
 in my missionary labor worthy of your attention ; if some good has 
 been done in this' wild and Indian portion of the Church, the Lord 
 being the author of it, nothing remains to us, His unworthy instruments, 
 of which we can boast. Notwithstanding, I cannot contain myself from 
 making known to your apostolical zeal the graces which our Divine 
 Saviour is showering down on some parts of this territory. Our Mis- 
 sions of Arbre Croche are in the highest state of Christian perfection, 
 without exaggeration (which is to be abhorred by a Catholic mission- 
 ary). There are about one thousand Indians who by the water of 
 Baptism dissipated the dark clouds of idolatry, and most of them, if 
 not nearly all have preserved unspotted the white garment of baptismal 
 grace. My chosen flock of Mackinac is, thanks be to God, extremely 
 edifying. The dispersed and wild sheep of the Lake Superior, who 
 repair to Mackinac every summer, are fast improving. At the Sault 
 Ste. Marie I hope to have a church built next spring. The Presbyterians 
 around us, whose peculiar character was foretold by St. Paul in those 
 words, "having an appearance of piety, but denying the power thereof" : 
 have the first seats, and dressed in tracts and Bibles, make the first show 
 in this world ; we still remaining here, with the utmost satisfaction, "the 
 little flock." Green Bay, inhabited by Canadians and Metis (Half-breeds) 
 of bad conduct, begins to flourish; drunkenness and indifference were 
 prevalent ; now an universal but gradual change its taking place. In 
 two years, more than one hundred Indians have been well instructed 
 and baptized. Last year, in spite of thousands of difficulties, I began 
 the building of a Gothic church now handsomely finished, 66 feet long, 
 35 feet wide. I was the only priest in the Northwest Territory, till 
 
"'I s History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the 1st of September last, when I arrived at Green Bay with Mr. 
 Saenderl, the Superior of three Liguorians from Vienna, who wish to 
 establish their Order in the United States. I omitted no exertion to 
 convince Mr. Saenderl of the great necessity in which this new territory 
 stands of their zeal. He is now determined on building their convent at 
 Green Bay, where without any trouble he has a new church. I am 
 unable to express my gladness at seeing that portion of my parish, where 
 I labored more, and to which I was so partial, in possession of new and 
 better pastors. On the 13th of September I left Green Bay to visit a 
 part of the territory and see what good can be done. After eight days 
 riding I arrived here, where last year your Lordship sent Mr. Lutz 
 whom the people esteemed. This place has been very much neglected. 
 Mr. Vincent Badin spent seven months here, but his limited talents and 
 French manners were not satisfactory to most of the inhabitants, and 
 in several instances caused our holy religion to be despised or neglected 
 in the opinion of the public. The Prairie will become a considerable 
 place in the new Territory ; so our efforts are more demanded to make 
 a good congregation while we can make it without opposition. To this 
 end I am about procuring a house for next spring to answer for tempor- 
 ary chapel and residence for the priest. The people are well disposed to 
 help him in his wants. Several lots are offered for the church. I will 
 make the plan for it. It will be of stone, because cheaper and stronger 
 than frame. Next spring, if nothing prevents me, with the permission 
 of the bishop, I intend to come here with a Liguorian of Green Bay, 
 and thus give a good start to the making of a new and interesting 
 parish. The Society of Vienna promised the Liguorians all possible 
 assistance. I said this about Prairie du Chien, because it interests your 
 zeal, as well as that of Bishop Fenwick. On the establishment of a good 
 and edifying congregation here it depends in great measure what the 
 future state of religion in this Territory will be and what success and 
 conversion of the Indians will have. These poor beings have been 
 neglected to this day, notwithstanding their good disposition. An 
 annual appropriation of three or four hundred dollars for the support 
 of every priest who feels disposed to labor for the conversion of the 
 Indians, is necessary. Priests of such vocation are, as far as I know, 
 left to their zeal without encouragement. All the Indians of the North 
 are willing to embrace Christianity, but nothing can be done unless 
 the priest lives among them, which he cannot do without human means. 
 The Liguorians say that the Society of Vienna has for its object the con- 
 version of the Indians. This makes me rejoice in expectation of doing 
 some good among the inhabitants on the confines of Lake Superior. As 
 a missionary of the Northwest Territory, I have a favor to ask of your 
 Lordship. The age and infirmity of Bishop Fenwick and his exten- 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien 549 
 
 sive diocese are things well known. A bishopric in the new State of 
 Michigan is now believed to be of absolute necessity to carry on these 
 extensive missions. With the consent of Bishop Fenwick I have al- 
 ready written on this subject to Pope Gregory the XVI, with whom I am 
 well acquainted. Were your Lordship and other bishops to recommend 
 to his Holiness the necessity of a new diocese in Michigan and the North- 
 west, I have not the least doubt but we should obtain it. It is distress- 
 ing for us, your missionaries, to think that only a small part of our 
 parishes can be visited by our pastor and that we are so far from him. 
 Many Catholics are deprived of the gift of confirmation, while their 
 faith is at a great trial among heretics of the worst kind, who even 
 among the natives have done and still do more for the loss of souls 
 than we are able to do for their salvation. I have learned, with the 
 highest degree of satisfaction, that your zeal is now occupied in the 
 erection of a new and splendid cathedral. May the Almighty give 
 strength and grace to your Lordship, not only to complete it, but also 
 to sanctify it by the exercise of the holy function of your sacred and 
 apostolic dignity. 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 Samuel Mazzuchelli, O. P. 
 
 P. S. — Next week I shall leave this place to visit the Indians of 
 Fort Winibegoe." 3 
 
 Father Mazzuchelli did not stay long at Prairie du Chien ; and 
 Galena, the religious center of the whole region, must be immediately 
 provided with a pastor. But whom shall Bishop Rosati send? On May 
 16, 1834, there came to him, all unannounced, a priest whose papers 
 showed that he was ordained in Paris, and had served in the Cura at 
 Nevers in France, but had returned to his native Ireland and from 
 there had sailed for America. His name was Charles Francis Fitz- 
 maurice. The bishop gladly adopted him, and on May 19, 1834, sent 
 him to the mission of Galena and Dubuque. He arrived at Galena on 
 May 23. He took up the work with great hopes, as we see from his letter 
 to Bishop Rosati dated, Galena, July 28, 1834 : 
 
 "My Lord — I should have written to you before this period, were 
 it not that I wished previously to render men and things more favor- 
 able to religion than I had found them on my arrival in this mission ; 
 an almost total desuetude in matters of religious concern originating 
 from the want of religious instruction since the death of the Rev. Mr. 
 McMahon, has rendered a great many indifferent, not to say forget- 
 ful, of the great work of their eternal salvation ! But more of this at 
 
 5 Mazzuchelli to Eosati, Prairie du Chien, September 29, 1832. Archives, 
 Letters of S. Ch. Mazzuchelli. 
 
550 History of the Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 another time. I mot with some difficulties, my Lord, in the commence- 
 ment in procuring a decent place for the celebration of the holy Sacri- 
 fice of the Mass, and also lodging for myself, but through the joint 
 exertions of some of my flock I have succeeded in obtaining both about 
 eight days ago. Until then my position was not very pleasant, as being 
 obliged to lodge with a man who kept a grocery in one end of his house, 
 and whose habits would by no means be a source of consolation to any 
 ecclesiastic happening to be his inmate. 
 
 "I had made inquiries relative to the temporal concerns of the Kev. 
 Mr. McMahon and was informed that a Mr. Byrne of this town and 
 lately married by the Rev. Mr. Lutz at St. Louis, had taken out 
 letters of administration immediately after the death of the Rev. Mc- 
 Mahon and auctioned off all his property together with his books of 
 every description for the purpose (it was said) of paying his debts. I 
 have examined the chasubles (four in number) and found them in 
 a very bad state ; the chalice and paten were rolled in a clean cloth and 
 kept in a decent place, but I could find no account of the oilstocks. 
 They say here that the Cure of St. Charles must know something of 
 them. 
 
 "I have alternated since my arrival, on Sundays between this town 
 and Dubuque Mines. There are many sick cases in both places ; I am 
 consequently called on very often to attend the sick. The mortality, 
 however, is not great in either place. We have had only one case of 
 cholera which proved fatal. 
 
 I have, at stated periods, called meetings of the congregation in 
 order to devise some means suitable for the building of a Catholic church 
 in this town, and could not until lately effect anything like unanimity 
 among them. About eight days ago I had convened the last meeting, 
 when they came to the resolution of getting a church of stone built 
 as soon as' possible, and to make a beginning, seven or eight of the most 
 respectable Catholics of this town have subscribed their names each 
 for $100, so that there is every appearance of things getting on well 
 at present. 
 
 "As there are a great many French in this congregation, I give 
 instructions in English at Mass, and in French at Vespers, every Sunday 
 that I say Mass in town. A great many of other religious denomina- 
 tions assist at Mass and act with the greatest decorum. Two adults have 
 embraced the Catholic faith since my arrival in this region, the one a 
 certain Walker, who departed this life a few days after being received 
 into the bosom of the Church, the other a lady who was never baptized, 
 although she lived with a Catholic man. 
 
 "The Catholic inhabitants of Dubuque Mines have subscribed to 
 the amount of $1100 for the purpose of getting a Catholic church built, 
 
Galena, Dubuque and Prairie Du Chien 551 
 
 in consequence of which I have made application to the agent and ob- 
 tained a lot of land in your Lordship 's name for that purpose. We have 
 already bought the lumber, let out the contract to a carpenter, and 
 expect to have it finished before All Saints Day, as they are far more 
 active and zealous there on this occasion than at Galena. 
 
 "My Lord, I hope your cathedral will very soon be completed, that 
 you may enjoy good health, as also the Rev. Mr. Jean-Jean, Borgna 
 and Lutz, to whom I here present my most humble respects. They are 
 together, but alas! I am alone. Still God's protection extends to us 
 all. My sister's health was not very good since she came here, having 
 labored under a very severe bilious attack, but is at present getting better. 
 
 With ardent prayers for the preservation of your Lordship 's health, 
 I have the honor to remain, My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 C. J. Fitzmaurice, Pt." 6 
 
 Alas, for the uncertainty of human affairs, Father Fitzmaurice 
 died in the spring of the year 1835, some say of the cholera; others, of 
 the yellow fever ; the second Galena priest to die within a twelvemonth 
 after his appointment. It was a sad blow to the struggling parishes, 
 but the sacrifice was not in vain. For, as Father Mazzuchelli writes in 
 1837: "In the year 1835 a lot was secured at Galena for the church, of 
 which the first stone was laid on the 12th of August in the same year. 
 The church of Galena is dedicated to St. Michael, measures 70 feet by 
 39 feet. It is all of stone and is now built ten feet above the ground ; 
 nearly all the wooden materials are purchased. The parish of Galena 
 numbers about five hundred Catholics." 7 
 
 The lot spoken of in the report of Father Mazzuchelli was bought 
 from Patrick Gray, July 19, 1833, for 200 dollars, paid out of the 
 subscriptions. The lot was "Bounded on the east by the road leading to 
 Meeker's Farm, on the north by Martin Gray's claim, on the west by 
 the burial ground, on the south by the public lands and contained 
 about five acres. It was deeded to Bishop Rosati." 
 
 The earthly remains of Father Fitzmaurice were buried in the new 
 Catholic Cemetery and with them the remains of Father McMahon, 
 which were disinterred from the public cemetery of Galena. 
 
 6 Fitzmaurice to Rosati, in Archives. 
 i Mazzuchelli to Eosati, in Archives. 
 
Chapter 16 
 FATHER SAINT CYR AND THE CHURCH IN CHICAGO 
 
 One month after Father Benedict Roux's designation for Kansas 
 City, the westernmost station of the diocese of St. Louis, his friend and 
 fellow-student, John M. I. Saint Cyr received the appointment to its 
 easternmost mission, the town of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Even 
 prior to this date, April 17th, 1833, there existed some. kind of a spiri- 
 tual bond between the Metropolis of the Great Lakes in its infancy and 
 the Metropolis of the Mississippi Valley in its early prime. Father 
 Francis Pinet S. J. the Founder of the Angel Guardian Mission on 
 the site of Chicago, became the co-founder of the Mission of St. Francis 
 Xavier on the site of St. Louis. Prior to 1805 there were at least five 
 French Catholic families settled at Chicago, those of Antoine Ouilmette, 
 Louis Pettel, Francois Le Mai, Jean B. Pointe de Saible and Jean B. 
 Peltier, three of whom, Peltier, Le Mai and Pointe de Saible, had 
 their children baptized in St. Louis by the Recollet Father Lusson, 
 in October 1799. x At the establishment of Fort Dearborn in 1803, 
 and its reestablishment after the massacre of 1813, Chicago began to 
 take on the form of a permanent settlement. 
 
 In 1815 the number of French Catholics at Chicago had increased 
 to such an extent that they attracted the attention of Bishop Flaget, 
 who wrote as follows to the Holy See: "I heard during my excursion 
 that in the very midst of the Indians were four French Congregations 
 belonging to my diocese: one on the Upper Mississippi (Galena), 
 another in a place usually designated Chicagou, still another on the 
 shores of Lake Michigan (probably Green Bay) and a fourth toward 
 the source of the Illinois River (Peoria) ; but lack of time and the 
 prevalence of war have prevented me from visiting them." 2 
 
 In September 1821, the little Catholic Congregation at Chicago 
 received a visit from Father Gabriel Richard, who said Mass in the 
 house of a Canadian, probably Jean B. Beaubien, and in the afternoon 
 preached to the garrison of Fort Dearborn. Father Richard had come 
 at the invitation of a Pottawatomie Chief to be present at the treaty 
 which the Indian tribes were to make at Chicago with the United States 
 Government. But contrary winds had detained the visitor so long 
 that the treaty was concluded before he arrived. In October 1830, 
 the proto-priest of the United States, 3 Father Stephan Theodore Badin, 
 
 1 "Illinois Catholic, Historical Review, " vol. I, p. 10. 
 
 2 ' ' Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. I, p. 305. 
 
 3 Proto-priest; the first native-born priest of the United States. 
 
 (552) 
 
Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago 553 
 
 paid the place a brief visit from the Potawatomi Mission of St. Joseph 's. 
 It was Chief Pokegan that carried Father Badin's chapel equipments 
 to Fort Dearborn. 
 
 At the close of 1833, Chicago found itself a legally organized town. 
 Consequently it must have had a population of at least 150. About 
 ninety per cent of these inhabitants were Catholics, among them the 
 two half-breed Potawatomi Chiefs, Billy Caldwell and Alexander Rob- 
 inson. Two converts from Episcopalianism, Anson and Augustine 
 Deodat Taylor, were leaders in the movement to obtain a priest for the 
 rising town. 4 A petition was sent to Bishop Rosati of St. Louis bearing 
 date of April 16th, 1833 : 
 
 "We, the Catholics of Chicago, Cook Co., 111., lay before you the 
 necessity there exists to have a pastor in the new flourishing city. 
 There are here several families of French descent, born and brought 
 up in the Roman Catholic Faith, and others quite willing to aid us 
 in supporting a pastor, who ought to be sent here before other sects 
 obtain the upper hand, which very likely they will try to do. "We 
 have heard several persons say, were there a priest here, they would 
 join our religion in preference to any other. We count almost 
 one hundred Catholics in this town. We will not cease to pray until 
 you have taken our important request in consideration." 5 
 
 Bishop Rosati assured the delegation that had presented the petition 
 that the wish of the Chicago Catholics would be gratified at once. 
 Though the place was not within the limits of his diocese, he held the 
 powers of Vicar-General from Bishop Flaget, and would act as such, 
 as he notified the Bishop of Bardstown on April 17th : 
 
 "Having received a petition of the Catholics of Chicago, who re- 
 garded me as their diocesan bishop and demanded of me a priest, show- 
 ing the dangers of losing a concession of two thousand acres of land 
 which the chiefs of the Potawatomi, with the consent of the govern- 
 ment, have made to the Catholic Church, by virtue of the powers of 
 Vicar-General, which you have given me, I will send Mr. Saint Cyr, 
 but on condition that, until the limits of the diocese are fixed I can 
 recall him." On the same day Bishop Rosati wrote to Father Saint 
 Cyr, then at the Barrens : 
 
 "By virtue of the powers of Vicar-General to me granted by the 
 most illustrious and most Reverend Bishop of Bardstown (Ky), I 
 depute you to the mission of Chicago and the adjoining regions within 
 the State of Illinois. . . ." 7 
 
 4 Cf. Garraghan, G. J., "The Catholic Church in Chicago," pp. 39 and 40, 
 passim. 
 
 5 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, cf. Andreas, "History of Chicago," vol. 
 I, p. 289. 
 
 6 Rosati 's Letterbook, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 7 Eosati's Letterbook, IX, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
554 History of the Archdiocese of St. Loin's 
 
 On April 2()tli, 1833, the Shepherd of the Valley announced 
 the departure of Father Saint Cyr for his first missionary field in 
 Northeastern Illinois. Father John Mary Irenaeus Saint Cyr was born 
 in the Parish of Quincie near Lyons, France, on November 2nd, 1803. 
 He made his clerical studies at Lyons, and received tonsure, Minor- 
 Orders and subdeaconship at the hands of Archbishop John Paul Gaston 
 De Pins, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Lyons and Vienna. 
 In the beginning of June, 1831, the young cleric, through the kindness 
 of the newly founded Association of the Propagation of the Faith, 
 was sent to the Louisiana Missions, and arrived in St. Louis in August 
 of the same year. He continued his theological studies at the Sem- 
 inary of St. Mary's under Father Tornatore, where he was ordained 
 to the priesthood by Bishop Rosati, April 6th, 1833. The journey 
 across the prairies, made partly on foot, in company with Anson Taylor, 
 lasted twelve days. The day of arrival at their destination was May 
 1st, 1833. 8 
 
 Father Saint Cyr was received with every mark of kindness by 
 the people of Chicago. He was welcomed as a permanent guest at 
 the Sanganash Hotel, conducted by Mark Beaubien. A temporary 
 chapel was prepared by the same gentleman in a log house just across 
 from the hotel. But, everything being so very primitive, the good 
 Father deeply felt the pinch of poverty. 
 
 "If I have delayed so long to send you news," he writes to Bishop 
 Rosati about a month after his arrival, "you may be sure that this 
 is not owing to negligence or, much less, to any lack of good will on 
 my part. The fact is that as I have no acquaintance as yet with the 
 people of Chicago and do not know how they stand as to the establish- 
 ment of religion in their town, I have wished to sound them a little 
 to the end that I may be less uncertain as to what to say to you about 
 conditions here in the matter of religion . . . While the number of Cath- 
 olics is large, almost all of them are entirely without knowledge of the 
 duties of religion. Still, the regularity with which they are present 
 at Mass every Sunday and the attention and respect with which they 
 assist thereat, give reason to hope that, with patience and some Sunday 
 instructions, we shall be able, with God's help, to organize a congre- 
 gation of good Catholics. Many Protestants, even of the most dis- 
 tinguished of Chicago, appear to be much in favor of the Catholic 
 religion, in particular Mr. Owen, the Indian agent, as also the doctor 
 and several other respectable families who come to Mass every Sunday 
 and assist at it with much respect." 9 
 
 In a financial way some advance has been made as Father Saint Cyr 
 writes : ' ' The people of Chicago have taken up a subscription amount- 
 
 s Biographical notes in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 9 Saint Cyr to Eosati, June 4, 1833, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father 'Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago oo.j 
 
 ing to 261 dollars, and they hope to go even somewhat beyond that. 
 Mr. (Jean) Baptiste Beubien gives the site on which to build the 
 church. However, despite all the fair prospects held out in every way 
 by this town of Chicago, despite the fine promises made to provide 
 the priest with everything necessary for his support, despite all the 
 honor and courtesy and marks of respect which they continue to show 
 me daily to the chagrin of the Protestant ministers, I should have 
 reason to complain, Monseigneur, were you not to send me some as- 
 sistance at the start to relieve my needs; for I should not have money 
 enough even to pay postage on a letter were I to receive one, nor do I 
 know how I am going to pay the transportation charges on my trunk, 
 when it comes, unless I have some help from you beforehand. I cannot 
 say Mass every day, as I should like to, for I cannot always obtain 
 the wine and candles. I am eager to go to St. Joseph, as soon as (Rev.) 
 Mr. Badin shall have returned from Kentucky, but, it is true, as you will 
 tell me, that the Catholics have promised to furnish everything neces- 
 sary for the support of the priest. Yes, Monseigneur, but they are 
 going to start to build a little chapel and a presbytery with money 
 contributed by them for the purpose. Therefore, if the money con- 
 tributed falls short of the cost of the buildings I shall be constantly 
 in want." Yet, amid all the troubles and restraints of his position 
 Father Saint Cyr is comforted by the thought of future great spiri- 
 tual conquests. 
 
 "The eagerness shown by the people of Chicago, the Protestants 
 even, to have a Catholic church, allows us to place great hopes in the 
 future. Every Sunday so far, I have given an instruction alternately 
 in English and French. I am particularly anxious to remove prejudices 
 by showing as clearly as possible in what the teaching of the church con- 
 sists. In my first instruction I explained the meaning of the invoca- 
 tion of the saints, the difference there is between praying to God and 
 the praying to the saints, the meaning of the veneration paid to images 
 and the doctrine of the Catholic church regarding Purgatory. The 
 second Sunday I preached in English on the unity of the Church of 
 Jesus Christ. I showed its necessity, bringing out also how this unity 
 is found in the Catholic Church. On Ascension day, I preached in 
 French on the Real Presence and afterwards explained in English the 
 ceremonies of the Mass. Pentecost-day, I set forth the rapid progress 
 of the gospel throughout the world and the great results it accomplished 
 in reforming morals (this in English). On Trinity day, I explained 
 in French the symbol of St. Ambrose on the Holy Trinity and then 
 the Apostles' Creed, as also what we must absolutely know and believe 
 to be saved. I tell you all this, Monseigneur, not to show you what 
 I have done, but that you may see whether what I have done is right 
 or wrong and that I may learn how to proceed in the future. A number 
 of persons have approached the tribunal of penance. T presume 
 
•")")() History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Monseigneur, thai yon pu1 seine l ks in m\ imnk. as ymi gave me 
 
 to understand at ray departure. Up to the present I have been left 
 to my own resources. 1 should like exceedingly to have some instruc- 
 tions in English, French, some French catechisms and two or three 
 mission hymns. 
 
 "To give you some idea of Chicago, I will tell you that since my 
 arrival more than twenty houses have been built, while materials for 
 new ones may be seen coming in on all sides. The situation of Chicago 
 is (he finest I have ever seen. Work is now proceeding on a harbor 
 which will enable lake-vessels to enter the town. Three arrived lately 
 crowded with passengers who came to visit these parts and, in most 
 cases to settle down here. Everything proclaims that Chicago will one 
 day become a great town and one of commercial importance." 10 
 
 It is remarkable how this simple priest divines the coming great- 
 ness and importance of this struggling poverty-stricken village. His 
 estimate made under most adverse circumstances, came as near to the 
 full truth as that of anyone else, capable of making an estimate. 
 
 At the end of June 1833, Father Saint Cyr at last received his trunk, 
 with a number of necessary things, among them a Missal. In order 
 to pay for its transportation he was obliged to get a loan of two dollars 
 and a half from Mr. Beaubien, for which kindness he is duly grateful. 
 
 "I am well aware," writes Father Saint Cyr to his Bishop, "that 
 the people should provide for all my needs; they have promised to do 
 so. If I can have from them the wherewithal to build a little chapel, I 
 shall consider myself very fortunate, and I hope that, with the grace 
 of God and the assistance of charitable souls, our Divine Saviour will 
 have a temple in Chicago, where he will dwell continually in the midst 
 of us by his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the. Altar. 
 
 ' ' Our Subscription for the church amounts now to 332 dollars ; 
 but, according to the building plans agreed on, we shall need five hun- 
 dred dollars. It will be thirty-six feet long, 24 wide, and 12 
 high. As to the land which the Indian chiefs are reported to have 
 promised, we cannot count on it, seeing that (Rev.) Mr. Badin, to 
 whom the Indians made the promise, did not fulfil the conditions of the 
 contract in virtue of which the Indians offered to give a certain amount 
 of land towards the building of a Catholic Church, for their own use, 
 however. 
 
 ' ' Another thing which causes me much pain : I cannot say Mass 
 during the week, or rarely so, for lack of the necessary articles, mass- 
 wine and candles. But, Monseigneur, I must tell you in all sincerity 
 that this mission holds out the fairest hopes for the future, and that 
 to abandon it for the lack of some little assistance, or some small sac- 
 rifices, would be a great loss for religion, a loss all the greater and the 
 
 io From the letter of June 4, 1833. 
 
Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago 557 
 
 more certain now that a Presbyterian minister arrived in Chicago 
 from some other place a few days ago. Many Protestants, even of the 
 most respectable families of Chicago, would return to their first religion, 
 or rather, would remain in their errors, as being without any means 
 of embracing the Catholic religion." 11 
 
 "I have performed eight baptisms in Chicago and must go to the 
 Fox River to perform some more. 
 
 "You cannot imagine, Monseigneur, how much good could be 
 done for religion in these vast prairies, were a priest to visit, from time 
 to time, the families who are scattered here and there, abandoned to 
 themselves in everything that concerns their eternal salvation. "Even 
 the Indians, the poor Indians, are not indifferent towards our holy 
 faith ; they earnestly wish to have a black-robe, I have made the ac- 
 quaintance of three of the principal chiefs, all three Catholics. Two 
 of them in particular, who remained some days in Chicago, edified 
 me by their great faith. Before sitting down at table, whether others 
 were present or not, they prayed for a space of almost five minutes, and 
 three times every day they came to my room to say their prayers which 
 consisted of a Pater and an Ave, to thank God for having given them 
 life' and the means to support life and to pray for their benefactors. 
 I showed them a large crucifix, and explained to them with the aid 
 of an interpreter what our Lord had done and suffered for us to save 
 us from hell and give us heaven. They remained motionless for a 
 while, with their eyes fixed on the crucifix, and looking at it with an 
 air of piety and compassion, which showed they had a lively realiza- 
 tion of what they saw. Then they broke the silence by prayers which 
 they recited at the foot of the crucifix, shedding, at the same time, 
 torrents of tears. Non vidi tantam fidem in Israel. I could not re- 
 frain from weeping with them. They told us that they prayed to 
 God three times every day, whether journeying or at home, and that 
 they spent every Sunday singing praises of Him who died for the 
 whites and poor Indians alike. What a beautiful harvest, Monseig- 
 neur." 12 
 
 The close of September 1833, brought stirring events to the rude 
 frontier-town. The Potawatomi Indians, or as they were officially 
 styled, "the United Nation of the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pota- 
 watomi," together with a number of other Indians assembled at 
 Chicago under the protection of Fort Dearborn to conclude a treaty 
 with the United States commissioners for the purpose of selling to 
 the Government their lands in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. The 
 treaty stipulated that the land should be relinquished for a considera- 
 tion of one dollar per acre, and a grant of five million acres of land 
 
 11 Saint Cyr to Eosati, June 1833. 
 
 12 From the same letter. 
 
558 History of llx Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 on the left bank of the Missouri River. The Indians agreed to leave 
 for their new homes immediately after the ratification of the treaty. 
 Father Saint Cyr held divine service repeatedly for the assembled 
 Catholic Indians. 13 "Mine than 1000 Indians are gathered here for 
 the payment. Yesterday, September 15th, I said Holy Mass four miles 
 from Chicago before a large congregation of converted Indians rec- 
 ommended to me by their pastor (Rev.) Mr. Deseille, who could not 
 accompany them to the treaty, as he is the only priest at St. Joseph. 
 Their modesty, their tzood behavior during the most Holy Sacrifice 
 and their respect for priests touched and edified me exceedingly. The 
 Catholics of Chicago, together with those from St. Joseph Avho came 
 to attend the treaty, gathered there in great numbers to hear Mass. 
 The Catholics sang French hymns at the beginning of Mass. Then 
 the Indians sang the Credo in their own language but to the same air 
 to which we sang it, and they sang besides, a number of beautiful 
 hymns." 14 
 
 Meanwhile Bishop Rosati had sent a request to the Indian agent, 
 Robert Stuart to pay Father Saint Cyr the sum of fifty dollars, to 
 supply his present Avants. As to the lands which the Indian chiefs had 
 promised to give towards the support of religion, nothing seems to have 
 been done. 
 
 With renewed energy Father Saint Cyr pursued his laborious 
 course. As to the progress recently made he has this to say in his 
 letter of September 16th: "The carpenters are working at present on 
 my little chapel. I hope it will be finished by Sunday or at least dur- 
 ing the course of the following week .... "Monseigneur Reze spent 
 a little while here on his return from Green Bay. He gave me ten 
 dollars for my church and ten dollars for myself. His visit was ex- 
 tremely short, as the steamboat left the same day it arrived." 15 
 
 The chapel was now nearing completion. The lumber had been 
 brought from St. Joseph's across the lake. Mr. Augustine Deodat 
 Taylor had the contract. Hardly had he finished his work, when the 
 Indians came to clean up the place to make it fit for divine worship. 
 Father Saint Cyr said the first Mass in the new Church in October 
 1833, for the Catholic Potawatomi from South Bend, about 300 in 
 number who had come to Chicago for their annuities. But the walls 
 and ceiling of the new edifice were still unplastered, the outside walls 
 unpainted: the inside but poorly furnished with rough benches for 
 pews and the simplest of tables for altar and pulpit. There was no 
 steeple nor bell. The total cost was $400, and the funds collected were 
 
 13 Cf. Garraghan, op. cit., pp. 56 and 57. For text of Treaty, see Kappler, 
 "Indian Affairs and Treaties," vol. II, p. 402. 
 
 14 Saint Cyr to Eosati, September 16, 1833, Archives, 
 is Idem, ibidem. 
 
Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago 559 
 
 exhausted, and the willingness to give was gone: so Father Saint Cyr 
 determined to do what many a priest before him had done, to go 
 through northern Illinois and to St. Louis on a so-called collecting 
 tour. The troubled soul of Father Saint Cyr did not think of asking 
 his Bishop's permission, but simply presumed is could not be refused. 
 On November 23rd, he informs Bishop Rosati of his plan and the reason 
 for adopting it : 
 
 "For over a month my little chapel has been finished in a manner 
 decent enough to enable us to say Mass without inconvenience every 
 Sunday and week day up to the present. But the cold which is now 
 beginning to make itself felt more keenly over these vast prairies 
 makes the chapel almost uninhabitable, for it is still unplastered. The 
 impossibility of saying Mass in it during the winter, as also the im- 
 possibility of having it plastered owing to the slender means at present 
 at our disposal, make it necessary for me to go down to St. Louis to 
 do a little begging. Thus, together with what the people here have 
 promised still to give, (though I scarce put any trust in their pledges), 
 I shall have quite a pleasant chapel, small though it be. Another 
 motive which induces me to make a trip to St. Louis is that Thursday 
 next we are going to open a school in which three languages, French, 
 English and Latin will be taught. Mr. Kimber who is 40 years 
 old will be in charge; he is a good singer and speaks English, French, 
 and Latin very well; but as we cannot find here the books needed 
 by the children, I will take advantage of the journey to secure them." 16 
 
 As a kind of captatio oenevolentiae the self-sacrificing pastor adds : 
 "Up to the present, we have had Mass and Vespers sung every Sunday 
 with all the solemnity possible under the circumstances. People enter 
 into these services with great earnestness. I have hopes that, with the 
 grace of God and the charity of' the faithful and in spite of all diffi- 
 culties and miseries it will be possible to organize a congregation of 
 good Catholics here in Chicago." 17 
 
 What success Father Saint Cyr had in St. Louis we have no way 
 of learning: but that the time he spent on his journey to and fro was 
 not wasted, is shown by the letter he wrote to Bishop Rosati, on June 
 11th, 1834: "I arrived in Chicago, the fifth of this month, (June 
 1834) to the great astonishment of the people, who thought I was never 
 going to return. They were pleased to see me again. Last Sunday 
 we had High Mass, the church being full of people despite the bad 
 weather, and in the afternoon we sang Vespers. A great many Ameri- 
 cans assisted at the services. 
 
 "I cannot give you the population of Chicago exactly. The com- 
 mon opinion is that there are 2000 inhabitants in town, and every 
 
 16 Saint Cyr to Eosati, November 23, 1833, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 17 Idem, ibidem. 
 
560 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 day you may see vessels and steamboats put in here from the lake 
 crowded with families who come to settle in Chicago, Surgunt Moenia 
 Trojae." 1 * 
 
 "In the course of my journey I saw or visited nearly all the 
 Catholics of Illinois, I performed thirteen baptisms and four marriages 
 and gave the Catholics of Sugar Creek, Bear Creek, and South Fork 
 and Springfield an opportunity to make their Easter duties. Eighteen 
 miles above Peoria I found several Catholic families who so far have 
 not been visited. I could not stop there, but I promised to visit them 
 when I should return from Chicago." 19 
 
 Bishop Rosati, at this time, seems to have been thinking of with- 
 drawing Father Saint Cyr from Chicago, and placing it under the 
 care of Father Fitzmaurice of Galena, as an out-mission. The Cath- 
 olics of Chicago, however full of high hopes as beseemed Chicago 
 people, were anxious to know when a Bishop would be appointed for 
 their district. 
 
 "They would like to have him in Chicago," wrote Father Saint 
 Cyr. The good pastor of Chicago, on his part, was very glad to hear, 
 that he was dispensed from visiting Galena, as he had abundance of 
 work within the section of about one hundred and fifty miles to the 
 west and south. Bishop Rosati knew that there were many Catholic 
 families scattered throughout the country between St. Louis and Chicago. 
 Father Van Quickenborne had preceded Father Saint Cyr in his min- 
 istry to the Catholic immigrants along the Illinois River and its south- 
 ern tributaries, especially in Sangamon County. He had imparted the 
 information he had gathered to Bishop Rosati, who now, in turn, con- 
 veyed it to Father Saint Cyr, with the request that he visit the 
 scattered sheep of the flock. Father Saint Cyr answered : 
 
 "As to the Catholics, whom you tell me about in your letter, Mon- 
 seigneur, I am acquainted with them, have met them, and know where 
 they live. Despite all this, I cannot visit them so long as I remain in 
 Chicago, in view of the fact that they are 150 miles from where I am 
 stationed and that I cannot meet the expenses, I am obliged to make 
 in running from place to place. What is more, my health would allow 
 it less at the present time than ever. 
 
 "As to the most centrally located place from which to visit all 
 the Catholics of Illinois, it is my opinion, Springfield, 100 miles from 
 St. Louis and a little over 200 miles from Chicago. Here is the place I 
 should pick out for head-quarters, as being the most suitable for the 
 purpose. But you see, at the same time that I cannot visit the Cath- 
 olics of Illinois on account of the great distance intervening between 
 the settlements and the difficulties to be met in travelling over the 
 prairies. Hence, either Chicago or the Catholics of Illinois are to be 
 
 is Saint Cyr to Eosati, June 11, 1834, Archives, 
 is Saint Cyr to Rosati, June 11, 1834. 
 
Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago 561 
 
 neglected, or else some other measure must be taken. Now, Monseigneur, 
 it is for you to decide as you judge best. Only this : whether you 
 judge it proper that I remain in Chicago or leave it, kindly let me 
 know as soon as possible, because if I am to remain here at least some 
 time longer, the people are prepared to enlarge the church by 24 feet 
 and build a presbytery. It would disappoint and even discourage 
 them, were we now to abandon them after having put them to such 
 expense." 20 
 
 The winter of 1834-1835 was considered a mild one, and, in the 
 estimation of the Canadians inured to cold "no winter at all:" yet the 
 slight frame of Father Saint Cyr felt it keenly. 
 
 "Labor improbus omnia vincit," he writes "Our little chapel is 
 finished at last, but not without many difficulties and annoyances oc- 
 casioned by the mild winter of the Canadians. We have been obliged 
 to keep up a fire constantly day and night to prevent the plastering 
 from freezing and this for more than three weeks. Only at the end 
 of this time were we able to say Mass, but since then we have had Mass 
 and Vespers sung every Sunday, sometimes to music, though this is 
 not always harmonious. However, they do not fail to make a noise, 
 and this is what is looked for here. But it must be observed that, if 
 there is discord in our music, it is owing not precisely to any fault or 
 bad will on the part of the musicians, but to our want of instruments. 
 
 "I will also state that though I speak English very poorly, the 
 Americans do not fail to come in crowds to our church every Sunday, 
 and if it is finished, it is partly to their generosity, that I owe it. ' ' 21 
 
 It was towards the end of 1835, that the Potawatomi band of 
 Indians made their exodus from their old hunting grounds to the far 
 west. Before their departure they gave the citizens of Chicago one last 
 exhibition of their Avild prowess, though a bloodless one. Almost naked, 
 their bodies painted, uttering fierce war-whoops and dancing savagely 
 they paraded along Lake Street and thence to the North Side, whilst 
 the pale-faces looked on from their places of vantage, with mingled 
 feelings of fascination and alarm. The march for the west started in 
 September: it took a southwesterly direction through Illinois and Iowa. 
 
 A number of Father Saint Cyr's parishioners the Laframboises, 
 Ouilmettes and Chevaliers, being half-breeds, were thus lost to the 
 Church of Chicago, we shall meet them again in their new homes at 
 Council Bluffs under the care of Jesuit Fathers. 
 
 In 1834 the see of Vincennes was erected with Bishop Simon 
 Brute as its first incumbent. 22 The new diocese included the state of 
 
 20 Saint Cyr to Eosati, July 2, 1834. 
 
 21 Saint Cyr to Eosati, January 12, 1835. 
 
 22 The Bull of 1832, "Maximas Inter," of Pope Gregory XVI, made Bishop 
 Eosati 's jurisdiction over the western half of Illinois final and complete. Kaskaskia, 
 Cahokia and Prairie du Eoeher became part and parcel of the Diocese of St. Louis. 
 But Chicago was now under the diocese of Vincennes. 
 
562 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Indiana and the eastern part of the state of Illinois, the western part 
 having been definitely placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of St. 
 Louis. Chicago was now in the diocese of Vincennes, and the question 
 arose, shall Father Cyr, its founder and pastor become a member of 
 Bishop Brute's clergy. Neither Bishop Eosati nor Father Saint Cyr 
 would acquiesce. At Bishop Brute's consecration in the new St. Louis 
 Cathedral, October 28th, 1834, it was arranged that Father Saint Cyr 
 should remain one year longer in Chicago, and then return to St. Louis. 
 As Father Saint Cyr was not fully informed on the matter, and as 
 Bishop Brute seemed to be under the impression that Father Saint 
 Cyr was definitely attached to his diocese, Bishop Rosati was requested 
 to give his decision : Father Saint Cyr was still a member of St. Louis 
 diocese and would be recalled on Bishop Brute's return from France. 
 Towards the end of 1835, Father Saint Cyr renewed his request to be 
 recalled : 
 
 "I have learned that Monseigneur Brute has at length arrived 
 at Vincennes with a large number of priests. I hope he will find some 
 one among them to replace me. Kindly call Monseigneur Brute's atten- 
 tion to the matter and recall me to your diocese. This is my only de- 
 sire. However, should you think Divine Providence has other designs 
 in view, see and judge for yourself. I leave everything to your good 
 pleasure, and am ready to submit to it most willing, in the firm con- 
 viction that nihil mihi deerit in loco ubi mt collocavit." 23 
 
 Another year was to pass by for Father Saint Cyr in Chicago. 
 But in September 1836, Father Bernard Schaeffer, a native of Strass- 
 burg, was sent by Bishop Brute to take charge of the German Catholics 
 of the city. Father Schaeffer was an excellent priest, but a poor Eng- 
 lish scholar. Among the Germans he was well liked, but among the 
 French, Irish and American Catholics he was respected as a priest but 
 disliked as the prospective pastor. Father Saint Cyr was about to 
 depart at the call of his Bishop. 
 
 It was on March 4th, 1837, four years after his first arrival in 
 Chicago, that he wrote to Bishop Rosati: "I received your letter of 
 February 23rd, today, I hasten to answer it and in order to let you know 
 that I shall do everything in my power to follow out your orders despite 
 great difficulties in the way. If I cannot go on to St. Louis before 
 Holy Week as you desire me to do, it will not be through any lack 
 of good will on my part, but because circumstances will not allow it. 
 "It is with considerable pain, Monseigneur, that I see myself forced 
 to sell a portion of my books to pay part of my traveling expenses, 
 
 23 Saint Cyr to Rosati, September 5, 183G, Archives. 
 
Father Saint Cyr and the Church in Chicago 563 
 
 and even so, I shall be obliged to borrow money, but from Avhom I do 
 not know. 
 
 ' ' When I went to Yincennes, I did everything in my power to get a 
 chalice and a missal for (Rev.) Mr. Schaeffer. But all my efforts were 
 in vain, so that you will not take it amiss, Monseigneur, if I leave the 
 chalice and missal with (Rev.) Mr. Schaeffer. He will return them 
 as soon as he can procure others in their place. Sacrifice on sacri- 
 fice." 24 
 
 It would seem strange that the rising town of Chicago should be 
 very anxious to retain the services of Father Saint Cyr, and so very 
 derelict in giving a proper support for his person : yet so it was. If it 
 had been different, the following petition to the Right Reverend Bishop 
 Rosati, of St. Louis might have elicited a more favorable answer : 
 
 "The undersigned Roman Catholic inhabitants of the toAvn of 
 Chicago have heard with the deepest regret, that you have recalled the 
 Rev. Mr. Saint Cyr from this mission and, as such an event would, in 
 their opinion, be productive of injurious consequences to the cause of 
 Catholic truth in this place, they humbly beg leave to call your attention 
 to the actual situation of our people in this mission and request that you 
 will carefully consider all the circumstances previous to such removal. 
 
 They would in the first place inform your Grace, that the Rev. 
 Mr. Saint Cyr, by his exemplary conduct, great zeal in the cause of 
 religion and incessant perseverance, has endeared himself to every mem- 
 ber of our congregation and is highly esteemed by the members of other 
 denominations, and having acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Eng- 
 lish language to enable him to preach and instruct with fluency and 
 elegance, they conceive that his removal would be a subject of bereave- 
 ment of the whole congregation. 
 
 That his associate Rev. Mr. Schaeffer, although equally distinguished 
 for piety and zeal has but an imperfect knowledge of the English lan- 
 guage and is consequently unfitted for discharging the spiritual duties 
 of a pastor among an English population. 
 
 That we have in this town two thousand and perhaps more Cath- 
 olics, as there are a large number of Catholic families in the adjacent 
 country, particularly on the line of the Chicago and Illinois canal, the 
 great body of laborers on which are Catholics, to all of whom the clergy 
 here must render spiritual assistance. The attention, therefore, of a 
 clergyman speaking the English language will be indispensably neces- 
 sary and they would humbly represent, that nothing but the most ur- 
 gent necessity should induce the removal of a man from such a vast 
 field of labor who is- so beloved and revered by his congregation. 
 
 That as our church is totally inadequate to contain the fourth part 
 of the attending congregation, we have taken the preliminary steps 
 
 24 Saint Cyr to Rosati, Archives. 
 
564 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 to erect a new chapel capable of accomodating our large and increasing 
 society. The removal of the Rev. Mr. Saint Cyr will operate to retard 
 and delay the work so much desired, not only by Catholics but by var- 
 ious members of other denominations. That as this is the most im- 
 portant place in the state, as the population is so rapidly increasing, 
 that we can in a few years justly expect a Catholic population of several 
 thousand, and as one clergyman cannot possibly discharge the duties 
 annexed to it, good policy as well as duty require, that we should have 
 clergymen stationed here capable, by their example of inspiring respect, 
 by their talents of dissipating ignorance and prejudice and by their zeal 
 and perseverance of building up in this new region the imperishable 
 monuments of our holy religion. 
 
 "We therefore humbly entreat your Grace not to deprive us of a 
 dearly beloved pastor at the commencement of his usefulness, but to 
 leave him where his zeal and virtues are so well appreciated and so 
 likely to respond to the best interests to the Church."-"' 
 
 What Bishop Rosati answered his petitioners does not appear: but 
 Father Saint Cyr left Chicago for St. Louis in the latter part of March 
 1837, and in June was appointed to the mission of Quincy, Illinois, 
 and the neighboring counties. 
 
 Father Schaeffer, thus left alone in Chicago, struggled on until the 
 end of June, when Father Bernard O'Meara came to assist him in his 
 last illness, of which he died on the Feast of the Guardian Angel, Oc- 
 tober 2nd, 1837, Father O'Meara became his successor as pastor of 
 St. Marys. 
 
 In August 1838, Bishop Brute made his first episcopal visitation 
 of the Church of Chicago. "With Father Saint Cyr's departure the 
 golden link between St. Louis and the Church of Chicago, was broken. 
 The small mustard seed grew and gathered strength, and in 1844 
 became the episcopal see of all Illinois, then an arch-diocese and now 
 the home of one of the Princes of the Church Universal. It is Father 
 Saint Cyr's distinction that he planted in tears where others now reap 
 in joy. 26 
 
 25 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, Petitions. 
 
 26 There is nothing better written on the early days of the Church in Chicago 
 than the Rev. Father Garraghan 's book, quoted above. It contains every letter and 
 every scrap of information on Father Saint Cyr available at this time. 
 
Chapter 17 
 PETER PAUL LEFEVERE OF SALT RIVER 
 
 We have seen in a former chapter, how the Jesuit Fathers from 
 their Florissant Novitiate penetrated into the wilds of Northeastern 
 Missouri, that were then just opening to Catholic immigration, and how 
 they groped their way from farm house to farm house to seek the 
 scattered sheep of the fold of Christ and to break to them the bread 
 of life. But a priest was needed who should devote all his time and 
 energy to consolidate the scattered membership into regular missions 
 and parishes. The hero of this religious movement was the man of 
 untiring zeal and energy, Father Peter Paul Lefevere, the future Bishop 
 of Zela and Administrator of Detroit. 
 
 Nominally pastor of St. Paul's on Salt River in Ralls County, 
 Missouri, Father Lefevere extended his influence far and wide, in Miss- 
 ouri, Illinois and Iowa. With the deep lively faith of St. Peter, Father 
 Lefevere combined the courage and straightforwardness of St. Paul, 
 which led him, at least on one occasion, to resist his beloved bishop and 
 tell him to his face what he thought of his "extravagance." But no 
 harm was done, no ill-will produced, and Bishop Rosati continued to 
 hold the great and good man in the highest esteem. 
 
 Peter Paul Lefevere was born in Roulers, in the diocese of Bruges, 
 April 30th, 1804. After a classical course in his Belgian home, he 
 studied theology at Paris and, coming to Missouri, was ordained by 
 Bishop Rosati at St. Mary's of the Barrens, November 20th, 1831. On 
 the 27th of April 1832, the Bishop appointed the Rev. Victor Paillasson 
 pastor of New Madrid and of all the surrounding country, with facul- 
 ties in Kentucky and Tennessee, and gave him as his assistant Rev. 
 Peter Paul Lefevere. It was the intention of the authorities to found 
 a school of higher education in New Madrid. The erection of a proper 
 building was immediately begun. Great hopes were entertained in 
 regard to the project, especially by the people of New Madrid, but it all 
 met with sudden disaster. A fire of unknown origin laid low all the 
 cherished hopes of the young priest. 
 
 In a very touching letter of June 24th, 1832, he opened his heart 
 to his Father and friend, Bishop Rosati, and asked to be assigned to 
 some place where by means of a frugal sustenance, he could work with 
 more fruit for the salvation of others and that of himself, which he 
 declared was the only motive that brought him to America. 1 
 
 i Cf. Lefevere to Eosati, June 24, 1832. Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (565) 
 
566 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Bishop Rosati's answer of the 18th of July 1832, announces to 
 Father Lefevere his appointment to the mission of Salt River, but the 
 2nd day of August the Bishop suspends this order, saying that, as Father 
 Paillasson was sent on a special mission to Arkansas, he should remain 
 at New Madrid until the pastor's return. Father Lefevere might also 
 join Father Beauprez in the Arkansas mission. Father Lefevere left 
 the choice of his future field to his Superior, as was proper, and ex- 
 plained the reasons for his reluctance to accept the Arkansas mission: 
 "I greatly apprehend to have no better success than M. Saulnier, who 
 is an old and experienced missionary, and my apprehension has also 
 been increased by the dreadful portrait men of good information here 
 have drawn of the immorality and all the vices of the inhabitants 
 
 of Arkansas As for the rest, I resign and conform myself 
 
 entirely to your will, because this is a duty incumbent on me, and I am 
 confident that you act and ever will act as a father in my regard. I 
 am much embarrased and in a state of dejection. When I left the 
 Seminary I was without money and had but a scanty provision of 
 clothes, which are now almost worn out by continual work at the es- 
 tablishment, and since my arrival here I have not yet received so much 
 as one cent. So that for want of means I could not stay long in this 
 place, and I am also unable to pay the passage to the place you would 
 send me ... It would be a great favor to me and a great relief, if 
 you would pay my passage, and send me something, either by inten- 
 tions or otherwise, to place myself in a somewhat better condition than 
 I am at present. ' ' 2 
 
 This plaintive though not unmanly, letter brought the decision 
 which determined Father Lefevere 's future life. It is the brief order 
 of August 29th : "In the letter which will be brought to you by Mr. 
 Larochia you will find a banknote to pay your passage from New Madrid 
 to St. Louis, from where you will go to Salt River." And to Salt 
 River Father Lefevere went, December 3rd, to do valiant battle in the 
 cause of Holy Church, until his appointment as Bishop of Zela, and 
 Coadjutor and Administrator of Detroit, November 22, 1841, almost eight 
 years of ceaseless trouble and toil. 
 
 Concerning this period of Father Lefevere 's activities we have 
 a beautiful monument in the letters he wrote from time to time to 
 Bishop Rosati, letters that owe more to the grace of Christ that animated 
 the writer, than to the graces of the English language. Yet, the English 
 is clear and always to the point ; and the matter these letters embody, is 
 a most important contribution to the history of the beginnings of the 
 Church in northeastern Missouri and Iowa and the adjoining parts of 
 
 2 Lefevere to Kosati, August 17, 1832. Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Peter Paul Lefevere of Salt River 567 
 
 Illinois and Wisconsin. In their native ruggedness they form the best 
 illustration of Father Lefevere 's character, as well as of the extent and 
 difficult nature of his missionary labors. 
 
 Arriving in St. Louis from New Madrid the young missionary called 
 on Father Van Quickenborne, but found him rather taciturn 3 in regard to 
 the dispositions he had made at Salt River. Bishop Rosati was at the 
 Seminary and could not be consulted : No one else seemed to know any- 
 thing about Northern Missouri. Father Lefevere felt greatly discouraged 
 and downhearted : As he was without means, he gladly accepted the 
 offer of twenty-five dollars made by Father Lutz and requested the 
 Bishop to repay the loan. On January 23rd, 1833 he writes from Salt 
 River to Bishop Rosati : 
 
 "As for what regards the religion here, I have every reason to 
 feel satisfied, seeing the fervor and the zeal of a great many of these 
 Catholics ; and if I may judge by what I have already seen, the congrega- 
 tion in general is well disposed and feels deeply interested in having a 
 stationary clergyman among them. But they are widely scattered. I 
 have held church already in two different homes and promised to hold 
 it next time in another place : and I think it will be necessary to go, 
 from time to time, to two other homes. This is somewhat embarrassing 
 to me : for it seems there is a kind of emulation among the people to 
 have Mass said on Sundays at their house. On this side of the river 
 (Salt River) they seem to desire that the priest should stay among 
 them and spend the greater part of his time in their congregation, 
 because they are more numerous and have built a church, which is 
 already far advanced ; on the other side they show great disposition 
 to build a clntrch, and therefore seem to desire that the priest should 
 go often amongst them. As for me, I board with Mr. Raphy Leake, 
 who receives me with all possible kindness and affection ; and so does 
 his lady and all his family towards me. But he has many children, 
 and his house is not over-large, and therefore I think he does more than 
 he is able. You know that this must be inconvenient to me and to the 
 people. As for finishing the church, building a house, and getting a 
 salary I dare not undertake anything without your directions for fear 
 of contradicting the measures which have been already taken here by 
 Father De Theux and Mr. Van Quickenborne and thus wearing out 
 the patience of the people. For, as I hear, regulations have been made 
 for a house and a farm appertaining to the church, and also for the 
 establishment of a male and female school; of all these things Mr. A 7 an 
 Quickenborne would communicate nothing, not even things that regard 
 
 3 It was quite natural for Father Van Quickenborne to be rather careful in 
 what he said to the young secular priest, as his destination lav in the territory as- 
 signed by the Concordat to the Society of Jesus. 
 
5G8 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the ministry, the knowledge of which would have been necessary or at 
 least very useful to me ; he seemed to know everything under secrecy. 
 But if you think proper, that I should not have knowledge of these 
 things, or not meddle with them, I humbly entreat you to give me, at 
 least, some directions how I should act, and what I should do for the 
 ministry as well as for my sustenance." 4 
 
 As early as January 1831, the people living along both sides of 
 Halt River in Kails County, Missouri, had received the promise of a 
 resident priest. The congregation was called St. Paul's. The people 
 were immigrants from Kentucky and Maryland. Almost all the Cath- 
 olics of the neighborhood were, as Father Lefevere states in 1834, one 
 continuous series of relations and connexions. And they were constantly 
 intermarrying, because they, knowing the fatal effects of mixed marriages, 
 had scarcely any suitable opportunity of marriage except among mem- 
 bers of their relationship. The first settlers of St. Paul's congregation 
 were James Leak, Raphael Leak and John Elliot in 1829. Mass was 
 usually said in the houses of James Leak, Raphael Leak and James 
 Elliot, first by Father John A. Elet, S. J., then by Father Charles Van 
 Quiekenborne, S. J. Eighty acres of land were set apart for the use 
 of the congregation. There were forty-five families in the Salt River 
 country when Father Lefevere arrived. Mr. James Leake offered to 
 board the pastor gratis and to take care of his horse. He promised to 
 make him as comfortable as he could, and it should not cost him a 
 cent. 
 
 The houses in which the missionary was obliged to say Mass in 
 St. Paul's, as well as in the numerous places he was about to visit 
 on both sides of the Mississippi, were probably all built on the same 
 simple plan : so let me give the description of one as written down in 
 1831: 
 
 "There were two rooms, both on the ground floor, separated from 
 each other with boards so badly joined, that crevices were observable 
 in many places. The rooms were nearly square, and might contain 
 from thirty to forty square yards each. Beneath one of the rooms 
 was a cellar, the floor and sides of which were clay, as left when first 
 dug out ; the walls of the house consisted of layers of strong blocks of 
 timber, roughly squared and notched into each other at the corners; 
 the joints filled up with clay. The house had two doors, one of 
 which is always closed in winter, and open in summer to cause a 
 draught. The fire was on the floor at end of the building, where a 
 very grotesque chimney had been constructed of stones gathered out of 
 the land, and walled together with clay and mud instead of cement. 
 
 4 Lefevere to Rosati, dated Salt River, January 23, 1833. 
 
Peter Paul Lefevere of Salt River 569 
 
 It was necessarily of great width, to prevent the fire from communicating 
 with the building. The house was covered with oak shingles; that is 
 to say, thin riven boards nailed upon each other, so as just to over- 
 reach. The floors of the house were covered with the same material, 
 except a large space near the fire, which was paved with small stones, 
 also gathered from the land. The windows were few and rather small. 
 It is in reality true, that the want of light is felt very little in a loghouse ; 
 in winter they are obliged to keep fine blazing fires which, in addition 
 to the light obtained from their low wide chimneys, enables the inmates 
 to perform any business that is requisite. 
 
 It is, however, by no means to be understood that an American 
 log-house equals in comfort and convenience a snug English cottage. 
 It is quite common to see at least one bed in the same room, as that 
 in which the fire is kept ; a practice which invariably gives both the 
 bed and house a filthy appearance. There was no chamber, only a 
 sort of loft, constructed, rather with a view to make the house warmer 
 than to afford additional room. Adjoining one side were a few boards 
 nailed together in the form of a table, and supported principally by 
 the timber in the wall. This was dignified with the name "sideboard." 
 In the center of this room stood another small table, covered with a piece 
 of coarse brown calico; this was the dining table. The chairs, four in 
 number, were the most respectable furniture in the house, having bark 
 of hickory plaited for bottoms. Besides these, there were two stools 
 and a bench for common use, — a candlestick made from an ear of 
 Indian corn, two or three trenchers and a few drinking vessels. One 
 corner of the house was occupied with agricultural implements, con- 
 sisting of large hoes, axes, etc., for stubbing, called in America, grubbing, 
 flails, wooden forks, all exhibiting specimens of workmanship rather 
 homely. Various herbs were suspended from the roof with a view of 
 being medicinally serviceable, also two guns, one of them a rifle. There 
 were also several hams and sides of bacon, smoked until they were 
 almost black ; two or three pieces of beef, etc. The furniture in the 
 other room consisted of two beds and a handloom, with which the 
 family wove the greater part of their own clothes. In the cellar I 
 observed two or three large hewn tubs, full of lard, and a lump of 
 tobacco, the produce of their own land, in appearance sufficient to serve 
 an ordinary smoker his life." 5 
 
 In these straitened circumstances of a country just emerging 
 from the native condition of wild Avood and prairie, Father Lefevere 
 began his missionary career. Add to this the frequent contradictions from 
 
 5 Extract from a rare pamphlet published in London in 1848, by S. Berger, 
 entitled, ' ' A True Picture of Emigration, or Fourteen Years in The Interior of 
 North America." It relates to the period from 1831 to 1845. 
 
570 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the wicked and wayward, and the indifference, seeming or real, of those 
 for whom he was sacrificing his young life, and we may well understand 
 that his condition at times must have appeared to him as a dreary 
 exile. But, labor omnia vincit; labor in the cause of God, conquered 
 all feelings of despondency, all desire for a change; where there is so 
 much to do, and lie alone to do it, he will not shrink from any work, but 
 casting his care upon the Lord, he will leave it to Him to bless his 
 labors. The following letter will give us an illustration of this. It is 
 dated Salt River Township, July 12, 1833 : 
 
 . . . "In my last trip I said Mass at a Catholic house on the 
 bank of the Mississippi, just opposite Quincy, and hearing that Mr. 
 O'Neil, who has been a Brother in the Seminary, was living in that town, 
 I sent over to him to come to Mass. He came over with another Cath- 
 olic, and both went to their duties. They told me that there were several 
 Catholics living in Quincy, who were greatly desirous of having a church. 
 As this town is in the state of Illinois, I do not know whether it would 
 be licit for me to go there, but if you give me leave, I shall go there 
 the next time, as it is not out of the way I have to go. 
 
 "The cholera has been more fatal in Palmyra than in any other 
 place I have ever heard of. Out of a population of six hundred and 
 odd souls 109 persons have fallen victims to that disease. It has also 
 been in New London and throughout the country round about. Several 
 persons have been swept away; and I attribute it to a special favor of 
 God that I have escaped the disease ; for during eighteen days I have 
 been continually exposed to all that wet spell of weather, which caused 
 every creek and water-course to be past fording, being wet to the skin 
 every day by a hard beating rain, or by swimming or high fording. All 
 this, however, has brought on a daily fever and ague for these three 
 weeks, whose severity, together with the repeated doses of calomel, tartar 
 emetic and other medicines, has weakened and exhausted me so much that 
 1 was not able to walk around the house. The fever now begins to abate, 
 so that I have been able to say Mass today for the first time, not, how- 
 ever, without great difficulty and fatigue and I hope now, that little by 
 little I shall gather my strength so as to be able after a few days, to 
 attend to my former duties. ' ' 6 
 
 As Bishop Rosati had received from Bishop Flaget the power of 
 Vicar-General for Illinois, he cheerfully granted Father Lefevere the 
 faculties for any and all places there to which he might be called. 
 
 As Father Lefevere here for the first time makes mention of Quincy, 
 we will accompany him on his trip across the river. Quincy has the 
 distinction of being the earliest purely German parish along the whole 
 
 6 Lefevere to Rosati, Archives. 
 
Peter Paul Lefevere of Salt River 571 
 
 course of the Mississippi River above the German Coast. The pioneer 
 settler was the John Wood, a veteran of the War of 1812, who in 1821 
 took possession of his Congressional grant and built his home on it. The 
 town was named for President John Quincy Adams, the county being 
 called Adams. The first German settler was Michael Mass, a Catholic 
 from Baden, who had left his native city, Forchheim in Breisgau in 
 1816, made a fortune in Mexico and established his home in Quincy in 
 the year 1829. Father Lefevere met some of the Catholic people of 
 Quincy, who came over to the Missouri side of the river to attend divine 
 service, as his letter states, and were by him encouraged to send a peti- 
 tion to Bishop Rosati for a resident priest. As the Bishop had no one 
 to send, Father Lefevere offered to visit the people of Quincy and sur- 
 rounding country, in addition to his own numerous and difficult sta- 
 tions, as we learn from his next letter, dated St. Paul's July 3, 1834: 
 
 ' ' My Lord — When I had the pleasure of conversing with your Lord- 
 ship last winter, I nourished the greatest hopes of seeing the church on 
 Salt River completed on my return. But to my sad astonishment, I 
 saw that, during all my absence, not a single stroke had been given to it, 
 and that the prospect of having it finished before long were very dim. 
 Therefore I tarried here these four weeks, visiting the little congrega- 
 tions round about in order to give them all the opportunity of celebrating 
 their Easter. During that time, I made them sensible of their sluggish- 
 ness and little zeal in the service of God, and their backwardness in con- 
 tributing to the attainment of the necessary nourishment of their souls. 
 Finally I told them in positive terms, that in the manner I had been 
 until then living among them, without any return of support, a clergy- 
 man could not or ought not stay amongst them ; that now I was going 
 to visit the scattered Catholics on the side of Illinois and beyond the 
 state of Missouri, that it was now left at their choice either to have a 
 stationary clergyman amongst them or not. For should the church 
 at my return not be completed, and some arrangement for a reason- 
 able support be made up, I was fully determined to leave them, with- 
 out giving them any hopes of ever obtaining another priest for the 
 present. This (missionary) visit took me about three months, during 
 which I never could pass more than three nights in the same place. I 
 went from Atlas to the head of the Rapids, forty or fifty miles back- 
 ward and forward in the interior of the country, continually hunting 
 after some Catholics that were newly come to this section. 
 
 "Then I returned on this side of the Mississippi among the Half 
 Indians and in the New Purchase where the Catholics are increasing 
 very fast. The difficulties and the hardships I had to struggle with were 
 great ; but in all this I had the consolation of baptizing several adult 
 persons, and of seeing many Catholics, who until then had been cold 
 
572 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 and indifferent and had never made any use of the Church for many 
 years, take a new start, as it were, in the way of their salvation and 
 devoutly approach the sacraments. In and about Quincy the Catholics 
 are coming in considerably faster, and are very anxious to have a Cath- 
 olic church built there. Even people of other (religious) professions 
 are very eager in the cause, and have offered a lot or two, and other aids 
 towards the building of a chapel. They had also written a petition in 
 order to entreat Your Lordship to station a clergyman amongst them. 
 Before sending it they asked my advice about it, I told them there was 
 now a great scarcity of priests in the Diocese, that I thought it would be 
 impossible to have a stationary one at present. Nevertheless I encouraged 
 them to send it on and proceed in their good undertaking, saying that, 
 if they had a church, the place would at least be regularly visited, until 
 there should be a priest stationed there. At the Head of the Kapids, 
 about fifty miles above Quincy, there is a still greater prospect for a 
 church, because the Catholics there are more numerous and very zealous 
 toward the building of a church. Several other families, too are going 
 to settle there next fall. I saw some time ago in the Shepherd, 1 if I 
 recollect well, that Mr. St. Cyr was destined for the mission in the 
 northern part of Illinois. I presumed it was for Sangamon County. 
 But except for Galena, where as I have seen, a priest is already sta- 
 tioned, I do not think that in the whole northern district of Illinois, 
 there is a more interesting and promising mission than at the Rapids 
 and at Quincy. The Catholics are more numerous, the land fertile, well 
 watered and considerably well timbered, and close to the main naviga- 
 tion. People also seem to move to it from every part of the Union. As 
 for Sangamon county, a great many of the Catholics who used to live 
 there, have moved already to the state of Missouri, and the greater part 
 of the remainder of them intend to move out shortly. And indeed I 
 see no inducement for them to stay there. The land, it is true, is richer 
 than common, but it is extremely sickly. They live toward the head of 
 the Sangamon River, far from navigation, far from market, where no 
 business is stirring, and no money circulating. And it is but too often 
 the case, that Catholics settle in the poorest or most sickly places, and 
 are induced to move or stay there on account of prospects for a church ; 
 and this is the great reason that Catholics are generally poor and kept 
 under by other denominations. If Mr. St, Cyr, or any other priest 
 were stationed at Quincy or at the Head of the Rapids, he would find 
 there a wide extensive field for his zeal in the cause of God. Besides 
 many other Catholics scattered through the country, he would find four 
 
 7 "The Shepherd of the Valley," the first Catholic paper published west of 
 the Mississippi River. 
 
Peter Paul Lefevere of Salt River 573 
 
 little congregations in a circuit, as it were of forty or fifty miles at 
 most. These congregations are as yet, small, indeed, but very promising, 
 and increasing daily. There is one at Quincy, one at the Head of the 
 Rapids, another on the Fork of Crooked Creek, and a fourth one at the 
 foot of the Rapids among the Half Indians, where there are several 
 French and American families living. From there he could even go 
 sometimes to Sangamon County. On the other hand it would be very 
 consoling for the missionary. It would be placing the spiritual and 
 temporal comforts within the reach of us both, and also that of the 
 priest stationed at Galena. Then at least we could sometimes see one 
 another. "We could ask for consolation in affliction, counsel in doubt, 
 and help in distress, without being exposed so much to die without the 
 consolation of receiving the last Sacraments, as Mr. McMahon of afflict- 
 ing memory. As for my part, if I stay on Salt River, I absolutely 
 could not visit those places any longer. It would be absenting myself 
 too long from these congregations here and, the distance being so 
 great, I could not stand it a long time being dragged continually through 
 rivers and swamps to visit these places. 
 
 "At my return to Salt River the people had just completed the 
 church, the best way they could and seemed to have a great desire to 
 have Divine Service performed in it. We had then, the two last Sundays, 
 for the first time, high Mass in it ; a band of singers of the congregation 
 forming a delightful and harmonious choir. The church was crowded 
 with people from every quarter of the County, who seemed to be very 
 much delighted and edified with the Divine Service that was performed. 
 I have said and do say Mass in it until now, as if it were a private 
 house ; because I think that, without further necesssary ornaments 
 and decorations, this building is not fit to be blessed and dedicated to 
 the service of the Almighty. Still in case of sickness and out of neces- 
 sity, I keep the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, which I have 
 rendered as neat and decorous as my slender means would permit. The 
 altar and the celebrant are entirely destitute of all necessary deckings 
 and vestments for the august Sacrifice of Mass. There is no becoming 
 chasuble or albe. When I came to Salt River I had but one, which was 
 yet indifferent, and by carrying it now for the space of almost two 
 years in the saddlebags, it has become unfit for use. There are no 
 candlesticks, no linens for the altar, no canopy, no antipendium, no 
 carpet, no decent pictures or crucifix, the church in a word is unfit for 
 the performance of Divine Services : and it is but necessity that urges 
 me to say Mass within its walls. I hope then that Your Lordship will 
 open his benevolent eyes to the pressing wants of this church and supply 
 what the congregation, with its utmost endeavors, cannot effect. For 
 as the child goes to the Father for the wants of nature, so does an 
 
.~>74 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 humble priest in the name of his entrusted congregation, address him- 
 self, without fear of refusal, to his beloved Bishop, for the almost 
 indispensible means of performing his office with decency, proficiency 
 and edification. 
 
 "The Catholics here are very eager and desirous to obtain your 
 humble servant for their parish priest, and for my support they have made 
 up a subscription of fifty dollars on this side, and forty on the other 
 side of the river (Salt River). It is little, but it is all that their slender 
 abilities can afford, and I fear, that for want of means, a great part of 
 what is subscribed will never be paid. The settlers here are poor and 
 have large families. They are generally people who could not find 
 subsistence in the state from which they moved, or who met with some 
 great loss or misfortune ; and the little money they had on coming to 
 this state they have laid out to enter their land. So that now they 
 live poorly, work hard, and scarcely raise enough to support their 
 own family. But, at all events, I should loathe the idea of abandoning 
 this mission, considering the importance of it and the immense good 
 that can be done here. It is true, a great many of the Catholics here 
 are cold and indifferent in the ways of God; but it seems to me, that 
 this is the very reason why greater efforts should be made in order 
 to warm that coldness and inspire the rising generation with that 
 ardor and zeal, which one day will constitute them good members of 
 the Church and a shining light to other (religious) professions. I feel 
 very sorry, My Lord, that you are not better acquainted Avith these 
 northern parts of the state of Missouri. Because, I am confident that, 
 were you thoroughly acquainted with them by self -information and 
 experience, you would be convinced that they require more of your 
 episcopal attention than any of the southern parts. Because the land 
 here is so beautiful, healthy and productive of almost every kind of 
 vegetable, and the people are moving to it so rapidly, that it surpasses 
 anything your Lordship has ever seen until now. Catholics too, are 
 daily increasing and scattering through the country. There are here, 
 as it were, seven small congregations in a circuit of about a hundred 
 and twenty miles, and if in some of these places a little chapel were 
 erected, it would be the means of collecting the Catholics together 
 and making many conversions, and also of establishing the Church 
 permanently in these parts. Without such effectual means, I fear greatly 
 that the various sects of Protestants will take the upper hand, since they 
 are also increasing rapidly and seem to bend every effort toward 
 establishing their own sect in every neighborhood. I say these things, 
 not that I would dictate to your Lordship, for I hope that such a 
 suspicion will never arise in your truly episcopal heart. But it is merely 
 a sense of duty that urges me to write this in order toicall your partic- 
 
Peter Paid Lefevere of Salt River 575 
 
 ular attention to this interesting and noble portion of your spiritual 
 realm. 
 
 "I have a great desire of enjoying your Lordship's presence, but 
 I cannot start on account of the prairie flies, which are now so bad that 
 it is impossible to travel ; and after they begin to subside, which will 
 be towards the middle of August, before I come, I must absolutely make 
 another trip, in order to visit some Catholics whom I left last time, 
 halfway, as it were, on their return to the pale of the Church." 8 
 
 Father Lefevere animadverts with some natural warmth on the 
 seeming predilection of Bishop Rosati for the missions in the southern 
 parts of his spiritual realm, the old French settlements in Southern 
 Missouri, Illinois, and in the state of Louisiana. That the North had 
 the promise of a glorious future far surpassing that of the South, may 
 have dawned on the mind of the far-seeing bishop ; yet. it was the South 
 that then possessed the strong, well-established parishes, and almost 
 all the cultured elements of his diocese. Father Lefevere knew but little 
 of the South, and what he knew by experience of its religious and 
 social conditions was not favorable. Yet his fine judgment as to the 
 brilliant prospects of the North, at a time when its energies were just 
 beginning to make themselves felt, deserve our grateful recognition. 
 The wide fields were ready for the hands of the sowers, and other 
 fields were waiting for the laborers that should clear and till the soil; 
 yet the laborers were all too few. Between St. Paul's on Salt River and 
 the eastern extremity of Illinois at Chicago ; between Dubuque and 
 Galena in the North, and Cahokia and St. Louis to the South there was 
 not a single priest. Of Father Fitzmaurice we have already spoken, 
 and to his successor in Galena Ave shall return in the course of our 
 wanderings. Of Father Saint Cyr, the first resident priest of Chicago 
 we will have occasion to speak ere long, as his stay at Chicago was 
 about contemporaneous with Father Lefevere \s early days at St. Paul's 
 and in the surrounding wilderness. The seed of God's word has already 
 taken root in some parts of this virgin soil : the indications for a great 
 harvest were not as yet very noticeable ; still Father Lefevere was full 
 of confidence and his buoyant hope and resistless energy communicated 
 themselves to others, as a pledge of the great things to come. 
 
 As Father Lefevere 's letter of July 3, 1834, passes in rapid survey, 
 not only the country in the immediate vicinity of Quincy, but also the 
 promising settlements on the lower Illinois River, with its tributaries — 
 Crooked Creek and Sangamon River, a brief account of the physical 
 and social conditions of these advanced posts of civilization in Central 
 Illinois will prove acceptable and, we hope, helpful for the better 
 
 s Lefevere to Rosati, St. Paul's, July 3, 1834. 
 
576 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 understanding of what we may have to say concerning the planting 
 of the Church therein. 
 
 In 1818 the settled part of Illinois extended a little north of 
 Edwardsville and Alton. The entire state numbered about 45,000 
 settlers in the villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Prairie du Pont, 
 Cahokia, Peoria and Chicago. 
 
 Immigration on a larger scale from the East and the South set 
 in in 1822. Galena in the farthest north was settled about 1825, though 
 known as a lead center much earlier. "In 1823 Sangamon River and 
 Fulton County were the northern boundaries of the settlements. A 
 military and trading post existed at Chicago, and a dozen families, 
 chiefly French, were gathered at Peoria, formerly known as Lake Pimi- 
 teouy. The northern half of Illinois was a continuous wilderness, or 
 as the universal impression was, an interminable prairie, forever un- 
 inhabitable. 
 
 Morgan county, then including Scott and Cass, had about seventy- 
 five families. Springfield in Sangamon County was a frontier village 
 of a dozen log cabins." 9 
 
 In 1830 the first steamboat went up the Illinois River as far as 
 Peoria. 
 
 "The population of the state," says Ford, "had increased by the 
 year 1830 to 157,447; it had spread north from Alton as far as Peoria, 
 principally along the rivers and Creeks, and in such places there were 
 settlers sparsely scattered along the margin of the Mississippi River 
 as far as Galena, sometimes at a distance of a hundred miles apart ; also 
 on the Illinois River, to Chicago, with long intervals of wilderness ; a 
 few sparse settlements were scattered about all over the southern part 
 of the military tract, Pike and Calhoun counties. The country on the 
 Sangamon River and its tributaries had been settled, . . leaving 
 a large wilderness tract yet to be peopled between Galena and Chicago ; 
 the whole extent of the Rock River and Fox River counties and nearly 
 all the lands of Hancock, McDonough, Fulton, Peoria, Stark, Warren, 
 Henderson, Knox, Mercer, Henry, Bureau, Livingstone, Champaign, 
 Piatt and Iroquois, comprising one-third of the state. As yet in 1830 
 but a few settlements had been made anywhere in the then open-wide 
 prairie but were confined to the margins of the timber in the vicinity 
 of rivers and streams of water." 10 
 
 There was reason for this. The prairie lands were so different 
 from anything the early immigrants had seen. Though marvels of 
 beauty and design, stretching away in endless undulations of wind- 
 swept grass in Summer, with a clump of trees here and there ; appar- 
 
 9 Perkins, James H., "Annals of the West," 2nd Ed., p. 784. 
 io Ford's "History of Illinois," Ch. 4, pp. 102 and 103. 
 
Peter Paul Lefevt re of Salt River 577 
 
 ently fertile beyond the lands of the East, yet so silent and lonesome, 
 lacking shade and water, uncanny as if a curse rested on the vast 
 expanse of pathless green, the prairies frightened away the bewildered 
 homeseekers. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that up to the Black Hawk "War, Northern 
 Illinois was almost an uninhabited wilderness, in which the towns of 
 Peru, Lasalle, Ottawa, Newark, Holderness Grove, Galena and Chicago 
 formed the scattered oases of civilization, the two places — Galena on 
 the Mississippi and Peoria on the Illinois River — being connected by the 
 only railroad in the state. For the rest, there was the stage-road 
 through the pathless prairie to Shawneetown on the Ohio, and the 
 Illinois River leading to the outer world. 
 
 But with the defeat of Black Hawk the sinister charm seemed 
 broken. The soil was found to be most fertile, the climate not too 
 severe, and the lurking dangers from savage men and wild animals 
 only formed another element of attraction. 
 
 Numberless settlements arose in all the counties and every year 
 brought new and flourishing additions to the towns already founded. 
 
 Although the great immigration of Irish Catholics was coincident 
 with Irish famine of 1846, 1847 and 1848, and that of the German 
 Catholics found its high-tide during the years 1841-1850, still there 
 was a steady stream of Catholic families pouring into Northern Illinois 
 all through its earlier period and diffusing its elements of progress 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
 
 What was to become of their religion amid the hardships and priva- 
 tions of the wilderness, in the loneliness of isolated homesteads, or among 
 men of other faith ? That was the great question that touched the heart 
 of many, but most deeply the fatherly heart of Bishop Rosati. For the 
 Bishop of St. Louis had in 1818 been intrusted by Bishop Flaget of 
 Bardstown with the spiritual care of the Catholic settlements of Illinois 
 along the Mississippi. At that time this commission was comparatively 
 easy, as these settlements were all in the immediate neighborhood of 
 St. Louis. But as the settlements were extended farther and farther 
 every year the difficulty of attending them grew in proportion. 
 
 In order to provide properly for the spiritual wants of Illinois, 
 the territory should be under his immediate jurisdiction, especially as 
 the Mississippi River and its eastern tributaries formed the only high- 
 ways of travel. On June 25 Bishop Rosati answers a letter of Bishop 
 Flaget, then the Ordinary of Illinois; "I concur with your opinion 
 that the limits of my diocese should be fixed at the 12th degree of 
 longitude west of Washington. I also desire that the line be continued 
 further north." 11 This arrangement was ultimately approved by Rome 
 
 ii Rosati to Flaget, Archives. 
 Vol. 1-19 
 
578 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 -I une 17, 1834, in the following words: "The diocese of St. Louis com- 
 prises the state of Missouri, together with the territory called Arkansas 
 and, until the Holy See decrees otherwise, it shall include the territory 
 also on the west side of the Mississippi (i. e. Iowa). The diocese, then, of 
 Vincennes shall comprise the state of Indiana together with a part 
 of Illinois, to-wit: let a straight line he drawn from Fort Massac (36 
 miles above the junction of Ohio and Mississippi), along the east 
 boundaries of the counties, Johnson, Franklin, Jefferson, Marion, Fay- 
 ette, Shelby, and Marion as far as the Rapids of the Illinois River, 
 which are about eight miles above the city of Ottawa in the County of 
 La Salle, and thence up to the northern limits of the state so that the 
 part of Illinois lying west of this line shall belong to the diocese of 
 St. Louis, the eastern part however to the diocese of Vincennes." 12 
 By this decree Chicago was placed under the jurisdiction of Bishop 
 Simon William Gabriel Brute; nevertheless this rising metropolis of 
 the West was, at least for a time, to be administered by a priest from 
 St. Louis, Father John Mary Irenaeus Saint Cyr. Indeed there was 
 a movement to place all the state of Illinois under the jurisdiction of 
 St. Louis, but it failed through the strenuous opposition of Bishop 
 England's party in the American hierarchy. 
 
 12 "Maximas Inter'' of Gregory XVI, in "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. II, p. 411. 
 
Chapter 18 
 FATHER LEFEVERE'S FAR-FLUNG MISSIONS 
 
 Three years of constant labor and many privations had now 
 thoroughly seasoned the naturally robust man to the inclemencies of 
 the weather, as well as to the unreasonableness and ingratitude of men. 
 To build up the Kingdom of God in his; missionary territory on both 
 sides of the Mississippi River, the largest and most difficult in the 
 diocese, was his sole ambition. St. Paul's on Salt River remained his 
 headquarters. Around it lay like a crown of mingled thorns and roses, 
 the Missouri counties of Pike, Lincoln, Monroe, Marion, Lewis, Clarke 
 and Shelby with their ever increasing Catholic population of Irish, 
 German and native American descent. Beyond these missions lay the 
 vast territory along the Illinois River and its tributaries, the Fever 
 River district, however, as well as Dubuque on the Iowa side, being now 
 in charge of Father Mazzuchelli. On October 6th, 1836, Father Lefevere 
 sends the following report 1 to Bishop Rosati ; in regard to his exper- 
 iences in Illinois: 
 
 ' ' I have been deeply engaged in the constant exercises of the 
 mission ever since my departure from St. Louis. When I reached Salt 
 River after a mission of 18 days, I had no sooner received your letter 
 of the 9th of August conveying the doleful intelligence of the death of 
 our much beloved Mr. M. Condamine, 2 but another one was handed 
 to me which called me in all haste into the state of Illinois, to assist two 
 persons at the point of death. So that, although much fatigued and 
 thinking to be at my journey's end, I was obliged to set out again, 
 and ride in full speed upwards of a hundred miles to the County of 
 McDonough, where, instead of two, I found numbers of Catholics 
 dangerously sick of the billions and congestive fevers, which complaints 
 were so prevailing there and in the adjacent countries, that I have been 
 all this while so intensively engaged in visiting and assisting the sick 
 in various parts of Illinois, that I could not find leisure, many a time, to 
 say my office, and have often been in danger of perishing in the diffi- 
 cult crossing of swamps, and high watercourses. But thanks be to 
 God, I have escaped safe so far; sickness is now abating, and I hope 
 
 1 Lefevere to Eosati, October 6, 1836, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 All the letters of Peter Paul Lefevere are printed in the "Illinois Catholic 
 
 Historical Review," volumes II and III. 
 
 2 Father Condamine had been intended for the missions in North Illinois but, 
 on Father Mazzuchelli 's return, received the appointment to Cahokia, where he died 
 on August 8, 1836. 
 
 (579) 
 
580 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 to be at rest for sometime in attending the different stations here in 
 Missouri. 
 
 "The prospect of having a stone church erected at the Head of the 
 Des Moines Rapids seems to have failed. Mr. George Atcheson has 
 sold out his property; it has fallen into the hands of an Eastern company. 
 But I hope that the congregation which consists of fifteen families, will 
 shortly be able to build one themselves. 
 
 "The congregation of Crooked Creek, hearing the good news of soon 
 having a priest stationed amongst them, have purchased 40 acres of 
 land in your name for the church, of which I hold the certificate. This 
 congregation, being on the east line of Hancock County, and west of 
 McDonough, would be the most central place of that mission, and 
 would likewise offer the most suitable and convenient residence for a 
 priest. There are upwards of 30 Catholic families, all zealous and much 
 devoted to religion ; and as they all live tolerably compacted, there 
 might soon be a female (educational) establishment made and decently 
 supported. From there he, (Saint Cyr) might extend his mission to 
 the Head of the Rapids and to the Half Indians' reservation which is 
 only a distance of 25 to 30 miles. Also to the northwest corner of 
 Fulton County, at a distance of 40 miles Avhere there is a small 
 congregation of fervent Catholics, who, last summer, have laid off a 
 town named St. Augustin, which from its situation, must soon become 
 a considerable inland town. Then he could now and then go to Peoria, 
 Macomb, Rushville, Meredocia, Beardstown, Jacksonville, Naples, etc., 
 where are, here and there, some number of Catholics living, but 
 principally to Quincy, which is 55 miles from Crooked Creek, 
 and where there is a large and still growing congregation of between 40 
 and 50 families in and about town. When I w 7 as there last week, the 
 Catholics were so transported with the prospects I gave them of being 
 regularly visited, that they became more anxious than ever to build 
 a church. To this end Ave held a meeting and appointed five trustees 
 to draw and make up a subscription and superintend the building of 
 the church. A respectable gentlemen, not a Catholic, was also kind 
 enough to give a lot of ground for the purpose, which was then im- 
 mediately surveyed and whereof the deed was to be made in your 
 name the following day. More than half of this congregation are German, 
 and they are particularly desirous of having preaching in German now 
 and then. 
 
 The Lutheran Germans, who also have formed a small congregation 
 here, have got a German preacher from Cincinnati to preach for them ; 
 and the Presbyterians, who continually endeavor to draw all on their 
 side, have offered him their meeting house, and contribute largely 
 towards his support. Even some of the Catholics, wearied of being 
 
Father Lefevere's Far-Flung Missions 581 
 
 without Divine Service on Sundays, and desirous of hearing a sermon, 
 have assisted in making up his salary. Thus you see that this congre- 
 gation stands, above all, in need of immediate attendance. For the 
 Catholics have now obtained a good footing in Quincy, but if they 
 be neglected, I greatly fear, that footing will not be of long duration. 
 I would therefore beg you, earnestly, to send out to that mission, if 
 possible, a priest who speaks the German language besides the English, 
 for there is another congregation of Germans in Beardstown on the 
 Illinois River, 12 miles east of Rushville, where he could do an immense 
 deal of good. If it be not possible, I hope you will endeavor to get 
 someone to go from St. Louis at least two or three times a year to 
 Quincy ; Mr. Lutz, for instance, or Father Helias or anyone else, which 
 might easily be done; for two boats are running regularly, every week, 
 the trip from St. Louis and back. Moreover the Germans have promised 
 to pay the priest who would go, for his trouble and expense." 3 
 
 Father Lefevere's anxiety in regard to the Catholics of Quincy 
 was not without cause; for in the course of time one of the first and 
 most influential promoters of the church there apostatized. Owing to 
 press of circumstances, however, five months passed by without anything 
 else being attempted than an official inquiry as to the conditions, instead 
 of a promise of assistance. And yet Father Lefevere was in urgent 
 need of help, especially for Illinois. In order to obtain favorable 
 results, now that the Bishop's attention was aroused. Father Lefevere 
 made haste to answer his inquiries, as clearly and with as much 
 detail as possible, under date of St. Paul's March the 9th, 1837: 
 
 "Right Rev. Sir — Your letter of the 5th of January 1837, came 
 to hand a few days since and I hasten, with the first opportunity to 
 comply with your request, in answering the several interrogatories 
 therein contained. I shall answer them severally and precisely as 
 possible. (1st) the number of Catholics I visit is from 1.000 to 2,000 
 souls. (2nd) in the mission I have hitherto attended there are fourteen 
 stations, id est, congregations, big and small ; besides a great number 
 of scattered families not belonging to any particular congregation ; 
 of these there are eight stations in the state of Missouri, four in the 
 state of Illinois, and two in the Wisconsin territory, viz: 
 
 "In the state of Missouri; 1, in Pike County on Pinno Creek; 2, 
 in Lincoln County, between Troy and Louisville : 3, in Ralls County, 
 on Salt River, fifteen miles northwest from New London; 4, on Cedar 
 Creek; 5, in Monroe County, on Indian Creek, seven miles north from 
 Florida ; 6, on the South Fork of Salt River, six miles out from Florida ; 
 
 3 Many of the places mentioned here developed into flourishing parishes and 
 religious centers. 
 
582 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 7, in Marion County, in the town of Palmyra; 8, in Lewis County, 
 on the Wyaconda River, ten miles northeast from Tally. In the State 
 of Illinois ; 1, in Adams County, in the town of Quincy ; 2, in Hancock 
 County at the Head of the lower Rapids; 3, at the Head of Crooked 
 Creek, twenty-five miles east from Commerce; 4, in the northwest corner 
 of Fulton County, on Cedar Creek. In the Wisconsin territory; 1, at 
 Keokuk, in Half Indian tract, between the river Des Moines and the 
 Mississippi; 2, on .Skunk River, ten miles west from Fort Madison. 
 (3rd) the number of baptisms of infants is seventy-seven. (4th) number 
 of adults, eight. (5th) number of converts, eight. (6th) as to the 
 number of deaths, I am not able to make a statement ; but the number 
 of burials I have performed, is nine. (7th) number of Marriages, thirty- 
 six. (8th) number of first communions, about twenty-five. (9th) number 
 of Paschal communions is 497. As to the number of dispensations for 
 marriages, which I have granted, it is as follows: (1) dispensations 
 upon the impediment existing between baptized and non-baptized, four- 
 teen. (2) Upon the impediment of consanguinity in the second degree, 
 two; of consanguinity in the third degree, one. Total eighteen. 
 
 Such is the statement, Right Rev. Sir, I can give in answer to 
 the several questions you have asked me. These stations above named, 
 together with the numerous families widely scattered in remote parts 
 of the same and other counties, keep me continually travelling from 
 one part of the country to another, and were I to go whithersoever 
 Catholics dispersed in the country invite and beg me to come, one trip 
 would take me six months steady riding. 
 
 "And although these Catholics ought to be visited, yet it is abso- 
 lutely out of my power. For no sooner had I ended one journey, than 
 I have to commence another, and so on in rotation ; so much so that 
 in the course of the year, I cannot remain one week steady at home. 
 And particularly this last winter, during the coldest weather, at a 
 time when I thought to enjoy a few days for myself, I was called out 
 to the sick ; three times into the State of Illinois, once to the River 
 Des Moines, and once into the Wisconsin territory, 150 miles north 
 from Ralls County; and that at a time when the snow was about 
 eighteen inches deep on the ground, and I had to ride a distance of 
 twelve miles on the ice on the Mississippi. Then on my return the 
 weather breaking up with a sudden thaw, the waters began to run 
 so swiftly that I was compelled to travel all the night and in full speed 
 in order to get the start of the high waters, and it was then only by 
 lucky circumstances, or special Providence of God that I, several times, 
 escaped being drowned. I must finish this tale for fear of being prolix. 
 But if ever you have been on extensive missions, Right Rev. Sir, 
 particularly in a newly settled country, like this, where people are 
 
Father Lefevere's Far-Flung Missions 583 
 
 poor, without sufficient house-room and destitute even of all the neces- 
 sary conveniences of life, you must be acquainted with the hardships 
 and privations to which a priest is continually exposed, and the little 
 decency with which the sacred rites can be performed. To those unac- 
 quainted with its meaning, the celebration of mass in little log-cabins 
 which serve for work-room, refectory, dormitory and kitchen, to numer- 
 ous families, must look more like a comedy than a religious action. For 
 my part, I am thoroughly acquainted with them. Four and a half 
 years' constant exercise in this mission has made me taste so much of 
 this bitter cup, that without assistance, I am becoming unable to 
 continue it much longer. Moreover I perceive that, after much toil and 
 labor, I have done but little good to others, and greatly endangered my 
 own life and salvation. For I perceive but too well that, when I am 
 attending one congregation, religion suffers in other congregations, for 
 want of their being regularly attended and instructed. Whilst, on the 
 other hand, the most of my time being spent in traveling, necessity must 
 of course, compel me to retrench from my own religious duties and 
 devotional exercises; and such a necessity often repeated, is but too 
 apt to engender a habit. As the money you have received at different 
 times from several parts of Europe, was given for the very purpose of 
 supporting the missions, I had always entertained great hopes that 
 you would have lent some pecuniary aid to erect, here and there, a 
 plain building, at least in places where it is indispensably necessary to 
 celebrate the Divine Mysteries with any degree of becoming decency ; 
 and my hopes were so much the more confident, because I knew that 
 you knew that this mission stood the most in need of it. But now my 
 hopes look frustrated, and I begin to despair. From the little zeal and 
 interest you have hitherto manifested toward this mission, it appears 
 to me that you think it not worth your attention and that all your 
 object is to ornament St. Louis and care but little about the rest. 4 
 But I must confess that, when I am in St. Louis, my heart sickens 
 whenever I behold the superfluous splendor and luxe that is there 
 displayed about the Cathedral, whilst religion here suffers from want 
 of things indispensably necessary. This, in my opinion, looks pretty 
 much like a father of a family arrayed in the most splendid apparel 
 surrounded with a parcel of his children stark naked. I was also in 
 hopes, Right Rev. Sir, that you would have stationed a priest on Crooked 
 Creek, for the missions of Illinois and Wisconsin Territory, as you 
 promised me last summer; and that you would have mentioned some- 
 thing about it to me in answer to a letter T wrote to you on the subject 
 
 ■* The hitter criticism is directed especially at the Cathedral built by Bishop 
 Eosati. 
 
584 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 last Autumn. But as I have never received or heard a word about it, 
 I must now also confess to you that I am tired and wearied out, and that 
 what you tacitly seem to exact of me with regard to my continuing 
 these long protracted journeys seems to me unreasonable and impracti- 
 cable. Wherefore, unless there be someone sent to divide with me the 
 labors of this mission, I have resolved to abandon it and retire to myself. 
 or leave the Diocese. Not because I am not willing to labor in the 
 ministry, but because I feel unable to continue what I have hitherto 
 done. For let the work be ever so toilsome and fatiguing, I will cheer- 
 fully undertake it, provided I am able to do it with usefulness to 
 the salvation of others without endangering my own. But in the 
 present circumstances and upon other considerations not mentioned, 
 I feel myself under no obligation to stay any longer. In finishing, I 
 beg of you now, as a favor, to let me know by letter, whether and when 
 you will send a priest to the Illinois." 5 
 
 This earnest though somewhat rude expostulation was taken by 
 Bishop Rosati in the spirit in which it had been made, and Father 
 Lefevere's urgent request for an assistant in his vast field of labor 
 was sure to be fulfilled. 
 
 McDonough County is an open prairie traversed by a stream of 
 water called Crooked Creek. Its first settlement was Carter's, made 
 in 1826. What had delayed its progress was the lack of timberlands, 
 so necessary for building and fuel. The principal settlements in 1834 
 were Macomb and Fountain Green, the latter place about twenty-five 
 miles from Commerce, on the Mississippi River, afterward called Nauvoo, 
 the one-time home of the Mormons. The Head of Des Moines Rapids, 
 also called the Lower Rapids to distinguish them from the Upper 
 Rapids at Nauvoo, is Warsaw, in Hancock county, just across the river 
 from Keokuk, Iowa. 
 
 According to Father Lefevere there were a good number of German 
 Catholics at Quincy, which, therefore, should have a German priest, 
 and there was also an entire settlement of German Catholics at Beards- 
 town, on the Illinois River. Father Lutz, whom Lefevere wished to be 
 sent to the Germans at Quincy, was the Indian missionary of a former 
 chapter of this book. Father Helias, S. J., the future apostle of Central 
 Missouri was then busily occupied in the missionary field in and around 
 St. Louis, especially among the Catholic Germans. 
 
 Father Lefevere has in his official report for 1836 given a state- 
 ment of the "Number of Catholics living in the respective counties, 
 expressed here below, with the different churches therein built or 
 proposed to be built : ' ' 
 
 5 Lefevere to Eosati, March 9, 1837, Archives. 
 
Father Lefevere's Far-Flung Missions 585 
 
 STATE OF MISSOURI 
 
 County of Lincoln church proposed to be built 108 
 
 County of Pike 113 
 
 County of Ralls, one church already built (St. Paul's) in Salt 
 
 River Township, and another one now a building in the town 
 
 of Cincinnati 455 
 
 County of Monroe, a church (St. Stephen's) to be built in Sandy 
 
 Creek, five miles north of Florida 232 
 
 County of Marion 69 
 
 County of Lewis, a church proposed to be erected on the Wyaconda 
 
 River, eight miles northwest of Tully 109 
 
 Half Indian Tract 38 
 
 1124 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Adams County, a church proposed to be built in Quincy 205 
 
 Hancock County, a church is to be built at the Des Moines Rapids, 
 and another at the headwaters of Crooked Creek, near Fountain 
 
 Green 214 
 
 Schuyler County 29 
 
 Fulton County a church proposed in the Town of St. Augustine. ... 32 
 
 McDonough County 25 
 
 Peoria County 13 
 
 518 " G 
 It will be noticed that in this account the missions of the Northwest 
 Territory i. e., of Iowa are wanting. The reason is because they, with 
 Galena and Prairie du Chien, had been turned over by Bishop Rosati 
 to the Dominican Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, on June 24th, 1835, in 
 answer to his letter from Prairie du Chien, dated March 12th, 1835 : 
 "Most Rev. Bishop — I was informed a few days ago that the 
 territory of Wisconsin now forms a part of your Diocese and, as a 
 consequence, the two priests of this territory are under your ecclesias- 
 tical jurisdiction. For the last three months I have been making 
 preparations to leave this place, intending to go to the State of Ohio. 
 In the month of April I went down the Mississippi River in a steamboat, 
 using the opportunity to inform myself concerning the state of these 
 missions. 
 
 Bishop Rese has not yet received any reply from Rome regarding 
 me, and now, I, who wanted to do so much, am tired of being left alone 
 
 6 Report to the Synod of 1837, Archives. 
 
5Sii History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 among difficulties without any assistance, and of being exposed to so 
 many dangers. I have started an association at Prairie du Chien for 
 the building of a church; the men pay fifty cents each month, and the 
 women twenty-five cents, but my church will not be built without the 
 assistance of a priest. I am preparing many for First communion and 
 others to make their Easter. Father 1). Vanderbrock, a Hollander of 
 the Order of St. Dominie, is now the pastor of Green Bay, where there 
 are no less than 500 French and about just as many Catholic Indians." 7 
 
 In his answer of July 27th of the same year Father Mazzuchelli 
 informs Bishop Rosati that he had in the meantime visited his Dominican 
 Superior, Father Young, at Somerset, Ohio, and obtained permission 
 to remain, for a time, under the rule of the Bishop of St. Louis. But 
 a difficulty arose, as the permission had been given orally, whereas 
 Bishop Rosati required it in writing. But this matter was arranged 
 pleasantly, and Father Mazzuchelli entered the Diocese of St. Louis 
 and labored therein with truly apostolic zeal and corresponding success. 
 His appointment to the missions of Galena and Dubuque was sent him 
 by Bishop Rosati on June 26th, 1835. 
 
 At last, after long and weary waiting Father Lefevere received 
 notice of the appointment of Father Saint Cyr for the missions of 
 northern Illinois, that had been in his own pastoral care since 1833. 
 
 On the 20th of February 1837, Bishop Rosati sent word to Father 
 Lefevere that Father St. Cyr had returned from Chicago, and was destined 
 for Crooked Creek; and on the 17th of March Fatber Lefevere expressed 
 his delight and gratitude. "It is truly consoling to me, and will, no 
 doubt, be the cause of much good in that mission. I feel sorry, very 
 sorry, that I cannot go to St. Louis about the time j r ou would wish me 
 to go. But now I have made several appointments at different stations ; 
 also several persons have made preparations and have fixed the time 
 for marrying after Easter, so that my absence at this time would cause 
 much disturbance. For, having caused some discontent among the 
 people, by frequently disappointing them on account of the many and 
 distant sick calls I had last winter, I should not wish to disappoint them 
 any more, if I could possibly avoid it. Moreover, many persons are 
 now preparing to make their Easter, and might perhaps neglect it, 
 if I were to absent myself at this time. So that I shall not be able to 
 leave here before the third or fourth Monday after Easter. I hope, 
 therefore, that you will excuse me; I will give. Mr. Saint Cyr all the 
 instruction and encouragement possible with regard to that mission. 
 Should he desire to start to that mission sooner, and have my company, 
 he might come to Salt River, and I will conduct him up and introduce 
 
 ~ Mazzuchelli to Eosati, March 12, 1835, in Archives. 
 
Father Lefevere's Far-Flung Missions 587 
 
 him to the congregation on Crooked Creek ; if not, he may expect me 
 in St. Louis about the fourth week after Easter." 8 
 
 With the appointment of Father Saint Cyr for Crooked Creek and 
 Quincy, Father Lefevere's missionary activities were confined to North- 
 east Missouri. We will give the substance of his report for 1836, with 
 some additional information derived from other unpublished sources : 
 
 Number of Souls 
 
 Ralls County, Cincinnati mission, St. Mark's Church .••••) 
 
 Ralls County, Salt River Mission, St. Paul's Church } 
 
 Lincoln County, Louisville Mission, St. Simeon's Church 84 
 
 Pike County, Pinno Creek Mission I 
 
 Pike County, Cedar Creek Mission | 
 
 Monroe County, Indian Creek Mission, St. Stephen's Church 261 
 
 Marian County, Palmyra Mission 95 
 
 Lewis County, Wyaconda River Mission, St. John's Ev. Church. . . ) 
 Clark County, West Santa Fe Mission, St. Bartholomew's Church. I 
 
 1113 9 
 Concerning the early settlers of St. Paul's we have already given 
 an account. At Cincinnati a church was built under the title 
 of St. Mark. Concerning St. Simeon's Church at Louisville, in Lincoln 
 County, we find that there was a frame building, thirty feet .square, 
 erected in 1838. The first Catholics of the place were Dr. Hayden and 
 Enoch Emerson, who arrived there in 1830. The first priests to say Mass 
 were the Jesuit Fathers, Felix Verreydt and Charles Van Quickenborne, 
 in 1832. Mass was said by these priests and by Father Lefevere in the 
 house of Mr. Emerson and Dr. Hayden. The number of families in 
 1838 is given as twenty. Passing over Pike county, we come to Stephen's 
 at Indian Creek, in Monroe County, which received its first Catholic 
 settlers in the year 1832, in the families of Leonard Green and Alexander 
 Winnsett. Mass was said and other services were held in the house 
 of Leonard Green for three years, then at Raphael Yates' and Mr. 
 Piersall's homes. The church, a log building, forty-eight by twenty- 
 five feet, was erected in 1838. The first Mass was said in it on the 
 third Sunday in August of the same year. There were eight acres 
 of land belonging to the church and a graveyard, which were given by 
 Vincent Yates and James Murphy. In 1838 there were thirty-eight 
 Catholic families at Indian Creek. 
 
 The following letter, written on December 26th, 1837, is the last 
 one received by Bishop Rosati from St. Paul : 
 
 s Lefevere to Kosati, February 17, 1837, Archives. 
 9 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese Keports. 
 
588 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "Eight Rev. Sir — I received your letter of the 6th of September 
 last, and in compliance with your request, as I am now on the eve of 
 starting on a mission to the northern boundary of the state, I hasten to 
 send you, enclosed, the statistics of my mission for the year 1837, 
 which I have made up to the best of my knowledge. You will perceive 
 that the space under the head : Numerus Confirmatorum, is left blank. 
 I have left it so, in hope that you will be so kind as to fill it out 
 yourself, being fully persuaded that no one can know better than your- 
 self the exact number of confirmations you have given in this mission, 
 and how often you have visited this part of your diocese during the 
 five years that I have now attended it. 
 
 "With regard to your request under the head notatu digna, I can 
 only state that I arrived here on Salt River, and took charge of this 
 mission on the 5th day of January in the year 1833, and have con- 
 tinued to attend it ever since. Previous to that period, no priest or 
 missionary, that I know, has ever resided, or been stationary in this 
 mission. But during the two or three years proceeding, some of the 
 Jesuits visited a small part of it, once or maybe thrice a year. The 
 church of St. Paul, in Ralls Count}-, is the only one, which with great 
 difficulty I got, in a manner, completed in the year 1834, and in which 
 Divine Service is now performed. Besides this church I have three 
 other ones a building, viz., One on Indian Creek, which is nearly com- 
 pleted ; one in Lincoln County, in Lotiisville, and one in Clark County, 
 on the Wyaconda River, which are commenced but, for want of means, 
 cannot go on. No church in my mission, that I know, has as yet been 
 blessed, though I begged you several times to pay a visit to these poor 
 congregations of your Diocese, and bless the church on Salt River." 10 
 
 The sly sarcasm as to Bishop Rosati knowing best how many Con- 
 firmations there have been in Ralls County, was perhaps the means of 
 bringing the overburdened Bishop to the fulfilment of Father Lefevere's 
 great longings; but not before the month of September 1838. Bishop 
 Rosati notes in his Diary under date of September 27th, 1838: "We 
 visited the Church of St. Paul, which is a wooden building, but beauti- 
 ful in its simplicity and poverty. Near the church there is a cemetery 
 and a garden and the house of the pastor which is very small. Rev- 
 erend M. Lefevere deserves great commendation for the care with which 
 he keeps all things in church and house in decent, neat, and orderly 
 condition." The 30th day of September the sacrament of Confirma- 
 tion was administered by Bishop Rosati to forty-five persons. Father 
 Lefevere sang Highmass and Father Van Quickenborne preached a 
 sermon on the sacrament of Confirmation. An immense multitude had 
 
 io Lefevere to Rosati, December 26, 1837, Archives. 
 
Father Lefevere's Far-Hung Missions 589 
 
 gathered in and around the Church to witness the solemnities. On 
 October 1st, the Bishop and Fathers Verhaegen and Lefevere rode to 
 St. Stephens Church on Indian Creek, where on the following: Sunday 
 Confirmation was administered to twenty-eight persons. Departing from 
 Indian Creek the company passed through Florida, Sante Fe, Mexico, 
 Fulton, Bloomfield and stopped at Jefferson City to administer Con- 
 firmation. There the Bishop and Father Helias proceeded to New West- 
 phalia, Union and Washington, and arrived in St. Louis October 18th. 
 Bishop Rosati's final remarks about the pastor and people of Salt 
 River were : " M. Lefevere keeps his Churches and congregations in 
 the best order. The people are very good practical Catholics." 11 
 
 On November 10th, 1838, Father Lefevere assisted at the conse- 
 cration of St. Augustine in English Settlement, Illinois. In 1840 he 
 attended the Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore (May 14 to 24th) 
 as Theologian of Bishop Hailandiere of Vincennes and on June 1st, 
 he set sail for his native land, in company with Bishop Rosati and 
 Father Joseph A. Lutz. Meanwhile his name had been sent to Rome 
 for the Coadjutorship to Bishop Rese of Detroit, and administrator of 
 the diocese. The bulls of appointment awaited his return to America. 
 He was consecrated by Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick in the Cathedral 
 of Philadelphia ; November 21st, 1841. The diocese had been four 
 years without episcopal supervision. Bishop Rese outlived his coadju- 
 tor many years, in the seclusion of a convent in his native city Hildes- 
 heim in the Kingdom of Hanover. 12 
 
 11 Rosati's Diary, passim and Letter to Father Timon, October 20, 1838. 
 
 12 Bishop Rese was actively concerned in the foundation and early management 
 of the Leopoldine Society of the Austrian Empire. When Bishop of Detroit he 
 gave signs of a mental trouble and the diocese received an administrator in the 
 person of Father Lefevere. Bishop Rese could never be prevailed upon to resign ; 
 hence Bishop Lefevere remained Administrator of Detroit. 
 
Chapter 19 
 FATHER SAMUEL MAZZUCHELLI, O.P. 
 
 •'The little episcopal city of Dubuque," writes Father Mazzuehelli, 
 in his Memoir, 1 "dated its origin from the year 18)33. Prior to that date 
 all the present territory of Iowa was still inhabited by numerous Indian 
 tribes. The Government having bought from these tribes the land ad- 
 joining the river, after various treaties, or to speak more correctly, after 
 the expenditure of generous sums of money, many thousands of the 
 citizens of the Republic settled there Avithin a few months, but es- 
 pecially in the vicinity of Dubuque on account of the lead mines. The 
 traffic in this valuable metal created the city of Dubuque, named for the 
 last French trader (Julien Dubuque), who after spending many years 
 of his life in that place with the Indians, died in 1811. " 2 Across the river 
 from Dubuque was the village of Galena, of about equal size and similar 
 composition. Farther north between the Mississippi and Wisconsin 
 rivers lay the ancient town of Prairie du Chien. All these places 
 were anxious for a resident priest, who should build up the church 
 among them. This eager desire was fulfilled by the coming of the Dom- 
 inican Missionary Father Mazzuehelli. 
 
 But what were the antecedents of this man that was to instill new 
 life into these drooping missions of the North. Father Samuel Charles 
 Mazzuehelli, O.P., was born in Milan, Italy, in the year 1806, of a 
 distinguished family. In 1822 he became a novice of the Order of 
 St. Dominic in Rome. When the first Bishop of Cincinnati, Edward 
 Fenwick, himself a Dominican, came to Rome in 1828, seeking 
 helpers for the missions in the wild Northwest, the youthful deacon, 
 full of glowing dreams of religious triumphs and romantic 
 adventures in the wilderness of America, obtained permission from 
 his superiors to join the saintly Bishop. In 1830 he was ordained 
 priest and immediately set out for the Island of Mackinac, the 
 most northern mission of the diocese of Cincinnati. Mackinac was 
 the starting point for Father Marquette 's voyage of discovery : it was 
 to be the starting point also for Father Mazzuehelli 's missionary jour- 
 neys which were to bring him in such close union with the north - 
 
 1 " Memorie Historichi, " Historical Memoirs, was published in Milan in 1844, 
 without the name of the author. There can be no doubt, however, about the author- 
 ship of the book; Samuel Charles Mazzuehelli wrote the Memorie in Italian. The 
 only other published writings of Father Mazzuehelli are a collection of letters ad- 
 dressed to Bishop Eosati, found in the Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, and trans- 
 lated by us for the "Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vols. II and III. 
 
 2 Memoirs, p. 163. 
 
 (590) 
 
Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. 591 
 
 eastern part of Bishop Rosati's diocese of St. Louis. Mackinac was 
 the center of a parish that extended from Lake Huron to the Missis- 
 sippi River. Here stood the only chapel in the wide territory, but 
 the parishioners, Catholic Indians, and half-breeds, Frenchmen from 
 Canada, and native Creoles, Irish miners, and German farmers, and 
 scattered members of almost every nation, were settled down or wan- 
 dered about in every part of it. To supply their spiritual necessities 
 in life and in death, the pastor was obliged to travel almost constantly. 
 in winter on snowshoes or in a sled, in summer on horseback or in a 
 birch canoe. Mass was said at times under a spreading green-wood 
 tree, sometimes in the wigwam of a converted Indian, sometimes in the 
 rude dwelling of a trader, miner or trapper. In Green Bay Father 
 Mazzuchelli built the first church and opened the first school, not 
 only of the neighborhood, but of the entire territory of Wisconsin, ex- 
 cepting, of course, the church built at Prairie du Chien by the Trappist 
 Dunand which had disappeared when Mazzuchelli arrived. Here Bishop 
 Fenwick came shortly before his death to visit the indefatigable mis- 
 sionary, and to administer confirmation to a large number of his flock. 3 
 Father Mazzuchelli always manifested, in word and deed, a ro- 
 mantic, yet truly Christian love for the poorest of the poor, the wild 
 children of the forest and prairie. The Menominees were his special 
 favorites, but the other tribes of Wisconsin also ever found a friend 
 in their "Blackgown. " The Indians in truth held Father Mazzuchelli 
 in highest esteem. As an illustration of their friendly relations, we 
 would insert the speech of Whirling Thunder, in behalf of the Winne- 
 bago Nation held in 1833 in the presence of Father Mazzuchelli. The 
 Indian Chief addressed the Government agent: "Father, listen to us! 
 By the treaty of last Fall w T e are to have established at Prairie du 
 Chien a school, as the most of our nation are here on the Benecalt 
 River, we are anxious to have the school placed among us. You are 
 aware, and we wish our Great Father to know that many of us have 
 joined the Catholic Church and have become Christians. Many men 
 of our nation seem desirous of becoming civilized through the exer- 
 cises of our friend here, the Blackgown (Father Mazzuchelli), we there- 
 fore, hope that our prayers va.aj be granted by our Great Father ; we 
 will then be able to have our children educated among us and in the 
 Catholic Faith. We have never had anyone until lately to teach us 
 the word of God. We begin to see light and we wish to know more 
 of our Great Father above. We want Father Mazzuchelli to remain 
 with us, and the school established among us." 4 
 
 3 Cf. Memoirs, Introduction by Archbishop Ireland, and Chapters II-V, pp. 
 11-29. 
 
 4 "American Catholic Historical Researches," vol. XII. p. 61. 
 
592 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Next to the love of God as expressed in the burning zeal for souls, 
 and naturally flowing from this fountain-head of all true virtue, come 
 the distinctive qualities of our noble-minded priest, his fearlessness in 
 danger, his [(alienee in adversity, his disinterestedness in all his under- 
 takings. 
 
 "In perils often" Father Mazzuchelli might say with the Apostle 
 of the gentiles. One example only can we give: It was a morning in 
 March that the priest was called from his home at Galena to bring 
 the last Sacraments to a dying person in Iowa Territory. The ice on 
 the river was broken up by the sudden change in the temperature, and 
 was carried along with the swift current. The priest found no other 
 means of transportation than a sort of narrow canoe hollowed out of a 
 single trunk of a tree, which had been lying on the bank all through the 
 winter. Father Mazzuchelli engaged four men to row him across the 
 river. After pushing out about half a mile the water began to pour in 
 through several cracks made wider by collisions with the drifting ice. 
 The steersman courgeouusly managed the frail craft, ordering all to 
 remain seated and perfectly quiet. Father Mazzuchelli felt secure 
 amid the seething, rushing waters, bearing as he did, the Blessed Sac- 
 rament upon his breast. Kneeling in the water and paddling with a 
 single oar, he followed the directions of the steersman, and when the 
 water had risen to within four fingers length of the rim of the canoe, 
 they reached a little island where they repaired their boat and pro- 
 ceeded on their voyage. 
 
 Of Father Mazzuchelli 's patience his letters give abundant 
 examples : of noble disinterestedness, we would add a brief word. 
 "It may be well to remark," says he, "that the generosity of the 
 faithful in these parts depends in a great measure upon the disin- 
 teredness of the Priest. If he manifest any desire for money, then all 
 is lost for the Church ; for he is the sole agent, secretary and treasurer. 
 If he does not divest himself completely of self, and consecrate him- 
 self without reservation to the propagation of the truth, that in- 
 dispensible boundless confidence of his people loses itself in doubts 
 and suspicions, and at last vanishes entirely. The great secret of find- 
 ing money where it does not seem to exist, lies in the sincere disin- 
 teredness of the Priest ... In the United States the church is generally 
 the poorest of the poor : for either a house of worship must be built, 
 or else it requires repairs, or necessary furnishings for the altar. So 
 if the Priest desires to see the people liberal and full of confidence in 
 his personality, he must himself lead the way. Keeping nothing for 
 himself, and putting everything that he possesses in the treasury of 
 the church. The same Providence that cared for him in the past will 
 not fail him in the future: forever true are those words of our Divine 
 
Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. 593 
 
 Master: "When I sent you without purse and script and shoes, did 
 you want anything? (Luke 22, 35). " 5 
 
 In July 1835, when Father Mazzuchelli arrived at Galena, he 
 found, as he himself says, "not a vestige of the sacred things neces- 
 sary for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice." In an upper room 
 of the dwelling of one of the parishioners he erected an altar, probably 
 of a dry-goods-box, which transformed the place into a church. In 
 one corner, separated from the altar by a curtain was the bed of the 
 Priest. So poor, yet so intimate with God, was this second spring- 
 tide of the church in Galena. But this beautiful promise of a rich 
 harvest seemed to be doomed to failure once more. On April 18, 1836, 
 Bishop Rosati, on hearing that Father Mazzuchelli had been recalled by 
 his Superior in the Order, entrusted the parishes of Galena, Dubuque 
 and Prairie du Chien to Father Condamine. When Father Conda- 
 mine arrived at his destination. Father Mazzuchelli \s recall had been 
 revoked, and Father Condamine was appointed to Cahokia, May 8th, 
 1836, where he died soon after his return. 
 
 Father Mazzuchelli in going to the ends of the diocese of Detroit 
 found himself well within the limits of the diocese of St. Louis. Du- 
 buque on the west bank of the Mississippi, and Galena and Prairie 
 du Chien on the Illinois and Wisconsin side had been for more than 
 twenty years, under the spiritual care >of Bishop Rosati. Father 
 Mazzuchelli, though coming to this field without lawful authority, 
 was gladly received by the Bishop of St. Louis, and immediately set 
 to work to establish his three missions on a sound basis. "In the great 
 number of those who seek their support by emigrating to new lands, 
 there are many Catholics, principally from Ireland and Germany ; 
 therefore, preserving the Faith in this scattered population, organiz- 
 ing new parishes and building new churches constitutes the most 
 important duties of a Missionary." 6 
 
 This was the program he followed throughout his life. Dubuque 
 was his first care. At the time of his arrival there, July 1835, the village 
 numbered about two hundred and fifty persons, and the country round 
 about probably seven hundred and fifty more. The number of Cath- 
 olics was two hundred all told. "Nearly all the Catholics were Irish 
 by birth, not a few had acquired a considerable fortune, but the wealth, 
 acquired more by chance than by industry, served rather to their 
 harm than their wellbeing. " 7 Vet. as Father Mazzuchelli was firmly 
 convinced, that the place was destined to become an important city, 
 and thought he could do nothing greater and better than to build as 
 fine a church as lay in his power and form a parish around its walls. 
 
 5 Memoirs, p. 219. 
 
 6 Memoirs, p. 161. 
 i Memoirs, p. 164. 
 
594 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Mass was said at the home of P. Quigley : the people of the town showed 
 the greatest interest and generosity, so that t he corner-stone for the church 
 to be called St. Raphael's, could be laid amid universal rejoicing on 
 the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in the year 1835. 
 
 Whilst the stone walls of the church destined to be the Cathedral 
 of Dubuque were slowly rising to completion, the tireless missionary 
 turned his main attention to Galena, which then had a population of 
 eight hundred souls, two hundred of whom were Catholics. "The 
 Irish," says Father Mazzuchelli, "were the first to penetrate these 
 regions, but deprived as they were of the efficacious help to the practice 
 of religion, with few exceptions they possessed the Faith without the 
 works which give it life." 8 Father Vincent Badin, Father Lutz, and the 
 Jesuit Van Quickenborne, had visited the Catholics of the place. 
 Fathers McMahon and Fitzmaurice had died there. Father Mazzuchelli 
 at first used a private residence for chapel and rectory. For there 
 was no church and no lot to build on. "The greatest difficulty," he 
 says, "was to find a site, suitable and central for a church. Galena 
 closely surrounded by high hills, has very little space for a city ; land 
 suitable for building sites costs considerably more here than in other 
 places. It was necessary to incur a debt of seven hundred and fifty 
 dollars in order to receive sufficient land." 9 The lot being secured, 
 building operations were begun, the pastor himself acting as architect. 
 The foundation was begun on September 12th, 1835. It was dedicated 
 to the Archangel Michael. It was a good sized structure, seventy-four 
 feet in length by forty in width. Father Mazzuchelli was constantly 
 crossing and recrossing the Mississippi between his two missions. 
 
 But this work of church building was not without discourage- 
 ments. On July 14th, 1836 he wrote to Bishop Rosati from Galena : 
 "After many a day of hard work and uneasiness, I succeeded, with 
 the will of God, to complete the stone Avails of St. Raphael's Church 
 at Dubuque as high as the roof. Every preparation is now made to 
 raise the roof and two stonecutters are at constant work to make a 
 plain cornice round the building and to finish the front. On the 4th 
 of July the church was used by the people of the town to hear the 
 Oration delivered by a lawyer. I had to act the part of chaplain and 
 say the prayer. The expenses of the building have been very great 
 for one man like me, agitated by many trials. I already paid $2,400.00. 
 Want of time has hindered me from collecting the $800.00 due on the 
 subscription, only $300.00 were lent to me to pay the last debts. I hope 
 to say Mass in St. Raphael's Church next Sunday. The church of Ga- 
 lena is as I left it last Fall, many things have entirely discouraged 
 me in the undertaking; however, last Saturday I took two of my men 
 
 s Memoirs, pp. 166 and 167. 
 9 Memoirs, p. 168. 
 
Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. 595 
 
 to this place, they now -work in the quarry. I opened this quarry on 
 the church lot ; about 200 perch of stone are now ready round the 
 foundation, lime and sand are also procured. All this is a great deal 
 here where materials are very scarce. There is not a person here that 
 can move a step for the building of the church. I have to pay for 
 all materials, to the amount of a cent. The most difficult part of the 
 work is the collection. Although I am confident of the great attach- 
 ment of the people to me, and of the knowledge they have of my dis- 
 interestedness, still it is with the greatest reluctance I do begin this 
 work and sincerely wish to abandon it if I could. My constant occu- 
 pation in May and June about the church of Dubuque has prevented me 
 from attending at the church of Mill-Seat, Wisconsin Territory, 15 
 miles from this place. Nearly all the materials for the building of 
 it are now ready. Next week I shall spend three of four days about 
 that place to gather all materials, make contracts, collect the money, 
 and begin the work if possible." 10 
 
 Prairie du Chien, also, received a visit from the busy pastor of 
 souls. The entire month of February 1836, was spent there in caring 
 for its five hundred Catholics. Here he received a gift of four acres 
 in the center of the town for the erection of churches. Yet, he felt 
 obliged to resign the charge of Fort Winnebago and Prairie du Chien, 
 as the Redemptorists of Detroit were well able to take over this distant 
 outmission, over which Bishop Rese now held jurisdiction. But besides 
 his financial cares Father Mazzuchelli had also troubles of a legal kind. 
 The church lot in Dubuque had no clear title. In 1834 the U. S. Gov- 
 ernment gave a permit to Bishop Rosati to occupy this piece of ground 
 for church-purposes, and this included the right of pre-emption. Now 
 a part of the ground was claimed by a widow-woman, who asserted, 
 that in the days of Father Fitzmaurice the decision in regard to her 
 contention was left to arbitration and that the decision was in her 
 favor. A merchant of Dubuque, Mr. O'Farrell, had bought the widow- 
 woman's claim, and now considered all the land as his own. The lot 
 embraced four acres. Father Mazzuchelli advised that a friendly ar- 
 rangement with Mr. O'Farrell be made and asked for the power of at- 
 torney. Then there was a legal tangle over a bequest of $250 made 
 by Patrick Gray, for establishing the Sisters of Charity in Galena. 
 The executors refused to pay the amount until the Sisters should be 
 established in the town. At last one of the benefactors of the church, 
 Mr. Dowling advanced the amount to Father Mazzuchelli." 
 
 The ceaseless tide of population. German and Irish, was now rolling 
 over the entire Northwest, scattering upon its prairies and thickening 
 along its rivers, and streams. New towns were springing up below Galena 
 
 io Mazzuchelli to Rosati, July 14, 1836, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, 
 ii Mazzuchelli to Eosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
596 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 on both sides of the Mississippi, and the Catholic part of their inhab- 
 itants, sent urgent calls to Father Mazzuchelli to come and build chapels 
 for them. Rock Island, Davenport, Burlington, Fort Madison, Nauvoo 
 and Keokuk were anxiously waiting for his coming. 
 
 "I have during the winter made a general visit through the coun- 
 try east of the Mississippi and returned yesterday from my last visit 
 for this season. It has been impossible for me to go to Rock Island 
 on account of the bad roads and the high streams. Should my health 
 continue good as it is I shall visit that place as soon as the boats will 
 run. I flatter myself with the idea that you will send to this country 
 a good, active man to help me ; for my church affairs take all my time. 
 It would be well to remark to the priest who has to share my labors, that I 
 have no place of my own in Galena ; but in Dubuque a room under the 
 church, entirely unfinished: for my rule is, the church first, the priest's 
 room next. 
 
 I board in various houses, for I have no means to pay regular 
 boarding; it is a bad table, now and then. I have good beds, but no 
 furniture. No salary. Baptisms and marriages will give enough to 
 buy clothes, I must say that a salary was offered to me in Dubuque 
 last summer. I declined it, because I have no fixed place, and because 
 the church could not be finished whilst the people are obliged to pay a 
 salary. The pew rent will in time become an excellent support for 
 the priest. Disinterestedness, patience and humility are indispensible 
 with the people I have here. You know well the great faults of the 
 nation I have to live with." 12 
 
 Towards the end of March Father Mazzuchelli visited St. Louis, 
 but did not find the Bishop. "On my return," he writes, "I stayed at 
 Rock Island to visit the poor Catholics of that place. Mr. Le Claire 
 will probably build a very nice brick church of which I made the plan. 
 Now I send you a short statement of the Catholic church in the Wis- 
 consin Territory and in the neighborhood of Galena. The congrega- 
 tion of Dubuque has much increased this summer; The church, with 
 the assistance of God, will shortly be finished, except the inside plas- 
 tering and pews. There is a large but humble room under the altar. 
 Times are very difficult, and it will be with the greatest difficulty that 
 I shall get four hundred dollars to continue the building of the wall 
 of Galena church. Protestants, after much preparation, have given up 
 the idea of building their church this year. My occupations do not 
 permit me to attend the building of the church of St. Gabriel at Daven- 
 
 12 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, March 4, 1838, original in English in Archives of 
 St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. 597 
 
 port. I made and sent down to that place all necessary plans for a 
 handsome church of brick. M. Le Claire has the means and the gen- 
 erosity, but he is unable to make contracts and does not understand 
 building. He wrote me to go down and have the church built. Now I 
 do not know what to do. "We have no opposition here from the Protes- 
 tants. I shall do my best to prepare a place for the new Bishop." 13 
 
 Iowa as well as Wisconsin was at this time called Wisconsin Territory, 
 and consequently in the diocese of Detroit, whilst Galena was in the 
 diocese of St. Louis. Yet as Father Mazzuchelli held faculties from 
 both, and as Bishop Rese had practically relinquished the whole Miss- 
 issippi border to Bishop Rosati, the church in Iowa can still be 
 considered a part of the original diocese of St. Louis. Father Maz- 
 zuchelli certainly did so regard it. In speaking of Rock Island the 
 missionary meant Davenport, as appears from the following passage 
 of Father Mazzuchelli Memoirs : 
 
 "Among the most beautiful and charming sites on the western 
 bank of the Mississippi is that one opposite the famous Rock Island, 
 more than a hundred miles from Dubuque down the river. Nature 
 itself seems to have shaped this regular verdant slope, girdled and 
 shielded by hills, that man might raise a city there. A certain Antoine 
 LeClaire, a devout Catholic, noted no less for his integrity than for 
 his wealth, for many years had his happy home there, alone with his 
 wife, and held his estate of a square mile along the river. This had 
 been presented him as a free gift by the tribes of the Sacs and Foxes 
 in their gratitude toward their faithful friend and interpreter and 
 beneficient adviser on the occasion of the ceding of that section to the 
 United States Government. It was in 1836 that Mr. LeClaire began 
 to convert his estate into a city, which he named Davenport. His 
 faith did not let him forget the cause of Religion : for in the city he 
 was planning, he donated a square in an advantageous position for 
 the erection of a church. The city sprang up as by magic and expand- 
 ing beyond the confines of LeClaire 's estate became the center of trade 
 for the southern part of Iowa." 14 
 
 After hesitating a while Father Mazzuchelli came to the assistance 
 of Mr. LeClaire, the principal proprietor of Davenport, and in April 
 1831 laid the first stone of the church which was called St. Gabriel's. 
 The first bricks manufactured in the place were used in the construc- 
 tion of the building which was only forty by twenty-five and built 
 with two stories, so as to accomodate on the lower floor the priest who 
 was to make his home there. Thus far the account given of the begin- 
 
 13 Mazzuchelli to Kosati, April 16, 1837, Archives. 
 
 14 Memoirs, p. 190. 
 
")!'S History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 uings of Davenport, now an episcopal see. Up to this time Father 
 Mazzuchelli, had built two churches, in places where no church had 
 ever existed, Dubuque and Galena, and had named them for two of 
 the three great archangels whose names and deeds are recorded in 
 Sacred Scripture, St. Raphael and St. Michael. It was his wish to 
 dedicate the Church of Davenport to the third Archangel St. Gabriel: 
 but the wish of the founder Antoine LeClaire prevailed, and the Church 
 of Davenport bears the title of St. Anthony. 
 
Chapter 20 
 FATHER MAZZUCHELLI AND THE CHURCH OF GALENA 
 
 On the 22nd of April, 1837, the Fathers of the Third Provincial 
 Council of Baltimore, at the request of Bishop Rosati, petitioned the 
 Holy Father, Pope Gregory XVI, that Dubuque be made an episcopal 
 see, having for its diocese all that portion of the Territory of Wisconsin 
 which lies between the Mississippi River and the east bank of the 
 Missouri. In an Apostolical Brief of July 28th, of the same year, the 
 Holy Father appointed Very Rev. Mathias Loras, then Vicar-General 
 of Mobile, as Bishop of Dubuque. On December 10th, Dr. Loras was 
 consecrated by Bishop Michael Portier in the. Cathedral of Mobile. 
 Alabama. Father Mazzuchelli was at once appointed Vicar-General 
 of the new diocese, yet remained attached to St. Louis on account of 
 his pastorship of Galena. Bishop Rosati conferred on him the title 
 and power of a Pro-Vicar-General. As the building operations on the 
 Church of St. Michael were still in progress it was but natural that 
 he who began the work should also complete it. On September 1st, 
 1837, he wrote to Bishop Rosati : 
 
 "I have already done all that was possible for me to do con- 
 cerning the welfare of religion in this country. The church of Dubuque 
 is worthy of being a cathedral. I have obtained the claims of about three 
 acres of land joined to the lot of the church. The commissioners have 
 not yet begun to examine the claims of Dubuque, and as a consequence, 
 the claim of the year 1834 is still in statu quo. I wrote some months 
 ago to your Grace, telling you that the deed to the church of Galena 
 was given to the Bishop, and on account of many difficulties with the 
 trustees, I did not have sufficient money to .settle up. Mr. Dowling of 
 Galena gave me $250.00 for the Sisters of Charity. But this man has 
 not yet received one cent from the executors of Mr. Gray. On the 28th 
 of the past month I finally accomplished my desire and I paid for the 
 land of the church of Galena, $615.00 ; the title I had from the trustees 
 is given to your Grace. 117 feet are being used for a church, and 100 
 feet is for the Sisters of Charity. All this was done by Divine Prov- 
 idence in a time when money was scarce, and then under many difficul- 
 ties caused by perverse men, have also paid 159 dollars for lumber, and 
 there is left in the treasury of the church of Galena 141 dollars. Di- 
 vine Providence will also assist me to build a small house for the resi- 
 dent priest. It is almost impossible for a priest to stay at Galena 
 under the present circumstances. The papers of Dubuque and Galena 
 will shortly give a correct account of the money received and spent, 
 to which will be added a sufficient explanation. I leave this morn- 
 
 (599) 
 
000 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 ing for a mission on the east side of Big River, about 00 miles away 
 from here. I hope that the Bishop of this place (Loras) will come before 
 winter, that he will find a nice room prepared for him under the sanc- 
 tuary of the church of Dubuque." 1 
 
 On September 10th, after his arrival from his missionary trip in 
 Wisconsin he reports: "I arrived yesterday from the country. I 
 have obtained a good lot in the town of Mineral Point, the most im- 
 portant place in the interior of the Territory : also a house and four 
 acres in a country place fifteen miles from Galena. There is a good 
 promise of a lot in the town of Madison, the Capital of the Territory. 
 The deeds will shortly be made, and I should like to know to whom I 
 ought to have them made. Everything has to be done in this territory, 
 great exertions are indispensible. Protestants are not in the way of 
 doing much. If we are active and good, everything must turn in our 
 favor." 2 From October 10th, to October 14th, Father Mazzuchelli was 
 in St. Louis, but failed to see the Bishop, who was at the Seminary of 
 St. Mary's of the Barrens. He is kept busy in putting everything in 
 good order at Dubuque and Galena for the reception of Bishop Loras. 
 
 "The difficulties," he writes, "that I have to overcome with the 
 government committee, now in session at Dubuque on account of the 
 land given by the agent are very great, and are caused by some rich 
 and powerful Americans who do not keep their promises. It would 
 be of the greatest help to have an American priest here for a few days, 
 he would be able to lessen the opposition. I am very uneasy about these 
 affairs, the loss and the gain are of great value. I need money to em- 
 ploy two lawyers, and I hope that Providence will give it to me. 
 Today I leave for my mission. The water of the Mississippi is very 
 high, but with the grace of God I will arrive at the mission in three 
 days. I have asked (Rev.) Mr. Jameson to visit my place, and he 
 replied that he would come with much pleasure, if your Grace grants 
 him the permission." 3 Bishop Rosati sent the missionary a hearty 
 invitation to come to the Barrens for the consecration of the Church 
 of St. Marys, and also the appointment as Pro-Vicar-General. Father 
 Mazzuchelli answers : 
 
 "A few days ago I received the instructions in which you gave 
 me the precise information concerning the limits of the new diocese. 
 Last year I had sent to Bishop Rese a description of the new diocese 
 according to my ideas, hoping that he would present it to the Fathers 
 of the Council ; but now that all has been settled by the authority of 
 the Church, it is useless to speak about it any more. As regards the 
 faculty of Pro- Vicar-General, I wish you to know that it was my inten- 
 
 1 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, September 1, 1837, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 2 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, September 10, 1837, Archives. 
 
 3 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, October 14, 1837, Archives. 
 
Father Mazzuchelli and the Church of Galena 601 
 
 tion not to accept any dignity of such nature, but accidentally your letter 
 fell into the hands of a man that knows a little Latin and, having seen 
 the contents of it, he made them known to my friends. Hence it would 
 not be prudent to reject the faculty. It was my purpose to do nothing 
 more to the church of Dubuque, hoping that the Bishop would arrive 
 in the month of May. Now being informed that he will not be in his 
 diocese until the month of November, it puts me into many difficulties 
 to finish the church before he comes. Yet I hope with the Grace of 
 God to have the church of St. Raphael prepared for the consecration 
 next September, but it will be necessary for me to have a priest here 
 after Easter. I hope that your Paternity will be able to send one of 
 those priests now in your diocese. The parish of Galena in the State 
 of Illinois contains about 400 Catholics. Many of the Wisconsin ter- 
 ritory consider Galena their parish, hence the reason why I have written 
 about 600. Galena is about 6 miles from the Wisconsin territory." 4 
 
 "I have received two letters from Bishop Loras. He wrote the 
 second letter from Havre in which he tells me to rent a house, as 
 he is to be in Dubuque about All Saints. Last month I took a house and 
 paid the rent for a month, and I bought a bed with other things. 
 I am not disposed to make any debts for the Bishop, because a fatal 
 experience has taught me not to trust the future. If he does not ar- 
 rive before the middle of this month, I will give up the house which 
 costs 25 dollars a month. Everything is dear in this place. Circum- 
 stances are such in Dubuque that the Bishop will be obliged to take 
 care of his own cooking. Monseigneur Loras will find in my insignifi- 
 cant person a most humble and most faithful servant. With the grace 
 of God I hope to make my home with Bishop Miles towards the end of 
 next year." 5 
 
 After his consecration, December 10th, 1837, Bishop Loras un- 
 dertook a journey to France and Italy for the purpose of gaining 
 priests and students, and collecting funds for his poor diocese. He 
 returned to this country, bringing with him two priests, Joseph Cretin 11 
 and J. A. M. Pelamourgues and four subdeacons, August Ravoux, 
 Renigius Petiot, Luciene Galtier and J. Causse. The four students 
 and Father Pelamourgues were left at St. Marys Seminary, Baltimore, 
 whilst the Bishop and Father Cretin took their way to St. Louis by the 
 Ohio River where he arrived, December 3rd, 1838. Here he was de- 
 tained the entire winter, as navigation on the river was blocked by 
 the masses of ice coming down its majestic current. Father Mazzu- 
 chelli left Galena on March 19th, 1838, by the first steamboat, to bring 
 
 4 Mazzuchelli to Eosati, March 4, 1838, Archives. 
 
 5 Mazzuchelli to Eosati, December 3, 1838. 
 
 s Joseph Cretin became Bishop of St. Paul in 1850. Father Pelamourgues is 
 said to have declined the honor. Cf. Kempker, J. F., in "Annals of Iowa," p. 120. 
 
602 History of the Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 his Bishop to (he episcopal city of Dubuque. Oil the 21st day of April, 
 the prelate took possession of his Cathedral. On the 28th day of April 
 Bishop Loras officiated in the Church of Galena. It was a great event 
 in the town that had never before been visited by a Bishop. 
 
 For sixteen months Vicar-General Mazzuchelli had labored inces- 
 santly in preparing the diocese for its Bishop. He was as yet its only 
 priest, and the burden was pressing very heavily on his strength of 
 body and mind. On a former occasion Father Mazzuchelli had asked 
 for an assistant : this request was now to be gratified, but in a manner 
 not altogether satisfactory to the old missionary, who wrote Bishop 
 Rosati : 
 
 "The Rev. Mr. Lee arrived in Dubuque when Bishop Loras was 
 still absent on a visit to St. Peter and Prairie du Chien. I advised 
 him to remain in Dubuque last Sunday, while I would go to Galena to 
 prepare everything for his reception. As the people of this place do not 
 like a change of clergyman and felt quite displeased at the idea of it, 
 so I deemed it more prudent to tell the congregation that the Rev. Lee 
 was sent up by you to be an assistant to me in his mission, as I was about 
 to visit many other places; in this way they were sufficiently satisfied. 
 Mr. Philip Barry will board him, and there he will be kept away from 
 any place where his countrymen might be an occasion of evil to him. 
 I left for his use all those conveniences I have procured heretofore, 
 and if he does well, before winter he will be better fixed and liked 
 by the inhabitants. Should he taste any liquor he is a gone man in 
 this place. I shall continue to be responsible for all things belong- 
 ing to the finishing of the church." 7 
 
 Poor Father Constantine Lee did not last long at Galena. Un- 
 doubtedly a man of talent and capable of doing good work among his 
 countrymen, he spoilt all by his lack of self-restraint. On September 
 13th, three months after his coming to Galena, he wrote a long ramb- 
 ling letter to Bishop Rosati, full of self-accusations and bitter com- 
 plaints. We will give all the items of historical interest scattered 
 through the five pages : leaving the rest to the oblivion it deserves. 
 
 "I am always at Bishop Loras' command whenever he requires 
 my services. I preached the Consecration sermon of the Cathedral. 
 The Bishop preached on Friday the day following. On Saturday I 
 preached the funeral oration of Bishop Brute, and the same day 
 returned to my congregation in Galena. On Monday I attended a sick 
 call in the country. On Tuesday I commenced collecting for the new 
 church and, notwithstanding a sick-call of twenty-two miles, I col- 
 lected on Tuesday and Wednesday in paid money between three and 
 four hundred dollars. I went to the homes of the people and found them 
 generous indeed, no one refusing out of all I called upon, but four. 
 
 7 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, July 23, 1839, Archives. 
 
Father Mazzuchelli and the Church of Galena 603 
 
 When I got their names I would not leave the house until they had 
 paid the money which they did freely, when they saw that I made it 
 a rule. This small sum encouraged the workmen to proceed on Thurs- 
 day. I was then obliged to ride thirty-eight miles under the heat of the 
 sun to attend a sick-call, and the next day I was thrown down with 
 bilious fever, from the effects of which I have not as yet recovered .... 
 I have every reason to believe that the great majority of the congre- 
 gation are both very ignorant of and very careless in the practice of 
 their religion. If it pleases Almighty God to restore me to my former 
 strength, I intend to give them a retreat, and I have every reason to 
 think that Bishop Loras will assist me. I know that it is impossible 
 for you to come here this season. I will do all in my power to be ready 
 for you next May. By that time I hope to have 150 communicants ready 
 for Confirmation, and the church ready for consecration .... I wish to 
 inform you as to the present state of the new church of Galena. I 
 do not know the exact figures, but I know that the church is deeply 
 plunged in debt. Mr. Mazzuchelli told me that he was giving the pews 
 as security, and that he would not go to any one to collect a dollar. 
 The church is neither ceiled or plastered, a few crazy old boards sup- 
 ply the place of an altar, and nothing but the stones and lime surround 
 it . . . The workmen are now hurrying up the pews in order to sell 
 them to the parishioners. For my part I have no more authority re- 
 garding the affairs of the church, than if you had never appointed me. 
 No doubt, Mr. Mazzuchelli is an excellent man, but he has by far. too 
 many irons in the fire in the Diocese of Dubuque to bestow much at- 
 tention here. Besides, the orders of Mr. Mazzuchelli differ so widely 
 from your instructions that I cannot, in conscience, obey him. On my 
 arrival he told me that there was no support for me here, but that 
 I might take my meals wherever I could get them. I told him that was 
 contrary to your orders . . . But he could make no other arrange- 
 ment. So dire necessity obliged me to do what I never had done before. 
 Many days have I remained in my lonely habitation without tasting a 
 morsel, ashamed to go to any one 's house to look for a meal .... I was 
 told that the people expected that I would eat in one house, sleep in 
 another, just as it might happen, like Mr. Mazzuchelli. I take the 
 Sunday collection which amounts to five or six dollars, but this is a 
 very small item when everything is so extravagantly high. As to 
 the other charges, i. e., baptisms, marriages, funerals, etc., they are 
 not worth speaking of . . . My furniture in the old chapel where I live, 
 is a bed, three chairs, a table large enough to hold my writing ma- 
 terials. I have no knife, fork, spoon or plate, but sooner than go to 
 Mr. Major Barry's or any other place to get my victuals for nothing, 
 I will buy a small cooking-stove and cook for myself as well as I can. 
 The number of Catholic souls here, in town and country, of age, if in- 
 structed to approach the holy sacraments is, as near as I can say, about 
 
604 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 five hundred. The children who are numerous, are extremely ignorant. 1 
 have made it my chief object every Sunday to represent to the Catholic 
 parents the sin they were guilty of in allowing their children to grow 
 up in ignorance of the very principle of religion. I have succeeded in 
 bringing together a great number, but I must use very great exertions 
 with them, before they will be fit for the sacrament of confirmation. 
 There is a pious widow here who teaches the Catholic school and helps 
 to instruct the children in Catholic doctrine. She is a convert, her 
 name is Mrs. Farrar. She is rich, and built a fine school-house on one 
 of her lots, expecting that two Sisters of Charity would come and live 
 with her, to teach in the Catholic school. She would give the house 
 and lot. 
 
 There are by far better prospects for the Sisters here than in 
 Dubuque, and I think that, if the grand prospect be lost sight of, it 
 may be long ere another present itself. ' ' 8 
 
 And now having viewed conditions and prospects of the northern- 
 most missions under Bishop Rosati's rule, through eyes somewhat 
 dimmed and blurred by faults and misfortunes, let us listen to Father 
 Mazzuchelli's final message to the beloved Bishop of St. Louis: 
 
 "Having been the pastor of Galena for four years past, and being 
 now almost unable to combine my various duties in the Iowa Territory 
 with the care of this place, I deem is necessary to write to you a few 
 lines on this subject. I do sincerely regret that the Rev. C. Lee was 
 not qualified for this parish, and that he has confirmed the people in 
 their unfavorable opinion of Irish Priests. Our church and popularity 
 here, being built upon zeal, disinterestedness and piety, nothing less 
 is required in a clergyman to do good here, at least for a year or two 
 longer, when everything will be completed. There is no doubt that, 
 if this parish is well conducted, it will in two years be one of the most 
 conspicuous of Illinois, and will much assist the bishop of the State. 
 The annual rent of fifty-six pews amounts to over fourteen hundred 
 dollars, the collections on Sunday to over three hundred dollars. All 
 this money is now given for the building of the church which I hope 
 to finish next year. So I take the liberty to advise you, my most 
 esteemed Bishop, to send to Galena a pious disinterested priest. If 
 he is anxious, and the people are satisfied, I will give up to him forever 
 all the credits, debts and cares of the church. Should this not please you 
 or him, I will continue to do as I have done, and let him have all 
 the private contributions ; and if this is not satisfactory, I will provide 
 house, table and clothes and any other thing he should be in need of, 
 provided he gives to the church treasury all that he shall receive in 
 the parish. But aware of your many difficulties I dare to suggest to 
 you another plan, and this is to let the Bishop of Dubuque have full 
 
 8 Lee to Rosati in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Mazzuchelli and the Church of Galena 605 
 
 jurisdiction of the northwest corner of Illinois as long as you will 
 have it yourself. The Bishop of Dubuque can easily send a priest to 
 this place and can come himself with the greatest facility. The people 
 of Galena are now very much attached to Bishop Loras and would 
 be much pleased with the arrangement. Your wisdom and zeal, how- 
 ever, are far superior to my word. Our retreat, which was to begin on 
 the 6th of October, was by the inclemency of the weather, deferred to 
 the 13th, and lasted until the 21st. A great many people were at 
 church every day. One hundred and thirty-eight communions, thirty- 
 six confirmations. My little share of the work was to preach the word, 
 and the superior call of my affectionate Bishop and companion in the 
 missions was to communicate the spirit. I thank God that in all things 
 the wishes of Bishop Loras are never discordant with my nothingness. 
 I was informed, that your Lordship had been ill and felt much pleased 
 when I heard of the recovery." 9 
 
 The arrangement in regard to Galena suggested by Father Mazzu- 
 chelli was accepted by both Bishops. Accordingly we find Bishop Loras 
 and Father Mazzuchelli, officiating at the East side of the River, as 
 delegates of Bishop Rosati. We found two letters of Bishop Loras in 
 our archives, which we will insert here as showing how the transition 
 of Galena, the city that had such a hold on Bishop Rosati, was made 
 from the diocese of St. Louis to that of Chicago. 
 
 "What you tell me in your letter of the 23rd, Sept.", writes Bishop 
 Loras on December 17th, 1839, "That I may regard Galena and its 
 surroundings as forming part of my diocese, causes me pleasure, and I 
 willingly consent to the arrangement on account of the geographical 
 situation of that part of Illinois ; nevertheless I fear this new respon- 
 sibility. I believe, however that I need not do more for the place 
 than I have done so far. I have established myself at Galena 
 since Advent, in the absence of Mr. Mazzuchelli, who is at 
 Burlington, and I fill here, to the best of my power, the office of pastor. 
 I shall pass Christmas here. The people are well disposed. I have 
 daily more than fifty children or adults at my catechism class. On 
 Sundays the church is full to overflowing. The Mass is frequented 
 on work days. I preach here once in my English. Mr. Cretin, who 
 was a little lonesome whilst I was in Dubuque, will have a grand chance 
 to practice his English on young men likewise. I can absent myself 
 freely and this is absolutely necessary, if it were only for the Council, 
 which really cannot be placed later than in Spring. I, at first, thought 
 that it was of little consequence to me to be present, but I can make 
 such good use of the journey that I decided to go. What you have the 
 goodness to tell me about Kentucky, is quite consoling ; how I wish to 
 see the worty Patriarch (Bishop Flaget) at the Council! 
 
 9 Mazzuchelli to Rosati, November 6, 1839, Archives. 
 
606 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 I am waiting every day for details on the disaster of Mobile. How 
 severely this poor bishop is tried ! I am afraid that his poor Cathedral 
 progresses but little. How immensely the loss of Mr. Mauverney is 
 felt; he was the soul of that college. You say that You have lost Mr. 
 Jamison ; what will all those good ladies do at St. Louis ? As far as I 
 am concerned, I do not think that this is such a great evil. The con- 
 duct of Mr. Lee here has raised the repugnance which our good 
 Irish entertain against priests of their own nationality, to the utmost. 
 There is in this, I feel, something providential. Our young men will 
 do very well. I am very insistent on their acquiring the English 
 language and mastering their Theology in Latin. They write to me 
 from Davenport that Mr. Pelamourgues is doing very well, by virtue 
 of his piety, his zeal and his polished manners. He already preaches 
 in English every Sunday. After Christmas I shall push the construc- 
 tion of two churches 20 and 18 miles from Dubuque. God will bless 
 our efforts and our feeble beginnings." 10 
 
 On December 31st, 1839 I arrived from Galena where I spent 
 all Advent and Christmas to my satisfaction. I officiated alone on the 
 holy day of Christmas, but the church was filled four times within 24 
 hours. At midnight it was crowded, without the least disorder ; also 
 at Dubuque. We are more happy here than in the South where there 
 are men who give trouble. Next Sunday I shall ordain my first deaeons, 
 and I shall conduct the best one to Galena, where he shall stay and where, 
 from time to time, he shall be replaced ... I shall go there myself 
 occasionally and shall keep You "au courant" on what is done there. 
 We shall soon need a new church." 11 
 
 The "best one" of the newly ordained priests was Father Remigius 
 Petiot, a native of France. He was sent to Galena shortly after his 
 ordination and for a number of years labored faithfully and successfully 
 in that difficult mission. But as Bishop Rosati left St. Louis on April 
 27, 1840 to attend the Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore, and 
 then set sail for Europe, never again to see his diocese, we have no letters 
 from the Rev. Petiot in our archives. As Bishop Loras writes, Galena 
 became practically a part of Dubuque diocese until it passed under the 
 jurisdiction of Chicago in 1844. 
 
 Three great States of the Mississippi Valley, Iowa, Wisconsin and 
 Illinois have a special claim to the renown of Father Samuel Mazzu- 
 chelli : Within their precincts his life-work was accomplished, and in 
 their historic pages his memory is enshrined. Cyrenus Cole, in his His- 
 tory of Iowa, designates him as "a man of the highest education and 
 refinement" and "one of the most remarkable men connected with the 
 early church history of Iowa." In addition he declares: "The story 
 
 io Loras to Rosati, December 17, 1839, Archives. 
 11 Loras to Rosati. December 31, 1839, Archives. 
 
Father Mazzuchelli and the Church of Galena 607 
 
 of Father Mazzuchelli 's work in Iowa reads like a romance. He went 
 to many places and he labored unceasingly. He traveled on foot and 
 on horseback, in ox-wagons and on boats. A stranger in a strange land, 
 he slept on the floors of cabins and he ate often the food of savages. In 
 his own land he might have been any one of many things, for he had 
 the gifts of the musician, the sculptor, and the painter, and his talents 
 as an architect are undoubtedly expressed in the old capitol at Iowa 
 City. As a writer he contributed much to the history of the upper 
 Mississippi Valley. His 'Memorie Istoriche' was written in Italian 
 after his return to his native country. Its simple and graceful diction 
 could not be lost even in translation.'' 12 Wisconsin eagerly lays claim 
 to a share in his glory, as is evidenced by the eloquent manner in which 
 Quaife's History of Wisconsin speaks of him: "A voice crying in the 
 spiritual wilderness of Wisconsin in the early and middle decades of 
 the nineteenth century, its mellow tones with soft Italian accent bring- 
 ing to the aborigines with special unction and sweetness the compell- 
 ing story of the Savior's love — such was the voice of the pioneer Dom- 
 inican missionary of our state, the Rev. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli. 
 As a precursor of the later heralds of the Gospel and peer among the 
 greatest of them, he strove with high heroism to level the mountains of 
 ignorance and vice and make straight the crooked paths of superstition 
 and unbelief. A unique and impressive story his life history presents: 
 Unique in the prompting that bade him exchange affluence and con- 
 genial society in a great city for poverty, solitude and the compan- 
 ionship of Indians ; unique in the superior gifts of mind and heart which 
 as a lone young priest he brought to the herculean task of evan- 
 gelization in the Wisconsin wilds of 1830 ; unique in the variety of events 
 and activities that meant so substantial and permanent a contribution 
 toward our religious and educational development." 13 
 
 And lastly a voice from Illinois chimes in : 
 
 "He built a church at Galena and secured extensive grounds for 
 convent and graveyard purposes; He was never known to miss an ap- 
 pointment in the duties of his sacred ministry. Rain, hail, or sunshine, 
 whether the thermometer stood at ninety degrees above or thirty de- 
 grees below zero, he was always present at the appointed hour." 14 
 
 But the diocese of St. Louis, extending at the time to Father 
 Mazzuchelli 's high-tide of activity, has the highest claim to his glory, 
 as that of one of her apostolic men laboring, watching and praying on 
 her northeastern frontier. 
 
 12 Cyrenus Cole, "History of Iowa." 
 
 13 Quaife, Milo, Milton, "History of Wisconsin." 
 
 1-4 Quaife, ibidem. The three last quotations are derived from Joseph Gum's 
 excellent article on "A Builder of the West," in "Columbia," for January, 1928. 
 
Chapter 21 
 CATHOLIC BEGINNINGS OF KANSAS CITY 
 
 The Concordat between the Bishop of Louisiana and the Society 
 of Jesus, in virtue of which the entire territory of the diocese along 
 the Missouri River was assigned to the Jesuits, was never approved 
 by the Holy See and consequently was binding on both parties only in 
 as far as they mutually agreed as to the various clauses. The clause 
 regarding the Jesuits exclusive jurisdiction proved inoperative on ac- 
 count of the small number of available missionaries on part of the 
 Jesuits, and the unexpected rapid growth of Catholic settlements clamor- 
 ing for priests. As the demand by far exceeded the supply, Bishop 
 Rosati felt obliged to make use of his undoubted right to send diocesan 
 priests into what was considered Jesuit territory, and the Jesuits gladly 
 accepted their cooperation. The first, and most notable evangelizing 
 effort along the Missouri River, after the brief visit of Father Lutz 
 to Kawsmouth, the future Kansas City, was the pastorate of Father 
 Benedict Roux from 1833 to 1835. With Father Roux 1 the ecclesiastical 
 history of Kansas City properly begins; as he was the first resident 
 priest of the entire region around the junction of the Kansas and 
 Missouri Rivers. Father Roux, together with Father Saint Cyr and 
 three other missionaries had been sent to St. Louis in 1831, by the 
 Association for the Propagation of the Faith. The young and energetic 
 priest was assigned to the Cathedral. His great ambition was to be- 
 come proficient in the English language : he spent a part of the year 
 1833 with private families in Dardenne and St. Charles in order to 
 practice the vernacular. His desire was to go to the Far West among 
 the Indians and the frontiermen. In this purpose he had a competitor 
 in the person of Father Condamine, the pastor of Kaskaskia, who asked 
 Father Roux to take Kaskaskia and let him go to the Indians. Father 
 Roux declined the offer and insisted that his desire to become an Indian 
 Missionary had brought him to America. Another attempt at an Osage 
 mission after the failure of Father Lutz, proposed to Bishop Rosati 
 by Father Roux, was considered hopeless: but the persistent requests 
 of Father Roux attained this much, that the Bishop, in the Fall of 1833, 
 appointed him missionary priest to the Catholics along the Missouri 
 frontier. 
 
 i The only full account of the life and labors of Father Benedict Roux is that 
 of Father Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J., contained in Chapters III and IV of his 
 splendid volumes, "Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City," Chicago, 1920. The 
 letters of Father Roux are the main sources of this narrative. 
 
 (608) 
 
Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City 609 
 
 Arriving in his new field of labor the missionary then visited the vari- 
 ous settlements of which Liberty in Clay County was the most consider- 
 able. At Independence there were but two Catholic families. On Novem- 
 ber 14th, he arrived on the site of Kansas City. The Chouteaus, Cyprian 
 and Francis Gesseau, were the principal traders on both sides of the 
 border. It was in Cyprian Chouteau's hospitable house on the south 
 side of the Kaw, that Father Roux found a temporary home and chapel. 
 A tract of forty acres was assured to the priest that would build a 
 church in the place. Financial help would also be provided. Father 
 Roux already dreamt of a school and Sisters' Convent. There were 
 only a dozen Catholic families in all Jackson County, but great numbers 
 were "preparing to flock here," as Father Roux wrote to the Bishop. 
 Then the two establishments he contemplated were "at the very door 
 of the Indian country." He had been received by the Potawatomi 
 and Kickapoos, as an angel sent from Heaven. "They are truly Cath- 
 olics in desire," and their life is "a perfect image of that of the Chris- 
 tians of the primitive church." "I should never finish" he concludes, 
 "were I to tell you all the edifying things I saw among them." The 
 romantic spirit was still strong in Father Roux. The Kickapoo prophet 
 Kenekuk was not present when Father Roux addressed the Kickapoo 
 chiefs and their tribesmen, but he sent his "profession of faith" which 
 raised high hopes in the fervent soul of the missionary. 
 
 The town of Liberty, which also bore the nickname "Vide Poche," 
 Empty Pocket, Avith its six hundred people, was intended by Father 
 Roux as the second missionary establishment. But the place of his 
 main activites was Chouteau's Trading Post at Kawsmouth, successively 
 called the Church of Mr. Chouteau, then the town of Kansas, Westport 
 and at last Kansas City. It was here that Father Roux held services 
 for the first time on Christmas day 1833, preaching in French and 
 English, without saying Mass, as the meeting was held in the home 
 of a Protestant. 2 
 
 Father Roux's efforts to found an institution of the Nuns of the 
 Sacred Heart or of the Sisters of Charity in the frontier settlement 
 on the Kaw proved unavailing : the difficulty of finding an adequate 
 support for them seemed insurmountable. 
 
 Early in 1834 the French parishioners of Father Roux at the mouth 
 of the Kaw secured a house to be used as a temporary church and an- 
 other to serve as the pastor's residence. Services were held for the 
 first time on Sexagesima Sunday 1835, but mass was not celebrated 
 publicly until Easter Sunday. As late as March 11th, 1834, the good 
 
 2 Cf. Father Benedict Roux' first and second letters, "From the Mouth of the 
 Kansas River," November 24, 181!.'! and March 11, 1834, printed in Garraghan, op. 
 cit., pp. 43, 48 and 50. 
 
 Vol, 1-20 
 
610 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 but rather scrupulous Father had not said mass, because for the first 
 four months he "did not have the least little place respectable enough for 
 an action so august and holy." • The reason given for omitting mass 
 the rest of the time is still less acceptable: the danger to his health 
 owing to the distance from his residence to the church, and the difficulty 
 of getting something to eat after his long fast. It is plain, the young 
 missionary was not as yet sufficiently seasoned to be of much use among 
 the hardy frontiermeii and Indians. Father Roux's mind was more 
 esthetic than ascetic. " A very pretty little altar . . . with a touch of 
 dainty elegance and four chandeliers as bright as gold" consoled him 
 Sunday after Sunday for the lack of the holy sacrifice. 
 
 But from Easter Sunday on, this seeming lethargy was shaken 
 off. He acquired forty acres of land within the present site of Kansas 
 City, for a consideration of six dollars on which he proposed to build 
 the log church to be dedicated to St. Francis Regis. From his temporary 
 home he visited the little towns and settlement of the neighborhood 
 preaching everywhere in English and French, baptizing and saying 
 mass. The hope of getting the Sisters of Charity for the town of Liberty 
 buoys him up. At last he succeeds in having a house built for his 
 residence on his forty-acre lot at Kawsmouth. In the fall of 1834 he 
 hopes to have his Church started. "It all depends on You," he writes 
 to the Bishop, "by sending me the hundred dollars You subscribed." 
 Bishop Rosati sent his contribution and, at the same time offered to 
 send a colony of Sisters of St. Joseph, who were then expected from 
 France. But Father Roux felt obliged to decline the offer, as the 
 Sisters did not speak English, and as no support could be given them 
 amid the poverty of his surroundings. The parishioners of Father 
 Roux were, for the most part, rough voyagers and trappers, thought- 
 less of tomorrow and careless of eternity. Besides they were engaged 
 in a bitter feud with the Mormons, who then infested Jackson County. 
 The few American Catholics from Kentucky were the priest's great con- 
 solation through their piety and regularity of life. 
 
 Father Roux' projected Church was still a-building, in spite of 
 Bishop Rosati 's generous contribution: Mass was still said in the 
 rented chapel two miles from his home. Sickness overtook the pastor, 
 and the sheep strayed hither and thither in the wilderness. The 
 Catholics of his Congregation were indeed "incapable of supporting 
 a priest decently, being too few in number," and we might add, too 
 shiftless in character. "Yet," he exclaimed, "even though I had 
 nothing but corn-bread to eat, I will not abandon them." Either to 
 die or Deo adjuvante, to succeed, such is the determination I have 
 taken." As to his building projects they had all failed, because the 
 good old Mr. Bouvet in whom he had put all his trust, proved to 
 
Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City 611 
 
 be incapable of taking them in hand and expediting the erection of 
 the buildings in question." 3 
 
 Father Roux's ministry at "the Mouth of the Kansas River" was 
 now drawing to a close. Bishop Rosati expressed his intention of 
 sending him to Kaskaskia, and the rumor reached the good Father's ear. 
 
 "I am perfectly indifferent," he Avrote to his Bishop on February 
 12th, 1835, "to go wherever it will please you, and to stay wherever 
 it will please you, here even, if you think it best. I only pray you 
 to let me know your intentions in this matter as soon as possible, so 
 that I may know on whom to rely in regard to several things. I am 
 very anxious to go down to St. Louis and spend some days in retreat ; 
 for it seems an age since I have had the happiness of approaching 
 the tribunal of penance. In the meantime kindly give me some of 
 your excellent prayers." 4 
 
 Towards the end of April he started for St. Louis and on May 
 11th, expressed his regrets at being obliged to leave the forlorn people 
 of the Missouri frontier. "I experience intolerable pain to think that 
 I must part from those poor sheep which I have brought, though in 
 truth with difficulty, to the Lord 's fold ; docile now to the voice of 
 their pastor, they were coming regularly on fixed days to slake their 
 thirst in the waters of the spring salientis usque an vitam aeternam. 
 Many among them, it is true, were still far astray on the paths of 
 perdition ; but they were beginning to make their bleatings heard, 
 announcing therebj- their desire to return to wholesome and abundant 
 pastures." 5 
 
 No doubt, Father Roux was sincere in making this plaintive re- 
 traction of what he had said in former letters. And that this more cheer- 
 ful outlook really had better justification, than the gloomier one of 
 desponding days, is evident from the results attained within the brief 
 period of eighteen months. 
 
 "I have at Independence or in its vicinity, only some twenty 
 Catholic families, French, American, Indian. And yet nineteen persons 
 have fulfilled their Easter duty, while ten others presented themselves 
 at the sacred tribunal for this purpose. I heard the confession of all 
 the Catholic children, over nine years. Six made their first com- 
 munion on Easter Day. From June 4, 1834, to April 26, 1835, I bap- 
 tized nineteen persons, three of whom were of advanced age. Many 
 
 3 Jean B. Bouvet, a layman, upon whose mechanical abilities Father Roux hail 
 set great hopes, in regard to the erection of the proposed church. 
 
 4 Eoux to Eosati, February 12, 1835, Archives. 
 
 5 Eoux to Eosati, May 11, 1835, Archives. 
 
(ill 1 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Americans were pleased to come and listen to my poor English. Several 
 were preparing to receive baptism on my return to the mouth of the 
 Kansas River. A subscription has been taken up amounting to nearly 
 $400 towards building a church and presbytery of nicely squared 
 logs. Both buildings, according to the contract, must be delivered in 
 August of this year. Moreover, the population of the eastern stairs 
 is shifting westward in large numbers. Within a few years Jackson 
 County will be one of the most populous of the State of Missouri. 
 This Catholic congregation is small indeed ; still there is good to be 
 done there, and a great deal to put up with, and such ought to be the 
 portion of a priest who wishes to walk in the footsteps of the Great 
 Pastor of sheep. If you are willing, Monseigneur, to send me back 
 there, I will return with great pleasure; if, on the contrary, it is your 
 intention to place me elseAvhere, I will also with great pleasure be- 
 take myself to whatever post you or your Vicar-General will assign 
 me . . . " 6 
 
 Bishop Rosati thought, and justly so, that Father Roux would 
 accomplish more good and have more peace of mind in a parish of 
 older date and higher culture and accordingly appointed him pastor 
 of Kaskaskia. (July 21st.) in place of Father Conclamine, who was 
 to take charge of the missions of Northern Illinois. The old church 
 of the Immaculate Conception at Kaskaskia had been, for a long 
 time, in a dilapidated condition, partly through the great earthquake 
 of 1813, partly through simple neglect. For as sloth is the most de- 
 structive force in regard to spiritual life, so neglect is the silent, slow, 
 yet surest destroyer of material things. Kaskaskia had full experience 
 of this truth in its decline and fall. The church built to stand for 
 ages, at last had to be wrecked lest it bury the Congregation under its 
 ruins. A church of wood replaced the stone structure. The convent 
 and school of the Visitation Nuns also fell under Father Roux's 
 spiritual care, and on November 30th, 1837, he resigned the parish 
 and retained spiritual charge of the Convent. In 1844, Father Roux 
 was stationed at the Cathedral, where he remained until 1846. It is 
 said that he then returned to France. 
 
 The sum of Father Benedict Roux's achievements in the mission- 
 ary and pastoral fields does not loom very large : yet he deserves 
 honorable mention as the founder of the first Congregation on the site 
 of one of our great episcopal cities. Besides, the work he did accom- 
 plish on the western frontier of civilization, had to be done in prepara- 
 tion for the far greater results attained by his successor. Pioneering 
 
 a Eoux to Rosati, May 11, 1835. Archives. 
 
Catholic Beginnings of Kansas City 613 
 
 is always an ungrateful task and it usually claims the life, or at least, 
 the health of the pioneer. "Father Roux was a man of sincere personal 
 piety and exemplary integrity of life" as Father Garraghan sums up 
 his character, "a stickler for all that pertained to the accuracy and 
 even splendor of church-ceremonial. In zeal for souls, he surely was 
 not lacking." 7 A characteristic touch is added to this sketch of a 
 good and earnest though not successful priest by one of Kansas City's 
 pioneers, who said : "he was a little smooth-shaven Frenchman, slight 
 of build and delicate. That is all we know about him. But he did 
 good work. ' ' 8 
 
 i Garraghan, op. cit., p. 83 and 84. 
 
 s A brief chronicle of Kaskaskia compiled by Father Eoux, in 1839, may be 
 found in "Illinois Catholic Historical Eeview, " October, 1918. 
 
Chapter 22 
 FATHER BRICKWEDDE OF QUINCY 
 
 By the Bull of Pope Gregory XVI, 1834, the western hall' of Illinois 
 became an integral part of the diocese of St. Louis, whilst the eastern 
 portion with Chicago was attached to the diocese of Vincennes. Father 
 Saint Cyr was withdrawn from his outpost on Lake Michigan and 
 in response to the repeated request of Father Lefevere, appointed to 
 Quincy and the other Illinois missions in the vicinity, which had been 
 formed by that ubiquitous missionary. It was high time that some- 
 thing be done on a larger scale for these and other very promising 
 missions in the • interior of the State. In 1837 the church stood 
 firmly rooted on the banks of the Mississippi from St. Louis to Galena, 
 Dubuque and Prairie du Chien, and now began to branch out east 
 and west, but naturally with greater vigor along the chief tributary 
 of the Mississippi above its confluence with the Missouri, the haunted 
 stream of Indian legend and Christian tradition, the far-famed Illinois 
 of Father Marquette's eulogy: "We had seen nothing like this view 
 for fertility of the land its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, 
 wild cats, swans, ducks, parrots and even beaver; its many lakes and 
 rivers. That on which we sailed is broad and deep and gentle for 
 sixty-five leagues." 1 
 
 This beautiful and diversified country running diagonally through 
 the heart of Illinois, from the neighborhood of St. Louis towards 
 Chicago, was being rapidly reclaimed from the state of wild nature. 
 From 1833 on, Father Lefevere had visited the scattered settlements 
 as far east as Sangamon County. But now the increase in population 
 required a concerted movement of numerous soldiers of the Cross to 
 do battle with the enemy, and to conquer the land for Christ. In 
 1837, Father Lefevere is succeeded in Quincy by Father August F. 
 Brickwedde ; in Fountain Green, and in the stations around the head- 
 waters of Crooked Creek, by Father Saint Cyr; in Springfield, a 
 year and a half later, by George A. Hamilton, whilst the English- 
 speaking people of Quincy received their own pastor in the person 
 of Father Hilary Tucker. In 1838, the Vincentian Fathers J. B. Raho 
 and Aloysius Parodi entered upon their most fruitful labors in and 
 around La Salle County, whilst Alton, having been visited by Father 
 E. Debruyn, S.J., since 1836, received its first resident priest Father 
 James Flynn, in February 1838. Father Lefevere had made a special 
 
 1 Shea, "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," 2nd Ed., 
 p. 54. 
 
 (614) 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 615 
 
 plea to the Bishop for Quincy, his first mission in Illinois and had 
 been promised as assistant, Father Saint Cyr of Chicago. Father 
 Lefevere expressed his great joy and gratitude, especially as Father 
 Saint Cyr was reported to be a fair German scholar. For more than 
 half of the Catholics of Quincy were German. In fact Bishop Rosati 
 had been asked to send the only German priests he then had, Father 
 Lutz or Father Helias, S.J., to Quincy, at least two or three times 
 a year. Father Saint Cyr received his appointment to Quincy, June 
 12th, 1837, and was about to start for his new and promising field, 
 when something unforeseen occured that changed Bishop Rosati 's plans. 
 A large congregation of German Catholic emigrants, accompanied by 
 their priest, August Florentius Brickwedde, arrived in St. Louis, in- 
 tent upon a settlement somewhere in the wilds of Missouri or Illinois. 
 
 Augustus Florentius Brickwedde was born June 24, 1805, at 
 Fuerstenau ; Kingdom of Hanover, diocese of Osnabrueck. He was 
 descended from a distinguished family of jurists ; his Father, an able 
 counselor at law, held the position of Circuit Judge at Bersenbrueck. 
 Having completed his classical course at Osnabrueck, and his philosoph- 
 ical and theological studies at the universities of Munich and Bonn, 
 young Augustus was ordained priest in the Cathedral of Hildesheim, 
 September 20, 1830. The young curate of five years' experience 
 in the ministry casually hearing of the great need of missionaries in 
 far-away America, especially among the German colonists who were 
 just then beginning to make their numerous settlements in the new 
 world, decided to devote his life and talents to their service. The 
 Bishop of Osnabriick, Dr. Liipke, gave him his dimissorials and his 
 paternal blessing, and the young enthusiast set out for America in 
 company of a band of German emigrants, in May 1837, arriving in 
 New York, July 4th, of the same year. 
 
 When Father Brickwedde arrived in St. Louis,- Bishop Rosati 
 was absent from home, and Father Lutz received the stranger as a 
 guest, until the Bishop could dispose of him. Then he wrote a letter 
 communicating the news. Father Lutz seems to have been in con- 
 stant fear of displeasing the Bishop ; and the letter of July 24, bears 
 witness to the fact: 
 
 "It appears rather singular," it says "that, just at the time of 
 your absence from home, German priests should happen to arrive. 
 However, though this coincidence may have at times, proven disagree- 
 able to your Reverence, it will not, I hope prove so at present. Per- 
 haps you say, that I have suffered myself to be imposed upon once 
 more. To this I answer: That I shall always invariably follow, and 
 have followed in the present case your precepts, as far as the personal 
 circumstances of the individuals require it. Being aware of your 
 just severity on this point, I was at first inclined not to receive 
 the German Priest at your house; but having examined his papers, 
 
616 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 especially his dimissorial letters from his Bishop, the Rev. Dr. Liipke 
 of Osnabriick, and moreover became acquainted with the particulars 
 relating to his mission hither, 1 thought it more proper to receive 
 him, than to let him stay out of the house, whilst he has no acquain- 
 tances. He appears to be a worthy ecclesiastic, and well disposed to 
 consecrate his labors to the salvation of so many hundreds of his 
 fellow country-men that are scattered all over your diocese. I told 
 him to wait, till you should return and to abstain from celebrating 
 Mass; in short, he approved with his whole heart without the least 
 displeasure, of your measures in relation to the admittance of German 
 priests. You remember, that, a few years ago, I had written a letter 
 to a worthy German priest of the name of Beckmann in Osnabriick, 
 to which letter you deigned to add a few lines. The answer received 
 from the said Revd. gentleman expressed his own wish, yet actual 
 impossibility of doing as he wished, to join your clergy. This priest, 
 therefore, the Revd. August Brickwedde, came, as it Avere, in the 
 place of the former. He is 32 years old and apparently of a strong 
 constitution. I have to observe, that with regard to the censuras 
 ecclesiasticas, nothing at all is said in his dimissoral letters. The 
 latter amongst other things state, Dictum Vicarium Augustum Brick- 
 w 7 edde, per plures jam annos in animarum cura subsidaria versatum, 
 optime Nobis Commendatum existere, proindeque eundem Reverendis- 
 simis Dnis. in Reg. America Episcopis enixe a nobis commendari." 
 
 Indeed, Bishop Rosati had received a letter from Bishop Liipke 
 in regard to the mission and personality of Father Brickwedde, and 
 was well pleased to secure such a helper in his greatest need. For 
 did not Father Lefevere insist that a good part of the congregation 
 of Quincy consisted of Germans, who required the ministry of a 
 German priest. Father Brickwedde was immediately adopted and 
 sent to Quincy for the purpose of founding a German parish, the first 
 national parish in the Mississippi Valley, whilst the English-speaking 
 Catholics of Quincy were to be under the pastoral care of Father Saint 
 Cyr who, however, was to reside at Fountain Creen. It is not known 
 whether Father Saint Cyr ever came to Quincy. In his report for 
 1837, he writes: "I did not include in the number of my parishioners 
 the English Catholics of Quincy, because I thought that Rev. Brickwedde 
 will give their number in his report." 
 
 Father Brickwedde held his first service in the new parish on the 
 Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady. One of the upper 
 rooms of the dwelling of Adam Schmitt formed the chapel, and the 
 adjoining porch was enclosed to serve as the priest's sitting and sleep- 
 ing-room. The Parish was dedicated in honor of the Ascension of 
 Our Lord. At the first Mass there were only thirteen persons in 
 attendance, although the congregation numbered more than 170 souls. 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 617 
 
 There were only two baptisms and four burials in all Adams County 
 from August 15, to December 31, 1837. In January 1839, the pastor 
 writes that, since Pentecost, the services have been held in his own 
 house. On account of the dull times the people could not build the 
 church, but they were hopeful of building' one within the year. As 
 to -the spiritual progress of his people, Father Brickwedde has only 
 words of praise. 
 
 It is greatly to the credit of this German pastor of souls that 
 one of his first undertakings at Quincy, was to establish a school for 
 the lambs of his flock. School was taught in Father Brickwedde 's 
 own building, which also contained the church and priest's residence. 
 There were fourteen boys and ten girls in attendance the first year. 
 
 Father Brickwedde 's report, dated April 22nd, 1839, contains a 
 few more items of interest : Mass is still celebrated in the private 
 house of the pastor, but the place (a room 28x18 feet) cannot contain 
 the multitude. There is no farm attached to the parish, as the good 
 father had been accustomed to find in his native land; there are no 
 resources, the pastor lives on his own private fortune. Lately a Mr. 
 AVhitney donated to the Bishop a lot of ground on Main and Eighth 
 Streets, suitable for the erection of a Church, a hundred feet long 
 and forty wide. For the building of the Church about .$900 have been 
 subscribed, either in money or in labor. There are now 241 German 
 Catholics in the county and about 50 speaking the English language, 
 forming a rather floating population. Every Sunday there is High 
 Mass and a Sermon in the German language; at 2 o'clock in the 
 afternoon Catechism instruction for the children and the Rosary or 
 some other popular devotion. 
 
 In the course of his ministry Father Brickwedde extended his 
 efforts to the German settlements across the River in Iowa Territory. 
 There were many German Catholics in Lee County. At Fort Madison 
 he said Mass in the log-cabin of J. H. Dingman. Thence he proceed- 
 ed Sugar Creek, where he held divine service for the first time on 
 May 11th, 1838, in the newly erected barn of John Henry Kempker. 
 In the summer of the same year he built a little Church on the land of 
 Henry Holtkamp, which was dedicated to St. James. At Sugar Creek the 
 congregation consisted of fifty-four persons, all Germans, and had thirty- 
 four Easter-Communicants. Father Brickwedde 's visit to West Point 
 occurred on April 17th, 1839, two days before the arrival of Bishop 
 Loras in Dubuque. 2 
 
 As Father Saint Cyr, then residing at Fountain Green on Crooked 
 Creek, Illinois, failed to visit the English speakinu people of Quincy. 
 they were obliged to attend High Mass at Father Brickwedde 's church. 
 But as the good German priest was far from proficient in their 
 
 - Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
618 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 language, they naturally desired a priest of their own. Accordingly, 
 a lengthy petition was sent to Bishop Rosati on January 29th, 1839 : 
 It Avas signed hy J. S. Whitney, and read as follows: 
 
 "Rt. Rev. Sir: 
 
 "At a meeting of the Catholic congregation in this place, held on 
 the 20th inst., I was directed to communicate to the Bishop of the 
 diocese, its doings, and also some other points relating to this con- 
 gregation : 
 
 "The meeting was hold in the building occupied by us at present 
 as a church, and after service was ended. After some discussion of 
 the subject it was thought proper to take up a subscription, to as- 
 certain, what sum could be obtained for building a church here, the 
 ensuing season. Only a small part of the congregation was present, 
 but the sum of $475.00 was subscribed. On the 27th inst., after serv- 
 ice, the further sum of $75.00 Avas subscribed, making an aggregate 
 of $550.00. Sometime last Autumn, the hands then at work on the 
 railroad at this place, by agreement among themselves, advanced one 
 dollar each for the same purpose and paid the money amounting to 
 $90.00 over to the contractor, aa t 1io now has the money in his possession. 
 This item, added to the former, makes a total $640.00. A subscrip- 
 tion paper Avas circulated here a year or two ago for the purpose of 
 raising funds to build a church, but Avas thought not sufficient. The 
 paper, through carelessness, has been lost ; but it is believed that not 
 less than $200 will be obtained. This added makes $840.00. We 
 propose to raise the sum of $1,200.00, thinking that sum AA T ill be suf- 
 ficient to put up a brick building 50 feet long, 30 feet wide and 18 feet 
 high ; and enclose it so that it will receive no injury during the Avinter 
 and complete it next year. Not more than one-third of the congrega- 
 tion has as yet subscribed anything. The ladies of the congregation 
 propose to raise $100.00 by holding a fair from the sale of sundry 
 articles of their OAvn manufacture. The contractor (Mr. Reilly) on 
 the railroad is of opinion, there Avill come 300 men next spring to 
 Avork on the road, who will contribute something toward our proposed 
 undertaking. The known liberality of the Irish character is a sufficient 
 guarantee in this case. If unanimity prevails, there will be no dif- 
 ficulty in the case. Several think it Avill be expedient to complete the 
 edifice the present year and sell out the pews to defray a part of the 
 expense. I do not believe this will be necessary. If we make the 
 proper efforts, enough will be raised for the purpose, and a sale of 
 the pews might be reserved to raise a fund for the support of the 
 officiating clergyman and for purposes of charity. 
 
 As chairman of the meeting of which I have spoken, I Avas in- 
 structed to write this letter; and to say that this congregation is 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 619 
 
 composed of two classes of persons ; one class speaks the English 
 language and the other the German. The Rev. Mr. Brickwedde, who 
 officiates here, gives out all his instructions in the German language. 
 A very considerable portion of the congregation do not understand 
 a word of it, and I am directed to ask if a clergyman, able to speak 
 and preach in the English language, could not be sent here. We have 
 been informed, there is, at this time, a young gentleman, of the name 
 of Hamilton, who might be designated for this place. If so, I am 
 directed to say that a room for his accomodation and a suitable place 
 for him to board, will be ready for him on his arrival. "We wish, 
 all of us, however, to be distinctly understood, that by this we impute 
 no blame, we cast no censure on Mr. Brickwedde ; we believe him to 
 be an excellent and worthy man. But our desire is to be instructed 
 in our religious duty and that in a language we can understand. 
 
 But there is another subject that I am directed to mention, and 
 it seems more proper to do so to our Bishop than to any one else. 
 I cannot speak with entire accuracy, but I think I am not far from 
 it, when I say, there are here 150 persons who have not been to con- 
 fession for more than 15 mouths. If a standing rule of the church 
 is violated, it may be asked how can persons confess without a con- 
 fessor. Mr. Brickwedde cannot understand, unless he is addressed 
 in German. The above persons cannot do so for they cannot speak 
 that language. In this case, if Mr. Hamilton cannot come here, I 
 am directed to propose that some one of the Reverend clergy be 
 selected to come here for a few weeks, or even for a few days. 
 specially to attend to this congregation in the present state -of things. 
 
 The house we meet in at present, for public worship, will not 
 hold more than one-half of the congregation ,- and many do not attend 
 for the reason that the house will not hold them. Another reason 
 is That which I have already alluded to, that the instructions, at present, 
 are all in the German language. If we could also have preaching in 
 English we should endeavor to adopt this arrangement, that the Ger- 
 mans should attend the instructions of Mr. Brickwedde, and there 
 are enough of them to fill the house, and on such occasions to give up 
 the house exclusively to them during service : and if we could have 
 preaching in English, we would in turn exclusively occupy the house 
 and there would be enough of us to fill it. This as a temporary ar- 
 rangement, until Ave can build a house large enough to hold all, and 
 would be very satisfactory.*' 
 
 After a few irrelevant remarks the writer concludes his petition 
 with these words : 
 
 "Our increasing numbers will only make us weak, being like an 
 army without discipline, unless we have the leaching, the instruction 
 and discipline of the church." 
 
620 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 A postscript is added by the ladies of the congregation : 
 "Rt. Rev. Bishop Rosati : 
 
 The undersigned respectfully beg leave to add their names in an 
 earnest request that Mr. Hamilton be stationed at Quincy. 
 
 Mrs. R. M. Young. Miss Jane Field. 
 Mrs. Marie Field. Mrs. S. C. Rogers. 3 
 
 This petition is remarkable for more than one reason. The tone 
 is that of a cultured gentleman, and avoids all asperity and mere 
 fault-finding. Yet we cannot believe that Father Brickwedde in 1839, 
 was unable to hear confessions in English, for we have a number of 
 his letters in a kind of English, that is not, indeed, idiomatic, yet 
 would amply suffice for the office of a confessor. Some of these pro- 
 posed penitents must have been somewhat at fault in declining the 
 services of Father Brickwedde who, by all accounts, was a good zealous 
 priest. 
 
 The most remarkable thing in this document is the proposal of 
 separate congregations of English-speaking and German people. In- 
 deed Mr. Whitney of Quincy offered the plan only as a temporary 
 expedient, yet it was, no doubt, the occasion of Bishop Rosati 's action 
 in establishing the English speaking parish under Father St. Cyr's 
 successor, Father Hilary Tucker, and the German parish of the As- 
 cension of our Lord under Father Brickwedde. As this is the first 
 known case of such an arrangement, creating parishes on national 
 lines, we must conclude that the movement started, not with the Ger- 
 mans, as is commonly supposed, but rather with the native-born Cath- 
 olics. The Catholics of Quincy therefore must have the honor as well 
 as the responsibility of having inaugurated a movement that proved to 
 be of incalculable benefit to the Church in this country, saving hundreds 
 of thousands of immigrants from the imminent danger of losing their 
 Catholic faith. 
 
 About three months after this petition was sent to Bishop Rosati, 
 Father Brickwedde transmitted his official report on the condition of 
 "The Mission of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ" in Quincy. 
 We will render the original Latin in English and add a few illustra- 
 tions as the occasion offers. The document is dated : Quincy, 22nd of 
 April 1839: 
 
 1. The Mission under the title Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
 in Quincy, in the State of Illinois, County of Adams, is two hundred 
 miles from St. Louis. 
 
 2. Letters can be safely sent by mail to Quincy. 
 
 3. This mission has no church of its OAvn, but until now the holy 
 sacrifice of the Mass lias been offered up in a room of the house of the 
 
 3 Original in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 621 
 
 missionary, Brickwedde, which was blessed in the year 1838, on the 
 Feast of Pentecost ; it is of wood, and the outside is painted, and the 
 interior plastered, 28 feet long and 18 feet wide, and cannot hold the 
 multitude of the faithful. There are no bells, no baptismal font, no 
 confessionals. There is a tabernacle in which the Blessed Sacrament 
 is kept. The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials are properly 
 kept. 
 
 4. There is no parochial residence. 
 
 5. There is a public cemetery, but it is not blessed. 
 
 6. The mission owns no farms or aily other real estate. The 
 missionary must live at his own expense and the rare offerings of the 
 faithful. Recently Mr. "Whitney gave to the bishop of this territory 
 a site for a church-building to be built of stone, the lot is 100 feet 
 square, and conveniently situated on Main and Eighth Streets. For the 
 building of the church about 900 dollars have been subscribed, partly in 
 labor and partly in money. The deed for the gift will ere long be 
 sent to the Bishop of St. Louis. 
 
 7-8. There are 241 Catholic Germans. The English-speaking Cath- 
 olics number about 50 : But the exact number cannot be given, because 
 every day some workmen arrive and others depart. 
 
 9. The word of God is preached every Sunday and Holy Day in 
 the German language, and High Mass is sung. On the same days, at 
 two o'clock in the afternoon the children are instructed in Christian 
 Doctrine, after that Vespers are held and the Rosary is recited in 
 public or some other devotion held. 
 
 10. There is a Catholic school in Quincy attended by fourteen 
 boys and ten girls. My missionary station in Iowa territory is situated 
 in Lee County, on Sugar Creek. The number of souls there, is 62, all 
 speaking the German language. They have offered six acres of land 
 in a very suitable place for a church, cemetery and priest's residence. 
 They are very anxious for a priest speaking the German language." 4 
 
 This report of Father Brickwedde contains a number of very 
 interesting items. The first church in Quincy has the title of the 
 Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is so designated in the records 
 as early as 1836. The name must therefore have been given by the 
 earliest missionary visiting the place, the Rev. Peter Paul Lefevere. 
 It seems probable that Father Lefevere came to Quincy on his great 
 missionary excursion in 1834, on the Feast of the Ascension, and was 
 then moved to designate the new mission by that glorious title. This 
 name is found in all the records and reports until 1848, when for 
 the first time we meet with the title St. Boniface, for what had been 
 
 4 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
622 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the mission and parish of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 It is plain, however, that not only the present Parish of St. Boniface, 
 but ;ill the churches of Quincy have their origin in the humble mission 
 of Father Brickwedde. 
 
 At the time of Father Brickwedde 's report, Quincy was a city 
 of about 1800 inhabitants and enjoyed the facilities of the mail-service, 
 two steamers making weekly trips up the .Mississippi and touching at 
 Quincy. The house of Father Brickwedde, temporarily used for divine 
 service, was situated on Broadway and Eleventh Street. The extreme 
 poverty of our early western missions is' brought before us very 
 vividly by the few words of the missionary: "No bells, no baptismal 
 font, no confessional;" only the tabernacle with our Lord's sweet 
 presence amid all these signs of desolation. But this Divine Presence 
 richly made up for all these privations. Two small rooms adjoining 
 the church were reserved for the missionary. It was the intention of 
 Father Brickwedde to build the new church spoken of in the petition 
 sent to Bishop Rosati, on the lot adjoining the temporary place of 
 worship, and then to use the old building as a parish residence. But 
 the plan was nut carried out, as the location seemed unsuitable for 
 church purposes, and Mr. Whitney had given a new site on Main and 
 Eighth Streets. When Father Hilary Tucker arrived to take charge 
 of the English-speaking Catholics of Quincy, about May 1839, he 
 claimed the donation of Mr. Whitney for his congregation and started 
 to build his church upon it. The German Catholics, however, bought 
 a plot of ground on Seventh Street. The contract was closed June 
 17, 1839, and preparations for building a church were immediately 
 begun. Under date of June 13, 1839, Father Hilary Tucker writes 
 to Bishop Rosati: "The Germans are also making preparations for 
 commencing their church. Father Brickwedde went about collecting 
 whatever he could for the building. It is said that, almost all the 
 brick necessary were donated by the owners of the brick yard. Father 
 Tucker states that the cost of brick was three dollars per thousand de- 
 livered, or nine dollars in the wall. Other parishioners furnished all 
 the 'stone for the foundations, others again offered to do the excavating 
 gratis, others the hauling of the building material. Money was rather 
 scarce at the time, but by the united efforts of these sturdy Germans 
 the walls were raised up to the roof. During the winter the farmers 
 cut the timbers and the shingles for the roof, whilst Father Brickwedde 
 was on a collecting tour to the East and South, to raise the funds for 
 completing the church. This trip was begun in November 1839, and 
 carried him as far as New Orleans, where he was the guest of Bishop 
 Anthony Blanc, at St. Mary's of the Assumption. Here he was from 
 December 21, 1839 to January 5, 1840. Father Brickwedde must have 
 had good success collecting ; for the work on the church was resumed in 
 early spring and completed during the summer of 1840. About the 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 623 
 
 same time Father Brickwedde bought additional ground near the church 
 and erected his parish residence. 
 
 But we have run ahead of the year 1839 ; let us return to the 
 Report. 
 
 There was no Catholic cemetery in Quincy in 1839, the public 
 cemetery was on the site of the present courthouse where a few of the 
 early Catholics found burial. Since 1839, the second public cemetery 
 was opened on Broadway and Twenty-fourth Street. The first mention 
 of a Catholic Cemetery in Quincy belonging to St. Boniface Church 
 is found in the early part of 1841. 
 
 As to landed property, the mission of Quincy had none, except 
 the lot donated by John Wood for Church purposes. But this lot was 
 sold with the consent of the donor, when the new site was chosen. 
 A fixed salary for the missionary was, of course, out of question. 
 Father Brickwedde had some means of his own, and received occasional 
 contributions from his parishioners, but no doubt, he often found him- 
 self reduced to real want. Yet he bore his lot patiently : in all his 
 letters to the Bishop we found no word of complaint and no im- 
 portunate begging. The people too, were poor in earthly goods, though 
 rich in grace and hope. There were 241 souls, all Germans; The 
 Irish and American Catholics falling to Father Tucker's charge soon 
 after the date of the report. Father Brickwedde preached regularly 
 in German, as he had not the facility of English speech. Father 
 Brickwedde had a choir : every Sunday and Holy Day, there was 
 High Mass at the church in the morning and Vespers in the afternoon. 
 Catechetical instruction for the children was given regularly every 
 Sunday afternoon. 
 
 Besides all these points of distinction Father Brickwedde enjoys 
 the honor of being one of the pioneers of our present system of 
 parochial schools in the Mississippi Valley. The parochial school is 
 the bulwark of the Church in America. "No Church without a school," 
 is our watchword today. But we know of no parochial school establish- 
 ed by a secular priest in this our western country before 1839, save 
 that humble plant of Father Brickwedde 's in Quincy with its fourteen 
 boys and ten girls. Convent schools and ladies' academies we had here 
 and there in Kaskaskia, Florissant, Perryville, Fredericktown, St. Louis 
 and in various places in Kentucky and the South, but the first parochial 
 school established by a parish and for a parish, was that of Father 
 Brickwedde conducted by the missionary himself in a small room in 
 the first church building on Broadway and Eleventh Street in Quincy, 
 Illinois. Father Brickwedde confined his priestly activities to Quincy 
 and its immediate surroundings. His office of school-teacher almost 
 required this restriction. Yet, once a year at Easter time, he visited 
 the German settlement on Sugar Creek, in Lee County, Iowa, the 
 present West Point. Fort Madison was on his way, and there is a 
 
624 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 record of a baptism administered by him in that place. On one of 
 these trips he writes, "The steamboat that took me there and back 
 ran aground on the rapids in the Mississippi River, which detained 
 me eight days." On account of this mishap Father Brickwedde was 
 unable to attend the diocesan synod held in St. Louis, April 21. 
 1839. Bishop Rosati never came to Quincy. The first visit of a 
 Catholic Bishop for the purpose of Confirmation was that of the 
 newly consecrated Peter Richard Kenriek in 1842. Father Brickwedde 's 
 way of life was most simple and laborious. To teach his little band 
 of pupils was his delight. The love of prayer sustained him in 
 all trials. On sleepless nights he would rise and go to the altar in 
 the adjoining room and pray for the poor souls, who, he was wont 
 to say, had called for him. 
 
 In 1843, Quincy became a part of the newly erected diocese of 
 Chicago, which included the entire state of Illinois, and thereby Father 
 Brickwedde 's connection with Bishop Rosati 's diocese came to an end. 
 On the 26th day of May 1847, Bishop Quarter of Chicago laid the 
 cornerstone of the new church of St. Boniface which was not com- 
 pleted until Pentecost day 1848. The comparatively heavy debt of 
 .$1,600.00 dollars resting on the congregation, induced Father Brick- 
 wedde to undertake another collecting excursion, this time to his old 
 home in Northern Germany. It was a day of great rejoicing for 
 all the good Quincy people when Archbishop Kenriek of St. Louis, 
 came to consecrate the new church of St. Boniface the apostle of the 
 Germans, October 22, 1848. 
 
 But unfortunately, this new church was to become the sad occasion 
 of dissension between the pastor and a portion of his flock. Bishop 
 Van De Velde of Chicago stood up for the good and generous priest, 
 and when the rebellious element met even their own bishop with 
 imprecations and threats of violence, the bishop ordered the church 
 closed. Father Brickwedde departed from the scene of his long and 
 faithful labors on March 16, 1849, and on the very next day the 
 first cases of cholera in Quincy were reported. To the good people 
 of Quincy this seemed a divine visitation for the scandal given, and 
 they begged the bishop to send them a priest. Two Jesuit Fathers 
 were placed in charge for the time being. But owing to the stubborn 
 perversity of the ring-leaders of the movement against Father Brick- 
 wedde, the church was closed once more, until another, and now terrible 
 invasion of the cholera softened the hearts of the most hardened. 
 Father Kuenster restored peace to the storm-tossed congregation. 3 Father 
 Brickwedde did not return to Quincy, but received the appointment 
 to the mission in Libory Settlement or Mud Creek, where he built 
 
 • r > Cf. Bruenner, Theodore, " Katholische Kirchengesehiehte Quincy 's im Staate 
 Illinois," Quincy, 1887. 
 
Father Brickwedde of Quincy 625 
 
 a new church of brick in 1849, and which he enlarged in 1862. In 
 the course of time the untiring priest built a parish residence, a 
 school and a house for the Sisters teaching his school. In 1857 he 
 accompanied his Bishop, Damian Junker, on his visit to Rome. In 
 November 1865, Father Brickwedde came to St. Louis on a visit, was 
 taken ill on the return trip, at Belleville, where he died, November 
 21, 1865. The people of Libory carried home his remains in solemn 
 procession and buried them in the church-yard near the sanctuary 
 he had served so faithfully. Many hardships the good Father had 
 undergone in his missionary life ; many good and even heroic deeds 
 he had done for God's honor and the welfare of the poor and sor- 
 rowing; many a disappointment and many a reproach and contradic- 
 tion he had borne in patience, from those he had never harmed ; there- 
 fore his name is still in benediction and his life, though closed, is 
 still a power for good in the places once blessed by his presence ; he 
 was worthy to walk in the footprints of Father Marquette. 
 
Chapter 23 
 THE VISITANDINES OF KASKASKIA 
 
 The great Ages of Faith knew none other hut cloistered nuns : 
 the disturbed condition of the Church following in the wake of the 
 Reformation, seemed to call for religious communities of women that 
 should undertake the active works of charity and consequently be 
 free from enclosure. St. Francis de Sales, in founding the "Daughters 
 of the Visitation of Saint Mary" at first intended that they should 
 combine the labors of Mary and Martha, and should be free, after 
 their year of novitiate, to engage in the duties of active life. In 
 1815, he abandoned this idea, and erected his congregation into a 
 cloistered order. The Sisters of St. Joseph, about eighty years later, 
 were to realize the plan reluctantly given up by the Bishop of Geneva. 
 "Father John Paul Medaille, S.J.'' appropriating one of the dearest 
 ideas of the holy Founder of the Visitation, and desiring to see form- 
 ed a community of women, who should unite the life of Martha with 
 that of Mary, the exterior works of charity with the repose of con- 
 templation, submitted the plan to the Bishop of Le Puy, Henry de 
 Maupas de Tour. A congregation of women with simple vows, de- 
 voted to teaching and the works of charity to the poor, the sick, and 
 afflicted, was formed in 1696, in the city of Lyons. The first Sisters 
 of St. Joseph were Frances Rambion, Jeanne Pellet, and Frances 
 Allion. 
 
 Now r , it is a noteworthy fact, that the Daughters of the Visitation 
 and the Sisters of St. Joseph were the fourth and fifth religious in- 
 stitute of women introduced into the diocese of St. Louis by Bishop 
 Rosati, the Visitandines in Kaskaskia, in 1833, the Sisters of St. 
 Joseph in Cahokia and Carondelet, in 1836. 
 
 The early labors and vicissitudes of these two Sisterhoods so in- 
 timately related in their origin, shall form the theme of this and the 
 following chapter. 
 
 "In 1833, on the 3rd, of May," writes the later chronicler of 
 Kaskaskia, Father Benedict Koux in 1838, 1 "there arrived at this 
 place a noble little colony, composed of nine nuns, having started 
 from the Convent of the Visitation at Georgetown, D. C. on the 17th, 
 of April of the same year. The superior quality of their talents, 
 the refinement of their manners, the soundness of their religious princi- 
 ples, the amiability of their piety, the generosity of their sentiments, 
 
 i Kaskaskia, by Benedict Koux, in "Illinois Catholic Historical Review, 1 
 vol. I, pp. 203 and 204. 
 
 (626) 
 
The Visitandines of Kaskaskia 627 
 
 their consecration to God ... all this assemblage of qualities strongly 
 induced Kaskaskia to favor and support these heroines." As this 
 is the first religious community of women established on the soil 
 of Illinois, and as the history of these Visitandines is so intimately 
 connected with the religious development of St. Louis it seems proper 
 to dwell at greater length on the story of their early years. 
 
 Kaskaskia deserves to be called the cradle of Western civilization, 
 yet at the time of the sisterhoods coming, the glory of Kaskaskia 
 had departed. Politically, commercially and ecclesiastically it was but 
 a shadow if its former self. War, earthquakes, and floods had done 
 their worst in this once so flourishing region : yet there were rem- 
 nants of its ancient greatness: the old French Catholic families, and 
 a number of American converts. To an enthusiastic soul like Bishop 
 Rosati the prospects of religion among such a people must have ap- 
 peared very bright, indeed, if he could only succeed in establishing 
 among them some religious institution that would attract and elevate 
 the female portion of the population. In anticipation of such an es- 
 tablishment Father Matthew Condamine was appointed resident pastor 
 of the ancient parish in October 1832. About the same time Bishop 
 Rosati applied to Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore for a colony of 
 the Visitandines, and received a favorable answer to his request. The 
 following are the names of the sisters of the foundation: Mother M. 
 H. Agnes Brent, superior; Sr. M. Genevieve King, assistant and mis- 
 tress of novices; Sr. M. Helen Flannigan, directress of the school; 
 Sr. M. Isabella King, teacher, sacristan, robier, etc; Sr. M. Josephine 
 Barber, postulant; Sr. Catherine Rose Murray lay sister, cook, etc.'' 
 
 The sisters traveled under the protection of Mr. Richard Queen, 
 a Catholic gentleman, and brother-in-law to Sister M. Genevieve. 
 
 Sr. M. Josephine, the postulant wrote a picturesque account of 
 this journey, 2 which together with some letters of Archbishop Eccles- 
 ton 3 form the sources of this interesting episode. 
 
 From Baltimore to Frederick the journey was made by train, 
 the ascent of the Allegheny Mountains was accomplished in stage 
 coaches, at Wheeling the traveling party took the steamboat and re- 
 mained over Sunday in Louisville. The journey down the Ohio and 
 up the Mississippi passed off without any noticeable incident. But 
 for some unknown reason the Sisters were landed at St. Marys on 
 the Missouri side. When on the next day they sent Mr. Queen across 
 the river they found that no preparations had been made at Kaskaskia 
 
 2 "The First Convent in Illinois.'' Reminiscences of Si-. Josephine Barber, 
 edited by Helen Troesch in ''Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vol. 1, pp. 352 
 371. 
 
 3 The letters of Archbishop Eeeleston to Bishop Rosati arc in the Archives of 
 St. Louis Archdiocese and were published in the "Illinois Catholic Historical Re- 
 view," vol. I, pp. 500-500. 
 
628 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 for their reception. They were discouraged and wanted to return 
 lo the mot her house: but the counsels of Mother Agnes and Sister 
 Gonzaga prevailed: with bag and baggage they crossed the mighty 
 river. At the landing, Father Condamine, the parish priest, awaited 
 them, and placed them, for the time being, in the spacious house of 
 William Morrison, 4 the entire second floor being appropriated to their 
 use. On the following Saturday they held a reception for the elite 
 of the town. On Sunday Father Condamine explained to the Con- 
 gregation the purport of the Sisters' coming, and on Monday they be- 
 gan to prepare their own house. It was a store belonging to Colonel 
 Pierre Menard 5 and lent to them free of rent -Counters and shelves 
 were removed, and one room was arranged for a chapel with altar 
 and tabernacle. Father Condamine here gave them Mass four times 
 a week, on Sundays saying two masses, one for the Congregation 
 and the other for the Sisters. "Donations of all kinds were pouring 
 in from our friends — provisions, beds, blankets, culinary utensils, etc. 
 They also gave us a chair apiece, which, until benches could be made, 
 we carried up and down, from the choir to the refectory, and thence 
 to the assembly room. ' ' 
 
 The Morrison and the Menard families were especially solicitious 
 for the w r ell-being of the sisters and generous in their support. 
 
 But the house proved too small for the purposes of the Community. 
 The old Kaskaskia Hotel, how standing vacant and in a ruinous con- 
 dition, being offered them rent-free was accepted and fitted up for 
 Academy and dwelling. The former bar-room became the children's 
 refectory and playroom. "The townsfolk, especially the Morrison and 
 Menard families, were highly gratified at seeing us so comfortably 
 located, and immediately placed their daughters at our school. Mr. 
 "Win. Morrison had four daughters: Colonel Menard had an only 
 daughter, and a number of grand-daughters and nieces whom we edu- 
 cated, and wdio, learning nearly all the extras, were very profitable. 
 He likewise procured us patronage among his friends and agents in 
 St. Louis and the country around; but for him and the Morrison 
 families we could not have remained in Kaskaskia." 
 
 "In the summer of 1835, Bishop Rosati being again in Kaskaskia, 
 Mother Agnes spoke to him about selecting a spot for our future 
 building, and he, accompanied by some others, went with her to see 
 the lots proposed. The ground was fixed upon and purchased, Colonel 
 
 4 William Morrison one of the most distinguished characters of early Illinois; 
 his sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Morrison, was a convert of remarkable intelligence and 
 extensive information. 
 
 •> Pierre Menard was a Canadian by birth. He held various offices of honor 
 and trust, among them the Lieutenant Governorship of the state of Illinois. 
 
 G Troeschj op. <-it . , "Illinois Catholic Historical Review, " vol. T. p. 362. 
 
The Visitandines of Kaskaskia 629 
 
 Menard advancing the money; but the greatest difficulty was in pro- 
 curing workmen and materials, no such things being found in Kaskaskia. 
 We wrote on to Baltimore to Mr. Wheeler, nephew of the late Father 
 Wheeler, and son of the architect by whom the convent in Georgetown 
 was built in 1831. He came out West and undertook our business. 
 First of all in concert with Colonel Menard, he had a brick-yard 
 started in Kaskaskia ; but as there was no demand for the article 
 (except for ourselves) in this town, where business was stagnant, 
 a year-indeed, I think two years-elapsed ere a second kiln was ready 
 for burning. Our house repeatedly came to a standstill, the workmen 
 deserting, etc. ; and when Mother Agnes resigned her charge in May 
 1836, very little more than the foundations were laid. Mr. Wheeler 
 now proposed to begin a frame building, which should be contiguous 
 to the one in brick already commenced ; for, being a carpenter, it 
 would be in his power to carry on the latter, as he himself would re- 
 main on the spot and assist in the work, which he promised to have 
 finished before autumn." 7 
 
 It was at this juncture in July 1835, that Father Condamine 
 was succeeded by Father Benedict Roux as pastor of Kaskaskia, and 
 spiritual director of the Sisters. During his administration of the 
 parish the old Church of the Immaculate Conception, once the pride 
 of the Valley, was demolished to make room for a new structure of 
 wood. On November 30th, 1838, Father Roux, having asked to be 
 relieved of the Parish, but to keep the care of the Convent and Academy 
 was succeeded by Father Timothy Conway. In 1839, Father John 
 Mary Saint Cyr succeeded both Fathers as Pastor of the Parish and 
 Spiritual Director of the Sisters. 
 
 The building of the Sisters House made but slow progress : and 
 in consequence of this and other causes a certain amount of dissatis- 
 faction had found a hold among some of the nuns. Devoted as they 
 were to the contemplative life and interior mortification in the spirit 
 of St. Francis de Sales, the Visitandines of Kaskaskia, were still suc- 
 ceptible of human feelings in as far as they keenly realized the hardness, 
 and all but hopelessness of the struggle in which they were engaged. 
 Archbishop Eccleston's letters reflect, as in the mirror of a great soul, 
 this struggle between nature and grace, between high ideals and adverse 
 circumstances, as manifested in the history of Kaskaskia Convent. 
 
 About three years after the foundation of Kaskaskia Convent 
 and Archbishop Eccleston was made aware of the first rumblings of dis- 
 content. On May 27th, 1836, he wrote to Bishop Rosati : 
 
 "I deem it proper to inform you," he wrote to Bishop Rosati, 
 "that I received sometime ago letters from Sister Genevieve and Sister 
 Ambrosia of the House of the Visitation at Kaskaskia expressing 
 
 Troesch, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 363 and 364. 
 
630 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 great discontent at their present situation and earnestly requesting my 
 permission for them to return to the Mother-house at Georgetown. These 
 poor sisters write under great excitement and without assigning the 
 grounds of their disquietude, insist upon being recalled. This I have 
 declined to do, and see nothing that indicates it to be the wish of Al- 
 mighty God. They are obviously too much troubled and excited to 
 view things in their proper light, besides, if these transfers and re- 
 turns be once easily admitted, all the foundations, as well as the 
 Mother-house, will be kept in a state of endless fluctuations and anxiety. 
 Every discontent or trial permitted for the sanctification of the in- 
 dividual will be considered as sufficient to go from one house to another, 
 to the great detriment of the good order of the respective communities. 
 May I therefore, Right Rev. and Dear Sir, request you to use your 
 paternal influence to pacify these two sisters and convince them that 
 change of place is not accompanied by change of feeling and disposi- 
 tions. I have Avritten to them that I cannot consent to their return 
 to Georgetown and have earnestly requested them to open themselves 
 unreservedly to you and to seek for peace in blind obedience to their 
 superiors. ' ' 8 
 
 During 1837, Sister Genevieve's name is no longer in the list 
 of the Visitandines at Kaskaskia. She, more than any other member 
 of the community seems to have been influenced by the discouraging 
 account of Kaskaskia given to the Sisters by her brother-in-law, Richard 
 Queen. Sister Ambrosia persevered until her death, which occurred 
 October 2nd, 1837, shortly after the Community had taken possession 
 of their new house. The new house (September 2nd, 1837) 
 seems to have added to the sorrows of the Sisters, as three of 
 their number died within its walls in quick succession: Harriet Penn- 
 ington, Postulant, September 4th; Sister M. Ambrosia, choir nun, 
 October 2nd; and Sister M. Gonzaga, choir nun, December 3rd. 
 
 By the end of 1837 only five of the original members of the foun- 
 dation remained, but eight others had already taken their place, among 
 them Sister M. Austin Barber, another daughter of the convert, Rev. 
 Virgil Barber. 
 
 Bishop Rosati had been most persistent in his efforts to enlarge 
 the community at Kaskaskia. His Vicar-General Father Philip Borgna 
 came to Georgetown for the purpose, and succeeded better than the 
 Archbishop had expected. "You could not, in the United States, have 
 selected a more able and pertinacious suppliant. This gentleman has 
 now the esteem and regard of all who have had the pleasure of mak- 
 ing his acquaintance. Even the good nuns, whom he has plagued 
 
 s Eccleston to Rosati, May 27, 1836, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
The Visitandincs of Kaskaskia 631 
 
 out of their lives, find only one fault with him, his perseverance in 
 suing for subjects for Kaskaskia." 9 
 
 The Third Provincial Council of Baltimore assembled April 16, 
 1827. Bishop Rosati was, perhaps, the most distinguished member of 
 the Council. No doubt the troubles and prospects of Kaskaskia were the 
 subject of his conversations with the authorities at Baltimore and 
 Georgetown. The affairs of the convent at Kaskaskia were improving 
 but not as much as had been expected. There was the ever-increasing 
 debt that frightened the sisters ; and then the insufficient number of 
 teachers for the Academy and the Orphan Home. In 1837 the Academy 
 had fifty-seven young lady boarders and about twelve day scholars. 
 The number of orphan children was eleven. Good work was being 
 accomplished, but the means of the sisters were not in proportion to the 
 demands made upon them. Bishop Rosati had financial troubles of his 
 own, heavy debts and constant appeals for help from his priests and 
 sisters. But the good Bishop never allowed himself to be disturbed 
 by any spectres of debt. His trust in God and good people was un- 
 limited. Consequently, he touched but lightly on the convent's finan- 
 cial embarrassment, which really was not so very serious, as long as 
 Colonel Pierre Menard was among the living; but the suggestion that 
 more sisters were needed to carry on the good work roused him to 
 renewed efforts : Sister Austin in writing to the Motherhouse early in 
 1838, had given the most gloomy picture of their temporal concerns 
 and embarrassments : 
 
 ' ' Immense debts and no means or prospect of paying them ! Every- 
 thing depending on Colonel Menard ; their property is at his mercy, and 
 should he die without relieving them, which he has never promised 
 to do, they would find themselves in difficulties inextricable, etc., etc." 10 
 
 "Sister Helen is no less doleful on another subject," wrote the 
 Archbishop, "She states that just before commencing her letter, they 
 had held a council and consulted the Reverend Father Roux and had 
 come to the conclusion that if the Convent of Georgetown could not 
 send them some other sisters to assist in their Academy, they would 
 be obliged to make over their little property to Colonel Menard and 
 return to the house of their profession. 
 
 "I deem it the more urgent to put you in possession of these matters. 
 as Sister M. Austin says expressly that you are not acquainted with 
 the situation of their temporal affairs, and that they had always for- 
 borne communicating it to you for fear of giving you pain. I trust 
 that these representations have taken a little of their coloring from 
 the fears and imaginations of the good sisters. However, I feel that 
 
 a Eccleston to Rosati, in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 io Sister Austin to Motherhouse. 
 
i;:;l' 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louii 
 
 I have done but my duty in giving them to you such as they made 
 them." 11 
 
 Affairs looked gloomy, indeed, hut Bishop Kosati never lost courage 
 and confidence. Yet, postulants were few and the motherhouse, as 
 another foundation had been recently undertaken, requiring eleven "of 
 its hopeful, if not very efficient members," as Archbishop writes, add- 
 ing by way of parenl hesis : 
 
 "I am glad to find from your letter that you are better acquainted 
 with the temporal necessities of the monastery at Kaskaskia than we 
 had been led to suppose. Sister Mary Austin stated that you had not 
 been put in possession of the real state of things, through the delicacy 
 of the sisters, who rather preferred to suffer than to cause you un- 
 easiness." 12 
 
 At last in January 1839 Bishop Rosati's pious importunity is 
 about to bear fruit : 
 
 The good sisters of the monastery having lately received a number 
 of excellent postulants, have been devising some plan to comply with 
 your earnest request that they should send assistance to Kaskaskias. 
 They think that they can make up a little colony and have accordingly 
 sent their names, with other particulars, to their sisters of Kaskaskia. 
 
 I need not add that I feel much pleased in encouraging them, 
 from a desire to oblige you. But as I have had great difficulty about 
 the foundation near Mobile and have been brought into unpleasant col- 
 lision with Bishop Portier, in consequence of his having sent back to 
 this house several sisters whom I had not recalled, and whom he could 
 not, according to the rules of the Order, dismiss without the authoriza- 
 tion of the Superior of the house of profession. I have advised the 
 sisters to send out no subjects to any foundation without the express 
 understanding with the Bishop, that they shall not be sent away except 
 when recalled by the ecclesiastical superior of the house of profession. 
 So far, my Right Reverend and Venerable Friend, as you are con- 
 cerned, I should feel little hesitation in waiving the point. But as 
 we both hold our lives by so precarious a tenure, I would thank you, 
 in case you accept of the promised colony, to send me in writing 
 your acquiesence in the rule above-mentioned by which no sister, orig- 
 inally sent from this house, can return to it without being recalled by 
 its ecclesiastical superiors." 13 
 
 The community having thus been augmented by the late arrivals 
 from the Motherlmuse, the burden became lighter to bear and the yoke 
 sweeter; but seemingly not to all: One at least of the original members 
 was still haunted with a desire to return to Georgetown. Archbishop 
 
 11 Eceleston to Eosati, Purification, 1838. 
 
 12 Eceleston to Rosati, February 8, 1838. 
 
 13 Eceleston to Rosati, January 1830. 
 
• The Visitandines of Kaskaskia 633 
 
 Eccleston answered: "As branches of the Visitation are multiplied, 
 what will become of the spirit of discipline of the Motherhouse, if 
 every sister who becomes discontented or troublesome can be returned 
 on their hands? I must confess, that I would rather, for the good of 
 religion, see the establishment obliterated from my diocese. May it 
 not have happened, my venerated and my dear Friend, that some sis- 
 ters of Kaskaskias, have exaggerated the evils of the monastery? No 
 one has greater respect and esteem for good Sr. M. Austin than I have. 
 But if your information comes from her, either directly or indirectly, 
 I deem it proper to say that her too active zeal is liable to cast a 
 very strong coloring over her predilections or aversions. And with 
 all her truly valuable qualities, she has too much perspicuity in dis- 
 covering, and too much freedom in dilating on the real or imaginary 
 defects of her Mother Superior." 14 
 
 This is the last letter of Archbishop Eccleston in regard to the 
 Visitation Convent at Kaskaskia. Under Mother Seraphine Wickham, 
 who became Superior in this year 1839, the Academy rose to a high 
 degree of efficiency, a circumstance that seemed to promise fulfilment 
 of Father Roux's prediction in 1838: that the "Convent and Academy 
 of the Visitation, would by its celebrity, immortalize Kaskaskia." 
 
 But the great flood of 1844 tolled the death-knell of the Visitation 
 Convent at Kaskaskia, which, however, was to rise again in a new 
 place, under more favorable circumstances. 
 
 14 Eccleston to Rosati, April 21, 1839. 
 
Chapter l!4 
 THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH 
 
 In 1693 the Sisters of St. Joseph were spread throughout the 
 "dioceses of Le Puy, Clermont, Grenoble, Embrun, Sisteron, Viviers, 
 Usse, Gap, Vienne and Lyons. In all of these places they were engaged 
 in the instruction of young girls, the direction of orphanages and the 
 care of the sick." But the fury of the Revolution swept them back to 
 their homes in the world, and many of them to martyrdom. When 
 the reign of terror had spent its force, the scattered members began 
 to lift up their heads again, and in the summer of 1807, one of their 
 number, the brave and patient Mother Saint John Fontbonne repaired 
 to Lyons with several members of her former community of Monistrol. 
 Father Claude Cholleton, Vicar-General of Lyons, re-established the Con- 
 gregation of St. Joseph with Mother Fontbonne as Superior. The num- 
 ber of convents increased rapidly, the house at Lyons was designated as 
 the Mother House, and Mother St. John became Superior General of 
 the Congregation. 
 
 In 1834 Bishop Rosati, through Father Charles Cholleton received 
 an offer from Mother Fontbonne to send a colony of Sisters of St. 
 Joseph to his diocese. Father John Odin who visited Lyons in the same 
 year, reminded her of this offer. Madame de la Roche-Jacqueline offered 
 to defray the expense of establishing a community in the diocese of St. 
 Louis. The Bishop was pleased to accept, requesting, however, that 
 some sisters be sent who would undertake to instruct the deaf-mutes. 
 
 The call for volunteers for the American Mission brought splendid 
 results. 1 Two sisters Celestine Pommerel and Julie Founder, Avere 
 accordingly sent to the Sisters of St. Charles at Saint-Etienne to learn 
 the sign language : six others were to proceed at once to their destina- 
 tion : Sisters Febronie and Delphine Fontbonne, nieces of the Superior 
 General, Sisters Marguerite-Felicite Boute, Febronie Chapellon, Saint 
 Protais Deboille and Philomena Vilaine. The Archbishop of Lyons 
 recommended the evangelical colony "to the Bishop of St. Louis, say- 
 ing: 'They will be excellent catechists, good infirmarians for the sick, 
 perfect sacristans, and zealous instructors; and their services cannot 
 but promote powerf nlly the work of God in your diocese. ' ' ' 2 
 
 i Sister Mary Lueida Savage, Ph. D., is the authoress of a well authenticated 
 and beautifully written volume of "The Congregation of Saint Joseph of 
 Carondelet," B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1923. 
 
 2 Gaston de Pins to Rosati, January 1, 1836, Archives of St. Louis Arch- 
 diocese. 
 
 (634) 
 
The Sisters of St. Joseph 635 
 
 The little colony, accompanied by Father James Fontbonne, brother 
 of Sisters Febronie and Delphine, set sail from Havre on the good ship 
 Heidelberg, January 17th, 1836, landing in New Orleans March 5th, 
 of the same year. 
 
 At the landing the sisters were received by the Pastor of the Cathe- 
 dral, Father Moui, and brought to the Ursuline Convent. On the fol- 
 lowing day they were visited by Bishop Kosati, who had come to New 
 Orleans for the consecration of Bishop Anthony Blanc. "I told them," 
 writes Bishop Rosati, "about their future home in the town of Cahokia, 
 in a home which Father Doutreluingne has prepared for the purpose 
 not far from the parish church, and of another now ready in the town 
 of Carondelet. " 3 The Sisters started on their voyage to St. Louis on 
 the 15th of March. They were accompanied by Bishop Rosati, Father 
 Fontbonne and Father John Timon, then Visitor of the Congregation of 
 the Mission. On March 25th, the travellers landed in St. Louis, where 
 the Sisters were conducted to the Hospital of the Sisters of Charity. 
 
 The house in Carondelet which the Sisters of St. Joseph were to 
 occupy was not ready for them. Two Sisters of Charity were living 
 there with a small number of orphan boys. The completion of the new 
 orphan asylum in St. Louis, however, would soon enable the Sisters of 
 Charity to vacate the premises in Carondelet. Thus it happened that Ca- 
 hokia, the ancient, became the first mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph. 
 Father Doutreluingne had been pastor of the Parish of the Holy Family 
 for over five years. The people were simple, pious Creoles, proud of their 
 religious and social customs : they were not rich in earthly goods. Yet 
 fairly prosperous. Their pastor had secured a building in the center of 
 the town and fitted it up as a Convent and Academy. Bishop Rosati 
 selected as teachers for the School, Mother Febronie Fontbonne, Sister 
 Febronie Chapellon and Sister Saint Protais. The remaining three 
 devoted themselves to the study of English in St. Louis, a neat cottage on 
 the hospital grounds having been assigned for their temporary home. 
 
 The Sisters reception at Cahokia was a right hearty one. Bishop 
 Rosati and Father Fontbonne accompanied the little colony. Father 
 Doutreluingne at the head of the entire congregation of Cahokia wel- 
 comed them "as angels from heaven," and led them in procession to 
 their new home, which they christened "St Joseph's Institute," but 
 which the proud Cahokians dignified by the name of "The Abbey." 
 
 The school was opened with an enrollment of thirty day pupils 
 and five boarders. The instructions were given in French. The school 
 grew and prospered for eight years, but the almost regular overflows 
 of the Mississippi, whilst rendering the already fruitful soil, still more 
 fruitful, proved rather deleterious to the newcomers' health. 
 
 3 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
636 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 In .May Father Matthew Condamine succeeded Father Doutreluingne 
 as Pastor of Cahokia, and on August 8th, the young energetic priest fell 
 victim to a malignant fever. Bishop Rosati held the funeral services. 
 Father Condamine was laid to rest in the little cemetery beside the 
 church at Cahokia. 
 
 Father John Francis Regis Loisel was appointed as his successor. 
 Nothing daunted by these reverses the Sisters continued their work, 
 and with the hearty cooperation of their Pastor, enlarged their school 
 by the addition of a new room in 1837, and a pretty chapel adjoining 
 the convent in 1838. The means for doing this came from the noble 
 benefactress of the Sisters, Madam de la Roche-Jacquelin. who had sent 
 three thousand francs for the Mission of Cahokia and Carondelet. A 
 bell also came, sent by Mother St. John Fontbonne from Lyons. The 
 chapel was blessed by Bishop Rosati, August 17th, 1838. 4 
 
 "The Abbey" with its three buildings now became the spiritual 
 center of the Congregation, until the great flood of 1844, spread ruin 
 and disaster all through the Mississippi bottom and forced the Sisters 
 to take refuge in their establishment in Carondelet, never to return to 
 Cahokia. 
 
 Carondelet, the seat of the earliest Church in Missouri, 5 was destined 
 to be the home of the Sisters of St. Joseph in America. The little 
 straggling town of log cabins and stone houses, popularly styled Vide 
 Poche, contained in 1834 a few hundred inhabitants, mostly Creoles, 
 poor but honest and carefree, working their individual plot in the 
 Common Field, that had come down to them from Spanish times. On a 
 hill above the village stood the log Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 
 built in 1818, under the supervision of Father De Andreis of blessed 
 memory, with the materials of the first Church of St. Louis. Near it 
 was the presbytere, a log cabin of two rooms. The Cemetery lay around 
 the church, and beyond it stood the log cabin, which the Sisters of 
 Charity had erected in 1833 for their boys' orphanage. When the new 
 orphan home in St. Louis was completed July 22nd, 1836, the Sisters 
 of St. Joseph took possession of their destined home. Our Lady Poverty 
 reigned supreme in this their humble abode. The style of the building 
 was the usual one of two rooms with a wide passage-way between them. 
 The attic was reached by way of a ladder, placed on the outside. Two 
 sheds, one for school-purposes, and one for kitchen and dining-room 
 completed the convent buildings. There was no furniture except one 
 cot, one table and a few rickety chairs. Two ticks filled with straw, laid 
 
 4 Sister Mary Lucida, op. cit., p. 40. 
 
 5 The Mission and Village of St. Francis Xavier on the River des Peres 
 founded by the Jesuits Marest and Pinet, was on the site of Carondelet. 
 
The Sisters of St. Joseph 637 
 
 on the floor, provided the Sisters with beds. No preparations had been 
 made for the opening of the school, which was announced for September 
 19th. G The Sisters did not repine, but thought out an ingenious 
 plan of obtaining the furniture for their class room. Twenty pupils 
 arrived on the morning of the enrollment, and after some kindry con- 
 versations with the Sisters were told to return the next morning, each 
 one with a stool, or a box, or a log of wood for a seat. Thus opened the 
 School of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the town of Carondelet, Missouri. 
 But the attraction of such noble lives soon told on the entire Community. 
 Friends and supporters arose, and "Providence did not leave them 
 without consolation. Occasional visits from Bishop Rosati and Father 
 Fontbonne relieved their solitude. 
 
 Now and then an excursion was made across the river to the "Ab- 
 bey" at Cahokia. In May 1837 came the glad tidings from Lyons, an- 
 nouncing the departure of the two Sisters, that had been intended for the 
 American mission, but were detained to prepare them for the care of the 
 deaf and dumb, Sister Celestine Pomerell and Sister St. John Fournier. 
 They were to arrive by the end of May, but the summer months passed on 
 without any further tidings of them, Bishop Rosati himself was grow- 
 ing anxious about the long delay, when on September 4th, the long- 
 expected Sisters presented themselves at the episcopal Residence. But 
 the Bishop was in doubt concerning their identity and requested them 
 to converse in signs, which they did. But the best sign of their being 
 the long-lost nuns, they presented the Bishop with three thousand francs, 
 which the Countess de la Roche-Jaqueline had entrusted to them for the 
 use of the Sisters. The weary travelers were kindly entertained at 
 the Orphan Asylum, and on September 10th, proceeded to Carondelet. 
 They had been detained at Brest, Havanna and New Orleans, which 
 explained their belated arrival." As Sister Mary Lucida tells us: "The 
 log cabin convent was now crowded, but its doors were opened wide in 
 October 1837 to admit another occupant. Anne Eliza Dillon, the first 
 American subject of the Congregation, was the daughter of Patrick 
 McAndrews Dillon, a wealthy Irish land-holder of St. Louis. She was 
 born at St. Charles, Missouri in 1820. Her mother died when she was 
 a child, and together with a younger sister, she was placed with the 
 Ladies of the Sacred Heart at their Academy in St. Louis, where she 
 received an excellent education and acquired great fluency in French. 
 It was here at School in 1836 that she met Sisters Delphine and Felicite, 
 
 6 Sister Mary Lucida, op. eit., p. 45 s. 
 " Ibidem, p. 47. 
 
<>38 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 who during their first few months in America went every day to the 
 Sacred Heart Convent for English lessons. The young girl was drawn 
 irresistibly to the two Sisters. Like St. Francis of Assisi, she was at- 
 tracted by poverty ; and on finishing her education, she gave up every- 
 thing that she possessed of this world's goods, and with the reluctant 
 consent of her father, went to Carondelet and asked for the poor habit 
 of a Sister of St. Joseph. This she received on January 3rd, 1838, with 
 the name of Sister Francis Marie Joseph. On the same day, Sister Phil- 
 omene Vilaine made her vows. Bishop Rosati, assisted by Father Saul- 
 nier and Father Pierre Chandy, of the Congregation of the Mission, 
 officiated at the ceremony, which took place in the church of Our Lady 
 of Mount Carmel." 8 
 
 "In the Spring of 1838 the Convent was enlarged by the addition 
 of a second story, two small rooms at the west end, and broad porches 
 on the river side." 
 
 A school for deaf-mutes was now started with four charity pupils. 
 Bishop Rosati succeeded in obtaining an appropriation for this school 
 from the Legislature, but the funds were to be used only in behalf of pu- 
 pils that were residents of the state. This fund did not become available 
 until the end of 1839. !) Fortunately, the school-commissioner of Carondelet 
 made an agreement with the Sisters which stipulated that a salary be paid 
 to the Sisters by the Corporation of Carondelt, for teaching the female 
 children of the town. The salary paid was $375 annually. The boys 
 were placed in care of Hamilton Michaud as "assistant Schoolmaster." 
 This favorable turn in the affairs of the Sisters of St. Joseph was 
 owing, in great part, to the mission given by Bishop Loras and Father 
 Cretin during their enforced stay in and around St. Louis in the 
 winter of 1838-1839. 
 
 All through these years Father Edmond Saulnier held the position 
 of Pastor and Director of the Sisters: "A good but eccentric man," 
 as the Sisters described him, he built the new stone-church in 1834, as the 
 old log chapel was in danger of collapsing. On January 31st, 1837, Father 
 John Fontbonne was appointed Spiritual Director of the Sisters of 
 St. Joseph both in Carondelet and Cahokia. This led to certain misunder- 
 standings between the Pastor and the Superior of the Sisters. Father 
 
 s Sister Mary Lucida, op. cit., p. 50. 
 
 o The amount of the appropriation was $2,000 per annum. It was continued 
 until 1851 when the State Asylum at Fulton was opened for the reception of pupils. 
 But the Sisters of St. Joseph continued their excellent work for the deaf and dumb 
 children of all nationalities at Carondelet, and since 1885 on Garrison Avenue, 
 St. Louis. 
 
The Sisters of St. Joseph 639 
 
 Saulnier interfered with their interior affairs. They should take more 
 interest in the parish, the services and the church-choir. This brought 
 on strained relations between Mother Delphine and Father Saulnier. The 
 voluble Gascon spirit received a reprimand from Bishop Rosati, that 
 would, as he wrote, take a lifetime to forget. 
 
 But the strength of Mother Delphine was exhausted : In August 
 1839, she begged to be relieved of her office and sent to Cahokia as 
 teacher. She was succeeded at Carondelet by Mother Celestine Pom- 
 rell. From her name, the Institution was at first called Madam Ce- 
 lestine 's School, but received the official title of St. Joseph 's Academy. 
 
( 'II AFTER 25 
 
 THE KICKAPOO MISSION 
 
 It was in his first Annual Message to Congress, December 8th, 
 1829, that President Andrew Jackson inaugurated his new policy in 
 regard to the Indian tribes east of the Missouri frontier: "Our conduct 
 to these people is deeply interesting to our national character. Their 
 present condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most 
 powerful appeal to our sympathies. Our ancestors found them the 
 uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By persuasion and force 
 they have been made to retire from river to river and from mountain 
 to mountain, until some of the tribes have been extinct, and others 
 have left but remnants to preserve for a while their once terrible names. 
 Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by 
 destroying the resources of the savage, doom him to weakness and decay, 
 the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast 
 overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee and the Creek. That this fate 
 surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the States does 
 not admit of a doubt. Htimanity and national honor demand that 
 every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. 
 
 "As a means of effecting this end I suggest for your consideration 
 the propriety of setting apart an ample district "West of the Mississippi 
 and without the limits of any State or Territory now formed, to be 
 guaranteed to the Indian Tribes as long as they shall occupy it, each 
 tribe having a distinct control over the portion designated for its 
 use. There they may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of 
 their own choice, subject to no other control from the United States 
 than such as may be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier and 
 between the several tribes. There the benevolent may endeavor to teach 
 them the arts of civilization, and by promoting union and harmony 
 among them, to raise up an interesting commonwealth, destined to per- 
 petuate the race and to attest the humanity and justice of this Govern- 
 ment. The emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel 
 as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their 
 fathers and seek a home in a distant land. But they should be dis- 
 tinctly informed that, if they remain within the limits of the States, 
 they must be subject to their laws." 1 
 
 In his Third Annual Message, December 6th, 1831, President Jack- 
 son reverts to the matter of the Indian migration to the Far West : 
 
 'Messages and Papers of the Presidents," vol. II, pp. 456 and 4.17. 
 
 (640) 
 
MAP OF THE MISSIONARY COUNTRY 
 
The Kickapuo Mission 641 
 
 "The internal peace and security of our confederated States is the 
 next principal object of the General Government. Time and experience 
 have proved that the abode of the native Indian within their limits is 
 dangerous to their peace and injurious to himself. In accordance with 
 my recommendation at a former session of Congress, an appropriation 
 of half a million dollars was made to aid the voluntary removal of the 
 various tribes beyond the limits of the States ... It is confidently be- 
 lieved that perseverance for a few years in the present policy of the 
 Government will extinguish the Indian title to all lands lying within 
 the States composing our Federal Union and remove beyond their 
 limits every Indian who is not willing to submit to their laws .... 
 But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits and jurisdiction of 
 the States does not place them beyond the reach of philanthropic aid 
 and Christian instruction. On the contrary, those whom philanthropy 
 or religion may induce to live among them in their new abode will be 
 more free in the exercise of their benevolent functions than if they had 
 remained within the limits of the States, embarrassed by their internal 
 regulations. Now subject to no control biit the superintending agency 
 of the General Government, exercised with the sole view of preserving 
 peace, they may proceed unmolested in the interesting experiment of 
 gradually advancing a community of American Indians from barbarism 
 to the habits and enjoyments of civilized life." 2 
 
 According to this policy the various Indian tribes of the States 
 were induced to leave the homes and graves of their fathers for their 
 appointed reservations in what was called Indian Territory, which 
 then embraced all the western territory of the United States beyond 
 the Missouri and Arkansas frontier. About the time of which we are 
 now writing the early thirties of the nineteenth century, we find these 
 wards of the nation settled, tier above tier, along the Arkansas frontier, 
 the Chickasaws, Choctaw and Cherokee along the upper reaches of 
 the Arkansas River ; then, along the Missouri frontier, the Osages, Shaw- 
 nees, Delawares, with the indigenous but much reduced Kansas between 
 them, all dwelling along the tributaries of the Kansas River ; then the 
 Kickapoos, Ottoes and Omahas, with the Prairie Potawatomi at Coun- 
 cil Bluffs on the east border of the Missouri River. All the territory 
 north of the Missouri line, was still a part of the Indian Territory. 
 
 As the government showed its willingness to help civilize these 
 pitiful remnants of once mighty nations, the churches and charitable 
 organizations of the country made application for assignments of the 
 various tribes, among whom they might labor for their spiritual and 
 temporal advancement. The Jesuit Fathers made no exception. In 
 the summer of 1835, Father Van Quickenborne visited the various 
 
 2 "Messages ami Papers of the Presidents," vol. II, p. 554. 
 Vol. 1-21 
 
642 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 [ndian tribes along (he western frontier of Missouri, among them the 
 Kickapoos, settled a few miles above Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 There he met the so-called prophet of the nation, Keimekuk by name, 
 and obtained his somewhat reluctant consent to have a "Blaekrobe" 
 established among his people. Applying to the head chief Father Van 
 Quickenborne received better assurances of success: "I desire, as 
 do also the principal men of my nation, to have a Blaekrobe come and 
 reside among us, with a view to instruct us." 3 Father De Theux, the 
 Superior, decided to open a Jesuit residence among the Kickapoos. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year Father Van Quickenborne went 
 to Washington to negotiate for government aid in behalf of his project. 
 Writing from Georgetown to the Secretary of War, he broached his 
 case, as follows : 
 
 "In answer to your favor of the 17th hist, I have the honor to 
 state : — 
 
 l.That I am prepared to open a Mission with a school in the Indian 
 country at the following places — 1st. On the land of the Kiekapoo in 
 the vicinity of Cantonment Leavenworth. 
 
 2. I have three Missionaries, including a teacher, to commence 
 the Mission and School immediately in the Kiekapoo Nation. I am in- 
 duced to commence with this tribe by the circumstance of it having 
 expressed to me, through their principal men and chiefs, including 
 even the prophet Kennekuk, a desire of having a Catholic establishment 
 among them. The reason they alleged was, that they had for many 
 years lived in the neighborhood of French settlements; that they had, 
 in some degree, become acquainted with their religion, and that now 
 they wished to be instructed in it. The prophet said that he had 
 always hoped that a Black-gown, by which name he designates the 
 Catholic priest, would be sent by the Great Spirit to help him in in- 
 structing his people and teaching them the truths he did not know. 
 
 Besides the three Missionaries mentioned above, the Catholic Mis- 
 sionary Society of Missouri, in whose name I act, has placed at my dis- 
 posal for this year, commencing at this period, a sum of one thousand 
 dollars. It is my intention to take into the school as many pupils as 
 it will be in my power to collect and to add to the number of teachers, 
 in proportion as the number of scholars will increase, as far as will 
 be in my power ; and I have the strongest assurance that aid will be 
 given me by the same Society. For this establishment I should be 
 grateful for every aid the Department can afford, either in the way 
 of raising the necessary buildings or paying part of the salary of teach- 
 ers or for the support of Missionaries. ' ' 4 
 
 
 3 "Annates de la Propagation de la Foi," vol. IX, pp. 90. 
 
 4 Van Quickenborne to Secretary of War, September 17, 1835, Indian Office 
 Records. The prophet was also called Keokuk. 
 
The Kickapoo Mission 643 
 
 Father Quickeuborne 's appeal was answered by the Commissioner 
 of Indian Affairs. "You ask an allowance from the appropriation for 
 civilizing the Indians. The Secretary of War has directed that the sum 
 of Five Hundred Dollars shall be paid to you or to an authorized agent 
 of the Catholic Missionary Society of Missouri whenever information is 
 received that a school has been establisbed among the Indians. This in- 
 formation must be accompanied by certificate of the agent of the tribes, 
 that a building has been erected suitable for the purpose, that a teacher 
 is ready to enter upon his duties and that there is reason to believe 
 that it will be well attended by Indian Children." 5 
 
 "We are going to begin an Indian mission and school among the 
 Kickapoo," the happy missionary wrote to Bishop Rosati, "Many of 
 the Fathers here in Maryland manifest a lively desire to go and work 
 among the Indians." 6 
 
 The good Fathers of the Missouri Mission were still more delighted 
 at the coming of Brothers Andrew Mazella and Edmund Barry wbo 
 were destined to accompany Father Van Quickeuborne to the Kickapoos. 
 Father Garraghan in his article on the Kickapoo Mission gives a brief 
 resume of their early history : 
 
 "The Indian tribe among whom the Missouri Jesuits were to make 
 their first experiment in resident missionary activity were not unknown 
 to their predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 
 Kickapoo (the name appears to be a corruption from a longer term 
 signifying 'roamers') were of Algonquin stock, showing a close affinity 
 in language, customs and ceremonial forms to the Sauk and Foxes. 
 Their first known habitation was South Central Wisconsin, whence, 
 they shifted their position to the Lower Wabash upon lands seized from 
 the Illinois and Miami. As early as 1669, Father Allouez come in contact 
 with them at the Green Bay Mission of St. Francis Xavier. Upon his 
 fellow-laborer, Father Marquette, they made a distinctly unfavorable 
 impression. Though professing loyalty to the French, in 1680 they 
 killed the Recollet Friar, Gabriel de la Ribourde, a member of La Salle's 
 party, on the banks of the Illinois. In 1728 the Jesuit missionary. 
 Father Ignatius Guignas, falling into their hands was condemned to 
 the stake, but his life was spared and, being adopted into their tribe, 
 he brought them by his influence to make peace with the French. 
 
 "In the conspiracy of Pontiac the Kickapoo were allied with the 
 Ottawa chief and took part in the general destruction of the Illinois 
 tribes that followed upon his death. In the Revolutionary War and the 
 War of 1812 they fought on the side of the English. They suffered 
 heavily in these conflicts, specially the second, and by a series of treaties. 
 
 5 Herring to Van Quickenborne, September 22, 1835, Indian Office Records. 
 
 6 Van Quickenborne to Rosati, September 22, 1835, Archives of St. Louis 
 Archdiocese. 
 
(i N History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 beginning with that of Greenville, August 3rd, 1795, after Wayne's 
 decisive victory, and ending with that of Edwardsville, July 3rd, 1819, 
 eeded all their lands in Illinois and Indiana. The United States 
 Governmenl having agreed to pay them $2000 a year for fifteen years, 
 assigned them a Large tract on the Osage River in Missouri. From 
 there they moved west of the Missouri river to what is now Atchison 
 County in northeastern Kansas in the immediate vicinity of Ft. Leaven- 
 worth. In 1822 only four hundred of the twenty-two hundred members 
 of the tribe were living in Illinois. By the treaty of Castor Hill, Oc- 
 tober 24, 1832, provision was made for schools by an annual appropria- 
 tion of five hundred dollars for ten years. This appropriation was ap- 
 plied to the Kickapoo school conducted since 1833 by the Rev. Mr. 
 Berryinan of the Methodist Episcopal Church." 7 
 
 The prospects of success under these and other circumstances were 
 not very bright: yet Father Van Quickenborne 's courage and confidence 
 never wavered. "Father Van Quickenborne," writes Father Verhaegen 
 to the East, "left this place on the 25th ult. with Brothers Mazella, 
 Barry and Miles. Father (Christian) Hoecken, who is still on the 
 mission is to join him in a few weeks. Since his departure I have 
 received no news from him. His health had much improved and he was 
 full of courage. Everything appears favorable to his great and laborious 
 undertaking. The Indian agent (Laurent Pinsoneau) is a French Creole 
 and much attached to him. General Clark took him under his pro- 
 tection and Messrs. Chouteau & Co., will produce him all the advantages 
 and comforts which the new situation will require." 8 
 
 We have a long letter written by Father Van Quickenborne to 
 Father McSherry soon after the opening of the Kickapoo Mission, from 
 which a few interesting details will be of service here : 
 
 "We arrived here on the 1st inst., (June, 1836) precisely thirteen 
 years after we arrived in Missouri the first time, when we came to com- 
 mence the Indian Mission — better late than never. The steamer on 
 board of which we came up, brought us to the very spot where we in- 
 tended to build. We met with a very cordial reception from the prin- 
 cipal chief and his warriors and from the prophet himself. There are 
 two towns among the Kickapoos about 1% or 2 miles apart, which are 
 composed of the two bands into which the nation is divided. Pashishi, 
 the chief, is quite proud of the circumstance of our coming at his 
 particular invitation and, for this reason, wished me to build near 
 his town ; on the other hand the Prophet expressed a wish that we should 
 do as much for his band as for the others. He said he had always 
 told his people that a black-gown (priest) would come and help him, 
 
 ' Garraghan, S. J., "The Kickapoo Mission," in "St. Louis Catholic Historical 
 Review," vol. IV, pp. 30 and 31. 
 
 s Verhaegen In McSherry, June 2, 1836. 
 
The Kickapoo Mission 645 
 
 that he felt disposed to join us and to persuade his followers to do 
 the same. By the agreement of the chief we intend to build between 
 the two towns on a spot nearly equally distant from both .... Father 
 Hoecken and Brother Miles have been added to the number of those 
 who started from St. Louis, Father Hoecken is getting- sick. .The 
 others enjoy good health, except myself being as usual very weak. 
 Our accommodations are rather better than I had anticipated. I do 
 not know what we could have done here if we did not have the Brothers 
 from Georgetown. I hope that your Reverence will receive an ample 
 reward for your liberalit}- towards us, and that the increase of the 
 number of good subjects will allow your reverence to treat with Father 
 General for sending us some more; — a teacher for the school-boys will 
 be very necessary. Father Hoecken and myself hope to be able to 
 learn the language. AVe are making now something like a dictionary. 
 This will help those that will come afterwards. Since my arrival here 
 I have seen the Potawatomi Chief Caldwell. He is a Catholic and 
 wishes to have a Catholic establishment among his people. If we 
 make this, as I have promised to the Department by order of our Su- 
 perior, several Brothers more will be necessaiw. Father General has 
 recommended the Indian Mission to Father Verhaegen in a particular 
 manner." 9 
 
 A log-cabin was immediately fitted out as a chapel and on the next 
 morning, Corpus Christi day, the Holy Sacrifice was offered up, in the 
 presence of the wondering Kickapoo. All seemed to augur a blessed 
 future. But dark clouds soon overshadowed the bright prospects. The 
 Indian Agent, Major Cummins, took an unfriendly attitude towards 
 the missionaries : Father Van Quickenborne lay sick and helpless for 
 a month. Then rumors came that the Sioux were on the warpath, that 
 they were close at hand, that they had routed the soldiers sent from 
 Fort Leavenworth, that they had burnt the Sauk village and that they 
 were moving fast on the Kickapoo villages and the Fort. It was but 
 an idle rumor, subsiding as quickly as it had started. 10 
 
 Father Garraghan gives a humorous description of the difficulties 
 the little Jesuit Community encountered in making their retreat : 
 
 "The exercises were held in the only place available, Mr. Pinson- 
 eau's log-cabin, the door of which could not be closed, both on account 
 of the sweltering heat and in deference to Indian etiquette. The In- 
 dians were now treated to a novel spectacle. They would enter the 
 cabin, sit down opposite to one of the missionaries as he was engaged 
 in prayer, with their gaze riveted upon him, and without so much as a 
 syllable falling from their lips, and then, when the novelty of the sight 
 had worn off, they would rise and leave. One day while the retreat was 
 
 a Van Quickenborne to McSherry, June 29, 1836, Baltimore Archives. 
 10 "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, " vol. X, p. 130. 
 
646 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in progress, a deputation from six tribes arrived in the Kickapoo vil- 
 lage to negotiate a friendly alliance. The deputies were bent on seeing 
 the black-robes' chapel and went there in a body, arriving during the 
 time of meditation. They first stood at the door, eyeing curiously the 
 furniture and praying figures within, but not venturing immediately 
 to enter, for with all the members of the missionary party present, 
 there was scant room for other occupants. In the end, however, one 
 after another of the braves stepped over the threshold, offered his right 
 hand to the Jesuits, beginning with the priests, and then withdrew, the 
 whole ceremony taking place in the profoundest silence. During the 
 eight days that the missionaries gave themselves up to prayer and 
 recollection, no Indian ventured to interrupt or disturb them. 11 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne 's letter of October 10, 1836, to Father 
 McSherry tells of the difficulty that arose with the Indian Agent, Major 
 Cummins. 
 
 "Your Keverence will be somewhat astonished that we are as yet 
 in the same log-cabin into which we went the first day of our arrival. 
 Soon after I wrote to you last the Agent took into his head to advise 
 or rather to order us to stop until he could get some further understand- 
 ing. The letter I brought from the War Department requested Gen. 
 Clark, and Gen. Clark requested the Agent to give me all necessary aid 
 towards establishing a school among the Kickapoo. He could not under- 
 stand the phrase. However, General Clark, to whom he had referred 
 the case for decision, had decided that this phrase is imperative and 
 has advised the Agent punctually to comply with the order given. 
 Since that the Agent has changed and has written to me that any 
 assistance he can afford will be cheerfully rendered. We have been 
 thus stopped for about two months. I had to send off the workmen I 
 had engaged and break the contracts, I had made, and pay all the ex- 
 penses. 
 
 The Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weas, Piankeshaws, whom I visited two 
 weeks ago, wish to have a resident priest. I have baptized about forty 
 Indian children and as many more would wish to be baptized but 
 being grown persons, they stand in need of instruction. Father Hoecken 
 makes great progress in the Indian language ; the Indians are astonished 
 at it. He is able to converse with them almost on any subject. Upon 
 the whole, the persecution we have suffered has been of service to us." 12 
 
 At last after three months of uncalled for delay, Major Cummins 
 saw his way "to certify that under the authority of a letter from the 
 Officer of Indian Affairs of September 2, 1835, the Catholic Missionary 
 Society of Missouri has erected on the Kickapoo lands a building for a 
 
 11 "Litterne Amiuae, " quoted by Father Garraghan, 1. c, p. 34. 
 
 12 Van Quickenborne to McSherry, October 10, 1836, Baltimore Archives. 
 
The Kickapoo Mission 647 
 
 school, has a teacher prepared to enter upon his duties and that there 
 is a prospect of the school being -well attended by Indian pupils." 13 
 
 But the promised sum of $500 was not forthcoming until May 23rd 
 of the following year. In the meantime the school-house and dwelling 
 with chapel had been completed. The school-house was built of hewn 
 logs, one story high, 16x15 feet in extent, with one window and one 
 door and a cabin roof: the dwelling was a two story block-house 49x18 
 feet, and covered with shingles. Father Christian Hoecken was the first 
 teacher of the school, with about twenty children in attendance. "The 
 chapel was well attended on Sunday," as Father Verhaegen writes to 
 the Fathers of the Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1840, "some 
 few are received into the Church, and many in fact baptized." 14 Father 
 Van Quickenborne in his letter of 18:55 writes about a visit he paid 
 to the Kaskaskia Indians, the remnant of the nation that had been con- 
 verted to the Faith by Father Marquette, and led by Father Marest to 
 the site of the City that was to immortalize their tribal name. Of 
 this visit an elegant writer, probably Archbishop Kenrick wrote in the 
 "Catholic Cabinet:" 
 
 "In 1835 the Rev. Father Van Quickenborne paid a missionary 
 visit to the Miamis, on the north fork of the Osage River. They are 
 the small remnants of four once powerful nations, the Kaskaskias, 
 the Peorias, the Weas and the Piankeshaws. He was received by them 
 with great joy; and many of them, having been baptized in their in- 
 fancy by the priests who attended the old French village in Illinois, 
 showed unfeigned readiness to enroll themselves anew under the stand- 
 ard of the Cross. They seemed to be indifferently pleased with the Meth- 
 odist station, established among them, and willingly promised to return 
 to the faith of their fathers, among whom the Jesuit missionaries had 
 so successfully labored during the early part of the last century. An 
 old woman, whose gray hair and bent-up form showed that she had 
 belonged to by-gone times, crawled up to the missionary, grasped his 
 hand with a strong expression of exultation and jjronounced him to be a 
 true black-gown, sent to instruct her hapless and neglected nation. She 
 had lived at least a score of winters longer than any other of her 
 tribe, but yet she distinctly remembered to have been prepared for her 
 first communion by one of the Jesuits who attended the nourishing 
 mission of Kaskaskia, His name she eould not bring to mind, but 
 described his dress and features in a manner to show what a deep im- 
 pression this recollection of her early youth continued to make on 
 her mind. She also gave a description of the old church of Kaskaskia ; 
 recited her prayers and sang a Canticle in the language of the tribe. 
 
 13 Indian Office Eecords. 
 
 n Verhaegen to IV Council of Baltimore. Draft in Archives of St. Louis 
 Archdiocese. 
 
648 History of llu Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 She told the missioner thai her constant prayer had boon that her tribe, 
 now exiled and almost extinct, might have the happiness to see a true 
 blackgown among them. She congratulated those around her on the 
 occasion and cried out like Simeon that her eyes had seen him now, 
 and that she was ready to mix her bones with those of her fathers. 
 Her death, which took place a few days after, was a great loss to the 
 missioner. As she was the only person who knew the prayers in the 
 Indian Language, and the only one who appeared to have kept herself 
 untainted by the general depravity of those by whom she was sur- 
 rounded." 15 The entire tribe of the Kaskaskias now numbered only 
 sixty souls. 
 
 In June 1837, Father Verhaegen made an official visitation of 
 the Kickapoo Mission, and gave a delightful account of his experiences 
 to Father McSherry. He left St. Louis on the 14th of June and arrived 
 at the village on the eve of the feast of St. Aloysius. His boat struck sev- 
 eral snags and scraped a few sand-bars in the river, but without any 
 damage. The good Father's enthusiasm over the beauty and fertility 
 of Missouri now breaks forth in the following prose-poem : 
 
 "I did not know, my dear Father, that the state of Missouri pos- 
 sessed such a prodigious quantity of fertile soil. I regret that you were 
 not with me ; you would, I am sure, have been pleased with the truly 
 enchanting picture which both sides of the river present to the travel- 
 lers. Do not speak of the farms situated on the bluffs between St, Louis 
 and St. Charles; good as they are. when compared with those of Mary- 
 land, on which you pointed out some prairie grass to me, as we rolled 
 along on the cars, they sink into insignificance, when contrasted with 
 the lands of our Upper Missouri. When I was in the East the beauties 
 and improvements of which I do intensely admire, I anxiously looked 
 for one respectable tree and one eminently fruitful spot, but in vain ; 
 in Missouri, I am now more convinced than ever, trees and spots of 
 the kind are so numerous that, in order to avoid seeing them, one 
 must fly to Maryland. What shall I say of the beauties of nature to 
 the eye? I thought that the lofty rocks and sublime hills which the 
 canal and railroad between Philadelphia and Pittsburg afforded to 
 my sight could not be equalled by any prospect in the 'West ; but even 
 in those. Missouri is not surpassed by the East. I know your Rever- 
 ence thinks I am enthusiastic in my account. I pardon the impression 
 under which you labor, because to any one who has not seen Missouri, 
 my description must appear incredible. Veni et vide." 16 
 
 Father Vorhaegen then gives an intimate description of the land- 
 ing which is about a mile and a quarter from the Mission house. 
 "Father Van Quickenborne having been informed of my arrival by 
 
 15 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. I, pp. 407 and 408. 
 
 16 Verhaegen to MeSherry, Baltimore Archives. 
 
The Kickapoo Mission 649 
 
 a courier, came to see me on board the boat, and I accompanied him 
 to the Indian village on horseback. The site of the building is one 
 of the most beautiful that could be selected. In the rear the land is 
 well timbered. On the right the chief has his village, and the ground 
 is cleared; on the left lives the Prophet with hills on which Ft. Leav- 
 enworth stands. Our missionaries have a field of about fifteen acres 
 on which they raise all the produce which they want. They are 
 about five miles from the Fort and have, of course, every necessary 
 opportunity to procure at that post such prov - - - their indus 
 cannot yield. Many of the Indians among whom they live are well 
 disposed toward the Catholic religion and several of them have ex- 
 pressed a desire of being instructed. However, most of them are still 
 averse to a change of their superstitious practices and vicious man- 
 ners. Of the 1000 souls that constitute both villages, hardly thirty 
 regularly attend church on Sundays. Many come to see us on week 
 days and. by the instruction which they receive during the- - ts, are 
 insensibly to be prevailed upon to come to hear the word of God. Father 
 Van Quickenborne has made but little progress in the Kickapoo language. 
 He labors under many disadvantages and at his age he will never con- 
 quer them ; but Father Hoecken speaks the Kickapoo admirably well. 
 The savages call him the Kickapoo Father, a compliment which no 
 Indian easily pays to a missioner — to be entitled to it he must speak 
 his language well. When I was at the Kickapoo village. I assisted at one 
 of Father Hoecken 's instructions. The sound of his horn drew about 
 forty to the chapel at 11 A.M. ; but all did not enter it at the ap- 
 pointed time. They are a set of independent beings : they will have 
 their own way in everything to show that they do not act from com- 
 pulsion. There were in the chapel benches enough to accomodate a 
 hundred persons ; some few preferred them to the floor. They all 
 kept silence well and behaved modestly. The Father in surplice knelt 
 before the altar and intoned the Kyrit E son of the Litany of the 
 Blessed Virgin, the choir, consisting of Father Van Quickenborne. the 
 three Brothers and two workmen, joined him. and the whole Litany was 
 sung with a tone of variations too refined for my ear. Father Fen- 
 wick himself would have failed in an attempt to keep the time and 
 hit the notes. Such performances suit the Indians ; happily they 
 love and admire a mixed and confused kind of music. The instruc- 
 tion lasted upwards of half an hour. I heard the words "piano/ 'mane.' 
 "iniquo.' — I heard 'pas,' 'pasa.' 'pan.* and 'Oikia' and I was tempted 
 to believe that the Kickapoo language was a mixture of Latin and 
 Greek. Unfortunately, on inquiry. I discovered that the sounds ex- 
 pressed none of the ideas which they convey in other languages. In 
 the course of a few days I will. Deo dante. write to my good Father 
 Mulledy, and together with several interesting items relating to the 
 customs, of the Indians whom I have visited, I will send him the Our 
 
650 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father and the Hail Mary in their language. Father Hoecken has 
 composed a grammar and is now preparing a dictionary which will be 
 of great advantage to such as will henceforth join him in the glor- 
 ious work which we have commenced. Much good can be done among 
 the savages west of the state of Missouri. The Potawatomi are now 
 on their way to the land which they have to inhabit. They are more 
 than 5,000, in number; more than 400 already Catholics, and they 
 (and especially their chief who is a Catholic also) are very anxious 
 to have a Catholic missioner established among them. I must beg of 
 your Reverence some assistance to comply with the request of those 
 unhappy people." 17 
 
 Yet beautiful as the country undoubtedly was, the spiritual con- 
 dition of the mission was not very promising. The Prophet roused 
 his followers to unfriendly demonstrations. Even the head-chief 
 Pashishi assumed a hostile attitude. The Indians, like the children 
 they really were in all things, save age and innocence, had grown weary 
 of the mission house. Even the children showed no interest in religion 
 and came to school only for the food, and the presents they hoped 
 to receive there. Only a miracle could save the mission from further 
 decay and death. What were the causes of this sad state of affairs? 
 "Win- was Father Van Quickenborne's Indian mission not as success- 
 ful as similar efforts in South and Central America and in Cali- 
 fornia? One cause may be traced to the moral degradation of the 
 Indian character itself that followed the cruel devastating wars of 
 the preceding century. Then the passion of the Indian for strong 
 drink which ' rendered him incapable of receiving the pure doctrines 
 of the Catholic religion ; and last, but not least, the open or secret 
 opposition of the government officials and of the Protestant ministers 
 established at the station. The lack of adequate means to carry on 
 the mission work may also be put down as a contributing cause of 
 failure. 
 
 "Had the Jesuit missionaries of the West been allowed to pursue 
 their plans without let or hindrance ; or, better still, had they received 
 the undivided support of the government in the work of Christianization, 
 these numerous and once powerful tribes would now form large and 
 prosperous communities on our Western prairies. But Catholic efforts 
 were not supported as they should have been, nay, were often an- 
 tagonized by government under some specious plea or another. Our 
 Catholic people, too, were not as earnest in this great work as might 
 have been expected of them. Other interests seemed to be more urgent. 
 Father Verhaegen in his appeal to the Council complains of this lack 
 of means : ' ' The prospect of these different missions with respect to 
 the salvation of souls is such as to animate the missioner with the 
 
 17 VerhaegeD to McSherry, Baltimore Archives. 
 
The Kickapoo Mission 651 
 
 greatest courage in the midst of privation and labor. But we cannot 
 conceal from the prelates of the Council, who have placed these mis- 
 sions under our care, that their successful continuance depends upon 
 other encouragement or support than the sweat of the laborers. These 
 missions have hitherto been kept up by remittances from Europe, 
 namely, from the Association of France and from friends in Belgium 
 and Holland, and also by a small annual allowance made by the 
 government — ; the last, however, is not extended to the establishment 
 at Council Bluffs. These resources are precarious, it may indeed be 
 said, that they nearly failed during the last year. It then becomes 
 a most important question, what shall be done for the continuance 
 of the Indian missions?" 18 
 
 Father Van Quickenborne was recalled and sent to the Residence of 
 St. Francis Assisi at Portage des Sioux as Superior, in place of Father 
 Peter Verreydt who succeeded him in the Kickapoo Mission. Towards 
 the end of 1837, rumors came that many perhaps all, of the Kickapoo 
 tribe were preparing for another migration, to the Red River. In 
 regard to this probable movement Father Verhaegen wrote to the 
 Secretary of War : ' ' Considering the manners and the inconstancy 
 of the Indian tribes, I think that to effect any lasting good among 
 them, it is necessary that those who labor among them, should conform as 
 much as possible to their way of living and that expensive buildings 
 should not be constructed on their lands before they are permanently 
 settled on farms." 10 
 
 Owing to the small number of children in the school in 1839, the 
 Indian Office decided to discontinue the annual allowance of $500. 
 Father Verhaegen sent a strong protest to Senator Benton to be sub- 
 mitted to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The protest was sec- 
 onded by Major Pilcher, the St. Louis Superintendent of Indian 
 Affairs, and had the intended effect, but only for the period of one 
 year : further allowances were to depend on the success of the school. 
 Finally Father Verhaegen 's strict honesty in making his report to the 
 Indian Office, brought a discontinuance of the government allow- 
 ance of the princely sum of $500, which the very presence of the 
 missionaries was worth to the government at least a hundred times 
 over. When at last Chief Pashishi with twenty families who had been 
 the Fathers mainstay in their troubles with the Prophet, withdrew 
 to a place about twenty miles distant from the Missouri, all seemed 
 to be over. Yet the Jesuit Missionaries resolved to stay even if all 
 the nation were to move away. The Jesuit Residence, being in such 
 close proximity to Fort Leavenworth, where a number of Catholic 
 Irish and German soldiers were glad to have mass and the ministry 
 
 is Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 19 Indian Office "Records, MS. 
 
(irii' History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of the sacraments, seemed the proper center for missionary efforts in 
 the promising settlements of Jackson, Clay, Clinton and Platte Counties, 
 in western Missouri. But the situation at the mission grew worse and 
 worse, so that it was decided to suppress it. Father Eysvogels was 
 directed to go to the Potawatomi on Sugar Creek. 
 
 Ultimate failure is the verdict the wisdom of the world would 
 readily pronounce on Father Van Quickenborne 's Indian Missionary 
 efforts. But considered in the light of eternity, they bore manifold 
 fruit of everlasting life in the vast number of Baptisms administered 
 and souls of wayward sinners reconciled to God. Then there is the 
 beautiful bright example of heroic courage, confidence and long-suffering 
 patience manifested by the founder and his associates in the trying 
 days of the seemingly hopeless contest with the powers of evil in high 
 places and low. 
 
 It was as if the threatening failure of the Mission had at last 
 broken his stout and loving heart, for a short while after his recall, 
 he gently resigned his unconquerable spirit into the hands of His 
 Creator and Sovereign Lord. 
 
 AVhat we admire most in Father Felix Van Quickenborne is not 
 his dauntless courage, nor his tireless energy, nor his wonderful re- 
 sourcefulness in devising means to accomplish his projects, nor, his 
 quick and sure recognition of opportunities. All these were truly 
 great and admirable elements of his character. But the trait that 
 characterized him best, and formed the bond that united them all 
 and directed them to one grand end, was his entire submission of 
 will to the will of God. Father Felix Van Quickenborne, the Founder 
 of the Missouri Province of the Society, will live on in history as one 
 of our greatest men. He was the representative of the active life in 
 religion, whilst Father De Andreis, of blessed memory, was the em- 
 bodiment of the life of contemplation. Both have accomplished much 
 for the Church, the one with his missionary labors, the other with 
 his prayers and the fruit of his contemplations, but the greatest work 
 of both is the beautiful, holy, Christ-like characters they formed under 
 the influence of divine love and grace. 
 
Chapter 26 
 THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OP COUNCIL BLUFFS 
 
 Before 1838 two great bands of the Potawatomi had been re- 
 moved beyond the Mississippi and assigned new homes along the boundary 
 of the State of Missouri, and here, as Father Verhaegen, S. J., the 
 Provincial of the Jesuits, informs the Fathers of the Provincial Council 
 assembled at Baltimore, May 3rd, 1840: "A second mission (after the 
 Kickapoo station) was established in 1838 among the Potawatomi 
 on the Missouri River, near Council Bluffs, about five hundred miles 
 west of the Kickapoo station. Two Fathers and two lay brothers com- 
 menced this establishment on the 31st of May of the same year. On their 
 arrival they received from the chief four log cabins for a school, dwell- 
 ing and other purposes, and from the United States officer a block 
 house (24 feet square), which serves as a chapel. One of the Fathers 
 devotes four hours every day to the instruction of the children in the 
 Christian doctrines; the other makes frequent excursions among the 
 neighboring tribes, and according to his report, has baptized many chil- 
 dren. Nearly two hundred adults have been admitted to the holy com- 
 munion — the practice of bigamy has been in a great measure removed, 
 etc. The accounts from this station are of the most cheering character 
 and describe in glowing terms the happy disposition of thousands of 
 these poor children of the forest, particularly of the women and chil- 
 dren. ' n 
 
 The "Two Fathers" were the celebrated Peter De Smet and his 
 companion, Felix Verreydt, one of the brothers was Andrew Mazella, 
 the other George Miles. These "Prairie Potawatomi" were a mixture 
 of various tribal remnants, the Potawatomi predominating and giving 
 their name to the entire people. One of these leaders was the celebrated 
 half-breed chief, Billy Caldwell, from Chicago, who had helped to found 
 the first church in the city under Father Saint Cyr. The block house 
 given to the missionaries by Colonel Kearney was originally built as a 
 fort, but as the troops had departed, there was no need of a fort, and 
 so it was converted into a church, the only church in Council Bluffs 
 for a number of years. It was still in existence in 1855. The mission 
 was placed imder the protection of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph. 
 
 How did the happy result come about? As early as 1835 Father 
 Van Quickenborne had busied himself in Washington to obtain an ap- 
 
 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 • (653) 
 
654 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 propriation for the proposed Indian school at Council Bluffs; but, as 
 the Potawatomi were not expected to arrive on their reservation for at 
 least two years, the request was not granted. After Van Quickenborne's 
 death, Father Verhaegen, the Superior of the Missouri Mission, had re- 
 newed the application and fortified it with the following petition of the 
 Potawatomi : 
 
 "To his Excellency, the Secretary of the War Department: The 
 petition of the undersigned chief and warriors of the Potawatomi 
 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 chil- 
 dren, 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 ar- 
 rangement be enabled to enjoy the comforts of their religion. 
 
 4. That the common feeling of the nation is in favor of the Cath- 
 olic clergy who, speaking the English and the French languages, can fully 
 second the execution of the plan which the Government proposed to 
 itself for the amelioration of their nation." 
 
 Signed in the presence of 
 
 B. D. Moon, Capt. 1st. D. 
 
 Wm, McPherson 
 
 B. Caldwell 
 
 B. R. Hunt, Agt. 
 
 Wa Bon Su 
 
 Pierish La Claire 
 
 (ten signatures) 
 
 Fountain Blue on the East Side of 
 
 the Missouri, near Council Bluffs, 
 
 13th September, 1837. 2 
 As even this powerful appeal elicited no reply from Washington, 
 Father Verhaegen had journeyed to the Capital and after a tedious 
 delay obtained, not the desired government allowance for the proposed 
 school, but the Commissioner's gracious permission "to establish a 
 mission-post among the Potawatomi and to visit, either personally 
 
 2 Files of Indian Bureau, Washington, D. C. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 655 
 
 or through his subordinates, all the tribes settled within the limits of 
 the Indian territory." 
 
 Father Verhaegen was duly thankful for the favor, and at once 
 started for home and, trusting in Providence for the necessary funds, 
 organized the Potawatomi Mission with Fathers Verreydt and Peter 
 De Smet in charge. 
 
 Brother Mazella was the third member of the Mission. General 
 William Clarke, felt delighted at the fulfilment of his long-cherished 
 desire that the Jesuits should undertake the Potawatomi Mission. 
 
 "Preparations to equip and send off the missionary party," says 
 Father Garraghan "were now made with suprising rapidity. Only 
 eight days had elapsed since Father Verhaegen 's return from Wash- 
 ington, when he left St. Louis, May 23rd, 1838, on the steamer Howard, 
 in company with Fathers De Smet, Helias, Eysvogels and Brother Claes- 
 sens. Of the party Father De Smet was the only one bound for Council 
 Bluffs. Father Helias was on his way to the vicinity of Jefferson City, 
 there to inaugurate a period of missionary and parochial activity ex- 
 tending over thirty -five years. Father Eysvogels was to replace Father 
 Verreydt at the Kickapoo village, while Brother Claessens was to re- 
 place Brother Mazella at the same post. The voyage up the Missouri 
 was not without incident. On the fourth day the steamer's engine 
 broke down, with the result that the engineer had to leave his disabled 
 craft and return to St. Louis to repair the broken fitting." 3 After a 
 second mishap to the rickety craft, Father Verhaegen got off the boat 
 at Independence, while Father De Smet and his two companions were 
 left on board to watch the baggage and continue their way by water 
 as far as Fort Leavenworth. From Independence Father Verhaegen, 
 having purchased a horse, made his way by land to Fort Leaven- 
 worth. He arrived there four days after leaving the steamer and 
 almost at the same moment that the steamer herself put in at the Fort. 4 
 Leaving Father De Smet to superintend the landing of the party's bag- 
 gage, he proceeded with Father Eysvogels and Brother Claessens to 
 the Kickapoo mission-house. Early the next morning he sent a horse to 
 the Fort for Father De Smet, but the latter, in his eagerness to reach 
 his brethren, had started off on his own account only to lose his way 
 in the tangled woodland. It was Father De Smet's introduction to 
 the perils of the Indian country. Late in the afternoon he found him- 
 self to his great relief at the mission-house, only about five miles distant 
 from the Fort. The account which he wrote to Father Verhaegen im- 
 
 3 Verhaegen 's account abridged in "Aimales de la Propagation de la Foi, " 
 1838. 
 
 4 Idem, ibidem. 
 
656 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 mediately on his arrival at Council Bluffs was the first in the long 
 series of descriptive and narrative sketches of Indian mission-life that 
 were to he read with eager interest by thousands on both sides of the 
 Atlantic : 
 
 "We arrived among the Potawatomi on the afternoon of the 31st 
 of May. 
 
 "Nearly 2,000 savages, in their finest rags and carefully painted in 
 all sorts of patterns, were awaiting the boat at the landing. I had not 
 seen so imposing a sight nor such finedooking Indians in America: the 
 Iowas, the Sanks and the Otoes are beggars compared to these. Father 
 Verreydt and Brother Mazella went at once to the camp of the half- 
 breed chief, Mr. Caldwell, four miles from the river. We were far 
 from finding here the four or five hundred fervent Catholics Ave had 
 been told of at the College of St. Louis. 
 
 "Of the 2,000 Potawatomi who were at the landing, not a single one 
 seemed to have the slightest knowledge of our arrival among them, and 
 they all showed themselves cold or at least indifferent towards us. Out 
 of some thirty families of French half-breeds two only came to shake 
 hands with us ; only a few have been baptized. All are very ignorant 
 concerning the truths of religion ; they cannot even make the sign of 
 the cross nor say a Pater or an Ave. This, as I suppose, is the cause of 
 their great reserve toward us. They change their wives as often as the 
 gentlemen of St. Louis change their coats. 
 
 "A fortnight after we arrived we discovered one single Catholic 
 Indian; he came to see us and asked our blessing. We tried to get him 
 to stay with us; he knew his prayers well and could serve us for a 
 catechist. 
 
 "Mr. (Caldwell) though far advanced in years, seems to be a very 
 worthy honest man ; he is well disposed towards us and ready to assist 
 us. The half-breeds generally seem affable and inclined to have their 
 children instructed and w r e receive many tokens of affection from the 
 Indians themselves; they come to see us every day. The chief has given 
 us possession of three cabins and we have changed the fort which Col. 
 Kearney has given us into a church." 5 The zealous Fathers were now 
 ready and anxious to begin the work of converting their sadly neglected 
 flock into tolerably good Christians. The obstacles to be overcome were 
 the open and secret machinations of the medicine men, the prevalence of 
 polygamy, and the deadly bane of drunkenness, which at times converted 
 their towns into images of hell. The passion of the savages for strong 
 drink is inconceivable. 
 
 • r > Chittenden and Richardson, "Father De Smet's Life and Travels," vol. I, 
 p. 158. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 657 
 
 "They give horses, blankets, all, in a word, to have a little of this 
 brutalizing liquid. Their drunkenness only ceases when they have noth- 
 ing more to drink. Some of our neophytes have not been able to resist 
 this terrible torrent, and have allowed themselves to be drawn into 
 it. " G The annuities paid to the poor savages were the occasions of 
 most detestable orgies. 
 
 "In all directions, men, women and children are seen tottering 
 and falling; the war-whoop, the merry Indian's song cries, savage roar- 
 ings, formed a chorus. Quarrel succeeded quarrel. Blows follow blows. 
 The club, the tomahawk, spears, butcher knives, brandished together 
 in the air." 7 
 
 Here is a transcript from Father De Smet's Journal: 
 
 "June 3rd. A woman with child, mother of four young children, 
 was murdered this morning near the issue-house. Her body presented 
 the most horrible spectacle of savage cruelty ; she was literally cut up. 
 
 June 4th. Burial of the unhappy woman. Among the provisions 
 placed in her grave, were several bottles of whiskey. A good idea, if 
 all had been buried with her. 
 
 June 6th. Rumor. Four Iowas, three Potawatomi, one Kickapoo 
 are said to have been killed in drunken frolics. 
 
 "I know from good authority that upwards of eighty barrels of 
 whiskey are on the line ready to be brought in at the payment. 
 
 No agent here seems to have the power to put the laws) in execu- 
 tion." 8 
 
 But the work of the Missionaries was bearing fruit all the while 
 in spite of the rampant scandals. "Our congregation already amounts 
 to about 300," wrote Father De Smet in July 1839. "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." 9 
 
 August 20, 1838, Father De Smet communicated to his Superior 
 in St. Louis, Father Verhaegen, further particulars on the progress of 
 the Mission : 
 
 ' ' I think I told you, the first time I wrote you, that I had already 
 baptized twenty-two persons. Today the number of those upon whom 
 I have had the consolation of conferring holy baptism amounts to seventy- 
 six, among whom I reckon thirty-four adults of ages from twelve to 
 sixty years. I am sure your Reverence would be touched to see with 
 what fervor these good Indians assist at the holy sacrifice and with 
 what docility they listen to our instructions. For my part, I assure 
 
 6 Chittenden and Richardson, vol. T, p. 184. 
 
 t Ibidem, vol. I, p. 3 71. 
 
 a Ibidem, vol. I, p. 172. 
 
 '■> Ibidem, vol. T, p. 184. 
 
658 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 you that I see the work of God in it and that I feel penetrated with 
 gratitude toward those who by their prayers cease not to obtain for 
 us from Heaven these unexpected successes. One of our first conquests 
 for Jesus Christ was the spouse of the head chief of the Potawatomi 
 nation. She enjoys the greatest consideration among the Indians, and 
 I venture to hope, that her example will have a great influence upon 
 the rest of her compatriots. Since I could not at the beginning express 
 myself with sufficient facility, I was obliged for several weeks to make 
 use of an interpreter. As soon as I found her well enough instructed 
 and disposed I admitted her to the sacrament of regeneration, which she 
 received with all signs of the liveliest faith and the most ardent piety. 
 Eight other persons, who had imitated her example, shared her happi- 
 ness." 10 
 
 "My companion, Reverend Father Verreydt, lately visited a village 
 belonging to the mission, where they promised to let him baptize all the 
 little children. 
 
 "The feast we have just been celebrating in honor of the assump- 
 tion of the glorious Queen of Heaven will never be forgotten in this mis- 
 sion; it was celebrated in a poor wooden church, but I can assure you 
 that no place in the world ever offered a more consoling spectacle nor 
 one more agreeable to the Almighty and His most holy Mother. 
 
 ' ' In the afternoon of that day I baptized eleven adults and a little 
 Indian girl who was sick. Three of these adults had already reached 
 their fiftieth year; five were twenty and three about fifteen years old. 
 All exhibited during the ceremony a great deal of piety and fervor. 
 Afterward we sang together several canticles to praise and bless the 
 Lord's mercies. At the close of the ceremony, four couples received 
 the nuptial benediction according to the Catholic rite. All who were 
 present were so touched with what they had seen and heard that, yield- 
 ing to the grace of the Holy Spirit, they demanded urgently to be in- 
 structed." 11 But as usual in the work of reform, the children were the 
 means to open the pathway to the hearts of the parents, and the ground- 
 work to success. 
 
 Schools for the Potawatomi children were maintained by the 
 missionaries, but without government subsidy. "We have opened a 
 school," Father De Smet informed Father Roothaan, the Jesuit General, 
 (in Rome) a few weeks after the arrival, "but for the lack of larger 
 quarters we are only able to receive some thirty children. Twice a 
 day we give an instruction to those whom we are preparing for bap- 
 tism." 12 The Annual Letters for 1839 give a rather glowing account of 
 
 10 Chittenden and Eiehardson, vol. I, p. 168. 
 
 11 Idem, Ibidem. 
 
 12 Idem, ibidem, p. 16. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 659 
 
 the results obtained in the school: "The boys, as everybody acknowledges, 
 are changed into entirely new beings. People marvel to see so many 
 boys studying from morning to night, singing hymns composed by the 
 missionaries, reciting the rosary, and assisting at religious instructions 
 twice a day. So tenacious is the memory of the boys that they can 
 remember prayers heard only twice. A choir made up of forty of their 
 number sang hymns in English, French, Latin and Potawatomi. No 
 other school except the Catholic one was kept on the reserve." 13 
 
 Sub-agent Cooper's report dated in the fall of 1840 has the follow- 
 ing : ' ' Schools there are none here under the authority of the govern- 
 ment. There are two Roman Catholic priests residing within my agency, 
 of good moral character, who set a good example to the Indians and half- 
 breeds. They have a chapel, and school and teacher, and have several 
 young Indians in the school, who are coming on pretty well." 14 
 
 Of course, a Catholic could not expect much more from a govern- 
 ment official in the way of recognition of educational and charitable 
 work done for the nation's wards without any assistance from the na- 
 tion 's treasury. Mere toleration and a supercilious nod of approval was 
 thought amply sufficient. Indeed the Jesuit Fathers did not need the 
 world's approbation: yet it would have been a gracious act, and grace- 
 fully received. 
 
 Father De Smet's graphic account of the sinking of a Missouri river 
 steamer within sight of Council Bluffs, must find a place here, as it shows 
 the loving and loveable nature of the man : 
 
 "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 
 without 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 approach- 
 ing. Already we saw it from the highest of our hills. I procured with- 
 out delay, two carts to go for the 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 Government to 
 the savages Avere on board of her. Of our effects four articles were 
 saved ; a plough, a saw, a pair of boots and some wine. Providence 
 
 ia Annual Letters for 1839. 
 
 14 Senate Document 26th Congress, 2nd Session, vol. I, p. 397. 
 
660 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 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. We 
 are using the saw to build a better house and enlarge our church, al- 
 ready 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 the 
 same steamer, I received news from you, as well as a letter from my 
 family and from the good Carmelite superior." 15 
 
 Prom the baptismal and marriage registers of St. Joseph's Mis- 
 sion Father Garraghan was 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 Cather Bourbonne, a Potawatomi, on June 9th, 1838. She 
 is the first person whose baptism at Council Bluffs is attested- by docu- 
 mentary evidence. All baptismal entries up to February 8th, 1840, 
 are in Father De Smet's handwriting. Caldwell, the principal business 
 chief of the nation, was god-father to John Naakeze, baptized December 
 29th, 1838, at the age of approximately 102. The last baptism in the 
 mission register is in Father Eysvogels' 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 5th, 1840. After a stay 
 of several months at the Novitiate whither he had returned from his 
 Indians, broken down in health, Father Christian Hoecken, was at- 
 tached 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. 1G 
 
 At the close of his article on the "Potawatomi Mission of Council 
 •Bluffs" Father Garraghan gives a concise and lucid account of the 
 last days of the Mission : 
 
 "On April 29th, Father De Smet took passage on the St. Peter's, a 
 steamboat of the American Fur Company, then making its annual trip 
 
 15 Chittenden and Eiehardson, De Smet, vol. I, p. 184. 
 
 16 Garraghan, ' ' The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs, " "St. Louis Cath- 
 olic Historical Eeview, " vol. Ill, pp. 171 and 172. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 661 
 
 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 relations 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. 
 
 "Having in the course of the voyage instructed and baptized on 
 board the steamer a woman and her three children and heard the con- 
 fessions of a number of voyagers bound for the Rocky Mountains, Father 
 De Smet arrived May 11 at the Yankton village. Here he met the Yank- 
 ton chiefs and warriors in council and was hospitably entertained by them 
 at a feast, at which he took occasion to discuss with them the princi- 
 pal 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 
 presents 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 evening 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 hol- 
 lowed-out log, ten feet long by one and half wide. Guided by two skill- 
 ful pilots, and traveling from four o'clock in the morning to sunset, the 
 frail bark covered the 360 miles to Council Bluffs in three days. 
 
 "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 secur- 
 ing 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 remote Northwest. 
 Father Verhaegen, the Jesuit Vice-Provincial in St. Louis, having de- 
 termined to ascertain first what the prospects held out by the new mis- 
 sionary field thus opened up to his Order, dismissed the Flathead dele- 
 gates with a promise that a missionary would be dispatched to their 
 tribe on a prospecting trip early in the coming spring. Father De Smet 
 was commissioned to undertake this trip, arriving 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 
 
662 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Indians with which his career is most closely identified. Father De 
 Smet left Westport at the mouth of the Kansas for the Rocky Moun- 
 tains 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 Missouri River, making a stop 
 in November at Council Bluffs where he found that, during his absence, 
 conditions had taken on a more discouraging aspect than ever. 17 
 
 "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 having 
 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 the future there will be quiet 
 in that quarter." 18 
 
 In the Summer of 1841 the situation of 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 
 Verreydt 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 Avould live here in a Paradise. But now, in the condi- 
 tion 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 everybody is trying 
 to delude and impose upon these poor creatures. Liquor is brought 
 in here in whole cargoes, which reduces our Indians to extreme poverty, 
 which is, as you know, the mother of all vice. Such is our position 
 
 1 7 Garraghan, op. cit., p. 3 72. 
 
 is Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, vol. I, p. 358. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Council Bluffs 663 
 
 here. You may, of course, pray hard for us all. We cannot help it ; 
 patience will not cure the evil, I fear." 19 
 
 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 kins- 
 men of Sugar Creek, the Potawatomi of Indiana or the Forest Pota- 
 watomi of whom we shall give an account in our next chapter, 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, Father Verreydt and Christian Hoecken, together 
 with Brothers Mazzella and Miles bade farewell to Council Bluffs in 
 August 1841 and journeyed to Sugar Creek, which they reached on 
 the 29th of that month. Thenceforth the Iowa Potawatomi 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 apparently 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 division of the 
 tribe and came again under the spiritual care of Jesuit missionaries. 
 
 lo Verreydt to Van Assche, July 2, ]841, Archives St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
( ' 1 1 APTER 27 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1831, a delegation of four Indians 
 from beyond the Rocky Mountains reached the city of St. Louis. Their 
 language was different from all the Indian dialects with which the 
 inhabitants had some acquaintance. Yet, as these visitors gradually 
 made themselves understood, it was learnt that they had come to obtain 
 religious teachers for their people, the Flat-Head and Nez Perce tribes 
 near the Pacific Ocean. They visited the Catholic Cathedral and at- 
 tended divine service with all possible reverence. Owing to the change 
 of climate and the unwonted life in a city, these children of the 
 wilderness grew ill ; tAvo of them were baptized on their death bed 
 by Fathers Roux and Saulnier of the Cathedral, and, were buried with 
 all the rites of the Church. The other two started in the Spring of 
 1832, on their return voyage, but only one reached his home, as 
 the other died on the way. These are the simple facts of the occur- 
 rences, similar in many ways to numerous other delegations sent to 
 St. Louis by the Indian tribes round about for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing a Black-Robe as their guide and teacher. Yet this visit is specially 
 remarkable in our early annals, not only on account of the vast 
 distance these seekers after God had traveled, but even more so on 
 account of the great and lasting results it eventually matured in 
 the Catholic missions of Oregon. There is another point of interest 
 connected with this embassy, namely the legendary embellishment it 
 has found up to the present day, in the Protestant missionary story 
 of the saving of Oregon for the Union, or as it is called by later 
 historical writers, "the Marcus Whitman, legend." 1 
 
 The legendary story takes account of the facts as we have re- 
 lated them with one exception. Not for Black-Robes, Catholic mission- 
 aries, did the Flat-Head and Nez Perce come from the far-away 
 Pacific slope, but for the Book, the Book of Heaven, the Bible. And 
 if they asked Governor Clark for a missionary, it was not a Catholic 
 priest they desired but a Protestant preacher. After two had died, 
 and been buried in the Cathedral Cemetery, the two remaining delegates 
 were entertained at a banquet by General Clark; at which, the Old 
 Chief, a Nez Perce, is introduced as delivering the following lament. 
 "T came to You, the Great Father of the "White Men, with but one 
 eye partly opened. I am to return to my people beyond the mountains 
 of snow at the setting sun, with both eyes in darkness, and both arms 
 
 i Abbreviated from my Account of the Flathead and Nez Perce Delegation to 
 St. Louis, 1831-1839, "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. II, pp. 183 ss. 
 
 (664) 
 
The Beginnings of the Oregon Missions 665 
 
 broken. I came for teachers and am going back without them. I 
 came to You for the Book of God. You have not led me to it. You 
 have taken me to Your big house, where multitudes of Your children 
 assemble, and where Your young women dance as we do not allow 
 our women to dance, and You have taken me to many other big houses 
 where the people bow down to each other and light torches to worship 
 pictures. The Book of God was not there. And I am to return to my 
 people to die in darkness." 2 
 
 This parting speech of the Nez Perce chief, was first published 
 by the Rev. H. H. Spalding in the Walla-Walla Statesman, February 
 16th, 1866, about thirty-four years after the supposed event. In 1833, 
 we find the Lament beautifully amplified and Indianized in the Rev. 
 William Borrow 's "Oregon": "I came to You over the trail of many 
 moons from the setting sun." . . . and so on in the vein of Brand 
 and Logan "My people sent me to get the white man's Book from 
 Heaven." "You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with 
 candles, and the Book was not there . . . You made my feet heavy 
 with burdens of gifts, and my moccasins will grow old in carrying 
 them, but the Book is not among them." 
 
 In William Mowry's book (Marcus Whitman and the Early Days 
 of Oregon, 1901), the romantic address is printed in full as an authentic 
 fact of history, thus leading Edwin Eeels to make the dramatic 
 statement: "These were the words that saved Old Oregon and the 
 Pacific Northwest to the government of the United States." 3 
 
 2 Cf. Johnson, C. T., "The Evolution of a Lament," in "Washington His- 
 torical Quarterly," vol. II, No. 3. 
 
 3 Cf. Johnson, op. eit. The historian is often called upon to cut down the 
 tangled undergrowth of legendary stories and time-honored propaganda in order to 
 make room for the field or garden of true history. F. H. Hodder, of the University 
 of Kansas, does this in a very able article in ' ' The Mississippi Valley Historical 
 Review," for March 1922, under the title "Propaganda as a Source of American 
 History. ' ' We too subscribe the few words with which Mr. Hodder cuts down the 
 luxuriant tale, ' ' How Whitman saved Oregon for the Union. ' ' — ' ' I can barely allude 
 to the most extraordinary achievement of propaganda in our history and that is the 
 general acceptance of the claim that Marcus Whitman saved Oregon — a claim which 
 Professor Edward G. Bourne and Mr. William I. Marshall disproved twenty years 
 ago, but which is nevertheless still rampant in certain sections of the country. In 
 its extreme form the story claimed that Whitman reached Washington just in time to 
 prevent Webster from trading Oregon to Ashburton for a ' ' codfishery, ' ' in spite 
 of the fact that Whitman did not visit Washington until a year after the Ashburton 
 Treaty was concluded. It is popularly believed, as a result of the campaign slogan 
 "fifty-four forty," that all of Oregon was in dispute between Great Britain and the 
 United States. Seven times the United States had offered to settle the Oregon 
 boundary upon the line of the forty-ninth parallel and as often Great Britain had 
 stood for the line of the Columbia River. We could not therefore reasonably claim 
 anything north of the forty-ninth parallel and Great Britain could not claim anything 
 south of the Columbia. The only part of Oregon really in dispute was, therefore, 
 between the Columbia and the forty-ninth parallel, and that part of Oregon Whitman 
 never reached. ' ' 
 
666 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 I have dwelt at greater length on the so-called Indian Lament 
 because it has been used by Protestant writers to clinch the argument 
 in favor of the view that the purpose of the Flat-Head and Nez Perce 
 delegation to St. Louis was to obtain teachers of the Protestant brand 
 of Christianity, together with their book, the Bible, and not what 
 Bishop Rosati offered them, Catholic missionaries, and the Holy Mass. 
 
 Now what are the real facts of the case? Or what are the 
 historical grounds for the Catholic version of this interesting episode 
 in our missionary annals? Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, was 
 a most exact and painstaking recorder of contemporary events. In 
 his Letter Book for 1831, he notes under date of December 31, that 
 he had sent a letter to Mgr. Pelagaud, of Lyon, with information in 
 regard to two savages, Tetes Plattes, 4 baptized and subsequently buried 
 in St. Louis. 
 
 This letter was published in the Annals of the Association of the 
 Propagation of the Faith. Under date of December 31, 1831, Bishop 
 Rosati wrote as follows: 
 
 "Some three months ago four Indians, who live across the Rocky 
 Mountains near the Columbia River (Clark's Fork of the Columbia) 
 arrived at St. Louis. After visiting General Clark, who, in his 
 celebrated travels has visited their nation and has been well treated 
 by them, they came to see our church and appeared to be exceedingly 
 well pleased with it. Unfortunately, there was not one who under- 
 stood their language. Sometime afterwards two of them fell danger- 
 ously ill. I was then absent from St. Louis. 
 
 "Two of our priests visited them and the poor Indians seemed to 
 be delighted with the visit. They made signs of the cross and other 
 signs which appeared to have some relation to baptism. The Sacrament 
 was administered to them; they gave expressions of satisfaction. A 
 little cross was presented to them. They took it with eagerness, kissed 
 it repeatedly and it could be taken from them only after death. It 
 was truly distressing that they could not be spoken to. Their remains 
 were carried to the church, and their funeral was conducted with all 
 the Catholic ceremonies. The other two attended and acted very be- 
 comingly. We have since learned from a Canadian, who has crossed 
 the country which they inhabit, that they belong to the nation of 
 Flat-Heads, who as also another called Black Feet, had received some 
 notions of the Catholic religion from two Indians who had been to 
 Canada, and who had related what they had seen, giving a striking 
 description of the beautiful ceremonies of the Catholic worship and 
 telling them that it was also the religion of the whites. They have 
 retained what they could of it, and they have learned to make the 
 Sign of the Cross and pray. These nations have not yet been corrupted 
 
 4 Flat-head Indians. 
 
The Beginnings of the Oregon Missions 667 
 
 by intercourse with others. Their manners and customs are simple 
 and they are very numerous. Mr. Condamine (Rev. Matthew Con- 
 damine was one of Bishop Rosati's clergy attached to the Cathedral) 
 has offered himself to go to them next spring with another. In the 
 meantime we shall obtain some further information of what we have 
 been told and of the means of travel. ' ' 5 
 
 The Book of Sepultures 1781-1832, of the St. Louis Cathedral, 
 contains the entries of Baptisms and Burials of the two members of 
 the delegation, the one signed by Benedict Roux, the other by Edmond 
 Saulnier. 
 
 General Clark, in company with Meriwether Lewis, was among 
 the first white men that came to the country about the Columbia 
 River, September 1805. At the time of which we are writing, 1831- 
 1832, he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the West. He was 
 a man of untarnished honor, and highly respected by all. His interest 
 in the Indians was generous and unselfish. Our Flat-Head and Nez 
 Perce delegation called on him, as a matter of course, and enjoyed 
 his hospitality. The death of the two members occurred at his house. 
 Let us hear what General Clark has to say on the purpose of the 
 embassy. As we have not his direct testimony on the matter, we 
 must elicit it from the testimony of others. William Walker Jr., a 
 halfbreed of the Wyandotte nation, member of the Methodist Church, 
 and government Indian Agent, came to St. Louis in 1832 and called 
 on his chief, General Clark. Being told of three Indians from the 
 West lying ill, in another room, he visited them at General Clark's 
 request and learnt, as he himself states, that they had come 3000 miles 
 on foot (should be 2000 miles on horse back) to consult their Great 
 Father on very important matters. 
 
 William Walker professes to give General Clark's account of the 
 motives that brought the Flat-Heads and Nez Perce to St. Louis. He 
 does not say that they came to get the "Book" meaning the Bible, 
 but rather to find out the truth about what they had heard concerning 
 the Christian religion. From other sources we know, that General 
 Clark sent them to the Catholic Cathedral for further information. 
 He is quoted by Protestant authorities as saying : ' ' The cause of the 
 visit of the Indians was : Two of their number had received an education 
 at some Jesuitical School in Montreal, Canada, and had returned to 
 the tribe, and endeavored, as far as possible, to instruct their brethren 
 how the whites approached the Great Spirit. A spirit of inquiry was 
 aroused, a deputation was appointed, and a tedious journey of three 
 thousand miles was performed to learn for themselves of Jesus and 
 Him crucified." 6 
 
 5 Cf. Palladino, "Indian and White in the Northwest," Baltimore, 1894. 
 o E. W. Sehon, Letter to "Christian Advocate," May 10, 1833. Cf. C. Goodman, 
 ' ' Trans-Mississippi West. ' ' 
 
668 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 There are some who attribute the first knowledge of the Christian 
 religion among the Nez Perce to Pierre C. Pambrun, a Koman Cath- 
 olic. This gentleman certainly did spread the gospel among the Indians 
 of Oregon but does not seem to have prior claims to the two Indians 
 of whom both Bishop Rosati and General Clark give testimony. 
 
 But whatever persons, White or Indian, were instrumental in 
 bringing the earliest knowledge of the Christian religion to the tribes 
 on the Columbia River, it is plain that to them, Christianity meant 
 Catholicity, and furthermore, that their instructions had fallen on good 
 ground. Bancroft in the History of Oregon has a long note in further 
 elucidation of the acknowledged fact, that the Flat-Heads were in 
 the habit of placing a wooden cross at the head of the graves of their 
 dead. He also gives a number of religious ideas and practices of the na- 
 tives: "It will be remembered," says Bancroft, "that the Dalles people 
 observed Sunday as a holiday, in the manner of the Catholic Church 
 ... So well advanced in the Christian religion were they (the Flat- 
 Heads, Nez Perces and their neighbors), according to Bonneville, that 
 they would not raise their camps on Sunday, nor fish, hunt or trade on 
 that day, except in case of severe necessity, but pass a portion of the 
 day in religious ceremonies, the chiefs leading the devotions and after- 
 wards giving a sort of sermon upon abstaining from lying, stealing, 
 cheating and quarrelling, and the duty of being hospitable to strangers. 
 Prayers and exhortations were also made in the morning on week 
 days . . . Besides Sundays they likewise observe the cardinal holidays 
 of the Roman Catholic Church." Of the Flat-Heads John Wyeth, a 
 companion of Captain Bonneville, says: "I have never known an in- 
 stance of theft among them, neither have I known any quarrelling nor 
 lying . . . They have a mild, playful, laughing disposition, and this 
 is portrayed in their countenances. They are polite and unobstrusive. 
 With all their quietness of spirit, they are brave when put to the 
 test and are an overmatch for an equal number of Black Feet, their 
 inveterate enemies." All these traits had been observed among the 
 Flat-Heads and Nez Perce long before any missionary Catholic or 
 Protestant, had been seen among them, and find their best, I may 
 say their only satisfactory explanation in the fact that as early as 
 1816, Catholic Iroquois had instructed them, as best they could, in 
 the tenets and practices of the Catholic religion. 7 
 
 We have seen from the testimony so far adduced that two of 
 the St. Louis party of four Flat-Heads and Nez Perce received Bap- 
 tism at the hand of the priests of the St. Louis Cathedral and, having 
 died, were buried with the Catholic rites. What became of the two 
 remaining members of the embassy? In 1841 there appeared the 
 celebrated work of George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, 
 
 i Bancroft, "History of Oregon," vol. I, pp. 116-118. 
 
The Beginnings of the Oregon Missions 669 
 
 Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians, written during 
 the eight years of travel from 1834-1839. Letter No. 48, in Volume II 
 refers to these Indians, who as Catlin states, "were a part of a delega- 
 tion that came across the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis a few years 
 since to enquire for the truth of the representation which, they said, 
 some white men had made amongst them, that our religion was better 
 than theirs, and that they would all be lost, if they did not embrace 
 it, Two old and venerable men of this party died in St. Louis, and 
 I traveled 2000 miles (companion of these two young fellows) toward 
 their own country, and became much pleased- with their manners and 
 dispositions. The last mentioned of the two died near the mouth of 
 the Yellowstone River on his way home, with disease he had contracted 
 in the civilized district ; and the other . one, I have since learned, 
 arrived safely among his friends, conveying to them the melancholy 
 intelligence of the deaths of all the rest of the party ; but with as- 
 surances, at the same time, from General Clark and many Reverend 
 gentlemen that the report which they had heard was well founded, 
 and that missionaries — good and religious men — would soon come 
 amongst them to teach this religion, so that they could all understand 
 and have the benefits of it. When I first heard the report of the 
 object of this extraordinary mission across the mountains I could 
 scarcely believe it, but on conversing with General Clark on a later 
 occasion, I was fully convinced of the fact," 8 
 
 It will be seen that George Catlin 's report of what he heard from 
 the two surviving members of the Nez Perce and Flat-Head Indian 
 delegation, agrees substantially with that of Bishop Rosati, except 
 that the first bringers of Gospel tidings, according to Rosati, were "two 
 Indians;" according to Catlin, "some white men;" but this differ- 
 ence is not necessarily contradictory, but rather complementary, in 
 as far as some of the Indians may have first heard of the Christian 
 religion from some Catholic woodranger or trader, whilst others de- 
 pended for their information on their Iroquois friends from Canada. 
 But the first deputation having failed in its attempt to get a Mission- 
 ary from St. Louis, a second and then a third one was sent, and finally 
 obtained the desired object of the Flat-Heads and Nez Perce. Of 
 these three visits both Father Verhaegen, the Superior of the Jesuits, 
 and Bishop Rosati have left us interesting accounts : 
 
 The Bishop's letter is dated St. Louis, October 20, 1839, and 
 addressed to the Father General of the Society of Jesus at Rome : 
 ' ' Reverend Father : 
 
 Eight or nine years ago (1831) some of the Flat-Head nation came 
 to St. Louis. The object of their journey was to ascertain if the re- 
 ligion spoken of with so much praise by the Iroquois warriors was 
 
 s Catlin, op. citato. 
 
670 History of the Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 in reality such as represented, and above all, if the nations that have 
 white skins had adopted and practiced it. Soon after their arrival 
 in St. Louis they fell sick (two of them), called for a priest and 
 earnestly asked to be baptized. Their request was promptly granted 
 and they received the holy baptism with great devotion. Then holding 
 the crucifix they covered it with affectionate kisses and expired. 
 
 "Some years after (1835) the Flat-Head nation sent again one 
 of the Iroquois nation to St. Louis (Old Ignace). There he came with 
 two of his children, who were instructed and baptized by the Fathers 
 of the College. He asked missionaries for his countrymen and started 
 with the hope that one day the desire of the nation would be accom- 
 plished, but on his journey was killed by the infidel Indians of the 
 Sioux nation. 
 
 "At last," continued Bishop Rosati, "a third expedition (left- 
 handed Peter and Young Ignace) arrived at St. Louis, after a voyage 
 of three months. It was composed of two Christian Iroquois. These 
 Indians, who talk French, have edified us by their truly exemplary 
 conduct and interested us by their discourses. The Fathers of the 
 College, have heard their confessions and today they approached the 
 holy table at High Mass in the Cathedral church. Afterwards I ad- 
 ministered -to them the sacrament of Confirmation and in an address 
 delivered after the ceremony I rejoiced with them at their happiness 
 and gave them the hope to have soon a priest. 
 
 "They will depart tomorrow: one of them will carry the good news 
 promptly to the Flat-Heads ; the other will spend the winter at the 
 mouth of the Bear River and in the spring he will continue his journey 
 with the missionary whom we will send them. Of the twenty-four 
 Iroquois who formerly emigrated from Canada only four are still living. 
 Not only have they planted the faith in those wild countries, but they 
 have besides defended it against the encroachment of the Protestant 
 ministers. When these pretended missionaries presented themselves 
 among them, our good Catholics refused to accept them. "These are 
 not the priests about whom we have spoken to you," they would say 
 to the Flat-Heads, "They are not the blackrobed priests who have 
 no wives, who say Mass, who carry the crucifix with them." For the 
 love of God my Very Reverend Father, do not abandon these souls ! ' ' 9 
 
 The Jesuits of St; Louis nobly responded to this appeal of the 
 Bishop, as Father Verhaegen indicates in his Report to the Prelates 
 assembled in Council at Baltimore in May, 1830 : 
 
 "We had it in contemplation to open a new mission among the 
 Flat-Head Indians on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. During 
 the administration of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Du Bourg (Rosati) a deputy 
 from them arrived in St. Louis for the purpose of procuring a priest. 
 
 a Complete Letter in Palladino, op. cit., pp. 31 and 32. 
 
The Beginnings of the Oregon Missions 671 
 
 This deputy died shortly after his arrival at this place. In 1835, a 
 second deputation of a father and his two sons, reached the University 
 of St. Louis. We could not, at that time, entertain the project, on 
 account of the paucity of our numbers and the limited means at the 
 disposal of the Superior of Missions. We therefore beheld with the 
 deepest regret the deputies returning to their remote country without 
 having accomplished their object. In the month of October 1839, a 
 third deputation of two Indians, arrived at the University having the 
 same object in view. Moved by the ardent desires of these distant 
 and desolate children, who called so perseveringly for those who might 
 break the bread of life to them we resolved to gratify their wishes and 
 to send two Fathers in the Spring. The two deputies left St. Louis, 
 full of joy at the happy prospect one of them remained at Westport, 
 (now Kansas City) to await the arrival of the Fathers, the other re- 
 turned to the nations beyond the Rocky Mountains, by whom he had 
 been sent to report to them the success of his mission and to prepare 
 a band of warriors with whom he was to return in the Spring to 
 meet the missionaries and his companion at a designated point. At 
 the opening of Spring, the time appointed for the fulfilment of our 
 promise, when the Caravan of the Fur Company was about to start 
 for the mountains, the want of the necessary funds rendered it im- 
 possible for us to send two Fathers. The scarcity of money was so 
 great, that we could not obtain, or loan, the small amount of one 
 thousand dollars, required for the outfit. In consequence of these 
 difficulties we were enabled to send only one Father. He left us on 
 the fifth of April to accompany the caravan of the Fur Company." 10 
 The Jesuit Father was the celebrated Peter De Smet, "the greatest 
 Indian Missionary of our age," as John O'Kane Murray calls him. 
 He was at the time missionary to the Potawatomi of Council Bluffs, 
 where he met the third delegation of the Flat-Heads. Father De Smet 
 ascended the Missouri River in a steamboat, and after ten days voyage 
 reached Westport a little town at the mouth of the Kansas, whence he 
 was to cross the American desert to the Rocky Mountains and beyond. 11 
 The missionary wrote a graphic account of the various scenes he 
 witnessed on this picturesque journey: the high wooded hills along 
 the winding Missouri, the magnificent vistas that opened at every 
 turn of the river and the wide open prairies extending for miles in 
 all directions, filled with herds of buffalo; then the buffalo hunt, the 
 frightful howling of wolves, feasting on the carcasses of the buffalos 
 that had been left to them by the hunters; after that the veritable 
 desert of sand and volcanic scoriae, extending to the foot of the 
 mountains; and the slow ascent of the great divide to the summit 
 
 i" Verhaegen to the Council, May 3, 1840, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese, 
 ii Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, vol. I, pp. 200 ss. 
 
672 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 covered with petrifactions ; lastly the passage through the mountain 
 fastnesses to the Wind River region where the missionary met a party 
 of Shoshones, who rode up, three hundred strong, in full gallop, but 
 in good order, dashed into the midst of the camp ; Father De Smet 
 made known to them the motive of his visit, and announced to the 
 deeply interested warriors the principal points of the Christian re- 
 ligion. "Blackgown," one of the chiefs answered, "your words have 
 entered our hearts: they will never go out from them." Yet, as they 
 were about to make war on the Black Feet, their hereditary foes, 
 this good resolution was not likely to produce lasting results. 
 
 Here also occurred the first meeting with a band of Flat-Heads 
 who were to escort the missionary to their people. "Our meeting was 
 not that of s.trangers but of friends : ' ' wrote Father De Smet, ' ' it 
 was like children running to meet their father after a long absence." 1 -' 
 On July 4th, the missionary resumed his travels with his Flat-Head 
 band : ten Canadians also volunteered to accompany him. A good 
 Fleming, Jean Baptist de Velder, an old grenadier of Napoleon, offered 
 his services on the. journey. On the 10th of July, the party reached 
 the headwaters of the Columbia River, and following the mountain 
 stream they at last came to the Camp of the Flat-Heads and Pend 
 d'Oreilles. It contained about 1600 souls. All expressed their joy, 
 the elders by shedding tears, the young men by leaps and shouts of hap- 
 piness. The old chief, called in his language, "Big Face," received 
 the long expected apostle with liveliest cordiality. 
 
 "Blackrobe, you are welcome in my nation. Today Kyleeyou 
 (the Great Spirit) has fulfilled our wishes. Our hearts are big, for 
 our great desire is gratified. You are in the midst of a poor and rude 
 people, plunged in the darkness of ignorance. I have always exhorted 
 my children to love Kyleeyou. We know that everything belongs to 
 Him, and that our whole dependence is upon His liberal hand. From 
 time to time good white men have given us good advice, and we have 
 followed it; and in the eagerness of our hearts, to be taught every- 
 thing that concerns our salvation, we have several times sent our 
 people to the great Blackrobe at St. Louis (the Bishop) that he might 
 send me a Father to speak with us. Blackrobe, we will follow the 
 words of your mouth." 13 
 
 "Every morning at daybreak," as Father De Smet tells us, "the 
 old chief was the first to rise ; then mounting a horse he rode up 
 and down the camp to harangue his people. This is a custom he 
 has always observed, and I think it has kept these Indians in the 
 great unity and admirable simplicity that are observed among them. 
 These 1,600 persons thanks to his fatherly care and good advice, 
 
 12 Chittenden and Bichardson, vol. I, p. 220. 
 
 13 Chittenden and Bichardson, vol. I, p. 224. 
 
Tin Beginnings of I in Oregon Missions 673 
 
 seemed to form but a single family, in which order and charity reigned 
 in a truly suprising manner. "Come, courage, my children"* he cried, 
 "open your eyes. Address your first thoughts and words to the Great 
 Spirit. Tell Him that you love Him. and ask Him to take pity on you. 
 Courage ! for the sun is about to appear, it is time you went to the river 
 to wash yourselves. Be prompt at our Father's lodge, at the first 
 sound of the bell; be quiet when you are there; open your ears to 
 hear and your hearts to hold fast all the words that he says to you." 
 Then he would administer fatherly rebukes for anything, he and the 
 other chiefs had observed that was out of order in their conduct the 
 day before. At the voice of this old man, whom all love and respect 
 like a tender father, they would hasten to arise ; all would be in motion 
 in the village, and in a few minutes the banks of the river would be 
 covered with people. 
 
 When all were ready, I rang the bell for prayer, and from the 
 first day to the last they continued to show the same avidity to hear 
 God's word. Their eagerness was so great that they would run to get 
 a good place; even the sick got themselves carried thither." 14 
 
 As the Indians removed their camp to Henry's Lake one of the 
 principal sources of the Columbia River, Father De Smet accompanied 
 them. On July 24th, they crossed the mountain to Red Rock Lake, 
 the ultimate source of the Missouri. Here the Flat-Heads laid in their 
 winter supply of buffalo meat. Father De Smet accompanied their 
 four hundred horsemen on their hunting expedition. August 27th, 
 was set by the missionary for his departure for St. Louis. All the 
 nation was assembled, in silent sorrow. The Father performed the 
 morning prayer with them amid the sobs of the women and children. 
 Then promising once more that he would return to them, he started 
 on the homeward trail, accompanied by a small body guard of Indians 
 and his faithful Fleming. For several days the journey passed through 
 the Yellowstone Bottom, where the party met several bands of friendly 
 Crow Indians. Coming at last to the farthest outpost of civilization, a 
 fort of the Fur Company, Father De Smet parted from his faithful 
 Flat-Heads, and started for Council Bluffs which he reached on Novem- 
 ber 24th, happy to find himself in company of Fathers Hoeeken and 
 Verreydt once more. Departing from Council Bluffs on December 
 14th, he reached his brethren in St. Louis on New Year's Eve having 
 completed a journey of 2000 Flemish leagues. 
 
 Father De Smet had promised his dear Flat-Heads that he would 
 return to them in the Spring: and he was as good as his word. The 
 winter he spent in collecting funds for the proposed mission. The 
 good people of Philadelphia and New Orleans, were the main con- 
 tributors to the noble cause. Pittsburg and St. Louis were good seconds. 
 
 14 Chittenden and Richardson, vol. I, p. 22.". 
 
 Vol. 1—22 
 
674 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The fellow laborers alloted to Father De Smet were five : Father 
 Nicholas Point of La Vendee, Father Gregory Mengarini, recently 
 sent from Rome in answer to Bishop Rosati's appeal, and the lay- 
 brothers William Claessens, Charles Huet and Joseph Specht. On April 
 23rd, the missionary band left St. Louis for Westport, and passing 
 through the lands of the Shawnees and Delawares, they visited the 
 Kansas Indians. White Plume, the great chief of Father Lutz's days, 
 gave them a hearty greeting. 15 
 
 It was on the Festival of the Assumption that Father De Smet's 
 party met the vanguard of the Flat-Heads. With renewed vigor the 
 entire party pushed on until from a promontory on the mountain 
 pass they could descry the Oregon country in all its Spring-time beauty. 
 At last they came within sight of the camp, and the head chief, Big 
 Face, hurried out to meet them, and to introduce them to his people. 
 "This evening," says Father De Smet, "was certainly one of the 
 happiest of my life." After many prospecting excursions, and long 
 and serious consideration, the banks of the Bitter Root River were 
 chosen as the site of the principal missionary station. The buildings 
 were put up by the brothers according to the plans of Father Point 
 The Indians were employed in cutting stakes for enclosing the en- 
 tire settlement. Baptisms in great numbers were administered, mar- 
 riages were solemnized or validated, instructions were given regularly: 
 neighboring tribes sent petitions for missionaries to visit them, the 
 Catechism was translated into the Flat-Head tongue, and one hundred 
 and fifty persons were being prepared for first Communion. The 
 Mission of St. Mary was the name of the new foundation. It was 
 but the beginning and promise of a glorious future. 16 
 
 It was a strange coincidence, yet one of the benign dispensations 
 of Divine Providence that, whilst this great work for the upbuilding 
 of the Church of God beyond the Rocky Mountains was carried on 
 from St. Louis, a similar expedition was sent out from Canada to the 
 Oregon coast. Archbishop Signay of Quebec in 1838, appointed Father 
 Francis Norbert Blanchet, Vicar General of Oregon, and gave him 
 Father Modestus Demers as his companion. Both set out for Fort 
 Van Couver, reaching it November 24th, of the same year. Father De 
 Smet paid a visit to him on his return from Europe around Cape 
 Horn, bringing a number of Sisters of Notre Dame from Namur, for 
 an Indian school. In the meantime Father Peter De Vos, and Adrian 
 Hoecken, brother of Christian Hoecken and Brother McGean had joined 
 the missionaries at St. Mary's. With this change of jurisdiction the 
 
 15 For White Plume, ef. Chittenden and Kiehardsbn, op. cit., pp. 283 and 284. 
 Hi For nn account of St. Mary's Mission, see Chittenden and Kichardson, op. 
 cit., pp. 315 ss. 
 
The Beginnings of thi Origan Missions' 675 
 
 Oregon Missions ceased to form a part of St. Louis diocese. In 1843, 
 (Dec. 1st.) Oregon became a Vicariate Apostolic with Bishop Francis 
 Norbert Blanchet in charge. 
 
 It would be a most pleasant task to sketch the origin and the 
 early triumphs and vicissitudes of the Oregon missions : yet that subject 
 is a very wide one, and has been ably treated by such historians, as 
 Father Palladino, Bishop Blanchet, Father Van Rensselaer Ronan, Chit- 
 tenden and Richardson, and by the Founder, Father De Smet himself. 
 These authors give us a comprehensive view of the grandest missionary 
 work of the nineteenth century in its religious, social, economical and 
 political aspect. In regard to its civilizing influence I would quote the 
 generous words of a man, who for many years held the highest position 
 of honor and trust our State could confer, and whose name is enrolled 
 among the truly great men of the nation, Senator George G. Vest. He 
 had been appointed a member of a Special Committee sent out to 
 investigate the Indian Reservations in the "West. On May 12th, 1884, 
 the question as to the appropriation for the schools came up in the 
 United States Senate, and the Senator from Missouri made his report 
 in an impressive speech, from which this quotation it taken : 
 
 "In all my wanderings in Montana last summer I saw but one 
 ray of light on the subject of Indian education . . . the system adopted 
 by the Jesuits is the only practical system for the education of the 
 Indian, and the only one that has resulted in anything at all." 
 
 Realizing that there was an anti-Catholic feeling at the bottom 
 of the opposition to the Jesuit Schools, Senator Vest thought proper 
 to state his own position in regard to the Catholic religion : 
 
 "The Jesuits have elevated the Indian wherever they have been 
 allowed to do so, without interference by bigotry and fanaticism and 
 the cowardice of insectivorous politicians, who are afraid of the A. P. A., 
 and the votes that can be cast against them in their districts and their 
 states. They have made him a Christian, and, above even that, they 
 have made him a workman, able to support himself and those de- 
 pendent upon him. Go to the Flat-Head Reservation in Montana and 
 look from the cars of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and you will 
 see the result of what Father De Smet and his associates began and 
 what was carried on successfully until the A. P. A. and the cowards 
 who are afraid of it, struck down the appropriation. 
 
 Go through this reservation and look at the work of the Jesuits, 
 and what is seen .' You find comfortable dwellings, herds of cattle 
 and horses, intelligent self-respecting Indians. I have been to their 
 houses and found under the system adopted by the Jesuits, that after 
 they have educated these boys and girls, and they had intermarried, 
 the Jesuits would go out and break up a piece of land and build them 
 a house, and that couple became the nucleus of civilization in the 
 neighborhood. They had been educated under the system which pre- 
 
676 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 vented them from going back to the tepee after a day's tuition. The 
 Jesuits found that in order to accomplish their purpose of teaching 
 them how to work and depend upon themselves, it was necessary to 
 keep them in school, a boarding school by day and night, and to allow 
 their parents to see them only in presence of brothers or the nuns. 
 
 I wish to say now what I have said before in the Senate, and it 
 is not the popular side of the question by any means, that I did not 
 see in all my journey which lasted for several weeks, a single school 
 that was doing any educational work worthy the name of educational 
 work, unless it was under the control of the Jesuits." 
 
Chapter 28 
 THE POTAWATOMI MISSION OF SUGAR CREEK 
 
 The very year of the foundation of the Potawatomi Mission near 
 Council Bluffs was to witness the third great immigration of Potawa- 
 tomi, mostly Catholics, coming from the neighborhood of St. Joseph's, 
 on the southern shore, of Lake Michigan. Let us hear what Father 
 Verhaegen has to say about this matter : 
 
 "In the same year (1838), six hundred Catholic Potawatomi 
 from Indiana, who were accompanied in their removal by the late Rev. 
 Father Petit, on reaching their destination were transferred by him to 
 the care of one of our Fathers. Their location is on the banks of 
 Sugar Creek, about seventy miles southwest of the Kickapoo station. 
 This is the most flourishing of all the Indian missions and realizes the 
 accounts, which we read of the missions of Paraguay. 
 
 A letter of the missioner, received in January last, states that on 
 Christmas one hundred and fifty approached the sacred table and all 
 who could be spared from domestic duties assisted with great devotion 
 at the three solemn Masses, the first at midnight, the second at daybreak 
 and the third at 10 :30. There is but one Father at present at the 
 station, and as his presence is almost always required among his six 
 hundred Catholics, he cannot make frequent excursions to the neigh- 
 boring tribes. His catechists, however, perform this duty for him, and 
 often return with several adults ready to receive baptism. The details 
 of this mission would form a lengthy and interesting article, we cannot 
 properly find place in a mere report." 1 
 
 St. Joseph's Mission, on the St. Joseph River, at South Bend, 
 Indiana, was founded by Father Claude Allouez S. J. before 1711 ; for, 
 at that period Father John Chardon, S. J. became his successor. 
 It w r as then known as the Miami Mission. The nation of the Pota- 
 watomi is noteworthy in our literary history as having given to 
 Longfellow the matter of his Hiawatha. Their traditions were 
 first recorded by Father De Smet in his Oregon Missions. The 
 " Pontonatomies, " as spelled by French writers, were mentioned since 
 1639: In 1641 they were at Sault Ste. Marie's, fleeing before the Sioux; 
 in 1668 they were all on the Potawatomi Islands in Green Bay. In 1721 
 the bulk of the nation was still on their islands ; one band was at Detroit, 
 
 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (677) 
 
678 History of tht Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 another on the St. Joseph's River (South Bend, Indiana) These latter 
 are the people led to the West by Father Petit. 2 
 
 Their last missionary of the pre-banishment Jesuits was Father 
 De la Moriuie, who was forced to seek shelter at the mission of 
 Kaskaskia and for a while attended the newly founded Church of Ste. 
 Genevieve, until he with the members of the Illinois Mission was ban- 
 ished from the country in 1763. The mission was reopened in 1830 by 
 the venerable Father Stephan Badin, and a large number of converts were 
 made among the Indians. 
 
 His successor Father Louis Deseilles having died at the altar of 
 Ste. Marie du Lac, among his dear Indians, was in turn succeeded by 
 Father Benjamin Marie Petit, the last of the Indian Missionaries in 
 Indiana. Father Petit was born, at Rennes in France, April 8th, 1811, 
 attended the college of his native city for the study of law, and had 
 already attained the position of advocate when, in 1835, Bishop Simon 
 Brute, of Vincennes, arrived at Rennes and confirmed the hopeful young 
 man in his determination to become a missionary in America. Arriving 
 at Vincennes in 1836, the youthful Petit was raised to the priesthood 
 in October 1837. His first and only appointment was to the Indian 
 mission in the region around South Bend, Indiana, where he remained 
 until September 1838. Hence, Father Petit accompanied the Potawa- 
 tomi on their exile to the Far West, and died on his homeward 
 journey in St. Louis, February 10th, 1839, not cpiite twenty-eight 
 years old, but full of merit. 
 
 Father Petit 's arrival among the Potawatomi, brought forth 
 shouts of joy from the Indians: "We were as orphans and, as it were, 
 in darkness, but you 1 come among us and we live." Full of holy zeal 
 the young missionary shared with joy the poverty and anguish of his 
 people over whom a heavy doom was lowering. That very' year of his 
 coming, 1837, was to witness the barbarous expulsion of the Forest 
 Potawatomi, as his Indians were called, from their native haunts. 
 "I shall have to level the altar and the church to the ground and 
 bury the cross which overshadows their tombs to save it from profana- 
 tion," he cried out in the anguish of his heart. And then he recalls 
 the beautiful Christian traits of his forlorn people : 
 
 "At sundown the whole congregation assembled for catechetical 
 instruction and night prayer. Many of them had the practice of frequent 
 communion, but since the death of Father Deseilles until my coming 
 they had to be content with spiritual communion. I have already 
 baptized eighteen converts and solemnized seven marriages. Their zeal 
 for religion is most beautiful to witness. They will leave their homes 
 
 2 Cf. "Wisconsin Historical Collection," vol. Ill, p. 136. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Sugar Creek 679 
 
 to visit and instruct anyone, no matter how far away, of whom they 
 have learned that he had desired to become a Christian." 3 
 
 In his letter to Bishop Brute, dated July 9th, 1838, Father Petit 
 speaks of his joy at finding himself able to understand and speak the 
 language of his people ; and at the end of his letter expresses a desire to 
 be permitted to accompany them to their new destination. Since Easter, 
 1838, he had baptized one hundred and two Indian converts. At length 
 the sad day of parting arrived. On September 14th, 1838, Father 
 Petit writes : 
 
 "I have read my last Mass at Chicsipe-Outipe. After Mass my 
 dear little chapel was stripped of all its ornaments, and I gathered 
 my children around me for the hour of departure. I shed tears, my 
 Indians cried aloud ; it was heart-rending. We, a dying mission, prayed 
 for the prosperity of the other missions and sang : 
 
 "In thy protection do we trust, 
 Virgin, meek and mild." 
 
 "The leader's voice was broken with sobbing; but few could carry 
 the song to its end. I had to leave. It is very sad for a missionary 
 to witness the death of what he had loved. A few days later I learned 
 that the Indians, in spite of their peaceful dispostion, had been attacked 
 and made prisoners of war. Under pretence of a council they had been 
 brought together, when suddenly they were surrounded by the military, 
 800 in number, and put under restraint. The government at the same 
 time extending an invitation to me to accompany them to their des- 
 tination, as the separation from their priest was one of the reasons 
 of their unwillingness to depart. I answered that I could do nothing 
 without consent of my Bishop, and that he had refused permission, 
 in order to remove all suspicion, that the church authorities had 
 consented to the harsh measures adopted by the government. But the 
 dispensation of Providence is wonderful. Bishop Brute was expected 
 at Logansport on September 7th to dedicate the new church; and on 
 the same day my Indian children were to camp near Logansport on 
 their way to the Mississippi. On the morning of September 5th, the 
 Bishop entered my room at South Bend and asked me to accompany him 
 to Logansport. I was quiet as a man who does not move under an 
 oppressive weight. We departed together. On the way we learned 
 that the Indians, who were urged on to quicker movement at the point 
 of the bayonet, had a number of sick people with them; several of 
 
 3 Petit to Brute. The letters of Father Petit to Bishop Brute were published 
 iu vol. VII of the "Annales de 1 'Association de la Propagation de la Foi," for 
 August. They were translated into German for Father Theodore Bruenner's "Kirchen- 
 geschichte Quincy's, " 1887. The English Translation is our own. 
 
liSO History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 them (in the wagons having already died of heat and thirst. These 
 reports were Like a dagger piercing my heart. The Bishop now gave 
 his consent that I join the Indians on their sad exodus; on condition, 
 however, that 1 return as soon as another priest could be provided. 
 I feared at firsl thai I would not be permitted to enter the camp with- 
 out special permission. All the Indians, however, came out to receive 
 my blessing. The Americans were surprised at this. "This man," said 
 the General "has greater influence here than I". I had free entrance 
 everywhere. 
 
 "On the afternoon of September 9th Bishop Brute, came to the 
 camp and confirmed twenty of my people. It was a beautiful day of 
 triumph for the Catholic Faith. On the following day I brought my 
 luggage from South Bend, and am now on the march to found a new 
 mission for my barbarians, 400 miles to the west." 4 
 
 Why the military acted so harshly in carrying out the sufficiently 
 harsh measures of the government is not clear, except on the supposition 
 that some of them were far more barbarous than the barbarians them- 
 selves, these gentle children of the one-time wilderness. But these 
 Indians were Catholics and, therefore, their sufferings passed unoticed 
 by the great world. On November 13th, 1837, Father Petit continues 
 his report to Bishop Brute. His letter is dated from Osage River, 
 Indiana County (Kansas): "On September 12, I returned to Logans- 
 port having to catch up with the emigrants at Lafayette, but the march 
 was accelerated so much, that I did not see them, even from afar, until 
 I came to Danville. They were marching along the right bank of the 
 river, whilst the wagon train followed on the left bank. It was Sunday, 
 September 16th. I had just arrived, when a Colonel rode up for the 
 purpose of selecting the location for a camp. Shortly afterward I saw 
 my Christians approaching through the heat of midday, amid a cloud of 
 dust and surrounded by the soldiery urging them on to renewed effort. 
 Then came the wagon tram with the numerous sick and the children 
 and women heaped pellmell on the carts. The camp was about half an 
 hour's walk from the city, and in a little more than that time I was 
 with them. It was a heart-breaking spectacle. Sick and dying people 
 everywhere ; almost all the children Avere in a state of utter exhaustion 
 and unconsciousness. The General expressed his pleasure at seeing me, 
 and gallantly offered me a chair, the only one he had. This was the 
 first night spent under a tent. Early next morning the sick Indians 
 were placed in the wagons; all the others mounting their horses. Just 
 before starting, Judge Polk, the commander-in-chief, came up and offer- 
 ed me a saddle horse which the government had hired from an Indian, 
 
 4 Petit to Brute, September 14, 1838. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Sugar Creek 681 
 
 but the Indian approached and said: "My Father, I give you the 
 horse, saddled and bridled as it is." We then started for a new camp, 
 when a longer rest was promised us. At my request the authorities 
 set at liberty the six Indian chiefs, who had Until now been treated as 
 prisoners of war. The order of march was now as follows : The U. S. 
 Flag was carried at the head of the column by a dragoon, followed 
 by some of the chief officers; then came the wagon train of the General 
 Staff, then the wagons used by the Indian chiefs. After that came 
 250 to 300 horses, with men, women and children, riding in single file 
 after the manner of the Indians, under guard of dragoons and volunteers, 
 who continually urged on the cavalcade with bitter words and taunts. 
 Now came about 40 wagons with the luggage of the Indians, and the 
 sick Indians crowded on top of the luggage. Here the poor creatures 
 lay, continually shaken up, under a canvas cover that was intended 
 to shelter them against the heat of the sun, but served only to deprive 
 them of fresh air ; literally buried alive under the burning cover. A 
 few of them died under the torment. We encamped about .six miles 
 from Danville. Then I had the happiness, for two successive days, to 
 say holy Mass surrounded by my children. I administered the holy 
 sacrament to several in preparation for death and baptized a few 
 infants and, when we left this camp after our two days' rest, we left 
 behind six graves with crosses at their head. At Danville the General 
 gave furlough to his little army, and departed. He had promised to 
 do so immediately after my advent. Soon Ave found ourselves on the 
 vast prairies of Illinois, moving from one camp to another under a 
 broiling sun against which there was no shelter; they are immeasurable 
 like the ocean, and the eye wearies itself to discover a tree in its 
 immensity. No drop of water is to be found there. The journey was 
 a real torment for the poor sick, some of whom died almost every day 
 from exhaustion and fatigue. But all this misery did not prevent us 
 from reciting our night prayers in common, and the Americans, who 
 were led by curiosity to visit us were astonished to find so much piety 
 among so many trials. It frequently happened that some fifteen to 
 twenty Indians sat around a fire before a tent that was illumined by a 
 single wax candle, singing hymns and reciting the rosary all night ; it 
 meant that one of their friends had died, and his corpse lay now in the 
 tent. Thus they showed him their love and honor. On the following 
 morning a grave was dug, the sorrowing family, without a tear in their 
 eyes, however, remained at the place after the others had departed; 
 the priest blessed the grave and cast the first shovelful of clay on the 
 poor coffin; then a mound was raised over the dead and a little cross 
 placed upon it. On some Sundays, when the lack of drinking water forced 
 us to march on, a time of grace of two hours was granted to me, during 
 
682 Histonj of I he Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 which I might perform my religious duties. The Indians attended 
 holy Mass, during which they sang their hymns so sweetly, that all 
 visitors were filled with wonderment. To my taste, some of their songs 
 had a very beautiful melody. I then preached a sermon on the Gospel, 
 requested all to recite the Rosary on the way and gathered my belong- 
 ings. The tents were struck, the horses were mounted, and on we marched 
 to the next encampment. As a rule there was no marching on Sundays. 
 The morning prayers and an instruction preceded the Mass. Vespers 
 were chanted in the Indian tongue. Then came the Rosary and a 
 brief sermon ; the latter I sometimes preached in Indian without an 
 interpreter. The respect shown me by Catholics along the way is 
 above praise. . . 
 
 "I was again attacked by fever, about two or three days' journey 
 this side of the Illinois River. Here an old Frenchman came to the 
 camp and made me promise, with many importunities, to take a few 
 days' rest at his home. The next morning he came with a wagon to 
 convey me away, but I had to decline the invitation for fear I might 
 not be able to catch up with my emigrants if I remained behind. 
 When we arrived at Naples, where we crossed the . Illinois River, a 
 Protestant gentleman who had been married to a Catholic French- 
 woman at Vincennes, and who had heard that there was a sick priest 
 among the Indians, came to offer me his home for the time of my stay. 
 I accepted this invitation and through the great care lavished upon me, 
 I got rid of the fever. At Naples I took the stage coach and hurried 
 on to Quincy. There I found a German priest, Father Brickwedde, 
 and a German Congregation, who all received me with indescribable 
 affection. The same friendly treatment was accorded to me by some 
 Catholic Americans and by a few of the most prominent Protestants 
 of the city. When the Indians arrived at Quincy, the inhabitants, 
 Avho had seen other emigrating tribes pass through their city, could 
 not contain their admiration of the modesty, the quiet and good be- 
 havior of our Christians. A Catholic lady, accompanied by a Protestant 
 friend, made the sign of the cross. Immediately the Indian women 
 ran up to her and grasped her hand and shook it most heartily. The 
 Protestant lady tried also to make the sign of the cross, but made a 
 poor showing at it. One of the Indian women approached her saying, 
 "You nothing," And she was right. . . " 5 
 
 At Quincy the Indians crossed the Mississippi and wandered from 
 camp to camp through Northern Missouri, ever westward across the 
 Missouri boundary to the headwaters of the Osage River, in the 
 
 5 Petit to Brute, November 13, 1838. 
 
The Potaivatomi. Mission of Sugar Creek 683 
 
 present State of Kansas, then but a part of the vast Indian Territory. 
 Father Petit 's letter comes to a conclusion: 
 
 "One day's journey from the Osage River I was met by Father 
 Hoecken, S. J. He speaks both the Potawatomi and the Kickapoo 
 languages. He told me of his purpose to leave the land of the Kickapoo 
 and to take up his abode among my Christians. Thus Your Grace 
 will see that your purpose as well as mine is attained. Your Grace 
 sought nothing but the honor of God and the salvation of these 
 poor Christians; I sought nothing else. Having departed on September 
 4th, we arrived November 4th. The number of our Indians at their 
 departure amounted to 800 ; some have deserted and many died. I 
 do not think there were, at our arrival, more than 650 souls." 
 
 Father Petit fell sick once more ; the effects of the fever and the 
 terrible privations and hardships were partly counteracted by the tender 
 care of Father Hoecken. On January 2, 1839, Father Petit started for 
 Vincennes, but was again taken ill on the way, and died at St. Louis, 
 a martyr to duty, as Bishop Brute called him, cheered and comforted 
 by the pious care of the Jesuit Fathers and the visits of Bishops 
 Rosati and Loras. His death occurred on February 11th, 1839. 
 
 A temporary chapel was raised near the banks of the river, called 
 Potawatomi Creek. After the departure of Father Petit, Father 
 Hoecken remained with these Indians for a time alone, until the Rev. 
 Father P. Aelen joined him as his assistant, April 26th, 1839. On May 
 10th, the entire multitude of the faithful removed to the river commonly 
 called Sugar Creek, but renamed by us St. Mary's Creek, there to 
 have their permanent home. A new church was erected in this place 
 under the title "Conceptio Beatae Mariae Virgins.'" Father Hoecken 
 adds a note to this report as follows : 
 
 "The Indians under my care are of good disposition and fervent, 
 some of them were confirmed by Bishop Brute before their western migra- 
 tion. But as they come from Indiana, they were never under the decrees 
 of the Sacred Synod of Trent (i. e. the Ne Temere Decree) concerning 
 marriages, consequently they are not subject to the proclamation of the 
 banns. Besides, the Indian mode of contracting marriage is altogether 
 different from that of other nations; and lastly they do not like to have 
 their names proclaimed in church, because they are very much inclined 
 to bashfulness, so much so, that at times they can scarcely speak, so 
 shamefaced they are." 7 
 
 The holy death of Father Petit obtained for the new Potawatomi 
 Mission a house of the Sacred Heart. Mother Duchesne, who had been 
 
 Petit to Brute. 
 
 Hocken to Rosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
• >*■! History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 deeply moved by this narrative, wrote as follows to .Mother Barat: 
 "On the frontier of the State of Missouri, not far from the towns of 
 Portland, Liberty and Independence, there is a good tribe of Indians, 
 banished from Indiana, and for the most part Christians; a holy Breton 
 priest, M. Petit, devoted himself to these poor people; his life, was worn 
 out in their service, and he has died like a saint in the college of St. 
 Louis. His dear flock he committed to the care of a Jesuit Father, 
 who has since been to see us. ' ' s 
 
 Mother Duchesne, whose real motive in coming to America was to 
 serve God in the conversion of the children of the far western wilderness, 
 but whose holy desire was ever frustrated by other more imperious calls 
 of duty, now at last in her old age saw her opportunity. She begged 
 Bishop Rosati. who was then in France, to intercede with Mother Barat 
 for this last favor, that she might be permitted to go to the Potawatomi 
 Indians on Sugar Creek. "If I did not know You, "the saintly Bishop 
 answered," I should say, it was too much. But I do know you and so 
 I say: Go. Follow your inspiration, or rather the voice of God. He will 
 be with you."" On the feast of the Epiphany 1841 she made a formal 
 application on the subject to her Superiors : 
 
 "If we had only four hundred piastres to begin with, she wrote 
 to Mother Gallitzin we could go in the spring. Our large houses 
 in Louisiana might really look on that little sum as a trifle in compar- 
 ison with the great expenses of their buildings, which might well spare 
 something of their beauty for the glory of God and in order to provide 
 what is indispensable for our poor Indians." 10 
 
 Father De Smet collected the four hundred piastres and handed 
 them to the Mother Visitor for the enterprise. The matter of a new 
 House in the far west was decided, only the question as to whether the 
 venerable Mother Duchesne in her feeble state of health should take 
 part in the venture, remained undecided until Mother General, 
 the venerated Mother Barat, wrote: "It was on account of the savages 
 that Mother Duchesne felt inspired to undertake this work of founding 
 the Order in America." Mother Duchesne's letter of thanks to Mother 
 General overflowed with holy joy and hope : 
 
 "There are half-castes there who are saints, and great saints also 
 among the savages. A spirit exists in that mission unknown elsewhere. 
 The faith of these simple Christians is such that it reminds one of 
 the early days of the Church." 11 
 
 s Baunard-Fullerton, "Mother Philippine Du Chesne," p. 358 
 
 o Kosati to Mother Du Chesne. 
 
 io Baunard-Fullerton, "Mother Du Chesne," p. 361. 
 
 11 Baunard-Fullerton, op. cit., p. 361. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Sugar Creek 685 
 
 Madame Lucille Mathevon, Superior of St. Charles, offered herself 
 for the service of the new foundation, and was appointed its first 
 Superior. Madame O'Connor, an Irish nun that spoke both English 
 and French, volunteered to join the Mission, as also did Louisa Amyot, 
 a Canadian sister. Mother Duchesne was growing weaker and weaker, 
 the doctor said, that she was in constant danger of death. It almost 
 seemed a duty to prevent her departure on the long and tiresome 
 voyage. But Father Verhaegen, who was to be at the head of the 
 traveling party, insisted upon it, that Mother Duchesne was to be 
 accepted. "If she cannot work," he said, "She will forward the 
 success of the mission by her prayers." Presents of money and linen 
 came in from various houses of the Sacred Heart. The departure for 
 Sugar Creek took place by boat on the Feast of the Apostles Peter and 
 Paul. Four days afterwards the party landed at Westport : the rest 
 of the journey was made in wretched carriages over still more wretched 
 roads : but at last on July 9th, 1841, they reached the territory of the 
 Potawatomi. Their village stood eighteen miles farther west. 
 
 Early the next morning, as the caravan started on the last lap of 
 the journey, the eyes of the Sisters were treated to a spectacle, such 
 as they had never seen or ever dreamt of. Groups of Indians on 
 horseback were stationed at intervals on the road to show the way, 
 and suddenly, at the entrance of a boundless prairie, a band of one 
 hundred and fifty Indians appeared, riding horses magnificently capari- 
 soned, and waving above the many-colored plumes of their head-dresses 
 red and white flags. In the midst of this cavalcade the carriages of the 
 nuns drove on, the men of the tribe executing all sorts of figures, and 
 firing guns in the air. 12 
 
 When at last the cavalcade arrived at the mission house, and all 
 were seated on benches in the open, Father Verhaegen presented 
 Mother Duchesne to the wondering savages, saying: "My children, 
 here is a lady who for thirty-five years has been asking God to let her 
 come to You." The chief's wife then addressed Mother Duchesne and 
 her companions: "To show You our joy, all the women of the tribe, 
 married and unmarried, will now embrace You. "Mother Duchesne 
 and the others Sisters graciously accepted the compliment in the spirit in 
 which it was offered." 13 
 
 Sugar Creek presented a remarkable contrast with the neighboring 
 Indian settlements. ' ' Half of the people here, ' ' Mother Duchesne wrote, 
 "are Catholics, and live in a separate village from the heathens, 
 who are being gradually converted. When once they have been baptized, 
 
 12 Cf. Baunard-Fullerton, op. cit., p. 365. 
 
 13 Baunard-Fullerton, p. 366. 
 
lisii History of the Archdiocese of St. Lams 
 
 they leave off stealing: and drinking; all the houses are left open, but 
 nothing is ever stolen. The Potawatomi assemble every morning for 
 prayers, Mass, and instruction, and the same for night prayers." 14 
 
 A t first the Sisters lived in a hut given them by one of the Indians. 
 They opened their school on July 19th, the Feast of St. Vincent de 
 Paul. The church was near by. In August their house was completed 
 and occupied. Father Aelen gave them two cows, a horse and a pair of 
 oxen: and so the new institution was in working order. Fifty girls 
 frequented the school. 
 
 "As soon as we could," Madame Mathevon says, "we taught our 
 Indians the prayers of the Church, and especially the Litany of the 
 Blessed Virgin, as it is sung on Sundays after Vespers. 
 Soon our cabin could not hold all our scholars, and we made a large 
 room with green branches. Our children are very intelligent, and 
 understand easily all Ave teach them. They are as handy as possible 
 with their fingers." 15 
 
 This new surroundings of piety and poverty seemed to give new 
 strength to Mother Duchesne. She wrote to her sister : ' ' My health 
 has much improved here, I have gained strength, my sight is clearer, 
 and in spite of my seventy-three years, I enjoy the use of all my 
 faculties." 10 
 
 It was not the renewal of bodily health and vigor, but rather the 
 spirit triumphant over all the ills of life. Yet the Superior feared that 
 the austerities of the missionary calling were undermining what was 
 left of health and vigor, and felt bound to recall her to the quiet and 
 calm of St. Charles. But even here she continually thought about her 
 dear savages. Ten years were here added to her span of existence, 
 full of prayer and patient suffering, though no longer of labors. Her 
 beloved houses of St. Charles and Florissant Avere threatened with 
 suppression. But the danger was averted. She rejoiced to see the 
 good work that had been begun by her in 1818 spread far and wide 
 in America and even beyond its bounds: and yet she could sincerely 
 confess her life a failure: "I myself have never succeeded in any 
 of my labors : but God gave me the grace to rejoice in the success of 
 others." 17 
 
 The servant of God died on November 1852, in the 83rd year of 
 her life. Father Aelen in his report of 1839 to Bishop Rosati contains 
 the following information on the distribution of the Catholic Indians 
 under his care : 
 
 !■* Baunard-Fullerton, ]>. 3(>G. 
 
 is Baunard-Fullerton, p. 307. 
 
 10 Ibidem, p. 369. 
 
 1" Baunard, "Madam Barat," German translation, p. 572. 
 
The Potawatomi Mission of Sugar Creek 687 
 
 "The Potawamoi Mission south of the Mer des Cynes (Lake of 
 the Swans) sometimes called Osage River. This mission extends itself 
 to all the various bands of that nation, scattered all over their lands. 
 Some of the faithful live on the right bank of the Mer des Cygnes ; a 
 considerable number on both banks of the socalled Potawatomi Creek, 
 and about 400 in a southward direction on the banks of the so-called 
 Sugar Creek. Here is the residence of the attending clergyman, the 
 Rev. H. G. Aelen, S. J., and a church under the invocation of the 
 Bl. V. M. This mission is very flourishing, and no less than 60 adults 
 have been baptized during the last eight months, or from the time that 
 the nation has begun to settle on their lands." 18 
 
 From this flourishing center the Ottawas and Miamis were reg- 
 ularly visited by Father Aelen, and the Kickapoo Station by Father 
 Eysvogels, who also took into his circuit the rising towns of Liberty 
 and Plattsburg. Father Hoecken, not content with securing the spiritual 
 interests of his people, endeavored also to elevate their social condition, 
 by inspiring them with a love of honest labor. He extended his 
 missionary excursions to the Sioux, Ricarees, Mandans, and Assiniboines 
 of whom he baptized about four hundred." 
 
 After 1848 the mission among the Osages was' renewed under the 
 title of St. Francis Hieronymo by the Jesuit Fathers John Shoenmakers 
 and John Bax, with the Sisters of Loretto conducting the school. In 
 that year the Chicago Potawatomi, or the United Nation of the 
 Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi, were removed from Council Bluffs 
 and settled on their lands on the Kansas River in the neighborhood of 
 the Sugar Creek Mission. The mission was blessed with extraordinary 
 good results. When the old Indian Territory in 1851, was erected into 
 a Vicariate Apostolic under the Jesuit Bishop John Baptist Miege, 
 the Potawatomi Mission became his Episcopal residence. 
 
 Father Christian Hoecken, who thus received through Father Petit 's 
 consecrated hands, the heritage of the earlier Jesuit's treasure of 
 Catholic souls, and who was privileged to introduce the saintly Mother 
 Duchesne to the fervently desired Indian Mission, was born in Upper 
 Brabant, and was, at this time, only twenty-eight years of age. He was 
 the companion of Father Van Quickenborne in founding and conducting 
 the Kickapoo Mission. At the suppression of this first Indian estab- 
 lishment west of the Mississippi he was transferred to the Potawatomi 
 Mission on the Osage River and on Sugar Creek. He spoke the lan- 
 guages of both tribes, the Kickapoo and the Potawatomi and understood 
 their manners, prejudices and predilections. The Indians conceived a 
 profound veneration for him. "He was," as Father De Smet testifies, 
 
 is Aelen 's Report to Bishop Rosati, 1839. 
 
(iss History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "To all (if them, their father in Christ, their physician in illness, their 
 counsel in difficulties, their sincere and faithful friend. When he could 
 share anything with his poor neophytes, he rejoiced with all the sim- 
 plicity (if a child. His only consolation was to be among them." 10 He 
 died of cholera on the 19th day of June 1851, on the great journey 
 undertaken in company (if Father De Smet to the Great Desert. Both 
 were attacked by the virulent disease, but Father De Smet recovered. 
 Father Hoecken, "the martyr of duty," as Father De Smet called him, 
 was buried near the mouth of the Little Sioux River, but later on brought 
 to Florissant. There his mortal remains repose near the grave of the last 
 Jesuit Missionary of the Illinois, Father Sebastian Meurin. Archbishop 
 Peter Richard Kenrick, in a brief obituary published in the Shepherd 
 of the Valley, thus sums up the noble character of Father Christian 
 Hoecken: "The qualities winch most distinguished him amid his labors 
 and privations were his admirable frankness, his simplicity, his sound 
 judgment, and ever-joyous and peaceful disposition of mind and heart, 
 and an imperturable contentment, which the author of this notice has 
 never found to the same degree in any individual." 20 
 
 i» De Smet , "Western Missions and Missionaries;" p. 65. 
 20 "Shepherd of the Valley," July, 1851. 
 
Chapter 29 
 EARLY CHURCH-FOUNDATIONS IN CENTRAL MISSOURI 
 
 The succession of counties west of St. Louis and Jefferson, along 
 the windings of the muddy Missouri. Franklin, Gasconade, then compris- 
 ing Osage. Maries, Gasconade, and lastly the County of Cole, the proud 
 possessor of the State Capital, Jefferson City, formed the favorite 
 missionary field of the Jesuits in Missouri after the establishment of 
 their University in the chief city of the State. Of course, their labors 
 extended to a far wider territory, on the north side of the river. But 
 the district circumscribed here was a compact and almost homogeneous 
 unit, in as far as the Church was concerned; most of the early settlers 
 being one in religion and nationality : Catholic emigrants from Bavaria, 
 Baden, the Rhineland, Westphalia, and Hanover. Westphalia in what 
 is now called Osage County was for a time the center of the various 
 missions. 
 
 "The Germans are most numerous in the neighborhood of Jefferson 
 City," wrote Father Verhaegen in 1837. "People have assured us there 
 are almost fifty Catholic families there. They are pious and in better 
 circumstances than those of Washington." 1 
 
 This was the colony of Catholic Westphalians and Rhinelanders 
 from Northern Germany, that in 1835 had formed a settlement on the 
 Big Maries, a tributary of the Osage River. Some of the immigrants 
 Avere men of classical education, as Dr. Bruns, Mr. Bartmann and others. 
 One of their number. Mr. Hesse, made a valuable map of the Maries 
 County settlements, and a book on "Western North-America." 
 
 As a village grew up they named it Westphalia. A Catholic priest, 
 Rev. Henry Meinkmann, came among them with a party of Rhinelanders, 
 but, being debarred from holding services, for lack of credentials, em- 
 ployed his time and talent in teaching school. When Father Verhaegen 
 in 1837 paid a visit to the colony, he inquired into the circumstances of 
 Father Meinkmann 's case and reported them to Bishop Rosati : "Father 
 Henry Meinkmann of the diocese of Minister in Germany was ordained in 
 1829, at Lucerne in Switzerland. For three years prior to his coming to 
 America in 1836, he exercised the ministry at Capellen and at Hinsbeck 
 in Minister. On relinquishing this post lie obtained commendatory letters 
 from the cure of Hinsbeck: but on soliciting a document of like tenor 
 from the Vicar-General of the diocese of Minister, was assured bv thai 
 
 i Verhaegen to Rosati, November 17. l.s.'!7. Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (689) 
 
690 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 official, apparently in good faith, that no credentials other than those 
 furnished by the cure of Hinsbeck would be found necessary in America. 
 Father Meinkmann applied to Bishop Rosati for faculties in April 1837, 
 but received a curt refusal, because he coidd not show dimissorial letters 
 from the Bishop of Miinster. All that the poor priest could do was to 
 go with his party of immigrants and to wait until the clouds should be 
 cleared away. Father Helias thought well of him; calling him "that 
 Israelite in whom there is no guile. 
 
 "The Germans of Westphalia," wrote Father Verhaegen to the 
 Bishop, "said many fine things about the good priest of whom Father 
 Helias speaks : but those of more influence among them observed to 
 me that he would not suit, as he could not wield over them the authoritj 7 
 and influence which the Sacred Ministry requires and this for the 
 reason that he has resided so long among them without the usual powers 
 of a priest, merely as a school-teacher, etc. ' ' 2 
 
 In the meantime Father Meinkmann had received his canonical 
 exeat from the diocese of Miinster : whereupon Bishop Rosati granted 
 him faculties for "Westphalia Settlement as resident pastor. A small 
 wooden chapel was then erected on the north side of the Maries River, 
 and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. 
 
 But, as Father Verhaegen had intimated to the Bishop, Father 
 Meinkmann 's stay at Westphalia Settlement was foredoomed. He was 
 unable to maintain his priestly dignity, having been, for so long a time, 
 deprived of priestly faculties. For an entire year he had said no Mass. 
 The Westphalians expressed doubt about his ordination : his own Rhine- 
 land friends defended him as best they could. Dissension was rife, 
 as Father Meinkmann continued to hold divine services under Bishop 
 Rosati 's orders. The mischief had been done, and there was no way 
 of reinstating the innocent, though rather imprudent priest, in the love 
 and confidence of the people. In the quarrels between the hard-headed 
 Westphalians and the light-hearted Rhinelanders, Father Meinkmann 
 naturally took sides with the latter. This sealed his doom in West- 
 phalia. Bishop Rosati appointed him to the new colony of Washington 
 in Franklin County, and offered the mission of Westphalia to the Jesuit 
 Fathers. Westphalia was to be the center of the Missions in Central 
 Missouri. The Jesuits readily accepted the offer, April 23rd, 1838. For 
 some weeks after his transfer, Father Meinkmann remained in West- 
 phalia and Loose Creek. His new field of labor was a settlement of 
 Hanoverians. The place had been visited by the Jesuit Father Chris- 
 tian Hoeken in 1835, but Father Meinkmann was its first resident priest. 
 A small chapel of logs was built there soon after his arrival. On July 
 
 2 Verhaegen to Bosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Early Church-Foundations in Central Missouri 691 
 
 20, 1838, Father Meinkmann received the "Major Faculties" which 
 included the power of dispensing in some matrimonial impediments, 
 for Washington and Marthasville, now know under the name of Dut- 
 zow, in Warren County on the north side of the Missouri River. 3 
 
 The origin of Washington dates back to October 12th, 1833, Avhen 
 the first German Catholic emigrants from Belm and Osterkappeln, 
 near Osnabrueck, arrived. There were twelve families, men, women 
 and children, amounting to about sixty persons, that sailed from Bremen 
 to New Orleans. The excessive heat of the Southland and the mosquito 
 plague led them on to St. Louis. Illinois now became their objective 
 and they engaged passage up the Illinois River. But on the very day 
 they were to depart the boat sank. There was another large boat ready 
 for departure, though not for the Illinois Country. Its pathway lay 
 up the Missouri. Quickly deciding the question of their future home, the 
 little colony started for Marthasville on the Missouri, of which newly 
 founded town they had read a glowing account in Gottfried Duden's 
 book. 
 
 The Captain of the boat, however, advised them to settle on the 
 southern bank of the River, where a certain Mr. Owens would be very 
 helpful to them. The advice seemed good to the weary pilgrims. At 
 the landing place they found shelter for the night in the ware-house 
 of a local trader. Mr. Owens offered them his smoke house for a tem- 
 porary dwelling. A few frame-houses were speedily put together, and 
 the nucleus of a town graced the river bank. During the winter the 
 men of the new colony found employment with neighboring farmers. 
 The early American settlers, invariable a hospitable people, received 
 the German arrivals with great kindness. This, and the beauty of the 
 American forest soon made the exiles feel at home in their new sur- 
 roundings. Within a few months all had taken up a forty-acre claim 
 and began farming on their own lands. Within two years all were well 
 established and fairly prosperous. Letters went out to the folks at 
 home ; a second colony arrived and was placed in the neighborhood. 
 All that was wanting, was a church and resident priest. The Jesuit 
 missionaries came to the colony at longer or shorter intervals. In the 
 meantime the good people kept alive the Faith by family-prayers and 
 the service of their chanter and sacristan, Henry Niemann. But now 
 they were promised a resident priest in the person of Father Henry 
 Meinkmann, the founder of the Church of Westphalia, where Father 
 Helias took possession in May 1838. Father Meinkmann remained at 
 Westphalia with Father Helias until June 1838. Then he removed to 
 
 3 Letters of Meinkmann to Rosnti. in Msgr. Holweck 's Article in "Pastoral- 
 Bl.'itt, " Vol. 56, No. 5. Helias to Verhaegen and Verhaegen to Rosati, Archives of 
 St. Lonis Archdiocese. 
 
692 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Washington where the colonists had buiH a log-church. It was not before 
 Father Busschots time that the new Congregation was named St. Francis 
 Borgia. 4 
 
 Father Meinkmann's career at Washington was not of long dura- 
 tion. Sonic indiscretions, innocent in their nature, but hurtful to his 
 good name, were brought to the ears of his Bishop. lie himself was 
 ill with the usual fever of a new country; Bishop Rosati on his great 
 confirmation trip in 1838 kept clear of the last station on his way, 
 Washington, and hurried home. In his Diary the Bishop placed the 
 following entry under date of October 17 : 
 
 "Wednesday, about noon, Ave came to the town of Union. From this 
 place I had intended to go to the town of Washington, and administer 
 Confirmation in the church of St. Francis Regis. But it would have 
 been very difficult on account of the river, to bring the children to- 
 gether and instruct them in one or two days, therefore we continued to 
 journey in the public conveyance. In the Parish of St. Francis Regis 
 there are about sixty Catholic families from Germany. Father Meink- 
 mann is their pastor." 5 On November 25th 1839, the Bishop gave the 
 Parish of Washington to the Jesuits and appointed the Belgian Father 
 Busschotts to the place. Father Meinkmann received permission to return 
 to Germany. But Germany was out of reach for lack of means : hence 
 Father Meinkmann asked permission to build a chapel in Marthasville 
 for the twenty-five Catholic families living in the neighborhood. The 
 Superior of the Jesuits however, wrote to the Bishop stating, that he 
 had no objection to the plan, but could not promise to take over the 
 place if a church were built there, as the people were unable to support 
 a resident priest. 
 
 Father Meinkmann's request was not granted, but within a short 
 time he was sent by Vicar-General Verhaegen to the new German Parish 
 on the western boundary of the State. "This is the Parish of Deep- 
 water in Henry County, now called Germantown. The first settlement 
 on Deepwater Creek was made in 1836, by the Walbert and Schmedding 
 families, the advance guard of a large colony of Hanoverian Catholics. 
 On their way they had stopped for a while with their countrymen al- 
 ready settled in Warren County, and there made the acquaintance of 
 Father Meinkmann." 6 
 
 ■* For information on Washington, cf. in "Amerika," St. Louis, April 20, 
 1923. G. Duden's book, mentioned above, was one of the most influential means of 
 bringing German settlers to Missouri. 
 
 5 Eosati's Diary. 
 
 6 Holweck, 1. c, p. 68. Garraghan, S. J., "The Mission of Central Missouri," 
 in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Keview, " vol. II, p. 158 s. 
 
Early Church-Foundations in Central Missouri 693 
 
 On his arrival at Deep-water in 1840 two log-houses were built, one 
 to serve as a church and the other as pastoral residence. After two 
 years the Congregation acquired another site and erected a better church 
 thereon. This also was a log-structure, but had a frame spire fifty feet 
 high. The land was donated by the Schmedding family. Father Meink- 
 mann soon grew weary of the sylvan solitude in this far western settle- 
 ment, and retired for a time to Europe; but finding himself out of place 
 in the old world, he came back to the West. It was at Ferdinand, 
 Indiana, that he spent the last five years of his life in pastoral work, 
 dying August 25th, 1847. 
 
 "The project of a Jesuit residence in the interior of Missouri," 
 notes Father Gilbert J. Garraghan, "had been under consideration 
 for some time previous to the visit of Father Verhaegen to the West- 
 phalia emigrants in the autum of 1837. The eighteen or more Catholic 
 stations scattered along both sides of the Missouri River as far as 
 Boonville above Jefferson City were, during the period 1828-1838, visited 
 four or five times a year by the Jesuits of St. Charles in missionary 
 circuits averaging from four to six weeks' duration. But such arrange- 
 ment was not by any means calculated to meet effectively the spiritual 
 needs of the territory in question ; it was, perforce, provisional only, 
 pending the establishment of a centrally located headquarters for the mis- 
 sionaries. Already in 1836 the author of the Annual Letters of the Mis- 
 souri Province pointed to the Catholic settlement of eighty souls on "St. 
 Mary's Creek," the Westphalia settlement above referred to, as a like- 
 ly place for a Jesuit residence. Partly, therefore, to supply the spir- 
 itual wants of the growing Catholic emigrant population of Osage and 
 Gasconade Counties, and partly to secure a missionary center for the 
 Fathers from which they could conveniently attend the various Cath- 
 olic stations of Central Missouri, Father Verhaegen, with the consent 
 of Bishop Rosati, decided to open a residence on Maries Creek. April 
 23rd, 1838, at a meeting of the Superior with his official advisers, it 
 was determined that "Father Helias and Brother Morris be sent to 
 the station generally known as Westphalia settlement near Jefferson 
 City." 7 
 
 Father Mary Ferdinand Benedict Ghislain Helias de Huddeghem, 
 to give the apostle of Central Missouri his full designation, was born 
 on the 3rd of August 1795, at Ghent in Flanders. The family was of 
 the old Flemish nobility and staunchly Catholic. The boy Ferdinand 
 attended the College at Roulers and then the College Montrouge, in 
 France. When Fathers Nerinckx, in November 1815, came to Ghent, 
 
 i Biographical notices by Father Helias in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 Holweck, "Ferdinand de Huddghen," in " Pastoral-Blatt, " Vol. 53, Xo. 3. 
 
694 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the young enthusiast resolved to accompany him to the American Mis- 
 sion. But the elder Helias refused permission. When the Society of 
 Jesus was reestablished in 1814, young Helias joined them as a student 
 and on October 7th, 1817, as a member. Ferdinand again requested 
 to be sent to America, and once more met a refusal. Having been sent 
 to Brieg in Switzerland for the purpose of pursuing his theological 
 studies he spent twelve years of his life amid the glorious mountain 
 scenery. It was here that Ferdinand Helias learnt to speak and write 
 German. In Pentecost week, 1824, he received the orders of deaconship 
 and priesthood and celebrated his first mass on Corpus Christi day. In 
 February 1826, he accompanied the Provinicial P. Drach to Rome and 
 was received by Pope Leo XII in private audience. In 1831 Father 
 Helias became Professor of German Language and Literature at the 
 Jesuit College at Freiburg in Switzerland. Early in January 1833 came 
 the fulfilment of the young priest's dearest wish, his call to America. 
 His companions of the voyage were Fathers McSherry and Busschotts. 
 
 On St. Ferdinand's day, May 30, Father Helias said his first mass 
 on the soil of America. Georgetown in Maryland was his first field of 
 activity and school for learning English. Then the German missions 
 near Conewago, Pennsylvania, were entrusted to his care. Gettysburg, 
 Mount St. Ignace, Petersburg and Conewago, each had a Sunday 's visit 
 once a month. At last in the summer of 1835, came the long desired call 
 to the wilds of Missouri. Life among the Indians was Father Helias' 
 ideal, but it was to be a blessed life among the German Catholics of 
 Central Missouri. 
 
 When Father Helias arrived at St. Louis, August 25th, 1835, he 
 met Father Joseph Anthony Lutz, his fellow-novice at Brieg in Switzer- 
 land. From him he learnt what great need there was of priests that 
 spoke German. There was the chapel of St. Aloysius at the University, 
 in which the German Catholics of the North-side were wont to meet for 
 divine service. Father Helias gave himself entirely to the care for their 
 spiritual wants until April 1838, when he was sent by his Superior to 
 the newly established residence at Westphalia, and, as the House-Chron- 
 icle says, "courageously accepted the task imposed upon him, an arduous 
 one, withall, as there are heart burnings and discussions to be healed, 
 before any good can be accomplished among the people." 8 
 
 Father Helias made the journey up the Missouri in company of 
 Father De Smet S. J., the renowned Indian missionary, and the Jesuit 
 Fathers Verhaegen and Eysvogels. But, as the boat proceeded so very 
 slowly and met so many mishaps, Father Helias, had himself and his 
 pony put ashore, and thus proceeded by land to his destination. On 
 
 8 Cf. Lebroqui's French Life of Father Helias, published in Ghent, 1878. 
 
Early Church-Foundation in Central Missouri 695 
 
 May 11th, lie arrived at the Creole-settlement Cote-Sans-Dessein, op- 
 posite the mouth of the Osage Kiver. The village was much reduced 
 in extent since the visit of Father De La Croix. The church, dedicated 
 to St. Joseph had been swept away by the turbid waves of the 
 Missouri. Only the cemetery remained. Father Helias said his thanks- 
 giving Mass in a private residence, and then crossed the river to what 
 is now a part of the parish of Loose Creek, and there said his first mass 
 within the circle of his eighteen missionary stations. On Sunday, May 
 13th, he took formal possession of the church of St. John in Westphalia 
 Settlement. A plot of ground, forty acres, was obtained from Francis 
 Geisberger, and laid out in town-lots, with the church lot in the center. 
 On July 27th, Father Busschotts brought along from Conewago a num- 
 ber of artisans. Church, school and residence being built, Father Helias 
 and Busschotts began their missionary labors from the new center, Father 
 Busschotts attending to the home-duties, and Father Helias making 
 his towns on horseback. Regular services were held at Westphalia, where 
 the people were Low-Germans, at Loose Creek, the home of the Rhine- 
 landers, at Rich Fountain, the bulk of whose parishioners were Bavarians, 
 and at Taos which was mainly settled by Hanoverians and Belgians. 
 When in October 1838 Bishop Rosati came to Westphalia, he conferred 
 the old title of Cote-Sans-Dessein church, on the new church near that 
 vanishing town, and called it St. Joseph's. Confirmation was administer- 
 ed to thirty-eight members of the parish. The Bishop preached in 
 English. Father Busschotts, who acted as pastor and school teacher in 
 Westphalia, was transferred to Washington, Franklin County, on Sep- 
 tember 23rd, 1839, as successor to Father Meinkmann. Thus Father 
 Helias was left alone in his wide missionary field, until the arrival of 
 Father James Cotting in 1846. 
 
 During Father Busschotts stay in Westphalia Father Helias suc- 
 ceeded in making one or more visits to all the stations in his little 
 Kingdom of eleven counties on both sides of the Missouri River. In 
 a manuscript account compiled by him in 1839, the tireless missionary 
 gives a census of the Catholic families he found on these journeys. On 
 the south side of the Missouri there were at Westphalia : Bernard Bruns. 
 Doctor of Medicine ; Geisberg, Brockmann, Ottens, Gramatica, Walters, 
 Schmitz, Otto, Debeis, Eppenhoff, Oldenlehre, Huber, Xacke, Bartmann, 
 Eck, Knueve, Zellerhoff, Juchmann, Bose, Eckmeier, Kolks, Vennewald. 
 Lueckenhoff. Meierpeter, Schuelen, Krekel, Dohmen, Stiefemann, 
 Hagenbrock, Boessen, Linnemann, Goetzen, Artzt, Brockerhoff, Kern, 
 Wilhaupt, Schwartze, Hasslag, Holtermann, Sudhoff, Borgmann. Kuess. 
 
 Jefferson City: J. Schater, Kolkmeyer, Richters, Hart, Withnell. 
 Hannen, Buz, Kramer, Tellmann, Monaghan, Ryan, Gilmar, Corker. 
 Bauerdick. Brand. Doherty. 
 
696 History of flic Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Loose Creek: Monnier, Valentin, Cordonier, Briehaud, Besson, 
 Sa i tinier, Stoffen, Farrell, Reed, Bnrbus. 
 
 French Village: Peter Gonjon, Louis Goujon, Angelica Mercer, 
 widow; Gleizeur, Picqucur, Yincennes, Denoyer, Luison, Leblanc. 
 
 And on the north side of the Missouri River, Cote-Sans-Dessein : 
 Roye, Faye, Arnould, Nicholas, Kenand. 
 
 Bailey's Creek: Log^don, Simon Welch, Howard, Folgs, Kerpentin, 
 Miller, Heth. 
 
 Portland: Priestly Gill. 
 
 Hancock Prairie: Joseph Shannon, Thomas Flood, Anna Catharina, 
 widow of John Pre is. 
 
 Columbia : Lynch and Kitt. 
 
 Booneville : Fuchs, Weber, Fis, Pecht, Fay, Morey, Dr. Heart, 
 Rockwie, Briel. 
 
 New Franklin : Matthias Simon. 
 
 The transfer of Father Busschotts to Washington had relieved 
 Father Helias of the immediate care of the stations in St. Louis, Frank- 
 lin, Gasconade and Warren Counties, namely Manchester, Washington, 
 Burbus, Harry Reeds Settlement, Bailey's Creek, Cadet Creek and 
 Marthasville. y 
 
 In his account of 1838 Father Helias mentions a station "across 
 the Osage at Herman Nieters, Liberty Township" as having twenty 
 Catholic families. This place was afterwards named Taos. Here Father 
 Helias built his second church in Central Missouri, that of St. Francis 
 Xavier (1840). On May 24th, the Feast of the Ascension, he officiated 
 at French Village, and the day after at Cote-SansJJessein. Saturday 
 he was at Hibernia, about five miles northeast of Jefferson City. On 
 Sunday May 27th, he celebrated mass for the first time in Jefferson 
 City. ' 
 
 "Nowhere was he given a heartier welcome than in Jefferson City," 
 writes Father Garraghan, "The Catholic population of the town con- 
 sisted of about one hundred and fifty souls, chiefly German and Irish 
 emigrants, most of whom were employed as laborers on the new Capitol 
 building then in process of construction. Father Helias spent a few 
 days among these good people and afterwards revisited them regularly 
 once a month. Before the close of 1838, sixteen hundred dollars had 
 been collected among the Catholics for a church and school to be placed 
 under the invocation of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Mr. John Withnell, 
 architect of the Capitol, and personally known to Father Helias, offered 
 
 9 MS., ' ' Notices and Letters of Father Helias, ' ' in Archives of St. Louis 
 Archdiocese. Tor Census, cf. "Missouri Historical Beview, " vol. V, p. 85, 1915. 
 The article was written by Father Joseph H. Schmidt. 
 
Early Church -Foundation in Central Missouri 697 
 
 his professional services for the new edifice at a nominal charge. The 
 Irish and German workmen employed on the Capitol also volunte 'red 
 their help. The only difficulty that beset the venture was the lack of a 
 suitable site." 10 
 
 At last, after one or two favorable prospects ended in disappoint- 
 ment, a proper site was purchased, and a frame structure was erected 
 under the invocation of St. Ignatius Loyola and dedicated on Easter 
 Sunday 1843. 
 
 During this tedious interval divine service was held "in the large 
 hall of the German Boarding House of Mr. Henry Haar." 
 
 Bishop Rosati, assisted by Father Verhaegen, administered Con- 
 firmation in Jefferson City on October 1838. "I gave confirmation in 
 the Hall of an Hotel in Jefferson City to 11 persons on a week day : 
 there are two hundred Catholics, not yet a church, but we have begun 
 to make arrangements to have a decent one in stone. Mr. Withnell, 
 who is building there the Capitol, very kindly received us in his house : 
 he will be of great service in the building of the church." 11 
 
 Jefferson City is not only the Capital of the State of Missouri, but 
 also the home of the State Pentitentiary. Father Helias was the first 
 priest to say Mass before the convicts. 
 
 Father Garraghan quotes from the Annual Letters a brief account 
 of the happy death of one of Father Helias' convict converts: 
 
 "A young Englishman, Henry Lane by name, of aristocratic con- 
 nections and a one-time college student, at least so report had it, was 
 under sentence of death. His desperate antecedents promised small hope 
 of any spiritual impression being made upon him. Father Helias, how- 
 ever, undertook to prepare him for death with the result that the young 
 man underwent a complete change of heart and went to his fate with 
 the most edifying sentiments of faith and repentance. The crowd who 
 gathered to witness the execution looked for a desperate struggle from 
 the criminal when brought to the gallows. To their surprise, nothing 
 of the kind occurred. On the contrary, he walked to the scaffold without 
 handcuffs and with a crucifix in his hand, and the words of warning which 
 he addressed to the spectators on the vice of drunkenness brought tears 
 to the eyes of many. The breaking at the last moment of the hangman 's 
 rope when it was already around the neck of the condemned man, failed 
 to unnerve him. He persevered to the end in his pious sentiments, the 
 sacred names of Jesus and Mary rising to his lips in the brief spell of 
 agony that preceded death." 12 
 
 10 Garrnghan, "The Mission of Central Missouri," "St. Louis Catholic His- 
 torical Eeview, " vol. II, pp. 164. 
 
 11 Rosati to Timon, October 20, 1838, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 12 Litterae Annuae, 1840, apud Garraghan, 1. e. 
 
698 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father Helias in his notes complains of the spirit of indifference 
 obtaining among the French Creoles of Cote-Sans-Dessein and French 
 Village, but the strong faith and spirit of sacrifice among the other 
 members of his fold is constantly on his lips. Of course, the pathway 
 of life was not always smooth and pleasant among these sturdy im- 
 migrants from various parts of the Fatherland. There were bickerings 
 and misunderstandings and cross currents of endeavor. At Taos Father 
 Helias had secured ten acres of land for the church, in a central location 
 for the German farmers and began to lay plans for the erection of a 
 temporary structure. A small party of parishioners, however, pressed 
 a demand that another site, nearer to their habitations should be bought 
 from the Government. The place chosen by Father Helias lay within 
 easy reach of his two most important stations, Westphalia and Jef- 
 ferson City. The advocates of the new site were intent upon their own 
 convenience, and carried the case to Father Verhaegen the Administrator 
 of the Diocese during Bishop Rosati's absence. Father Helias carried his 
 point and built the church where he thought it would serve best the 
 purpose he had in view. Soon a village grew up around the church of 
 St. Francis Xavier. For a time it was known as Haarville, but as the 
 Post Office of the place was named Taos, the village also assumed the 
 Spanish designation of Taos. Father Helias thus described the place in 
 his Memoirs ; ' ' There are no bilious fevers here as elsewhere, the parish 
 buildings are more pretentious than in the other residences established 
 by this missionary ; in a word, the place makes a much better appearance. 
 Moreover, the settlers succeed better here owing to the nearness of the 
 State capital and of the railroad, by which they are enabled to ship 
 their produce to all points in the state. The land has all been taken up 
 and old farms sell at a high price, while the soil is less broken up and 
 much more productive than on the other side of the Osage Eiver. " 13 
 
 The great parish of the Bavarians with the picturesque name of 
 Rich Fountain, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, was organized in 1840, 
 but received a mighty increase about 1842, when "two hundred and 
 fifty families, ' ' as Father Helias states, ' ' arrived from Bavaria to escape 
 the unjust laws, which Bavarian Liberalism had foisted on the people of 
 that Catholic country. Many marriages of these newcomers, clandes- 
 tinely contracted, had to be validated by Father Helias. In the course 
 of time the Parish of the Sacred Heart became "a model for all others," 
 in piety and regularity of life. 14 
 
 13 GarrnjJhrm, 1. c, p. 165. 
 
 14 Helias Memoirs, p. 54. 
 
Early Church-Foundation in Central Missouri 699 
 
 The year 1841 brought two great afflictions to the Catholic con- 
 gregation under Father Helias' care; an epidemic spread over the 
 entire region and garnered in numerous victims : a severe drought 
 lasting for months, ruined the crops, and brought the people to the 
 brink of starvation. Day after day Father Helias was in the saddle 
 riding up and down the country side, to comfort the dying, and to 
 help the forsaken. 15 The Good Shepherd's kindly efforts were, no doubt, 
 heartly appreciated by his widely scattered flock. Yet, there were 
 wolves in sheep-clothing, intent upon scattering the sheep by attacking 
 the shepherd. The chronicles of those early days often dwell upon the 
 doings of the so-called "Latin farmers," men more obsessed by the pride 
 of education, than possessed of education itself. Some of them were 
 infected with the revolutionary spirit, that spurned all control. In 
 general, they formed "a class of cultivated men, yet frequently unprac- 
 tical, for whom manual labor proved a hard school of experience." 10 
 
 Westphalia seems to have harbored a number of such "Latin far- 
 mers, ' ' whose unpractical methods, having led to failure in their private 
 concerns, were to be extended to public concerns as well. Their efforts 
 were not unavailing, in sowing dissension between pastor and people. 
 Some of Father Helias' most devoted parishionersi were won over to the 
 side of the malcontents. What the trouble was about we have no means 
 of telling, yet the rancor in the hearts of so many of his people against 
 him, who had done nothing but good to them, bore heavily on his 
 gentle heart. The future seemed clouded with portents of coming ruin. 
 He declared that the only hope of saving the Faith in Central Missouri 
 lay in the two parishes of the Sacred Heart at Rich Fountain, and of 
 St. Francis Xavier in Cole County. The trouble culminated in Father 
 Helias giving up his post at Westphalia and retiring to St. Louis, after 
 affixing to the church door a Latin distich of his own composition : 
 
 Ardua qui quaerit, rubros cur currit ad Indos ; 
 Westphaliam veniat, ardua cuncta dabunt. 17 
 
 Father Helias 's fears were not realized in the manner and extent 
 he entertained. The people of Westphalia were too staunchly Catholic 
 at heart to tolerate a schism. The loss of their pastor and the Latin 
 inscription affixed to the Church-door may have penetrated the 
 armor of pride of the "Latin farmers." and moved the people, hard- 
 
 15 Barnes' "Commonwealth of Missouri." 
 
 i« Faust, "The German Element in the United States," vol. I, p. 44L\ 
 17 "Why should the man who covets hardships hie to the dusky, Indies? Let 
 him come to Westphalia and he will find hardships aplenty. ' ' 
 
700 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 headed and stubborn as they were by nature, to better thoughts. But 
 a severe visitation seemingly was needed to bridge over the ehasm. 
 
 ".Meanwhile." says Father Ilelias' narrative, "the church of St. 
 Joseph stands deserted and closed against the wolves, a reproach to 
 those who, though of the number of the sheep, have by contentions, 
 subtlety of speech, and ambition for things beyond them, forced the 
 pastor to retire, relunctantly withal and for only a brief spell — but 
 Westphalia had ceased forever to be a residence." And after these 
 words follows the colophon, "Here ends the sad history of the colony 
 of Westphalia, founded by me. May 11th, 1842. " 1S 
 
 
 is "Historia Westphaliae, " p. 27. 
 
Chapter 30 
 FATHER JOHN TIMON, VISITOR OF THE LAZARISTS 
 
 One of the most beautiful friendships recorded in our early Annals 
 was that of the two Lazarist Fathers John Mary Odin and John Timon. 
 Entering the Seminary of St. Mary's of the Barrens at nearly the 
 same time, Odin as deacon, Timon as theology student, Odin became 
 the younger man's professor in Sacred science. Later on, both were sent 
 on a missionary tour to New Madrid and Arkansas Post, Odin as 
 priest and Timon as sub-deacon. Frequent excursions were made by 
 Odin and Timon, now also raised to the priesthood since 1825, some- 
 times far to the south, but they were generally in a wide circle around 
 the Seminary. Their names are inscribed in the Baptismal Records 
 of Kaskaskia, English Settlement and O'Hara's in Illinois, as well as 
 of Cape Girardeau, Jackson, St. Michael, Potosi and Old Mines in 
 Missouri. Their activites extended over a territory of two hundred 
 and fifty miles. When Father Odin became acting Superior at the 
 Barrens, Father Timon was his chief and often sole support. During 
 the trying years of Father Tornatore's administration at the Barrens, 
 Father Timon was employed in various missions of utmost importance 
 as the restoration of peace and good order in the Community, and 
 the acquisition of the Cape Girardeau property. 
 
 In September 1833, Father Odin started on a voyage to France, 
 his native country, whilst Father Timon was kept busy with his 
 manifold duties in the Seminary, and the College, as well as in the 
 missionary field around the Barrens. 
 
 Father John B. Tornatore, the Superior, was a learned theologian 
 and most exemplary priest, but he labored under two great disadvan- 
 tages : his inability to learn English, and his lack of administrative 
 ability. A general assembly of the Congregation of the Mission was 
 held at Paris, at which Father Odin assisted. The complaints from 
 America were ventilated, and it was decreed that the American Mission 
 be raised to the status of a Province, and that Father Odin's dearest 
 friend, Father John Timon, should be made Visitor. On the 16th, 
 day of November 1835, the decrees arrived at the Barrens, causing 
 mingled feelings of joy and consternation in the hearts of the two 
 men ; for the letter contained the additional decrees, that the College 
 should be suppressed, that one of the priests should be expelled, and 
 that the Bishop should pay six hundred francs annually for each 
 seminarian. The income from the College had been the chief financial 
 resource of the community; its suppression meant the destruction of 
 
 (701) 
 • 
 
701' History of the Archdiocese of St._ Louis 
 
 the Seminary also. And Bishop Rosati, as they all knew, would not 
 consent to pay such a large sum for his Seminarians, as the new de- 
 cree demanded. 
 
 Father Timon, at first, humbly yet firmly, refused to accept the 
 office of Visitor under such impossible conditions; and at last, re- 
 quested Father Tornatore to keep the secret until a meeting of the 
 priests of the Mission could bo convened. Father Tornatore assembled 
 the community and informed them of the change. All were satisfied; 
 only Father Timon persisted in his refusal of the position. He visited 
 his old friends Dahmen and Borgna at Ste. Genevieve, Father Bouillier 
 at old Mines. They too agreed that he must accept the appointment, 
 and Father John Timon bowed in humble submission to the will of 
 his superiors. The new Visitor certainly had sufficient cause, beside 
 his lowly estimate of his abilities, to refuse the high and difficult office. 
 The Congregation owed about 60,000 francs, and had but few and 
 rather uncertain resources. A number of the priests of the mission 
 had gone to New Orleans. Many of the College students were in 
 arrears with their payments, some of them hopelessly so. No wonder 
 that Father Timon hesitated to accept what was literally a burden. 
 Yet, after accepting it, he never looked back with regret, but set to 
 work resolutely to retrieve the Seminary's former rigor and glory. 
 
 John Timon was) the man fitted for the great work of renewing the 
 spirit of the Congregation. He had met poignant sorrow and disastrous 
 failure in his early manhood, whilst earnestly striving after the things 
 of the world : but every loss and every failure had proved to be a 
 stepping stone to higher things, the things of the spirit. And here 
 he now stood on an elevation he had never dreamt of, and here too 
 failure was staring him in the face ; but his humble, childlike spirit 
 said within him: The outcome is God's, to do His will is my duty, and 
 to do it as well as I can, shall be my constant endeavor. 1 
 
 The Visitor's first move was to convoke a meeting of his priests. Their 
 request was that he suspend all action in regard to the College, until 
 the Superior General could be informed of the moral impossibility 
 of its suppression. Father Odin, who had returned from France, 
 joined in the protest. But first of all, the cloud of discontent that 
 had settled on the fair field intrusted to his care, must be dissipated. 
 Gently, yet firmly, as was his wont, Visitor Timon restored order in 
 the Community at home, and brought back the priests that had gone 
 to New Orleans. The Superior General rescinded the obnoxious order 
 
 1 For the facts here stated cf. "Tirnon's Correspondence with Bishop Eosati " 
 as gathered by Dr. Souvay of Kenrick Seminary. The Archives of St. Louis Arch- 
 diocese contain a number of letters and reports in the handwriting of Timon. Of 
 printed sources found useful: Deuther, Charles G., "The Life and Times of Et. 
 Eev. John Timon, D. D.," Washington, D. C, 1870. 
 
Father John Timon, Visitor of the Lazarists 703 
 
 of suppression of the College. The Visitor's excellent business sense 
 found ways of reducing the indebtedness. Early in April 1836, the 
 two old friends, Timon and Odin, traveled to Cape Girardeau to es- 
 tablish the new Lazarist Home ; Timon as Visitor had the honor and 
 pleasure to introduce his friend to the people of St. Vincent's Parish 
 as their Pastor. Returning from Cape Girardeau to the Barrens, the 
 Visitor, on Sunday April 17th, preached to the people exhorting them 
 to contribute liberally toward the work of completing their own beauti- 
 ful church. 
 
 Although Father Timon had a truly filial love and veneration for 
 Bishop Rosati, his duty as Visitor of the Lazarist Province led him, 
 at times, into rather lively controversies with him. As members of a 
 religious community, the Fathers should lead a community life: yet a 
 number of them lived apart as parish-priests. It was the policy of the 
 Congregation to withdraw its priests from isolated stations and to bring 
 them together in missionary centers from which they were to visit 
 the surrounding stations. Thus the withdrawal of Father Doutreluigne 
 from Cahokia by order of the Visitor, was a case in point, and the 
 establishment of the La Salle Missions with its community of three priests 
 gave an exemplification of what was desired by the Congregation of 
 the Mission. But the ideal could not be carried out in all the Lazarist 
 parishes, without disorder and real harm to the people. The number 
 of secular priests was too small to supply all the stations that would 
 become vacant if the policy of the Congregation were carried out with- 
 out regard to the necessities of the diocese. In a letter of May 11th, 
 1830, the Bishop reminds the Visitor, that the Superior of the Con- 
 gregation of the Mission may make choice of the pastors of parishes 
 belonging to the Congregation of the Mission, but he must apprise the 
 Bishop of it and propose his choice to him for approval. "This being 
 well understood and exactly observed, there will be no occasion for any 
 misunderstanding," 2 concludes the letter. The Visitor acquiesced, but 
 in the sequel found himself obliged to refuse to accept some of the 
 parishes and missions the Bishop requested him to supply. 
 
 In the Fall of 1837 Visitor Timon sailed for France, reaching the 
 Motherhouse of his Congregation in Paris on the 16th of September. Fa- 
 ther Aladel, the Superior General, received him with every mark of respect 
 and affection, and presented him with the generous sum of 10,000 francs 
 for the use of the American Province. 3 Accompanied by a number of 
 new missionaries, the Visitor set sail for New Orleans on October 15th, 
 and after a stormy voyage of ten weeks landed there late in the month 
 of December. The year 1837 witnessed one of the severest financial 
 
 2 Letter Book of Rosati. 
 
 3 Rosati 's Diary. 
 
704 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 crises of our history. Father Timon displayed his usual excellent busi- 
 ness sense, in so placing various large sums of money entrusted to his 
 care by European friends that no loss was sustained by anyone con- 
 cerned. The most precious fruit of Father Timon 's visit to the Mother- 
 house was the new band of disciples of Christ secured for the American 
 Mission. From France, Italy and Spain they came, a Domenec, Amat, 
 Cercos, Estany, Burlando, Giustinani, Parodi and others. 
 
 The College prospered, the missions took a fresh impulse, converts 
 were becoming more numerous. On December 12th, lS.'iS, the Visitor 
 with Fathers Armangol, Bouillier, Tiernan, Giustiniani and two lay- 
 brothers met Bishop Blanc of New Orleans at the Church of the As- 
 sumption, and began the new Seminary: Father Bouillier was estab- 
 lished as the Superior of the Church of the Ascension at Donaldsonville. 
 
 Towards the end of 1838, the Visitor Timon was sent to examine 
 into the condition of religion in the newly founded republic of Texas. 
 His report was forwarded to Rome by Bishop Blanc, and was to bear 
 fruit in due time. During all these distracting labors the Visitor made 
 use of every opportunity to promote the spiritual welfare of the people 
 he met, by giving missions, hearing confessions, and instructing converts. 
 
 It was in 1842 that the Seminary was removed from the Barrens 
 to St. Louis. The conclusion of the First Diocesan Synod of St. Louis 
 was to be marked with the laying of the corner-stone of the proposed 
 Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Soulard's Addition on the southern 
 boundary of the city. In fact, the printed report of the Synod states 
 that this ceremony had been held with all the members of the Synod 
 in attendance on the Bishop. 4 But Bishop Rosati's Diary states that, 
 owing to a severe rain-storm, the corner-stone laying had to be post- 
 poned to the following Sunday, May 5th. Although most of the priests, 
 had returned to their respective stations, the ceremony was performed 
 according to the prescriptions of the Roman Pontificial. Father John 
 Timon preached a sermon in English. The parchment placed in the 
 cavity of the stone contains the information that the lot on which the 
 church was to be erected was generously donated by the pious matron 
 Julia C. Soulard, and that the diocesan Seminary was to be built on 
 the adjoining lot. The inscription concludes with the significant words 
 of Sacred Scripture: Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum 
 laboraverant qui aedificant earn. Pr. 126. The church of the Most 
 Holy Trinity was never completed : the materials were used in the 
 erection of the Seminary. Lack of funds was the main cause of this 
 failure. 
 
 Services were held at Holy Trinity Chapel, of which Father Francis 
 X. Dahmen CM. had charge. The Seminai-y found a temporary home 
 in the Old Soulard Mansion. The Visitor, who was also Vicar-General 
 
 4 The First Svnod of St, Louis. 
 
Father John Timon, Visitor of the Lazarists 705 
 
 of the diocese resided here as Superior : the staff of professors consisted 
 of Fathers C. Amat and James Tiernan. In 1842 there were only six 
 theological students in attendance at the Seminary. Under the direction 
 of the Clercs du Saint Viateur, whom Father Timon had hrought from 
 Paris, a Preparatory Seminary for the education of boys, who intended 
 to embrace the ecclesiastical state, was established in Carondelet. From 
 this Little Seminary the Theological Seminary was to draw its re- 
 cruits. The charges for board and tuition were fixed at $100. 
 
 St. Mary's College at the Barrens, in 1840, was under the presi- 
 dency of Rev. Joseph Paquin, assisted by the Lazarists Hector Figari, 
 John B. Robert, John B. Tornatore, Michael Domenech, Mariano Mailer, 
 M. Cercos and Stehle. 
 
 A man of such untiring zeal, patient prudence and practical ideal- 
 ism, could not fail to draw the attention of the Roman authorities, as 
 well as of the American Bishops, upon him as a fit subject for episcopal 
 honors. 
 
 Bishop Rosati, amid his manifold labors and cares, sought to have 
 the Visitor as his coadjutor, and on September 7th, received a papal 
 bull appointing John Timon as Bishop of Venesi, and Coadjutor to the 
 Bishop of St. Louis. 5 But the humble Lazarist refused to accept the 
 appointment and would not be moved to reconsider his refusal. Bishop 
 Rosati 's fondest hopes were blasted. "You know, I need a coadjutor," 
 he wrote from Kaskaskia to Bishop Blanc under date of May 16th, 
 1839, "My needs surpass my strength. I cannot finish one thing, 
 before I am compelled to commence something new. I must be my 
 own secretary, my Vicar-General, my Council, for they that are named 
 for these positions, are prevented by circumstances to fulfil the duties 
 connected with them. For several months I have not known a moment's 
 rest. I rise at 4 o'clock, and at the end of the day, I am obliged to put 
 off some of my unfinished work to the next day. This cannot last 
 much longer.'" 5 Owing to a haunting fear that he might possibly come 
 too near of having a mitre placed on his head unawares, the Visitor 
 declined to assume the duties of administrator of the diocese, during 
 the Bishop's absence. In consequence the Jesuit Father Verhaegen 
 was made administrator. 
 
 On April 12th, 1840, Father Timon was appointed Prefect Apos- 
 tolic of Texas. He accepted at once and appointed his early friend 
 and companion, Father John Mary Odin sub-Prefect, and sent him 
 with full powers to administer the Church in that great state. Father 
 Doutreluigne was uiven him as companion: Of the missionary labors 
 of the two faithful friends in Texas, we cannot here give an account, 
 as lying outside of our province. As for Father Odin, the course of 
 
 •"> Rosati 's Diary. 
 
 C Eosati to Blanc, Letter Book of Bishop Rosati, May 16, 1839. 
 
 Vol. 1—23 
 
70G History of the A relation se of St. Louis, 
 
 events brought him the refusal of a mitre, that might have been to 
 him a martyr's crown t hat of Detroit. He refused the appointment to 
 Detroit, but accepted that of Vicar Apostolic of Texas, and later on, 
 that of Archbishop of New Orleans in succession to Bishop Anthony 
 Blanc. 
 
 Father Timon, now freed from engrossing cares of the Prefecture 
 Apostolic of Texas, continued a life of incessant activity as Superior 
 of the Lazarists in America for six more years, until on the 5th day 
 of September 1847, he received the appointment as first Bishop of the 
 See of Buffalo, New York. His humility prompted him to decline the 
 honor, but his friends urged him to accept, and he yielded because his 
 duty, as Visitor had become extremely onerous. He was consecrated on 
 October 17, in the Cathedral of New York and at once proceeded to 
 his diocese. Here he met strenuous opposition from the trustees of 
 the Cathedral, but surmounted all difficulties, and spent the last twenty 
 years of his life in building up his diocese, highly regarded by the 
 hierarchy and more than once desired as coadjutor in more important 
 dioceses. Bishop Timon died at Buffalo on April 16 1867. 7 
 
 "Never shall I forget," wrote the late distinguished Jesuit, Father 
 Smarius, "the days of the missions for the laity and of the retreats 
 for the clergy, which I had the pleasure to conduct in the Cathedral 
 at Buffalo during the three or four years previous to Bishop Timon 's 
 holy demise. The first to rise in the morning and to ring the bell for 
 meditation and for prayer, he would totter from door to door along 
 the corridors of the episcopal residence, with a lighted candle in his 
 hand, to see whether all had responded to the call of the bell and be- 
 taken themselves to the spot marked out for the performance of that 
 sacred and wholesome duty . . . And then, the more than fatherly heart, 
 that forgiving kindness to repentant sinners, even to such as had again 
 and again deservedly incurred his displeasure and the penalties of 
 ecclesiastical censures or excommunications. 'Father,' he would say, 
 'I leave this case in your hands. I give you all power, only save his 
 soul.' And then, that simple, child-like humility, which seemed wounded 
 by even the performance of acts which the excellence and dignity of 
 the episcopacy naturally force from its subjects and inferiors. How 
 often have I seen him fall on his aged knees, face to face with one or 
 other of my clerical brethren, who had fallen on theirs to receive his 
 saintly blessing." 
 
 "' Deuther, op. cit., passim. Like St. Paul, Bishop Timon was ;i man of small 
 stature, a little over five feet high; he was of a combative disposition but held his 
 temper in strict obedience. 
 
Chapter 31 
 THE LA SALLE MISSION 
 
 The story of the La Salle Mission begins with the visit of Father 
 James Marquette to the village of the Peorias, a branch of the great 
 nation of the Illinois in 1673, on his return from the voyage of explor- 
 ation down the Mississippi River. 1 Here the first baptism was admin- 
 istered in the country of the Illinois. To this place the sainted mis- 
 sionary tried hard to come again after the winter of 1673-1674. But 
 he was prevented, attacked by disease and detained at a place within 
 the present site of Chicago. His faithful Indians ministered to him 
 and prayed with him for his recovery; and in Holy Week, 1675 Father 
 Marquette was once more with his beloved Illinois at the original village 
 of the Kaskaskia. The new mission was placed under the patronage 
 of the Immaculate Conception. It was situated on the Illinois River 
 at the foot of Starved Rock, upon which La Salle later on directed 
 Tonti to build Fort St. Louis. This place remained an Indian Mission 
 long after the Kaskaskia Indians had migrated southward to their new 
 home between thQ Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers, where the Kaskaskia 
 Mission was to attain such wide celebrity. Fort Creve Coeur, or Broken 
 Heart, was built on the east side of the Illinois River, a short distance 
 below the outlet of Peoria Lake. Here the Franciscan Fathers, and 
 later on the Jesuit Fathers labored most faithfully for the conversion 
 of the Indians of forest and prairie until the suppression of the So- 
 ciety of Jesus in all French possessions in 1763 brought disaster to 
 all the western missions. The Black Hawk War in 1832 finally drove 
 out the remnants of the once powerful tribes and opened the country 
 to the settlement by whites. This was six years before the arrival of 
 the missionary Fathers of St. Vincent de Paul, Fathers John Blasius 
 Raho and Aloysius John Mary Parodi. The outward circumstance that 
 led to the early settlement of northeastern Illinois was the construc- 
 tion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting the Great Lakes 
 with the river system of the Mississippi Valley. The Illinois River 
 was navigable from Ottawa in La Salle County to its mouth. In Indian 
 times the headwaters of the Illinois River, flowing southeast, and of 
 the Chicago River emptying in Lake Michigan, were connected by 
 a portage, a trail over which the canoes were carried. By connecting 
 the two rivers and deepening and widening the channel, a canal would 
 be obtained the value of which seemed immeasurable. The work began 
 
 1 Shea, J. G., "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," Marquette's 
 Narrative. 
 
 (707) 
 
708 History nf the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 simultaneously at Chicago and at La Salle on the Fourth of July, 1836. 
 The construction of the canal broughl thousands of hardy, industrious 
 men into the country, about three-fourths of whom were Irish Catholics. 
 The chief stations comprised in the general designation of the La Salle 
 Mission were La Salle, Ottawa, Dayton and Marseilles in La Salle 
 County; Lacon in Putnam County: Virginia in Cass County; Peoria 
 and Kickapoo in Peoria County, Pekin in Tazewell, Pleasant Grove and 
 Black Partridge, eleven stations for two priests, who were to reside at 
 La Salle. 
 
 The entire district lay within the jurisdiction of Bishop Rosati of St. 
 Louis. Occasional excursions to one or the other place had, indeed, 
 been made by the Jesuit Father Van Quickenborne, and Fathers Le- 
 fevere, St. Cyr and George Hamilton. But the real planting of these 
 missions was the work of the Lazarists Raho and Parodi. John Blase 
 Raho, was a native of the Kingdom of Naples, where he entered the Con- 
 gregation of the Mission, and was ordained. He was sent to the Ameri- 
 can Mission by Father Odin, and arrived at the Barrens on the lGth 
 day of November 1S34. Soon after his arrival Father Raho became 
 pastor of the congregation at the Barrens. Father Raho's faithful 
 companion, Aloysius John Mary Parodi, was a native of Genoa, as we 
 learn from a letter of Father Timon, and born in 1811. He joined 
 the Lazarists in America, December 5, 1835, was ordained priest by 
 Bishop Rosati in the new church of the Barrens on November 1, 1837. 
 Going to La Salle in 1838 he remained there until 1846. 2 
 
 It was about Christmas time 1837, that one of the contractors on 
 the Illinois Canal, William Byrne, appeared before Bishop Rosati at 
 St. Louis and asked for missionaries for the hundreds of Irish Catholics 
 dispersed in northeastern Illinois, especially in the various camps along 
 the canal. The Bishop gave assurance that missionaries would be sent 
 at once. The Congregation of the Mission, of which Father John 
 Timon, CM., himself an Irishman, was then Visitor, was to furnish the 
 men. La Salle village was to be the center of the mission, and the 
 Pastor of the Barrens was selected to carry out the work and received 
 Father Parosi as his assistant. 3 
 
 On Thursday, March 22, 1838, they started on their journey of 
 400 miles, from St. Mary's Landing on the Mississippi to La Salle 
 on the Illinois. Remaining over Sunday at St. Louis, to say Mass 
 and pay their respects to Bishop Rosati, the messengers of the Gospel 
 touched at Peoria, and arrived at Peru, midnight, March 29. Accom- 
 panied by a large procession of the inhabitants of Peru and La Salle 
 they crossed the bridge that separates the two places, amid the glar- 
 
 2 Archives of the St. Louis Archdiocese, and the Kenrick Seminary. 
 
 3 Cf. Shaw, Thomas M., "Story of the LaSalle Mission," 2 vols., Chicago. 
 From this we have taken most of the statements of fact and excerpts from letters. 
 
The La Salle Mission 709 
 
 ing light of five hundred torches, and the music of fifes and drums. 
 "Garry-Owen" "was the tune to which the procession marched along; 
 on arrival at the Byrne mansion in La Salle an address of welcome was 
 delivered by the little daughter of Mr. Byrne; then the crowd gave a 
 hearty cheer to the missionaries, and deep silence again enveloped the 
 little town. 
 
 But bright and early in the morning the Catholic people came to 
 assist at the first Mass to be offered up in La Salle. In the largest 
 room of the house a temporary altar stood prepared, at which Father 
 Raho first, and then Father Parodi celebrated Mass. The room was crowd- 
 ed. Passion Sunday was announced as the day of the public inauguration 
 of the La Salle mission. Hearty and generous as the reception of the 
 Fathers was, the outlook must have seemed bleak and hopeless. The 
 country round about for miles and miles was still in its austere beauty 
 and loneliness. Then, as Father Shaw says, "the consideration of the 
 vastness of the field to cultivate would thicken the gloom and depress 
 the spirit." "Within its boundaries were the counties of La Salle, 
 Lee, Bureau, Grundy, Henry, Knox, Stark, Putnam,' Marshall, Peoria, 
 Tazewell, McLean, Sangamon, Macoupin, Cass, nearly one-third of the 
 area of the great State of Illinois. Over that extensive area were scat- 
 tered a multitude of sheep that had no shepherd," except themselves. 
 And their resources were to be found in themselves and in the spirit 
 of generosity they would cultivate among their long forsaken people. 
 But God was their Comfort and Help in all difficulties and perplexities. 
 
 Father Timon's choice of Raho and Parodi proved a most excellent 
 one. For five months, from March to August, the good Fathers made 
 their home with Mr. Byrne, in a room which served as bedroom, sitting- 
 room, study-room, recreation hall and chapel on week-days, and on Sun- 
 days also, until the largest room in the boarding-house of John Hynes 
 could be secured for the House of God among His people. On Passion 
 Sunday Father Parodi sang High Mass, and Father Raho preached 
 the sermon. The preacher announced among other points: "On week 
 clays we offer the Holy Mass in our common room (in the house of Mr. 
 Byrne) ; on Sundays in fine weather, in the forest, and in bad weather- 
 in the house of John Hynes." After services thirty children received 
 baptism at the hand of the Superior of the Mission. 
 
 On Maundy Thursday there were sixty communicants, on Easter 
 morn there were one hundred and forty. 
 
 But the good Lord was not always to make His home in a borrowed 
 room amid such poor surroundings. A real church, a true house of 
 God was to be built from the offerings of the Faithful. Up and down the 
 Canal Father Raho, therefore, went stopping at the camps, the board- 
 ing houses, and at the shanties along his way, and he everywhere found 
 willing hands and generous hearts ; but also many a sad disappointment. 
 
710 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father Raho himself gives up a glimpse of his experiences. Writing to 
 the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith," he says: 
 
 "Seeing we could not continue without a church, day and night 
 I was wrapped up in thought. At first everything seemed to smile 
 upon the enterprise. A Protestant gave his word for an acre of ground 
 and for $500.00. Other Protestants, desirous to rival our Catholics in 
 zeal, showed themselves very generous in contributions. The number 
 of brick necessary for the church, had been ordered; and as 1 was 
 about to commence the buildings, news came that the ground given 
 did not belong to the giver (Bangs), and that this fellow, far from 
 being prepared to send me the promised sum, $500.00, had fled the 
 country, carrying away $9000.00, the hard earnings of the poor canallers 
 he had employed ; and therefore, the contributions promised by these 
 good people."* 
 
 Bowed down by this stroke of adversity, but more on account of 
 the losses of his people, than his own, Father Raho did not give up to 
 despondency, but renewed his determination to build a church, if not 
 of brick, then of wood. As Father Shaw says : 
 
 "Experience in the old log seminary of St. Mary's, the Mother 
 House at the Barrens, and in the cabin of tneir host had taught the 
 missioners that few constructions, when properly laid down and put 
 together for solidity, ease and charms of home, could surpass a log 
 building. Was the cost of erecting a log church taken into considera- 
 tion? It would not be heavy. The material in timber was on the 
 bottom and uplands ; groves of elm, white and black oak. The labor 
 of felling, hauling and hewing would be largely and generously given; 
 thatching and plastering would only be an item ; and at comparatively 
 small cost, the structure to God and souls would rise." 3 
 
 The plan for a log church was decided upon. 
 
 ' ' The contract of building the church, ' ' continues Father Shaw, 
 "was let out to Mr. Madden, the chief carpenter in the mission, not 
 without pretensions to a style of architecture cptite original. The ma- 
 terial for building was to be of log, roof straw, flooring of oak, and the 
 interior heavily plastered. The length was to be fifty feet, width thirty, 
 and height fourteen. The home of the missioners would go up at the 
 completion ; built of the same material ; one story high, containing a 
 room, serving at the same time for private devotions, and for a sac- 
 risty — a large room, at once dormitory, study room, reception room, 
 and a kitchen." 6 
 
 The Canal Company donated the land. The resources at hand 
 were twelve dollars. 
 
 4 "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith," vol. I, Shaw, vol. I, p. 34. 
 
 5 Shaw, vol. I, p. 36. 
 
 6 Ibidem. 
 
The La Salle Mission 711 
 
 Religion now being established in La Salle, the missionaries started 
 out on their real work of visiting the scattered people, not only along 
 the Canal, many miles eastward, but also along the Illinois River south- 
 ward and to penetrate wherever they might find a Catholic settler. 
 Such journeys would take months a.t a time ; and involved a rather 
 solitary life, to which the Fathers were not accustomed. 
 
 Ottawa has been called "the oldest daughter of the La Salle Mis- 
 sion." It is fifteen miles distant from La Salle, and is the County 
 seat of La Salle County. In 1838 Ottawa was a rising town, and claimed 
 distinction as owning a fair proportion of the cultured citizens of the 
 State in that day. An intelligent public spirit among the people in 
 general augured very good results in regard to the financial support of 
 a church. Here, too, the building of the Canal had brought together a 
 number of Irish Catholics ; but there was no leader among them, as 
 Father Raho had found at LaSalle in Mr. Byrne. On April 21, 1838, 
 the missionary set out on horseback for the town of Ottawa. On his 
 arrival the town hall was offered him for the first services and until he 
 could secure a more convenient place. To quote the eloquent historian 
 of the LaSalle Mission once again : 
 
 "A crowded house, promptly at ten o'clock A. M. on Low Sunday 
 raised the spirits and warmed the hearts of flock and Shepherd. After 
 blessing the hall in preparation for the sacred mysteries, the priest be- 
 gan Mass. At the conclusion of the first Gospel he turned towards 
 his auditory, a mixed congregation of Catholics and non-Catholic 
 brethren, an ordinary thing for priest and people, in the early times, 
 and explained the power of forgiving sins, as taught by Christ and 
 His Church. The Gospel read on the Sunday furnished the subject 
 of the discourse in the style of the preacher, earnest, argumentative, 
 and practical; and though an Italian, the courage with which he tried 
 to speak the language of Shakespeare, so utterly in its origin and pro- 
 nunciation foreign to the origin and pronunciation of the language of 
 the divine Dante, carried away the audience, and sowed the seeds of 
 conversion to the church of forgiveness of sins." 7 
 
 The Illinois and Michigan Canal Company donated a lot 120x60 
 feet for church purposes. Father Parodi was sent to take charge of 
 the new mission, which he did by purchasing a carpenter shop at a 
 cost of $230.00 to be used as a temporary church. 
 
 But the efforts of the missionaries were to extend in ever widening 
 circles. Beardstown, Meredosia, Virginia and Springfield were calling 
 for the help and comfort of religion. Father Raho writes, June 21, 1838 ; 
 
 "I discovered about two hundred Catholics (Irish) scattered over 
 sixty miles. For the space of a month I exercised among them the 
 holy ministry, almost always traveled on foot, carrying on my shoulders 
 
 i Shaw, op. eit., p. 40. 
 
Til' History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 saddlebags containing altar necessaries, and in my hand a carpet-bag, 
 in open air, and far into the night, hearing confessions; in the day 
 occupied teaching catechism. 8 
 
 In another letter Father Raho writes : 
 
 "The success of my mission eight miles from Beardstown has been, 
 that a small church is to be built there, and five children were bap- 
 tised of whom one of Catholic parents; two of parents, one Catholic 
 and the other Protestant, and the other of Protestant parents. Thai 
 church is located in the town of Virginia, ten miles from Beardstown, 
 on the road to Springfield, and chief town, or county seat of the new 
 county of Cass, being the county of Morgan divided into two, Morgan 
 and Cass." 9 
 
 Father Parodi was an honest, pious soul, but no great financier 
 nor persevering beggar. In writing to Father Timon, the Visitor, 
 Father Raho makes this lament : 
 
 "Before I went to Meredosia I had given the directions for the build- 
 ing. My dear and pious companion, Mr. Parodi, during my absence, 
 did neglect to collect the money the people had promised for the ex- 
 penses. It caused the stop of the said building, and at my coming back, 
 I found $175.00 of debt; but through my exertion and your $100.00, 
 it came on tolerably well." 
 
 But Father Parodi 's leniency in regard to church contributions 
 was not the only trial Father Raho had to bear. The Irish immigrants 
 had brought with them not only the glorious traditions of their religion, 
 but also some of the warlike traditions of their respective clans. A 
 strange spirit of rivalry between the Irish of the Black-water and the 
 Irish Catholics of the Ban, the men of Munster and the men of Ulster 
 and Connaught, brought a serious disturbance all along the borders of 
 the Canal. One party was known as the "Corkonians" the other as 
 the "Fardowns." Religion and the chivalrous spirit of Ireland were 
 put aside for the gratification of the inflamed passion of strife. Up 
 and down from Ottawa and LaSalle the missionaries hurried to win 
 back these parishioners to meekness and charity. Most of the rioters 
 were soon calmed and restored to order ; but the leaders continued to 
 foment the strife among the factions. They were arrested, tried and 
 sent to prison. Father Raho says of them in the bitterness of his 
 sorrow, August 13, 1838 : 
 
 "It is said, and in fact it is so, that they, (the leaders) were worse 
 than barbarians, savages, thirsty for the blood of their own country- 
 men. Now in this town of La Salle it is not so : quiet, peaceful, sober, 
 generally, the people attend to their own duty. But on the contrary 
 I do not know what to do with those of Ottawa. Thev beat and kill 
 
 s Shaw, vol. I, p. 42. 
 9 Shaw, vol. I, p. 42. 
 
The La Salle Mission 713 
 
 their own countrymen; they destroy houses and crops, and they pretend 
 to send away for their lives those of the north of Ireland, called 'Far- 
 downs.' I am fatigued, I am tired. Would to God I could go away 
 from among them. Though I must say that the Corkmen and the 
 Fardowns are in the same balance . . . May Almighty God have mercy 
 on them . . . Yesterday was buried a very good man who was killed 
 by the other party "because he was not of them." It is said that the 
 Rev. Father O'Meara, parish priest of Chicago from the altar has 
 pronounced upon them the maledictions of God. I would wish to be 
 among the Indians." 10 
 
 But another dread visitor came to the La Salle Mission, in 1838, 
 to try the Christian fortitude of Fathers Raho and Parodi ; the cholera. 
 As Father Shaw states in his History of the La Salle Mission : 
 
 " Twenty -four hours was the term set down by the destroyer, to 
 begin and finish his work of carnage. His power he levelled first 
 against the dwellers in the shanties, living along the bed of the Illinois 
 River, drinking water made up from every source, feeding on vegetables 
 of the rankest soil, careless of what they wore, how and where they slept. 
 Next for visitation came the crowded boarding-houses ; and lastly, the 
 range of bottom, from Marseilles to Peru, was seized and occupied, 
 and given over to the relentless foe . . . The plague-stricken region 
 was, with hardly an exception, Catholic — the region where the great 
 scandal had been conceived and born and waxed strong, and with a 
 diabolical spirit, had drawn a few away from their allegiance to their 
 God and Church." 11 
 
 In regard to this dreadful affliction Father Raho writes to his 
 Superior : "The season here has been very sickly, and we have been very 
 busy in visiting the sick and burying the dead, and would to God, 
 that His holy Justice was appeased. Still the people are afflicted with 
 dangerous diseases. Day and night we both have been laboring, in 
 order to afford the help of our religion to the poor sick. I do not know 
 how long it will last. The will of God be done. Amen." 12 
 
 During the months from July to December eighty-one of the able- 
 bodied Catholic men of Peru and La Salle had succumbed to the cholera. 
 
 But full of faith and still undaunted the faithful servants of God 
 labored and strove even more earnestly for the upbuilding of the king- 
 dom of God. Amid their great sorrows and cares they opened on the 
 first day of July 1838, the first Catholic school of the mission. A school 
 for boys and girls it was, taught by a good Irishman named Scully, 
 as Father Raho writes to the Superior General at Paris. The zealous 
 Fathers realized, what Lord Derby said, that : 
 
 i" Shaw, vol. I, p. 48. 
 
 11 Idem, ibidem, p. 51. 
 
 12 Shaw, op. cit., vol. I, p. 51. 
 
714 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "Religion is not a thing apart from education, but is interwoven 
 with its whole system ; it is a principle which controls and regulates 
 the whole mind, and secures the happiness of the people." 13 
 
 "On the ridge of the valley where six years before Black Hawk 
 and his warriors had roamed at will, arose on the Lapsley Farm the 
 log school house, the humble beginning of the missioncr's labors in favor 
 of Catholic education. 
 
 So long delayed by adverse circumstances the church at La Salle was 
 at last ready for dedication, under the title "The Most Holy Cross." 
 Father Parodi conducted the dedication services. On Saturday eve- 
 ning, August 4th, the bell which Father Raho had brought from St. 
 Louis, rang for the first time. The number of people in attendance, 
 many coming from twelve to a hundred miles, was very great. On the 
 5th of August, Sunday both priests celebrate Holy Mass. The log 
 house just dedicated to the service of God was the first church between 
 St. Louis and Chicago. The following commemoration of the event 
 was inscribed in the baptismal Record of the La Salle Mission: 
 
 "For the greater honor and glory of God. On the 5th day of 
 August in the year of the Redemption, 1838, the fifth month after 
 our coming into these parts, authorized by the Most Illustrious, and 
 Most Rev. Joseph Rosati, CM. Bishop of St. Louis, Rev. Wm. Aloysius 
 Parodi, and a great multitude of the faithful present, this church in 
 •the village of La Salle, built owing to hard times, of wood, and 
 through offerings of a faithful people, is dedicated to the honor of God, 
 under the title of the Most Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 For testimony of which, etc., 
 
 J. B. Raho, Miss. 
 Aloys. Parodi, Cong. Miss." 14 
 
 As we have stated, the contracts for building the church and 
 the Priests' residence had been given out on the same day. Both were 
 completed about the same time. The Fathers now had their own 
 home, as the Lord had His. The Rectory contained five rooms and a 
 hall. The space between the logs, however, had not as yet been filled in, 
 nor the plaster put on the walls ; yet the missionaries felt happy in their 
 comfortable quarters. Its calm solitude was to their taste. 
 
 "The priests ate their meals at the house of Grand-Mother Con- 
 nerton, during the time that the church and house were being chinked 
 and plastered with mud." 
 
 In regard to the spiritual condition of his people, Father Raho 
 pours out his heart in a letter to Father Fiorello, the assistant of the 
 General at Paris : ' ' Help me sir, and dear confrere, to thank the Lord for 
 the blessings He has deigned to pour out upon our ministry, and for the 
 
 13 Shaw, op. cit., vol. I, p. 52. 
 
 i* Raho, Report to Synod of 1839, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
The La Salle Mission 715 
 
 good among these people. Ten months ago these poor people were a prey 
 to vice. They used a beverage, a detestable liquor they name whiskey, a 
 very poison for soul and body. They remind one of that Nicolo spoken of 
 in the life of St. Vincent. So extraordinary is the change, that we ac- 
 knowledge it a very miracle of grace. A case of drunkenness has not been 
 seen for five months ; the sacraments are frequently received ; no Sunday 
 dawns without witnessing at the holy table a large number of communi- 
 cants. The severity of the weather by no means lessens the number." 15 
 
 Father Raho was an accomplished musician. The organ was his 
 favorite instrument. One of his first endeavors, therefore, was to form a 
 choir for the musical service. On Christmas morn or rather at midnight 
 the choir had its first grand opportunity. Father Raho, writing to Father 
 Fiorello at Paris, thus describes the La Salle Christmas of 1838 : 
 
 "The feast of Christmas has been celebrated in a very affecting man- 
 ner. At eleven o'clock Christmas eve, the bell tolled, announcing the 
 commencement of the office. Lauds were sung first, afterwards the Mass, 
 during which select pieces of music, simple in composition and solemn in 
 tone, accompanied with instruments, were executed, producing on the 
 assembled worshippers a great effect. At the moment of the Elevation, 
 from every side of the chapel were heard fervent si^lis, which moved us to 
 tears of joy and consolation ; for they gave evidence of piety and elevation 
 of all hearts at the remembrance of the great mystery and birth of our 
 Savior among men. At dawn many Low Masses were offered up ; at 
 noon High Mass was celebrated, and in the afternoon Vespers and Bene- 
 diction of the Holy Sacrament took place. An Immense concourse as- 
 sisted at all devotions. The Protestants present were singularly af- 
 fected." 16 
 
 The next important activity of Father Raho and his companions 
 was the care for the orphans whom the great plague had left to his 
 charity. 
 
 "Divine Providence afforded the means to save these poor orphans," 
 writes Father Raho. In the meantime, whilst I ran through the people 
 of La Salle and Ottawa to pick them up, seven or eight had fallen 
 victims to misery. Of the number of those then in my charge and in 
 a most lamentable condition, two are already at St. Louis in care of 
 the Sisters of Charity ; a third is with the Mesdames of the Sacred 
 Heart; a fourth with t he Sisters of Loretto; three more are in homes 
 of as many pious and charitable families." 17 
 
 A pious union, called the "Confraternity of Charity" was formed 
 for the purpose of giving aid to the sick, both corporally and spiritually, 
 corporally, in offering nourishment and giving necessary medicine during 
 
 !5 Shaw, op. cit., vol. I, p. 70. 
 
 16 Idem, ibidem, p. 75. 
 
 17 Idem, ibidem, p. 77. 
 
71G History of the Archdiocese of St. Loui 
 
 sickness; spiritually, in affording at the proper time, aid to receive the 
 divine Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, to dispose the sick, 
 in danger, to die well, and the ailing for the future, to live well. Father 
 Raho's official report to the Synod of 1839 states: "In La Salle a 
 Hospital and in Ottawa an Orphan Asylum under the directions of the 
 Sisters of Charily are to be erected, grants of land having been made 
 for the purpose." But both projects failed for want of means. 
 
 From Father Raho's report to the Bishop, dated December 1838, 
 we will cite the following statistics concerning La Salle and Ottawa : 
 
 Baptisms numbered 95 
 
 Conversions to the Faith 4 
 
 First Communions 20 
 
 Paschal Communions 500 
 
 Marriages 7 
 
 Deaths 85 
 
 Total number of souls __1000 18 
 
 From the same report we gather a few other interesting points : 
 
 Ottawa, La Salle County, 111., church to be commenced this (com- 
 ing) year under the invocation of the Holy Trinity, attended every 
 first and third Sunday of the month. 
 
 Dayton, La Salle County, attended every five weeks. Marseilles, 
 La Salle County, the same. 
 
 Lacon, Putnam County, four times a year. 
 
 Virginia, Cass County Church to be erected under the invocation of 
 the Blessed Virgin, attended four times a year. 
 
 Several other stations are visited by the Fathers of La Salle on 
 the line of the Canal and Railroad. 
 
 This report is signed J. B. Raho and L. Parodi. 19 
 
 The course of events now brings us to the chief city of the Il- 
 linois Valley, the Pimiteoui of the Red Man, called Peoria. Marquette 
 tarried here for a while, the Franciscan Father Louis Hennepin reared 
 a log church here, and La Salle established his Creve Coeur. The 
 Jesuit Father James Gravier, V.G., arrived in 1689, and the baptisms 
 in four years numbered 206. The Lazarist Fathers came about 150 
 years later, touching at Peoria in March 1838. A new era was about 
 to begin in the land that bore a special blessing from the hands of 
 Father Marquette. The Superior of the La Salle Mission, writing to 
 the Superior General, Nozo, at Paris, France, January, 1840 says: 
 
 "When everything ran smoothly in and around La Salle House 
 I hunted up during last summer and autumn large numbers of Catholics 
 
 i« Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 19 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
The La Salic Mission 717 
 
 scattered over the country and along the Illinois River from 90 to 120 
 miles southwest of La Salle, embracing people of different nationalities. 
 The most desirable are found at the villages of Pekin, La Salle Prairie, 
 Kickapoo, Black Partridge, and Lacon ; the three last mentioned had 
 never before seen a priest. At Peoria Catholics are like the gleanings 
 of the harvest, exceedingly few, and the object of the meanness of 
 the Presbyterians. However, in the court house I offered the Holy Mass 
 and preached in presence of our select few, and a large number of 
 Protestants. The sect of Presbyterians have a school that by no means 
 meets the wishes of the citizens. Accordingly the people have urged 
 me to put sisters in their places. Indeed many of them have offered 
 me ground, on which to build a convent, which may be occupied either 
 by the Sisters of the Visitation or by those of the Sacred Heart. If 
 the plan, of which I have informed Bishop Rosati is feasible, it shall 
 certainly give an impetus to the propagation of our holy religion." 20 
 In another letter Father Raho writes : 
 
 "There is a goodly number of Catholics in and around Pekin, the 
 chief town of Tazewell County. Last October, 1839, the people of 
 Pekin, without distinction of creed came together and unanimously 
 resolved to build a Catholic church and conferred with me and Bishop 
 Rosati, who spent a day among them, on the impoi-tance of the project.'' 21 
 
 Father Shaw thus sums up the results of Father Raho's missionary 
 labors in the outlying districts: "Above the town of Pekin, on the left 
 bank of the Illinois or rather Peoria Lake, is Black Partridge of the early 
 days — now no longer on the map, quite a center for German and French 
 Catholics." "So numerous" writes the son of St. Vincent, "that a 
 chapel is needed, which I intend to build of timber the coming Spring, 
 and would now commence, had I the money." The French and 
 Germans — among the latter are many of the Anabaptist sects — shall use 
 it in common." The building was erected and named St. Raphael's. 
 
 Kickapoo, in Peoria County, on the same side of the river, about 
 five miles inland, claims a more extended notice from the ubiquitous 
 missionary. "I have taken special care of the Kickapoo Catholics, be- 
 cause they were more exposed to heretic attacks than the others, and 
 notably from the attacks of the so-called Church of England bishop 
 who tried to instil into them the poison of his errors. I judged, there- 
 fore, that the presence of the priest would be more necessary there 
 than anywhere else ; accordingly I ministered to these good people every 
 month, making a specialty of explaining the doctrine of the church. 
 To my instruction led by curiosity, a great number of Protestants 
 came, who gradually opened their eyes to the truth, and laid aside 
 
 20 Shaw, op. eit., vol. T. y>. ! 
 
 21 Shaw, op. eit., vol. I, 86. 
 
718 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 their prejudices, with which they had grown up against Catholics. 
 Then to the satisfaction of all I proposed to build a chapel. A Catholic 
 and a Protestant each offered a lot — I accepted the offer of the Catholic 
 as more beneficial, and affording me the means to encircle the chapel 
 with a cemetery. Measures were immediately taken and the corner- 
 stone of the chapel, or if you wish, the church, was laid the first Sunday 
 of last August, In:)!), after celebrating the Holy Mass in a neighboring 
 house, lilted up for the occasion. At the appointed hour for the cor- 
 nerstone laying, I was on the spot, began to explain the ceremonies to 
 the people who were in crowds ; when our non-Catholic fellow citizens 
 came up and said to me; that they desired, as the Catholics., to have a 
 share in my institution, and the chapel would be too small to 
 contain the Catholic and non-Catholic people. I was obliged to broaden 
 the foundations." 22 
 
 The church at Kickapoo was placed under the patronage of St. 
 Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish people. The dedication took place 
 on August 4, 1839. The edifice was of stone. This authentic account 
 will naturally destroy the legend that the little stone chapel in the 
 cemetery at Kickapoo, on the road from Brimfield to Peoria, is the oldest 
 church now standing in Illinois. It was indaed, built by Father Raho, 
 but not in 1827. The correct date given by Father Raho himself is 
 1839. Kickapoo is today a village of about 200 souls, and only recently 
 received a new church. 
 
 'The Fall of 1839 brought new joy to the hearts of our missionaries; 
 first the addition of Father Cercos to the missionary band and then, 
 the visit of Bishop Rosati and Father Timon to La Salle. Father 
 Raho thus records the arrival and its purpose. 
 
 "At La Salle, our ordinary residence, we welcomed last October 
 13th, 1839, Bishop Rosati and our Visitor Father Timon. During the 
 ten days the Bishop remained, he administered confirmation to fifty- 
 eight persons, chiefly grown people, four of the converts I baptized 
 last Holy Week. On the Sunday within the Octave of our holy founder, 
 Saint Vincent, the patron of our Confraternity of Charity, thirty-two 
 of our children made their first communion, and the association of 
 charity in a body approached the Holy Table. Directly afterwards 
 confirmation followed, the good Bishop and Father Timon having 
 previously preached for them a mission of eight days." 23 
 
 The same year the mission was strengthened by the arrival of 
 Father Estany, giving the church-builder and organizer more freedom 
 to explore the forests and prairies, the creeks and hollows of his wide 
 domain for the only treasure he really cared for, Catholic settlers. 
 
 22 Shaw, op. eit., vol. I, p. 89. 
 
 23 Idem, ibidem, vol. I, p. 91. 
 
The La Salle Mission 719 
 
 Father Jerome Cercos was born at Regassa, Spain, January 30, 
 1812. He entered the novitiate of the Vincentians at Madrid and there 
 received Holy Orders. He arrived at the Barrens November 27, 1838, an 
 exile from Spain. Father Cercos died at Cape Girardeau, Mo., March 
 28, 1845. 
 
 Father Eudaldo Estany, another exile from Spain, was ordained 
 in Madrid, and came to the Barrens, November 27, 1838. He was sent 
 to La Salle, August 20th, 1839, recalled April 23rd, 1840, and was sent 
 to Texas, on May 3rd, 1840. 
 
 At La Salle a plot of ground was bought and dedicated as a Cath- 
 olic Cemetery. In the year 1840 the rashness of the State Legislature 
 brought bankruptcy upon Illinois. The monetary difficulties were, of 
 course, severely felt by the missionaries who were constantly making 
 expenses for buildings necessary in the various towns of their mission. 
 On borrowed capital the work went on : In the meantime St. Augustine, 
 in Knox County, and the neighborhood of Wyoming were visited by 
 Father Raho, whilst Dixon and Palestine Grove were taken into the 
 great missionary fold. And now another great surprise came to Fathers 
 Raho and Parodi and their two assistants : the news that Bishop Rosati 
 had, on November 39, 1841, consecrated Peter Richard Kenrick as 
 his coadjutor, and that this Prelate would visit the mission of La Salle 
 and its dependencies some time in the summer of 1842. 
 
 A new era had dawned upon the Church in the Mississippi Valley, 
 though but few, at that time, could realize it. Bishop Kenrick arrived 
 at La Salle on Saturday, July 23, and was enthusiastically welcomed 
 by priests and people. The next day twenty-two members of the 
 Church were confirmed. Black Partridge, in Woodford County, was 
 next visited, where twenty-three, all Germans, were confirmed on July 
 28th, Kickapoo, an inland village, was reached on July 30. On the next 
 day sixteen were confirmed. In Peoria only six received the sacrament. 
 On July 3rd, Bishop Kenrick departed from Peoria for St. Louis. 
 
 At the fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore the erection of the 
 diocese of Chicago, including all the State of Illinois, was proposed 
 to the Holy See. The proposal was approved by Rome, and the Right 
 Rev. William Quarter was consecrated first Bishop of Chicago on Sun- 
 day, March 10, 1844. With this change we must take leave of the flour- 
 ishing Mission of La Salle and its dependencies. They had ceased to be 
 a part of the Diocese of St. Louis under Bishop Rosati. 
 
Chapter :52 
 ST. MICHAEL'S OF FREDERICKTOWN AND FATHER CELLINI 
 
 St. Michael's of Fredericktown is one of the earliest Catholic settle- 
 ments in this state: Its church of St. Michael, a log structure, was built 
 by Father Henry Pratte, pastor of Ste. Genevieve : its first parishioners 
 were French families from New Bourbon, St. Genevieve and Grand 
 River, who founded the village of St. .Michael's shortly after 1799. 
 Schoolcraft in 1819 describes it as follows: "St. Michael is situated on a 
 plain on Village Creek, which falls into Hie river St. Francis, a mile 
 below. It is an old French Village, of about fifty houses, including 
 several stores, and the Post Office, and lies in the center of the richest 
 farming district in Madison County. The seat of Justice for the 
 County has lately been fixed on rising ground, about six hundred yards 
 south of the village, and a town laid out there called Fredericktown. 
 Several emigrants have lately located themselves in St. Michael's. 
 And since the County Seat has been fixed in its vicinity, it has assumed 
 a thriving appearance. The Mine La Motte lies two miles north of 
 the village." 1 
 
 In 1827 when St. Louis was made a Diocese under Bishop Rosati 
 St. Michael became a full-fledged Parish, with the Rev. Anthony Potini 
 as the first resident Pastor. 
 
 The Baptismal Record entitled, "Register of the Baptisms in the 
 Parish of St. Michael, State of Missouri, Madison County, in the 
 Diocese of Bishop Rosati," contains as its first entry: "I, the under- 
 signed, in the year 1827 baptized Baptist William, son of Louis Bernier 
 and his wife, Archange Deguire, born on the 17th of July, 1827. 
 Sponsors: Baptist Deguire and Judith Caland. A. Potini, Miss." The 
 name of Father Potini occurs in the register until December 26th, 1828, 
 when Father Cellini takes his place. 
 
 Father Cellini, who now enters upon the scene, was a man of 
 consequence in his day, farsighted and capable; a man versed in a 
 number of sciences and arts, among them medicine and surgery, a 
 strong character, zealous and at times impatient of delays, but always 
 filled with the spirit of his priestly calling. 
 
 It was on May 10th, 1827, that Father Cellini, bought from Na- 
 thaniel Cook several hundred acres of land in the immediate vicinity 
 of Fredericktown, extending from the Little St. Francis River to a 
 point where College Avenue crosses the Saline, thus enclosing the entire 
 
 l Schoolcraft, "A Visit to the Mining Districts of Arkansas and Missouri." 
 
 (720) 
 
St. Michael's of Fredericktown and Father Cellini 721 
 
 village on the South and West. By this transfer Father Cellini took title 
 to the greater portion of the present site of Fredericktown. 
 
 Two years later, April 1st, 1829, Rev Francis Cellini, whose resi- 
 dence was then at Prairie du Rocher, Randolph County, Illinois, con- 
 veyed all this property, for a consideration of two thousand dollars 
 ($2000.00) to Mary S. Smith, the widow of Charles Smith, and on 
 April 24th, 1829, Mary S. Smith deeded all the foregoing property to 
 Rev. Francis Cellini, except a tract of two hundred acres, taken there- 
 from and conveyed by her to Sentee. The land deeded by Mary S. 
 Smith to Father Cellini included the four acres, which today comprise 
 the church property of St. Michael's in Fredericktown, as Father 
 Francis Cellini later on conveyed the same to Bishop Rosati and his suc- 
 cessors in office to hold in trust for the benefit of the Congregation of 
 the Parish of St. Michael. 2 
 
 At the time of Father Cellini's advent, the Parish of St. Michael 
 appeared as a rather straggling and struggling community, with its 
 three villages in close proximity, leisurely vying with each other for 
 the supremacy. The village on the hill, Fredericktown, came out as 
 victor over the old village of St. Michael built on the lower ground just 
 beyond the Saline, and gradually drew away all the life, the New 
 Village on Village Creek had ever enjoyed. 
 
 The town grew but slowly. In 1822 there were in it fifty dwell- 
 ings, with about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. In 1836 the popu- 
 lation was but three hundred all told. The rest of the congregation was 
 scattered over the county, a fair proportion of it at Mine La Motte. Ac- 
 cording to Bishop Rosati 's Report to the Leopoldine Society in Vienna 
 March 10, 1830, there were two hundred Catholics in the Parish of St. 
 Michael, mostly French, working in the mines. 3 But as the Catholic 
 population was increasing, Father Cellini in 1829 started the work 
 of building a church on his land in Fredericktown. The old log church 
 at the Village was taken down, for the sake of the material to be used 
 in the erection of the new structure. The original presbytery, the 
 "large frame house." was on what is now called "West Main Street, 
 and the reconstructed log church stood parallel with the southern 
 boundary of the cemetery, with the sanctuary to the East. From 
 there a road led down the hill through what is now a part of the 
 graveyard to the old village of St. Michael across the creek. The 
 church retained the name of St. Michael the Archangel, though the 
 town had lost it. The church must have been completed by October 
 1, 1831, for on that date Bishop Rosati records in his Diary that he. 
 
 - Records of Madison County, Missouri. 
 
 3 Eeports of the Leopoldine Society for 1830, a publication of great im- 
 portance for the History of the Church in America, though as yet but insufficiently 
 known. 
 
722 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in company with the Fathers Cellini, Rondot, Loisel, Mascaroni, Hilary 
 Tucker, Hamilton, Shannon and Cotter, proceeded from the Barrens, 
 ( Perry ville) to St. Michael's, on which occasion their conveyance broke 
 down on the road about four miles from their destination. On Sunday, 
 October 2, the Bishop celebrated Mass in the private chapel of Father 
 Cellini, but attended the Solemn High-Mass in the Church. Father 
 Cellini was the celebrant on this occasion, whilst Father Rondot preached 
 in French. In the afternoon the Bishop with his priests chanted the 
 Vespers, and the Bishop gave an English address. On October 4th, 
 they all made an excursion to the Big St. Francis River. I believe 
 this notable visit of the Bishop was for the purpose of dedicating the 
 new church of St. Michael. 
 
 A good start was now made ; but greater things were in preparation. 
 Through the piety and generous spirit of Madam Smith, who had 
 transferred her home from Opelousas to Fredericktown, Father Cellini 
 was enabled to found the first institution for higher learning in the 
 County, the Convent and Academy of the Sisters of Loretto. It was 
 on the 26th day of May, 1832, that the zealous Pastor of St. Michael's 
 called on Bishop Rosati at the Barrens and obtained from him the 
 necessary permission for the Sisters of Loretto to found a new House 
 of their Order in the Parish of St. Michael near Fredericktown. 4 Father 
 Cellini had built a large house for this purpose on his land near the 
 present site of Richard Slaughter's residence. This house was occupied 
 by the Sisters of Loretto, and a school for girls was opened at once 
 with an attendance of about forty pupils. A prospectus of the new 
 institution appeared in the "Shepherd of the Valley" at various times 
 from 1832-1834. 6 We subjoin a few of its interesting items: "The 
 Sisters of Loretto have established a house of education at Frederick- 
 town, Madison County, Mo., under the immediate direction of Rev. 
 Francis Cellini. They will teach Reading, Writing, Grammar, Arith- 
 metic, Geography, History, Painting, French, Needle-work, Embroidery, 
 Music, etc. Young Ladies of any religious profession will be received 
 Avithout the least prejudice. Though the teachers profess the Roman 
 Catholic religion, yet no one shall be the least troubled with regard 
 to their peculiar religious opinions, nor will any undue influence be 
 made over their belief. 
 
 The first Sisters were : 
 
 Sister Juliana Anna Wathen, Superior 
 
 Sister Leocadia Maria Anna Carney 
 
 Sister Theresia Augustina .-Maria McSorley 
 
 4 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 5 "Shepherd of the Valley" was the first Catholic paper published west of 
 the Mississippi River. There is an incomplete file in the Library of St. Louis 
 University. 
 
St. Michael's of Frelericktown and Father Cellini 723 
 
 Sister Lucia Anna Moore 
 
 Sister Frances Susan Strother 
 
 Sister Mary Josephina Adelaide Obuchon 
 
 On June 10, 1833, Bishop Rosati celebrated Mass in the convent 
 chapel and gave the habit to the postulant Anna Fenwick. On the 
 previous day the Bishop had administered the sacrament of Confirma- 
 tion in the church of St. Michael to fifty-four persons, fourteen of 
 them being converts to the Faith. Lewis Tucker, then in deaconship 
 orders, was present on this occasion and, returning with the Bishop 
 to the Seminary, remained there until September when he was raised 
 to the Priesthood in the Cathedral, Sunday, September 22, 1834. After 
 a short stay with the Bishop, Father Tucker was sent as assistant of 
 Father Cellini to St. Michael's where he officiated until 1835. During 
 December 1834, Father St. Cyr attended St. Michael's for a short 
 while. 6 
 
 From Bishop Rosati 's Diary Ave learn that both Father Cellini's 
 house and the Sisters' Convent had private chapels, which were also 
 used for the public services until the church was completed. 
 
 During the year 1834 Father Cellini was absent from St. Michael's 
 for a longer period, for in Vol. II, No. 38 of the "Shepherd of the 
 V alley/' we find the following notice: "The Catholics and inhabitants 
 of Madison County will learn with a great deal of pleasure that 
 Father F. Cellini arrived in perfect health on the Steamer Majestic." 
 On June 7th, he returned to St. Michael's. On November 10th, Bishop 
 Rosati says, that he rode with Father Cellini ten miles through the 
 rain on his way to Fredericktown ; and on Sunday, November 16th, 
 he assisted at Solemn High-Mass sung by Father Lewis Tucker, and 
 preached a sermon in English, and then administered holy Confirmation 
 to twelve persons. On November 20th, Father Cellini accompanied the 
 Bishop to Old Mines, both riding on horse-back. On the return trip 
 the Bishop lost his pectoral cross, the gold chain having been broken. 
 In the annual Report of Bishop Rosati for 1834, both Cellini and 
 Tucker are given as pastors. In the Convent list the following Sisters 
 are named : 
 
 Sister Benedicta Julia Fenwick, Superior 
 
 Siter Leocadia Mary A. Carney 
 
 Sister Lucia Anna Moore 
 
 Sister Maria Agnes Elizabeth Tucker 
 
 Sister Maria Josephina Adelaide Obuchon 
 
 Sister Maria Anna Anna Fenwick 
 
 s Father Saint Cyr was the first resident priest of St. Chicago, which was then 
 under the Bishop of St. Louis. 
 
124 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The foundation did not prosper. After a few years, April 1836, 
 the school was discontinued for lack of patronage and encouragement, 
 and the building itself was consumed by fire in 1847. 
 
 It will be remembered that, in recounting the many accomplish- 
 ments of Father Cellini, Father Rosati wrote : ' ' He is our Procurator. 
 Physician, .Mailman, Mason." As Procurator and Mason, Father Cellini 
 is now known to us; but what about his character as Physician.' 
 
 On April 24th, 1845, Bishop Rosati relates in his Diary, that he 
 journeyed from Ste. Genevieve to St. Michael and took his abode with 
 Father Cellini until May 14th, "valetudinis recuperandae causa." for 
 the purpose of regaining his health. And on April 20, 1836, Father 
 Borgna, came to Fredericktown with an almost hopeless case of paralysis 
 which deprived him of the use of his hand, seeking relief and healing 
 at the hands of his old friend. It may seem strange, that a Catholic 
 priest, a physician of souls, is here described as a practitioner of the 
 art of healing the ills of the body. In fact, this is something un- 
 heard of at the present day, except prehaps in the missions of Darkest 
 Africa. But we must recall the fact, that Father Cellini came to 
 this country in 1818, when all its arts of civilized life were as yet in 
 their infancy. Father John Odin, CM., afterwards Archbishop of New 
 Orleans, writes shortly after his ordination in 1823, to a friend in 
 Europe: "Bishop Rosati wishes, that you could engage a good physician 
 to come and settle at the Seminary of the Barrens. A good doctor 
 is unknown throughout the surrounding country. Sickness is con- 
 tinual, and the poor people are left to languish or die entirely destitute 
 of help. By this means we might also win many Protestants. They 
 are extremely appreciative of kindness. Moreover, we greatly desire 
 to give the brothers, and even the priests, who will have the happi- 
 ness of going among the savages, some knowledge of medicine. A 
 single cure would make the reputation of a missionary and gain ready 
 access for him everywhere. Bishop Rosati would give this physician 
 free lodging, and everything needed. His calls would bring him in 
 at least two thousand francs. The woods arc full of medicinal plants." 7 
 From this it is plain, how sadly Father Cellini's medical knowledge 
 and skill were missed after his departure from the Barrens. But 
 everywhere in the country physicians were few and far between, and 
 wherever the good Father found himself, he also found bodily miseries 
 and ills that called forth his sympathy and healing power. Ever 
 ready to hasten to the assistance of the sick and suffering, he never. 
 according to universal testimony, accepted any fee for his services. 
 Mrs. Armand B. Peugnet, a Catholic lady of St. Louis, now in her 
 ninetieth year, Avell remembers the good Father Cellini as a 
 
 ~ "Annates tie la Propagation de la Foi," vol. T, p. 7(5. Records, vol. XIV 
 p. 190. 
 
St. Michael's of Fredericktown and Father Cellini 725 
 
 "great physician" and says, that her own mother, being very sick, 
 was placed under his medical as well as spiritual care. She further 
 states that, when Father Cellini removed from Fredericktown to St. 
 Louis, the children of the city would be brought to him to be vaccinated, 
 and that he always gave the most careful directions to safeguard their 
 health. Father Cellini must, therefore, be enrolled among the pioneers 
 of medical science in the State of Missouri. A contributor to the 
 Church Progress of St. Louis, probably the learned Msgr. William 
 Walsh of St. Bridget's, years ago wrote that "Father Cellini was the 
 compounder of a medicine at one time quite famous. It was for sale 
 by all druggists in St. Louis and Avas called Cellinian Balm." The 
 Rescript from the Church-authorities at Rome, permitting Father Cellini 
 to practice as a physician, but not as a surgeon, is dated December 
 11, 1819. 8 
 
 As to Father Cellini's quality as a priest we need but refer to 
 the large number of converts gained by his example and instructions. 
 A man of strong, sincere convictions, he was not of the disputatious 
 kind, but rather intent to win over the soul by the clear light of 
 truth. Veritas prevalcbit, he thought, truth must prevail; there is 
 no need of the persuasive words of human eloquence. Father Cellini 
 had no high opinion of what is commonly called eloquent preaching. 
 He was far from indulging in that flowery kind of speech, that tickles 
 the sense and leaves the heart unmoved. He believed that the sermons 
 that the people really needed were the plain, practical, instructive 
 kind. He used to say that a priest should preach somewhat after 
 this manner: "Miss mass on Sunday, mortal sin; slander your neighbor, 
 mortal sin" and so on. Father Cellini had received his education in 
 Italy. Italian was his mother tongue. But this melodious language 
 was of no practical use to him, as his field of labor lay among the 
 French and Americans. The zealous Father preached every Sunday 
 
 8 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Among the numerous scraps of informa- 
 tion Father Saulnier marked down in his "Every Day Book," Monsignor Holweck 
 found the recipe for the "Cellininn Balm:" 
 
 "Gum Aloes soeotorine ounces 12 
 
 Gum Myrrhe ounces 6 
 
 Gum Mastich ounces 6 
 
 Gum Olivarium ounces fi 
 
 Mace ounces 6 
 
 Peruvian Balsam ounces 6 
 
 Bruise the Gums and Mace and put them all in a convenient demijohn, with four 
 gallons of good brandy, from the beginning of July until the middle of August, in 
 the heat of the sun shaking it every day." Father Cellini had, through the good 
 offices of Bishop Du Bourg, received express permission from Pope Gregory to 
 practice medicine in the missions of America. As to his medical knowledge and 
 skill there never was any doubt. 
 
72(5 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in French or English, but never could, in these alien tongues, acquire 
 that perfect mastery and easy fluency he posessed in the Italian. 
 Besides he was subject to a slight stammer in his speech, which was 
 scarcely noticeable except when the right word failed him. Many a 
 time the good Father in his discourse, knowing perfectly well what 
 he intended to say, but not finding the proper word to express his 
 meaning, would make a pause and look at Mr. Simon Guignon, his 
 old and intimate friend, who sat in the first pew just below the 
 preacher. And Mr. Guignon, who as a rule, knew from the context, 
 what word was wanted, regularly, suggested it in a subdued but per- 
 fectly audible tone. The Rev. Father would repeat the word and 
 proceed with his sermon, as though nothing had happened. 
 
 In the time of which we are writing, it was deemed but natural 
 to be owner of slaves. In certain parts of the country it was con- 
 sidered nothing short of criminal fanaticism to advocate the abolition 
 of slavery or to question its justice and usefulness ; hence the general 
 rule throughout the southern states that the wealthier classes were 
 slave-holders. Father Cellini, or rather his house-keeper, Madam Smith, 
 was no exception to the rule. But if these slaves had to be slaves, 
 they were fortunate indeed in having a good master. That they were 
 treated most kindly may be inferred from a remark frequently made 
 by old Jerry, one of Father Cellini's slaves. Many a time in after 
 years the old man would refer to the "powerful good coffee we used 
 to have at old Father Cellini's in Fredericktown. "Why it was so 
 strong it would hold up a spoon." Father Cellini in his last will 
 bequeathed his slaves as well as his other property to Archbishop 
 Kenrick. But the Archbishop let them all go, with the exception of 
 old Jerry and Jerry's old woman, Chloe ; Jerry and Chloe he did 
 not let go, because they had nowhere to go to. He kept them and 
 kindly provided for them until their death. 
 
 As an indication of the high regard in which Father Cellini's 
 wisdom and unblemished character was held by all, we would mention 
 that in the Synod of 1839, he was appointed one of the seven con- 
 fessors having the most extended faculties, and in 1845 was made 
 by Bishop Kenrick Vicar-General of the Diocese of St. Louis, offices, 
 indeed, more honorable than onerous, as befitting a man of long and 
 faithful service. 
 
 When old age had unnerved the good Father's strength for active 
 ministerial duty, he removed to St. Louis and spent his remaining 
 years in the mansion on Marion Street, built and fitted up by Madam 
 Smith, that is now the home of the Guardian Angel Settlement near 
 St. Vincent's Church in St. Louis. He died on the 6th of January, 
 1849. He was buried from St. Vincent's Church, Monday January 
 8th, 1849, after Solemn High-Mass. His remains were laid to rest 
 in St. Vincent's Cemetery, and afterwards reinterred in Calvary. On 
 
St. Michael's of Fredericktown and Father Cellini 727 
 
 the simple tombstone that marks his last resting place is the inscrip- 
 tion : "Pray for the soul of Very Rev. Francis Cellini, .Vicar-General 
 of this diocese. He died on the Feast of the Epiphany." Father 
 Cellini was in his sixty-eighth year when he died. On the eve of the 
 Epiphany, 1819 he arrived at St. Mary's of the Barrens, and on the 
 Feast of the Epiphany 1849, he passed into Eternity. 
 
 It is a strange coincidence that Madam Mary Sentee Smith, died 
 in the same house, and only some few hours after Father Cellini. 
 Four days after the event, January 10, 1849, Archbishop Kenrick 
 wrote an interesting letter to Father Louis Tucker, the successor of 
 Father Cellini in St. Michaels, Fredericktown : 
 
 "Before the receipt of this letter you will have probably heard 
 of the death of Rev. Mr. Cellini and of Madam Smith which took 
 place on the same day : Mr. Cellini having died on the 6th, inst, at 
 10 o'clock, and Mrs. Smith on the following morning at 7 o'clock. 
 You are aware that this excellent lady had lately several — at least 
 two — attacks of paralysis. About nine weeks ago she fell, probably in 
 consequence of an attack of that nature and seriously hurt herself. 
 For several weeks she appeared to be beyond all rational hope of 
 ultimate recovery; but within two or three weeks preceding her death, 
 she appeared to revive, and was so far restored to health, as to be 
 able to sit up in a chair, although she could not rise without assistance. 
 A few days before Christmas, Rev. Mr. Cellini cut his finger, while 
 sharpening a knife. He succeeded at length, after a considerable loss 
 of blood, in stopping the blood; but it is thought that he did not 
 take sufficient precaution to prevent the cold, which was then very 
 severe, from affecting the wound. For several days he suffered a 
 great deal of pain ; being unable to rest at night in consequence of 
 his wound. Besides this he fell on his back, while walking on the 
 ice in his yard, and complained at one time more of the injury re- 
 ceived from the fall than from the wound. On Christmas day he 
 said one Mass, but with considerable difficulty. His sufferings con- 
 tinued, without however, seriously alarming any person, or even him- 
 self, until the 31st of December, when he appeared to be much better ; 
 and continued for three or four days, to be, as it was thought, im- 
 proving, but on the night of "Wednesday to Thursday he had a violent 
 chill or spasm, which appeared to have entirely prostrated his system, 
 as it was followed by a kind of lethargy, in which while he appeared 
 to be, and in fact was, perfectly conscious, he was unable to express 
 himself, except on a very few occasions. He received the last sacra- 
 ments with a great deal of piety, and expired about twenty-four 
 hours after, as already stated. Mr. Cellini's illness and the serious 
 character of it assumed on the 4th inst. appears to have brought on 
 Mrs. Smith a violent chill, which lasted from nine o'clock in the evening 
 of the 4th, to dav-lisht on the morning of the fifth. It was followed 
 
728 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 by a fever and a total prostration of strength, so that this good lady 
 appeared insensible to the state of Mr. Cellini, although 1 am con- 
 vineed thai her apparent insensiblity — she never asked anyone about 
 him — was the result of her knowledge of his extreme danger and 
 of his deatli. when it took place. She died, as might have been ex- 
 peeted a most edifying death; and appeared to retain her conscious- 
 ness to the last moment. 
 
 They were both buried on .Monday (January 8th), in St. Vincent's 
 Cemetery. Rev. Mr. Cellini in the morning, after Office and Mass, at 
 which all the clergy assisted; and Madame Smith in the afternoon. 
 The Ladies of the Sacred Heart claimed the privilege of having the 
 remains of Mrs. Smith deposited in their lot in the grave yard.- — 
 Requiescant in Pace. 
 
 "I have given you these details, because independent of the re- 
 gard which both the deceased had for you, it will enable you to 
 gratify your flock or, at least, those belonging to it, who were the 
 personal friends of the departed. 
 
 By his will, Rev. Mr. Cellini has left all that he had to us, for 
 the purpose of establishing an asylum for aged priests, or such as 
 might be prevented by infirmity from discharging the active duties 
 of the ministry. I would be glad if you would ask Mr. Cox, who I 
 believe, was Mr. Cellini's agent, for whatever information he can im- 
 part to me in relation to the property formerly owned by Mr. Cellini 
 in Madison County. — whether Mr. Cellini has transferred all or any, 
 and which, or the tracts of which 1 find by his papers that he was 
 at one time, the owner. Whether there be any and how much money 
 due to Mr. Cellini in consequence of such transfer ; how secured, and 
 when payable. 
 
 Wishing you many happy years and above all, the "Annos aeter- 
 nos" which alone are worth wishing for, I remain, Rev. Dear Sir etc. 
 
 fPeter Richard 
 Archbishop of St. Louis." 9 
 
 John G. Shea's History of the Catholic Church in the 11 nihil 
 States adverts to this fact that as a signal close to Father Cellini's 
 lifelong desire of founding some kind of a charitable institution: 
 
 "The bequest of Rev. Francis Cellini, who thirty years before 
 resigned a benefic in Europe to labor in the American Missions was 
 mentioned by Archbishop Kenrick . in his synod of 1850. This good 
 priest left all he possessed to found a home for priests broken by age 
 or ill health. Trustees were appointed to carry out his pious wish, and 
 an annual Requiem Mass was established." 111 
 
 s Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 io Shea, John G., "History of the Catholic Church in the United States, ' 
 IV, p. 221. 
 
 vol. 
 
St. Michael's of FredericJctown and Father Cellini 729 
 
 The pious wish of the founder was fulfilled in a way he certainly 
 never dreamt of. As there were no priests in St. Louis at the time 
 who felt any necessity or even any inclination to enter a "House for 
 priests broken by age or ill health," Father Cellini's mansion was 
 turned over to the Visitation Nuns who had been driven from their 
 convent in Kaskaskia by the flood of 1844, as a temporary house. 
 It was next occupied by the Sisters of Charity for an Insane Asylum, 
 then by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd until their Convent at 
 Seventeenth and Chestnut Streets was completed ; then came the Chris- 
 tian Brothers and dwelt here until their College on Eighth and 
 Cerre Streets was ready for occupancy ; then the old house became 
 the Foundling Asylum of the Sisters of Charity, whilst their new 
 Asylum for homeless babies on Tenth and O 'Fallon Streets was building, 
 and lastly it was converted into a Home for friendless and orphan 
 girls of over twelve years of age. After all these changes, this cradle 
 of many charitable institutions, in 1911, became the house of the 
 Guardian Angel Settlement, including a day-nursery, a kindergarten, 
 sewing school, cooking school, lunch room, Sunday School, working 
 girl's club, play grounds, provision depot and employment bureau, 
 all conducted by the Sisters of Charity assisted by a host of friends 
 from among the best families of the city. 
 
 Here in the one-time private chapel of Father Francis Cellini the 
 annual Kequiem Mass for the departed founders of the institution is 
 solemnly chanted on the day of their deaths. 
 
Chapter 33 
 THE FIRST SYNOD OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 Twenty years had now elapsed since Bishop Rosati's feet had 
 touched the soil of his well beloved Missouri, twenty years of pious 
 solicitude, toilsome labor, and many sorrows endured in patience. About 
 fifteen years of this period he had borne the honor and burden of the 
 episcopate, first as coadjutor of Bishop Du Bourg, then as Bishop of 
 St. Louis in his own right. 
 
 During all these years the feet of his companions in spiritual 
 arms, "pedes evangel izantium pacem," had opened the pathways through 
 the primeval forests and prairies, or passed over the ways that had been 
 made by others, to carry the Gospel of peace to all the widely scattered 
 people. From all parts of his vast diocese these his fellow-laborers had 
 sent him messages, gladsome often, despondent at times, and even 
 fretful, but scarcely ever unkind to him, their apostolic Father and 
 Friend. Much good work, some indifferent attempts, and one or two 
 apparent failures, stood to the credit of his priests, regular and diocesan. 
 It seemed well, to assemble this little company, the leaders of the hosts of 
 God, in a Diocesan Synod, in order to review the work accomplished 
 and to give new directions and possibly inspirations. By an encyclical 
 letter dated January 26th, 1839 all the priests having the care of souls 
 within the diocese were called to meet at St. Louis Cathedral, on 
 Sunday, April 21st. The Synod opened with Solemn High-Mass in honor 
 ofl the Holy Ghost, at which the Bishop addressed the assembled priests 
 and people in French and English : After Pontifical Vespers had been 
 chanted in the afternoon there followed the roll call of the clergy. 
 Twenty-two of the diocesan clergy, and seventeen members of religious 
 orders answered the call of their name, seventeen were reported absent 
 and excused. Monday and the three following days were spent by the 
 Bishop and his priests in a retreat given by the Jesuit Father Verhaegen. 
 The Synod proper began on Friday. But before we recount the various 
 ads of the Synod, we would pass in review the members, together 
 with their respective field of labor and its relative importance. 1 
 
 The Cathedral of St. Louis was represented by Bishop Rosati, 
 and four vicars, Joseph Lutz, James Fontbonne, Joseph Renaud, John 
 Peter Fischer. It numbered 12,000 souls, had 352 Baptisms, 18 con- 
 verts, 141 marriages, 87 funerals. The church building was of stone. 
 
 1 The official reports of the various parishes to the Synod are preserved in the 
 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (730) 
 
The First Synod of St. Louis 731 
 
 St. Francis Xavier Church in St. Louis, attended by the Jesuit 
 Fathers of the St. Louis College, numbered 164 souls, had 45 baptisms; 
 7 marriages; 14 converts and 8 funerals. The priests at the College 
 were the Jesuit Fathers Peter Verhaegen, John Elet, George Carrel, 
 Peter Verheyden and Francis Emig. The Chapel of St. Francis Xavier 
 at Lowell was attended by Father John Shoenmakers, S. •!.. whilst the 
 Chapels at the Hospital and at the Academy of the Sacred Heart were 
 in charge of the Cathedral Clergy. 
 
 The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Carondelet, had 
 for its pastor the Reverend Edmond Saulnier. It possessed a member- 
 ship of 1,400 souls, and reported 57 Baptisms; 6 Marriages; 4 Converts 
 and 14 Funerals. The building was of stone. St. Ferdinand's Church 
 at Florissant, with 1,200 members, 49 Baptisms; 10 Marriages; 4 Con- 
 verts and 25 Funerals, was in charge of the Jesuit Father T. Gleizal, 
 S. J. The Church was a brick-structure. St. Peter's Church, at Gravois, 
 (now Kirkwood) under the care of Father P. R. Donnelly, reported a 
 membership of 440, but no Baptisms, Marriages or Funerals. At the 
 time of the Synod Father Hilary Tucker was in temporary charge. The 
 church was built of stone. St. Charles Boromeo Church of St. Charles, 
 numbered 1,200 souls, with 35 Baptisms; 9 Marriages; 7 Converts and 
 44 Funerals. The church was of stone. Rev. Peter J. Smedts, S. J. 
 was the pastor. Dardenne, now St. Peters, had a church of wood, 
 dedicated to St. Peter, with Father Christian W. Walters, S. J., as 
 pastor. The membership amounted to 400 souls. The Baptisms were 
 22; Marriages 8; Converts 3; Funerals 15; Father Walters also attended 
 St. Simon's Church, at Louisville, Lincoln County, where there was a 
 log-chapel. Portage des Sioux had a brick Church dedicated to St. 
 Francis of Assisi, with a membership of 300 souls : the number of 
 Baptisms was 19 ; Marriages 2 ; Funerals 14. The Jesuit Father Jodocus 
 Van Assche was its pastor. St. Joachim's Church at Old Mines, 
 Washington County, lately built by Father Bouillier, now under the 
 pastorship of his brothers in religion, Fathers Peter Doutreluingne and 
 Bartholomew Rollando, together with St. Stephan's at Richwoods 
 reported 1,000 souls, 82 Baptisms; 5 Marriages; and 10 Funerals. 
 
 The Church at Potosi in the same County, was dedicated to St. 
 James the Greater. It had a membership of 322 souls. The spiritual 
 record for the year was 24 Baptisms ; 3 Marriages ; 10 Converts ; 6 Funer- 
 als. Father Lewis Tucker was its pastor. The building was of brick. St. 
 Michael's Church at Fredericktown had for its pastor the Very Rev- 
 erend Francis Cellini. The number of souls is reported as 500, of 
 Baptisms 36 ; Marriages 1 ; Funerals 9. Ste. Genevieve, the mother- 
 church of St. Michaels, and Old Mines, boasted of a fine stone church, 
 lately erected by its pastor, the Lazarist Father, F. X. Dahmen. He had 
 
732 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 for his assistant Father Hyppolitus Gandolfo. The parish numbered 
 1.44(i souls, had 60 Baptisms; 17 Marriages; 7 Converts and 32 Funerals. 
 St. Anne's Church at Little Canada, now French Village, in St. Fran- 
 cois County, was administered by Father Gandolfo, ('. M. of Ste. 
 Genevieve and had a membership of 154 souls, 10 Baptisms; 5 Marriages; 
 10 Converts; and 3 Funerals. St. Marys Church, at the Barrens in 
 Perry County was the spiritual center of a wide district, embracing 
 3,400 souls. Its spiritual record for 1838 was 102 Baptisms; 15 Mar- 
 riages, 54 Converts and 32 Funerals. The Church was built of stone. 
 Father John Timon, Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission, is 
 given as the Pastor of St. Mary 's ; Fathers John M. Odin, John B. 
 Tornatore and Hector Figari w r ere attached to the Seminary and 
 College. Another member of the Congregation, Father M. Domenech 
 was soon to succeed Father Joseph Wiseman in the care of St. Joseph's 
 Church at Apple Creek, a Congregation of 760 souls. 15 Baptisms; 
 2 Marriages, 4 Converts and 3 funerals were his record. 
 
 St. John the Baptist's Church, the successor of Father Gibault's 
 Church of St. Isidore, at New Madrid, was now in charge of 
 Father Ambrose Ileim. The small frame building had to be 
 removed time and time again, so as not to be carried away 
 by the inroads of the Mississippi. There were 400 souls within its 
 jurisdiction ; 28 Baptisms ; 6 Marriages ; 4 Converts and 9 Funerals 
 were reported by Father Heim. St. Vincents Church, at Cape Girardeau 
 with its new stone church, was making remarkable progress through 
 conversions, which in 1838 numbered 28. Under Father John Brands 
 as pastor, the membership had advanced within a few years from almost 
 nothing to 252 souls, with 42 Baptisms ; 6 Marriages ; and 9 Funerals. 
 St. Francis de Sales Church in Tywappity Bottom, Scott County, had 
 a log-church, and was attended by Father Michael Collins, C. M. 
 
 The Church of St. Paul's, Salt River, Ralls County with its scattered 
 membership of 1,000 souls, was still in charge of Father Peter P. Lefe- 
 vere, who reported 29 Baptisms, 12 Marriages ; 4 Converts and 7 
 Funerals. St. Stephen's Church at Indian Creek, in Monroe County 
 was attended by the same zealous missionary, Father Lefevere. Churches 
 were built of logs. St. Joseph's Church in New Westphalia, Osage 
 County, was then the chosen center of the Jesuit Father F. Helias de 
 Huddeghem's missions in central Missouri. It numbered 700 souls, 
 and reported 15 Baptisms; 6 Marriages; 6 Converts and 9 Funerals. 
 St. Francis Borgia Church in Washington, Franklin County, with 600 
 souls had for its pastor Father Henry Meinkmann. to be succeeded within 
 a year by the Jesuit Father James Busschotts. Both churches were 
 of wood. All these churches with resident priests here enumerated were 
 
The First Synod of St. Louis 733 
 
 located in the State of Missouri; In addition to them ,the following 
 stations were attended, as dependencies of the established parishes: 
 
 From St. Louis : 1. Jefferson Barracks, 2. Johnston, 3. Manchester. 
 
 From Carondelet : 1. River des Peres, 2. Meramec. 
 
 From Old Mines: 1. Mine La Motte, 2. Aubuchon. 
 
 From Potosi: 1. Timmer Settlement. 
 
 From Ste. Genevieve : 1. Riviere aux Vases, 2. Riviere Estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 From the Barrens: 1. Bois Brule, 2. Brazeau, 3. New Tennessee, 
 4. Chester, Illinois. 
 
 From New Madrid : 1. Little Prairie, 2. Grand River. 
 
 From Cape Girardeau : 1. Jackson, 2. Portage. 
 
 From Salt River: 1. Cincinnati, 2. Pine Creek, 3. "Wyaconda, 
 4. Cedar Creek, 5. North Santa Fe, 6. Marion City, 7. Half-Indian 
 Tract — all in north-eastern Missouri. 
 
 From Westphalia: 1. Cotes Sans Dessein, 2. Jefferson City, 
 3. Baileys Creek, 4. Hancock Prairie, 5. Portland, 6. Fulton, 7. New 
 Boston, 8. Rocheport, 9. Fayette, 10. Mount Pleasant, 11. Loose 
 Creek, 12. Bourbeuse. 
 
 From Washington: 1. Columbia, 2. Marthasville (Dutzow). 
 
 Crossing the river to the Illinois side, we find in St. Clair County 
 the ancient parish Church of the Holy Family with its congregation 
 of 1,400 souls. Its pastor is the proto-priest of St. Louis, Father 
 Francis Regis Loisel. 
 
 Cahokia is very proud of its Convent School conducted by the 
 Sisters of St. Joseph. Father Loisel administered 50 Baptisms, assisted 
 at 25 Weddings and 45 Funerals and gained only 3 Converts, probably 
 because all the people of Cahokia were already Catholics. The Church 
 is of wood, the oldest church-building in the diocese, after the collapse 
 of the old stone-church at Kaskaskia. In the vicinity of Cahokia 
 there are two other congregations with wooden churches, St. Philip's 
 at French Village, attended by Father Loisel, and St. Thadaeus at 
 Silver Creek, with Father Kasper Ostlangenberg as pastor ; who, how- 
 ever, is also in charge of St. Boniface, at Shoal Creek. St. Liborius 
 Congregation at Fayetteville is attended by the newly ordained Father 
 Henry Fortmann. No reports of these places were given at the Synod, 
 probably because they were but recently established. But Father Charles 
 Meyer of St. Andrews at Teutonia reports a membership of 800, with 
 47 Baptisms; 8 Marriages; one Convert, and 9 Funerals. Fathers Ost- 
 langenberg, Meyer and Fortmann usually preached in German to their 
 almost exclusively German Congregations. The County of Monroe, 
 separating St. Clair from Randolph County, had as yet but one church 
 with resident priest, St. Augustines, at Prairie du Long. It had for its 
 
734 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 pastor the Rev. John Kenny. Its membership was only 160 souls, with 
 20 Baptisms; and 8 Converts. Hence Father Kenny had ample time to 
 attend to the spiritual wants of the neighboring Congregations in Ran- 
 dolph and St. Clair Counties, as St. Patrick's at O'Hara Settlement, and 
 S. S. Philip and James at Harrisonville. St. Patrick's Congregation 
 numbered 229 souls. St. Thomas' Church at Johnson Settlement in 
 St. Clair County was also attended by Father Kenny. The old Parish 
 of St. Joseph's, Prairie du Rocher, had a church of wood. The con- 
 gregation numbered 497. There were 25 Baptisms ; 5 Marriages ; 4 
 Converts, and 19 Funerals. Father Vital Van Clostere was the pastor. 
 
 Father Benedict Roux, the founder of the Church in Kansas 
 City was now chaplain of the Convent of the Visitation 
 at Kaskaskia, whilst Father T. Conway served as pastor of 
 the ancient parish of the Immaculate Conception. Though sad- 
 ly fallen from its former grandeur, Kaskaskia still had a membership 
 of 815 souls. But the Indians were all gone, and the Church built by 
 the Jesuits had fallen in ruins. A small chapel of wood served as a 
 temporary house of God. The convent of the Visitandines also had a 
 chapel. The number of Baptisms was 61, of Marriages, 22, Converts 
 4 and Funerals 19. Cairo, the southernmost point of Illinois, had no 
 church as yet, but was regularly visited by Father M. Collins, C. M. 
 from Cape Girardeau. There were then 300 Catholics in Cairo and 
 vicinity. North and northeast of the episcopal city was the Congre- 
 gation of St. Matthew, at Alton, without church and priest, but attended 
 by Father Jodocus Van Assche, S. J. from Portage des Sioux : Father 
 George Hamilton had been lately sent to Springfield in Sangamon 
 County to found a parish. The Congregation had St. John the Evan- 
 gelist as its patron saint. Towards the end of the year it was to be 
 added to the circuit of missions centering around La Salle, of which the 
 Lazarist Fathers Blasius Raho, Aloysius Parodi and Eudaldo Estany 
 had charge. 
 
 The Congregation of the Holy Cross at La Salle and of the Holy 
 Trinity at Ottawa had churches of wood, and numbered .860 and 450 
 souls. There were in all the missions 90 Baptisms ; 6 Marriages ; 4 
 Converts and 33 Funerals. The remaining missions of La Salle were : 
 The Annunciation at Virginia, St. Philomena's, at Peoria, St. Patrick's 
 at Black Partridge and St. Lawrence at Pekin. Quincy in Adams 
 County, in addition to the Church of the Ascension for the German 
 Catholics, under the pastorship of Father A. F. Brickwedde, was to 
 have one also for the English-speaking Catholics under the title of 
 St. Lawrence, founded and administered by Father Hilary Tucker. 
 The Germans numbered 152 souls and the Americans 385. Father 
 Brickwedde was prevented by a mishap on the river from attending 
 
The First Synod of St. Louis 735 
 
 the Synod. The boat ran on a sand bar and could not be cleared in 
 time for the journey. Father Tucker was, at the time, only planning 
 his future successes in Quincy, but by the end of the 1 year his church 
 of St. Lawrence was under roof. Good Father Saint Cyr, the founder 
 of the Church in Chicago, had been transferred to Fountain Green in 
 Hancock County, where he built the Church of St. Simon. The 
 Congregation numbered 420 souls, scattered over a wide territory : the 
 church-building was of wood. There were 6 Baptisms and 6 Marriages. 
 Before the end of the year 1839, Father St. Cyr was transferred to 
 Kaskaskia, and Father Timothy Conway succeeded him at Fountain 
 Green. St. Augustine's Church in Fulton County was a mission of 
 Fountain Green, both together having a membership of 420 souls. The 
 following stations were visited in Illinois : 
 
 From La Salic : 1. Beardstown, 2. Jacksonville, 3. Shelbyville, 
 4. Marseilles. 
 
 From Cahokia: 1. Le Cantine, 2. Edwardsville. 
 
 From Prairie du Long : 1. New Deseign, 2. James Mills. 
 
 From Fountain Green: 1. Commerce, 2. The Rapids, 3. Warsaw. 
 
 From Shoal Creek : 1. Belleville, 2. St. Thadaeus. 
 
 There remains now the State of Arkansas with its two Churches: 
 St. Denis at the Poste of Arkansas, under Father Simon Augustus Paris, 
 and St. Mary's in New Gascony with Father J. Richard Bole as pastor. 
 Both churches were of wood. The number of souls is not given. Little 
 Rock and Napoleonville are mentioned as stations. In the Indian 
 Territory the Jesuit Fathers have established two missions : the Pota- 
 watomi Mission, under the Fathers Peter De Smet, Felix Verreydt 
 and Anthony Eysvogels, and the Kickapoo Mission under the Fathers 
 Christian Hoecken and Herman Aelen. The missionaries also attended 
 the white settlements. 1. Westport (Kansas City) 2. Independence, 
 3. Liberty, 4. Clay County, in Missouri, and Leavenworth, Kansas. 
 
 According to these reports the Catholic population of the entire 
 diocese in 1838 did not exceed 37,000 souls: yet, as immigration was 
 then pouring a constant stream of families from Ireland and Catholic 
 portions of Germany into the country, the official count could not 
 be even approximately correct. Bishop Rosati's estimate in his report 
 to Rome is 70,000. This estimate may appear excessive, yet it is certainly 
 nearer to the truth than the reported 37,000. There were forty-seven 
 churches with resident priests, five without a priest, and five chapels. 
 The stations visited were sixty in number. The clergy consisted of one 
 Bishop, thirty-one secular priests, twenty-two Lazarists, twenty-seven 
 Jesuits, making a grand total of eighty. The three convents of the 
 Sacred Heart numbered forty-two sisters. The Orphan Asylum and 
 
736 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Hospital were served by nineteen Sisters of Charity. The four Convents 
 of the Loretto Sisters contained thirty members ; the two Convents of the 
 Sisters of St. Joseph eleven; and the Convent of the Visitation Nuns 
 nineteen, making a total of one hundred and twenty Sisters. 
 
 It was with heartfelt gratitude to God and the deepest regard 
 for His devoted and self sacrificing co-laborers that Bishop Rosati 
 summed up the result so far attained : 
 
 "Thus far," said he in his Pastoral letter, "the Providence of our 
 Heavenly Father has watched over our Diocese with a special care — 
 a care that claims our warmest thanks ; for to Him we justly attribute, 
 as to their fountain, all the blessings which we so copiously enjoy. 
 Many of you, dearly beloved Brethren, recollect the doleful state in 
 which this portion of the flock of Christ was involved twenty years 
 ago, when we arrived here. There were then but four priests in what was 
 then called Upper Louisiana, and they attended, occasionally, eight 
 parishes. There existed not a single literary institution of any respec- 
 tability for the education of the youth of either sex, and in consequence 
 of the scarcity of Missioners, the comforts and the helps of Religion 
 could only be rarely administered to the people. This picture, Avhich 
 is but a faithful representation of the state of things at that period, 
 was truly alarming ; but how greatly the scene is changed for the 
 better ! Our Diocese now possesses the priests of the Congregation of 
 the Mission; and to their early exertions we are indebted for the es- 
 tablishment of a theological Seminary and of a prosperous College, the 
 erection of several churches, and a great increase of piety among the 
 Catholics of the vast district entrusted to their spiritual care ; they, 
 too, have been the instruments, given us by Providence, for effecting 
 the return of many of our dissenting brethren to the flock of the Supreme 
 Pastor of souls. The sons of St. Ignatius of Loyola soon came to our 
 assistance, and to them we owe, under God the formation of another 
 flourishing literary institution, the creation of a Noviate, the building 
 of several churches and a copious harvest in the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 In many of the congregations, Day Schools have been established 
 for the instruction of male children, and most of them are in a thriving 
 condition. The remaining clergy of our Diocese, who are not connected 
 with either of these religious bodies, have been equally active in their 
 exertions for the propagation of our holy Religion. To them, also, we 
 owe a number of sacred edifices and establishments ; — they have, also 
 exercised a powerful influence over the religious and moral improvement 
 of our flock. Nor have the faithful been wanting in their duty : they 
 have nobly come forward to second the zeal, and to emulate the example 
 of their Pastors. New churches and new establishments are daily called 
 for; and we have the confidence, that He, who has begun his good work 
 
The First Synod of St. Louis 737 
 
 in you, and through you, will also perfect it unto the day of Jesus 
 Christ. (Phil. i. 6.) 
 
 Nor has Providence been wanting to the female sex : the Ladies 
 of the Sacred Heart were the first that volunteered their services for 
 the advancement of female education. They have successively formed 
 three establishments for boarders, two for orphans, and three for day- 
 scholars. In process of time, Heaven increased the numbers of laborers. 
 The Sisters of Charity came and took charge of an extensive Hospital 
 and an Asylum for Orphan Boys ; — their eulogy is stamped upon the 
 hearts of the suffering and distressed, whom they have relieved and 
 befriended. The Sisters of Loretto superintend four literary establish- 
 ments, and generously contribute their mite to the advancement of 
 knowledge and virtue. 
 
 The Sisters of the Visitation preside over a literary institution, 
 inferior in merit and usefulness to none in the Diocese; and recently, 
 the Sisters of St. Joseph, having come to give additional energy to the 
 work so heroically commenced and so steadily pursued, by the above- 
 named Communities, have formed three establishments of learning, 
 one of which is exclusively devoted to the instruction of the deaf and 
 dumb of their sex. 
 
 If to the above details we add, dearly beloved brethren, the con- 
 sideration, that our Diocese has even sent colonies of clerical professors 
 and religious mistresses to other parts of the United States, that nine 
 Missioners are already employed in the civilization and conversion of 
 the savage nations ; that they have formed three stations among them, 
 with a success equal to their indefatigable zeal ; that even the most 
 recent of these stations, commenced but a year ago, counts already, 
 about two hundred converts — fifty of whom were lately admitted to 
 their first communion — we shall have laid before you, in our humble 
 opinion, abundant proof of the great change which the Lord has pro- 
 duced in our Diocese and we doubt not but that you will give full 
 vent to the emotions of love and gratitude towards the Author of so 
 many inestimable favors. Did we consider them as the effects of our 
 own industry, we surely woidd have passed them over in silence — for 
 it would ill become us to speak in our own commendation. If we 
 have expiated on them, we have done so in conformity with the senti- 
 ment expressed by holy Tobias : It is good to hide the secrets of a 
 king; but honorable to reveal the works of God." 2 
 
 The forces marshalled under Bishop Rosati now having passed 
 in review we turn to The Acts and Decrees of the synod. 
 
 2 Pastoral letter of Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, to the Clercy and the 
 Laity of the Diocese. 
 
 Vol. 1—24 
 
738 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The first business of the Synod was the promulgation of the decrees 
 of the First Provincial Council of Baltimore. This Council was held 
 under Archbishop James Whitefield in 1839, and was attended by the 
 Bishops of Bardstown, Charleston, Cincinnati, Boston and the Admini- 
 strator of Philadelphia. 
 
 The Bishop of St. Louis, though not a suffragan of the Province 
 of Baltimore, was also invited to attend, as residing under the American 
 government, Bishop Rosati accepted the gracious invitaton and took 
 a leading part in the deliberations. The decrees of the Council were 
 duly examined in Rome, and with a few corrections, approved by the 
 Sovereign Pontiff, after the unanimous vote of the Cardinals of Pro- 
 paganda. The publication of the decrees was unavoidably delayed until 
 the autumn of 1831. On publication they became the law of the Church 
 in the United States. 
 
 Two other Provincial Councils had been held up to the time of the 
 Synod; but only the First required special attention. 
 
 The Second Provincial Council, held in 1833, did not concern itself 
 with any other matter than the delimitation of the various dioceses of 
 the Province of which St. Louis had by that time become a suffragan 
 see. 3 
 
 The Third Provincial Council was convened by Archbishop Samuel 
 Eccleston in April 1837. Ten prelates were in attendance, among them 
 Bishop Rosati. Among the Agenda as proposed by the Archbishop of 
 Baltimore, No. 3. reads as follows : 
 
 "The necessity and mode of enforcing the Decrees of the First 
 Provincial Council." Now, it does not appear from the official report 
 of the Council's proceedings that anything was done in the matter, 
 yet it cannot be doubted that the prelates discussed the subject. That 
 a diocesan Synod was the best mode of promulgating and enforcing 
 the decrees of the Council of Baltimore, as sanctioned by the Holy See, 
 was very plain especially in the eyes of a man and bishop, so intent upon 
 "sentire cum ecclesia, " as Bishop Rosati was. The reasons he did not 
 convoke a Synod at an earlier period can be gathered from the circum- 
 stances of his diocese, its vast extent, and the small number of priests 
 available. But now the time seemed propitious for special legislation in 
 explanation and support of the Decrees of the First Provincial Council 
 of Baltimore. "We had, previously to the Synod, maturely considered 
 the means best calculated to promote eccesiastical discipline, the rev- 
 erence due to the divine worship, and the general advancement of piety 
 in our diocese," writes the Bishop, "To attain these several ends we 
 
 3 The various Provincial Councils of Baltimore can be found in the ' ' Collcetio 
 Lacensis, ' ' vol. III. 
 
The First Synod of St. Louis 739 
 
 have made a series of statutes, which we promulgated during the 
 Synod." 
 
 On the opening day of the Synod "all the decrees of the First 
 Provincial Council of Baltimore were promulgated," as the official 
 report says, "then the Statutes of the Diocesan Synod were read." 
 On the following Sunday after Solemn High-Mass celebrated by Father 
 Francis X. Dahmen, C. M. the names of those were announced whom the 
 Bishop had chosen to share with him in the administration of the 
 diocese : 
 
 Vicar General : Very Bev. John Timon, C. M. 
 Pro- Vicar General : Bev. John Marie Odin, C. M. 
 Episcopal Consultors : Very Bev. John Timon, C. M. 
 
 Bev. John Marie Odin, C. M. 
 
 Very Bev. Peter Verhaegen, S. J. 
 
 Bev. John Elet, S. J. 
 
 Bev. Joseph Anthony Lutz 
 
 Bev. Francis Cellini 
 
 Bev. James Fontbonne 
 
 Bev. Begis Loisel 
 Episcopal Secretary : Joseph Anthony Lutz 
 Examiners of the Clergy : Very Bev. John Timon, C. M. 
 
 Bev. John Marie Odin, C. M. 
 
 Very Bev. Peter Verhaegen, S. J. 
 
 Bev. John Elet, S. J. 
 
 Bev. John Tornatore, C. M. 
 
 Bev. James Fontbonne 
 
 The Statutes enacted by the St. Louis Synod of 1839 have remained, 
 throughout the vicissitudes of a century, the law of the diocese, thus 
 showing that the spirit animating the law-giver, was the spirit of the 
 Church. In a few particulars, however, a change became necessary, 
 owing to the changes introduced by the New Code of Canon Law. These 
 changes are modifications, rather, of the Synodal legislation of Bishop 
 Bosati, than abrogations. So the Clause: "we very much desire that 
 a lamp be kept constantly burning before the altar, at which the Most 
 Holy Sacrament is preserved." Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament 
 Feasts of the first class. According to No. XIV, the Decree of the 
 was permitted only after the Mass, or the Vespers on Sundays and 
 Council of Trent, "Tamcis!," was declared in force in the entire 
 diocese and not merely in the old French and Spanish parishes, but 
 the Declaration of Benedict XIV, was extended to all the parts of the 
 former diocese of Upper and Lower Louisiana and the Floridas. No 
 church should be built without the permission of the Bishop in writing. 
 
740 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 All priests having the care of souls must say Mass every Sunday and 
 Holy day of obligation. Only four Feast days of obligation were retain- 
 ed: the Ascension, the Assumption, All Saints and the Nativity of 
 Our Lord. The Institute of Lay Cathechists is recommended very 
 strongly. A proper support for the Seminary as well as for the 
 clergy in general is enjoined upon the faithful. Every church must 
 have a confessional and a baptismal font. 4 
 
 The Statutes are composed in a clear, concise idiomatic Latin, 
 and show the Bishop's fine sense of the dignity of the priesthood, as 
 well as of the requirements of the sacred offices each priest is called upon 
 to perform. 
 
 4 Synodus Prima Sti. Ludovici 1839. 
 
Chapter 34 
 ALONG SANGAMON RIVER AND CROOKED CREEK 
 
 The priests chosen by Bishop Rosati to continue the work begun 
 by Fathers Lefevere and Saint Cyr in the heart of the Illinois 
 country were the two Missourians that enjoyed the privilege, as the 
 advance guard of a multitude of others, to receive their theological 
 training in the Eternal City: George Alexander Hamilton and Hilary 
 Tucker, 1831-1838. Father George A. Hamilton was born in Marion 
 County, Kentucky, and came to Perry County about 1825. He entered 
 the Seminary of St. Mary's, accompanied Hilary Tucker to Rome, was 
 attacked by the smallpox which put him back in his studies, so that 
 he could not be ordained at the time of his companion's ordination, 
 returned with Father Tucker in 1838, and was immediately sent to 
 the missions in Springfield and Sangamon County, Illinois. There is 
 a large collection of letters from Rome written by these young propa- 
 ganda students to their beloved Bishop and friend Rosati. These 
 letters are, of course, of no great historical value, but what must 
 strike every reader as something singular is the easy familiarity of 
 these young men in their intercourse with a man of the highest station 
 and influence in the Church. 
 
 On Christmas Day 1833, young Hamilton writes to Bishop Rosati : 
 "When I consider the extreme necessity in our Diocese of zealous 
 priests, I long to be ready to carry the word of life to those desolate 
 people who still walk in darkness and in the shadow of death; but 
 again Avhen I consider my extreme want of the virtues and learning 
 requisite to the due fulfilment of so sublime a ministry, my heart 
 shrinks in dismay from the arduous undertaking. And with this 
 thought always before me, I should be induced to abandon the hope of 
 even doing any good, were I not assured by the Eternal Truth Himself 
 that He does not choose the great and learned of this world for His 
 Apostles, but the lowly and ignorant, to confound the pride and vain 
 knowledge of the worldly-wise. Confiding entirely in the promises of 
 Eternal Truth, I am again assured that, if I use my best exertions 
 to fit myself well for the offices to which I am destined, though of 
 myself I can do nothing, Almighty God will supply from His inexhausti- 
 ble treasures every deficiency. I must then endeavor to prepare myself 
 for the sublime dignity to which I hope one day to be raised ; and no- 
 
 i Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Published under the title, "First Natives 
 of Missouri to go to Eome for Studies and to be Ordained There," in "Church 
 Progress," December 1918, ss. 
 
 (741) 
 
Til! History of the Archdiocese of St. Lotus 
 
 The deep interest George Hamilton felt in all things that con- 
 cerned Bishop Rosati, as well as the great desire of the zealous pre- 
 late himself to obtain German priests for the numerous German settle- 
 ments rising as if by magic in every part of his extensive diocese, 
 especially Illinois and Northern Missouri, gives more than a passing 
 interest to a passage from a letter of George Hamilton dated Mont 
 Alto, Near Frascati, September 28, 1836: 
 
 "I had hoped you would be assisted very soon by a young student 
 of this college, who had expressed a determination to go to St. Louis; 
 he would have been of great service among the Germans. But the 
 Secretary has thought, fit to send him to Calcutta. There is a young 
 gentleman in the Greek College in Rome, who has expressed a strong 
 desire to consecrate himself to the American Missions. He is de- 
 termined, if possible, to go to America. He is not of the Greek rite. 
 His superiors seem favorable to his inclination, as he is a young man 
 of great abilities, and likely to do a great deal of good, and as they 
 see, he is not likely to do much at home, on account of the oppressive 
 laws which clog the zeal of the missionary. He has already acquired 
 a pretty competent knowledge of the English language, which he be- 
 gins to speak with fluency; he also understands French. He is a 
 very accomplished Greek and Latin scholar. His health and strength, 
 and above all, his zeal, admirably fit him for the American missions. 
 He has often expressed to me an ardent wish to go to St. Louis. 
 He would, under many respects, be a very valuable acquisition 
 to the diocese. With one word, I am persuaded, you can pre- 
 vail on Mgr. Mai to send him to St. Louis. You will not, 
 I know, let slip so favorable an opportunity to enrich your 
 diocese with such a learned and valuable missionary. He had 
 wished to disclose his designs to other Americans who would immediate- 
 ly have written on to their Bishops to ask him; but I prevailed on 
 him to wait till I got an answer from you. It is seldom, Sir, that 
 you or any other Bishop can have so advantageous an offer. As you 
 are coming to Rome next year, you will, I hope, secure the services 
 of this young gentleman, or if Providence so dispose it that you can- 
 not come, you can write to the Prefect of Propaganda to send him. 
 He will have completed Theology with me. His name is Nicholas 
 Perpignan." 2 
 
 In another letter student George gives his views on a topic that 
 was then as now, a burning one, the practice of begging in foreign 
 countries : 
 
 "I must tell you that I am no friend to such begging, although 
 I wish well to Mr. Odin, and I should show great ingratitude were 
 I to act otherwise. Still I maintain that it does not look well here 
 
 
 2 "First Natives of Missouri," I.e. 
 
Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 743 
 
 to see a priest of our missions making such collections. I have heard 
 many, and very respectable persons, too, say that there appears to 
 be too great a solicitude, or rather too much confidence placed in 
 human means. For, say they, if it be for the honor and glory of God, 
 God will find means to carry into execution what is for His greater 
 glory. Be that as it may, I am of the opinion that too much begging 
 does not suit well for a priest of our missions, and I think I could 
 do- as much without coming to Europe. For I think it is only under- 
 estimating our people to expect to be supported by the contributions 
 made by the faithful of foreign countries. No, I say the faithful of 
 our country are far more able to support their clergy, than those of 
 Europe are to support their own, and we only need to take them in 
 the right way to succeed." 3 Then, turning to the necessity of a 
 native clergy he writes : 
 
 "I am very sorry to learn that no natives of the country seem 
 disposed to embrace the ecclesiastical state, for I am convinced of 
 the necessity of a national clergy. The reasons are obvious and need 
 no elucidation, but in a country like ours, I fear it will be long be- 
 fore a clergy can be had, for there are so many employments open 
 to the youth that few think of the priesthood. Nevertheless, I hope 
 with the help of God's grace, we shall yet have a flourishing clergy 
 before many years." 
 
 The peaceful happy days of George Hamilton's stay in Rome 
 came to an end in 1837. Arriving in New York on the 24th of Sep- 
 tember, 1838, both Hilary and George, as Bishop Rosati affectionately 
 called our noble pair of Roman students, slowly travelled to St. Louis, 
 where on their arrival in November, they received their faculties and 
 were sent to the missions, Hilary Tucker to Quincy, George Hamilton 
 to Springfield and the Sangamon Country. 
 
 But alas, Father Hamilton's first letter from Springfield is a sad 
 commentary on his lighthearted hopes. He would borrow money for 
 his church, because he failed "to take his people in the right way" 
 to "succeed" in raising the necessary funds among them. Indeed, 
 good Bishop Odin was wiser, as he well might be, than the young 
 student, in placing the faculty of begging above the helplessness of 
 borrowing. Interest was exorbitant in those early days of Illinois, 
 fluctuating beween 12 to 25 percent, according to the needs of the 
 borrower. Father Hamilton, however, was not disposed to wait for 
 .something to turn up. The calls of his mission fully occupied his 
 time. The country was growing rapidly. Again we meet the old 
 saying: "All we require to attract Catholic immigration is a church." 
 But let us see what Father Hamilton has to say on the subject: 
 
 3 Hamilton to Bosati, Archives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 
 
744 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "I would request you to let me know whether I can borrow one 
 or two thousand dollars, and upon what terms, in St. Louis. For as 
 I am compelled to borrow, I desire to make my bargain to the best 
 advantage. Here I cannot think of borrowing money, the interest is 
 so exorbitant. The least they think of asking is 12 percent. Will you 
 please write me immediately upon what terms I can expect to get 
 the desired loan." 4 
 
 Father Hamilton's report on the prospects of his missionary field is 
 encouraging: "I have just returned from an excursion in the country, 
 where I have been pretty successful in finding out new Catholics. I dis- 
 covered a new settlement of Irish Catholics near Mount Sterling, Brown 
 County, Illinois. There are six families already there, and twelve or four- 
 teen others have entered land in that neighborhood and are expected this 
 Fall and next Spring. There is a fair prospect of there being a large 
 congregation in a few years in and about Mount Sterling. The dis- 
 tance thence to Springfield is about 60 miles and to Quiney about 45 
 or 50. Several others about Jacksonville, New Lexington and Virginia 
 have made themselves known. They are rapidly increasing in Spring- 
 field. When I first arrived here, there were only five families known 
 to be Catholics, besides seven or eight single individuals. Now there 
 are thirteen or fourteen families, besides forty to forty-five single 
 persons residing in town. I doubt not that Catholicity will rapidly 
 increase in this part of the country. All we require to attract Cath- 
 olic immigration is a church. We have been greatly disappointed 
 in getting the lot. Persons owning property in that quarter of town 
 were anxious we should get that lot which was better situated than 
 any other for a church, and the owner was willing to let us have 
 it, but he wanted to speculate and asked an enormous price. We de- 
 clined, and he came down a little in his demands. He offered it for 
 $300.00. We accepted it and requested a deed and, if he could not 
 give that, a bond to make a deed when he should get out an order 
 of court to sell the property (it being the property of minors), binding 
 himself to secure us against any damage we might sustain in case 
 he failed to make the deed by the 1st of January, 1840. When he 
 saw the condition, he hesitated, consulted for days, shuffled and finally 
 backed out, And now, after causing us to lose so much time, we 
 are compelled to seek somewhere else for a suitable lot. I hope, how- 
 ever, we shall be able to commence this work. We have partly engaged 
 with a gentleman, who will not, it is thought, deceive us, for two 
 lots 53y 2 by 157, in a very eligible situation in the town. If you 
 could make it convenient to lay the cornerstone, I should be happy 
 to wait. Please let me know as soon as possible." 5 
 
 4 Hamilton to Eosati, from Springfield, July 7, 1839, in Archives of St. Louis 
 Archdiocese. 
 
 5 Idem, ibidem. 
 
Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 745 
 
 Bishop Rosati was a great borrower himself for church purposes 
 and very probably knew no advantageous opening for Father Hamilton. 
 But he returns to the charge : "I deem it my duty to ap- 
 prise you of everything I do here. I have used every effort 
 in my power to build a church this season in Springfield, 
 but all my efforts have failed of success. I had indeed 
 obtained subscriptions to the amount of $2000 or $2,300, and this 
 created a hope of being able to proceed immediately with the building : 
 But, Sir, I perceive, there is a wide difference between subscribing 
 one's name for money and paying down the money. About the time 
 we wished to commence, hard times began, and many subscribers 
 felt it inconvenient to pay and, as they were not Catholics, we did 
 not like to urge the matter on them. Many of the Catholics paid 
 their subscriptions, and if we had pressed them, would have paid up 
 everything, but when we saw we could not get money from our other 
 subscribers, we told them not to put themselves to any inconvenience 
 for the present. I think, however, there is no danger of not getting 
 the amount subscribed this Fall and next Winter. And in consideration 
 of this, I determined to effect a loan, if I could get it on fair and 
 reasonable terms. The exorbitant interest required here deterred me 
 from borrowing and, in the hope of getting it on more advantageous 
 terms, brought me to St. Louis. But my inquiries soon satisfied me 
 of my mistake. So I resolved to return to Springfield and wait till 
 I could procure from some source or other the means to build my 
 church. In the meantime I have tried to obtain a room which might 
 be set apart for the purpose of Divine "Worship, but as yet I have 
 been unable to find one large enough, every room more than ten feet 
 square being occupied, except one which was built for a theater and 
 which will again probably be applied to the same cause. I have re- 
 fused to take it, thinking that is was not becoming for a house, 
 that has once been appropriated to Divine Worship, to be turned 
 into a theater. I know not whether I shall be able to get a room this 
 season or not." 6 
 
 "As I am situated, I assure you, I feel very uncomfortable, being 
 compelled to celebrate Mass in a private house and perform all my 
 functions exposed to the danger of being interrupted by every one 
 who may wish to come into the room. I have not even a private 
 apartment where I can hear confessions, My situation is so unpleasant 
 that, if it were not for the kindness of the family I live with, I could 
 not reconcile myself to remain. The family talks of moving, and if 
 they do, "actum est de me," I am undone. For it will be utterly 
 impossible for me, with my present salary, to pay my board at any 
 house in town, and there is no other Catholic family in town. There 
 
 8 Hamilton to Rosati, from Springfield, August 17, 1839. 
 
746 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 are, to be sure, several Catholic ladies, but their husbands are Pro- 
 testants and I could not expect to board at their houses without 
 paying the usual fare." 7 
 
 "Owing to the scattered condition of the Catholics in this section 
 of country I ana compelled to be always on the move, in order to 
 visit them once or twice a year. I most always find sonic, that 1 never 
 heard of before. My opinion is that, instead of one, there ought to 
 be two priests here in order properly to attend the Catholics and to 
 enable themselves to derive advantage from their own labors. A priest 
 wandering over these woods without ever seeing another priest, with 
 whom he may advise and to whom he may unbosom his thoughts, 
 is very apt to grow cold. If there were two, it might render their 
 situation somewhat more pleasant. But these Catholics are too few 
 and generally too poor to afford a competent support even to one 
 clergyman and, I am persuaded, I could not live here, were it not 
 for the good family I reside with. 
 
 "It will require, in my opinion, a Society of men, who have funds 
 of their own to start with, to effect a permanent and extensively use- 
 ful establishment : once that is done everything will go on prosperously. 
 
 "I informed you in my last letter of a new Catholic settlement I 
 had discovered north of the Illinois River. I have been told since 
 that there are several Catholic families south of the Meredosia. These 
 I have never visited nor do I know how many there are. There are 
 some too about Vandalia, and south of that. I intended to visit 
 them next month ; I thought I would take them in on my way home, 
 whither I have to go in order to settle my affairs, which if I do not 
 then, I might not be able to do for a year, as some of those, who 
 owe me, are going down the river, and may not return for twelve 
 or eighteen months. I request your permission to do it." 1 
 
 The hint as to a Society of men who have funds of their own 
 to start with, was perhaps suggested by the establishment of the 
 La Salle Mission under the Vincentian Fathers Raho and Parodi, an 
 undertaking that certainly did wonders in Central Illinois. But we 
 will turn from speculations to facts, pleasant and unpleasant, as con- 
 tained in Father Hamilton's supplement to his report for 1839: 
 
 "As I have been unavoidably compelled to omit many things in 
 the printed account relating to this mission, I herewith transmit them 
 to you. There are in this mission, as you may see by reference to 
 the printed account 15 stations of which I consider Springfield as 
 the center. They lie at every point of the compass from twelve to 
 sixty miles from Springfield. A brief description of each one I here 
 subjoin. Sugar Creek, a small settlement 12 miles south of Spring- 
 
 1 Hamilton to Eosati, Archives, 
 s Idem, ibidem. 
 
Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 747 
 
 field, in Sangamon County, comprising 8 families, averaging 7 mem- 
 bers or 56 (souls) in all. Bear Creek, a large settlement 35 miles 
 southeast of Springfield in Macon County containing 23 families 
 averaging 6, or 136 (souls). Flat Branch, Macon County, 40 miles 
 east of Springfield, 3 families, averaging about 7, or 21 (souls). Shelby- 
 ville, seat of justice of Shelby County, 56 miles a little south of east 
 of Springfield, containing 6 families. It has been nearly a year since 
 I visited them. Lick Creek, 16 miles southwest of Springfield, counting 
 but one family. Jacksonville, 35 miles west of Springfield, has but one 
 resident Catholic, though there are several transient ones laboring 
 there. Jersey Prairie, northwest corner of Morgan County, 3 Cath- 
 olic families, 34 miles from Springfield, Virginia, Cass County, 3 or 
 4 families comprising about 10 (souls), 34 miles north of west of 
 Springfield, Meredosia, Morgan County 55 miles from Springfield, some 
 few transient Catholics. Naples, Scott County, 58 miles west of Spring- 
 field, one or two families, never been visited- Exeter, Scott County, 
 51 miles northwest of Springfield, several resident Catholic families, 
 others about to settle. Sterling, 70 miles northwest of Springfield, seat 
 of justice of Brown County, a new and numerous settlement of Irish 
 Catholics. Petersburg, Menard County, 24 miles northwest of Spring- 
 field, Logan County, 3 Catholic families. 
 
 "This Sir, is a description as accurate as* my recollection, unaided 
 bj' a map, will permit me to give you of the missionary stations I have to 
 visit. Their great distance from each other will, as you easily perceive, 
 preclude the possibility of my frequently visiting them. I have, however, 
 visited them all with the exception of 3, twice since my mission to Spring- 
 field. I have already spoken to you about my prospects of a church here. 
 They are daily growing more gloomy and hopeless. One more effort 
 I will make to erect a small church. If this should fail, the failure 
 will lead me to believe, that I have anticipated the will and good 
 pleasure of Divine Providence in endeavoring to build, at so early 
 a day, a church in the Capital of Illinois." 9 
 
 The note of discouragement struck in this letter is continued 
 in the next : 
 
 "I have now been in the mission for one year. When I arrived, 
 there was, I believed, a fairer prospect of erecting a church than 
 there is at present. Whether the failure proceeds from my inability 
 (ir mismanagement, from coolness of zeal on the part of subscribers, 
 or from the pressure of the times, I am unable to ascertain. Sir, I 
 believe, I have done all that I could to effect the erection of a church. 
 I have traversed large portions of the state, begging at every house 
 
 9 Hamilton to Rosati, Springfield, December 29, 1829. 
 
748 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 where I thought there was a hope of obtaining assistance, and preaching 
 in every congregation for the same purpose, and I have failed. I 
 have reflected much upon the subject, and I have come to the conclusion, 
 that it is useless for me to try to build a church with the means I 
 can at present command. The Catholics are, as I said before, too 
 few and too poor to build one themselves, and their numbers do not 
 seem to augment. There are nine entire Catholic families, and two 
 of which the females are Catholics, in town. There are other transient 
 families, that remain here while they can obtain employment. In 
 these circumstances, Sir, I confess I am at a loss how to proceed." 10 
 
 On April 18, 1840, Bishop Rosati appointed Rev. George A. Hamil- 
 ton pastor of Alton, remarking in his letter of appointment that the 
 missions of Springfield will be visited by the Rev. Raho and assistant. 
 
 Alton, divided into Upper and Lower Alton, had no church as 
 yet; but the mission was dedicated to St. Matthew the Apostle. 
 
 Among the pioneer settlers of Alton on the Mississippi there were 
 but few Catholics. Yet one by one, Irish and German families had built 
 their homes on the hills, the site of the present city. They were visited 
 at regular intervals from Portage des Sioux beyond the river by the 
 Jesuit Fathers, Peter Kenny and Jodocus Van Asche. The report 
 for 1836, gives Alton 150 souls and the neighboring village of Grafton 
 15. At Bishop Rosati 's suggestion two Irish Catholics, J. P. B. McCabe 
 and Richard McDonnell,* made the first church census, and on June 
 26, 1836, sent the list to St. Louis with the request for a resident 
 priest : n 
 
 "The people received us very kindly and rejoiced at the prospect 
 of having this means afforded them of attending to their religious 
 duties and bringing up their children in the faith of their Fathers. 
 One German farmer, a Mr. Scharf, escorted us to the dwellings of five 
 or six of his neighbors, and then we were joined by two young men, 
 who with pleasure conducted us to Upper Alton, calling at every 
 house where they knew a member of the church could be found. 
 
 "At Upper Alton I met with a Frenchman (Mr. Fecht) who put 
 me in possession of a subscription list, which contained the names 
 of nine individuals, with the sum of $71.00. Among the many promises 
 of aid which I have received here is Mr. Lane's of a lot in any part 
 of his property in Lower Alton and the sum of $500.00. Col. Snowden, 
 who resides on the prairie a few miles from town, has, I understand, 
 stated he will give $500.00. I have seen two Irish Protestants here, 
 men of property, who signified their intention of subscribing liberally 
 towards the building. I fear that the want of a pastor has been the 
 
 io Hamilton to Rosati, Springfield, September 10, 1840. 
 
 ii The Original of Census in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. Printed in 
 '■ Illinois Catholic Historical Review," vol. Ill, pp.. 300 and 301. 
 
Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 749 
 
 means of making some of the weak-minded or uneducated to join the 
 sectarians, or become quite indifferent about religion in any shape. 
 
 "I am informed that several respectable families, who emigrated 
 this season with the intention of settling in this neighborhood, de- 
 clined doing so upon learning that there was no church nor priest 
 here. I have no doubt that with the blessing of God, I shall see a sub- 
 stantial edifice erected' in Lower Alton and attended by a congregation 
 of 500 to 600 before two years have elapsed. If the bishop will send 
 a priest here I am instructed by the Catholic inhabitants to give them 
 notice so that a meeting may take place to make arrangements for 
 having the lot laid out and the foundation sunk, and the building 
 commenced. Stone is plentiful here, and a Dutchman in Upper Alton 
 holds out a promise of a donation of the brick. I trust I shall have 
 the pleasure of drawing the deed." 12 
 
 Bishop Rosati gladly acquiesced and on February 1837, appointed 
 the Rev. James O'Flynn from the Archdiocese of Tuam as Alton's 
 first resident pastor. But Father O'Flynn soon found himself at odds 
 with a substantial part of his congregation and, on February 25, 1838, 
 asked for his recall. Among the reasons for this resolve, this seems to 
 have been the main one : ' ' The Germans are more numerous here than 
 the Catholics from any other country. They are complaining that they 
 derive no benefit from my instruction and consequently are not very 
 willing to contribute to my support, except three or four families 
 in the country and about the same number in Upper Alton, who 
 have attended Mass very regularly." 13 
 
 Father 0' Flynn left Alton and the diocese soon after this. The 
 Jesuit Father Van Asche once more took charge of the place until 
 the arrival of Father George A. Hamilton from Springfield, April 1840. 
 
 What the new pastor accomplished in the brief period of his 
 stay in Alton, we have no way of learning to tell. On February 20, 
 1842, the Coadjutor Bishop, Peter Richard Kenrick transferred him 
 from Alton to the St. Louis Cathedral, when his power of preaching 
 in fluent and idiomatic English was appreciated by Bishop and people. 
 
 In 1846, his name is mentioned for the last time in the records 
 of St. Louis diocese as assistant rector at St. Patrick's Church in St. 
 Louis, with Rev. W. Wheeler as rector. When and why Father Hamilton 
 left his native diocese we cannot say, but in 1865, we find him as 
 pastor of St. Francis De Sales' parish in Charlestown, Mass., and as 
 a member of the Bishop's Council in the Diocese of Boston. His 
 death occurred on July 21, 1874, in Charlestown, Mass. 14 
 
 In order to round out the account of Father Lefevere's Illinois 
 missions, a few words must here be inserted concerning Fountain 
 
 12 O'Flynn to Kosati, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 13 Idem, ibidem. 
 
 14 Church Directory. 
 
750 History of lh< Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Green and its first pastor, John M. P. Saint Cyr. After serving the 
 Church of Chicago until March 1837, Father Saint Cyr was appointed 
 to take charge of the Congregation at Qnincy. But, owing to Father 
 Brickwedde's opportune arrival and consequent appointment to Quincy, 
 Father Saint Cyr's destination was changed to the pastorship of St. 
 Simon's on Crooked Creek, Hancock County, Illinois. Fountain Green 
 was the poetic name of a rather poor and lonely inland village, just 
 emerging from the state of pure nature. It is from this place that 
 Bishop Rosati on March 4, 1838, received the following plaintive 
 message : 
 
 "When I left St. Louis in November last, I was very unwell, and 
 I have been so ever since. However, I tried to visit several of my 
 congregations before the cold weather set in, which I did, as I had 
 promised. I rode there, I went, I came back and fell ; when I shall 
 rise again, I do not know. Since the 28th of January, I did not leave 
 my bed. I have almost lost the use of my right leg by pains, first 
 in the hip, then between the knee and the ankle, in winch they are 
 now most horribly felt, which rendered me incapable of setting 'out 
 and doing anything. A hundred things have been applied to it ; 
 but nothing seems to do me any good. I leave it to the hand of God 
 to chastise me as long as He pleases, Modo act c mum pur cat, or 
 to His holy will to cure me; in patientia possidebitis animas vestras" 
 
 "... The church building in Fountain Green is going on very 
 slowly on account of the weather. Mr. Henry Riley, who contracted 
 for the building, is to go down to St. Louis at the opening of the 
 river to buy different things for the church. If it should be then in 
 your power to pay him what you promised to give towards St. Simon's 
 Church, I would be very thankful to you." 1 " 1 
 
 Within three weeks another letter was sent with the same com- 
 plaint of bodily ailments, but showing a little more hope : 
 
 "I wrote to you some time ago a letter in which I informed you 
 of my bad situation, not being able to walk at all. Well I am still 
 in the same situation, with that difference, however, that, the weather 
 being warmer, I can step out of my room with the help of two sticks. 
 But the pains keep me on the same train, and many a time worse in 
 the cold weather. We did all we could, but nothing had done me 
 any good. Wherefore, Reverend Bishop, if by next week I feel no 
 better or perceive no mending, I will venture myself on a horse or 
 wagon to cross that long, long prairie. But whether I will be able 
 to do it is a matter of doubt. However, I will try my best ; so that 
 if you do not see me in St. Louis before long, you may conclude that 
 I got better or worse." 16 
 
 is Saint Cyr to Rosati, March 4, 1838, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 16 Sainl Cyr to Rosati, March 30, 1838, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
Along Sangamon River and Crooked Creek 751 
 
 As the summer came on the bodily troubles of the missionary 
 must have been relieved considerably, as we find him on a still hunt 
 for souls in the various counties of his vast parish. It seems to have 
 been his farewell visit. It may strike many as singular to note the 
 importance attached by these pioneers of the faith to any church or 
 chapel, however poor and homely, as a means of developing the country 
 round about, yet they had the experience. The little church becomes 
 the center to which all the roads converge, since its presence in the 
 locality is the means of determining the Catholic people to settle in 
 the neighborhood. And what a fine instinctive feeling these pioneers 
 had in discovering the signs of coming greater things. In illustration 
 of this let us proceed to Father St. Cyr's last letter # from the missions 
 in McDonough, Fulton, Peoria and Tazewell Counties : 
 
 "I have fulfilled my promise concerning my going on a mission 
 to Peoria. I also visited the Catholics in Tazewell County. They 
 are very numerous, some Americans, some French, German and Irish. 
 The 15th of July I said Mass at Mr. Tucker's (Tazewell). Mr. Menard 
 and his wife attended. And I baptized several children. The week 
 after, I visited likewise several wealthy Irish families in Lotall Prairie, 
 forty miles from Peru (Peoria County). Amongst which families 
 is Mr. Mooney, a rich and zealous Catholic ; all from the city of New 
 York. A great many more families would have come to this part of 
 the country, they told me, had it not been for the scarcity of money. 
 Many again have been prevented from moving for not hearing of any 
 Catholic church being established, or of any prospect of establishing one. 
 Let therefore a Catholic church be established with a priest stationed at 
 Peoria, and the Catholics will flock into that part of the country. 
 
 "Peoria is already and will be more so, one of the most important 
 points on the Illinois River for Catholicity, if nothing be neglected 
 on our part. It is therefore high time to take the matter into con- 
 sideration; it is now the very season to plant." 17 
 
 "It has not been in my power to do anything respecting the 
 church and the lot that had been promised. Being a perfect stranger 
 to the Catholics, they not having received the letter you promised me 
 to write, to them as an introduction, and myself not having the list 
 of the Catholics which Mr. Timon made. Mr. Peter Menard, who alone 
 could give me all the information I wanted, was not then in Peoria; he 
 has moved on his farm with his family, 12 miles south of Peoria 
 (Tazewell County). However I requested Mr. Mooney, zealous member 
 of our church and a great friend to that Mr. Nolone (Nolan) who prom- 
 ised Mr. Timon to give a lot for the church, and who since retracted, 
 that, in case he would make his first words good, to have the lot 
 deeded. So far the whole matter is hanging on promises. I found in 
 Peoria and its environs 30 Catholic Families, whose names I took on a 
 
 IT Saint Cyr to Eosati, August 6, 1838. 
 
752 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 list ; there are some more but I could not see them for -want of time. 
 I promised to visit them again in October if nothing should prevent 
 me; this will be the last time, for I do not propose to visit them any more, 
 as my health does not permit me to undertake such long trips, and 
 my finances are not much better. I hope you will send them a priest, 
 but a priest who must speak French, English and German ; that he 
 be able to speak French and English is absolutely necessary. 
 
 "I expect to start Thursday for Quincy, thence to Commerce, then 
 home again. I am very sorry, Very Reverend Bishop, not to be able 
 to comply with the great obligations which charity towards one an- 
 other imposes upon each one of us, and even more so, to be deprived 
 of the blessings attached to their fulfillment. They are, I see by the 
 letter which I received last week with your name affixed to it, humbly 
 begging for money to rebuild churches amongst the rich and wealthy 
 people of South Carolina, whilst Ave are here in the state of Illinois, 
 not rebuilding, but creating what we euphemistically name churches, 
 not among the rich but among the poorest of the poor. Yes, Dear 
 Bishop, take notice, that all my congregations are so very poor, that, in 
 spite of their good will, they cannot afford enough to put up a very 
 humble house of worship for themselves. Therefore, Dear Bishop, do 
 not expect anything from me. 
 
 Our church at Fountain Green is very slowly building; we having 
 been disappointed in the sawing of the lumber." 18 
 
 With this letter we take leave of good Father Saint Cyr. Broken 
 in health, as he was, and unfit to cope with the hardships and privations 
 of missionary life in the backwoods, he was appointed in 1838 pastor 
 of the ancient parish of Kaskaskia in succession to Father Benedict 
 Roux. Here within a comparatively small compass he ministered to 
 85 souls, had 61 baptisms in the first year, 22 marriages, 19 funerals 
 and 4 converts. He also acted as professor and chaplain to the Sisters 
 of the Visitation until July 19, 1843, when Father Heim took his place 
 as confessor of the sisters, but not as pastor of the parish. The diocese 
 of Chicago being erected in 1844 with all Illinois as its territory, Father 
 Saint Cyr declined to sever his connection with St. Louis ; and on the 
 11th of September, 1844 left Kaskaskia in charge of Father Vital Van 
 Cloostere. On the 23rd of September of the same year, he was appointed 
 chaplain of the Sisters of the Visitation on Sixth Street in St. Louis at 
 a salary of $100.00 a year, as Father Saint Cyr himself states. Of 
 his first year's salary the chaplain devoted $10.00 to help pay St. 
 Patrick's church debt. 10 
 
 But though poor and sick he felt that his days of usefulness were 
 not over : we shall meet good and kind and pious Father Saint Cyr again 
 under more favorable circumstances. 
 
 18 Saint Cyr to Rnsnti. Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 19 Biographical notices in Archives of St. Louis Arehdioeese. 
 
Chapter 35 
 FATHER HILARY TUCKER IN QUINCY 
 
 The petition of the English speaking portion of Father Brick- 
 wedde's Congregation for a priest of their own nationality preferably 
 Father Hamilton, apparently lay dormant for a rather long time, but 
 was not quite forgotten by Bishop Rosati. At last it was answered by 
 the appointment of Father Hamilton's fellow student in Rome. 
 
 Father Hilary Tucker was a son of Nicholas Tucker of Perryville, 
 grandson of Joseph Tucker, one of the pioneers of Perry County. Old 
 Mr. Joseph Tucker, as he was called, came to Missouri in June 1802, 
 on a visit to Isidore Moore, who had established himself near Perryville 
 in 1801. He was soon followed by his sons, among them Nicholas, 
 the father of Hilary and of Lewis, the future pastor of Fredericktown. 
 The first chapel in Perry county had been built and blessed in 1812 
 by the Rev. James Maxwell, Vicar General, who attended the place 
 from Ste. Genevieve until his death in 1814. Before 1812 Mass had 
 occasionally been said at the home of Old Joseph Tucker. After 1814 
 the Trappist Marie Joseph Dunand, visited Perryville at regular in- 
 tervals, from his parish of Florissant, and made his home, for the 
 time being, with Old Joseph Tucker, who as Father Dunand states, 
 had eight sons and one daughter, all except the youngest, married and 
 "settled about him in good homes." Father Dunand is full of praise 
 for these excellent people. "I enquired" says he "how they living in 
 such a secluded place, had passed their Sundays and Holy days without 
 Mass. They answered that on these days all the families of the district 
 assembled three times; the first time they recited the prayers of the 
 Mass; the second time they recited the beads or other prayers and 
 followed this by singing hymns and canticles ; and the third time 
 some one of the better instructed taught catechism, not only to the 
 children, but to the married folks as well. I could not help admiring 
 this beautiful arrangement, which the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit 
 of righteousness and simplicity, has established among these pious 
 planters, so simple and so free from malice. I imagined myself carried 
 back to that blessed epoch of the birth of the church. I fancied I 
 saw these first Christians instructed by the Apostles and so united by 
 their charity that they were but one heart and one soul. I would have 
 liked well to have remained with such good people and to have chosen 
 this holy spot for my home, but Divine Providence called me else- 
 where. ' n 
 
 1 Cf. Dunand, Diary in Records of American Catholic Historical Society of 
 Philadelphia, vol. 26. 
 
 (753) 
 
754 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Coming of such good Catholic stock and falling under the influence 
 of such a zelatov animarum as Father Dunand was, the youthful 
 Hilary felt himself called to the sacred ministry. What made the 
 project easier of accomplishment was the fact that, through the in- 
 fluence of the Trappist monk, Bishop Du Bourg had been induced to 
 found his seminary of St. Mary of the Barrens, in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the Tucker settlement. Both Lewis and Hilary Tucker 
 entered the seminary. Hilary was two years younger than his brother, 
 being born in 1808, and whilst Lewis continued his studies at the Barrens, 
 Hilary was chosen by Bishop Rosati to take a course of philosophy 
 and theology at the Propaganda in Koine. Of his stay there the letters 
 will give ample information. 2 
 
 The two young men were to start for Rome in the year 1831 
 but a delay of one year was brought about by the rumors of revolution 
 in Italy, and the fact that the cholera was raging in Europe. But 
 young Hilary wrote his bishop a reassuring letter, full of the easy 
 familiarity of youth. 
 
 "The cholera I think, should not deter us from the journey, for 
 in all probability our own country will be subject to it. So by remain- 
 ing here we shall run the same risk as by going to Europe and, if it 
 should please God that we should die, Italy can give us a grave as 
 well as Missouri." 
 
 Arriving at Rome, they were very kindly received by Father 
 Paul Cullen, the future Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, and treated 
 with distinguished consideration. They soon felt perfectly at home in 
 their new surroundings, though at times a tinge of homesickness colors 
 the flow of their voluble letters : 
 
 "Think not, writes Hilary Tucker, that the immense ocean and 
 the great distance which now separates us diminishes in the least my 
 love for you all; on the contrary, I find by experience that the farther 
 I am removed from you the dearer I find the ties of love and affec- 
 tion for you all without exception. Yet I do not desire to return home, 
 for I see such a field of science before me with so many facilities 
 which I never before imagined, that I cannot permit such a thought 
 to enter my mind at present."'' 5 
 
 Still the interests of their native diocese and of its bishop, their 
 friend and father, were always uppermost in the hearts of both Hilary 
 Tucker and George Hamilton : 
 
 "I am really overjoyed to hear of the progress Catholicity is mak- 
 ing in my country and especially in Missouri. Although our Holy 
 Religion is attacked and persecuted by our poor misguided brethren 
 
 2 Hilary Tucker to Eosati in Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 3 Hilary Tucker to Eosati, ibidem. 
 
Father Hilary Tucker in Quincij 755 
 
 of the Protestant faith, I think that we have reason rather to rejoice 
 than to lament on this account. For our Holy Religion will always 
 flourish and gain strength from persecution, and I should certainly 
 tremble for her, had she no enemies. This is a remark made to me by 
 Mr. Connelly, and one which first induced him to examine the tenets 
 of Catholicity. For," said he, "I thought that a religion persecuted as 
 the Catholic Religion has been, could not stand out against so many 
 tempests, were it not the true one." 
 
 "I am well aware of the disadvantages under which religion labors 
 in my country on account of the great scarcity of native clergy, of 
 which you spoke with so much reason in your last letter. Would to 
 God that more would take into serious consideration the great impor- 
 tance of this object. The American character seems too much engaged 
 in worldly and commercial affairs to think of engaging in the clerical 
 profession. However, notwithstanding all this, T really do yet enter- 
 tain hopes that, before many years, our country will be able to produce 
 a respectable body of efficient natives for the ministry, for I am per- 
 suaded that, when they can be convinced of the real importance of 
 this matter, we will no longer have to lament this great defect. 
 I am sorry that Charles should be the first to dishonor my family by re- 
 linquishing so sublime a calling; however, I know not his motives for 
 so doing. 4 
 
 Another short passage from the Roman letters of Hilary Tucker 
 and we are done with this part of the subject. 
 
 "The rector was so good as to show me your letter, which you 
 wrote to him. He tells me that he will do all in his power to procure 
 two German priests for your diocese. He desired very much to obtain 
 two from the German College in Rome, for they are all men who 
 have the true Apostolic spirit, and I have no scruple in saying that 
 those educated in the German College in Rome are, generally speaking, 
 the best adapted for our missions of any in the world." 5 
 
 Hilary Tucker was raised to the priesthood on July 2, 1837, and, 
 waiting for the delayed ordination of his friend and companion George 
 A. Hamilton, returned with him to St. Louis, where the privations and 
 hardships of missionary life awaited them. 
 
 Having received the minor facilities on November 120, 1838, Father 
 Tucker was employed for a short while as substitute in Carondelet 
 and at Gravois. At the conclusion of the Synod, he was sent to Quincy 
 as pastor of the English speaking Congregation. 
 
 Father Tucker's zeal and learning met witli a noteworthy initial 
 success. In a short time he collected $2000.00 for a new church ; a lot 
 
 -* Hilary Tucker to Rosati, Arc-hives. 
 5 Idem, ibidem. 
 
756 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 was donated, and a brick building begun. The parish was dedicated to 
 St. Lawrence. A good part of the funds came from the Irish Cath- 
 olics employed on the construction of the so-called Northern Cross 
 Railroad, and the hopes for the future prosperity of St. Lawrence 
 church were based on the same railroad venture. 
 
 We have a number of Father Hilary Tucker's letters covering the 
 period of his ministry in Quincy from June 13, 1839 to September 27, 
 1840. It will help us to understand the difficulties under which the 
 Church of Quincy labored, if we extract a few characteristic passages 
 from them : "As soon as I returned we immediately began to make prep- 
 arations for the building of our new church. 
 
 The laying of the cornerstone, as you may judge, was not as grand 
 as that of Trinity Church in St. Louis. I simply blessed it, according 
 to the prescriptions of the ritual, and there was but little ceremony 
 about it. The foundations are fast progressing, and the stone work will 
 be completed in seven or eight days from this. Contracts have been 
 made, signed and sealed for the brick and carpenter work. Messrs. 
 Davidson, Hicks and McComb will do the brick work, and Messrs. 
 Osborn and Brittenham the carpenter work, the last mentioned do 
 it at) the rate of 70 per cent on the dollar (Cincinnati price bill) which 
 is 20 per cent cheaper than ever done here before. The bricks are 
 laid at the rate of three dollars per thousand, making the whole cost 
 of brick work nine dollars per thousand, which is cheaper than ever 
 done here before. Messrs. S. C. Rogers and S. Kelly are directors of 
 the work. I have no fear of any trouble, the contracts being worded 
 in such a manner as to prevent anything of that kind. I hope we shall 
 have the church ready for consecration by the middle of October when 
 I hope we shall be able to have some display here also; for I shall come 
 down for you and several other gentlemen of the clergy. The Germans 
 are also making preparations for commencing their church. They 
 would have done better to postpone it a little, but they seemed anxious 
 to commence. We have rented a large room in which we can have Mass 
 decently on Sundays until we get our church. All seem very anxious 
 and generously contribute what they can towards its completion. The 
 subscription now amounts to nearly $2000.00 cash, which will about 
 cover the church in. After which we will open a new subscription, 
 for all say they will give more. I think that it is possible that this 
 summer I shall, with Mr. Kelly, go to Galena with the hope of getting 
 some aid, as the prospect from that quarter is good, and Mr. Kelly 
 is personally acquainted with most of the men there. The whole ex- 
 pense of the church will be about $4000.00.° 
 
 o Hilary Tucker to Eosati, June 30, 1839, Archives. 
 
Father Hilary Tucker in Quincy 151 
 
 At the Synod held in St. Louis, April .21, 1839, Father Tucker 
 reported the number of souls at Quincy as 385, baptisms 27, funerals 
 4 and converts 4. 
 
 On his return to his parish he wrote to Bishop Rosati : 
 
 "I hope we shall be able to commence next week the brick work 
 of our church, the stone foundations are almost finished, and if we 
 have no more contradictions, I hope that it will be covered in by the 
 20th of August. I don't think that Mr. Brickwedde has acted al- 
 together a charitable part. For he has gone with his list among most 
 of the Irish Catholics, which was not looked upon here as very genteel. 
 We have not offered our subscription to a single German, as we knew 
 they had the intention of building. However, be this as it may, the 
 church is progressing very well, and before winter will be fit for con- 
 secration. The only thing is that I wish Mr. Brickwedde would be 
 a little more communicative with me than he is. We have rented a 
 place in which we keep church on Sundays. At nine o'clock there will 
 be catechism for those who will dispose themselves for their first com- 
 munion, but we have got very few children. We will also open up next 
 Sunday a Sunday school. Mrs. Rogers and two or three other ladies 
 have offered their services to teach the girls. I must find some men 
 for the boys. At ten we have Mass and sermon. At three o'clock P.M. 
 I will on, every Sunday, in place of Vespers, give an explanation, in 
 Christian doctrine, which I write and read to the people. The plan 
 I pursue is that laid down by the Cathechism of the Council of Trent, 
 commencing with the Creed. With the Divine assistance I will con- 
 tinue until all be explained. 
 
 "Next week I shall go to Tully and Warsaw where there are Cath- 
 olics who have begged me to visit them. I have just this minute also 
 received a petition to go to Pittsfield, 40 miles from this place where 
 there are five families. I must also visit Louisiana where there are 
 two or three families." 7 
 
 From this we learn that Father Tucker had extended his field of 
 operations to the missions beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 "I have just returned a few days ago, from a mission to Santa 
 Fe, about 30 miles above this, on the Missouri side. I found about 
 thirty-five Catholic families, almost all Kentuckians, some Irish. They 
 have not seen a priest since last September. They are farmers after 
 the old Kentucky manner, good simple and harmless people, and have 
 a delightful country, and will in a few years be doing very well in 
 the temporal sense of the word. They have a church raised and covered, 
 made of hewn logs, and very well put up, being 40 feet by 25. After 
 
 Tucker to Rosati, June 20, 1839, Archives. 
 
758 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Mass I called a meeting, and we took measures for continuing the work. 
 I hope they will have the flooring in by the middle of- August, on which 
 day I promised again to visit them. 1 will endeavor to give them Mass 
 once a month. 1 baptized five persons, some of them Protestant, and 
 received two couples into the church, who were married out of it. The 
 church stands on a beautiful piece of ground belonging to the church, 
 of 80 acres; the deed in your name. I think, if we can find some good 
 and trusty farmer to place on it and to make improvements, it would 
 be well. The people are of the same opinion as it would be a means of 
 support. I have just received a letter from a lady in Pittsfield, 40 
 miles from there, who wishes me to come there to make some arrange- 
 ments for a church. She offers a lot in the town for a church. 1 must 
 endeavor next week to go. Pittsfield is the county seat of Pike County. 
 The lady is of Baltimore, was formerly the wife of a naval officer by 
 the name of Long. She has her two daughters and their families with 
 her. 
 
 "Here in Quincy we are getting on but slowly with our church. 
 We have been disappointed in getting bricks two or three times. So 
 many buildings are at present going on in the place, that all are im- 
 mediately used up. I hope, however, Ave shall soon be able to have a 
 sufficient quantity not to be delayed more. The joists for the floor- 
 ing are already in. The church is 48 feet long by thirty-five wide in 
 the clear, the walls 16 inches thick and 24 feet high. The steeple is 
 twelve feet square on the end and carried up from the ground in order 
 to support the bell when we get one." 8 
 
 "I was lately at Warsaw about 35 miles above this place, where the 
 old Fort Edward stands. Jnst before, in digging a well, they found 
 the grave of a person buried there probably for sixty or seventy years, 
 and in it a silver crucifix of considerable size. I was very desirous of 
 getting it, but it fell into the hands of a Protestant lady who would 
 not part with it ; she is now in Cincinnati. I will be careful to gain what 
 information I can, that might be interesting to religion or history, in this 
 place. ' ' 9 
 
 "I continue to live with Mr. Rogers who has granted me a very 
 convenient and retired upper room. Until we get means of building 
 a house for the priest, I will continue here. I must be very grate- 
 . ful to this very worthy man ; for he furnishes me with every conveni- 
 ence gratis. He is not a Catholic, but I hope will be. I ask your praj^ers 
 for his conversion." 10 
 
 
 s Tucker to Rosati, July 19, 1839. 
 ;i Idem, ibidem. 
 i° Idem, ibidem. 
 
Father Hilary Tucker in Quincy 759 
 
 On August 29, he writes : 
 
 "I have this moment returned from Warsaw, 35 miles from here, 
 where I was called two nights since. I have not slept for the last 50 hours 
 and rode 85 miles. Our church gets on slowly. I must see if I can 
 do anything at St. Louis when I come. The railroad system of this state 
 will ruin us I am afraid." 11 
 
 On November 3, 1839 he has unpleasant news for his Bishop : 
 
 "Our church is up, ready for the roof, but it must now remain 
 so, until Spring, for we have no funds to proceed. We are now owing 
 about $800.00, but I hope we will be able to pay this in a month, as we 
 expect near $600 from the railroad. But this will not be enough. I 
 have thought of going on a begging expedition. The winter is now 
 approaching, and I can do nothing here and would be obliged, at all 
 events, to spend the winter in St. Louis. I have thought of going to 
 New Orleans this winter to see if I cannot do something for this and 
 three other congregations, the one at Santa Fe and Pittsfield. . . }- 
 
 "I have just returned from Santa Fe. This will shortly be a 
 flourishing congregation. There are now 31 families of Kentucky stock, 
 but poor. They, however, live in great simplicity of manners and re- 
 semble much the people of the Barrens. The church there must be 
 finished next spring. I really intend establishing there a convent of 
 the Sisters of Loretto. There are now at least forty girls ready for 
 schooling, and many are even married without any instruction what- 
 ever. There are eighty acres of good land, belonging to the church. It 
 will be very easy to open a farm and maintain a good school. 
 
 "In Quincy, also, there are but few Catholics: yet a female school 
 is absolutely necessary, and we must have one. Governor Carlin, 
 Judge Ralston and some of the most influential men of Quincy have 
 urged it on me much. I even believe they will provide a good home and 
 contribute largely to the support. Next spring I will make them some 
 proposals. The Governor's daughters go to church and, I believe, 
 before long they will openly profess themselves Catholics, for they are 
 so in heart. At Pittsfield, next Spring, we will commence a small brick 
 church. A lot, and liberal subscription have been given for that pur- 
 pose. There are twelve families. 
 
 "This is only a commencement of what may be done with patience 
 and perseverance. I, on my late tour on the river, in Lewis and Clark 
 counties (missions) baptized four Protestants." 13 
 
 11 Tucker to Rosati, August 29, 1839. 
 
 12 Tucker to Eosati, November 3, 1839. 
 
 1 3 Idem, ibidem. 
 
760 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 At the opening- of the year 1840 Father Tucker makes arrange- 
 ments for his eastern trip : 
 
 "I will get Lefevere to come here once a month to give the peo- 
 ple Mass. Mr. Hamilton (at Alton) also will visit them. With respect 
 to establishing an Academy for females here, I have received the most 
 nattering prospects. Four of the most influential men of the town say 
 they will purchase a lot or a permanent establishment. Judge Ralston 
 even thinks that $3000 could be raised in the Spring for that purpose. 
 I don't think so much can be done, but a good house can easily be 
 rented and a good school commenced : In the meantime a house of 
 their own could be built. Governor Carlin is of opinion, a part of the 
 state school-fund may be obtained from the Legislature, at least next 
 Spring, if we Avould make the attempt. The Governor's four children, 
 Judge Ralston 's two sisters-in-law and Dr. Rogers ' family, at my return, 
 in all probability, will all be received into the church, as they are now 
 receiving the necessary instructions. But some of them have not yet 
 the courage to declare themselves publicly. Mr. Conyers, the County 
 Treasurer, to whom we are owing about 150 dollars talks of putting an 
 attachment on the church to secure himself. Should he do so, the only 
 thing you have to do, as the deed is in your name, is to make use of 
 what the law allows, which is eighteen months' grace. As soon as pos- 
 sible I will send Mr. Conyers the money. He is an excellent and upright 
 man and will do nothing but what is right, but he, like many others, 
 is greatly pushed for cash. The river here is entirely closed." 14 
 
 But the Northern Cross Railroad Company failed ; and the church 
 was hardly completed, when it was sold under a lien by the contractor, 
 Brittenham. Still, by some amicable arrangement, the church continued 
 to be used by the congregation, and Father Hilary Tucker strained every 
 nerve to meet his financial obligations. In 1840 he received permission to 
 go on a collecting trip for the benefit of his church, on which he achieved 
 good results, so that the parish soon recovered from its early disaster. 
 
 On the 21st day of April 1840, Bishop Rosati communicated all 
 his faculties, ordinary and extraordinary, to the Very Rev. P. J. Ver- 
 haegen, S. J., for the time of his absence from the diocese, and on 
 April 27th he left St. Louis in company of Father Peter P. Lefevere 
 and Joseph A. Lutz for Baltimore where they were to assist at the 
 Fourth Provincial Council, announced for May 17th, 1840. After 
 the close of the Council, Bishop Rosati set sail for Havre, thence he 
 journeyed to Paris and Rome, securing there from the Holy Father the 
 appointment of his coadjutor and successor Peter Richard Kenrick. 
 Whilst in Rome, Bishop Rosati received the following letter from the 
 Pastor of Quincy : 
 
 !■* Tucker to Rosati, January 11, 1840. 
 
Father Hilary Tucker in Quincy 761 
 
 "I know not if it is the custom for any of your clergy, or all of 
 them, to keep in correspondence with you, now that you are away. I 
 for my part, as I am now on the point of complying with my obliga- 
 tion of writing to Propaganda, have thought it proper to address you 
 also, more especially as I have many interesting items to communicate 
 to you. It has been with the greatest pleasure that I read in the 
 papers the notice of your safe arrival in Paris. May God grant you 
 a speedy and propitious return. Here in our city (for Quincy is now 
 by law entitled to that appellation) Catholicity is prospering. Indeed 
 it seems that the hand of God is with us, and that He intends shortly 
 to bring to light something great for the cause of religion here, for 
 certainly we have lately had some signal triumphs. You should recol- 
 lect that a little more than a year ago, when I came here, I found but 
 a few Catholics in the midst of the most bigoted class of New England 
 Presbyterians that can be imagined, and in the very hotbed of aboli- 
 tionism. I scarcely dared show myself in the streets for fear of them, 
 and, indeed, I have often been pointed out as an emissary of Antichrist. 
 A great change has been effected in the public feeling in my regard. 
 And now it is only by a certain number of Presbyterian Abolitionists 
 that I am hissed at. 
 
 "About three weeks ago five hundred of the Potawatomi Indians 
 passed through this place on their way to the Far West from the graves 
 of their fathers, whence the stern arm of an unjust power has driven 
 them. Three hundred are Catholics. They remained with us two days. 
 The Rev. Mr. Baignin was with them. I caused them to come to the 
 church, and at ten o'clock I sang for them the High Mass, at which 
 they assisted with an air of piety, devotion and simplicity, which cover- 
 ed many a Catholic with confusion for his own conduct. After Mass 
 their Pastor addressed them in a discourse, to which they listened with 
 the same attention. At his request I immediately repaired to their 
 camp and commenced hearing confessions by means of an interpreter, 
 and did not leave my place until mid-night, having heard 150, among 
 whom was their chief. Next morning being Sunday, they repaired to 
 the church as many as could, and received their Savior, after which 
 they immediately crossed the Mississippi and pursued their journey. 
 All the city witnessed all this, and it has been productive of good to 
 our religion. But it has pleased God to grant still greater triumphs. 
 I think you are acquainted with Miss Emily Carlin, eldest daughter 
 of Governor Carlin. She delivered before you and Bishop Loras an 
 address at Kaskaskia. She is now no longer among the living, but 
 thanks to God, her death was signally glorious to Catholicity. Ever 
 since her return from the convent she has always taken the defense of 
 Catholics in this place. In fact, she was only waiting your return, 
 
762 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 publicly to embrace it in a solemn manner, as she had often told me. 
 She had thoroughly prepared herself, and when she was taken sick, 
 she immediately sent for me, earnestly entreated to go to confession 
 and be baptized. I told her confession, in her case, was unnecessary. 
 She then received baptism at my hands in the midst of her family and 
 many friends, with the sentiments of an angel. From that time till 
 her death, two days after, her thoughts were all in God. She longed 
 to die and be with Him. At her earnest request I did not leave her 
 presence till death, when, on the morning of the 14th of September, 
 she sweetly gave up her soul to God. Before her death she gave orders 
 for her burial, all according to the rites of the church, and her inter- 
 ment in our new cemetery. She spoke of you in her last moments and 
 called you her dear bishop. All the city was covered with gloom ; for 
 she had been the admiration of all. The Supreme Court of the State 
 was then in session. It immediately adjourned to attend her funeral, 
 the order of which was as follows : At 8 A.M. on the morning of the 
 16th of September all met on the great square before the residence of 
 the Governor. Then a large company of foot-men led the way; then a 
 numerous company of horsemen, then the mounted pall-bearers preceded 
 by the marshal, all with their appropriate garb of mourning, twelve 
 in number ; then came the corpse, next myself in soutan, surplice and 
 stole, with attending physician in a carriage ; then the family of the 
 Governor, then Senator Young and family, then the lawyers of the 
 court, and at least 100 carriages. We repaired thus to the church, where 
 the funeral rites were performed, after which I briefly addressed the 
 multitude. Then we proceeded in the same order to the' grave-yard and 
 returned in like manner. Such has been the death of this eminently 
 talented young lady. All the papers have vied with one another in 
 their eulogiums on her. I have no doubt but that I shall soon receive 
 the whole family in the church. I am now almost every day with 
 them. The death of Emily has had a thrilling effect on many. Reports 
 have already been circulated by the Presbyterians, that I forced her 
 to embrace the Catholic religion. Their envy is insatiate and finds no 
 relief but in calumny. Indeed, I have been solicited by some of my 
 Protestant friends here to prosecute one, who stands high in society, 
 for a libel on me. If more is said, I will certainly do so, for I know it 
 would at once cause them, even here, to be cautious in regard to Cath- 
 olics, and I fear nothing from them, as all has been public. Judge 
 Young, the Governor, and many of the most influential lawyers would 
 ardently wish it. The person who has been so officious in this case is a 
 Mrs. Tillson, wife of the wealthy brother of John Tillson, agent of 
 the Illinois Land Company, whose lady and family is a very different 
 one from the one in question. 
 
Father Hilary Tucker in Quincy 763 
 
 "But God has not stayed His hand even here, the Rev. Mr. Dowan, 
 German Lutheran minister of this place, a man well known in all the 
 eastern cities, will soon declare himself publicly a Catholic. He will 
 set out next spring for Belgium, where he wishes to receive the priest- 
 hood. He is not willing yet that anything should be said about it, as 
 he thinks, the impression on his heretofore brethren would be too great. 
 Such, dear Bishop, are some of the items that I have to communicate to 
 you. I have established a branch of the Temperance Society, similar 
 to those in Ireland. For, at the last election our Irish disgraced them- 
 selves in a public riot, so much that the civil force was called to quell 
 it. I have restored things to order, and on the next Sunday I publish- 
 ed from the altar my intention. Although there have been threats 
 made by some wealthy German dealers in liquors that, if I said any- 
 thing, they would drive me from Quincy. I told them from the altar 
 that I knew what had been said, and that I was ready to suffer even 
 death if necessary in discharging my duty, and that I would raise my 
 voice against such excesses. They have attempted nothing so far. Our 
 little society in the meantime increases, and we now have about thirty 
 members. It is called the Roman Catholic Temperance Society of 
 Quincy. But dear Bishop, do not imagine that I am free from troubles 
 of the most distressing kind. I assure you I am harrassed beyond 
 measure. I have been grossly slandered even by those who bear the 
 name of Catholics. Letters have been sent to F. Verhaegen long before 
 I knew of it. I then laid my case before him, and he wrote me a con- 
 soling letter and encouraged me to go on. May God pardon all, is 
 my prayer. But slander is indeed very dampening to my courage. 
 Dear Bishop, our church must be finished. I hope we will have it ready 
 for consecration by the end of October. It is the prettiest one in Illinois, 
 but we shall be in debt. You really must assist us. It weighs heavily 
 on my mind. I have written to the Cardinal Prefect asking some assis- 
 tance. I hope you will advocate my cause with him, which is your 
 cause. 1 think he will do something. There is no doubt that this place 
 is destined to be shortly a city of 15,000 inhabitants, and we must rise 
 with it. This is the opinion of the most intelligent here, who though 
 Protestants, wish for the success of Catholicity. The Presbyterians are 
 straining every nerve to get the ascendancy. Some of their most dis- 
 tinguished ministers have endeavored to entrap me, but above all Dr. 
 Nelson, the abolitionist. Oh, that our church was finished, and that 
 some distinguished controversialist could spend a month with me. I have 
 some hope of having Bishop Purcell here to consecrate the church, as 
 he will be on a visit to St. Louis to see his sister. I shall have a com- 
 fortable parsonage finished before winter. 
 
764 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "Mr. Rogers and Mr. Whitney deserve the eternal gratitude of the 
 Catholics of this place ; but they cannot do all. I pray you then to 
 do what you can for me, for my health is really sinking under anxiety. 
 Not long since my horse and fell and rolled over me and much injured 
 my breast ; but I hope that it will not prove fatal. ' ' 15 
 
 In concluding this chapter on the early days of Quincy, we would 
 give the few dates Ave have gathered on the later period of Father 
 Hilary Tucker's life. 
 
 Up to 1844 Quincy, together with all western Illinois, was both de 
 facto and de jure a part of the diocese of St. Louis. But in that year 
 the diocese of Chicago was organized, including the entire state of 
 Illinois. Father Tucker thus, as pastor of Quincy, exchanged his mem- 
 bership in the diocese of his old friend Rosati for that of Chicago; and 
 in 1845 Bishop Rosati died in Rome. A number of the older clergy 
 retired from the western missions; and as Father Hilary's companion 
 Father George Hamilton, followed a call to the more cultured East, 
 he himself asked to be released from the diocese of Chicago. In 1846 
 we find Father Hilary Tucker in Boston, Mass., in 1847 in Lowell, from 
 1848 to 1852 in Providence, and from 1852 to 1872 at the Cathedral in 
 Boston, where he died March 15, 1872. 
 
 Father Hilary Tucker was a man of strong character, even im- 
 pulsive at times, with a high idea of his calling and filled with zeal 
 for the conversion of souls. His early missionary life at Quincy and the 
 surrounding stations was a sore trial to him; yet he held to his post of 
 duty until the disaster was repaired, and all went smoothly once more. 
 
 He was a man capable of deep and lasting friendships. What 
 drew him to Boston and the East was, not so much a desire for an easier 
 life, but rather the friendships he had contracted in the early Roman 
 days. The saintly Father Lewis Tucker of Fredericktown was, in some 
 respects, the very reverse of his brother. Unassuming, abstemious, care- 
 less of comfort and personal appearance, good old Father Lewis Tucker 
 never wrote a letter except on compulsion and then invariably wrote 
 in such a matter-of-fact style that it would have grated on the nerves 
 of Father Hilary, if he had ever been favored with one. Many years 
 ago the good people of Fredericktown told me of a visit of the portly 
 Father Hilary to his elder brother, good old Father Tucker, on which 
 occasion Father Hilary reproached the pastor of Fredericktown with 
 the poverty of his surroundings and actually threw all the dishes out 
 of the house, replacing them with a set of new ones. 
 
 15 Tucker to Eosati, September 27, 1840. 
 
Chapter 36 
 
 THE EARLY GERMAN PARISHES OP 
 SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS 
 
 The French influence in the Church on the borders of the Mississippi 
 and Missouri Rivers, that had been predominant or almost exclusive 
 since the days of the early Jesuit missionaries, began to wane with 
 the advent of the Americans from East and South : but its power was 
 finally extinguished in the thirties of the nineteenth century by the 
 swarms of Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany. This was 
 especially noticeable on the prairies of Illinois, in the counties of St. 
 Clair, Clinton, Monroe and Randolph. The ancient parishes in these 
 counties, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, and Kaskaskia, indeed, remained 
 French, but their territory was literally studded with thriving set- 
 tlements of German and Irish Catholics, who soon after their ar- 
 rival, began to clamor for priests of their own nationality, and offered 
 to build churches and schools of their own. 1 
 
 On August 27th, 1836, Father Francis Regis Loisel entered upon 
 his duties at Cahokia. On October 27th, he said mass for the first 
 time at French Village; On December 8th, and 9th, at Belleville, and 
 soon after at St. Thomas near Millstadt. There were no churches of 
 any kind at these places. The first attempt at building was made at St. 
 Thomas, where Father Loisel 2 said Mass at the house of James Powers. 
 About twenty-five persons were present, and six received communion. 
 He spoke to them of building a little chapel, and they concluded, 
 that on Wednesday, the 24th of November, the parishioners should 
 assemble to cut down trees for the construction of the chapel to which 
 they would give the name of St. Thomas, the Apostle. January, 24th 
 after Mass, a subscription was taken up for the new church, which 
 amounted to 82 dollars, and three trustees were elected: John O'Brien, 
 James Power and Bernard Slocy. 
 
 In his excursions through the Counties of St. Clair and Clinton 
 Father Loisel found such a large number of German Catholics, that 
 he was moved to ask Bishop Rosati for a German Assistant, namely the 
 newly ordained Father Ambrose Heim. But Father Heim was needed 
 at New Madrid. On December 13th, the Bishop had given faculties 
 to Rev. Charles Meyer, a recent arrival from Basle, in Switzerland. 
 
 i Bishop Brute's cry for help in May, 1837, "How I tremble to think of this 
 situation; I hear nothing spoken about except the emigrants and the cry for priests 
 that goes up on every side. ' ' 
 
 2 Concerning Father Loisel cf. Msgr. Holweck's article in " Pastoral-Blatt, " 
 vol. 52, No. G, Englished in ' ' St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, ' ' vol. I, p. 103 ss. 
 
 (765) 
 
7G6 Hist or n of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father .Meyer was then staying with relations at Shilo, near Belleville, 
 aboul eighl miles from Cahokia, where the Stauder family had erected 
 a small chapel on their own land. From Shiloh, Father Meyer was to 
 visit the Germans of Johnson's Settlement, where St. Thomas Church 
 was blessed by Bishop Rosati on November 26th, 1837. Father Loisel 
 received an assistant in the person of Father John Kenny. Father 
 .Meyer's faculties extended to all the German Catholics of Illinois, 
 even those living in Cahokia itself. 
 
 In 1837, Father Meyer, writes that the mission of St Michael is 
 attached to Teutonia, of which he has charge, and that his residence 
 is at Shilo. The German Catholics of St. Augustines in Prairie dn 
 Long were, as a matter of course, under his jurisdiction. The log- 
 church at St. Thomas, however, was abandoned, when the church at 
 Millstadt was completed. The chapel at Shiloh also ceased to be used 
 for services, when the Church at Belleville was built. In the Records 
 written by Father Saulnier Father Charles Meyer is given as pastor of 
 Belleville in 1836 and 1837; but from 1838 to 1843 he is styled "Pastor 
 of St. Andrew's, Teutonia, St. Clair County, Illinois." 3 
 
 At a later date the name of Teutonia was changed to Paderborn, 
 and the new church was dedicated to St. Michael. It is still a pros- 
 perous Parish. In 1814 Belleville had become the County seat, and 
 consequently attracted a large influx of people from the surrounding 
 settlements who were, for the most part, Germans. The Catholic Ger- 
 mans were in charge of Father Meyer, who however, kept his resi- 
 dence at Shilo, Mass was said in the Court-House at first, and later, 
 on at the home of the Huber family. These Germans were mostly from 
 Alsace and Lorraine. In 1837 John O'Brien donated land on which 
 the church was to be built. The first resident priest at Belleville was 
 Father Joseph Kuenster, who arrived in 1843. It was now decided 
 to build on a two acre tract purchased from Joseph Meyer. The 
 corner-stone was laid in the Spring of 1843. Means failing however in 
 the course of the year, the building remained unfinished, but was used 
 for divine services for a time in that condition. Mass was celebrated 
 within its walls for the first time on Christmas morning 1843, one 
 month after the erection of the diocese of Chicago. In 1845, Father 
 Kuenster was succeeded by Father Gaspar Henry Ostlangenberg. Father 
 Ostlangenberg, however, had a very interesting course of life in the 
 sacred ministry prior to this appointment, the greater part of which 
 was passed in eastern Illinois. 4 
 
 3 Parish Chronicle of Cahokia. Vnn der Sanden has this note in regard to 
 Father Mayer's place of residence: 1836 Parochus Belleville, 1837 Pastor Teutoniae. 
 Haec Teutonia habebat titulum Eeclesiae S. Andreae, qui locus dicitur 5 vel. 6 mil- 
 liaria a Belleville, sed nunc (1839) abolitus. 
 
 4 Holweck, Msgr. F. G. Gaspar Henry Ostlangenberg in "Illinois Catholic 
 Historical Review, ' ' vol. Ill, p. 43 ss. 
 
The Early German Parishes of Southwestern Illinois 767 
 
 Gaspar Henry Ostlangenberg was born March. 4, 1810, of wealthy 
 parents, the owners of Ostlangenberg Manor, near Langenberg, Kreis 
 Wiedenbrueck, Diocese of Paderborn, in Westphalia. Probably he 
 made his classical course in some Westphalian town, until he resolved 
 to abandon his country and embrace the life of a poor missionary in 
 some wilderness of the Mississippi Valley. At the age of twenty-three 
 he crossed the ocean to enter St. Mary's Seminary at the Barrens, Perry 
 Co., Missouri. He arrived there November 1st, 1833. 
 
 February 24, 1835, Father Regis Loisel wrote to Bishop Rosati 
 of St. Louis, that the student Ostlangenberg was grievously sick. In 
 pioneer days, when the ax of the colonist cleared the forest and his plow 
 broke the virgin soil, fevers broke out even in the healthiest locations 
 and drove many a tradesman and many a missionary back to his home 
 in Europe. 5 
 
 March 4, 1835, Bishop Rosati wrote to Cardinal Fransoni : 
 "Amongst them (the Alumni of the Seminary) a German, a prom- 
 ising young man, by the name of Gasp. H. Ostlangenberg, of the diocese 
 of Paderborn in Prussia, has no dimissorial letters from his Ordinary ; 
 he cannot obtain them, because he left his country, when by law he 
 was still subject to military conscription. The Bishops are prohibited 
 from issuing such letters, unless the applicants have first satisfied their 
 obligation. "Wherefore I humbly ask Your Eminence to obtain for 
 me from the Holy Father the faculty to ordain the' aforesaid young man 
 without the dismissorial letters from his Ordinary. When still a 
 layman he left the diocese of Paderborn and emigrated to America." 6 
 
 March 15th, 1835, Pope Gregory XVI granted to Bishop Rosati 
 the faculty he had asked for, but shortly after the Exeat for the young 
 student arrived from Paderborn. Both documents, the Roman privilege 
 and the Exeat from Paderborn are preserved in the office of the Rt. 
 Rev. Chancellor in St. Louis. Ostlangenberg 's friend and colleague at 
 the Seminary was his countryman, Henry Fortman, later on well known 
 at Chicago as pastor of Grosse Point. Ostlangenberg was ordained 
 subdeacon July 22, 1837 ; the order of the Holy Priesthood was con- 
 ferred upon him July 7, 1838. On July 20, 1838 Bishop Rosati, ac- 
 cording to his Diary, gave the major faculties to Rev. J. A. Lutz, the 
 minor faculties to Rev. Gaspar Henry Ostlangenberg. As the newly 
 ordained priest spoke English fairly well, the Bishop kept him at the 
 Cathedral until January 1839, as assistant to Father John Fischer, the 
 acting pastor. Probably, as Father Holweek surmises, he intended the 
 young strong and energetic man, who felt himself at home in the 
 three most necessary languages of the diocese, the French, English 
 and German, for the new parish to be formed in the southern part 
 
 5 Holweek, 1. c, p. 43. 
 
 6 Eosati to Fransoni, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
768 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 of the city : but events were more potent than the plans of men. 
 The building of the new church had to be postponed indefinitely ; and 
 from Illinois came the urgent call for a priest, just as Father Ostlangen- 
 berg was known to be. 
 
 On Little Muddy Creek, St. Clair County, Illinois, a few Irish im- 
 migrants had built their log cabins; they were joined by some North- 
 Germans, mostly from the diocese of Paderborn. Because St. Liborius, 
 Bp. C. is the patron of Paderborn, the colony was called "Libory 
 Settlement." In August 1838, B. Dingwerth and W. Harwerth went 
 to St. Louis and asked the Bishop to send a priest to the new and prom- 
 ising colony, a priest who could speak both languages English and 
 German. He sent Father Ostlangenberg, to see what could be done 
 for the Libory people. On Agust 5, 1838, Ostlangenberg said the first 
 Mass for the colonists in the log house of Mr. W. Harwerth. He en- 
 couraged them to build a chapel, then returned to St. Louis to direct 
 the undertaking from there as well as he could. The ground for the 
 new church was donated by B. Dingwerth. On October 21, 1838, 
 Bishop Rosati writes in his diary : ' ' Today I received the visit of a 
 certain German man who lives on Little Muddy Creek, in St. Clair 
 County. He asked for the permission to build a church which is to 
 be called after St. Luke. At that place there are twenty German fam- 
 ilies and on the other side of the creek seven more, who also wish 
 to build a church ; finally at the little river called Shoal Creek, there 
 are about sixty families, amongst whom a church must be built in 
 honor of St. Boniface. If it be God's will, Mr. Ostlangenberg will 
 have charge of these parishes. 7 
 
 The same diary enables us to follow the development of things : 
 
 On December 1, 1838 : I told the German Catholics who live on Okaw 
 River, St. Clair County that after New Year's I would send to them 
 Father Ostlangenberg to reside in their midst. 
 
 On January 19, Bishop Rosati gave the papers' of institution to the 
 parish of St. Thaddeus on Silver Creek, the mission of St. Liborius at 
 Fayetteville and St. Boniface, Shoal Creek, to Rev. Gaspar Henry 
 Ostlangenberg, together with the major faculties. 
 
 On January 21st, 1839, Rev. Mr. Gaspar Henry Ostlangenberg 
 left St. Louis for the missions of St. Thaddeus and of St. Liborius 
 at Fayetteville, St. Clair County, Illinois, thirty miles distant from St. 
 Louis. 
 
 After his arrival in the settlement, the young priest made his home in 
 the sacristy of the unfinished church,. On April 21st, 1839, he re- 
 ported to Bishop Rosati the following facts about St. Libory: "The 
 church is not blessed, there is no bell, no baptismal font, but there 
 is a confessional and a tabernacle. No residence for the priest, who 
 
 i Kosati's Diary. 
 
The Early German Parish's of Southwestern Illinois 769 
 
 lives in the sacristy. He uses German and English in preaching, sings 
 High Mass on Sundays (German Hymns) in the afternoon Vespers and 
 Catechism. The mission on Shoal Creek, Clinton County has a church 
 and a priest's house." 8 The temporary church-building at Libory Set- 
 tlement was soon to give way to a new church. The logs for the 
 new structure were ready and the people asked that the corner-stone 
 be laid. But another church, of stone, was in contemplation, when 
 the log church should be put to other uses. Yet the zealous priest 
 was anxious to have a proper place for divine worship. 
 
 The people of St. Libory were certainly pious and God-fearing. 
 Soon after their pastor's coming they petitioned him for the establish- 
 ment of some confraternity, preferably the Confraternity of the "Sacred 
 Agony of Our Savior, for a happy death." 9 
 
 On April 17, 1839, twenty-one men of Shoal Creek sent a petition 
 to Bishop Rosati, written in the German language, in which they asked 
 the Bishop to appoint Father Ostlangenberg their first resident priest. 
 Ostlangenberg would have been only too glad to transfer his residence 
 from St. Libory to Shoal Creek (Now Germantown). Since Bishop 
 Rosati, however, neither read nor spoke German, his secretary, Father 
 Joseph A. Lutz, translated the petition into English for him. For 
 some reason, in the translation, he omitted Rev. Ostlangenberg 's name 
 and made the corresponding passage read: "We beg therefore most 
 humbly His Lord's Grace to favor us with a German priest." 
 
 Two months later Father Ostlangenberg himself from Shoal Creek, 
 wrote to the Bishop, in behalf of the people of Shoal Creek, who had 
 begged him to write for them as they knew no English: "They long- 
 wished to have a priest resident here. They are about 60 families, 
 besides the single men. They have prudently made the account for 
 the support of a priest, which will be, I doubt not, sufficient. I find 
 a solid piety in the Congregation, but their numerous children grow 
 up in ignorance .... They would very much desire to have me, 
 but I told them, that it perhaps should not be Your wish." 10 
 
 Not receiving the desired answer, the anxious priest renews his 
 petition in a veiled allusion: "My labours are considerable, and there 
 is a great deal of inconvenience, stopping one-half week in one place 
 and the other half in another, as I can hardly take the books necessary 
 for my studies. I am called to Carlisle, a distance of eight miles from 
 Shoal Creek. In its vicinity there some Catholics labouring on 
 the public roads, where there are some sick and many others who ought 
 to comply with their duties. At Shoal Creek there are really in every 
 
 s Ostlangenberg to Rosati, April 21, 1839. 
 
 s Ostlangenberg to Eosati, May 8, 1839. The priest had dedicated the church 
 in honor of St. Liborius, although the Bishop had selected the name of St. Thaddeus. 
 10 Ostlangenberg to "Rosati, from Shoal Creek, June 16, 1839. Archives. 
 
 Vol. 1—25 
 
770 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 house two or three sick persons. At Libory Settlement there are some 
 sick too; I am also called some twelve miles towards Kaskaskias where 
 there are some Catholic families." 11 
 
 But on the day on which Bishop Rosati received Ostlangenberg's 
 Letter, August 3rd, he appointed Father Henry Portmann first pastor 
 of Shoal Creek. Father Ostlangenherg had to remain at St. Libory, 
 witli the missions of St. Luke at Fayetteville and St. Barnabas at 
 Belleville. 
 
 When in the Spring of 1830, Father Lefevere of St. Paul's on Salt 
 River joined Bishop Rosati and his Secretary Father Lutz on the trip 
 to Baltimore and across the sea, Father Ostlangenherg was sent by 
 the Administrator, Father Verhaegen S.J. to the missions in Ralls, 
 Warren, Pike, Monroe, and Clarke Counties in Missouri. He resided 
 at Indian Creek in Monroe County. But the hardships and dangers and 
 privations he had to undergo proved too heavy a burden for the en- 
 feebled and very sensitive priest. In November of the following year 
 Father Verhaegen transferred him to Galena, Illinois, to assist Father 
 Remigius Petiot, in the various stations that were springing up along 
 the Illinois-Wisconsin boundary. 12 Whilst living at Galena, he at- 
 tended St. Matthew's church at Shullsbury, one of the foundations of 
 Father Mazzuchelli in Wisconsin. At the erection of the diocese of 
 Chicago in 1843 Father Gaspard Ostlangenberg severed his connection 
 with St. Louis. But he did very important services to the new diocese 
 of Chicago, at Belleville, where he established peace among the contend- 
 ing factions, and completed the church left unfinished by Father Henry 
 Kuenster in 1835. 13 
 
 It was on August 4, 1839 that Father Fortmann received his ap- 
 pointment as Pastor of St. Boniface's Church at Shoal Creek. 
 
 The beginning of this Congregation, now St. Michaels Parish of 
 Germantown, Clinton County, dates back to a much earlier period. 
 Clinton County is an inland district, and consequently remained an 
 undisputed hunting ground of the Indians up to the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century. From 1781, when the first settlement of whites was 
 made at Bellefontaine in Monroe County, until the subjugation of the In- 
 dians of the Miami Country by General Wayne in 1794, the history of 
 the border settlements is a record of constant aggression on the part of 
 the American frontiersmen, and of savage revenge and depredation on 
 the part of the Kickapoos, the Shawnees, the Sacs and Foxes, and 
 other bands of Indians. There was an Indian trail that led over the 
 present site of Belleville to the Indian Camps on Shoal Creek, the 
 
 ii Ostlangenberg to Rosati, from Libory Settlement, August 2, 1839. 
 12 Sullivan, T. J., "History of the Church in Wisconsin," p. 540. 
 18 Of. Hohveek, Ostlangenberg, 1. c, 53. The distinguished priest died in 
 Covington diocese on August 9, 1885. 
 
The Early German Parishes of Southwestern Illinois 771 
 
 very heart of the Indian Country. The pioneers, that pushed back 
 the Red men to the east and north, were mostly from the eastern states. 
 They were not a religious people, yet the grosser vices were unknown 
 among them. Save for a casual Creole visitor, there were no Catholics 
 among them. Educational opportunities were but few and very prim- 
 itive. The ubiquitous Irishman, in the person of Mr. Halfpenny, drifted 
 in and was appointed schoolmaster at Bellefontaine in 1785. Medical 
 aid was procured with the greatest difficulty. A disease, called putrid 
 fever, carried off one half of the population of the settlement within the 
 first six months. But land was cheap, and the prairie soil was fertile, 
 and the wild spirit of freedom, brought band after band of reckless 
 Americans to the frontiers of civilization, until the wide undulating 
 prairies of southern Illinois were dotted with homesteads, miles and 
 miles apart- Thus the American pioneers came into possession of the 
 best lands everywhere ; but were ready to relinquish them at a reasonable 
 price to any newcomers in order to push on to fresh fields and pastures 
 new." 14 
 
 In such a country civilization was more of a name than a reality, 
 and into this land of promise the Catholic parts of Germany poured 
 a constant stream of honest, morally strong and healthy people, for 
 whom the Fatherland could not offer the means of subsistence. De- 
 parture from one's native land forever is a melancholy movement, even 
 when most hopeful. Of course anything that seemed needful for the 
 cultivation of the land and the marketing of its products could be 
 bought in St. Louis ; but money was too scarce to allow any such ex- 
 travagance. However, people were neighborly and helpful. The few 
 utensils and tools that had been brought along from the old home were 
 used with loving care : and the old clothes were worn almost to a frazzle. 
 Wagons and carts were generally of the most primitive home-con- 
 struction put together without screw or nail or bolt. The wheels were 
 made of heavy disks of wood four feet in diameter and a foot in thick- 
 ness, cut from a log. A large round hole in the center received the axles. 
 In spite of frequent application of axle grease, the noise that these 
 wagons made passing over the rough roads, could be heard for miles 
 around. Oxen drew these wagons : the yoke was made of hickory 
 wood. Horses were rare and served for riding only. The first German 
 settlers on Shoal Creek had the best opportunities for hunting the 
 wild deer and the still wilder wolf and bear. 15 
 
 Almost all these German settlers were Catholics. In the winter 
 of 1836 and 1837 a number of them made the journey to St. Louis to 
 
 14 "Illinois' Early Settlers," pamphlet. 
 
 15 From Notizen ueber die ersten Ansiedlungen der Plattdeutiselien Katholikcn 
 in Clinton County, Illinois, "Amerika," April 11, 1881. 
 
i rz 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 perform their Easter duty. In the following years they enjoyed the 
 presence of Father Charles Meyer among' them. 10 
 
 In the summer of 1837 the settlers on Shoal Creek bought one hun- 
 dred and twenty acres of land at $700 for church purposes. At this time 
 the place received its name. Some who came from Westphalia would 
 call it Westphalia, others that came from Hanover, stood for Hanover. 
 Others again would combine the two interests by hyphenating the place 
 as Westphalia-Hanover, Finally all agreed on Germantown. 17 
 
 A church building was the next object proposed. But how to 
 raise the funds Avas the crux of the question ? At last some one broached 
 the brilliant idea to lay out forty acres of the church land in lots 
 of one acre each and to sell them to the highest bidder. The remain- 
 ing eighty acres were reserved for the Church and priests home and 
 the cemetery. Later on some other portions of the church land Avere 
 sold for building purposes. Thus the foundation for a thriving city 
 was laid for the sole benefit of the spiritual interests of its future 
 population. The first to erect a building on the town-site was a coun- 
 try storekeeper name Chanton, the second was old Lambert Picker, 
 the third, Frank Haukap. In this house Father Fortmann took up his 
 residence on his arrival at Shoal Creek. 18 
 
 The first church was an old dilapidated blockhouse, newly roofed 
 and generally renovated. The altar and communion-table were of 
 rough ash wood. As the population grew, a school was opened in which 
 Henry Hemann taught the children free and gratis. At last Father 
 Ostlangenberg, whom Bishop Rosati had promised them, arrived, to 
 be succeeded in August 1839 by the first resident Pastor, Father John 
 Henry Fortmann. 
 
 "John Henry Fortmann, born at Lohne, Oldenburg, diocese of 
 Muenster, in 1802, entered the Seminary at the Barrens, June 3, 1833, 
 after he had made two years of theology at Muenster. He was or- 
 dained November 1st, 1837, but remained at the Seminary, attending 
 the German colonists at Apple Creek, whilst Father Wiseman served 
 the Kentuckians." 19 
 
 In the Autumn of 1839 the erection of a new church-building was 
 urged upon the people by the pastor. Divine service was held regularly 
 on Sundays and Holy days of obligation. All members brought their 
 old German hymn books to church and sang the old songs to the ac- 
 companiment of a melodeon some one had brought from St. Louis. 
 Every Sunday a meeting was held in which the new church was thor- 
 oughly discussed. Father Fortmann played the role of architect and 
 
 is Notizen in "Amerika," April 1881. 
 
 IT Notizen — continued — "Amerika," April 1881. 
 
 is Ibidem. 
 
 la St. Louis Clergy List. 
 
The Early German Parishes of Southwestern Illinois 773 
 
 builder. The plan called for church, school and pastoral residence 
 under one roof. The cost was estimated at $1000, but in the end 
 amounted to $1300. Father Fortmann helped felling and moving the 
 logs in the neighboring forest; the logs were cut into planks by means 
 of a crosscut saw. Building operations commenced in Spring 1840, 
 and were practically completed by Easter 1840. 20 
 
 Easter Sunday was a great and joyful day for the good Catholics of 
 Shoal Creek : But a correspondingly great and sad disappointment 
 awaited them. For as the members of the Congregation arrived from 
 all sides in their ox teams, they were told by Father Fortmann, that 
 there would be no Mass in the new church until the deed to the Church- 
 property was made over in Bishop Rosati's name. 
 
 Father Fortmann was inexorable in this demand, and during the 
 week following Easter Sunday, the Trustees made out the required deed, 
 and on the following Sunday holy Mass was celebrated in the new 
 temple of God in Germantown. 21 
 
 20 Notizen, ibidem. 
 
 21 Notizen, at end of article. 
 
Chapter 37 
 
 THE EARLY ENGLISH SPEAKING PARISHES OP SOUTH- 
 WESTERN ILLINOIS 
 
 The venerable Church of Old Kaskaskia. the object of so many 
 divine visitations, joyous as well as afflicting, relinquished her privilege 
 of being a fruitful center of missionary activity among the scattered 
 settlers in the adjacent territory, to the neighboring Church of St. 
 Joseph at Prairie du Rocher. It was mainly Father Vital Van Clostere 
 that was called upon to do the glorious, but very laborious work. He 
 was ably seconded by Father John Kenny and Father Timothy Con- 
 way. Fathers Roux and Saint Cyr were fully occupied with the affairs 
 of the Church and the Convent at Kaskaskia. Harrisonville in Ran- 
 dolph County was visited by Father Hercules Brassac as early as 
 1818. He was one of Bishop Du Bourg's companions on the Caravane: 
 but was placed in Lower Louisiana at an early date. 
 
 In 1832, the Church of St. James the youngsr at Harrisonville was 
 confided to Father Van Clostere, Pastor of Prairie du Rocher. In 
 1839 the Church, now under the title of SS. Philip and James, was 
 turned over to Father John Kenny pastor, of St. Augustin's, Prairie 
 du Long, with the injunction to hold service there every occurring 
 fifth Sunday, and on all the Feast days of obligation. 
 
 The Church of St. Augustin of Canterbury, in what was called 
 English Settlement, or Prairie du Long, in Randolph County, grew out 
 of a settlement made in 1816, by twelve English families from Lan- 
 cashire, England. It was visited at regular intervals since 1831 by 
 the Pastor of Prairie du Rocher, Father Vital Van Clostere. A log 
 church was built in 1824, and blessed by the zealous Priest at the re- 
 quest of the Bishop. A grant of land of sixty acres was obtained for 
 the Parish by Bishop Rosati, twenty acres of which are located in 
 Monroe County, and forty in St. Clair County. All the buildings of 
 the Parish were located in St. Clair County. The new stone church 
 was consecrated by Bishop Rosati on November 11th, 1838. Since 
 1837, Father John Kenny was Pastor of the Congregation. In 1842 he 
 was succeeded by Father Ambrose Heim. Father Peter McCabe was 
 its last Pastor under the regime of St. Louis diocese. 1 The oldest 
 organized English Congregation on the Mississippi River was that of 
 St. Patrick's at O'Hara's Settlement, in Randolph County. The place 
 
 1 Kaup and Beuckmann in "History of the Diocese of Belleville," pp. 41 and 
 42. 
 
 (774) 
 
The Early English Speaking Parishes of Southwestern Illinois 
 
 i ID 
 
 was founded in 1818 by Henry O'Hara, and a number of Maryland 
 Catholic families, as the 'Haras, Harrells, Mudds, Brewers, Simpsons 
 and Vinsons. Since 1820 Mass was said in the house of Henry O'Hara 
 by Father Desmoulins, pastor of Kaskaskia. The founder of the town 
 at his death in 1824 became the founder of the Parish also by leav- 
 ing for its use one hundred acres of land. On March 30th, 1830, Bishop 
 Rosati gave faculties to Key. Regis Loisel to bless the new church at 
 O 'Haras. It was a wooden structure, fifty feet long, twenty feet wide 
 and fourteen feet in height. The parish records date from 1831 ; Father 
 Vital Van Clostere from Prairie Du Rocher, regularly attended the 
 place from 1832 to 1838. From 1839 to 1841 Father John Kenny was 
 in charge to be succeeded in 1843 by Reverend McCabe of Prairie du 
 Long. The place is now called Euma, but the church retains the old 
 glorious title of St. Patrick. The parish today consists of about sixty 
 families, fifty of whom are of English or Irish descent. 2 There are two 
 other churches in Southwestern Illinois dedicated to the Apostle of 
 Ireland: St. Patrick's of Tiptown founded in 1838 by a colony of Irish 
 people from Tiperary ; and St. Patrick's at Cairo the southernmost town 
 of Illinois. The History of the Diocese of Belleville gives the names of 
 at least fifty pioneer and probably heads of families, that arrived in 
 Tiptown before 1840. There is no record of any priest visiting Tiptown 
 before 1851. Yet such visits were undoubtedly made. New Design 
 which was mentioned by Father Ambrose Heim as a station visited by 
 him in 1843 was in the immediate neighborhood of Tiptown, and pos- 
 sibly was the place of worship for its first settlers. 3 
 
 The construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, brought the first 
 Catholics to Cairo, Illinois. Bryan Shawnessy having the contract for 
 constructing three sections of an embankment there. In 1834 a Church 
 was built, probably under the supervision of Father Michael Collins 
 C. M. of Cape Girardeau, Missouri : The building was ' ' a rough board 
 roofed shanty in the depths of the convenient woods, ' ' as an old History 
 of Cairo states. Father Collins continued to serve the Congregation 
 until 1843, when Cairo like the other Illinois parishes and missions be- 
 came parts of the diocese of Chicago. 4 
 
 Madonnaville in Monroe County is the modern name for the ancient 
 settlement of James Mills that was formed in 1804 by Joseph Austin 
 James a native of Maryland but of Welsh decent. The title of the 
 Church was originally SS. Philip and James. In 1838 the place is 
 visited by Father Van Clostere. The Directory of that year states 
 
 2 Beuekmann in "History of Belleville," p. 25. 
 
 :i Van de Riet and Beuekmann, ibidem, p. 42 and 43. 
 
 * Beuekmann, op. cit., p. 63. 
 
776 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 that a church is to be built. Mass was said in the home of Thomas 
 James, a son of Joseph Austin. 
 
 From 1840 to 1842 Father John Kenny Pastor of O'llara's Settle- 
 ment attends to the spiritual wants of the Catholics of James Mills. In 
 1841 discussion arose between two factions of the Congregation as to 
 where the new Church should be built. Col. James A. James was the 
 head of those that favored the old site. The Adelsberger family of- 
 fered a site five miles north. 
 
 The Adelsberger faction obtained Bishop Rosati's consent and 
 built a massive log structure on the new site. Both places were visited 
 from Waterloo once a month on Sundays. In 1855 a beautiful stone- 
 church was erected on the James site which was dedicated to Saint 
 Mary the Mother of God, whilst the place itself changed its name to 
 Madonnaville. In 1911 and 1912 the logs of the Adelsberger church 
 were hauled to Madonnaville and sawed into firewood for the parish." 
 
 The first great wave of Irish immigration to America was the 
 result of the uprising of 1798. Illinois and the Far West was only 
 indirectly benefited by this event. Most of these early emigrants 
 settled down in the South and in New York and Pennsylvania. In 
 New York they founded an "Irish Emigrant Association" for the 
 purpose of directing Irish families to the recently opening farming- 
 country of Illinois. But, influential men as the leaders of the Associa- 
 tion were, they went much further than that : in presenting to Congress 
 a Memorial, ''for a portion of the unsold lands in the Illinois Territory," 
 they requested "that the portion may be set apart or granted to the 
 trustees for the purpose of being settled by emigrants from Ireland 
 on an extended term of credit." 
 
 Congress took action in regard to this Memorial on December 16th. 
 1818, by authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to designate and 
 set apart a number of townships, each six miles square in the State 
 of Illinois, each alternate section thereof to be settled by emigrants 
 from Ireland and sold to them at two dollars per acre, to be paid in 
 three installments within twelve years, from the date of sale. 
 
 This provision, no doubt, greatly influenced the course of Irish im- 
 migration. In the Spring of 1819 hundreds of Irish emigrants arriving 
 at the ports of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans 
 were directed into the new land of promise, Illinois. The President of 
 the "New York Irish Emigrant Association" was Thomas Addis Em- 
 mett, brother of the Martyr of Irish liberty Robert Emmett. 6 
 
 The high tide of Irish immigration was not reached until about 
 1847, when the great famine threatened to depopulate the "Island of 
 
 5 Kaercher and Beuekninnn, ibidem, 51. 
 
 6 "Illinois Catholic Historical Eeview, " vol. Ill, p. 73. 
 
The Early English Speaking Parishes of Southwestern Illinois 777 
 
 Saints and Scholars." "A whole people was in motion," wrote Henry 
 Giles, "mighty as an ocean, and continuous as its waves. Compared 
 with the crowds which were then quitting Ireland forever, the armies 
 that all Europe furnished for the Crusades, were trifling bands." 7 
 "Multitudes died of hunger, and all who could began to quit Ire- 
 land." 8 "To the United States came the hard-working Irish," they 
 came when hard work was to be done, when the pathways of the future 
 were to be laid down ; when the vast tracts of land were a dead asset, 
 they came to quicken them by their labor. Very poor as most of them 
 were, they brought the great gifts to our American civilization, their 
 strength of arm, their cheerfulness of spirit and their undying Cath- 
 olic Faith. 
 
 So much is plain to an}* student of the Church in the Mississippi 
 Valley : it was not the wisdom of many, it was not the collective wis- 
 dom of Councils and Synods, that established the Church on a firm 
 foundation: it was. under God's inscrutable Providence, the grandest 
 event of modern times, the new wandering of nations, that accomplished 
 it. It is the magnificient power of immigration from Catholic Ireland 
 and from the Catholic parts of Germany, that merits the main credit 
 of the wonderful success of the Church, in this new land. The Church 
 was not so much founded in this country but rather transplanted to its 
 soil. Compared with these two powerful elements, the remnants of the 
 French founders of some of our cities appear inconsiderable, as also 
 the noble army of native American Catholics and of converts from 
 heresy and infidelity : Both classes have given the Church beautiful ex- 
 amples of holiness and wise leadership : both have gained imperish- 
 able renown in our western Annals : the French Catholics as pioneers 
 in the wilderness, the American converts as among the brightest jewels 
 in the Church's crown. The later arrivals from Southern Europe will 
 come in for their proper share of praise, as they follow in the wake 
 of the Irish and German immigration. 
 
 But for some time longer, we shall see the Irish and the German 
 Catholics working side by side in the wilderness of the western country, 
 reclaiming the land for the Church and civilization. Both of them 
 Americans to the core in their love of liberty, order and justice, yet 
 deeply attached to the land of their birth. Both driven across the 
 sea by dire necessity, yet both accepting their lot with equanimity 
 and courage. 
 
 For even the illusions of hope must have been considerably re- 
 duced when the weary emigrant first set his foot on the soil of what 
 was to be his new home. The German emigrant, atIio together with 
 
 ' Giles, Henry, "Lecture and Essnys," 1869, p. 132. 
 8 Idem, ibidem, p. 136. 
 
778 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the Irish formed the great bulk of the Catholic pioneers in the prairies 
 of Illinois, must have felt, even more deeply Hum his Irish brother, the 
 haunting pain of homesickness. Then' arc no people so home-loving 
 and yet so wanderlust ing, to use the German phrase, as the Irish. The 
 reason must be that all the world seems to appear to the Irishman in 
 the familiar light of home: like a bird on the wing he carries the sky 
 of old Ireland with him, wherever he goes. The German, on the con- 
 trary, when wandering abroad, leaves the better part of his soul in the 
 place where he was born, like the plant that is rudely torn from its 
 native soil and transplanted with but a part of its roots. Still both 
 of these nationalities found in their religion the true bond of union ; 
 exemplifying the wise saying of the Canadian statesman Thomas D'- 
 Arcy McGee, that "Catholicity recognizes nationalities only to unite 
 them." 
 
 We have in this chapter, touched very lightly on Cahokia, 
 Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia, leaving all we had to say about them 
 for the next chapter. 
 
 Bishop Rosati's predilection for the old French parishes and mis- 
 sions on the Illinois side of the Mississippi was well known. In 1833 
 Bishop England, whilst in Rome, wrote to Bishop Rosati, that Jean- 
 jean had assured him 'that you (Rosati) want to have the missions on 
 the western side of Illinois added to your diocese.' "I was amused" said 
 England "at the resemblance of a reason that he gave, and the serious- 
 ness with which he urged it, viz., that you could not easily go through 
 your own diocese to your Seminary, if this, the American Bottom, was in 
 another diocese. I was asked by Cardinal Castracane about it. I said 
 that I suspected you were very fond of missions for which you had done 
 so much, and that they were very fond of you." Bishop England's 
 suspicion was, of course, well founded. But the reason given by Jean- 
 jean for this desire of Rosati's was the exact truth. 
 
 For the journey overland from St. Louis to the Barrens, where 
 the Seminary was situated, was, in those days of almost impassible roads, 
 far more dangerous and difficult than the journey over the fine old 
 French highway on the Illinois side, pleasantly relieved by brief visits 
 to the pastors of Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, Kaskaskia; thence to 
 Ste. Genevieve across the river, and after a night's rest, overland to 
 Perryville. As a matter of fact, Bishop Rosati obtained his request and 
 by Papal decree, the western half of Illinois was incorporated in the 
 diocese of St. Louis, and remained there until the erection of the 
 diocese of Chicago in 1844. 
 
 9 Bishop England's Correspondence with Bishop Rosati, "Illinois Catholic 
 Historical Review," vol. IX, Nos. 3 and 4. 
 
Chapter 38 
 BISHOP ROSATI'S LAST YEAR IN HIS DIOCESE 
 
 It was now twenty-four years since Joseph Rosati had left the 
 Eternal City for the Mission of Louisiana ; sixteen years since he had 
 become coadjutor to Bishop Du Bourg, and thirteen years since he 
 was assigned to the new diocese of St. Louis as its first Bishop. It 
 was, therefore, but natural that he should answer the call from home 
 and friends beyond the sea by a visit ad limina as well as to the home of 
 his childhood and early youth and manhood. Besides, the much-harrassed 
 Bishop must have a longer rest from work and care. The last years had 
 brought him many sore disappointments. The Cathedral had cost much 
 more than he had anticipated, the copper roof which was to cost $600, 
 came to $4,000. Money was scarce, and interest charges were from 
 10 to 24 % . The diocesan debt assumed ever larger proportions whilst 
 the remittances from Lyons and from Vienna had ceased for some time, 
 owing to the report that had been spread by secret enemies, as Rosati 
 thought, "that St. Louis was very rich and could help itself." Bishop 
 Rosati felt that in a visit to Italy and France lay his only hope of liqui- 
 dating his debts and meeting the necessities of the diocese. 1 
 
 Then the question of obtaining a coadjutor had become a most 
 pressing one. The Bishop's first choice, John Timon, had failed him. 
 The Lazarist Fathers were naturally averse to accepting the episcopal 
 dignity, and their Superior General in Paris had threatened to withdraw 
 all the Lazarists from America, if any of them should henceforth be 
 chosen to fill a see. The Holy Father would surely help in all his 
 great needs, thought Bishop Rosati, and so decided to undertake the 
 voyage that should separate him for a long time, perhaps forever, 
 from the places and the people now so very dear to his paternal heart. 
 
 On his way to Europe he would have occasion to attend the Fourth 
 Council of Baltimore, to which he had received a most courteous in- 
 vitation from Archbishop Eccleston. The summer of 1840 was, there- 
 fore, chosen by the Bishop for his first <i<l limina visit, and his joyful 
 home-coming to Sora and Rome. The twelve months intervening be- 
 tween the close of the Synod and the opening of the Provincial Council 
 were set apart for a scries of farewell visits to the places that had 
 grown most dear to his heart, through the sacrifices he had made for 
 them and the love that he had found in them. 
 
 i As all the items of this chapter are derived from Bishop Rosati's Diary, no 
 special references for the individual statements arc given. 
 
 (779) 
 
780 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Bishop Rosati began these visits with a brief journey to the missions 
 on the east bank of the river. On May 7th, he arrived at Kaskaskia, 
 where he held the usual visitation of the Convent of the Visitandines. 
 Father Dutreluingne was acting pastor of the Parish. The Bishop 
 administered Confirmation to twenty-six persons, among them one 
 convert. As the parish church was in danger of collapsing, and the 
 people were forced to worship in a temporary structure, the plan for 
 a new church was agitated among them. At a parish meeting it was 
 decided 1) that the new Church should be built on a lot donated to 
 the Bishop by Father Van Clostere. 2) that the structure should be 
 of stone 100x45 feet, with an addition containing the sacristy and the 
 parochial residence. Six parishioners were selected to carry out the 
 project under the leadership of the pastor. At the Convent, Sister 
 Seraphine "Wickham was elected Superior with Sister Agnes Brent as 
 Assistant. 
 
 On Thursday, May 6th, Bishop Rosati departed for Prairie du 
 Rocher, thence he journeyed to Cahokia on a visit to Father Loisel, 
 and on the 18th, the Vigil of Pentecost, he was back in St. Louis. On 
 Pentecost Monday the First Communion services of the Cathedral were 
 held; one hundred and fourteen boys and girls were admitted to the 
 table of the Lord, and together with a large number of others received 
 the sacrament of Confirmation. On the following day the Bishop 
 confirmed twelve pupils of the Sacred Heart Convent. On Trinity 
 Sunday Confirmation services were held at Florissant, on June 2nd at 
 Cahokia. The grand procession planned for Corpus Christi day, for 
 which the Bishop had engaged the music band of the University, was 
 prevented by rain. From Cahokia the Bishop went to Carondelet. 
 On June 21st, he administered the sacrament of Confirmation to twenty- 
 two students of the University of St. Louis. In the following week 
 the Bishop visited Cahokia, Waterloo, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia, 
 where Father Saint Cyr was now pastor and the Sisters' Confessor. 
 On Thursday June 27th, he was in his beloved Seminary of the Barrens, 
 and ordained Michael Collins, and Thomas Burke to deaconship, and 
 John Mary Robert and Michael Domenech to the priesthood. Among 
 the students that received some of the minor Orders on this occasion, 
 we meet for the first time a number of names distinguished in our An- 
 nals : Patrick 'Brien, Patrick McCabe, Thomas Cusack, Michael Carroll, 
 Nicholas Stehle, John Cotter, Michael Collins and Thomas Burke. 
 Michael Domenech, is the future Bishop of Pittsburg. On July 1st, 
 Bishop Rosati began writing his book on the Virtues and Deeds of 
 Father De Andreis. 2 At the Barrens on July 4th, he heard of the 
 death of his friend Bishop Brute, and on the next day held solemn 
 
 2 Published anonymously under the title, "Life of Very T?ev. Felix de Andreis," 
 1900. 
 
Bishop Rosati's Last Year in His Diocese 781 
 
 Commemoration services for him. On the following Saturday the 
 Bishop in company with Father Paquin, rides to Apple Creek, and on 
 Sunday administers Confirmation to fourteen persons. Father Fortman 
 preached in German, for the members of the thirty-five German families 
 that formed the Congregation. On July 10th, Bishop Rosati notes 
 that he had completed the Life of Father De Andreis, and had com- 
 menced an account of the Foundation of the Congregation of the 
 Mission in America. On the next day he started for Fredericktown 
 to visit Father Cellini. Here he administered Confirmation to twenty- 
 two persons. On June 16th, he returned to the Seminary ; thence he 
 journeyed to Cape Girardeau to dedicate the new Church of St. Vin- 
 cent de Paul. After the services, the Bishop pays a visit to the 
 Sisters of Loretto, who have but recently established a Convent and 
 school in that city. The Bishop's next stop is at Ste. Genevieve, where 
 the Lazarist Fathers Dahmen and Gandolfo are stationed. On July 
 30th, the Bishop in company with Father Dahmen crosses the river 
 to Kaskaskia and, after a brief stay, returns to St. Louis. During 
 the month of August the Bishop complains of fever. On September 
 5th, he received a package from Cardinal Frauzoni, Prefect of the 
 Propaganda, Avhich contained the letter of appointment of Father John 
 Timon CM. as his coadjutor. On the following Saturday the Bishop 
 handed Father Timon his appointment, but received a flat refusal. 
 Father Timon would not accept the episcopate, and Bishop Rosati 's 
 fondest hopes were shattered. On September 18th, the two foremost 
 men in the Church of the Mississippi Valley met again at Frederick- 
 town. Father Odin and Domenech, both destined for the episcopy, 
 were present : But Father Timon was obdurate. On the 26th, he 
 is in St. Louis. On October 2nd, the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers 
 Timon and Lutz starts on his visit to the northern missions in Illinois. 
 Father Lutz remains at Paddock Grove, near Edwardsville, but the 
 Bishop and Father Timon proceed to Springfield, where Father George 
 Hamilton is trying very hard to form a congregation of the widely 
 scattered Catholics, and to build a Church for them. From Spring- 
 field the journey leads to Pekin and Peoria. A Church is being erected 
 at Pekin, but at Peoria no efforts have so far been made. At Kickapoo, 
 however, there is a stone church in process of erection. Even at 
 Black Partride a church is in contemplation. On the 6th of October, 
 the travelers arrived at Lasalle, where they were most joyfully received 
 by the Lazarist missionaries Parodi, Estany and Escoffier. The Superior 
 Father Raho, was absent on a visit to the town of Ottawa, but re- 
 turned in the evening. During the week the Bishop visited Ottawa 
 and, on the following Sunday, administered Confirmation in the Church 
 of the Holy Cross at Lasalle. Father Timon had returned to St. Louis. 
 Under date of October 15th, the good Bishop notes with admiration 
 the poverty, neatness and good order maintained in the church, school. 
 
782 History of tin Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 and home. The Fathers have no servant, they cultivate their garden 
 with their own hands, they do their own cooking, and scrub the church 
 and house. On the 15th, the Bishop and Father Raho departed for 
 Pekin, and passing through Springfield, Bunker Hill and Carlinville, 
 arrived at St. Louis on Saturday, October 19th. On the following day 
 the Bishop administered Confirmation in the Cathedral to Ignatius 
 Octagleave and Peter Okassaweite, both Iroquois Indians from far- 
 away Oregon, who had been baptized in Canada and had spread the 
 knowledge of Christianity among the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, 
 but were now petitioning for a Missionary to preach the gospel 
 among their Indian friends. 
 
 On October 28th, Bishop Rosati set out to visit his old and tried 
 friend, Bishop Flaget, on his return from Europe. Father Fontbonne 
 was his companion. They arrived at Vincennes on the 30th, and at 
 Louisville on November 1st. On the following day they reached Bards- 
 town. Great was the joy of our prelate to meet his saintly friend once 
 more. They visited Nazareth, the home of the Sisters of Charity, and 
 the foundations of Father Nerinckx, Gethsemany, Bethlehem and Cal- 
 vary. On the 8th, they visited Loretto. On hearing of the arrival of 
 the newly consecrated Bishop Hailandiere in Vincennes, Bishop Rosati 
 retraced his steps to that city, and preached the Bishop's installation 
 sermon on Sunday, November 17th. Arriving in St. Louis on November 
 22nd, the Bishop appointed Father James Busschotts, S.J. pastor of St. 
 Francis Borgia Church at Washington, Franklin County. On No- 
 vember 29th the arrival of a Jesuit priest and seven postulants from 
 Belgium is recorded in the Diary. Father Peter Donnelly is appointed 
 to the Church of St. Peter at Gravois. The Sisters of Charity re- 
 ceive an accession of three sisters from Emmitsburg, two for the Hos- 
 pital, and one for the Orphanage. On December 8th, 1839, six years 
 after the foundation of the St. Vincent de Paul Society for the Poor 
 by Frederick Ozanam in Paris, Bishop Rosati called attention to the 
 needs and sorrows of the poor of St. Louis, and organized a Society 
 of laymen for their permanent relief. This movement eventually found 
 its proper form in the organization of the first Conference of the St. 
 Vincent de Paul Society in America, at the Old Cathedral of St. 
 Louis in 1845. Two days after Christmas the Catholics of St. Louis 
 had an unexpected opportunity of helpfulness. About two hundred 
 German emigrants on the way to Missouri on the steamer " The Missouri 
 Belle" barely escaping with their lives from the burning boat, came 
 to the city in a pitiable condition. They had lost all their earthly 
 possessions. Forty of them w T ere received into the Hospital of the 
 Sisters of Charity, and for the shelter of the remaining victims of the ex- 
 plosion the Bishop himself gave the use of nine houses he had built 
 near the Church of the Holy Trinity then in the process of construe- 
 
 
Bishop Rosati's Last Year in His Diocese 783 
 
 tion. On the following Sunday the gentle Bishop strongly recommended 
 these suffering children of the church to the charity of the faithful. 
 On the last day of the year 1839, Bishop Rosati made a visit to his 
 beloved Kaskaskia. The river is frozen over from shore to shore, and 
 snow covers the wide landscape. The Bishop spends the time of in- 
 voluntary confinement by writing a large number of letters : but on 
 the 8th day of January he wends his way back to his episcopal city, 
 where he holds ordinations, and on January 14th, raises Joseph De 
 Marchi CM. to the sacred priesthood. On Sunday, February 9th, the 
 Bishop attended the meeting of the Society for the Relief of the Poor, 
 and on the 16th, he instituted a branch of the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Faith. On the 18th, he finished his History of the "Founda- 
 tion of the Congregation of the Mission in America." On Tuesday, 
 February 25th, he solemnly blessed the Chapel of the Hospital of the 
 Sisters of Charity under the title of St. Vincent de Paul. On Saturday 
 29th, he received a visit from Father De Smet, who had come to St. 
 Louis from his Potawatomi Mission in Council Bluffs. 
 
 St. Patrick's Day was kept at the Cathedral by the Irish people, 
 with the Bishop himself celebrating the Mass and Father Carrell, S.J. 
 preaching the panegyric of Ireland's saint. A collection of $117.25 
 was taken up for the Orphan Asylum. On Friday, March 26th, the 
 Bishop and Father Gandolfo were on the way to Kaskaskia. Divine 
 services had to be said in the chapel of the Visitation Convent, as the 
 new church was not yet completed. Crossing the river with difficulty 
 and some danger, they journeyed by carriage to the Seminary where they 
 remained until Thursday. Cape Girardeau was the next place visited, 
 then New Madrid, where Father Odin celebrated Highmass, and the 
 Bishop administered Confirmation. Ascending the river by the steamer 
 Carinthia, the espiscopal party landed at Cairo, where they found a 
 large number of Irish Catholics. The city of Cairo was then only 
 eighteen months old. The Bishop promised to send Father Michael 
 Collins to the new congregation. Passion Sunday was spent in St. 
 Charles, Monday in Portage, Tuesday at the Jesuit Novitiate in Flor- 
 issant where the Bishop blessed the Cemetery, and visited the Convent 
 of the Nuns of the Sacred Heart. Thursday evening he was once more 
 in St. Louis, confirming, preaching, hearing confessions, and perform- 
 ing the numberless duties of episcopal life. The Solemn Highmass on 
 Palm Sunday lasted for three and a quarter hours. In the afternoon, 
 the Bishop and all his clergy proceeded to bless and lay the corner- 
 stone for the Church of St. Francis Xavier,, which was to be built near 
 the College of the Jesuits. Father George Carrell, S.J. preached the 
 sermon before a vast assembly of the faithful. The ceremonies of Holy 
 week were performed by the Bishop. The Solemn Highmass on Easter 
 Sunday also was celebrated by the Bishop. Father- Timon arrived on 
 Good Friday and confirmed the report that he had been appointed 
 
784 
 
 His/arii of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Prefect-Apostolic of Texas and that he would choose Father Odin as 
 \'i ear-Prefect. 
 
 Under date of April 21st, 1840, Bishop Rosati notes in his Diary: "I 
 made my will and as my heir appointed Reverend Father Peter Ver- 
 haegen; if he should fail to accept, the Reverend John Timon, and if he 
 in turn should fail, the Reverend John Elet. "On Sunday April 26th, 
 the Bishop appointed Father John Peter Fischer procurator of the Epis- 
 copal residence, Father Fontbonne, Secretary, Joseph Renaud, Prefect 
 of the Sacristy, and Very Reverend Peter Verhaegen, S.J. Vicar-General 
 and Superior of the Episcopal house, in which he is to reside until 
 the Bishop's return from Europe. 
 
 On Monday morning after Mass Bishop Rosati, in company with 
 Father Joseph A. Lutz and Peter Paul Lefevere, started on his long and 
 eventful journey from which he should never return to his beloved 
 diocese of St. Louis. 
 
PART TWO 
 
 THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick 
 Coadjutor to Bishop Rosati 
 
PART II 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 Chapter 1 
 
 BISHOP ROSAT1 AND HIS COADJUTOR 
 
 At the Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore which was held from 
 May 17th, to May 24th, 1840, Bishop Rosati took a leading part. He 
 was commissioned to write, in the name of the Council, the Letter to 
 the noble Defenders of the Faith against Prussian tyranny, Clement- 
 August, Archbishop of Cologne, and Martin Dunin, Archbishop of Gne- 
 sen-Posen. 1 He was also appointed to report to Rome the reasons why 
 the resignation of Bishop Reze of Detroit should be accepted at once, 
 and to propose the terna from which his successor should be chosen. 
 In his Diary Bishop Rosati takes credit for the speedy transaction of 
 business by the Council, he having acted as First Promotor, with Bishop 
 Fenwick of Boston as Second, an arrangement to which three of the 
 bishops had objected. 
 
 Early on Monday May 25th, Bishop Rosati was on his way to Wash- 
 ington and Georgetown, returning to Baltimore in the evening. On 
 Wednesday he journeyed to Philadalphia. At the house of Bishop 
 Francis P. Kenrick he met his brother, the Vicar-General of Philadel- 
 phia, Peter Richard Kenrick. To quote the words, as given in the 
 Bishops Diary: "Admiring more and more his piety, knowledge and 
 modesty and his other virtues, I was inspired with the desire to obtain 
 him from the Holy Fathers as my Coadjutor." Three years previous 
 Bishop Rosati, after the Third Provincial Council of Baltimore, had met 
 Peter Richard Kenrick in Philadelphia, in a house near St. Mary's 
 Church, as Rector of the Seminary, Vicar-General, and Editor of the 
 Catholic Herald. He is a priest, ' ' numeris omnibus absolutus : " " a priest 
 in every regard perfect," was Rosati 's comment then. But the inter- 
 vening years between the first and second meeting had been a period of 
 interior conflict for Father Kenrick. He felt himself drawn to the 
 Society of Jesus and found most strenuous opposition to this course among 
 his dearest friends. In order to restore his equanimity as well as his 
 shattered health, he sailed for Rome via Ireland in 1838. He had in- 
 
 i Rosati 's Diary, May 22. 
 
 (787; 
 
788 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 tended to start on his trip with Bishop Purcell, on June 16th, but 
 really started a few days later with Father J. McGill. Father Ken- 
 rick was to present to the Pope the dedication of Bishop Francis P. 
 Kenrick's Theology, and incidentally, to use his powers of persuasion on 
 the Leopoldine Society of Vienna, from which the diocese of Philadel- 
 phia had not received any subsidies for the last six years. Father 
 Kenrick had written his Brother on August 8th, 1839, that he intended to 
 return to Philadelphia without visiting Vienna, 2 
 
 On September 21st, of the same year Bishop Michael O'Connor of 
 Pittsburg the mutual friend of the two Kenricks, had written to Peter 
 Richard in the name of Francis Patrick: "He desires me to say that 
 you must set aside your whims and come home as soon as you can. The 
 terms, in my mouth may not appear very courteous, but I suppose they 
 are intelligible to you, which is more than they are to me." 3 What was 
 the secret hidden under these strange words? Bishop O'Connor lifts 
 the veil in his letter to Peter Richard in Rome : 
 
 "I was not aware of the import of the message I communicated in 
 my last from the Bishop. I have learned it since, and I must say, with 
 dismay, I assure you that, under ordinary circumstances, I would be 
 far from dissuading you from your pious design ; and even now I would 
 not venture to urge any reason that I would not think capable of standing 
 the most strict scrutiny of any one fresh from the third, aye even the 
 fourth, week of the exercises of St. Ignatius. Your absence would 
 create a vacuum in the diocese which, I think, even on the most sublime 
 principles of perfection, should prevent you from abandoning the field. 
 Talking of these things under other circumstances with the same free- 
 dom might deserve much blame, but for such a purpose it cannot but be 
 
 justifiable The fact is, I fear very much for the Seminary 
 
 . . . . Unless some person popular in the city is in the Seminary, 
 down it goes ; even the priests are very easy about the way it gets along ; 
 it is only the excitement which yet lives, but is every day fading, that 
 brings in contributions. " 4 " Now in the name of God, ' ' Bishop 'Connor 
 concludes, "with the Seminary in such danger, with the city and the 
 diocese so abandoned, can it be the will of God that you should retire 
 from a field where He blessed your labors and gave clear proof that 
 you were doing His will? I am sure that you miscalculated on the 
 state of the diocese, and you took up positions that were false. You 
 will leave the bishop literally without aid, and many most important 
 posts unoccupied or worse. I knew that, in general, such arguments 
 have no weight on such a topic ; but I assure you that I know of some 
 
 2 "Records of the American Catholic Historical Society," vol. VII, p. 299, ss. 
 
 3 Records, vol. VII, p. 340. 
 
 4 Records, vol. VII, p. 344. 
 
Bishop Rosati and his Coadjutor 789 
 
 cases where similar ones, may even be much less strong, have weighed 
 so strong with most prudent Jesuits, as to have induced them to advise 
 the course I would now advise to you : — to remain in the field where 
 God blessed your labors and where you were certain you were right. ' ' 5 
 
 Bishop O'Connor's letter was directed to Dr. Cullen at Rome, for his 
 personal and eventual transmission to Peter Richard Kenrick, as the 
 following brief note explains : 
 
 ' ' Dear Mr. Cullen : — If Mr. Kenrick has entered the Jesuits, destroy 
 this. If not, give it to him and impress its contents on him. It would be 
 a most foolish thing for him to abandon Philadelphia ; the diocese will 
 suffer very severely. All right here. Compliments to all friends. 
 
 M. O'Connor." 
 
 Father Kenrick must have returned to America soon after the date 
 of this letter, November 23rd, 1839 ; for on May 27th, 1840, he is back 
 at his post of Vicar-General of the diocese, and President of the Sem- 
 inary, and besides has done a large amount of literary work. But even 
 now the thought of entering the Society of Jesus was uppermost in his 
 mind. On July 11th, 1840, Bishop Francis Patrick gives his brother 
 Peter Richard a formal testimonial of his excellent standing in the 
 diocese and grants him permission to follow out his purpose of joining 
 a religious community. 7 On July 28th, 1840, M. G. Frenaye informs 
 the Bishop of Father Kenrick 's departure from Philadelphia with the 
 surmise : ' ' probably he is now on the ocean. ' ' 8 Father Kenrick 's stay 
 in Rome cannot have been of long duration, for on October 4th, he 
 preached at St. Patrick's Church, Norristown, Pennsylvania. 9 Whether 
 he was refused admission to the Society of Jesus or not, it is certain 
 that his thoughts were still of the Order, as Bishop Kenrick hints in 
 his letter to Dr. Cullen, dated May 20th, 1841 : 
 
 "My brother has just published the Life of St. Ignatius, and is 
 engaged in preparing that of St. Francis Xavier. You see where his 
 heart lies. He also has translated Geramb's Visit to Rome, which is 
 already out of Press. Lacordaire's Apology for Religious Orders is in 
 
 5 Kecords, vol. VII p. 344. 
 e Kecords, vol. VII, p. 345 s. 
 
 7 Kenriek-Frenaye Correspondence p. 31. 
 
 8 Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence p. 31. A writer in "The Western Watch- 
 man" states the following: "Bishop Eosati sailed for Europe on the 1st of June, 1840. 
 Father Kenrick soon followed, bound for England, with the intention of entering 
 the Society of Jesus. Turned down by the Superior of the Society in England 
 'because the letters he bore from his brother were of a too highly eulogistic character' 
 he directed his steps Romeward, in the hope of getting a better reception at head- 
 quarters. There, too, he was sorely disappointed and advised to return to America." 
 
 9 Diary of Francis Patrick Kenrick, p. 193. 
 
790 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Press, and Audi it's Life of Luther is ready for publication, corrected 
 and improved. lie has published The Month of Mary. These works have 
 delayed the cMTiiii.ni of his purpose bu1 I dear no1 changed. I do ao1 
 calculate with any certainty of finding him on my return." 10 
 
 As to Bishop Rosati's meeting with Peter Richard Kenrick in 
 Koine there is no evidence whatever; in fact, there is positive evidence 
 to the contrary as the sequel will show. 
 
 On Friday, .May 29th, 1840, Bishop Rosati left Philadelphia for 
 Xew York, and on June the 1st, set sail for Portsmouth and Havre de 
 Grace. The Company consisted of the Bishops Portier and Miles, and 
 the priests Joseph Anthony Lutz and Peter Paul Lefevere. The ship 
 that carried them was the "British Queen." Sea-sickness was the al- 
 most constant companion of Bishop Rosati. On the 15th, of June they 
 caught the first glimpse of the coast of England. Having celebrated 
 Corpus Christi on the eighteenth, they hurried on to Paris, and were 
 most cordially received at the Mother House of the Lazarists. 
 
 On Wednesday, July 4th, the three American bishops attended 
 the General Council of the Propagation of the Faith, 11 and explained the 
 condition and progress of their dioceses. After spending three weeks 
 in visiting various church-dignitaries, charitable and educational insti- 
 tutions and a large number of sisterhoods, the Bishop, accompanied by 
 Father Lutz and the Superior General of the Lazarists, Father Nozo, 
 traveled over Sens, Auxerre, Avallon, Chalons, arriving on Thursday 
 evening, July 30th, at Lyons, where he attended a session of the Central 
 Council of the Propagation of the Faith. At St. diamond Bishop 
 Rosati met Fathers Janvier and Roux, former missionaries in Louisiana, 
 and also the novices he had sent to Father Querbe to be initiated in 
 the Congregation of the Clerics of St. Viateur. On entering Savoy the 
 Bishop was stopped at Chambery by the Governor General, and 
 threatened with expulsion; but at the intercession of the Bishop of 
 Chambery, he was at last permitted to proceed on his way to Turin. 
 Journeying on by slow stages through northern Italy, and being 
 entertained at every stopping place with effusive demons! rat ions of 
 affection and honor, the Bishop arrived in Rome about three o'clock 
 in the afternoon of Saturday, September 12th, twenty-five years after 
 his memorable call to the Mission of Louisiana. Once more at Monte 
 Citorio, the good Bishop's joy knew no bounds. 
 
 The first visit in Rome was due to Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of 
 the Propaganda, to whom he delivered the Decrees of the Fourth 
 
 io Kecords, vol. VII, p. 306. 
 
 '1 Paris and Lyons both were headquarters of the Association de la Propagation 
 de la Foi. 
 
Bishop Bosati and His Coadjutor 791 
 
 Council of Baltimore. On September 15th, Bishop Bosati accompanied 
 by Father Lutz and several Lazarist Fathers of Monte Citorio visited 
 Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Pope. Pope Gregory XVI 
 was overjoyed to meet the celebrated missionary Bishop, and conversed 
 -with him for an hour and three-quarters in the most familiar manner. 12 
 
 Beturning to the City Bishop Bosati made a visit to the Nuns of 
 the Sacred Heart, in order to have a talk with Bishop Bese who had 
 his residence in their Convent, but learnt there, that he was absent from 
 home. On Tuesday, September 17th, Bishop Bosati leaves Borne for 
 Sora, his native city, whilst Father Lutz goes directly to Naples to 
 witness the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius. The good 
 Bishop's home-coming to Sora, in the beautiful valley of the Liris, was 
 an event of first magnitude in his life. It was a triumphal procession, 
 such as Sora's ancient sons of greatness and renown, the three Decii, 
 Altilius Begulus, the Valerii and Caesar Baronius, the great historian 
 of the Church, Avere never honored with. In every town by the way 
 the Church bells were rung in his honor ; the chief dignitaries came 
 out to bid him welcome, the Bishop of Sora gave him all the episcopal 
 faculties and asked him to use them just as if he were in his own 
 diocese. Great crowds cheered their illustrious fellow-citizen : bands 
 of musicians struck up their liveliest marches: and in the city itself 
 the Bishop conducted his distinguished guest to the Cathedral. Card- 
 inals, Archbishops, Bishops, Prelates of every degree, priests, nuns, the 
 civil authorities of the surrounding towns and villages, all vied with 
 the enthusiastic populace, to do honor to the missionary bishop from 
 the fabulous West. 13 
 
 Thus the days passed on in quick succession until the end of 
 October. The Feast of All Saints was kept in Borne; On the fourth of 
 November the Bishop had an audience with the Pope. On Saturday, 
 the 7th, Father Lutz, arrived from Naples. During the first week of 
 December Bishop Bosati, by request of the Congregation of the Prop- 
 aganda, discussed with Bishop Bese 14 the question of his resignation 
 submitted to the Fathers of the Third Council of Baltimore for trans- 
 mission to Borne. As Bishop Bese now repudiated this act, the 
 Propaganda appointed Father Odin as his Coadjutor. On his arrival 
 in Borne, Bishop Bosati was reqviested by Propaganda to move Bishop 
 
 12 Diary of Bishop Eosati. 
 
 is The Diary grows highly eloquent in relating these events. 
 
 i-i Bishop Bese, as Vicar-General of Cincinnati, was instrumental in founding 
 the Leopoldinen Stiftung of Austrian Empire, and had obtained from it the first 
 contribution received by Bishop Eosati. As Bishop of Detroit, he was :i failure, 
 though not through his fault, his mental derangement was reported to Rome, hence 
 Eosati 's visit. 
 
792 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Res*'' to relinquish to his Coadjutor the temporal as well as spiritual 
 administration of Detroit. 
 
 The Propaganda promised to pay him an annual salary of $1,200. 
 As Bishop Rese would not consent to this arrangement, and was known 
 to be incapable of governing the diocese, the Congregation of the Prop- 
 aganda was forced to act. Another difficulty arose when the bulls 
 appointing Father Odin, came back with a courteous refusal: but this 
 was solved by the appointment of Father Peter Paul Lefevere, as 
 coadjutor to Bishop Rese and administrator of Detroit. Father Lefevere 
 was consecrated by Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick in Philadelphia, 
 November 21st, 1841. Clouded in mind, but always conscious of his 
 dignity, Bishop Frederic Rese of Detroit lived on in retirement until 
 December 27th, 1871. On the second Sunday of Advent, 1840, Bishop 
 Rosati was appointed assistant to the Papal throne. Among the Cardi- 
 nals whose acquaintance Bishop Rosati made at this time, was Cardinal 
 Mastai Feretti, the future great Pope, Pius IX. 
 
 The Bishop's further visits and labors in behalf of his diocese 
 we must here pass over in silence. In his letter of June 19th, 1841, to 
 the Leopoldine Association of Vienna, the Bishop expresses his deep 
 sense of obligation for the gift of 6,000 fl., a gift all the more acceptable 
 at a time when he is sending twenty new missionaries into his extensive 
 missionary field. "Every year we enlarge, under the blessing of the 
 Almighty, the bounds of the ecclesiastical field requiring cultivation ; 
 every year we organize new parishes, every year we must erect new 
 churches and new institutions for the training of those who are to 
 increase the flock of Christ. This constant growth is caused not only 
 by tlie frequent migration from Europe, and the other parts of America, 
 to the states of Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois, but also by the con- 
 versions of Protestants, who return to the fold of Christ, and no less, 
 by the great number of savages, whom Ave have recently won for the 
 Faith. Our Missionaries have last year penetrated the Rocky Mountains, 
 and founded new missions in these remote regions, which are watered 
 by rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean. Father De Smet, the Jesuit 
 Missionary, alone, has converted more than 2,000 Indians to the 
 Church." 1 ' 
 
 One of the great anxieties of Pope Gregory was the sad condition 
 of religion in the negro-republic of Haiti. Bishop England's mission to 
 President Boyer in 1835 had ended in failure. In one of Bishop 
 Rosati 's conversations with the Holy Father, the question of Haiti was 
 broached and the Pope, realizing that the Bishop's Avisdom, gentleness 
 and thorough knowledge of the negro-character, eminently fitted him 
 
 15 "Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XV, pp. 23-25. 
 
Bishop Rosati and His Coadjutor 7!):! 
 
 for the work of restoring ecclesiastical affairs in that republic to a 
 normal condition, asked him whether he would be willing to accept 
 a mission as Delegate Apostolic to Haiti. Bishop Rosati had but one 
 objection : the bereaA^ement of St. Louis of its bishop. But if a coadjutor 
 were given him, he would be ready at once to go to Haiti. "Well," 
 answered the Pope, "If you know a good priest, whom you would like 
 to have for your Coadjutor, mention him, and I will appoint him at 
 once." Then the remembrance of what he had seen and heard of the 
 Vicar General of Philadelphia, Peter Richard Kenrick, arose in the 
 Bishop's mind, and the words that he had then set down in his Diary 
 came back to him : ' ' Most Holy Father, I desire that You give me as 
 my Coadjutor, the Very Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick, Vicar General 
 of Philadelphia." The Pope readily acquiesced: yet a doubt arose in 
 the mind of the Bishop. "Most Holy Father, I have been grievously 
 disappointed on a former similar occasion. The Coadjutor You intended 
 for me some years since, Father John Timon, refused to accept the 
 burden : I fear, that Father Kenrick may do likewise, unless Your 
 Holiness oblige him under obedience to accept." 
 
 That the Holy Father acted upon Bishop Rosati 's request is evi- 
 denced by the letter Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick wrote from 
 Philadelphia to Bishop Rosati in Rome, under date of June 4th, 1841 : 
 "The positive wishes of His Holiness have, I believe, received my 
 brother's full acquiescence." 16 
 
 Bishop Rosati set sail for New York in the Fall of the year, and 
 proceeding to Philadelphia, whilst Father Lutz started for St. Louis, 
 he consecrated Peter Richard Kenrick under the title Bishop of Drasa 
 and Coadjutor of St. Louis. This solemn act occurred in the parish 
 of the new Bishop, St. Mary's: The assistant bishops were Francis- 
 Patrick Kenrick, and the newly consecrated Peter Paul Lefevere. The 
 day of consecration was St. Andrew's day, November 30th, 1841. 
 
 In the joy of his heart at having gained for his diocese "a man. 
 whose apostolic zeal had been so conspicuous, and to whose merits all 
 the prelates of the American Church had on several occasions given 
 honorable testimony," announced the fact in His Pastoral Letter to 
 the Clergy and the Faithful of his diocese, expressing the hope that he 
 would have Bishop Kenrick as his constant companion in life, and that 
 "having received our last breath, he will continue to be Your Father 
 for a long succession of vears. " 1T 
 
 I" Kenrick, F. P., to Eosati, quoted by Van tier Sanden in his M. S. Sketch of 
 St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 i" Pastoral Letter of Bishop Eosati, addressed to the Clergy and the Faithful 
 of his Diocese. 
 
794 
 
 llistori/ of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 After the consecration Bishop Rosati prepared himself for his 
 mission to Haity. He was received with all kindness by President Boyer 
 and his advisers. The Delegate's negotiations for a Concordat were 
 successfully concluded, and after confirming a large number of the 
 faithful on the Island, Bishop Rosati set out for Rome on February 
 22nd, 1843, in a French vessel of war, to make his report to Pope 
 Gregory XVI. All the good results of his mission were destroyed by one 
 of those periodical revolutions that have proved the curse of the island. 
 President Boyer was defeated and exiled. The thought of returning 
 to his diocese was now uppermost in the Bishop's mind. He departed 
 for Paris in the company of Cardinal Joachim Pecci, the future Leo 
 XIII. The Cardinal was on his way to Brussels as Nuncio. He was 
 delighted with the Bishop's unaffected piety, kindliness of manner 
 and sincere affection for the Holy Father. His words were : " I have 
 never met with a Bishop whom I considered such a holy man, as the 
 first Bishop of St. Louis." 
 
 Whilst then Bishop Rosati was straining every nerve to bring 
 peace and salvation to a distracted people, the newly consecrated Coad- 
 jutor Bishop, in company with his friend Michael O'Connor, was 
 wending his way to Pittsburg and the Ohio River and thence, bidding 
 farewell to his company, pressed on to his new field of labor in St. 
 Louis. We have the testimony of Archbishop Ryan, to the fact that 
 Bishop Kenrick on his way to St. Louis, stopped off at Cape Girardeau 
 and kept the Feast of Christmas with the Lazarist Fathers of that 
 place. He entered St. Louis on December 28th, 1841, quietly, unob- 
 trusively, as the entire course of his life had been. 
 

 f^/^Cj^y 
 

Chapter 2 
 BISHOP PETER RICHARD KENRICK OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 "Noli irritare leonen, " was the motto the kind and gentle Coadjutor 
 Bishop of St. Louis assumed at his consecration. There were indeed, 
 certain qualities of character and even of outward appearance, that 
 reminded one of the lion ; his never-failing sense of dignity, his firmness 
 of will and courage in dangerous situations, his disregard of obstacles 
 and contempt for enemies and detractors, and his noble ideal of life and 
 action, which was as far above the petty meanness of this world as the 
 stars are above the dust and turmoil of this earth of ours. Yet these 
 qualities of the lion were tempered by those of the lamb. There was a 
 gentleness and consideration in his manner that won the affection of 
 those that came near him. Strong, yet pliant, where reason swayed, 
 ruggedly honest and fearless of consequences, he could be moved to 
 change a decision, if the better reason were offered. Strong, but not 
 stubborn, he was tenacious of his convictions amid contention and ob- 
 loquy; yet, when the voice of authority emerged from the noise of 
 contending factions, he bowed in humble submission to the truth of 
 God. Such was the Coadjutor and successor of Bishop Rosati in the 
 diocese of St. Louis, Peter Richard Kenrick. 
 
 Ireland, "the martyr-island," that has given so many bishops to 
 the American Church, was the home of our own Peter Richard. He 
 was born in Dublin on the 17th day of August 1806, and made his pre- 
 paratory studies in the schools of his native city, and under his uncle, 
 the Rev. Richard Kenrick, pastor of the Church of St. Nicholas 
 de Lyra. Young Kenrick had a brother, Francis Patrick Kenrick, a stu- 
 dent in the Urban College in Rome, who was in the course of time to attain 
 the high station of Bishop of Philadelphia and Archbishop of Balti- 
 more. Among his early friends the great Irish poet, James Clarence 
 Mangan, seems to have made the deepest impression on his mind. The 
 Author of ' ' My Dark Rosaleen, ' ' and ' ' Twenty Golden Years Ago ' ' was 
 frequently quoted by the Bishop all through life. After completing his 
 classical studies the youthful aspirant for the priesthood entered St. 
 Patricks Royal College of Maymooth. On March 6th, 1832, he was 
 ordained priest in the college chapel by Archbishop Murray of Dublin. 
 After exercising the sacred ministry, first at the Cathedral of Dublin, 
 and then in the Parish of Rathmines, Father Kenrick received an ur- 
 gent invitation from his brother, the Coadjutor Bishop of Philadelphia, 
 to join him in his labors for the western church. Archbishop Murray 
 gave his consent, and in October, 1833, Peter Richard Kenrick arrived 
 in his brother's Episcopal City. Appointed Pastor of the Cathedral, 
 
 (795) 
 
79G History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Father Kenrick became President of the Seminary and Vicar-General 
 of the Diocese. He attended the Third Provincial Council of Balti- 
 more as theologian to the saintly Bishop Brute of Vincennes. The ener- 
 getic Vicar-General assumed in addition to his other duties, the editor- 
 ship of the "Catholic Herald," a weekly publication appearing in Phil- 
 adelphia. The amount of literary work Father Kenrick did for the 
 "Catholic Herald" was unquestionably very great, and might have 
 satisfied the most active and tireless mind. But it is usually the busiest 
 men that readily find time and energy for extra work that is imposed 
 upon them by the exigencies of the hour or the secret spell of a sudden 
 inspiration. It was during the seven years of his missionary life in 
 Philadelphia that Peter Richard Kenrick composed the solid works of 
 genuine peity and scholarship, that placed him among the chief writers 
 of American Church, namely "The Validity of Anglican Ordinations" 
 (Philadelphia 1841) "New Month of Mary" and, "History of the Holy 
 House of Lorctto." 1 
 
 Kenrick 's "The Validity of Anglican Ordinations" is remarkable, 
 not only for its being the first comprehensive treatise on the subject 
 published in America, but even more so for the wonderful historical 
 grasp with which he summed up the various branches of the argument 
 and combined them into one irresistible onslaught on the Anglican posi- 
 tion. Pope Leo XIII dealt with the matter chiefly from the doctrinal 
 point of the sacramental validity : Father Kenrick from the historical 
 grounds upon which the Anglican Church based its claim. Both came 
 to the same conclusion : the Anglican ordinations were invalid. When 
 we recall to mind that Father Kenrick 's treatise was published in 1841, 
 we may well feel surprised at the clearness of vision and fullness of 
 learning of the still youthful controversialist. Father Kenrick 's book 
 made quite a stir among the Anglican clergy. In 1844 a certain Hugh 
 Davy Evans published in Baltimore a book, entitled Essays to Prove the 
 Validity of Anglican Ordinations; in answer to the Bight Reverend 
 Peter Richard Kenrick, R.C. Bishop of St. Louis, by a L^ayman, and 
 in 1846 John Fuller Russell followed with Anglican Ordinations 
 Valid. A refutation of certain statements in the second and third 
 chapters of The Validity of Anglican Ordinations, examined, by the 
 Very Reverend Peter Richard Kenrick, V.G. by John Fuller Russell, 
 London, Masters, 1846. "Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick sent these 
 books to his brother in St. Louis with the request: 
 
 "I am hoping that, after you have read this (work) of your ad- 
 versary, you will make a new edition of your own work, which is of great 
 value ; especially that you will correct the error, which I pointed out to 
 you, of a quotation that is incomplete." 2 
 
 1 O'Shea, John J., "The Two Archbishops Kenrick," p. 268 ss. 
 
 2 Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence, p. 231. 
 
Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis 797 
 
 A second edition of The Validity of Anglican Orders Examined 
 came out in 1848. The Cursus Gompletus Theologicus of Abbe Mignet, 
 Vol. 25, p. 61 s. contains a chapter of Father Kenrick 's treatise. In 
 the course of time the work met -with unmerited neglect and has become 
 very rare. John J. O'Shea in his "The two Archbishops Kenrick" 
 reprints the leading arguments of the book. 3 
 
 "The Holy House of Lorctto" is intended to be an examination 
 of the historical evidence of its miraculous translation from Nazareth 
 to the Adriatic Shore. As the history of the Holy House was well 
 known in America, the authorities however, on which the history rests, 
 remained almost unknown, the author undertook the present work, stat- 
 ing that the subject was not a matter of divine Faith, but only of histori- 
 cal credibility. Many books have been written since Kenricks' day con- 
 cerning the wonderful event, or if you will, this most attractive legend ; 
 but for sanity of argument, clearness of statement and limpid flow of 
 language, Kenrick 's "Holy House of Lorctto," the "House of Our Lady 
 on the Adriatic Shore" still holds the palm. Several editions of the 
 book appeared, the last one we know of in 1876. An Italian transla- 
 tion by a gentleman of rank appeared about 1847, and a German one 
 by Canon Salzbacher, printed in beautiful type, in 1854. 
 
 Concerning the third beautiful fruit of Father Kenrick 's missionary 
 days, "The New Month of Mary" 1840, we are glad to state that the 
 fragrance and life of it is still a cherished possession of our Catholic 
 people. You may still hear it said on all sides : The best book for May 
 devotions is Kenrick 's "New Month of Mary." Father Faber repub- 
 lished it in England ; in America it has never gone out of use. It was 
 greatly instrumental in promoting the devotion of the Month of our 
 Blessed Lady in English-speaking countries. 
 
 From these three remarkable literary works of his earlier days 
 it would appear that Peter Richard Kenrick was, indeed, worthy of 
 high honors in the Church, but might not be fitted for the place in 
 which the choice of Bishop Rosati placed him. A quiet studious profes- 
 sor and writer of books did not seem to meet the hard practical require- 
 ments of western clerical life. For a time appearances went far to 
 prove the fact. Bishop Kenrick received a cold reception from the old 
 French priests, and his first attempts to regulate the financial affairs of 
 the diocese met with passive resistance on the part of the people of 
 the city. There was a debt of $58,000.00 incurred by Bishop Rosati 
 in building his Cathedral,' and in establishing necessary institutions. 
 Aid had come from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, in 
 Lyons, and from the Leopoldine Society of the Austrian Empire. But 
 there were so many financial hollows to be filled up, and so many new 
 demands arising, that the diocesan debt grew apace. We have read two 
 
 3 Op. cit., p. 422-479. 
 
798 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 letters written by Bishop Kenrick to Bishop Rosati recounting to him 
 in the most insistent manner what sums were due, and had to be paid, 
 and earnestly requesting him not to spend any part of the money he 
 should obtain at Rome and Paris and Vienna, but to send all amounts 
 for the payment of his most pressing debts. 4 
 
 St. Louis itself was not as pleasant a place to dwell in as the 
 Bishop had found Philadelphia. The city proper only extended west- 
 ward as far as Seventh Street. Beyond that line there were some scat- 
 tering residences, gutters, and prairie. In the neighborhood of Washing- 
 ton Avenue, there were, west of the boundary of Seventh Street for a 
 little distance around, more buildings than in any other quarter in 
 that direction, as the St. Louis College was situated in that neighbor- 
 hood; but on Chestnut and Market Streets, and all South Broadway 
 were gutters and ponds — and then broken ridges and prairie beyond 
 Seventh Street to the west. To the north the city extended to Middle 
 Street, and to the south, just below the Convent of the Sacred Heart. 
 Outside of these limits, north and south, the residences were scattering, 
 and the population inconsiderable. The population of the city was 
 16,187. 5 At the close of 1841 it had grown to about 20,000, half of the 
 population being Catholic, of French, English, Irish and German 
 descent. The French and English-speaking Catholics, the great majority 
 of whom were Irish immigrants, worshipped at the Cathedral. The 
 German Catholics attended services in St. Mary's Chapel, the former 
 St. Louis College, where Father Fischer continued the good work of 
 Father Lutz, and at the Jesuit Chapel of St. Aloysius, near the Uni- 
 versity. 6 The diocese of St. Louis, at the coming of Bishop Kenrick, 
 embraced the states of Missouri, Arkansas, the western portion of Il- 
 linois, and the territories now constituting Kansas, Nebraska, Indian 
 Territory, Oklahoma, with all the wilderness east of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. The diocese contained 65 churches and chapels and 74 priests, 
 and had several Indian missions, one of them on the western slopes 
 of the Rockies. 7 
 
 4 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 5 Cf. Edwards' "Great West," p. 406, on the unsanitary condition of St. Louis 
 streets and alleys as late as 1848. 
 
 c Hohveck, F. G., "Public Places of Worship in St. Louis before Palm Sunday 
 1843," in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. IV, pp. 6 and 7. 
 
 7 Those interested in the growth of the Catholic Church in America will enjoy 
 the following quotation from "The Catholic Luminary," printed in 1840 in Ireland: 
 ' ' The number of churches or chapels in the Catholic Diocese of St. Louis, in the 
 West of the United States of America, is not less than 43, many of which would do 
 credit to the handsomest cities of Europe, and eleven others have been begun, but 
 cannot yet be finished for want of means. This diocese comprises the states of 
 Arkansas, Missouri, part of that of Illinois, and the western territory as far as 
 the frontiers of Mexico. The clergy consists of 68 priests — 24 of the Society of 
 Jesus, 20 to the Mission, and 24 to the secular clergy of the diocese. In the several 
 
Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis 799 
 
 From a letter written by Francis Patrick to his brother Peter 
 Richard, January 10th, 1842, we may gather some of the thorns in the 
 crown of the Coadjutor Bishop : 
 
 "I am pleased to know that you reached St. Louis safely, but 
 sorry to learn that sadness mingles with your joy. Indeed it is the 
 all-wise arrangement of Providence to keep us humble in the very en- 
 joyment of success. As to the burden of debt, it will not appear so great, 
 if you consider what has been done, and that almost without aid of 
 the faithful : though just now it may seem to press very heavily, when 
 many things are out of harmony, by reason of the absence of the good 
 Bishop : that some buildings were destroyed by fire ; that a certain Ger- 
 man whom the Bishop had kindly recommended by going his security, 
 had absconded, and that a collector had failed to turn in the money 
 which he received. All this the Bishop told me before I received your 
 letter ; and he expressed much regret that you have to take up the 
 administration of the diocese in the midst of these difficulties. More- 
 over, it will be his whole care to help you in any way that he can; and 
 I, if I can do anything, will not be wanting. Have courage therefore ; 
 and if the burden becomes very heavy, let me know of your difficulties. ' ' 8 
 
 To cheer up his brother of St. Louis the Bishop of Philadelphia 
 wrote : ' ' You know that Bishop Rosati is sure to return to his see as 
 soon as he has settled the affairs of the Republic of Haiti. He has told 
 me that he expects to leave the Island after Easter. Therefore, it is 
 very probable that you will be relieved soon of a most responsible care. ' ' 9 
 And again: "Do not worry so much about the Bishop: think more 
 kindly of his temporal affairs and the burden of his debts." And once 
 more on Dec. 21: "It is evident that he, (Rosati) is troubled in mind. 
 I think, therefore, that unwelcome communications are to be sent to 
 him not without some words to console him. I fear your straightforward 
 way of bringing to his notice the condition of things has made him 
 sad." 10 
 
 But Bishop Kenrick knew well the saying of Virgil: "Labor omnia 
 vincit," and determined to win his way. First, he set his own house 
 aright by appointing Father Lutz, who had been specially recommended 
 to him as one, who, on account of his disturbed imagination, merits 
 great charity, as his secretary: he sent Father Fontbonne from the 
 Cathedral to Carondelet, and placed Father George Hamilton, as the best 
 
 establishments of education or charity, entrusted to clergymen or nuns, there are 
 more than 500 boys and girls; 29 male and female orphans are supported and 
 educated in asylums of charity. The hospital of St. Louis lodges and feeds 1,362 
 infirm, poor persons, and receives annually" more than 560 sick. 
 
 s Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence, pp. 138 and 139. 
 
 s Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence, p. 144. 
 io Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence, pp. 151-158. 
 
800 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 English speaker, iu the Cathedral pulpit. Father Saulnier is sent to 
 French Village in Illinois and eventually to New .Madrid, and Father 
 P. R. Donnelly to Alton, whilst Father Ambrose Heim is transferred to 
 English Settlement in Illinois. In writing to Bishop Rosati in Rome 
 he emphasises necessity of priests who speak the languages of the Cath- 
 olic immigrants, saying with great stress: "We want English and Ger- 
 man priests." He gave dimissorial letters to Revs. J. Conway, J. Healy 
 and H. Meinkmann. Within the year 1843 he ordained nine priests ; on 
 May 21st, Rev. .James Tiernan, CM ; on May 30th, Rev. Adrian Hoecken. 
 S.J. ; on August 21st, Rev. Joseph Kuenster and Rev. Patrick McCabe, 
 both of the diocese; Rev. Thomas Cusack, also for the diocese and Rev. 
 Alphonse Montuori, CM. and Rev. John Larkin, CM. On December 8th, 
 Rev. Michael Carroll, for the diocese ; on December 21st, Rev. Maurice van 
 der Eycke, S.J." 
 
 The statistics for the year 1842 are as follows: 
 
 Churches with resident priest 39 ; Chapels 6 ; Missions with churches, 
 about 36 ; Stations 50 ; Bishops 2 ; Secular Priests, 27 ; Lazarist Fathers, 
 21; Jesuit Fathers 28. Total, 80. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Seminaries, 4 ; Clerical Students 30 ; College 3 ; Acad- 
 emies for girls, 10 ; Schools, 5 ; Charitable Institutions, 7 ; Catholic 
 Population, 100,000. u 
 
 In April the sum of 5,000 fl. equal to 2300 dollars arrived from the 
 Leopoldine Association of Vienna, Austria. The Bishop at once wrote 
 his letter of thanks, and assured Archbishop Milde of having devoted 
 a part of this sum to the use of the German Catholics, and of his in- 
 tention to devote the rest for their good also." 12 Bishop Rosati wrote 
 with expressions of deepest gratitude to the Archbishop of Vienna say- 
 ing: "The Society for the Propagation of the Faith of Lyons, and the 
 Leopoldine Society are almost the only supports upon whom I can 
 rely. ' ' 13 
 
 Bishop Joseph Rosati 's earthly days were now drawing to a close 
 Father Hercules Brassac, who kept a watchful eye on all the ecclesi- 
 astical doings at Paris and Rome wrote to Bishop Purcell on April 5th, 
 1842: "Bishop Rosati has returned from Haiti quite satisfied with his 
 mission there. He returns to Rome in a few days." Again under date 
 of December 30th, he says : ' ' Bishop Rosati is still at Rome, but will be 
 here (Paris) ere long. I may have to go to Haiti very shortly." On Feb- 
 ruary 22nd, 1843: he communicates the news to Bishop Purcell; "That 
 Bishop Rosati has insisted so pressingly on his (Brassac) going with him 
 to San Domingo, that he has consented to do so." On April 10th, comes 
 
 11 Annual Statement of Chancery. 
 
 12 "Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XVI, pp. 43-46. 
 
 13 Berichte, Heft XVI, pp. 41 and 43. 
 
Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis 801 
 
 the news that ' ' Bishop Rosati is too sick to cross the ocean. " 14 " There 
 is no hope of recovery of the Bishop (Rosati), as I gather from the Re- 
 port of Bishop Chabrat," wrote the Bishop of Philadelphia to his 
 brother Peter Richard, "In consequence you must be prepared to bear 
 the burden of government alone." 13 Bishop Joseph Rosati died at Rome 
 on the 25th day of September 1843 in the 54th year of his age. "He was 
 a prelate worthy of the brightest ages of the church, eminent for his 
 ecclesiastical learning, as well as for piety, prudence, zeal, suavity of 
 manners, humility, and all the virtues becoming his high station," 16 as 
 a St. Louis priest wrote of him immediately after having received the 
 notice of his death. Though not gifted with the secret power to make 
 all the golden streams turn towards him, he knew how to diffuse sparse 
 favors of charity and of the world in the many places where they pro- 
 duced so much of golden fruits for eternity. Not worldly-wise, but 
 wise in his childlike trust in Providence, he is one of the saintly men 
 of whom the Church in the Mississippi Valley will forever be proud. 
 
 14 Messmer, Archbishop S. G., Hercules Brassac's Correspondence, "Catholic 
 Historical Eeview, " vol. Ill, pp. 464, 467. 
 
 15 Kenrick-Frenaye Correspondence, p. 173. 
 is "Catholic Cabinet," December, 1843. 
 
 Vol. 1—26 
 
Chapter 3 
 THE CATHEDRAL PARISH OF ST. LOUIS 
 
 In his long and jubilant letter to Pope Gregory XVI, written on 
 the 26th day of October 1834, Bishop Rosati gives the following de- 
 scription of the surroundings of the new Cathedral he had just con- 
 secrated with all the ceremonial pomp then possible : ' ' The new Cathe- 
 dral is alongside the residence of the Bishop, from which it is separated 
 only by an alley eighteen feet wide. The secular priests residing in 
 St. Louis and exercising the parochial ministry with the Bishop, live 
 with him a kind of community life, with its rules, its regular exercises 
 of piety, spiritual conferences, reading of Holy Scripture at table, etc. 
 Their life is one of retirement from all useless relations with seculars, 
 from whom they never accept any invitations either to dinner or to 
 supper outside the house, so that they may always be ready for any 
 calls. Their number is still inadequate to the needs, which in this city 
 are harder to satisfy than elsewhere, because the population speaks 
 three languages, French, English and German. A large number of 
 German Catholics have come, and are continuing to come, to settle in 
 the Diocese and the city of St. Louis. As a rule, they are very pious, 
 industrious and they do honor to the religion which they profess by word 
 and deed. It is, therefore, necessary to preach in these three languages ; 
 yet all the clergy employed in the service of the parish at present con- 
 sists only of the Bishop, two priests and a cleric. From time to time 
 a Jesuit comes from the College to preach in English ; and on solemn 
 feast days these Fathers come to help for pontificial functions, so that, 
 with the further aid of altar boys vested in red cassocks and surplices, 
 who fulfill the minor offices, the solemnities may be celebrated with 
 proper dignity. On the west side of the Cathedral there is a beautiful 
 piece of ground belonging to the church which might otherwise have been 
 turned into a source of revenue ; however, to obviate the inconvenience 
 resulting from hiring houses so near the church, the Bishop has re- 
 served this piece of property for the Orphan Asylum. The charity of 
 the faithful is much interested in these children, of whom, after the out- 
 break of the cholera, twenty-five were gathered together and are raised 
 in a small house ; a fair held by the most respectable ladies of the city 
 in view of the Orphanage has returned $1,000, besides $800 for the 
 building of a new asylum. Providence will certainly do the rest. 
 Building operations for this new Orphanage will commence next spring. 
 Thus shall the infant Church of St. Louis follow, at least from afar, 
 the examples given by the first churches of the world from the earliest 
 Christian centuries in the particular care they took of the poor, the 
 
 (802) 
 
The Cathedral Parish of St. Louis 803 
 
 orphans and the sick. These orphan boys housed near the Cathedral will 
 be very useful as altar boys and will supply the want of clerics." 1 
 
 The priests here mentioned were the Very Rev. Philip Borgna 
 CM. Vicar-General and Joseph Anthony Lutz ; the cleric "was Louis 
 Tucker. Father Edmond Saulnier had his residence near the Church 
 of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Carondelet, or, as it was popularly 
 known, "Vide Poche, " a suburb of St. Louis. In 1835 the same clergy- 
 men were with Bishop Rosati at the Cathedral, but their duties had 
 increased. "On Sunday," says the Directory for 1836, "besides the 
 Highmass at 10 o'clock, at which there is an English and a French ser- 
 mon alternately, there is mass and a sermon in the German language 
 at 9 o'clock. After Vespers there is a meeting of the Confraternity 
 of the Rosary." 
 
 The services rendered to the Cathedral by the Jesuits from the 
 St. Louis College were more important than Bishop Rosati 's words 
 would seem to imply. From the opening of the College in 1829 until 
 the opening of St. Francis Xavier Church, the Jesuits of St. Louis had 
 no parochial standing. In fact there were under-currents among the 
 secular clergy against the Jesuits having a parish church in the city. 
 "These gentlemen," wrote Father Saulnier to Bishop Rosati "are 
 going to have a church and they have spread a rumor in town that the 
 English speaking people shall soon have an English priest there who 
 will preach to them every Sunday. Beware ! ' ' 2 
 
 Father Niel, the founder of St. Louis College, bravely seconds the 
 former pastor of the Cathedral: "I hear a report, that the Jesuits are 
 going to build a church. If this be true, and if you give them per- 
 mission, you will incur the danger of preaching to empty pews in 
 your Cathedral. You destroy the parish of St. Louis. Bishop Du Bourg, 
 although half a Jesuit himself often told me at St. Louis that in the 
 deed of the donation of the land where they build their college, he had 
 made the condition, that they should have there a chapel only for their 
 pupils, to the exclusion of the general public. Beware ! You will 
 create for yourself a lot of difficulties, if you permit them to have a 
 church. I forsee the time, when the Cathedral will be deserted, when 
 the only occupation of the Bishop in St. Louis shall be to give con- 
 firmation, and when he can have only two or three diocesan priests." 3 
 
 These fears were based on the admitted fact that the Jesuits had 
 better English preachers than those at the Cathedral, and would cer- 
 tainly attract the Irish and the American converts to their church 
 near the College. Bishop Rosati, however, entertained no such fears, 
 but made the best use of these talented and highly cultured priests as 
 
 i Eosati to Pope Gregory XIV. 
 
 2 Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 3 Xiel to Eosati, from Paris about 1820. 
 
804 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of SI. Louis 
 
 preachers and confessors in his Cathedral and as substitutes for the 
 Cathedral clergy in the discharge of sick calls during the absence of 
 the latter. 
 
 "In 1835 Fathers Verhaegen, Blel and Van de Velde," as Father 
 Garraghan assures us, "were taking turns regularly as Cathedral 
 preachers, while Father Smedts was hearing confessions weekly in 
 the same church. The year following Father Elet was preaching in 
 the Cathedral in English and Father Helias in German. The sermons 
 of the Fathers sometimes drew large crowds, as in 1836, when people 
 flocked to the Cathedral even from the outskirts of the city to attend 
 an evening course, carrying lanterns with them, as no system of street 
 lighting then existed. 4 Father Verhaegen, who at this period was 
 residing at the Cathedral in the capacity of Administrator of the diocese, 
 writes in reference to a sermon which he preached there on All Saints 
 Day, 1840: "In the evening I preached on purgatory. More than 
 3,000 persons, so I am told came to hear me and many more had to 
 go away, not being able to get into the church. If I could give my 
 instructions in the evening, I believe they would, with God's grace, 
 accomplish considerable good. A number of Protestants, have been to 
 see me, asking for books to read and four of them are now being 
 prepared to enter the Church." 5 
 
 As late as 1840 the preaching at the St. Louis Cathedral was still 
 partly in French. "French sermons," so Father Verhaegen informed 
 Bishop Rosati, then in Europe, "are poorly attended, and religion 
 suffers in consequence. If Monseigneur could bring back with him a 
 good French preacher for his Cathedral, he would fill a great void. As 
 to the English preaching, I cannot myself complain of my audience — 
 but I cannot any longer conceal from you the fact that if, on my de- 
 parture from the episcopal residence, some competent English or Irish 
 priest does not replace me, religion will be very much the loser." 6 
 
 Bishop Rosati had but words of praise for the valuable assistance 
 given him at the Cathedral. "I sincerely applaud and highly value 
 their exertions," he wrote in a letter to the press, in answer to the 
 charge that the Jesuits were not doing their full duty to religion. 
 
 Bishop Rosati fully realized that the long hours spent in class 
 day by day required a time of rest and recuperation ; Father Verhaegen 
 addressed Bishop Rosati on March 26th, 1831 : 
 
 "Aware as you are of our willingness to render your Lordship 
 every service in our power compatible with our occupations, I am sure 
 you will appreciate the liberty I respectfully take to inform you, that 
 we can manage to absent ourselves from the College only on those days 
 
 4 Litterae Annuae, 1836. 
 
 5 Verhaegen to Kosati, ]840. Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 6 Verhaegen to Eosati, July 1840. Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
The Cathedral Parish of St. Louis 805 
 
 on which Your Lordship celebrates Mass in Pontiflcalibus, that is, ac- 
 cording' to our calculation, only eight or ten times a year. This en- 
 gagement Rev. Father Superior (De Theux) makes with you after hav- 
 ing inquired of us what each of us could do. To do more would be 
 beyond our power." 7 
 
 In the Fall of 1836, a priest from the diocese of Boston, Father, 
 Jamison, came to St. Louis to the great delight of everybody concerned. 
 He had arrived whilst Bishop Rosati was on the confirmation trip in 
 Ste. Genevieve, St. Francis and Perry Counties. The Bishop found 
 Jamison at the episcopal residence, when he returned to St. Louis, Oc- 
 tober 27th, 1832, and incorporated him at once into the diocese for the 
 English speaking members of the parish. As soon as Father Verhaegen, 
 then President of St. Louis University, heard of this arrangement, he 
 wrote to Bishop Rosati : 
 
 "Our Fathers told me that under present circumstances they would 
 feel mortified to appear in pulpit before a congregation which must con- 
 tribute to Dr. Jamison's support and would not see him at his post. 
 They, therefore, wish that Mr. Jamison should preach in the morning 
 and they will gladly assist him in the great work of preaching as often 
 as their services are required. You will, therefore, permit us, Mon- 
 seigneur, to retire from the exercise of this function. Rest assured, that 
 when circumstances later on shall demand that we take up our former 
 post again, we shall do so with all our heart." 8 But Father Jamison 
 did not stay long. Conditions in the West did not suit his taste and 
 he returned to the East (first to Cincinnati). The Jesuit Fathers 
 again took the charge of preaching in English at the morning services, 
 much against their wish. Again Father Verhaegen sought to have his 
 subjects released from the duty of preaching in the Cathedral. "I 
 believe it necessary for the welfare of our holy religion in St. Louis, that 
 there be an American priest at the Cathedral to give consecutive in- 
 structions. This gentleman would make himself doubly useful by assum- 
 ing the spiritual direction of the boarding-school of the Ladies of the Sa- 
 cred Heart, Avhich more than any other external ministry weighs heavily 
 on our shoulders. Deign, Monseigneur, to reflect on what I have just 
 set down and to arrange things in such wise that those who are al- 
 ready overburdened at home may no longer have reason to complain 
 because exterior functions of the ministry are imposed upon them." 9 
 
 During the absence of Bishop Rosati at the Council in Baltimore 
 and on his trip to Italy, until Bishop Kenrick's arrival. Father Yer- 
 
 " Verhaegen to Rosati, July 8, 1840. Cf. Hohveck, "The Language-Question 
 at the Old Cathedral of St. Louis" in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," 
 vol. II, pp. 417. 
 
 8 Verhaegen to Rosati, November 14, 1836. Archives. 
 
 9 Verhaegen to Rosati, August 4, 1839. 
 
806 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 haegen was the Administrator of the diocese, with residence at the 
 Cathedral rectory. One of the first acts of the Coadjutor was to re- 
 move Father Saulnier from Carondelet to French Village, Illinois, 
 Father Joseph Fontbonne from the Cathedral to Carondelet, and Father 
 George Hamilton, from Alton to the Cathedral. The French regime 
 in the Church of St. Louis was now over, the rivalry between the Irish 
 and the German elements had begun. 
 
 In 1842 Bishop Kenrick abolished French at the morning services 
 altogether, fearing that the English-speaking members of the Cathedral 
 congregation might be drawn entirely to the new College church, which 
 was then in process of construction and in which the preaching was to 
 be entirely in English. French sermons, however, continued to be 
 given in the Cathedral in the afternoon after Vespers, but in the course 
 of the forties these also were discontinued, and the language of the 
 founders of St. Louis ceased to be heard from the Cathedral pulpit. 
 
 The French Fathers, Joseph Renaud and Benedict Roux were still 
 retained at the Cathedral for the care of the old Creoles; the younger 
 generation preferred the English language. 1845 Father Simon Paris, 
 a native of France, but through his long missionary services in Arkan- 
 sas, rather proficient in English, became Rector of the Cathedral, with 
 Roux, Renaud, Ambrose Heim, Patrick O'Brien and John Higginbotham 
 as assistants. Father Lutz had been appointed to St. Patrick's, as 
 pastor. 
 
 In the year of grace 1845, the first "Conference of the St. Vincent 
 de Paul Society" in America was established at the Cathedral. It 
 was twelve years after the inauguration of this noble work for the 
 poor, by Frederick Ozanam, a brilliant young lawyer at Paris, that 
 Bryan Mullanphy, the son of John Mullanphy, just returned from his 
 studies in Paris and full of enthusiasm for the achievements of the 
 society in France, called together a few of the prominent Catholic lay- 
 men of St. Louis, and in the little school-house attached to the Cathe- 
 dral, — a building destroyed in the great fire of 1849 — established the 
 first council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in America. In the 
 minutes of this meeting we read that Mr. Mullanphy presided ; and the 
 election of officers took place. Dr. M. L. Linton was elected President : 
 Bryan Mullanphy, 1st Vice President ; Dennis Galvin, 2nd Vice Presi- 
 dent ; James McGuire Jr., Secretary, and Patrick Ryder, Treasurer. A 
 committee was at once appointed to wait upon the Bishop, to acquaint 
 him with the establishment of the Society and ask his approbation, 
 which was gladly given. The next step was to gain affiliation with 
 the General Council in Paris. Accordingly on the 11th day of December 
 1845 the application for aggregation was forwarded to France. The 
 act of admission to the General Council was effected on February 2nd, 
 1846. Among the early members of the Cathedral Conference the Irish 
 names predominated with the German in second place. The most prom- 
 
The Cathedral Parish of St. Louis 807 
 
 inent are Bryan Mullanphy, Dr. M. L. Linton, John Amend, H. J. 
 Spaunhorst, Patrick Fox, Joseph O'Neill and A. S. Heim, Francis Saler, 
 Owen V. Timon. 10 
 
 The name of Bryan 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 charit- 
 able. He was an accomplished French scholar. 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. 11 
 
 Dr. M. L. Linton was a native of Nelson County, Kentucky born 
 to 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 con- 
 tinued his studies abroad at Paris and Edinburg. On his return to the 
 United States he was invited to take a professor's chair in the St. 
 Louis University. Dr. Linton became a Catholic in February 1841. 
 He was assailed in a vicious pamphlet for taking this step. Dr. Linton's 
 replies, written in a spirited style, and full of learning, were much ad- 
 mired even by those who did not approve of his conversion. In what 
 was probably his last letter, dated May 14th, 1872, he gave thanks for 
 his long acquaintance with the Jesuit Fathers. He closed it with the 
 significant words: "I believe in the Catholic church — every article 
 of her Creed, from the divinity of Christ to the infalibility of the Pope. 
 I want a firm faith now, as the time of my going hence approaches." 12 
 
 He established the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal in 1843, 
 the first periodical of its kind west of the Mississippi. 13 Dr. Linton is 
 the Author of "Outlines of Pathology," and of many able treatises on 
 Medical subjects. Francis Saler, the President of the Society in 1856, 
 was a native of the Austrian Tyrol, who became the favorite building 
 contractor of the Catholic sisterhoods and the publisher of a German 
 daily paper, the Taegliche Chranik (The daily Chronicle) and of a 
 number of valuable books. 
 
 He was a staunch Catholic and a man of utmost generosity in the 
 cause of religion and charity. Joan Amend, or "Papa Amend," as 
 the older generation of Catholic Germans affectionately called him, 
 
 io Cf. Schulte, Rev. Paul, "The Old Cathedral Conference of St. Vincent de 
 Paul, " in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, ' ' vol. Ill, pp. 5-14. 
 ■11 Idem, ibidem. 
 
 12 Dr. Moses L. Linton died in 1872. His name is among the famous ones of 
 Missouri Medical History. 
 
 13 "Catholic Cabinet," 1843, vol. I, No. 3. 
 
SOS 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 was not a man of higher learning, hut he had a full share of good common 
 sense, and the ability to express himself clearly and forcibly, as a leader 
 of men. He was chiefly instrumental in organizing the great associa- 
 tion of German Catholic Societies of the United States which still lives 
 on, after more than seventy years, as the Central Verein. For many 
 years John Amend held the position of President of this strong Catholic 
 organization. 
 
 Henry J. Spaunhorst, John Amend 's successor, drifted into poli- 
 tics, without losing interest in the affairs of the Church and of Cath- 
 olic Societies, rose to the position of State Senator from St. Louis. He 
 was trying hard to have a bill passed by which the public school 
 funds of Missouri should be available for the support of private 
 and parochial schools, but desisted from his efforts at the urgent re- 
 quest of the defenders of our parochial school system, who feared, 
 the state would demand supervision of the parochial schools, with all 
 that it implied, as a quid pro quo. 1 * 
 
 Patrick Fox is still well remembered as the Publisher of a number 
 of books by St. Louisans, among them Bishop Kenrick's Sacred Cos- 
 mogony. It was to Father Ambrose Heim, that the Society owes 
 much of its success. He was its first Spiritual Director. His expendi- 
 tures for the poor were invariably the greatest. To relieve distress 
 was the aim and object of his life. He died in 1854. On the simple 
 marble slab erected over his grave, the terse epitaph is written: "Father 
 Ambrose J. Heim, the priest of the poor." The Cathedral Con- 
 ference was the only one established in St. Louis until 1858, when 
 Dr. L. Sillman 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 Conferences. As the result of his efforts 
 St. Francis Xavier's Parish at once organized an independent Con- 
 ference. This example was soon followed by others. Year after year 
 witnessed the establishment of new Councils. At present our fair 
 city boasts of seventy. 
 
 14 Journal of the Constitutional Convention 1875, pp. 107 and 108. 
 
Chapter 4 
 THE ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY AND THE COLLEGE CHURCH 
 
 One of the last public acts of Bishop Rosati before his departure 
 for Europe, was the laying of the corner-stone of the College Church 
 dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. The church was completed early in 
 1843, and opened for divine service on Easter Sunday of that year. 
 It was an imposing edifice in the classic style, and one of the favorite 
 places of worship in the city, until in 1888 when it had to make room for 
 the expanding commerce of St. Louis. 1 
 
 It was rich in art-treasures brought or sent from Europe by 
 Father De Smet, and the General of the Society of Jesus, Father 
 Roothan. Under one of the altars reposed the body of St. Florentin 
 which Father Van de Velde had brought from Rome in 1842. The 
 first pastor of St. Xavier 's Parish was Rev. John Shoenmakers. It was 
 during his administration that the church was built. After the dedi- 
 cation, Father George A. Carrell, afterwards Bishop of Covington, was 
 installed as pastor, to be succeeded in 1844 by Rev. Lucian Glekal, 
 in 1846 by Fathers Aelen and Arnold Damen, the latter of whom 
 remained until 1857. 
 
 "The first parish school for girls in St. Louis was the one attached 
 to St. Francis Xavier 's. It was opened May 8th, 1S4:$, by a group of 
 Sisters of Charity, who had arrived in the city, on Low Sunday of 
 that year, from their headquarters in Emmitsburg, Md. This Congre- 
 gation of Sisters had been established in St. Louis since 1829, when 
 they came to assume charge of the hospital founded through the 
 munificence of Mr. John Mullanphy. Later, they took in hand the 
 direction of St. Philomena's Orphan Asylum and Free School at 
 Fifth and Walnut Streets in the Cathedral parish, and of St, Mary's 
 Female Orphan Asylum on Biddle and Tenth Streets. St. Xavier 's 
 parish school for girls, first known as St. Vincent's Free School, was 
 a success from the start. It opened in temporary quarters with one 
 hundred and thirty pupils, as the new school building on Tenth Street 
 was not ready for occupancy. In 1845 the average number of 
 pupils in attendance was two hundred and eighty, the teaching staff 
 consisting of five Sisters. Attached to St. Vincent's was a select or 
 pay-school, the revenue of which went to the support of the Free School, 
 ruder the skilful direction of Sister Olyinpia, St. Vincent's Free 
 
 i The former site of St. Louis University is now occupied by business houses. 
 
 (809) 
 
810 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 School, or "Sister Olympia's School," as it came to be known, became an 
 important factor in the upbuilding of St, Louis Catholicity." 2 
 
 "St. Xavier's parish school for boys was in a sense an outgrowth 
 of the day-school department of St. Louis University. At first the 
 day-scholars of the institution, as told above, were not admitted to 
 the classical course, but were merely given instruction of a rather 
 elementary kind in the usual branches of an English or mercantile 
 education. Later, in 1842, they were admitted on an equal, or almost 
 equal footing with the boarders to all the educational opportunities of 
 the University. At the same time provision was to be made for poor 
 boys unable to meet the expense of a collegiate education, as a circular 
 issued from the University August 29th, 1842, informed the public : 
 "It is not intended, however to exclude from the benefits of a good 
 education such as are unable to defray the expense of a collegiate 
 course. 
 
 Some of the gentlemen connected with the Institution will devote 
 themselves to the gratuitous education of such children, and a spacious 
 hall is now being fitted up for their accommodation within the precincts 
 of the University.' 5 
 
 Father Arnold Damen was the Founder of the Convent of the 
 Sisters of Mercy in St. Louis, as will be recounted in Chapter treating 
 of that distinguished Sisterhood. 
 
 The succession of pastors at St. Francis Xavier's after Father 
 Damen is as follows : John Gleizal to 1859, Cornelius Smarius to 1861, 
 John O'Neill, to 1864; M. Corbett to 1870; John F. O'Neill to 1873; 
 E. A. Higgins to 1875; John Condon to 1876; F. J. Ward to 1883; 
 E. A. Higgins to 1885 ; M. Corbett to 1886 ; P. Boyce to August 5th, 
 1888, when Mass was said for the last time in the venerable temple of 
 God before its destruction. 4 
 
 The importance and wide celebrity of the Church of St, Francis 
 Xavier was largely owing to the fact that it was the Church of Vice 
 Province of the Society of Jesus and of the St. Louis University. The St. 
 Louis College established by Father Van Quickenborne, on the remnants 
 of Bishop Du Bourg's College, having received a charter as a University 
 from the Legislature of the State, December 28th, 1832 5 . The institution 
 
 2 Garraghan, S.J., "Early Chapters in the History of St. Louis University, " 
 in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review," vol. V, p. 121. In the distribution 
 of the John Thornton legacy the Archbishop remembered Sister Olympia's School 
 with a share of $L,000. 
 
 3 Garraghan, 1. c, pp. 121 and 122. 
 
 4 Chancery Records. 
 
 5 For the Charter see Hill, "History of St. Louis University," pp. 41-47. 
 
The St. Louis University and the College Church 811 
 
 did not rise at once to its full stature. Until 1842 it confined itself 
 to two undergraduate courses, the classical and the mercantile. The 
 classical course embraced five years of Latin, Greek, English, Mathe- 
 matics and one year of Philosophy. 
 
 The first attempt to systematize the course of study and formulate 
 definite requirements for graduation was made in 1837. "On May 
 6th, of that year the trustees of the University in meeting assembled 
 appointed a committee, of which Rev. James Van de Velde was made 
 chairman, with instructions considerately "to specify what studies and 
 acquirements shall henceforth be deemed necessary for finishing the 
 classical course, and being found qualified for taking the degree of A. 
 B. in the St. Louis University." 6 The report, offered by the committee 
 on the eighth of the following December was amended and recommitted 
 with instructions to report also on the conditions to be prescribed for 
 obtaining the degree of A. M. The report, as finally adopted by the 
 board of trustees on July 28th, 1838, provided: "First: that the 
 classical course shall comprehend a competent knowledge of the Greek, 
 Latin, and English languages ; of Geography, use of globes, ancient 
 and modern history, logic and the principles of moral philosophy, in- 
 cluding ethics and metaphysics ; of rhetoric and mathematics, including 
 arithmetic, algebra, plane and solid geometry, trigonometry, surveying, 
 mensuration, conic sections and the principles of natural philsophy. " 7 
 
 In the Autumn of 1842 the Medical faculty was inaugurated in 
 the University, in a building erected for the purpose on Washington 
 Avenue west of Tenth Street. The list of Professors contained such 
 eminent names as Dr. Daniel Brainard, Moses L. Linton and Charles 
 Alexander Pope. In 1850, John O 'Fallon, father-in-law of Dr. Pope, 
 erected the stately building on Seventh and Myrtle Streets, at a cost 
 of $80,000, in which the Medical Department of the St. Louis University 
 was housed. The Museum and the collection of surgical instruments 
 cost at least $30,000. Thus the St. Louis University Avas placed in 
 possession of unequalled facilities for medical instruction of the highest 
 order. In 1855, the connection between the University and its Medical 
 School was severed by nmtal consent. 
 
 "A Law Department was opened in the fall of 1843 with a matric- 
 ulation of eighteen students. At its head was Judge Richard Aylett 
 Buckner of Kentucky, a man of high legal attainments and a conspicuous 
 figure in the national politics of his day. He was the supreme controlling 
 and vitalizing influence of the St. Louis University Law School during 
 
 o Hill, op. cit., p. 3fi. 
 
 7 Idem, iibidem, pp. 56 and 57. 
 
812 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the three years that lie presided over it and when he died, December 
 8th, 1S47, the school passed away with him." 8 
 
 Father P. J. Verhaegen, the first President of St. Louis University, 
 on March 24th, 1836 was made Superior of the Jesuil .Mission in Missouri. 
 Through his initiative the Superior of the Mission, even after the 
 Mission became a Vice-Province and finally a Province of the Society 
 of Jesus, no longer resided at Florissant the Mother-house, but at the 
 University, as being more centrally Located. The number of members 
 under Father Verhaegen was thirty-seven. Father J. A. Elet became 
 President of the University. 
 
 Under Father Verhaegen 's administration a large tract of land 
 300 acres on Bellefontaine Road, the North-Broadway of today, in the 
 region still called College Hill, was bought, for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing on it, far from the noise and dust of the city, their institution 
 of learning and piety. Plans for the new building were made and work 
 was begun, when proceedings were stopped temporarily by the death of 
 the contractor, then postponed to more favorable time, and finally aban- 
 doned. In the course of time this land became very valuable, and was 
 laid out as a new addition to the city, and the lots sold at a handsome 
 price. The College Farm, as it was called, must have been a very beauti- 
 ful sight. Edmond Flagg, who visited St. Louis and its vicinity in 1838, 
 was delighted with its appearance : 
 
 "By far the most delightful drive in the vicinity of St. Louis 
 is that of four or five miles in its northern suburbs, along the river 
 bottoms. The road, emerging from the streets of the city through one 
 of its finest sections and leaving the "Big Mound" upon the right, 
 sweeps off for several miles upon a succession of broad plateaus, 
 rolling up from the water's edge. To the left lies an extensive range 
 of heights, surmounted by ancient mounds and crowned with groves of 
 the shrub-oak which afford a delightful shade to the road running below. 
 Along this elevated ride beautiful country-seats with graceful piazzas 
 and green Venetian blinds are caught from time to time glancing through 
 the shrubbery; while to the right, smooth meadows, spread themselves 
 away to the heavy belt of forest which margins the Mississippi. Among 
 these pleasant villas the little white farm-cottage, formerly the resi- 
 dence of Mr. Clark, beneath the hills, surrounded by the broad leaved 
 catalpa, the willow, the acacia, and other ornamental trees, presents 
 perhaps, the rarest instance of natural beauty adorned by refined taste. 
 A visit to this delightful spot during my stay in St. Louis informed me 
 of the fact that, within as well as abroad, the hand of education and 
 
 8 Garraghan, "Early Chapters," in "St. Louis Catholic Historical Eeview, " 
 vol. V, p. 100. 
 
The St. Louis University and the College Church 813 
 
 refinement had not been idle. Paintings, busts, medalions, Indian 
 curiosities, etc., tastefully arranged around the walls and shelves of an 
 elegant library, presented a feast to the visitor as rare in the Far 
 West as it is agreeable to a cultivated mind. Near the cottage is the 
 intended site of the building of the St. Louis Catholic University, a 
 lofty and commanding spot." 9 
 
 From 1837 to 1847 the College Farm served as a place of rest and 
 recreation for the Jesuit Fathers and scholastics. One of the rooms 
 in the former Clarke Mansion was converted into a chapel named 
 for St. Francis Xavier, where Sunday services were held for the Catholic 
 men and women employed on the farm or in the laundry, and even 
 for residents of the neighborhood. Father James Busschotts was the 
 first priest to reside at the Farm, he was followed by Father John 
 Schoenmakers, who remained in the position until 1847. 
 
 At a later date St. Thomas Church was built by the Fathers (in 
 College Street, which in a manner formed the nucleus of the present 
 parish of the Holy Name, in Lowell or North St. Louis. 
 
 The progress of the collegiate department was slow but steady ; 
 about onedialf of the students coming from Louisiana. In 1839, in 
 spite of the fact that the Jesuits had started a College in Grand Coteau, 
 the number of students at the University had increased, so that ad- 
 ditional class-rooms had to be provided. 
 
 9 Flagg, "The Far West" in "Early Western Travels," vol. 26, pp. 258 
 and 259. 
 
PART TWO 
 
 THE DIOCESE OF ST. LOUIS 
 BOOK III 
 
 Peter Richard Kenrick, Bishop of St. Louis 
 
PART II 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 Chapter 1 
 
 BISHOP KENRICK AND THE LEOPOLDINE SOCIETY 
 
 The year 1843 was a rather tempestuous one for the two great 
 missionary Associations of Europe, the Society of the Propagation of 
 the Faith of Lyons, France, and the Leopoldine Society of Vienna, Aus- 
 tria. Complaints were coming in from many missionaries in America 
 that the German Catholics, who, with the Irish, formed the main body 
 of the rising Church in the United States, were neglected by the bishops 
 and deprived of their fair share of financial support from Europe. As 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Faith derived a large part of its 
 income from the Kingdom of Bavaria and some of the other German 
 States, there was danger that, through a defection of the German as- 
 sociates from the French Society, the resources of the Society would 
 be greatly diminished, whilst a mass of funds would eventually be put 
 into the hands of the Germans of the United States. The Central Council 
 of the Propagation of the Faith accordingly wrote to Bishop Francis 
 Patrick Kenrick of Philadelphia to use his influence in silencing these 
 complaints. 
 
 "They report to us from Munich that the Branch of the Work (for 
 the Propagation of the Faith) in Bavaria has received numerous com- 
 plaints from German missionaries in the United States. These complaints 
 unite in saying that, while there are many Germans in America, the 
 Bishops, in one accord, disregard their needs; that churches built by 
 German congregations are left without aid from the prelates ; that even 
 donations made by Germans in Europe, destined for special purposes, 
 are not available to compatriots in America; that there is need of a 
 much greater number of German priests in America, but that it is the 
 aim of the Bishops to oppose everything generally that concerns the 
 German people ; that even in the Council of Baltimore an ordinance 
 which was to have been favorable to this people, was finally cut out. 
 They add that the King of Bavaria may be informed personally of these 
 things, that his will is very strong and effective, and that, if these 
 conditions come to his notice, he will interdict all communication between 
 the associates of his kingdom and the Central Council of Lyons. Thev 
 
 (817) 
 
• s l> s History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 close by requesting us to appeal to the Bishops of the United States, 
 asking that the faithful of German nationality may be treated fairly, 
 as other nations are. That is all that they say, and their protest is 
 serious." 1 
 
 Similar complaints had been made to the Leopoldine Society of 
 the Austrian Empire, which had up to this time aided the dioceses of 
 the United States to an extent of about 700,000 fls., or about $280,000. of 
 which sum Bishop Rosati had received, directly or indirectly, the sum of 
 44,000 fl. - $17,600.00. Investigations were instituted by both organi- 
 zations, the outcome of which was not divulged r but from this time 
 on there appears a stronger anxiety about the spiritual welfare of the 
 German Catholic immigrants than had been shown before. The com- 
 plaints were overdrawn, no doubt : but the cry for justice certainly 
 found a more sympathetic hearing. 
 
 Bishop Kenrick was the very soul of honor. On November 9th, 
 1843 he wrote to Archbishop Milde, the President of the Leopoldine 
 Society of Vienna : 
 
 "I take the liberty of informing your Grace concerning the needs of 
 the German Catholics of the Diocese of St. Louis and especially of this 
 city, the number of whom has now risen to 6000. No serious attempt 
 has so far been made to provide a church, exclusively for the use of the 
 German Catholics, but they have been obliged until now, to attend 
 divine service in the church which belongs to the French and American 
 Catholics. That they are not altogether neglected will appear from the 
 following report, which will show that opportunity to attend public wor- 
 ship has always been offered to them. 
 
 1. In the Cathedral, where two German priests are stationed, one of 
 whom is assigned to them and holds divine service for them every 
 Sunday and Holyday of obligation at 8 o'clock with sermon in their 
 language. 
 
 2. In the chapel of St. Aloysius, near the University, which is 
 attended by the Jesuit Fathers. 
 
 3. In the chapel of the Seminary, dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, 
 where a German priest of the Congregation of the Mission preaches in 
 German every Sunday and Holyday at an early hour. 
 
 ' ' Bishop Rosati of Blessed Memory, had long desired to erect a large 
 church for the exclusive use of the German portion of his diocese 
 
 i Kenriek-Frenaye Correspondence. 
 
 2 Canon Joseph Salzbaeher of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, was sent over 
 by the Leopoldine Society in 1842. His book of "Travels in North America" 
 appeared in Vienna in 1845. It is fair in its judgments and very valuable as a 
 source-book on our early Catholic days in the West. The Diocese of St. Louis is 
 treated pp. 213-223. 
 
Bishop Kenrick and the Lcopoldinc Society 819 
 
 in this city, and, if no practical effort has so far been made, to acquire 
 a plot of ground whereon to realize this wish, it must be ascribed to 
 circumstances over which he had no control, certainly not to any lack 
 of zeal to attain this worthy object. Although the general population 
 of St. Louis has increased with extraordinary rapidity within the last 
 few years, yet in this regard no single nationality can compare with 
 the Germans as far as number of immigrants is concerned. Four years 
 ago, when the German Catholics were not as yet so numerous, the 
 Bishop bought a beautifully located piece of ground, with the intention 
 of building thereon a German church. In view however, of the fact 
 that the place seemed to be at too great a distance from those parts of 
 the city in which the Germans dwelt, it appeared advisable to relinquish 
 the plan or at least to postpone its execution. 
 
 "On coming hero, towards the end of 1841, I found that the erection 
 of a German church was an absolute necessity ; still, however crying 
 the need was, I had no means to remedy matters. No diocese in the 
 United States is more richly endowed with religious institutions, and 
 few, if any, can boast of a grander cathedral, than the diocese of 
 St. Louis. All this was the work of Bishop Rosati ; who in all these 
 splendid and charitable undertakings, was forced by circumstances to 
 accept personal responsibility for the cost of these institutions and es- 
 pecially of the cathedral. In consequence of this, I found at my coming 
 here, a debt of $60,000,00, most of it at a high rate of interest. It 
 therefore seemed utterly impossible to buy a new lot for the necessary 
 church-building, and my first plan was to await a more favorable time. 
 But I began to fear, that it would soon become impossible, and there- 
 fore, I all the more willingly acceded to the request of the Vice-Provincial 
 of the Jesuits in Missouri, to entrust him with the erection of a 
 German church. I considered that, if the purpose could be attained 
 more easily through others, than through me, I should gladly let the 
 good work go on. But I was mistaken ; after a few months of waiting, 
 I now see myself disappointed. 
 
 "The Jesuits had, through the erection of a large and costly church, 
 which they recently opened for public services, incurred a heavy debt, 
 so that they would not be able, for a long time, to enter upon any new 
 venture. Accordingly, I resolved not to let the year pass by without 
 accomplishing something in the matter of the German church, espec- 
 ially as Divine Providence moved a French lady of this city to donate 
 to me her half of a lot, which she owned in common with her brother, 
 as a suitable site for a church. 
 
 "This generous deed induced me to buy her brother's part also, 
 at the price of $2500.00. For this amount I am personally responsible. 
 
820 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Upon this first piece of ground we have built a church, which will be 
 dedicated to Our Lady of Victories. 
 
 "The building is cruciform, and can, if circumstances should demand 
 it, be enlarged so as to form one of the largest and most beautiful 
 churches of the city. The cost of the present building is about $8000.00. 
 $6000.00 of which sum have already been expended. By way of sub- 
 scription, we have realized only $1000.00; I myself have given $1000.00, 
 so that a debt of $4000.00 rests upon the building, in addition to the 
 $2500.00, which I still owe for the half lot. Yet, before the church 
 can be opened for public services, another outlay of $2000.00 will be 
 necessary. As it would be unreasonable in me to increase my obligations 
 at the present moment, I am constrained to suspend work on the 
 building, which is so near completion. 
 
 "The German Catholics, for the most part, belong to the working 
 classes, and feel all too keenly the pressure of hard times, to give any 
 hope of assistance. Under such circumstances I considered it my duty 
 to make an appeal to the Leopoldine Society, and I do so all the more 
 hopefully, as I am conscious of having spent in the cause of the 
 German Catholics, a few thousand dollars above the sum I have received 
 for them from Your Society." 3 
 
 Bishop Kenrick, in conclusion promised to devote the entire allot- 
 ment that may be made next year, to their use. His petition was not 
 in vain. 
 
 Full of gratitude for favors received Bishop Kenrick wrote to 
 the Archbishop of Vienna, from St. Louis, August 29, 1844: 
 
 "I have received your Grace's letter containing the pleasant news 
 that, through the charitable Leopoldine Society, 3000 fl. have been 
 assigned to me for the benefit of the church for the Germans erected in 
 this city. Shortly afterward, I received through Messrs. Faber and 
 Bienwirth of New York the sum of $1450. According to the wish 
 of Your Grace I have devoted the entire amount for the use of the 
 German church, cancelling a part of the debt of $6000, still resting 
 on the property, and buying the various articles needed for divine 
 service. The church is now completed and will be dedicated in honor 
 of Our Lady of Victories: the solemn consecration shall be postponed 
 until I can extend the building to the form of a cross as planned. 
 
 "Another church, also for the use of the Germans, under the title 
 of St. Joseph, was begun by the Jesuit Fathers in the beginning of 
 April, on the opposite side of the city. The cornerstone was laid with 
 great solemnity. Accordingly, the Germans of St. Louis, whose number 
 already exceeds 6000 souls, will have two fine churches in the city. 
 
 
 3 "BericMe der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XVII, pp. 19-23. The origin:)! 
 was in English ; it is here retranslated by me from the German. 
 
Bishop Kenrick and the Leopoldine Society 821 
 
 for which I am very grateful to God, because I realize that through 
 them, spiritual wants can be satisfied in the most desirable manner."' 
 
 In answer to Archbishop Milde 's request for a detailed account of the 
 diocese, Bishop Kenrick wrote to Vienna on December 10, 1844: 
 
 "The diocese of St. Louis which comprises the state of Missouri 
 is one of the largest in the United States, and has, together with the 
 Indian Territory to the West, a vast, almost boundless extent. The 
 Catholic population is estimated at 50,000 souls, of whom at least one 
 third arc emigrants from various parts of Germany. This population 
 is unequally dispersed over the state. The larger portion is found in 
 the cities, or in close proximity to the cities, along the banks of the 
 Mississippi and Missouri. Prior to the year 1843 the diocese was still 
 larger: for the entire state of Arkansas, (now a separate diocese) 
 and the western portion of the state of Illinois, formed a part of it. 
 The latter territory is now a part of the diocese of Chicago, which 
 comprises the entire state of Illinois. The circumstances and the 
 relatively small number of priests at my disposal must account for it, 
 that we know very little about the interior of the state of Missouri ; 
 But I know for a certainty that many Catholics have scattered through- 
 out its extent. In spite of my earnest desire I did not find it possible 
 so far, to send missionaries to explore this part of my diocese. 
 
 "St. Louis is the chief city of the state, increasing its population 
 more rapidly than any other city in America. Its population is now 
 between 35,000 and 40,000 souls, of whom one half or at least two-fifths 
 profess the Catholic religion. 
 
 "The entire German Catholic population of the city can be set at 
 7000 souls ; the rest is composed of French and English-speaking people, 
 the latter class being for the most part, immigrants from Ireland. As 
 no city of the United States enjoys greater opportunities for the 
 practice of the Catholic religion, so there is none that expresses Cath- 
 olic life and Catholic character better than St. Louis. Besides the 
 Cathedral, a very beautiful building, which will long remain a memorial 
 of the zeal and the pious enterprise of my predecessor, the late Bishop 
 of St. Louis, we have also, the church of St. Francis Xavier, attended 
 by the Jesuit Fathers of the St. Louis University, as well as tin 1 
 church of Our Lady of Victories, which was opened quite recently, 
 and is devoted to the exclusive use of the Germans. In addition to 
 this, we may mention two other congregations; one of Germans who 
 now assemble for divine worship in the chapel of St. Aloysius near tin 1 
 University of the Jesuit Fathers, and the other, half German and 
 
 * "Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung, " Heft XVIII, pp. 4-6. The original 
 
 was in Latin. 
 
822 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 half English, in the southern part of the city, entrusted to the Lazarist 
 Fathers of my diocesan seminary. 
 
 The Jesuits are busy at present with the erection of the church of 
 St. Joseph, in the northern part of the city, among an almost exclu- 
 sively German population. In order to aid them in this undertaking 
 I have given them $300 out of the allotment made to me by the 
 Association of the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons. Half of the 
 amount allotted to me by the Society of which Your Grace is Presi- 
 dent, was used for the completion of the German church of Our Lady 
 of Victories. 
 
 The priests of the Congregation of the Mission have built a very 
 large church in the southern part of the city, which, when completed 
 will be a very beautiful house of God. This church although not 
 exclusively devoted to the Germans, still accommodates every Sunday 
 and Holyday, a large number of the Germans living in the vicinity, 
 for mass and christian instructions, at an hour that does not interfere 
 with the services for the English-speaking Catholics. In order to aid 
 the zealous priests in their efforts, I have made a contribution of $1000. 
 But with this I have exhausted the means that were placed at my dis- 
 posal by the generosity of the faithful of Europe. The church to be 
 dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul, is already covered, and will be com- 
 pleted next year. 
 
 Accordingly the German population of St. Louis possesses three 
 commodious churches; St. Joseph's on the north side, Our Lady of 
 Victories in the center, and St. Vincent de Paul in the southern part. 
 As I recur in memory to the condition of his part of my flock two years 
 since, and compare its former sad state of penury and want, occasioned 
 by the rapid increase in numbers and absolute lack of means, with 
 their present state, I am forced to recognize the finger of God in the 
 present favorable prospects for the future of the foster children com- 
 mitted to my episcopal care, and to raise my hands to Heaven in 
 thanksgiving for the help and encouragement extended to me amid so 
 many distresses and afflictions. Should the Leopoldine Society be dis- 
 posed to make an allotment from their funds to me for the next year, I 
 will devote the entire amount to the payment of the debt, incurred in 
 building the church of Our Lady of Victories, an amount of $5000 at 
 8 % interest. I shall, of course, be always prepared to the full extent of 
 the means with which the generosity of the charitable societies of 
 Europe may favor me, to succor all in their needs, without any regard 
 to person or nationality, but only as duty and conscience demand. 
 
 "Besides the churches just mentioned, a new church intended prin- 
 cipally for the English-speaking Catholics under the title of St. Patrick, 
 is in process of erection. The building will be completed within a few 
 
Bishop Kenrick and the Leopoldine Society 823 
 
 months, at least in so far that divine service can be held within its 
 bare walls. 
 
 "Your Grace will see from this statement that we have even now 
 six churches for the Catholic people of this city ; a goodly number, but 
 one that is most necessary, and at the same time, exerts a happy influence 
 upon the religious and moral character of our population. 
 
 "Besides the churches, we have in our city four! chapels, one in the 
 convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the second in the Hospital 
 of the Sisters of Charity, the third and fourth in the convents of the 
 Sisters of the Visitation. 
 
 "These three communities of Sisters also conduct educational 
 establishments for girls, so that Catholics need not send their daughters 
 to schools conducted by Protestants. 
 
 "The University of St. Louis, which belongs to the Jesuits and the 
 College of St. Vincent de Paul at Cape Girardeau devote, their attention 
 to the education of young men and boys. Besides the institutions of 
 higher learning, we have three or four of a lower rank in St. Louis. . . 
 Four Free schools, two for boys and two for girls, offer Catholic edu- 
 cation to 800 or 900 children, who would otherwise be induced to 
 attend the schools, from which all instruction in Catholic doctrine is 
 positively excluded. 
 
 "We have two or rather three orphan asylums in St. Louis, one for 
 girls in thai Convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, founded by the 
 munificence of an honorable Catholic (Mr. Mullanphy) who died some 
 years since. Two other orphanages, one for boys, and one for girls 
 founded and conducted by the Sisters of Charity. 
 
 "During this year I have built a new Home for Orphan-girls, 
 which cost me $8000. In connection with which fact, I must remark, 
 that the ground upon which the building stands was given me by a 
 charitable woman, who, in addition to this gift, generously contributed 
 $3000 to the building fund. In order to supply the need of missionaries, 
 I have formed two Seminaries, exclusively devoted to the training 
 of young men for the ecclesiastical state. The so-called Little Seminary 
 is in Perry ville, in the southern part of the state, and is attended by 
 nineteen young levites; the Grand Seminary is in St. Louis, near the 
 episcopal residence, where there are now ten students. Both institutions 
 are entrusted to the care of the priests of the Congregation of St. 
 Vincent de Paul. 
 
 "The entire number of church-buildings in the diocese does not ex- 
 ceed fifty, and in regard to construction, they are, with the exception of 
 the Cathedral, the church at Perryville, and a few others, unpretentious 
 and for the most part of wood. 
 
824 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 "Along the borders of the Missouri River there are a few parishes 
 in which the Germans form the majority, and which are subject to 
 the Jesuits ; There are also many Germans in St. Charles, Washington, 
 Jefferson City, Westport, etc. But this part of the diocese should have 
 twice as many priests as it now has. . . 
 
 "In addition to the care of the Seminaries and the College at Cape 
 Girardeau, The Lazarist Fathers attend various missionary stations 
 throughout the diocese, and always show a readiness to assist the Bishop 
 in urgent cases. 
 
 "The Ladies of the Sacred Heart have, besides their Convent in 
 St. Louis, two other houses: one at St. Charles, and the other at 
 Florissant. The St. Louis convent also conducts a boarding school for 
 young ladies, and a free school for girls. 
 
 "The Sisters of St. Joseph have two establishments in the diocese, 
 one at Carondelet conducted as a boarding school for young ladies, and 
 the other in St. Louis, with an educational institution and also day-school 
 for negro girls. We also have three houses of the Sisters of Loretto, 
 the foundation of the Rev. Charles Nerinckx, a Belgian priest of great 
 zeal and holy life. These houses are at Bethlehem near Perryville, at 
 Cape Girardeau and at Ste. Genevieve. All these communities conduct 
 schools. The Jesuit Fathers preside over a very interesting mission 
 among the Potawatomi Indians in the western part of the state, and 
 that, with such splendid success, that there is every reason to hope that 
 through their exertions, the influence of our holy religion will soon 
 extend itself to many if not all the larger tribes in the vicinity. 
 
 "Thus, I have tried, according to Your Grace's wish, to give some 
 details concerning the religious condition of my diocese : they may not 
 appear very noteworthy; yet they certainly will show how wisely my 
 Venerable Predecessor, Bishop Rosati, provided for the progress of this 
 diocese through the introduction of so many religious and charitable 
 institutions and the helpful solicitude he always extended to them." : 
 
 Bishop Kenrick's argument in proof of the fact that the German 
 Catholics of his diocese were treated as well as any other nationality, 
 was, indeed, convincing and bound to bring the happiest results. 
 
 5 "Beriehte der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XVIII, pp. 6-14, original in 
 English. Re-translated from the German. 
 
Chapter 2 
 THE FIRST FRUITS OF BISHOP KENRICK'S SOLICITUDE 
 
 It is a memorable fact that in the three years of Bishop Kenrick's 
 coadjutorship, the City of St. Louis was enriched with five splendid 
 churches, St. Francis Xavier, near the University on Washington Avenue 
 and Green Street, Our Lady of the Victories on Third and Gratiot, 
 St. Joseph's on Ninth and Biddle, St. Vincent's on Ninth and Decatur, 
 and St. Patrick's on Sixth and Biddle. These structures were so well 
 planned and built that, with one exception, they remain to this day, 
 not only as venerable monuments of the olden days, but as ornaments 
 of the living present. The letters of Bishop Kenrick revealed to us 
 the strategy employed by the head and leader of the movement : this 
 chapter is intended to explain, in some detail, the various phases of its 
 development and surprising success. 
 
 The Jesuit Fathers of the College were destined to lead the way in 
 the erection of new parish churches in St. Louis. The University 
 chapel of St. Aloysius had become too small for the large congregation 
 of Irish and German Catholics that assembled there on Sundays and 
 Holy-days of obligation. Accordingly the erection of two large churches 
 was determined on by the Fathers, St. Francis Xavier for the Irish 
 and St. Joseph's for the Germans. On March 13th, 1840, a meeting of 
 the Catholics of the neighborhood was held in St. Aloysius Chapel 
 to deliberate on ways and means towards the erection of the new church. 
 The great majority of subscribers were Irish immigrants. Of the Irish 
 names may be noted those of the two St. Louis pioneers, Edward Walsh 
 and Hugh O'Neil. 
 
 Among the subscribers from the French and native American 
 elements were Emilie Chouteau, M. P. LeDuc, Julius DeMun, L. A. 
 Benoist, James H. Lucas, William P. Clark, George Rogers Clark, 
 Lewis M. Clark and Dr. Farrar. The subscription list also contains 
 a large number of German names, about ninety, though its printed 
 caption declares that in the new church "the Sermons, Instructions 
 and Lectures will be exclusively in the English language." Apparently 
 there was an understanding by which the German Catholics of the 
 district were to use the church, pending the erection of a church of 
 their own. 1 
 
 1 Garraghan, "Early Chapters in the History of St. Louis University" in 
 "St. Louis Catholic Historical Review, " vol. V, pp. 119-121 passim. 
 
 (825) 
 
826 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 On March 23rd, ground was broken for the new church and on 
 Sunday, April 12th, the corner stone was laid by Bishop Rosati, Father 
 Elet, Rector of the University, addressing the assembled people from 
 the east balcony of the main University building. 
 
 On Easter Sunday, 1843, the church, under the name of St. Francis 
 Xavier, was opened for divine services. It was an imposing edifice 
 in the classic style and from its first days down to its dismantling 
 in 1888, after the University had been moved to another site, remained 
 a favorite shrine of devotion for the Catholic residents of St. Louis, 
 to whom it was familiarly known as the College Church. The interior 
 finishing of the church was in keeping with its fine architectural design. 
 Paintings and statues of great merit adorned the walls, some of them 
 gifts from Father Roothaan, others brought by Father De Smet from 
 Belgium. Great throngs gathered to view these works of Catholic art, 
 when they were first put in place. The five altars were the work of 
 Paschal Lincetti, a lay-brother attached to the University. Under one 
 of the altars rested the body of St. Florentin which Father Van de 
 Velde brought from Rome in 1842. 2 
 
 The Female Free School, attached to the Church of St. Francis 
 Xavier, was opened on the 4th of September, in the new and conven- 
 ient school house, corner of St. Charles Street and Tenth Street. One 
 hundred and seventy-five were admitted by the Sisters of Charity, 
 who take charge of this institution. On the 24th instance the Male 
 Free School was reopened in the basement of the church. It was under 
 the charge of four scholastics of the Society of Jesus ; three hundred and 
 fifty were admitted at the opening." 3 
 
 "On the 10th of October, 1844, a new Catholic Free School was 
 opened in St. Louis on the corner of Ninth and Green Streets. It was 
 destined exclusively for the German male children, and superintended by 
 the members of the Society of Jesus." 4 
 
 The number of German Catholics in St. Louis had during the 
 thirties grew to such immense proportions, relatively speaking, that 
 Bishop Rosati felt it his duty to provide foi" them a church of their 
 own. The location chosen was in the southern part of the city, where 
 the larger part of them had their homes: but the place he bought for 
 this purpose was not well chosen, as Chouteau's Pond shut off direct 
 access. Bishop Rosati paid $3,000. for the plot of ground and, on 
 starting for Europe in 1840, ordered Father J. Fischer and Mr. Weit- 
 zenecker to take up subscriptions among the Germans for the proposed 
 
 2 Garraghan, 1. c, pp. 120 and 121. 
 
 3 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. I, October, 1843. 
 
 4 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. I. May, 1843. 
 
The First Fruits of Bishop Kennck's Solicitude 827 
 
 church. Nothing, however, was accomplished in the matter. Bishop 
 Kenrick sent Father Fischer to Meramec (now Maxville, Jefferson Co.) 
 and confited the care of the Germans to Father Lutz. Services were 
 continued for them at St. Mary's Chapel, near the Cathedral. As the 
 distance to the Cathedral was too great for many of the German Cath- 
 olics of the south side, Bishop Rosati, ordered that Father Dahmen, 
 C. M. should hold special services for them in the Chapel of the 
 Blessed Trinity near the Seminary of the Lazarists. 5 The Germans of 
 the north side found a ready welcome in the Chapel of St. Aloysius. 
 Gratifying as these various provisions were, they could not satisfy 
 the needs of the German immigrants. Bishop Kenrick saw this at 
 once and determined to set matters aright. A pious French lady, 
 Mrs. Hunt, donated her half of plot of ground on Third and Gratiot 
 Sts., to the Bishop for the use of the German Congregation, the Bishop 
 then bought the other half from her brother, J. H. Lucas, and building 
 operations were begun at once. 
 
 On Sunday the 25th of June, 1843, the Bishop of New Orleans, 
 Anthony Blanc, officiated at High Mass in the Cathedral. At five 
 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, the same prelate solemnly 
 blessed the corner stone of the proposed German Church of Our Lady 
 of Victory, at the corner of Third and Mulberry Streets. The Rt. Rev. 
 Dr. Odin, Vicar-Apostolic of Texas, and the Coadjutor Bishop of this 
 diocese, assisting at the ceremony. A large number of people assembled 
 to view the interesting ceremony; the Hibernian Benevolent Society 
 was also on the spot. Previous to the ceremony, the Coadjutor Bishop 
 addressed the assembly on the nature of the rite at which they were 
 about to assist. Father Cotting, S. J., preached in the German language 
 after the conclusion of the ceremony. The collection taken up in aid 
 of the new church was $149.00. " 6 
 
 "On the 15th of September, 1844, the new German Church, on 
 the corner of Third and Mulberry Street, was solemnly blessed by the 
 Very Rev. John Timon, C. M., with the permission of the Bishop. High 
 Mass was celebrated at ten o'clock by the Rev. F. X. Dahmen, C. M., 
 assisted by deacon and subdeacon ; and the Rev. J. Cotting, S. J., 
 delivered an eloquent discourse in the German language to a vast 
 concourse of people, on the text: 'This day is salvation come to this 
 house' (Luke xix, 9). This. church is dedicated to the Almighty 
 under the invocation of 'Our Lady of Victory'." 7 
 
 It was a great day of joy and jubilation for the German Catholics 
 of St. Louis: Father John Fischer was recalled from Meramec and put 
 
 5 Eosati's Diary. 
 
 6 "Catholic Cabinet," June, 1843. 
 
 7 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. II, 4, October, 1844. 
 
SL>S 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in charge of the new church. Father Lutz, as we shall see, was employed 
 at the time in building a church for the Irish Catholics. From Bishop 
 Kenrick's letters we learn what large sums were contributed to the 
 erection of St. Mary's Church by the Leopoldine Society of the Austrian 
 Empire. For three years Father Fischer was pastor of this, the first 
 German Church in the city, to be succeeded in L847 by Father Joseph 
 Melcher, to whom Father Fisher was assigned as assistant. 
 
 In regard to the Church of St. Patrick the following quotation from 
 the Catholic Cabinet will give the necessary data: 
 
 "The erection of St. Patrick's church, in the northern part of 
 this city, was commenced after Easter, and there is every possibility 
 that the work will be carried on with energy. The first stone of this 
 church was solemnly blessed by the Coadjutor Bishop on Sunday, the 
 17th of October, 1843 ; it was then hoped that the foundations of the 
 building would be laid before the setting in of winter; but, this having 
 been found impracticable, the work was necessarily deferred until the 
 present season. St. Patrick's will be a free church. Contributions 
 toward this truly Catholic undertaking will be thankfully received by 
 Rev. Geo. A. Hamilton, at present assistant at the Cathedral, who is 
 to be the pastor of the congregation ; as also by any of the Catholic 
 clergymen of the city. The lot on which this church is being built is 
 the gift of Mrs. Anne Biddle, and the sum of one thousand dollars 
 was generously contributed towards the new church by her excellent 
 mother, the late Mrs. Mullanphy. 8 
 
 "Mr. James Lucas, brother of Mrs. Hunt, has given a large lot, 
 in the northwestern part of the city, for the purpose of a Catholic 
 Church, in which, we have been informed, the German congregation 
 that at present assembles in the Chapel of St. Aloysius, attached to the 
 University, will commence the erection of a church in the course of 
 next year under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.'' 
 
 The building operations at St. Patrick's made but slow progress, 
 owing to lack of means, and the rapid changes in leadership from 
 Father Hamilton to Father Lutz and from the latter to Father Wheeler. 
 
 At last the work was completed after a struggle of three years in 
 which the Bishop himself was forced to take the lead. 
 
 "On the 4th of May, 1845, the new church of St. Patrick, situated 
 on the corner of 6th and Biddle Streets, in this city was solemnly 
 dedicated to divine service. The ceremony was performed by Very Rev. 
 J. Timon, Superior of the Lazarists in the United States, who also 
 delivered an able discourse appropriate to the occasion. 
 
 8 "Catholic Cabinet," May, 1843. 
 
The First Fruits of Bishop Kenrick's Solicitude 829 
 
 The church measures 120 by 60 feet. 
 
 Besides Mrs. Biddle and her mother, other citizens, too, have 
 contributed towards this meritorious object; although, we regret to 
 state, a very considerable debt has been incurred by the Bishop in its 
 erection. ' ' 9 
 
 The contractor and builder of the church as well as of St. Vincent's, 
 Avas Francis Saler, the well known Catholic publisher, and general 
 benefactor of the Church in St. Louis. 
 
 Canon O'Hanlon relates in his pleasant sprightly way how the 
 foundations of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Soulard's 
 Addition laid in 1839 were, at the invitation of Fathers Timon and 
 Paquin, rooted up by the students of the Seminary, with borrowed picks 
 and shovels and crowbars and the stones carted away to the new 
 location on which St. Vincent's Church was soon to arise. 
 
 "On the 17th of March, 1844, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Kenrick laid 
 the cornerstone of a church in Soulard's addition of St. Louis. The 
 edifice will be cruciform; in length including the portico, 150 feet; 
 breadth in the nave 60 feet, in the transepts 80. The well-selected 
 location and the truly classic proportions of the plan, drawn by Barnet 
 & Co., will make this building an ornament to the city, whilst affording 
 the consolations of religion to a numerous population, who are now 
 almost suffocated in the crowded temporary chapel in which they 
 worship. The vast concourse of our fellow citizens, the Hibernian 
 Society, the Catholic Temperance Society, the Young Catholic's Friend 
 Society, with their appropriate flags and badges; the clergy in their 
 robes, singing, during the imposing ceremonial of the Church, appro- 
 priate hymns in the solemn Gregorian chant, brought powerfully to 
 memory, but under happy auspices, the Scripture text : ' ' And when 
 the masons laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, the priests 
 stood in their ornaments with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of 
 Asaph, with cymbals, to praise God by the hand of David, king of 
 Israel. And they sung together hymns and praise to the Lord, because 
 He is good ; for His mercy endureth forever. And all the people 
 shouted with a great shout, praising the Lord, because the foundations 
 of the temple of the Lord were laid." (Edras, Chap., iii.) 
 
 In the cornerstone was placed a glass jar hermetically sealed, con- 
 taining some American coins, some public documents regarding the 
 events that have occurred since the foundation of this Republic, and a 
 Latin inscription on parchment, in words of which the following is a 
 translation : 
 
 9 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. II, 9. 
 
S.'Jl) 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 In the Fear of the Redemption MDCCCXLIV, whilst the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, Gregory XVI, ruled the universal Church of Christ in the XIV 
 year of his Pontificate, John Tyler, Chief Magistrate, presiding over the 
 United States of America the LXYI1 year of American liberty happily 
 established, the State of Missouri having the Hon. M. M. Marmaduke, 
 acting Governor, the XVII of March being the IV Sunday of Lent, in 
 the evening, this first Stone- of the Temple about to be erected-to the 
 Lord Thrice Holy and Mighty-the Eternal Living God, under the in- 
 vocation-of St. Vincent of Paul, Cnnfe>snr. was duly and canonically laid. 
 by the Right Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, Bishop of St. Louis, the very 
 Rev. John Timon being Assistant Priest-Rev. Benedict Rous and Joseph 
 A. Lutz, being Assistant Priests — Rev. Benedict Roux and Joseph A. 
 Lutz, assistant Deacons, a numerous clergy — and the students of the 
 Seminary — were present; also, the Hibernian Benevolent Society, the 
 Catholic Temperance and Young Catholic's Friend Societies — had places 
 assigned, whilst — a vast concourse of people surrounded the spot." 10 
 
 St. Vincent's church was intended to serve both the English speaking 
 as well as the German Catholics of the South Side. St. Joseph's church 
 was destined for the use of the German Catholics of the North Side. 
 The Leopoldine Society took deep interest in these undertakings. 11 
 
 The building was consecrated by Bishop Kenrick on November 16th, 
 1845, assisted by the Jesuit Provincial Van de Velde and the pastor 
 of St. Vincent's the Rev. Thaddaeus Amat, C. M. and F. Seretta. The 
 solemn High-Mass coram episcopo was celebrated by Father Francis 
 Cellini. This year also marks the opening of the parish school, under the 
 direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph; Mother Delphine Fontbonne was 
 the first Superior, Father Francis X. Dahmen the first Director of the 
 School. Among the early priests attending St. Vincent's Church, the one 
 that endeared himself most to all classes of people was the saintly John 
 Gerard Uhland. 
 
 The propert.y on Marion Street, on which Bishop Rosati had intended 
 to build the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, was assigned by Bishop 
 Kenrick as a temporary home for the Sisters of the Visitation, whom 
 the great flood of 1844 had driven away from their convent at Kas- 
 kaskia. 
 
 The beginnings of St. Joseph's Church coincide with the large Ger- 
 man immigration of 1835-1850. In order to meet the spiritual wants of 
 these sturdy but poor Catholics who had their homes in the north- 
 western portion of the city, the Fathers of St. Louis University opened 
 for their use the Chapel of St. Aloysius, where the Fathers Helias, 
 Busschotts, Eysvogels and Emig labored faithfully among them, until 
 
 io "Missouri Republican, " March, 18, 1844. 
 ii Father James Duggan preached the sermon. 
 
The First Fruits of Bishop Kenrick's Solicitude 831 
 
 in 1844 Father James Cotting, a native of Switzerland, was appointed 
 pastor of the proposed new church to be erected under the invocation of 
 St. Joseph. 
 
 The first mention of St. Joseph's Church is taken from the Cath- 
 olic Cabinet, April 1844: 
 
 ' ' On the first of March a new Catholic church was commenced by the 
 Fathers of the Society of Jesus, on the corner of 11th and Biddle Streets, 
 destined for the German Catholics in the Avestern part of the city. 
 The church's dimensions are 100 feet long by 60 feet wide. It is on a 
 beautiful and elevated spot, measuring 150 feet by 100, being a donation 
 of Mrs. Anne Biddle of this city for that purpose. The ceremony of 
 blessing the cornerstone will take place this month." 12 
 
 The Provincial of the Western Province of the Society of Jesus 
 in America, Father James Van de Velde, on the 20th of March 1844 
 acknowledged the receipt of 10,000 florins from the Leopoldine Society 
 of Austria, and explains the various uses to which he had devoted this 
 generous gift : 
 
 "Father Helias received 2000 frs. for the benefit of his church at 
 Harrville (now Taos) . . . This church is to be the central point from 
 which he will visit the various other missions under his jurisdiction. 
 
 ' ' Father Busshotts also received 2000 frs. He intends to build next 
 Spring a church of brick in the little town of Washington, the main 
 place of his missions, as the old wooden chapel, situated two miles 
 from the town, is falling to pieces. 
 
 "Father Walters will use a part of 1,000 fr. that fell to his share, 
 for the purchase of a plat of ground for a church and divide the balance 
 among the missions dependent on Dardenne. 
 
 The remaining 5,000 frs. were intended to buy a suitable lot and to 
 erect upon it a church of brick for the use of the numerous German 
 Catholics, that heretofore worshiped in the little chapel of our Univer- 
 sity. A favorable stroke of fortune helped greatly to advance our pur- 
 pose. A wealthy and charitable lady of the city, whom I visited, offer- 
 ed me as a gift a fine parcel of land for the good work and I am now deter- 
 mined to make an immediate beginning with the 5,000 frs., of building 
 the church so very necessary for the Germans. We also asked for sub- 
 scriptions, but as the people are mostly of the poorer class, subscriptions 
 were not forthcoming in larger amounts : but many of the people of- 
 fered their labor in the work of excavating and raising the foundation. 
 Since March 4th, Avhen we started the work, they have been faithful in 
 the performance of what they promised." 13 The Father Provincial 
 
 12 "Catholic Cabinet," April, 1844. 
 
 13 "Bcrichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XVII, p. 38. 
 
832 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 was not disappointed in his expectations. As the Catholic Cabinet of 
 May 1844 informs us : 
 
 "On the 14th of April 1844 took place the ceremony of laying the 
 cornerstone of the new Catholic church, St. Joseph's in the northwestern 
 part of this city, destined for the use of the German Catholics. The 
 imposing rites of the occasion were witnessed by a great concourse of 
 people, who had assembled on the ground or accompanied the solemn 
 procession of the ecclesiastics from the Church of St. Francis Xavier. 
 The Hibernian Society attended with their banners, badges and music, 
 and also the children of the various Catholic Free Schools. The follow- 
 ing is the inscription on the parchment deposited in the corner stone. It 
 was in the Latin language, a translation of which into English we sub- 
 join : 
 
 "For the greater glory of God, the honor of the Catholic religion, 
 and the benefit of the faithful of this diocese, Gregory the XVI, being 
 Sovereign Pontiff; John Tyler, President of the United States; M. M. 
 Marmaduke, acting Governor of the State of Missouri ; in the 
 MDCCCXLIV year of our Redemption, theLXVIIof our Independence ; 
 on the first Sunday after Easter ; the day after the Ides of April, at the 
 request of the Very Rev. James Van de Velde, Provincial of the Society 
 of Jesus ; the Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, Bishop of St. Louis, 
 solemnly and canonically, laid and blessed the corner stone of this Temple 
 to be dedicated to the Triune God, under the invocation of St. Joseph. 
 The Very Rev. John Timon, Visitor Cong, of the Mission, being assistant 
 priest, and the Revs. Joseph Irissarri and John B. Druits, Soc. Jesus, 
 assistant deacons. The clergy of the city, the Catholic societies, and 
 a vast concourse of people assisting at the celebration." 14 
 
 ' ' The plan of the edifice was furnished by Mr. Geo. Purvis, architect. 
 It is to be of the Ionic order, with a portico supported by four fluted 
 columns, and with an octagonal turret and spire of beautiful design 
 and correct proportions. The foundations are already laid. The size 
 of the building will be 107 by 60 feet, and when completed, will furnish 
 accommodations for a large congregation and be an ornament to the 
 city. The Rev. Father Cotting, S. J. delivered the sermon on the oc- 
 casion in German, and paid an eloquent tribute to the generosity of Mrs. 
 Anne Biddle, who presented to the Society, the valuable lot on which the 
 church is to be erected." 15 
 
 A school for girls taught by the Sisters of Charity was opened 
 August 17, 1846, and for boys in 1848. The succession of pastors was : 
 
 
 14 "Catholic. Cabinet," January, 1844. The actual cost of St. Francis Xavier 
 Church was $40,000; that of St. Mary's $12,000 and that of the Cathedral $85,000, 
 as Canon Salzbacher states in 1845. 
 
 15 Ibidem. 
 
The First Fruits of Bishop Kenrick's Solicitude 833 
 
 James Cotting 1844-1846; John N. Hofbauer, 1846-1852; Joseph Pat- 
 schowski, 1854-1859; Joseph Weber, 1859-1869, Peter Tschieder, 1869- 
 1875 ; Frederic Hagemann, 1875-1881, a name that brings us down to 
 quite modern times. Besides the actual pastors, a goodly number of 
 other Priests of the Society of Jesus have labored at St. Joseph's. So 
 Father Martin Seisl, who founded the first German Catholic Paper in 
 St. Louis (1848) and greatly helped to build up the St. Vincent Orphan- 
 age. The famous Missionary Father F. N. Weninger, the two Fathers 
 Niederkorn, Francis Braun and Nicholas L. Schlechter, all men of dis- 
 tinction were among the number. 16 
 
 During the cholera epidemic of 1849 St. Joseph's Parish lost many 
 faithful members, at times, to the extent of ten to fifteen a day. To 
 provide for the many orphans of the German parishes St. Vincent's 
 Orphanage was founded, and the spiritual care of the bereaved ones 
 placed in the hands of the priests of St. Joseph \s. 
 
 Another memorable activity of the Fathers of St. Joseph's was 
 their colonization work performed during the first twenty years of the 
 parish. 
 
 Many German immigrants landing in St. Louis wished to settle on 
 farms. The Fathers of St. Joseph's who were in constant communica- 
 tion with their Jesuit brethren in the interior of the state, directed 
 the newcomers to Osage, Franklin, St. Charles, and adjoining Counties, 17 
 where they would find priests, churches and schools. Thus the numer- 
 ous flourishing parishes west and north of St. Louis sprang up, increased 
 and multiplied under the blessing of God. 
 
 Up to Sunday, the 25th of May 1845, the Cathedral had been the 
 Parish-Church for the entire City of St. Louis. On that day a pastoral 
 letter of the Bishop, addressed to the Catholics of St. Louis was read 
 in all the churches of this city, announcing the division of this portion of 
 the Diocese into four ecclesiastical districts or parishes, to be called 
 the parish of St. Louis, of St. Francis Xavier, of St. Patrick, and St. 
 Vincent de Paul, to which the limits designated in the following extract 
 from the pastoral, have been assigned. This arrangement is to come 
 into effect on the 1st of July, 1845. "The parish of St. Louis is 
 bounded by a line commencing at the western extremity of Chouteau Ave- 
 nue, and running in an eastward direction to its intersection with 
 Fifth Street ; thence in a southward direction through the middle of 
 Fifth Street to its termination on Carondelet Avenue, hence in a north- 
 easterly direction to the top of Wood Street, and thence through the 
 middle of Wood Sreet to the river ; thence in a northerly direction, coinci- 
 
 16 Chancery Records. 
 
 17 Report of St. Joseph's Church, St. Louis M. S. 
 
 Vol. 1—27 
 
834 
 
 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 dent with the city's eastern limit, to the foot of Laurel Street and 
 Washington Avenue, to the latter 's intersect ion with Fifth Street, thence 
 through the middle of Fifth Street to the intersection of this latter with 
 Olive Street, thence through the middle of Olive Street to its western 
 extremity, i. e., 18th Street, and from this point, coincident with the 
 western limit of the city, to the extremity of Chouteau Avenue. 
 
 "The parish of St. Francis Xavier will be bounded by a line com- 
 mencing from the middle point of Olive Street running eastwardly to 
 its intersection with Fifth Street; thence through the middle of Fifth 
 Street to its intersection with Franklin Avenue, from which point it 
 will run in a westernly direction through the middle of Franklin 
 Avenue to its Western extremity, Eighteenth Street, and from .this to 
 the western extremity of Olive Street. 
 
 "The Parish of St. Patrick will be bounded by a line drawn from 
 the western extremity of Franklin Avenue running eastwardly through 
 the middle of Franklin Avenue to its intersection with Fifth Street, 
 thence southwardly through the middle of Fifth Street to its intersec- 
 tion with Washington Avenue ; thence in an eastward direction through 
 the middle of Washington Avenue and Laurel Street to the river, and 
 thence proceeding northwardly, and coincident with the line bounding 
 the limits of the city, north of the one so drawn throxigh Franklin and 
 Laurel Street. 
 
 "The Parish of St. Vincent de Paid will include all that part of 
 the city south of the Southern limit of the Parish of St. Louis. 
 
 "To meet the wants of the German portion of the Catholic popula- 
 tion included within the parish of St. Louis, we hereby declare the 
 Church of Our Lady of Victory, in said parish a succursal church, or 
 chapel of ease to the above parish, for this portion of its Catholic in- 
 habitants and for these alone. We likewise declare the present chapel 
 of St. Aloysius, a chapel of ease for the German Catholic population 
 of the parishes of St. Francis Xavier and St. Patrick, until St. Joseph's 
 new church, now in the course of erection in this latter parish, be com- 
 pleted and no longer. When the church of St. Joseph shall be dedicated 
 to public worship, we hereby declare that it will be a chapel of ease 
 to the aforesaid parishes of St. Patrick and St. Francis Xavier, but only 
 the German Catholic population residing within said parishes. In these 
 succursal churches or chapels of ease, the reception of the Sacraments 
 and other religious duties can be complied with by those for whose ex- 
 clusive use we have assigned them, as validly and lawfully as in their 
 parish church. ' ' 18 This system of succursal churches or chapels of ease 
 
 18 "Catholic Cabinet, vol. Ill, I. Pastoral Letter May 1845. 
 
The First Fruits of Bishop Kenrick's Solicitude 835 
 
 introduced by Bishop Kenrick in 1845, was a cause of friction between 
 the various congregations of the city, and after a decree from Rome in 
 the matter, June 8th, 1887, was finally abrogated by Archbishop Kain, 
 in the Third Synod of St. Louis, 1896 : 
 
 "We declare that the parishes of other than the English languages, 
 German, Bohemian, Polish, shall be held as altogether equal to those 
 of the English language, and entirely independent of them, and that 
 there shall be no distinction between them in as far as parochial rights 
 and privileges are concerned." 19 
 
 19 Diocesan Synod of St. Louis III, p. 60. 
 
Chapter 3 
 THE DIOCESAN SEMINARY 
 
 On his arrival in Paris in April 1842 Bishop Rosati wrote among 
 a number of other important things a memorable sentence in regard 
 to the Seminary, over which he had presided so long, and which was 
 still his dearest place on earth : ' ' We must transfer the Seminary to 
 St. Louis and separate the diocesan Seminarians from those of the 
 Congregation of the Missions. A lady has given me land in one of the 
 suburbs, valued at 20,000 francs. I bought the tract next to it for the 
 same amount. There we shall build a church and a Seminary near the 
 church, both buildings are now fifteen feet high." 1 
 
 The place was called Soulard's Addition. Bishop Rosati had built 
 a row of small houses, on the tract, but some of them had been consumed 
 by flames, and building operations on the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
 which was to be the Seminary Church, had been suspended for lack of 
 means. 
 
 The transfer of professors and students was, however, effected in 
 1842, the Coadjutor Bishop and the Lazarist Visitor co-operating in the 
 most friendly spirit. The Catholic Almanac of 1843 reports: "The 
 Seminary heretofore connected with St. Mary's College, Perry County, 
 is now placed at St. Louis." 
 
 The Very Rev. John Timon, Visitor of the Congregation of the 
 Mission and Vicar General of St. Louis, Superior; Rev. Thaddaeus 
 Amat, C. M., and James Tiernan, C,. M., Professors. The* number of 
 theological students was six. None were admitted into the Seminary 
 but those capable of commencing the study of philosophy. 
 
 The Preparatory Seminary of St. Louis was conducted by the 
 Clerks du Saint Viateur, whom Bishop Rosati had lately sent to St. 
 Louis from their Motherhouse in France, and of whom Bishop Kenrick 
 wrote: "The Freres du St. Viateur have arrived. Three of them are 
 with Rev. Mr. Fontbonne at Carondelet, two are about to occupy a 
 house which Mrs. Biddle has placed at their disposition for two 
 years. - 
 
 The College of St. Mary's at the Barrens continued its educational 
 work under Father Hector Figari C. M. as President and the Vincentian 
 Fathers Joseph Paquin, John Larkins, J. B. Robert and J. B. Escoffier, 
 as professors. 
 
 i Rosati to the Propagation of the Faith, Paris, April 14, 1842. 
 2 Kenrick to Rosati, February 20, 1842, Archives of St. Louis Archdiocese. 
 
 (836) 
 
The Diocesan Seminary 837 
 
 The Preparatory Seminary of the Clerks du Viateur, at Caron- 
 delet, however, proving a sad failure, another great change was made 
 at the Barrens, which the following announcement, will explain : 
 
 "On the 1st of May, 1843, under the patronage of Bishop Kenrick, 
 Coadjutor Bishop of St. Louis, St. Mary's Seminary, Perry County, 
 Missouri, was appropriated solely to the reception and instruction of 
 youth, who feel a desire to prepare themselves for the Sacred ministry 
 and who give some indications that God has called them to so holy a 
 state." 3 
 
 "The department of collegiate studies for secular pursuits will 
 be removed to Cape Girardeau, so that the clerical students alone 
 will remain at St. Mary's of the Barrens," was the annoucement made 
 by Father Hector Figari, C. M., the President of the College, about 
 to be transported to Cape Girardeau. 
 
 During the first two years Fathers Amat, Paquin and Dahmen 
 conducted the Seminary at St. Louis, with eight and then sixteen 
 students in attendance, whilst the Visitor resided at the Barrens. Father 
 Thaddeus Amat was a Spaniard of very dark complexion and medium 
 sized figure. He was a rather rigid disciplinarian and consequently 
 not very popular with the students. But he was a just man, a sound 
 scholar and an excellent professor. In 1854 Father Amat was made 
 Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. 
 
 A short time after, John O'Hanlon', the future Canon of Dublin, 
 entered the Theological Seminary of St. Louis, and 1843, the Very 
 Reverend Joseph Paquin, a native of Florissant, became Superior at 
 St. Louis, Father Amat having been transferred to the Barrens. The 
 students were fifteen in number, and all, with the exception of one 
 Italian, two Frenchmen and one native Kentuckian, had made their 
 preparatory course in some Irish College. Archbishop Kenrick, in ac- 
 cordance with his earlier sentiment addressed to Bishop Rosati : ' ' We 
 need German and English-speaking priests," obtained three separate con- 
 tingents from Germany through the persuasiveness of his Vicar-General 
 Joseph Melcher, and a steady stream of English-speaking helpers through 
 his own personal efforts at Maynooth and Carlow, in Ireland. Both were 
 very successful, not only in regard to numbers, but also as to the quality 
 of these acquisitions. "There is," as Bishop England informed Bishop 
 Rosati in 1832, "a greater number of candidates for orders than the 
 Irish Church requires and each Bishop selects at examinations those 
 whom he thinks most useful for his diocese. Amongst the remainder are 
 several excellent subjects, the better amongst them are in the habit 
 of then offering for the English Missions; and a few have gone across 
 
 3 Church Directory for 1843. 
 
838 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 the Atlantic, but generally these last were those who had least hopes 
 in Europe. The Irish Prelates are now disposed to give a preference 
 to the church of the province and to afford us every aid to secure 
 good priests." 4 Archbishop Kenrick, no doubt, enjoyed this preference 
 in an eminent degree, as the many "excellent subjects" he obtained 
 from Ireland for his Seminary would prove. 
 
 Father Melcher's first band of young levites had not as yet arrived 
 at the time of which John O'Hanlon wrote, giving us the following 
 pleasant glimpses of student life at the St. Louis Seminary, in those 
 far off days: 
 
 "Our Seminary had been located within the Soulard Addition, 
 in St. Louis — the estate of a Creole Catholic gentleman, whose fine 
 brick mansion was near us — At one of the evening recreations, Father 
 Timon came in to meet the assembled students, and he informed us, 
 that soon we might be in preparation for flitting to Monsieur Soulard 's 
 fine house ; that a large plot had been secured on which foundations 
 and walls had been already placed, that these should be torn down 
 and transferred to another site, where the present church of St. Vincent 
 de Paul stands. About this time, also, the slight rafters supporting 
 the plank flooring of our temporary church had given way on Sunday, 
 while a numerous congregation was present. A panic ensued. Several 
 persons having been seriously injured in their eagerness to escape 
 through the doors and windows. High Mass had been interrupted until 
 something like order was effected ; and it was found that only in one 
 particular section the floor had sunk down for a few feet. To save 
 expense the Seminarians unanimously proposed to Fathers Timon and 
 Paquin, that they should have a holiday, that picks, crowbars and 
 shovels might be borrowed, while they engaged to level the walls, 
 and to root up the foundation stones, so that they could be carried away 
 to the new site. Permission was obtained, and the very next day all 
 went cheerfully to work. A perfect demolition was effected before the 
 day was far advanced, and not one stone was left upon another, except 
 in a loose state, and separated from mortar or cement. 
 
 ' ' The new house and its garden were soon ready for our reception, 
 and with all expedition we removed our furniture and effects to a much 
 better site. . . 
 
 "In the year 1839, the foundation for a new and large church had 
 been laid beside our former seminary ; and in the humble chapel of the 
 Holy Trinity 5 attached, English speaking and German congregations 
 
 4 Bishop England's correspondence with Bishop Bosati, "Illinois Catholic His- 
 torical Beview," vol. IX, p. 268. 
 
 5 O'Hanlon wrote "St. Mary's Chapel," but that it a palpable mistake as 
 St. Mary's Chapel was near the Cathedral. 
 
The Diocesan Seminary 839 
 
 met at stated hours. Now we had uprooted all those foundations, and 
 the stones had been carted away to the better site selected. A new design 
 was formed, and an edifice cruciform in shape was planned. Great 
 preparations were made to have all things in readiness to lay the 
 foundation stone on the 17th of March 1844 — under the invocation 
 and title of St. Vincent de Paul. . . . 
 
 "Meanwhile our new church was progressing, while our Sundays 
 and Holydays were still spent in the old chapel, during the hours of 
 High Mass and Vespers. 
 
 "In the summer of 1845, the latter was abandoned and the former 
 was opened for Divine Service." 
 
 The Seminary of St. Louis, now established in the fine old Mansion 
 of the Soulards, continued under the rectorship of Father Paquin, 
 whom Canon O'Hanlon describes as "a most amiable man who, whilst 
 training the students in piety, delighted in promoting cheerfulness 
 and hilarity." In the Spring of 1844, his Superior, Father Timon 
 spoke in his presence about the arduous and painful mission of Texas, 
 and the difficulty of providing for the needs of the people there, when 
 Father Paquin exclaimed: "Lo, here I am send me." His generous 
 offer was accepted and in a short while Father Paquin was on his 
 way to Galveston. The yellow fever was raging in the towns of southern 
 Texas. Houston called for his ministrations, but ere he could answer the 
 call, he himself was stricken and died of the dread disease, August 
 13th, 1844. 
 
 The two Spanish Vincentians, Jerome Cercos and Joseph J. Saretta, 
 who served as professors under the Rector Joseph Paquin, "were able 
 to tell many interesting stories respecting the war in Spain." Both 
 were forced by the revolutionists to fly from their native land, and 
 to seek refuge in the motherhouse of their Congregation in Paris, from 
 where they were sent to the mission in St. Louis. Father Cercos died 
 at Cape Girardeau, on March 28th, 1845. Shortly before that date 
 (February 4th) the Congregation of the Mission suffered another loss 
 in the death of Father John B. Robert, one of the French clergymen 
 that had accompanied Father Odin to America in 1835, and had served 
 as professor on the staff of St. Mary 's Seminary. 
 
 But of all the professors of that time at the St. Louis Diocesan 
 Seminary, it was Francis X. Dahmen, the German cavalry soldier of 
 Napoleon's great campaigns, that won the highest degree of love and 
 admiration from his youthful friends, not only by the glamour of his 
 early military career, but even more so, by his undoubted courage, his 
 
 s "Life and Scenery in Missouri, Reminiscences of a Missionary Priest," 
 Dublin, 1890, p. 88. 
 
840 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 strict sense of honor and his integrity of character. His roughness 
 never trenched on rudeness, his courtesy was no mere form, hut the 
 unstudied product of a natural kindness of heart. It is to Father 
 Dahmen's great credit that he used his fluency in German speech for 
 the benefit of the German immigrants of Ste. Genevieve and St. 
 Louis. 
 
 Before the completion of St. Vincent's College at Cape Girardeau 
 the Preparatory Seminary for the education of youthful aspirants 
 to the priesthood, as well as a novitiate of the Vincentians, was 
 established in the former mansion of the Spanish Governor on the 
 bank of the Mississippi . . . Rev. Michael Domenec, CM., afterwards 
 Bishop of Pittsburgh, was Superior of the Seminary, and Rev. James 
 Rollando, C. M., was Master of Novices. In 1843 the College of St. 
 Vincent was occupied by the students from the Barrens, whilst the 
 "Little Seminary'' and the Novitiate were transferred to the Barrens. 
 Of Joseph Rosati's three foundations in the Barrens, the Diocesan 
 Seminary was now in St. Louis, the College was at Cape Girardeau, 
 and only the Novitiate of the Order remained in the old place. 
 
 In 1848, the Diocesan Seminary of St. Louis was established by 
 Archbishop Kenrick at a new 7 place and under a new management. The 
 new place was the ancient village of Carondelet w T hich had grown up 
 on the very site of the first settlement of Europeans in Missouri, and 
 the new management was composed of secular priests. 
 
 "The start was made with twelve students. But there were thirty- 
 two others in the Preparatory Seminary of St. Mary's Perryville, 
 of whom tw T enty were maintained and educated at the expense of the 
 diocese, five on a perpetual foundation made by the late John Mul- 
 lanphy, Esq., and the remaining seven at the expense of their parents 
 or other guardians." 7 
 
 In February 1849 the Archbishop wrote: "The Theological Semi- 
 nary of St. Louis has been transferred to Carondelet. where, under the 
 direction of three competent Professors, eight young men are engaged 
 in the study of Philosophy and Theology — the building occupied as 
 a seminary not admitting a greater number. As it wall be necessary, 
 in the course of this year, to transfer to the Seminary at Carondelet 
 a considerable number of those who are at present in the Seminary 
 at Perryville, and who will have completed their preparatory studies, 
 we find ourselves obliged to make additions to the small building which 
 is now occupied as a Seminary. To meet these various expenditures we 
 have no other resource than your cordial and general co-operation, a 
 
 7 Pastoral Letter, February 1849, p. 6. 
 
The Diocesan Seminary 841 
 
 co-operation you can afford without interfering with, any local want, or 
 imposing on yourselves anything that can be called burdensome. " 8 
 
 In 1847, the Eev. James Duggan, ordained on May 29th, of that 
 year, had been appointed acting President until the arrival of Father 
 Anthony 'Regan. The new President had been Rector of St. Jarlath 's 
 College, Tuam, but had offered his services to Archbishop Kenrick 
 in like capacity. Father Duggan remained with Father 'Regan. The 
 Seminary building was given to the Archbishop by Mrs. Lawless. It 
 was a large new house standing in a spacious garden, near the Convent 
 of the Sisters of St. Joseph. 9 
 
 In 1848 the Society of the Propagation of the Faith remembered 
 the diocese of St. Louis with a remittance of $8600., and then for the 
 next four years with an average contribution of $2100. But in 1854 
 the Archbishop announced the following : 
 
 "The aid hitherto supplied to this diocese by the Association for 
 the Propagation of the Faith, will hereafter be no longer afforded. AVe 
 have received official notice of the fact, which may be attributed to 
 the impression entertained by the Directors of that Association, that 
 St. Louis ought to be able to supply its own wants, as well as to the 
 increasing calls on the funds raised in Europe for the support of 
 Foreign Missions. While we acquiesced in the reasonableness of this 
 determination, we cannot but feel the withdrawal of a resource which, 
 hitherto, has principally enabled us to support the Theological Seminary 
 of this Diocese." 10 
 
 While the Very Rev. Dr. 'Regan and his assistant professor," 
 as Canon O'Hanlon informs us, "taught the classes of Logic, Meta- 
 physics and Ethics, of Dogmatic and Moral Theology, as also of Ritual 
 and Liturgy; His Grace, the Archbishop, lectured likewise, on Natural 
 Philosophy and Science, as also, on Sacred Scripture and Canon Law, 
 on those days when he regularly visited Carondelet. . . . 1X 
 
 As to his own connection with the Seminary Canon O'Hanlon 
 writes: "While I was acting in the capacity of assistant at St. John's 
 church, the Archbishop was accustomed twice each week to drive in a bug- 
 gy from St. Louis to Carondelet ; he expressed a desire I should accom- 
 pany him on those days he drove to the Seminary, to give lectures to the 
 students in English Literature, Rhetoric and Composition. I was de- 
 lighted to comply. ... As the post of assistant professor at the Semi- 
 
 s Pastoral Letter, February 1849. 
 
 9 Savage, Sr. M. Lueida, ' ' The Congregation of St. Joseph of Caronde- 
 let," p. 98. 
 
 10 Pastoral Letter of 1852. 
 
 11 "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 227. 
 
842 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 nary became vacant, about the commencement of September, 1851, and 
 as I had been applied to by Very Rev. Dr. O'Regar to accept it, at 
 the request of his Grace, the Archbishop : I now left my charge in 
 St. Louis, and went to reside at Carondelet. There I became Prefect 
 of Studies, and in addition to my English classes, I had those of 
 Logic, Metaphysics, and Ethics, as also those of Sacred Ceremonies and 
 Ritual, with Sacred Scripture. Besides I had to discharge the duties of 
 Chaplain for the Sisters of St. Joseph at their convent in the town; 
 celebrate Mass for them each morning in their chapel, as likewise to 
 give catechetical instruction, to the young ladies educated there, once 
 in each week. . . 
 
 "Occasionally on Sundays, I went into the city at the Archbishop's 
 request to preach in the Cathedral, but seldom otherwise ; for, our city 
 friends were frequent visitors to our Seminary, while our servant and 
 van-driver supplied us with necessaries for the house or conveyed 
 messages. At intervals we had visits from some remarkable strangers. 
 I recollect, while there, the distinguished Orestes A. Brownson, a 
 Catholic convert and litterateur, had come to St. Louis where he delivered 
 a course of lectures, and he had been invited with the Archbishop, by 
 Rev. Dr. 'Regan to dine at our Seminary. 
 
 Toward the close of 1852 we had accessions to our ecclesiastical 
 staff, in the persons of two very talented and distinguished young 
 deacons, Rev. Patrick A. Feehan and Rev. Patrick John Ryan. They 
 were destined to remain at the Seminary until of age for ordination 
 as priests. They had made excellent studies in their respective colleges 
 of Maynooth and Carlow, so they were now required to take charge of 
 the various classes assigned to each. This work undertaken by them 
 afforded to myself a welcome relief, and a change once more for the 
 city of St. Louis. I continued to discharge my duties at the Seminary, 
 until the 16th of November, 1852, when I returned to my former 
 position, as assistant to the Rev. Patrick O'Brien, still the pastor of 
 St. John's Church." 12 
 
 In 1850 the number of students was twenty-four. Towards the 
 end of 1851, the Archbishop, was seriously thinking of discontinuing 
 his Seminary, but was encouraged by his brother to reject the plan : 
 "The thought of giving up your Seminary does not please me. A 
 Metropolitan See needs such a support to which the other sees may 
 come." 13 
 
 When the see of Chicago, became vacant through the resignation of 
 Bishop Van de Velde, Father Anthony 'Regan, the President of the 
 
 12 O'Hanlon, "Life and Scenery in Missouri," pp. 227-229. 
 
 is Kenriok-Frenave Correspondence, p. 356. 
 
The Diocesan Seminary 843 
 
 Seminary, was proposed by the Kenricks as the first choice. "There 
 is nothing against him but a weak voice," wrote Francis Patrick of 
 Baltimore. At the appointment of Father O 'Regan as successor to 
 Bishop Van de Velde, July 25th, 1854, the presidency of the Seminary 
 devolved upon Father Feehan. 
 
 The Very Reverend Patrick Augustin Feehan was born August 
 28th, 1829, in County Tipperary. After completing a five years course 
 at the College of Maynooth, the young levite received an invitation from 
 the Archbishop of St. Louis to come to his diocese. Arriving in the 
 city he was sent to the Seminary at Carondelet to prepare for his 
 ordination, which took place on November 1st, 1852. From the time 
 of his entering the ministry Father Feehan taught in the Seminary 
 until July 1853, when he was appointed as assistant to Father O'Brien 
 of St. John's Church, where he received a severe training in missionary 
 life. 
 
 A terrible cholera epidemic raged in the city, which called forth 
 all the self-sacrifice of the devoted young priest. Days and nights 
 were spent in administering the sacraments and consoling the poor 
 sufferers ; sometimes even preparing them for burial, when kindred 
 and friends deserted them. It was from St. John's Parish that Father 
 Feehan was sent to the Theological Seminary in Carondelet to succeed 
 Rev. Anthony 'Regan. He served as president for three years, taught 
 Moral Theology and Sacred Seripture. and also preached once a month 
 in the Cathedral of St. Louis. Fathers John Hennessy and James 
 Scott served under him as professors. "He was then as now," said 
 Bishop John Hennessy. "kind, gentle, amiable, and a great favorite 
 with students and professors. He was loved by all who knew him well 
 enough to appreciate his rare qualities." 14 
 
 Father Feehan was appointed pastor of St. Michael's Church 
 in St. Louis in July 1858. 
 
 Soon after the departure of Father Feehan from Carondelet, the 
 St. Louis Seminary, as conducted by secular priests came to an end. 
 The last Rector was Father John Hennessy. the future Archbishop 
 of Dubuque, and one of the great pulpit orators of his day. 
 
 John Hennessy came to St. Louis from Ireland, a student, about 
 1847. He made his philosophicrl and theological studies partly with 
 the Lazarists at St. Vincent's Church, and partly in the Diocesan 
 Seminary at Carondelet. He was ordained priest on the 1st of November, 
 1850. After exercising the functions of the minstry in New Madrid 
 and Kirkwood, in the Diocese of St. Louis, he became Professor of 
 Dogmatic Theology in the Diocesan Seminary, a position which he 
 
 14 Kirkfleet, "The Life of Patrick Augustine Feehan." p. 26. 
 
844 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 filled for three years. He was then President of the Seminary for one 
 year, when he was commissioned by the Archbishop and the Suffragan 
 Bishops to bear the Decrees of the Second Provincial Council of St. 
 Louis to Kome. 
 
 The diocesan Seminary of St. Louis herewith ceased to exist. 
 But the Lazarist Fathers had all these years conducted a College at 
 Cape Girardeau in their spacious building on the river bank, which 
 now had to undergo the change from a secular to a clerical institution. 
 The Rev. Thomas J. Smith was its President at the time, but soon after 
 became the Visitor of the Western Province of the Lazarists. 
 
 "In 1857, St. Vincent's College was converted into a seminary 
 for the education of candidates for the priesthood. It was hoped the 
 institution would develop into a great provincial seminary. The Bishops 
 of the St. Louis Province, some of them at least, had promised it their 
 patronage, and the superiors of the Lazarists were, of course, most 
 anxious for the success of the institution. But in the course of time, 
 owing to the fact that the Bishops withdrew their patronage, to a certain 
 extent, owing also to the breaking out of the great Civil War and the 
 bad name of Soiitheast Missouri for health, the institution did not 
 continue to prosper. 
 
 "At one time the number of students was down as low as seven- 
 teen." 
 
 The great war of the rebellion was casting its shadow before. 
 North and South had their adherents ; and even among the chosen ones 
 of God, brother rose in strife against brother. 
 
 One of the most distinguished professors the Seminary at Cape 
 Girardeau then had was the Poet-Priest of the South "who, after the 
 war broke out, followed the ' ' Sword of Lee " " through victory and defeat, 
 until the Conquered banner was furled at Appomattox." 15 One of 
 the diocesan students from St. Louis, Christopher Linnenkamp, the 
 future Vicar General of Kansas City, had a misunderstanding with one 
 of the professors about the war, and in consequence left the Seminary 
 for the Salesianum near Milwaukee. From that time on until the 
 restablishment of the diocesan Seminary under the Lazarist Fathers 
 in 1893, the bulk of the theological students of St. Louis were sent to 
 the Salesianum at St. Francis near Milwaukee, the great foundation 
 of Dr. Joseph Salzmann and Father Michael Heiss. Others attended 
 St. Mary's at Baltimore, and only a small number the St. Vincent's 
 Seminary at Cape Girardeau. 
 
 1 5 Abram J. Byan, the poet of the "Conquered Banner" and many another 
 beautiful poem. A fine appreciation of the poet may be found in "Good Counsel," 
 for October 1928. 
 
Chapter i 
 NORTHEAST MISSOURI 
 
 The wonderful growth of the Church in the State of Missouri 
 during the first half of Peter Richard Kenrick's administration is 
 mainly due, under the Providence of God, to the unprecedented influx 
 of Catholics from foreign lands into the new land of glorious promise : 
 but that they were saved for the Church, and organized and consolidated 
 into vigorous parishes is due in a large measure to the missionaries 
 they found on the spot, or that followed them into every nook and 
 corner of the State, especially from Ireland and Germany. These people 
 came in thousands, annually, bringing with them the faith, tried and true, 
 a faith which had been tried in the crucible of suffering and sacrifice ; 
 a faith which had become part of them, almost. They were too well 
 accustomed to the sacrifices that had to be made at home for the sake 
 of religion to hesitate when called upon to rally to the support of the 
 same Creed here. They gave gladly, and in giving, cemented anew the 
 bond of love and affection that had held them faithful to their Church 
 and faith, in their fatherland. Those two peoples were signally blessed 
 above all other European immigrants, in that priests of their own race, 
 and tongue accompanied them and zealously ministered to their wants 
 in the. land of their adoption. 1 
 
 i Cf. the beautiful passage from Bishop McQuaid's Sermon before the Fathers 
 of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore : ' ' The first immigrants coming in large 
 numbers were from Ireland. Of all the peoples of Europe they were the best fitted 
 to open the way for religion in a new country. Brave by nature, inured to poverty 
 and hardship, just released from a struggle unto death for the faith, accustomed to 
 the practice of religion in its simplest forms, cherishing dearly their priests whom 
 they had learned to support directly, actively engaged in building humble chapels 
 on the sites of ruined churches and in replacing altars, they were not appalled by the 
 wretchedness of religious equipments and surroundings in their new homes on this 
 side of the Atlantic. The priest was always the priest, no matter where they found 
 him, or from what country he had come; the Mass was always the Mass, no matter 
 where it was offered up. . . . 
 
 Quickly following the Irish came the Germans from all parts of the fatherland. 
 They, too, were a sturdy race, able to hold their own. Many of them had also known 
 persecution for religion 's sake ; most of them remembered the stories of bloody 
 times which had come down to them among the traditions of their hearths. They 
 were prompt to rival their Irish brethren in building up the Church. At home they 
 had their old parish churches, with the chants and ceremonial, which lend to religion 
 much that is consoling and instructive. The religious traditions and glories of the 
 old land they have sought to emulate in this. Better than all, they have stood fast by 
 the duty of maintaining Christian schools for Christian children. There is much that 
 they can copy from the Irish, and much that the Irish can learn from the Germans. 
 Both have bravely led the way in the Church's march." Memorial Volume, p. 168. 
 
 (845) 
 
846 I list 'or y of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 The natural increase, even if all the children had been saved, would 
 have been comparatively small. And then, there is a strong probability, 
 that if the Catholic backbone of these natives had not been strengthened 
 by the generous Catholic spirit of the new arrivals, it might have grown 
 pliant and at last given way to the surrounding influences. To the 
 Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany and to their devoted 
 priests, who cither accompanied them on the voyage, or followed them 
 soon after their departure, the Catholic Church of the State is indebted 
 for its rapid growth and continued stability. 
 
 Peter Richard Kenrick saw at a glance that, as far as the diocese 
 of St. Louis was concerned, the French language was doomed, and that 
 English as the language of the country, and German, as the language 
 of about one half of the Catholics of his diocese, both were in the 
 ascendant. Hence he insisted so earnestly in writing to the absent 
 Rosati : "We want English and German priests." To him the salus 
 populi was ever the supreme law. Mere sentiment held a very inferior 
 place in his judgments and acts. 
 
 The acquisition of English-speaking and German priests for his 
 diocese was, at the time of which Ave are writing, one of the main con- 
 cerns of Bishop Kenrick \s life. During the period of time intervening 
 between the beginning of his Coadjutorship and his elevation to the 
 archiepiscopal throne Bishop Kenrick ordained the following gentlemen 
 for his diocese : 
 
 On August 25th, 1842 Reverend Joseph Kuenster 
 
 On August 25th, 1842 Reverend Patrick McCabe 
 
 On August 25th, 1842 Reverend Thomas Cusack 
 
 On December 8th, 1842 Reverend Michael Carroll 
 
 On September 23rd, 1843 Reverend James Murphy 
 
 On April 25th, 1845 Reverend William Wheeler 
 
 On May 17th. 1845 Reverend Patrick O'Brien 
 
 On May 17th, 1845 Reverend Bernard Donnelly 
 
 On September 21st, 1845 Reverend Thomas Scanlan 
 
 On September 21st, 1845 Reverend Dennis Byrne 
 
 On September 21st, 1845 Reverend John Higginbotham 
 
 On May 29th, 1845 Reverend James Duggan 
 
 On May 29th, 1845 Reverend Patrick Ward 
 
 On May 29th, 1845 Reverend John O'Hanlon 2 
 
 It will be noticed that this list contains, with one exception, only Irish 
 names. There were at the time no German subjects available for 
 ordination, as Father Melcher's first caravan of theological students, 
 will not be ready for the Order of priesthood, until 1848. 
 
 Chancery Records. 
 
Northeast Missouri 847 
 
 The various ordinations of members of the Lazarist and Jesuit 
 communities are also reserved for another chapter. We would, however, 
 add to this list of honor the names of another one of our early Irish 
 priests, who received holy Orders in August 1840, at the hands of 
 Bishop Mathias Loras of Dubuque : the Reverend John Cotter. 
 
 As the Fathers Joseph Kuenster, Patrick McCabe and Michael 
 Carroll were, immediately after their ordination, assigned to the 
 mission field of Illinois, which in 1844 became a separate diocese, we 
 will not have much to say about them. 
 
 Father Kuenster was appointed pastor of Belleville, and as much 
 became a member of the diocese of Chicago. 
 
 Father McCabe was sent to Alton in 1843 and transferred to 
 Prairie du Long in 1843. 
 
 Father Carroll succeeded to the pastorship in Alton in 1843. 
 
 Of the remaining Fathers. William Wheeler, Patrick O'Brien, 
 and John Higginbothan were appointed to the parishes of St. Patrick, 
 St. John and St. Michael in the city where they immortalized their 
 names by faithful and efficient services, as the sequel will show. 
 
 Father John Cotter obtained the ancient Church of Old Mines, 
 with its dependencies. 
 
 The Fathers Thomas Cusack and Dennis Byrne were commissioned 
 to establish the widely separated missions of northeast Missouri on 
 a firmer basis ; and the Fathers Bernard Donnelly, Thomas Scanlan 
 and Patrick AVard were to do the same service on the western border 
 of the state and in the newly acquired triangle of land called the 
 Platte Purchase. 
 
 It had been weighing heavily on Bishop Kenrick's mind, that vast 
 stretches of land in the interior of the state were still terra incognitao, 
 in as far as religion was concerned: "The diocese of St. Louis which 
 embraces the entire State of Missouri : and the Indian Territory to the 
 West, is one of the largest in the United States;" he wrote to the 
 Leopoldine Society on December 10th, 1844, "The Catholic population is 
 estimated to be 50,000 souls, of whom at least one third are immigrants 
 from the various parts of Germany. This population is spread unequally 
 over the State. The larger portion dwells in the cities, or at least, 
 in the vicinity of the cities, on the borders of the Mississippi and 
 Missouri Rivers. Owing to this circumstance and the relatively small 
 number of priests at my disposal, we know but little of the interior 
 of the state; but I know positively, that many Catholics live there 
 dispersed among the non-catholics. In spite of my earnest wish, I was 
 not able until now, to send out missionaries, to explore more accurately 
 this part of my diocese." 3 
 
 'Beriehte der Leopoldinen Stiftung," Heft XVIII, p. 61. 
 
848 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Bishop Kenrick 's desire was now to be realized, at least in part. 
 
 The six Missouri Counties bordering on the Mississippi down from 
 the Iowa state line to the County of St. Charles, Clark, Lewis, Marion, 
 Ralls, Pike and Lincoln, which were first evangelized by thai irrepress- 
 ible Flemish missionary, Peter Paul Lefevere, were, after Father 
 Lefevere's elevation to the episcopal dignity in Detroit, taken over a 
 band of young generous Irish priests, most of them ordained by Bishop 
 Kenrick since 1842. The leader of the movement was Father Thomas 
 Cusack, who immediately after his ordination, took up his abode at the 
 center of Father Lefevere's wide missionary district, St. Paul's on Salt 
 Biver, Balls County. 
 
 From here he made excursions to Indian Creek in Monroe County, 
 North Santa Fe in Clark County, Palmyra and Hannibal in Marion 
 County, and to the less noted missions. In 1845, however, he moved 
 to the more promising parish of St. Stephen at Indian Creek, a large 
 settlement of Kentucky Catholics that had built a little church and 
 school house. Near Indian Creek there w 7 as a German Congregation 
 which Father Cusack was wont to visit, as also the American Congre- 
 gation at Brush Creek in Balls County. 4 
 
 On one of Bishop Kenrick 's Confirmation trips in the Fall of 1845, 
 Father Cusack saved the Bishop from drowning in one of the swollen 
 rivers, into which the prelate had fallen from his carriage. In 1851, 
 Father Cusack was transferred to Marshall in Saline County, south of the 
 Missouri Biver, where a pretty frame church crowned the summit of 
 a hill on the state road leading from Paris in Monroe County. 5 
 
 In 1853 Father Cusack became pastor of Jefferson City and had for 
 his Assistant the Bev. Joseph Blaarer. In 1854 he took up missionary 
 work among the Irish laborers on the railroad between Herman and 
 Jefferson City. 
 
 His genial ways made him a welcome guest, and a great power for 
 good, among the hardworking, but often rather rollicking Irishmen. 
 Father Cusack died in Mullanphy Hospital, St. Louis, on February 
 28th, 1887. 
 
 Father Cusack 's successor at Salt Biver was Father James Murphy 
 Jr. who assumed charge in 1845. His missions were Louisiana in Pike 
 County and Mudd Settlement in Lincoln, whilst North Santa Fe, 
 Edina, Mudd Settlement in Scotland County, were attended by the 
 two Lazarist Fathers, Thomas Burke and J, De Marchi. But in the 
 
 4 O'Hanlon, "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 288. 
 
 5 This refers to Arrow Bock, celebrated in romantic song and story, once 
 a famous trading post on the Sante Fe Trail, now the center of a State Park 
 on Highway Xo. 41, a place of which Father Cusack was pastor in 1S50. 
 
Northeast Missouri 849 
 
 following year Father Denis Byrne was intrusted with the missions 
 that surrounded the town of North Santa Fe, in Clark County, near 
 the Iowa border. This place was the starting point of the Santa Fe 
 Trail, the great commercial highway to the Spanish possessions in the 
 Southwest. 
 
 There was a church here dedicated to the Apostle of Ireland. The 
 stations depending on it were Edina, in Knox Co., Mudd Settlement 
 in Scotland Co., and the river-towns, Tully and Alexandria. 
 
 In 1852 Father Byrne chose for his place of residence the pros- 
 perous town of Edina in the heart of Knox County, where he had easy 
 communication by rail in all directions. Here he remained until June 
 11th, 1856. 
 
 In 1848, on September 3rd, Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick was 
 invested with the pallium in St. John's Church in Philadelphia at the 
 hands of his brother, Francis Patrick. In the same year Father Kobert 
 Wheeler was assigned to St. Alphonsus Church, Millwood, with Louisi- 
 ana and Louisville as outmission. In the following year St. Paul's at Salt 
 River was placed in charge of Father John 'Hanlon. Father Cusack 's 
 former mission at Hannibal and Palmyra were now attached to 
 St. Paul's. 
 
 Father John 'Hanlon comes before us as one of the most dis- 
 tinguished members of the clergy of St. Louis. His first appointment 
 was St. Patrick's Church at Armagh in Franklin County with which 
 the mission of Downpatrick, now Pacific, was connected. Both Congre- 
 gations were organized in 1843 by the former missionary in Arkansas, 
 Father- Peter Richard Donnelly. The church at Downpatrick was 
 dedicated in honor of St. Bridget. But ere long Father 'Hanlon w r as 
 called to the Cathedral, as assistant, ostensibly, but mainly to fill the 
 post of editor for the new Catholic paper called the "Neivs Letter," 
 for which the Archbishop wrote some of his best historical articles. 
 
 It was the time of the Mexican war. As a large military force, 
 mostly Irish and German Catholics, had been assembled at Jefferson 
 Barracks, Father 'Hanlon with two other priests, were sent to give 
 them a mission, at the end of which a very large number of the 
 soldier boys received holy Communion, "with all the external appear- 
 ances of recollection .and devotion." 
 
 The St. Louis News Letter was not a financial success and, in April 
 1848, was forced to suspend publication : so its editor was free for other 
 employment. The town of Hannibal, on the southeastern corner of 
 Marion County, had petitioned Archbishop Kenrick for a resident 
 priest. There was no church-building there as yet, but the little band 
 of Catholics in and around the town promised to build one, if their 
 wish were gratified. There were two important congregations within 
 
850 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 reach of Hannibal: Palmyra in the same Comity, and St. Paul's on 
 Salt River to the south. Of these three places St. Paul's, though an 
 inland settlement, was in matter of religion, far superior to the other 
 two places. 
 
 Father O'Hanlon chose Hannibal as the more favorable location. 
 As a fair sample of what missionary life in northern Missouri was in 
 the forties of the nineteenth century, a brief review of the many 
 vivid glimpses of his own experiences which the facile pen of Canon 
 O'Hanlon has enshrined in his dear little book 'Life and Scenery 
 in Missouri,'' will not, we hope, be out of place here. For although the 
 author, probably writing from memory, is not always exact in his 
 statements, we have compared those we quote with the official accounts, 
 and found them trustworthy and true to life. Taking leave of St. 
 Louis, Father O'Hanlon boarded the steamer towards evening on May 
 8th, 1848, and within a few hours, passed the spot where "the Missouri 
 enters the Mississippi with the pride of a conqueror." The night fell 
 on the broad waters. At early dawn Clarksville on the Missouri shore 
 appeared, then Louisiana, a thriving town, handsomely situated and 
 well built town." A little farther north appeared the mouth of Salt 
 River. At last the boat approached the rising town of Hannibal. At 
 the landing the missionary was heartily greeted by Mr. Henry Harrison, 
 an American convert to the Faith, and John J. Dowling a staunch 
 Catholic Irishman. It was at the hospitable home of Mr. Harrison 
 that Father O'Hanlon was entertained during his stay in the northern 
 mission. A room in the house was assigned to him for his own personal 
 use, and in close proximity to the house, a temporary structure of wood 
 was fitted up for a chapel. Specidation was then rife in Hannibal as 
 to a railway projected, and since constructed, between that city and St. 
 Joseph on the Upper Missouri. 
 
 Four distinct congregations were now dependent on the new 
 shepherd of souls : 
 
 Hannibal, Palmyra, Salt River and Millwood. On the first Sunday 
 of each month Mass was held at Hannibal, on the second Sunday at 
 Palmyra, on the third at St. Paul's, Salt River, and on the fourth at 
 Millwood. At Palmyra there was no church or chapel : services were 
 held in the house of an Irish merchant, a Mr. Conroy. The Salt river 
 congregation still used the old log church that had cost their first pastor,. 
 Father Lefevere, so much trouble and disappointment. 
 
 The church stood within an enclosure devoted to a cemetery, a 
 true God's acre. But the Congregation owned also a farm of one 
 hundred and sixty acres. Here Father O'Hanlon came every third 
 Sunday to preach, to say Mass and to administer the holy sacraments. 
 
Northeast Missouri 851 
 
 An old Kentucky farmer, Ralph Leake, the same that had gone to St. 
 Louis in 1832 to bring Father Lefevere to his first missionary charge, 
 was Father O'Hanlon's host on these occasions. The fourth Sunday 
 of the month was devoted to visiting the settlement of Maryland Cath- 
 olics at Millwood, Lincoln County. As this place was about sixty 
 miles due south from Hannibal, it required a two days' ride to reach 
 it. The traveller usually spent the intermediate night at Bowling Green, 
 the county seat of Pike County. There he would say mass for the 
 family of his host, and his friends on the morning of his departure. 
 The round of duties continued during the heats of the summer and 
 the rigorous cold, of the winter, for two long years. On account of 
 the many residents bearing the name of Mudd, the place was long known 
 as Mudd's Settlement. Father O'Hanlon usually resided at the home 
 of Dr. George Mudd. The log-church was dedicated to St. Alphonsus 
 Liguori. All day Saturday after his arrival, the church would be 
 crowded by these fervent Maryland Catholics. The slaves also were 
 taught their catechism and encouraged to receive the sacraments. Night 
 prayer was said in common. What chiefly excited Father O'Hanlon's 
 admiration was the fine spirit of hospitality evinced by the host and 
 hostess, who had a large table spread on each Sunday, not only for the 
 entertainment of their own relatives and friends, but for numbers of 
 other Catholics also, who could hardly be expected to return fasting 
 after Holy Communion, to their distant homes. 
 
 Returning from Millwood to Hannibal, Father O'Hanlon regularly 
 stopped for the night at the Hotel in New London, the chief town of 
 Ralls County; and, as it was conducted by good Maryland Catholics, 
 he generally celebrated mass there before leaving for home the next 
 morning. 
 
 "The greater part of northern Missouri, except along its chief 
 river courses," Father O'Hanlon tells us, "is composed of prairies, 
 totally devoid of trees, and often ranging over several miles on the 
 upper plateaus between the various streams. For the convenience of 
 building log houses, of rail-fencing and of fire-wood the early settlers in 
 the state usually selected farms in the backwoods, near to the rivers 
 and springs, or at least near the belts of trees bordering on thei prairies. 
 The country roads through the woods from farmhouse to farmhouse were 
 easily recognized by the notches on the trees; but the roads through 
 the open prairie were unmarked save by the wheels of the last wagon 
 that passed by. It was, therefore, much more difficult to find your 
 way through the prairies, than through the woodland." Father O'Hanlon 
 recounts such an experience, of riding round and round in the prairie, 
 now following one road, then another, almost dying from thirst, weary 
 and depressed, almost ready to give up the quest, when toward night- 
 
• s ">- History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 fall, he dieoverecl the housetops of Bowling Green far away, and just 
 peering over the distant line towards the east. 
 
 "One of the great spiritual privations," Father O'Hanlon tells 
 us, "to which missionary priests were then subjected in the remote parts 
 of Missouri, was the difficulty of meeting with and enjoying the society 
 of brother priests, whose stations were often far removed from each 
 other." 7 Father O'Hanlon 's only accessible neighbor was Father Cusack, 
 the priest, who now had charge of Monroe and some adjoining 
 counties. It was prearranged between the two that on alternate 
 months they should make and receive mutual visits. This involved a 
 ride of some fourteen or fifteen miles. They were accustomed to 
 consult with each other on various matters of private and pastoral 
 concern. But, however pleasant the stay at Hannibal had been, the 
 keen observing eye of Father O'Hanlon soon discovered that St. Paul's 
 Church at Salt River was the true center of his missionary work. So 
 he resolved to take up his abode in the old, long-deserted log house of 
 Father Lefevere's. There he was surrounded by Catholic families: from 
 there he could most conveniently reach the sick members of his flock. 
 
 "Oceans of prairie extended on every side at the time I travelled 
 from St. Paul's to Millwood," writes the observant Father; yet on 
 the occasion of each visit, I found farm-fences being extended grad- 
 ually out upon the open." 8 The timberlands were now all occupied: 
 and the prairie was losing its haunting terrors. The newcomers had to 
 take what was left; and, as it happened, the prairie proved to be the 
 best. 
 
 Thus the care for the sick, the instruction of children and converts 
 and the regular monthly visits to his three outmissions took up most 
 of the missionary's time. And these appointments each month had to 
 be kept, even if fits of ague caused by exposure, should make riding very 
 unpleasant. One Sunday morning when starting from St. Paul's for 
 Palmyra, he felt unwell, but still hoped that the attack might pass 
 away. His horse was prepared and he mounted it for the ride of about 
 fifteen miles. As he got out on the prairie, he found himself getting 
 weak, but still rode on and crossed the river at the pond. After another 
 mile through the woods, a cold chill seized him right earnest. He dis- 
 mounted, led the horse to a thicket a little distance from the road, 
 where after securing the bridle to a branch, he fell down utterly 
 exhausted : The chill was succeeded by a burning fever, leaving him 
 weak and helpless and far away from human habitations. After a 
 
 6 "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 178 and 179. 
 
 7 "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 206 and 207. 
 
 8 "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 215. 
 
Northeast Missouri 853 
 
 while he recovered sufficient strength to drag himself to the next house 
 on the road, and in the evening to proceed on his way to Palmyra. 
 The effort was crowned with success, but the penalty was a week in bed 
 with raging fever. 9 
 
 Towards the end of 1850 Father O'Hanlon was recalled from 
 his northern field of labor to serve as assistant to Father Patrick 
 O'Brien in the newly completed Church of St. John the Apostle in 
 the western part of St. Louis. 
 
 9 "Life and Scenery in Missouri," p. 219. 
 
Chapter 5 
 LOSS OF TERRITORY BUT GAIN OF SOULS 
 
 The Fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore which was held under 
 Archbishop Eccleston from May 14th to 20th, 1843, was attended by 
 the Bishop of Drasa, Coadjutor of St. Louis with Father John B. Torna- 
 tore CM. as his Theologian. Among other important matters the 
 Fathers of the Council petitioned the Holy Father, that a number 
 of new sees be erected in the United States : namely Chicago with the 
 entire state of Illinois in its jurisdiction, and Little Rock with the state 
 of Arkansas as its diocese. The Holy See speedily acted upon this 
 suggestion. On November 28th, 1843, 1 Pope Gregory XVI erected 
 both dioceses, with William Quarter as Bishop of Chicago and Andrew 
 Byrne as Bishop of Little Rock. Both Prelates were consecrated by 
 Bishop Hughes of New York in the Cathedral of St. Patrick on March 
 10th, 1844. Thus a large part of the territory subject to St. Louis 
 was withdrawn from its jurisdiction ; Milwaukee was also made a diocese 
 at this time, but as the jurisdiction of St. Louis over any part of Wis- 
 consin had ceased with erection of the diocese of Dubuque that change 
 did not affect St. Louis. But as the territory beyond the Rocky Moun- 
 tains and north of California was at the same time erected into a 
 Vicariate Apostolic with Bishop Francis Norbert Blanchet as its head, 
 the diocese of St. Louis found itself restricted to the state of Missouri 
 with the wilderness west of its boundary to the crest of the Rockies. 
 It was a sufficiently large territory for the most zealous missionary 
 bishop: but beyond the Missouri boundary there was but little Chris- 
 tianity and civilization save a few Indian Missions conducted by the 
 Jesuit Fathers of the St. Louis Province. 
 
 But before Ave turn over to their new Ordinaries the Parishes and 
 Missions established and conducted until then under the jurisdiction of 
 .^t. Louis, it may be deemed proper to pay each one a brief leave-taking 
 visit, and first in Illinois. 
 
 At Alton we meet Father Michael Carroll, Pastor of St. Matthew's 
 church, who also visits Edwardsville twice a month. "The corner 
 stone of a new church was solemnly blessed by the Coadjutor Bishop 
 of this diocese, at Alton, 111., on Sunday, the 19th of July, a great 
 number of citizens from St. Louis as well as numbers of the inhabitants 
 of Alton were present at the ceremony. 2 
 
 1 The Archbishop of Baltimore was notified by Propaganda of these erections 
 and appointments as early as September 30, 1843. The Bull bears the date of 
 November, 1843. 
 
 2 "Catholic Cabinet," June, 1843. 
 
 (854) 
 
Loss of Territory But Gain of Souls 855 
 
 Belleville is the residence of Father Joseph Kuenster, who has in his 
 charge St. Andrew's and St. Thomas' in St. Clair and Monroe Counties, 
 and St. Libory's. On Easter Monday the first stone of a church to be 
 built in Belleville, Illinois, was solemnly blessed by the Coadjutor Bishop, 
 assisted by the Rev. Mr. Kuenster, Pastor of the district, Rev. M. 
 Cercos, C. M., and several of the alumni of the Theological Seminary 
 of St. Louis. 3 
 
 At Cahokia, the ancient Church of the Holy Family has for its 
 Pastor Father Regis Loisel. The Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph 
 under Sister Fontbonne, is bearing up bravely under adversities. The 
 Coadjutor Bishop of St. Louis visited French Village of Illinois on 
 Sunday, the 16th Ult., where he administered the Sacrament of Con- 
 firmation to 36 people. 
 
 Galena, Joe Davies Co., with its church of St. Michael and its self- 
 sacrificing priests, Remigins Petiot and C. H. Ostlangenberg, is the 
 center for the missions of Northwestern Illinois, Irish Grove, New 
 Dublin and Freeport. Kaskaskia, the glory of the early Jesuit missions 
 in the Mississippi Valley, and its Convent of the Visitandines, is in 
 temporary charge of Father Irenaeus Saint Cyr, the founder of the 
 Church in Chicago. But he is about to leave for Ste. Genevieve, and 
 the twenty-three sisters of the Convent will ere long be forced to leave 
 their sainted walls to the fury of the greatest flood that visited the 
 Mississippi Valley in historic times, and sad to say, Kaskaskia itself 
 will in the course of a few years find its grave at the bottom of the 
 mighty river. But these things are as yet hidden from all eyes. The 
 distribution of premiums among the young ladies of the Academy at- 
 tached to the Visitation Convent, Kaskaskia, took place on Wednesday, 
 the 26th ult. ; Bishop Odin distributed the prizes. ' ' On Wednesday and 
 Thursday in Easter Week, the same prelate made the annual visita- 
 tion of the Convent of the Visitation, at Kaskaskia, on which occasion 
 he was accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Heim. The new church of Kas- 
 kaskia, 100 feet long, by 50 feet broad — which, when finished will be 
 the largest and most beautiful in Illinois — is almost covered and will 
 be ready for consecration this summer." 4 
 
 The Lasalle Missions, now have two centers : the Church of the 
 Holy Cross at La Salle, with the Lazarists Louis Parodi and Nicholas 
 Stehle as missionaries to Ottawa and Black Partridge ; and the chapel 
 at Peoria with J. B. Raho and Montuori visiting Kickapoo, Pekin, 
 Fountain Green and Lacon. The proposed church at Peoria is not yet 
 built. 
 
 Prairie du Long in Monroe County has a church dedicated to St. 
 Augustine. Rev. P. McCabe, its pastor attends James Mills, New De- 
 sign, O'Hara's Settlement and Harrisonville. 
 
 3 "Catholic Cabinet," May 1843. 
 ■* "Catholic Cabinet," May 1843. 
 
s ">'i History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 Quincy in Adams County, has for its Pastor Father Hilary Tucker, 
 who also visits Versailles, Mount Sterling and Pittsfield. 
 
 The Coadjutor Bishop left St. Louis in the early part of the last 
 week of September to visit the following places agreeably to appoint- 
 ment : St. Augustine, Pulton County, 111.. Sunday, 1st of October; 
 Fountain Green, Hancock County, Sunday 8th of October ; to admin- 
 ister the sacrament of Confirmation. 5 
 
 Springfield, Sangamon County, St. John Baptist Church is about 
 to lose its pastor, the Lazarist B. Kollando, in exchange for Father 
 George Hamilton. Shoal Creek, St. Clair County, has the Church of 
 St. Boniface, with Henry Fortman as Pastor ; and New Switzerland 
 as outmission. Eleven parishes and a respectable number of missions 
 with thirteen priests is the sum and substance of the dowry, the new 
 Bishop of Chicago will receive from the mother diocese of St. Louis. 6 
 The Bishop of Little Rock will receive much less. 
 
 The City of Little Rock has the church of St. Irenaeus, with the 
 Rev. Richard-Bole as its pastor. St. Marj^'s, New Gascony, and Pine 
 Bluff are vacant whilst the Post of Arkansas for a short while enjoyed 
 the ministrations of the Rev. Joseph Meleher. But he was recalled, soon 
 to fill the position of Vicar General of the diocese of St. Louis. The 
 Flathead Indian Mission in the Rocky Mountains, though established 
 and supported from St. Louis, is now under the jurisdiction of Bishop 
 Blanchet. Yet, at least a part of the glory surrounding the work of 
 Father De Smet and his companions must, fall in reflected splendor 
 upon the diocese of St. Louis. 7 
 
 On the 6th of July, left this city, the Rev. Tiberius Soderini, of 
 the Society of Jesus, for the Indian Missions among the Potawatomi, 
 Ottawas and Chippewas. He was accompanied by two Ladies of the 
 Sacred Heart, who are to join the others of their community, who so 
 successfully conduct the Free School among the Indians. 
 
 Something more substantial, however, though, not as memorable, 
 fell to the lot of the diocese this time, in the removal of the Sisters of 
 St. Joseph from Cahokia, and of the Sisters of the Visitation from Kas- 
 kaskia to the safer and more promising ground of St. Louis. The first 
 to move from their old habitat on the Illinois side were a colony of the 
 Vistandines. The Catholic Cabinet briefly records this event: 
 
 "On the same day, 21st of April, 1844, there arrived in this city, 
 from Kaskaskia, 111., seven Sisters of the Order of the Visitation, for 
 the purpose of opening a Female Academy in this city; Sister Mary 
 Agnes Brent, superior." 8 Further particulars are given in the next 
 issue of the Catholic Cabinet: 
 
 5 "Catholic Cabinet," 1843. 
 
 6 Chancery Records. 
 
 7 "Catholic Cabinet," 1844. 
 s "Catholic Cabinet," 1844. 
 
Loss of Territory But Gain of Souls 857 
 
 ' ' Towards the close of May, 1844, a new female Academy was opened 
 in this city, on Sixth near Pine. This establishment is conducted by the 
 Religious Sisters of the Order of the Visitation of the B. V. M., founded 
 at Annecy in Savoi, by Francis de Sales, and Joanna Frances Fremiot 
 de Chantal in 1610. This order was solemnly confirmed by Pope Paul 
 V. Its principal objects are the sanctification of its members and the 
 education of youth." 9 
 
 This transfer was effected in the regular order after due prepara- 
 tion, but the other came about in a hurry and with some danger. In 
 explanation we would again quote the Catholic Cabinet : 
 
 "It has pleased Divine Providence during the last two months, 
 July and August, 1844, to visit our 'Far West' with an inundation un- 
 paralleled in western history. L'annee des grandes eaux," of 1795, 
 ever remembered by the old French inhabitants, has been surpassed 
 by the flood of 1844, by which hundreds of families have been driven 
 from their homes, and property to an immense amount has been de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 ' ' Charity, ever alert, has signalized the inhabitants of our city, and 
 all classes of men and denominations of Christians have come forward 
 to alleviate the sufferings and supply the wants of the destitute. Ca- 
 hokia, Prairie du Rocher, Prairie du Pont, Village Francais and Kas- 
 kaskia, places where for centuries the peacful and gay Frenchmen and 
 the humble Indian found their happiness to be seated under the shadow 
 of the cross-places renowned in Spanish, French, English and American 
 histories, have all been submerged. Many of their inhabitants aban- 
 doning their homes, stock and future expectations to the fury of the 
 waters, found ready shelter with their friends in this city and else- 
 where. Their churches, especially that of Cahokia, have suffered ma- 
 terially. The "Ladies of the Visitation" of Kaskaskia have been obliged 
 to abandon their convent and take refuge in our hospitable city, 
 where they have determined to remain." 10 
 
 Two weeks after the departure of Mother Agnes Brent and her 
 associates, the waters of the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi Rivers began 
 to flood the tongue of land on which the town of Kaskaskia was built. 
 Higher and higher they rose covering the fields and meadows, and iso- 
 lating the scattered homes amid the half submerged trees. As the 
 surface of Kaskaskia plain lay on a stratum of quicksand, it was feared 
 that the entire town might be carried away by the mighty flood. The 
 Sister's Convent showed marks of impending collapse. Amadei Menard, 
 
 9 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. II, 3, 1844. 
 10 "Catholic Cabinet," vol. II, 4, 1844. This was not the entire community 
 of the Visit an dines, but only a colony of six sisters under Mother Agnes Brent 
 Bishop Kenrick had invited to St. Louis. They were kindly received by the Sisters 
 of Charity in their Hospital. Within a fortnight they were established in a rented 
 house on Sixth street. 
 
858 History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis 
 
 in a flatboat, conveyed a number of the Sisters to his own dwelling on 
 the bluffs, east of the river. For those that remained in the Convent 
 Father Saint Cyr, their chaplain, said mass in the chapel. Then the 
 work of packing up began. The brick floor of the kitchen sank whenever 
 they stepped on it : one part of the refectory was already submerged. 
 Carrying all their belongings to the second floor, all the Sisters left 
 the doomed Convent and were rowed to the bluffs. Here in Mr. Men- 
 ard's mansion the homeless Sisters and their pupils were crowded to- 
 gether, awaiting the arrival of help. And help eventually came. 11 
 
 Bishop Kenrick was on his way to Kaskaskia in company with the 
 newly consecrated Bishop of Chicago, William Quarter. Father John 
 Timon and Father de Saint Pelais, both of whom were destined to be- 
 come bishops, were also with him. They had no knowledge as yet of 
 what had happened at Kaskaskia. But on drawing nearer they found 
 a foaming sea as far as the eye could carry, and in it, like tiny islands, 
 lay the roofs of the homes of what had been Kaskaskia. Father Heim 
 had gone in quest of a boat, to carry the Sisters to St. Louis. But no 
 Captain was willing to turn his boat into the Kaskaskia River. Father 
 Timon had better success. He hailed a steamer coming up from the 
 South and induced him to undertake the dangerous work. On "Wednes- 
 day morning, June 26th, 1844, the steamer arrived at the Menard Man- 
 sion on the Kaskaskia River. All the party, Bishop, priests, sisters and 
 pupils got on board, and the steamer nosed its way between roofs of 
 houses and SAvaying tree tops to the deserted convent. Taking on board 
 whatever could be taken pianos, harps, stoves, desks, benches and bed- 
 ding, and by one o'clock on Wednesday the Sisters, bidding adieu to 
 their Convent and to Kaskaskia, started for St. Louis, where 
 they arrived the next morning at dawn. 12 They were taken to the 
 house on Sixth Street where Sister Agnes Brent had opened the Acad- 
 emy for Young Ladies. This house was too small for the enlarged 
 community, but the great benefactor of the Church Mrs. Biddle of- 
 fered the newcomers her own house on Fifth Street for a Convent 
 and school, reserving for herself only one room of the capacious build- 
 ing. The superior of the Broadway Convent was Sister Isabella King, 
 whilst Sister Agnes Brent remained in charge of the convent on Sixth 
 Street. In July 1846 the two communities of the Visitandines were 
 reunited under Mother Agnes as Superior, taking possession of the 
 place on Ninth Street offered them by the Archbishop. 
 
 ii Cf. Troesch, Helen, "The First Convent in Illinois," in "Illinois Catholic 
 Historical Keview, " vol. I, p. 368. The account was written by an eyewitness, 
 Sister M. Josephine Barber. 
 
 12 Shipman, Paul E., "Establishment of the Visitation in the West," "Amer- 
 ican Catholic Quarterly, ' ' January, 1886. 
 
Loss of Territory But Gain of Souls 859 
 
 Thus Bishop Quarter of Chicago was deprived by a sudden stroke 
 of adverse fortune of the first Sisterhood ever established in the soil 
 of Illinois. But this was not his only loss. The raging flood that forced 
 the Visitandines to leave Kaskaskia, in like manner forced the Sisters 
 of St. Joseph to leave their lonely convent in Cahokia. Mother Febronic 
 Fontbonne and her little community sought refuge in the second story 
 of the convent. In the meantime the Mayor of St. Louis, Bernard Pratte, 
 sent a number of boats to the rescue. The entire community were 
 brought to Carondelet; all had suffered greatly from exposure. Though 
 the waters gradually subsided, health condition in Cahokia remained 
 unfavorable to their return. Father Regis Loisel, the pastor of Ca- 
 hokia, visited it, and paid for his over-confidence by a lingering disease 
 that ended his life on May 10th, 1845. 
 
 What was Bishop Quarter's loss was Bishop Kenrick's gain. The 
 Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, thus increased in membership, 
 assumed charge of three institutions in St. Louis. Two of these, St. 
 Joseph's Orphan Asylum and St. Vincent's Parochial School, were per- 
 manent; the third was short-lived, yet produced some excellent results. 
 It was the School for Catholic Colored girls established by Father Au- 
 gustin Paris on Third and Poplar Sts. (Feb. 5th, 1845) children of 
 Free Negroes were the pupils, the slave-children were instructed in 
 religion after school hours and on Sundays. Bishop Kenrick took 
 great interest in the school. But owing to a strong prejudice of the 
 slave-holding population who feared serious consequences from an edu- 
 cated Negro element, the school had to be discontinued. 13 The only 
 Sisterhood established in the state of Arkansas as a part of the diocese 
 of St. Louis was that of the Lorettines. The Sisters were invited to 
 St. Mary's near Pine Bluff where, in 1838, a small strip of land with 
 a few log and frame buildings were given them. The Superior was 
 Sister Agnes Hart. St. Joseph's, Little Rock was established from this 
 house in 1841, with Sister Alodia Vessels as Superior. In August 1842, 
 the Sisters of St. Mary's were removed to St. Ambrose, Post Arkansas, 
 and recalled to Loretto in 1845. 14 
 
 13 Savage, Sr. Lucida, "The Congregation of St. Joseph of Carondelet," pp. 
 62 & 63. 
 
 14 Maes, "Life of Eev. Charles Nerinckx," p. 573. 
 
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