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c^WID^AMERICA
Vol. XIV
New Series, Vol. Ill
JULY, 1931
Number 1
Journal of the Illinois Catholic Historical Society
28 North Franklin Street, Chicago
MANAGING EDITOR Gilbert J. Garraghan St. Louis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Frederick Beuckman Belleville William Stetson Merrill Chicago
John B. Culemans Moline Paul J. Foik Austin, Texas
Francis Borgia Steck Qwincy
28 NORTH FRANKLIN STREET, CHICAGO
HONORARY PRESIDENTS His Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago Rt. Rev. Edward F. Hoban, D. D., Bockford Rt. Rev. Henry Althoff, D. D., BeUeviUe Rt. Rev. James A. Griffin, D. D., Springfield Rt. Rev. Joseph H. Schlarman, D. D.( Peoria
OFFICERS
Pbesident
Rev. Frederic Siedenburg, S. J., Chicago
First Vice-Pbesident
Rt. Rev. F. A. Purcell, Chicago
Second Vice-Pbesident
James M. Graham, Springfield
Treasures
John P. V. Murphy, Chicago
Financial Secretary Francis J. Rooney, Chicago
Recording Segbetaby Agnes Van Driel, Chicago
ABCHIVI8T Rev. Frederick E. Hillenbrand, Mundelein
TRUSTEES "Very Rev. James Shannon, Peoria Michael F. Girten, Chicago
Rev. Robert M. Kelley, S. J., Chicago James A. Bray, Joliet
Mrs. Daniel V. Gallery, Chicago Frank J. Seng, WUmette
D. F. Bremner, Chicago Mrs. E. I. Cndahy, Chicago
John Coleman, Lake Forest
Published by
The Illinois Catholic Historical Society Chicago, III.
V
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V
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CONTENTS
The Mexico City Guilds of New Spain Marie B. Madden 3
Pierre Menard of Illinois William Stetson Merrill 15
The Marquis's Hospital Elisabeth Ward Loughran 39
Customs and Legends of Texas Indians Carlos E. Castaneda 48
A Miracle in Mid-America? Mathias M. Hoffman 57
Documents — A Civil "War Diary William J. Onahan 64
News and Comments 73
Book Reviews 76
Willard and Goodykoontz (ed.), The Trans-Mississippi West; Robertson, Stout Cortex; a Biography of the Spanish Conquest; Laut, Cadillac; Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, 1930-1931; McGuire, The Story of the Sisters of Mercy in Mississippi; Walsh, Isabella of Spain; Williams, Hebrewisms in West Africa; Case (ed.), Brother Dut- ton Memoirs; Tourscher, The Hogan Schism; Quaife (ed.), The John Askin Papers; Godecker, Simon Brute de Bemur, First Bishop of Yin- cennes; Repplier, Mere Marie of the Ursulines: a Study in Adventure; Historical Becords and Studies, Vol. 20; Greene, Our Pioneer Historical Societies; Vicksburg and Warren County, Mississippi.
cJVLID - AMERICA
o4n Historical Review
Vol. XIV JULY, 1931 Number 1
New Series, Vol. Ill
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN
I
At no time since the outlines of our industrial society became fixed after the Napoleonic wars has the organization of labor been so discussed as it is today. At no time has it been so much taken for granted by all but a few that labor must be organized by some force outside of itself. Organization is used here in its general sense of planning for the whole interests of labor and not in a specific sense as when we say a labor union has been organized. In this sense of course labor is expected to organize on occasions, may even incorporate itself as a distinct group, but in no sense is that incorporation or organization taken or expected to be taken as anything which will serve the whole interests of labor. There is a partial exception to this in the co- operatives, though with possibly few exceptions even these rec- ognize no more than the economic interest.
The major problem then is recognized, save by the few, notably Pope Pius XI, to be one of deciding whether the organ- ization is to be done by the capital owners or a dictatorship of the proletariate as among the Communists of Russia. Not long ago it was fairly common to view these as alternatives with the balance towards the capital-owners, but the rapidity with which the two seem to be ready to pool their identity is truly shocking. It is not only Lenin and Litvinoff who have had the clarity to state this. We find it suggested in Belloc and Chesterton.1
i Cf . also Edmund A. Walsh, The Last Stand, Boston, 1931.
Neither of these writers would hold, however, that these two alternatives were the only alternatives or that, should the logical merging of the two be accepted as imminent, other alternatives could not save the situation.
It has been suggested that the interests of labor, if not of economics, could be safeguarded from such a calamity as Russia presents by having the government step in with what is known
4 MARIE R. MADDEN
popularly as social legislation. If this were enough, there would be no problem, for any complaint could be adjusted by the ex- pedient of more legislation. The steps already taken in this regard both in Russia and in Mexico have given Europe and the United States matter for thought. Solution of the problem does not seem to lie in this direction.
The reason for this is not immediately apparent to most be- cause of the eclipse of the medieval, and Catholic, theory of social organization and the rise of the economic interest as the controlling factor in society. Labor indeed has been placed be- yond the pale as the Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII recognizes. Further, with the dominance of the economic interest, economic institutions in the capitalistic industrial societies are also beyond the pale, i. e. beyond the regulatory guidance of governments, subject only to the norms of their own selfishness.
The problem is not one of labor, not one of economic institu- tions alone, but of the organization, or better yet of the integra- tion of the social2 interests of labor in the economic institution itself and not as side interests in accompanying legislation.3 To do this requires a comprehension of the principles of sociology, at least those derived from the medieval theory of social organ- ization. It is surprising to many how a study of these throws a great light on the problem of the organization of labor.
n
In 1920, the Secretaria de Industria, Comercio y Trabajo, taking advantage of the researches of Don Luis Gonzales Obre- gon, authorized the publication of selections from the compen-
2 Social as connoting the relationships which arise among men as a consequence of the complex nature of man, spiritual, intellectual and physical.
3 How little understood is this idea may be seen from the editorial comment in The New Republic for May 27, 1931, on the Encyclical Quad- ragesimo anno (pp. 32-3), published before the full text was issued. The writer, while subscribing to the moral strength of the Pope's premises, complains that his encyclical is a mere plea for "those who now control our present economy to be good." His Holiness "ought to have devoted more attention to the question how the radical implications of the Church doctrine are to be effectuated."
This is a common criticism. However, unless the Pope so chose, there was no essential reason why he should have outlined the organization of any or all economic institutions from banking to the production of oil. His point was served when he called attention to the fact that in organizing the secular details of the institutions, no plan must be adopted which would interfere with the proper development of man, both from the point of view of social justice and the common good, and from the point of view of in- dividual rights and the great final destiny of man. The secular details of the technique of the institution is properly left to the individuals concerned.
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN 5
dium of the Ordenanzas de Gremios de la Nueva Espana made by Don Francisco del Barrio Lorenzot. An alumnus of the Colegio de San Ildefonso, he served as legal advisor to the Audiencia and as auditor for the Ayuntamiento of Mexico City, and so was fitted to make an intelligent selection from the mass of data at his disposal. Though the selections now printed are limited (a bibliography of other collections is listed), they are very worthy of study and it is to be regretted that this book has not received the wide publicity which the new labor code of Mexico has received in the United States. Many more extensive compilations of the statutes of the Mexican Guilds have been made but unfortunately these exist only in rare editions or in manuscript. Historians have too often preferred to write the social history of Spanish America from the peculiar source of Comte's or Herbert Spencer's social ideology and so have missed the information contained in these compilations, while the ob- session that neither Spaniard nor Spanish-Americans ever had any notion of self-government has so far prevented any historian of the United States from publishing a study of the great col- lections of the Adas of the colonial cabildos. No good could come out of the cabildo, certainly not in New Spain, has been a motto. Times are changing. The records of the Inquisition in Spanish America, particularly in Mexico, are now being con- sulted by the United States historians, not for details of tortures, but for the evidence of the social life of the times. It is not undue optimism to expect that young United States scholars may soon devote their attention to the source material so abun- dantly to be found, and particularly on labor, in the Adas of the cabildo.
For this edition of Lorenzot, Serior Genaro Estrada, now Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has written a stimulating introduction in which he calls attention to what strikes him and undoubtedly will strike any reader of these documents as out- standing characteristics. The statutes for the guilds were in- variably issued by the Cabildo of Mexico City, though often con- firmed by the Viceroy. Labor, technical and administrative points, quality of goods, purity of the merchandise, buying and selling, were all considered, detail by detail. The workers (artesanos not obreros) were organized into two groups, con- fraternities, in order to supernaturalize their work, and guilds, in order to systematize it more justly and effectively.
6 MARIE R. MADDEN
In these institutions of the guild, the confraternity and the cabildo and their interrelations, we have a characteristic of Spanish Catholic thought. Its principles are : spiritual realities, democratic and representative management, protection for the worker since man must live by labor, quality of the goods since man is so planned as to derive a peculiar and essential satisfac- tion from expressing his individual idea in his work, and the sacramentalizing of the supreme function of the government as channel and guardian of that Divine Justice which rules the universe.
The only way to secure these aims as the Spanish saw them was to look upon the institutions necessary to carry them out as corporate activities. Corporation and corporate, of course, are expressions of the social interests of man, but as the Chris- tian medievalists worked them out, they expressed more than mere group activity.4 Everything was viewed in this corporate sense — city, workers, teachers, officials — and each was organ- ized to have a self-contained life of its own with the management clearly arranged for and always democratic.
The ciudad, villa or lugar5 as political corporations were or- ganized first, but the ciudad was the characteristic unit among the Hispano-Romans and equally so among the Hispano-Ameri- cans. The administration (regimiento) of this followed the custom of Castile as practised before the introduction of cor-
4 There is an essential difference between group activity and corporate activity. Group activity is a normal mode of procedure; one may come upon it anywhere, and it is dearly liked by most people. It is not often found, however, in our society of mechanized work and mechanized amuse- ments. But it haunts those deprived of it. And this is one reason why of late we find such admiration of it when found among the Indians of our southwest and of Mexico. It is more often called "the socio-political in- heritance of communistic living," "flock-mindedness," and heaven knows what (cf. "Mexicans and New Mexico," by Mary Austin in The Survey Graphic for May 1, 1931, and the books of Maurice Hindus on the Russian peasant). It is opposed by what Miss Austin calls the "individual ex- pression of economic conquest."
But what these and similar writers fail to see is that this trait of group activity in man is not some "expression of communistic living," but merely an expression of his social nature. Its proper recognition and the necessity of its proper functioning were grasped by the Catholic organizers of society, and the corporations of the Middle Ages were nothing but an attempt to express and guide this instinct. This is one of the great lessons of a study of the guilds for our age; but we, hypnotized by the excessive individualism of capitalistic society, fail to see it.
s These terms are usually translated city, town, district, but as de- scendants of Roman institutions are not to be identified with the corre- sponding English entities, especially the city.
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN 7
regidores6 with the modifications introduced for the colonies.7 The ciudades were thought of as republicas, self-governing, de- centralized, somewhat in the manner of our States. This is the sense in which the term is used in the Spanish codes. Further- more, the republica was considered to be composed of two arms, the ecclesiastical and spiritual, and the political.8 These two arms not only composed the republica as a principle, but also supported it, and their respective institutions were the two main institutions.9 Hence the close association of Church and State and the intimate color of the spiritual with which every secular institution was invested. When the ciudad was founded and a sufficient number of inhabitants there settled, the administrative agencies were set up.10 Chief of these there was the cabildo11 of which there is no exact equivalent in the United States city government, though municipal council or magistracy is often used as a translation.
Lorenzot gives a transcription of the Ordenanzas drawn up for the administration of Mexico City12 in which the principles outlined above have interesting applications. The inhabitants through their representatives drew up their own statutes and though the King, as representative and administrator of the great interest of Justice for all,13 had to pass upon them, their right of managing their own affairs was unquestioned. To guard against any encroachment on this the city had a procurador or agent at court to look after its interests.14
In Mexico City the procurador general, an official of great dignity and responsibility elected by the cabildo, represented the city in its corporate aspect, attending all public ceremonies and celebrations of holydays. He had assistant diputados de fiestas to attend to the details of these. It is interesting to note
e S61orzano y Pereyra, Politico Indiana, reprint of 1930, IV, p. 8. 7 Ibid., pp. 8-9.
s The Spanish is secular, but it is to be noted that this meant the civil power, and not a lay power, as the word connotes today.
9 Politica Indiana, IV, p. 7.
10 Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias, 3rd. ed., 1774, Lib. IV, tit. vii, leyes 1, 2, 14, 19.
11 Cf . the jurists Juan de Hevia and Juan Matienza, authorities on the laws for the Indies, quoted by S61orzano, ibid., p. 8, n. 2.
12 By the city, December 11, 1682, approved by the Viceroy, 1683, and the King, 1687, and amended by the city in 1720; approved by the Viceroy, 1723, and the King, 1728. Pp. 182 et seq.
is Cf. Las Sietas Partidas on the functions of the King.
14 Recopilacion, Lib. IV, tit. xi, ley 1, in accordance with the cedulas of Toledo, 1519 and 1528; ley 2, modification introduced by Philip IV, Novem- ber 22, 1623, leyes 3 and 4.
8 MARIE R. MADDEN
that the particular feast days on which the corporation of the city was expected to participate were those of Our Lady of Help (one of the special patrons of the city), Corpus Christi, to Whom there was great devotion, San Nicolas, San Felipe de Jesus the Martyr, San Francisco Xavier and Santa Teresa. A special duty of the procurador general was to look after the welfare of the poor, particularly of the prisoners, to see if they had sufficient of what they needed including medical and surgical attention. He had various diputados de pobre to assist. The procurador general also supervised the elections of the guilds, arresting any disturbers. He went over the books of the ac- counting department and looked after the income from the public lands.15
The functions of the Diputado de Policia, which held regular committee meetings every Wednesday, directed such modern things as keeping the streets clean, removal of obstructions un- less when allowed during building operations, new pavements, proper fencing of the various properties along the street, and the removal of dead animals. If this were neglected, by the way, the householder nearest to whose property the corpse of the animal was found had to pay a fine.
Public granaries were maintained for the benefit of all and chiefly of the poor and small farmers. A Fiel, who served an- nually and had to give bond, was in charge with a salary of three hundred pesos. He set the daily price for wheat, corn and farina, which price had to remain unchanged for the day. These grains were to be brought directly to the warehouses by the muleteers, who had to declare the ownership and agree to sell their amounts within twenty days. The deputies were to hear all disputes arising and appeal was to the cabildo.16 The Statutes for the Alhondiga de cacao drawn up in 1636, 17 then an im- portant item in the city economy, forbade a profit as against the general welfare.
The objective for these particular functions of the ciudad was to safeguard the general welfare by safeguarding the poor,
15 The ciudad or concejo usually had proprios or public lands, the in- come of which went towards the support of the municipality. Cf . Recopila- cion, Lib. IV, tit. vii, ley 14.
is Special statutes for these warehouses or alhondigas were drawn up as early as 1580 (Ordenamas de Gremois de la Nueva Espana, p. 209 et seq.) and for the weighing of the wheat in 1553 (ibid.).
« Ibid., p. 224.
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN 9
especially in the matter of the food supply and health.18 This point of view, so truly social, arose not so much from considera- tions of sanitation or material well-being, as from the fact that as a corporate entity the whole community could not be indif- ferent to the condition of the poor or to the condition of the en- vironment as a whole, as it affected the whole. When it is grasped that the cabildo integrated these activities, it will be seen how different was this old Spanish concept of the corporate nature of the ciudad from our United States view of the relations of the municipal council to the various city departments. The modern method may be more imposing from the technical details of ad- ministration as it handles larger groups; but it has no such grasp of social cohesion. As for the poor, it may be mentioned here that of course much was done for them through the con- fraternities, as these were considered better adapted to the proper practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy than the cabildo, again a note quite absent from our modern Departments of Charity.19
Ill
The spiritual interests of the guilds, as we indicated above, were taken care of by the confraternities. In this collection of Ordenanzas we have a sample of one, though not very complete, that of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. The officials in charge, a regidor, mayordomo, secretario, were elected, and a chaplain was attached who was required to have the faculties to preach and hear confessions; moreover, he had to know Mexican. He was given a salary of one hundred and fifty pesos, fifty of which came from the income from the proprios and the rest from the confraternity. He was obliged to offer up two special Masses weekly, one for the souls of the conquerors on Mondays, for whose protection at a critical moment in the Conquest, Nuestra Senora de los Remedios was honored, and on Saturdays in honor of Our Lady under this title. A sacristan priest was also re-
is Other important ordinances may be f ound in the Ordenanzas. For example, no inspector of weights and measures or alguacil was to have di- rectly or indirectly a tavern (1577); dangerous dogs were to be chained on the property of the owners (1581) ; the selling of sweets in the streets, then as now a marked activity, was regulated as early as 1533; drains were to be kept clean and no refuse allowed to collect in the streets except at the stated places (1589).
is The care of the poor in hospitals and other institutions also had its organizations, extremely interesting but omitted here from discussion. The digest of Lorenzot gives no examples of them.
10 MARIE R. MADDEN
tained by the confraternity at a salary of one hundred pesos. On holydays the mayordomo collected alms for the support of the charities of the confraternity. A fixed scale of alms for in- dulgences was suggested, three pesos for married people, two for bachelors, one for young boys; the poor sons and descendants of the conquerors (many of whom were then in straightened circumstances) were exempt. The four great feasts of Our Lady, her Nativity, Purification, Annunciation and Assumption, were held in particular devotion with splendid ceremonies. The con- fraternity maintained a home with twelve beds for the poor where they should be fed and cared for as necessary. The cabildo had the right to amend the statutes.
The fact that the public and social values of the confraternity were recognized by the financial support it secured from the public treasury and the supervision it received on the part of the cabildo reveals a point of view truly Catholic. Not only was "welfare work" performed, but by offering a regularly in- stituted channel for spiritual needs and activities, manifestation was made of the public and corporate idea in the worship and respect paid publicly to God on the great feast days. The beauty and indeed the necessity of this idea is unfortunately difficult to grasp today by Catholics who live in the prevailing non- Catholic atmosphere of most countries and who find for the most part their Sunday public ceremonies rarely corporate and their Holydays entirely private with a hasty attendance at early Mass (hasty because of the exigencies of getting to work on time). All the guilds were required to be represented offi- cially in the public celebrations of holydays20 and the various customs with which both the guilds and the confraternities took part in the ceremonies provided much opportunity for ingenuity and recreation as they prepared for them. This is not without its point, too, for those who worry over the leisure-time activ- ities of the proposed four or five-day week.
IV
A glance at the guild statutes for the various industries and guilds represented in the Ordenanzas suggest several observa- tions. The degree of economic development arrived at by 1600 included such activities as those of rope-makers (statutes, 1550) , makers of harness and saddle trappings (1572) , tanners (1571) ,
20 Ordenanzas de Gremios, pp. 264-5.
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN H
gilders (1570), painters and decorators (1557), makers of caps and bonnets (1575), silk merchants (1556), silk weavers (1570 and 1573) , dyers of silk (1594) , dyers of cloth (1584) , weavers of cloth of gold (1596) , lace and edging makers (1589) , carpenters, carvers and joiners (1578), coopers (1592), hatmakers (1571), swordmakers (1556), embroiderers (1546), forge workers (1578), wax and candle makers (1574), masons (1579), and so on. The numbers of skilled artisans these imply is impressive wit- ness to the character of the immigration from Spain. Mulattoes, mestizos of negro blood, and many Indians were excluded (chiefly from those industries where competition of Indians would inter- fere with Spanish immigration) . It was of the greatest import- ance to encourage the proper kind of immigration from Spain since the Indian culture needed a great addition of the European. In fact, the level of the Indian culture would have been raised by infinitesimal degrees only if indeed at all, had not the culture of New Spain been made dominantly and decisively Spanish. This could not have been done unless Spaniards were there in sufficient numbers. How to get this was the problem. The level of civilization would never be raised by gentlemen living in idleness on the labor of Indians in the fields and the mines, as every one knew. This picture lives only in the minds of the myth-ridden Hispanophobists. Spanish artisans were needed and the authorities realized that with the Indians so skillful at imitation, if they were allowed to compete in the open market with the Spaniards, these would simply be eliminated. There would be no work or opportunity for them. Hence Spanish labor had to be protected at first. That this was done with no essential injustice to the Indians who could learn European ways (for many were savages), is clear if the whole question of Indian labor be considered. Certain industries such as decorative and design painting, carving and embroidery were open to Indians. As time passed on the industries were better organized and the increased dignity of the guilds may be seen in the amended statutes of a later century, for example, the coach-makers, 1706,21 needle-makers, 1616,22 wax and candle-makers, 1710,23 goldsmiths, and the organizations for the grocery storekeepers, 1757.24 A characteristic of the guild organization is that uni-
21 Ordenanzas, p. 89 et seq.
22 Ibid., p. 135 et seq.
23 Ibid., p. 157, where new methods are taken into consideration, p. 161.
2* Ibid., pp. 170-1.
12 MARIE R. MADDEN
formly there appear regulations for the election of officers in democratic form by the masters. These officials were to meet and elect the veedor de sciencia, or veedores if necessary, who were conscientiously to examine the candidates for the guilds, inspect the shops and works, and report violations to the Jus- ticia or Fiel Executoria, or the proper authority. These veedores were to present themselves before the cabildo for certification and to take oath. If the guild should fail to elect them, the cahildo nominated them. No one could have a shop or an in- dustry without being properly examined and licensed. For this the veedor had to know the technique of the trade or industry so as to evaluate properly the qualifications of the candidates. The technical knowledge required from the candidates was suf- ficient to ensure honest workmanship and honest quality. For example the members of the gilders for the harness and equip- ment for the horses and mules, then elaborately made and chased, had to present specimens of their skill.25 The painters and image makers had to attest their skill in design, mixing colors, prove that they knew how to describe the work as well as do it, and be skilled in the various branches of their art and the necessary symbolism in work for religious purposes.26 Like- wise the carvers and sculptors must be examined in the knowl- edge of the five orders of architecture and all the technique of the art.27 It is of interest to note that no Indian could sell his own creations in the way of busts or figures of saints,28 as the Indians sometimes were particularly unskilled in this branch of art and it was feared that their crude efforts would more often arouse laughter than reverence and devotion. They could do the background and design, but not the human figure.
Another object of the guild statutes was to secure quality in the materials of the articles. Adulteration was strictly forbid- den, and the materials had to be properly prepared.29 In regard to the weaving of yarns, silk, cotton or linen, or serge, the num- bers of thread for the particular quality was specified,30 some-
25 Ibid., p. 17.
26 Ibid., pp. 19, 22.
27 Ibid., pp. 87-8.
28 Ibid., pp. 23, 88-9.
29 Ibid., p. 5, regulations for the preparation of hemp and the maguey fibres for the ropemakers; p. 10 for tanning leather properly; sheepskin was not to be used to counterfeit cordovan leather, pp. 11-2 ; no adulteration of gold or silver, p. 21; silk was to be labelled, silk or half silk, p. 30.
so Ibid., pp. 43, 64-70.
THE MEXICO CITY GUILDS OF NEW SPAIN 13
times following the practice in Spain. Severe penalties were attached to the violation of guild regulations, usually fines for the first offense, doubled for the second, and exile for one or several years for the third.
As time went on two evils appeared against which strict reg- ulations were issued, forestalling and combinations in restraint of trade or competition as they would be called today. Reselling was forbidden to the tanners31 and verticle and horizontal trusts were nipped in the bud. No shoemakers could have a tanyard or form a company with a tanner.32 No one was to buy up the flocks in order to control the price of skins.33 If the flock were bought, the buyer must first manifest to the veedor the quality and price. The veedores had the right to divide the skins among the officials of the guilds for distribution and by a further ordinance of 1607 the buyer must manifest his intention to the Justicia, so as to allow to the ones interested the opportunity of buying. All skins were to be properly marked and stamped officially. All masters of the forge-workers guild were to mark their own work.34 In the needle-workers guild, no master was to have connection with foreign capital or companies.35
Regulations for apprentices are not stated in any detail but the time for apprenticeship varied from one to four years, vary- ing with the difficulties of the trade or art to be learned. The masters in many cases had to agree to instruct apprentices.36
Some interesting customs are revealed in the statutes for the grocery storekeepers.37 There was to be only one store for the four corners of a street. No second shop was to be set up with- in a reasonable distance. The prospective storekeeper had to put up security of five hundred pesos. All shop-keepers had to have lights at their shop doors, of sufficient height and strength to light the corner, bright until the evening Angelus, dull until ten p. m., when the store was to be closed. Special lights had to be maintained in case of some extraordinary happening such as a fire. Furthermore no shop-keeper, on pain of one hundred lashes, was to stand in the doorway or on the corners, way- laying and urging prospective customers. No shop-keeper could
31 Ibid., p. 10.
32 ibid., p. 10. Statute for the tanners.
33 Statutes of 1591.
34 Ibid., p. 148.
35 Ibid., p. 140.
se E. g. the needlemakers guild of 1616, p. 140. 37 Ibid., p. 167, dated 1757.
14 MARIE R. MADDEN
charge more than two silver reales in the peso for a loan. Credit and financial arrangements were strictly regulated. Debts run- ning for a year were to be sold by authority of the Justiciar
An interesting detail of the tavern statutes, which may be recommended to the prohibition reformers, is that only one kind of wine was to be sold in each tavern and there must be a sign on the door stating the kind and quality.39
And so on, ad infinitum. Much more might be said of the colonial Mexican guilds, but enough has been detailed to arouse interest in this most fruitful and interesting source of research. There is no doubt but that the social philosophy of the guilds is in line with Christian precepts, and if many of the provisions seem odd to us, it should be remembered that no statute was formed without due consideration of the time, the place and the circumstances and in response to a need.
Marie R. Madden, Ph. D.
Fordham University New York
ss Other regulations for shop-keepers may be found on pp. 186-7. 39 Statutes of 1571.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS
The times in which lived Pierre Menard, pioneer, Indian agent, legislator, judge, officer of militia, first lieutenant-gover- nor of the state of Illinois, and the first Catholic to hold public office in it, were so different from our own that it will be help- ful, in tracing his career, to have as a sort of mental background the changing picture of the events and scenes amid which he lived his active and useful life. His figure, whenever it emerges, will thus be viewed in its proper setting, while the narrative will make clear the character and the purport of his actions.
At St. Antoine, a little village located on the north bank of the Richelieu, a river emptying into the St. Lawrence, and dis- tant thirty-five miles from Montreal, the father, Jean Baptiste Menard, called Brindamour, a soldier of the regiment of Guienne, was married at the age of twenty-eight to Marie Francoise Ciree, age twenty-two. The date of this marriage was February 14, 1763, as given on the parish record, a copy of which is among the Pierre Menard Papers preserved in the library of the Chicago Historical Society. This and other documents to be quoted in the present paper are printed in volume four of the Society's Collection, edited by Edward G. Mason, Chicago, 1890. Five sons were born of this marriage, of whom Pierre was the second. The parish record of his baptism, signed "Gervaise, P'tre" reads (original in French) : "The year seventeen hundred and sixty- six, the eighth of October, by us, the Priest undersigned, cure of this parish, has been baptised Pierre, born yesterday eve- ning." Court records of Randolph County, Illinois, years later give his full name as Antoine Pierre Menard.
A picture of a French village like that in which Pierre spent his childhood has been sketched in a recent work based upon journals of contemporary travelers and other documents.1
"Before the end of the French domination [in 1763] each village had its church of stone or of wood, surmounted by a cross, and often upon it might be seen appurtenances recalling the instruments of Our Lord's passion. At intervals along the road stood wayside crosses with the image of the Virgin set behind panels of glass and at the top a figure of a cock that crowed when Peter denied his Lord." Blessed candles were kept
i Herbert Ingram Priestley, The Coming of the White Man, New York, 1929, p. 242-258. The author is professor of Mexican history at the Uni- versity of California and librarian of the Bancroft Library.
15
16 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
in the houses of the habitants and could not be taken for domes- tic use without sacrilege. The parish priests "possessed ample quality for wilderness services. On snowshoes or in canoes the cure traveled long miles to give extreme unction, baptise a new child, or marry a pair of his impatient wards." To each newly married couple the Government gave "an ox, a cow, a sow, a cock, a hen, two barrels of salt meat, and eleven crowns." Fam- ilies were large, six to ten children being not uncommon; but the infant mortality, due to improper feeding, was heavy. Con- version of the Indians was a vital concern of the State as well as of the Church. Recollects, Jesuits and Sulpicians vied with one another in missionary work and set the moral tone of the colonists. The Seminary at Quebec trained the secular priests and "to its kindly shelter they retired in sickness and old age. There they passed annual retreats and from the field reported regularly to it for advice from their head." "When one entered the home of a Canadian farmer, the latter rose, doffing his hat, offered the visitor a seat, and then replaced his hat as he sat down again. . . . The peasants wore shoes hollowed from wood. Boys and girls wore their hair in cues behind, generally with woolen toques, red near Quebec and blue about Montreal. Some of the gentlemen wore wigs." As Pierre's parents, after living for a time across the river from St. Antoine, moved to Montreal, doubtless Pierre wore a blue toque as a boy! "In winter oiled mocassins, laced nearly to the knees, were universally worn, two or more pairs of woolen socks inside completing the foot dress. In summer women and children ran barefoot, but the men usual- ly preferred to wear cowhide clogs. 'Best clothes' came out on Sundays and feasts ; then the men surmounted their dignity with tall beaver hats, and the women in bodices and petticoats decked themselves with ribbons and laces from France. Town dwellers often wore scarlet cloaks and perukes, buckled slippers and silk stockings."
Such was doubtless the kind of a community in which Pierre spent his boyhood and youth. The French habitants were un- likely to change their mode of life when Canada passed under British rule. Writing of the old French settlers even in the valley of the Wabash after their lands became American terri- tory, Judge Law says:2 "The change of government seems to
2 John Law, The Colonial History of Vincennes, Vincennes, 1858, pp. 124-125.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 17
have made no great difference in their habits or manners . . . Submissive and obedient, they yielded to the powers that were, made no complaint, offered no resistance, cultivated their com- mon fields, sang, danced, smoked their pipes, . . . content to take this world as it went."
Yet the elder Menard showed an independence of judgment and a love of liberty quite at variance with the characteristics just described; that these traits were present also in his son is shown by the son's subsequent career. The father is said to have taken part in the campaign around Fort DuQuesne; when the Revolutionary war broke out, he joined the American forces and fought under Montgomery at Quebec.3 The sentiments of the family were thus on the side of the American colonies, and sym- pathy with American ideals may have influenced the young man, after the close of the Revolution, to seek his fortune in the new nation. Many of his fellow-countrymen, French in blood and Catholic in religion, were already settled in the Illinois country, as it was called, especially at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vin- cennes. To Vincennes he came, in 1786 according to Governor Reynolds,4 whose father was his fellow townsman in Kaskaskia.
The Illinois country, although named from the Illinois In- dians whose hunting grounds and fields were in it, included, ac- cording to Alvord,5 who had access to documents in the French archives, "the whole course of the Ohio and both banks of the Mississippi from the line of the Ohio to that of the Missouri and Illinois rivers." Jurisdiction over this territory, lying as it did between New France and Louisiana, was several times a matter of controversy between the governors of those two provinces. It was the scene of the campaigns of George Rogers Clark in 1778- 1779, and was included in the territory relinquished by Great Britain to the American colonies at the close of the Revolution ; but it was under no organized government other than that of the several villages within its bounds until by the terms of the Ordinance of 1787 the region became a part of the Northwest Territory. A governor, Arthur St. Clair, a secretary and three judges became the first governing body of the immense terri- tory thus organized.
3 Edward G. Mason, Early Chicago and Illinois, Chicago, 1890. (Chicago Historical Society's Collection, vol. iv, p. 144.)
4 John Reynolds, The Pioneer History of Illinois, Belleville, 1852. Repr. Chicago, 1887, p. 291.
s Clarence Walworth Alvord, The Illinois Country, 1673-1818. (Centen- nial History of Illinois, vol. 1, Springfield, 1920, p. 191.)
18 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
The country within the present limits of the state of Illinois was in 1800 an almost empty wilderness. A belt of territory along the east bank of the Mississippi known as the American Bottoms contained about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. "From Kaskaskia southeastwardly to the Ohio and northeastwardly to the Wabash there was probably not one home; a road, hardly usable by other than single horses, ran to each. Apparently one ran also from Vincennes to Cahokia."6
Letters written by Pierre Menard's parents to him after he left home are our only source of information regarding his move- ments during the earlier years of his life in the Illinois country. These and other letters, examined by Mason in the collection at the Chicago Historical Society, "treasured by him to his death, breathe a spirit of the tenderest affection for the absent son, and those of his mother especially, show the writer to have been a person of superior intelligence and education. She died at La Prairie, a village on the south shore of the river St. Lawrence, nine miles from Montreal, September 19, 1807." Mason, op. cit., p. 144.
A glimpse of this very village is afforded us in Peter Kalm's Travels into North America during the French Regime: "In the midst of the village [La Prairie] is a pretty church of stone, with a steeple at the west end of it furnished with bells. Be- fore the door is a cross, together with ladder, tongs, hammer, nails, etc., which were to represent all the instruments made use of at the crucifixion of Our Saviour."7 From this church doubt- less Pierre Menard's beloved mother was taken to her final rest- ing place.
One of the letters referred to above, written to him by his mother from Montreal and dated June 9, 1789, alludes to one of his dated July 6th of the preceding year, showing that he was at Vincennes certainly in the summer of 1788. The other letter is one from his father addressed to "Mr Pierre Menard, Clerk for Mr Vigo at Poste Vinsene." Francois Vigo, Menard's em- ployer, was a leading man in the Illinois country, known as the
e Francis S. Philbrick, The Laws of Indiana Territory, Springfield, 1930, introd., p. xiii-xiv.
i Cited in Priestley, op. cit., p. 242.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 19
"Spanish Merchant" on account of his birth and long residence at St. Louis, then in Spanish territory.8
Vigo had been a soldier in a Spanish regiment ordered first to Havana and then to New Orleans. Here he quitted the army and engaged in the trade with the Indians. Seeing the possibil- ities of the fur trade, he went up the Mississippi to St. Louis where he was settled at the time of George Rogers Clark's famous campaigns. His services to Clark were indispensable to the suc- cess of the American cause, but were not requited nor were his loans repaid until after Vigo's death. He was a man of sterling character, widely traveled and highly respected by the Indians, whose confidence he possessed. Reynolds learned, perhaps from his father, that in 1789 Pierre Menard accompanied Vigo across the Allegheny mountains to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where they had an interview with President Washington in relation to the defense of the western frontier. Reynolds, Pioneer History, p. 291. Menard's subsequent career shows that he profited by his early association with this veteran Indian trader and man of affairs. The portrait of Vigo given in Smith's Old Vincennes shows a thin, weather-worn face with high-bridged nose and grizzly beard, the head covered by a toque.9 As Vigo was com- missioned a major of militia on June 26, 1790, it is possible that Menard got under him some of the military training which quali- fied him for high office in the militia a few years later. Menard's claim for land, based upon service in the militia in or before 1790, was affirmed in later years by the land commissioners. Colonel Vigo died at Vincennes on March 22, 1836. The date 1835 graven on his tombstone is, according to H. M. Smith, an error proven from the records of the undertaker consulted by Smith! So much for the presumptive finality of imperishable granite.
The Vincennes of Pierre Menard's sojourn we find described in a letter addressed by General Harmar, United States com- mandant of the Old Northwest, to the Secretary of War and
s H. C. Bradsby, History of Vigo County, Indiana, Chicago, 1917, chap, v: Colonel Francis Vigo. Hubbard M. Smith, Historical Sketches of Old Vincennes, Vincennes, Ind., 1902, pp. 160-165. John Law, op. cit., pp 26-30. The St. Clair Papers, arr. and annot. by William Henry Smith, Cincinnati, 1882, II, p. 166.
s A larger and better reproduction of apparently the same portrait, said to be from a drawing by Chas. Alex. Lesueur, appears in Reynolds's Pioneer History of Illinois, p. 423. Lesueur was an artist and ichthyologist who was for a time associated with Robert Owen at New Harmony, Indiana.
20 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
dated August 7th, 1787.10 "Post Vincennes," he writes, "is a very considerable village, situated upon the Wabash, about one hundred and twenty miles from the mouth. It contains near four hundred houses — log and bark — out-houses, barns, etc. ; the number of inhabitants, about nine hundred souls French, and about four hundred souls American. Monsieur Vincennes, the French officer from whom it derives its name, I am informed, was here and commenced the settlement sixty years ago." Cauthorn11 says that the town "at first huddled and centered around the present locality of the Catholic Church. The old fort, built by Francois Morgan [Margane] de Vincenne in 1702 [1732-1733], was located on the river between what is now the Catholic Church square and the [Wabash] river, and between Barnet and Vigo streets." Smith, in a chapter devoted to the subject, gives a history of the fort and a picture of it as repaired and enlarged by the British governor Henry Hamilton in 1778. The cut shows a large stockade of logs set on end, surmounted by a coping pierced with loop-holes. At each corner is a block- house and within the enclosure a larger one, which was doubt- less the citadel. A gateway gave access. The story that a second fort was built in 1787 and named Fort Knox is shown by Smith to rest upon a misunderstanding of General Harmar's direction to Major Hamtramck, reading: "Let your fort be named Fort Knox." Only the name was changed, as a compli- ment to the Secretary of War at the time, General Knox.
The first Catholic Church in Vincennes was built in 1749 ; at least that is the earliest date in its parish records, the priest at that date being Father Louis Meurin; a mission may have ex- isted at the place before that time. A cut of the church, given in Smith's Old Vincennes, shows a building built of logs set on end, the roof being of logs also, bound down by cross logs; the gable in front is surmounted by a tiny belfry ending in a cross. Law's description confirms this view of the building, which he says was "chunked and daubed." He believes that the building antedated the earliest record of April 21, 1749. The famous Father Gibault was stationed here from May, 1785, to October, 1789, according to Judge Law, who examined the record, thus being Pierre Menard's pastor during the latter's stay in Vin-
io St. Clair Papers, II, 26-27.
ii Henry S. Cauthorn, A History of the City of Vincennes from 1702 to 1901, Terre Haute, 1902, p. 17.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 21
cennes. Father Gibault is quoted in a History of Knox County (p. 289) as having written that a new church was built there in 1784. But Smith says that Father B. J. Flaget, upon his arrival to take the church in 1792, describes the building as "poor, open and neglected, the altar a temporary structure" and, continues Father Flaget, "I found the congregation in a worse state even than the church." How, asks Smith, could the "new" building of 1784 have become so dilapidated by 1792? The church of St. Francis Xavier, described above, was probably the building in which Pierre Menard heard Mass. After Father Gibault's departure a layman, Pierre Mallet, appointed by him, acted as "guardian of the church" until the arrival of Father Flaget.
A partnership was formed between Pierre Menard and Tous- saint Dubois in 1790 or shortly after, according to Reynolds, and the two left Vincennes and settled as traders in Kaskaskia, situated on the tongue of land between the Kaskaskia river and the Mississippi near the junction.12 That Menard was a trader in Kaskaskia in 1792 we know from the wording and date of an ante-nuptial contract preserved among the Menard Papers, its date is June 13, 1792, and it reads — translated from the orig- inal French — in part as follows: "Before the Notary Public of the county of St. Clair, in the country of the Illinois.13 The un- dersigned, residing in the parish of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady of the Kaskaskias . . . and the undersigned wit- nesses were present. In person Mr Pierre Menard, a bachelor ... a trading merchant living in the said parish of Kaskaskia . . . and Miss Therese Godin, called Tourangeau, daughter of the late Mr Michel Godin, called Tourangeau, and of Dame Therese Ste. Geme Beauvais, her father and mother, living in the beforementioned parish of the Kaskaskias . . . aged nineteen years . . . have agreed to have made between them the agree- ment and articles of marriage, as follows . . . "14
The terms of this contract, which may be found in full in
12 Pioneer History, pp. 291, 434.
is St. Clair County, established by Governor St. Clair in 1790, embraced all the territory between the Illinois and the Ohio rivers from north to south, and from the Mississippi and the Illinois east to about the median line of the present State of Illinois. Blue Book of Illinois, 1929-1930, p. 684.
i* The spelling- of the French names varies : Gaudin, Godin, Thouran- geau, Durangeau, Geme, Gemme. The spellings found in the official Kas- kaskia records as given in Alvord's edition (Illinois State Historical Library, V, 1909) are Godin, Durangeau, St. Geme, Bauvais.
22 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
volume four of the Chicago Historical Society Collections, indi- cate that at this time the French law, based upon the so-called "Custom of Paris" and brought with them by the early French settlers from Canada, was still followed. French law prevailed even after the passing of the Ordinance of 1787 by virtue of a special clause of that instrument. The Ordinance safeguarded "to the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskia, St. Vincents and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property."15
The village of Kaskaskia began with arrival in 1703 of the Kaskaskia Indians who were moving from their temporary home at the Des Peres River on a site which is now within the munici- pal limits of St. Louis. The low lands bordering the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to that of the Kaskaskia, known later as the American Bottom, were occupied by French settlers at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and lesser villages. Captain Philip Pitt- man visited Kaskaskia and wrote, in the account of his travels printed in London in 1770: "The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far the most considerable settlement in the Country of the Illinois, as well from its number of inhabitants, as from its advantageous situation. It stands on the side of a small river, which is about eighty yards wide, and empties itself into the Mississippi more than two leagues below the village. The river is a secure port for the large bateaux which lie so close to the banks, to load and unload without the least trouble, and at all seasons of the year there is water enough for them to come up . . . Another great advantage that Cascasquia receives from the river is the facility with which mills for corn and plank may be erected on it . . . The principal buildings here are the church, and the Jesuits' House, which has a small chapel adjoining it; these, as well as some of the other houses in the village, are built of stone and, considering the part of the world, make a very good appearance."
The village was the scene of exciting events in the George Rogers Clark campaigns; was part of the western lands ceded by Virginia in 1784 to the United States, but suffered with the surrounding region from the lack of adequate government until
is The text of the Ordinance may be conveniently found in the Blue Book of Illinois.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 23
the arrival of Governor St. Clair in 1790. The French settlers had difficulty in establishing titles to the lands cultivated by them, and one of the tasks of the new Governor was to receive and examine the claims of the inhabitants. He writes to the Secretary of War, in a letter dated at Cahokia on May 1, 1790: "They are the most ignorant people in the world. There is not a fiftieth man that can either read or write, the consequence of which has been that everything where they are parties has languished extremely. Though they are ignorant, they seem to be the gentlest, [most] well-disposed people that can be imagined, and their manners are better than might have been expected, considering their ignorance, the want of proper government, and the grievous oppression under which they have groaned since they fell under the American dominion."16
This description should perhaps be somewhat discounted. Alvord says that "the better classes were educated to the same extent as were their contemporaries in France" — but where? — "and the lower classes were for the most part, illiterate." Vol- ney found that in Vincennes in 1796 six out of nine could neither read nor write. "It is difficult," Alvord continues, "to character- ize the French colonists with any assurance of truth. The dis- order and licentiousness of a frontier community, whether of French, Spanish, or British stock, have always made a deep impression on the visitor from more settled communities; and in a general condemnation the members of the official class have readily joined, since it excused their incapacity to maintain order. The French villagers have experienced this universal condemnation."17
The militia was an important arm of government. It was the police force of the time and was indispensable to the community in meeting frontier conditions. On October 5, 1795, Pierre Menard was commissioned by Governor St. Clair major of the First Regiment of Militia of Randolph County, which the Gov- ernor had that very day established, with Kaskaskia as its county seat. This commission was renewed on August 1, 1800, by John Gibson, acting governor of Indiana Territory.18
St. Clair County, from which Randolph County was set off, extended in 1790 from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers east- ward to a line running from Fort Massac on the Ohio, about
ie St. Clair Papers, I, p. 168.
17 Alvord, The Illinois Country, p. 217.
is Pierre Menard Papers, p. 167.
24 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
forty miles above its mouth, to the Illinois river below the present Peoria. The lower third of this territory was set off as Randolph County in 1795; it was extended eastward almost to the Wabash river in 1801. St. Clair County took in all of Illinois to the north.19 Indiana Territory, of which these counties formed parts, included in 1800 the present states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana except a triangle in its south- east corner between the mouths of the Kentucky and the Great Miami rivers.
The system of courts established by Governor St. Clair in 1790 for the county of St. Clair included those of common pleas, general quarter sessions, the justices of the peace, and the pro- bate court. The scanty records of the Court of Common Pleas of Randolph County show, according to Philbrick, that Menard sat in that court before 1800. On February 5, 1801, he was ap- pointed by Governor William Henry Harrison one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas and he served in that court until March 1, 1809. He was notably regular in his attendance. Menard was named with John Edgar and John Griffin on Septem- ber 24, 1802, to serve on a commission of inquiry concerning crimes fn the Territory, and was county commissioner from 1803 to 1809.20 The salary of judges was eight hundred dollars a year until on March 3, 1807, it was raised by act of Congress to twelve hundred. "Judged by present-day standards of spell- ing," says Philbrick, "most, if not all, of the county judges seem but semi-literate. No evidence has been seen that any of them had schooling, or owned or read books."21
The land question was now to inject into the politics of In- diana Territory an issue of intense bitterness. Alvord describes the situation: "On March 26, 1804, an act was passed, by Con- gress, making provision for the disposal of land in the Indiana Territory in quarter sections and reserving the sixteenth section in every township for a school and an entire township in each district for a seminary . . . The announcement that the United States had appointed commissioners to straighten out the tan- gled web of land titles made valuable the cessions that had been yearly sinking in esteem. A violent hysteria of speculation in
is See the admirable outline maps appended to Philbrick's Laivs of Indiana Territory.
20 Alvord, op. cit., p. 404; Philbrick, op. tit., ccli, ccxxx; McDonough, History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, p. 125.
2i Philbrick, op. cit., cciv-ccv.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 25
these old titles broke out; everybody sought to accumulate claims, and dealing in them became the speculative mania of the villages . . . The land commissioners were empowered to compel witnesses to attend their meetings and to administer oaths; it was their duty to pass judgment, in the first place, on all titles and to report to Congress their findings for confirma- tion or rejection . . . The report was finally completed on De- cember 31, 1809." The commissioners of the land office for the district of Vincennes, on December 14, 1805, appointed Pierre Menard a deputy commissioner to take depositions and examine witnesses within the county of Randolph. That he should have been selected to conduct these inquiries in his own village when, as Alvord says, "some of the most honored men in the com- munities became involved in the meshes of the grossest deceit and few who possessed the means to speculate could pride them- selves on having maintained an irreproachable innocence," speaks well for Menard's honesty and prudence. The commis- sioners at Kaskaskia found in his claims, which were large, nothing discreditable. Claims for 8557.4 acres were affirmed to him. In 1808 he held 12,600 acres. The Randolph County Court of Appeals on October 15, 1807, fixed the value of the lands be- longing to nine persons, among whom was Pierre Menard, at a dollar and a half per acre. In 1805 he was listed as delinquent in the payment of a retail licence amounting to sixty dollars; but the richest man in town was at the same time listed as delinquent to the same amount. Money was scarce in the com- munity. Yet in 1808 Menard was taxed for 12,600 acres or land.22
Strangely enough, Menard's honesty was used as a means of defrauding him of what was rightfully his own. The court records show that one of the land-grabbers "forged the names of witnesses, deponents and grantors; even the names of fellow judges, Menard and Hull."23 In 1812 Menard addressed to the second board of land commissioners a protest against a ruling that they had already made in favor of claims supported by forgery. He tried to hold 3822 acres against John Edgar, 3804 against William Morrison, 1200 against Jarrot and disputed 1500 with others. Conflicting claims were common.24 "A little group
22 Alvord, op. cit., pp. 419-421; Philbrick, op. cit., Ixxiv, cxx.
23 Philbrick, op. cit., lxxxix-xc.
24 Philbrick, op. cit., xci-xcii.
26 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
of men controlled the entire local government, judicial and ad- ministrative," writes Philbrick, whose testimony for the period of Indiana's territorial government is based upon unquestionable sources. "They recommended each other, and a few friends, to the governor as fit to keep the taverns; . . . Similarly they and a few others held the ferry licenses. As county commissioners — for with rare exceptions they acted as such themselves — they appointed the tax collectors, and assessors if none were elected ; supposedly pursued delinquent collectors and taxpayers . . . and supposedly pursued themselves as delinquent commissioners. They tried each other for misdemeanors and nonpayment of debts."25
The slavery question was a factor in Illinois politics almost from the passing of the Ordinance of 1787. In its sixth article that instrument declared: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude within the Territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes." The French settlers in the Illinois country owned slaves, and upon the passage of the Ordinance became alarmed. Some took their families and slaves to the other side of the Mississippi river; others prepared petitions to Congress asking for the repeal of the article regarding slave- holding. One after another of these petitions was presented between 1796 and 1809. Even after 1818 agitation for the call- ing of a constitutional convention to revise the first Illinois con- stitution in favor of slavery continued up to 1824, when the people finally voted decisively against it. Pierre Menard was elected a delegate to the convention that met in Vincennes in November, 1802, to consider the legalization of slave immigra- tion. "In all these petitions," says Alvord, "there is evidence of almost no opposition to the introduction of slavery in the Illinois part of the Indiana Territory ; still it is in the discussion of the subject that two factions in the Indiana Territory first became apparent; both were pro-slavery in character; but they wished to attain their ends by different means. The leader of one of these factions was Governor Harrison ... In Illinois the outstanding men who looked to the governor for guidance were Pierre Menard, with a large following among the Frenchmen, and Dr. George Fisher, both of Kaskaskia."26 The issue of the factional struggles was the establishment of Illinois as a sep-
25 Philbrick, op. cit., cli-clii.
26 Alvord, op. cit., pp. 422-423.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 27
arate territory in 1809. Its boundaries extended northward to the Canadian line. But let us retrace the course of Menard's career from 1806. Indiana Territory passed to the second stage of territorial government in 1804 and two years later he was ap- pointed by President Jefferson to the first legislative council of Indiana, which met at Vincennes ; but he resigned on September 19, 1807, for disputed reasons. In that short term of service he signed one bill of importance for higher education in the State, the charter for the first institution of learning, Vincennes Uni- versity. (Blue Book of Illinois, 1921-1928, p. 320.)
Menard had been in the Indian trade for many years. He gained his earliest experience from the veteran trader Francois Vigo. Reynolds says, doubtless deriving his information from his father, that while Menard was still in Vincennes, he pro- cured from the Indians supplies for the army under generals Clark and Scott. "He headed many parties out from Vincennes to the Indian hunting-grounds and packed meat back for the troops."27
The Pierre Menard papers contain bills and contracts show- ing that in his store at Kaskaskia Menard dealt not only in goods for the Indian trade, but in building supplies, tools, and other things needed by a frontier settlement. In 1799 he sold to two Baltimore men 9233^ acres of land, purchased by him from some of his fellow townsmen, who preferred to sell rather than await the fulfillment of the promises of Congress to confirm them in their holdings, or pay the expense of a survey. The price paid by the Baltimorians was nine thousand dollars. The Randolph court record of 1805 shows that in that year he oper- ated a ferry. The entry states that he paid the license fee of five dollars and filed bonds.28 In the following year he became associated with others in an enterprise of great extent.
A Spanish trader named Manuel Lisa had in 1800 secured from the Spanish government the exclusive right to trade with the Osage Indians on the Osage river, in territory that is now in Kansas and Missouri. Following the return of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806, Lisa headed an expedition up the Missouri river. Branch finds Lisa's operations of significance in tracing the history of the frontier. "Lisa halted in the heart
27 Reynolds, op. cit., p. 291.
28 History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois, p. 101, cited in Alvord, p. 420n; Philbrick, op. cit., cli n.
28 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
of the Crow domain at the mouth of the Bighorn," he writes, "and there built the first American trading post, Fort Lisa, in the upper rivers of the Far West. Again in St. Louis in the summer of 1808 Lisa interested several Westerners of capital, Pierre Chouteau, William Clark and eight others, in the forma- tion of the Missouri Fur Company." Pease says that Menard was associated with both of these enterprises. Reynolds writes of Menard : "He was a partner in 1808 in the mammoth company of Emanuel Liza (sic) and others, and remained in the Rocky Mts. a year, doing business for the company."29 Lisa is de- scribed by Greenbie, in a recent book on the fur trade, as a man of boundless energy. "In twelve years, to the time of his death," he writes, "he made twelve trips to the Missouri, covering twenty- six thousand miles. Army officers and scientists always found a welcome at his post . . . The goodfellowship and indefatigable enterprise earned for him as much as $35,000 in profits in a single year."30 Menard must have profited by association with such a lucrative venture; but how long he was associated with it does not appear. Perhaps a careful examination of the Pierre Menard papers would yield details of this period of Menard's life.
Mrs. Menard died in 1804, leaving four children. On Septem- ber 22, 1806, Pierre Menard married Angelique Saucier, daugh- ter of Frangois Saucier and Angelique La Pensee, and grand- daughter of Frangois Saucier. The latter was a French officer once stationed at Fort Chartres, which was on the east bank of the Mississippi seventeen miles above Kaskaskia. The marriage was performed at Kaskaskia in the church of the Immaculate Conception, by the parish priest, Donatien Olivier.31 Hon. Henry S. Baker, who knew the Menard family, says of Mrs. Menard: "A lady noted for her generous hospitality and her elegant and refined manners. Her charities were the gifts of silence; un- known to the world, they were dispensed with a loving hand, to the poor and unfortunate."32
29 E. D. Branch, Westward, the Romance of the American Frontier, New York, 1930, p. 302; Pease, The Story of Illinois, p. 85; Reynolds, op. cit., p. 294.
so Sydney Greenbie, Frontiers and the Fur Trade, New York, 1929, pp. 156-158.
3i Mason, Pierre Menard, citing a letter of Mrs. Augustine Menard, Nov. 25, 1888.
32 h. S. Baker, "The First Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois, an Address," (Chicago Historical Society Collection, rv, 156-157).
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 29
Menard was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Randolph County militia by the governor on July 12, 1806, and this com- mission was renewed by Secretary Nathaniel Pope on May 6, 1809. His reputation as an efficient militia officer seems to have extended beyond the bounds of the county, for the governor of Louisiana Territory on April 1, 1809, appointed him captain of militia on special service, the precise nature of which does not appear. In the list of judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Randolph county the name of Peter Menard appears as one of the judges, appointed January 23, 1811 ; but Alvord says that he resigned on the following February ll.33
Illinois Territory passed to the second stage of territorial government on May 21, 1812. The change provided for a gen- eral assembly composed of representatives elected from counties or townships, in addition to the governor, secretary and three judges. In October of the same year the first legislature was elected and also representatives to Congress. Pierre Menard represented Randolph county in the territorial legislature. The Journal of the executive council for 1812, which is included by James34 in his Territorial records of Illinois, shows Menard tak- ing a leading part in its proceedings from the very start. On December 21 "on motion, Resolved that the Council go into the election of the President and on casting up the votes Mr Menard was duly elected and took the chair accordingly." He held that office by successive reelection for the next six years until in 1818 he became lieutenant governor of the newly admitted State of Illinois. In the struggle over slavery in December 1817 he voted against the repeal of the laws permitting the holding of indentured servants — a form of slavery for a limited period. Buck says that he held aloof from the political factions of the period; his honors were due to his universal popularity.35
Speaking of Menard's service in the legislature, Reynolds says: "He presided in that assembly, as he did in many sub- sequent cases, with good, common-sense, but without pomp or parade . . . He had a sound, solid judgment and true patriotism to govern his actions in these legislative assemblies. He never made speeches of any length but, like Franklin, told anecdotes that were extremely applicable and made remarks that showed
33 The Governors' Letter-books, 18 18-183 It, Springfield, 1909. (Illinois State Historical Library Collections, vol. 4, p. lOn).
34 e. J. James, The Territorial Records of Illinois, Springfield, 1901.
35 Buck, Illinois in 1818, p. 202; Philbrick, op. cit., cclii.
30 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
both his good sense and patriotism. Many of the wise and equit- able laws which have made Illinois so prosperous came out from under his fostering care."36
Following the passing by Congress of the enabling act, on April 18, 1818, a constiutional convention assembled at Kas- kaskia in August of the same year to draw up the first consti- tution of Illinois. "The draft of the constitution," says Buck in his chapter on the framing of the constitution "was finally reported by the committee of fifteen on Wednesday the twelfth. It consisted of a preamble and eight articles, the greater part of which had been copied from the constitutions of neighboring states . . . The 'first reading' took two and a half days and at its conclusion a committee of five was appointed, none of which had served on the committee of fifteen, to suggest additional articles or sections which it might consider necessary to com- plete the draft of the constitution. The work of this committee was primarily to prepare a schedule for putting the new govern- ment into operation."37 One of the suggestions of this second committee was not only of peculiar significance as regards the subject of our study but was almost unique in the history of constitution-making. The constitution as originally adopted re- quired that the lieutenant-governor should have the same quali- fications as the governor, including citizenship for thirty years. The section, as submitted in the schedule of the second com- mittee, however, reads: "Any person of thirty years of age who is a citizen of the United States and has resided within the limits of this State two years next preceding his election, shall be eligi- ble to the office of lieutenant-governor; anything in the thir- teenth section of the third article of this constitution contained to the contrary notwithstanding." Governor Ford's explanation of this section, which Buck says is "doubtless correct," is that "Col. Pierre Menard, a Frenchman and an old settler in the coun- try, was generally looked to to fill the office of lieutenant gov- ernor; but ... he had not been naturalized until a year or two before."38 Baker's comment on this incident is just : "Was there ever such a tribute paid to a man ? — and that too by the voice of a free and independent people ? There is no precedent in history
36 Reynolds, op. cit., pp. 293-294.
37 S. J. Buck, Illinois in 1818, Springfield, 1917. (Illinois centennial publications, introd. volume, pp. 267-268.)
ss Thomas Ford, A History of Illinois . . . 1818 to 18^7, Chicago, 1854, p. 26. Cited in Buck, op. cit., pp. 285-286.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 3^
where the organic law of a free people had been changed or modified for the benefit of one not seeking the benefit of that modification."39
We may follow Baker in his account of the service of Menard while presiding over the senate of Illinois' first legislature. "During the time that Col. Menard held the office of lieutenant- governor," he says, "a series of laws were adopted for the gov- ernment of our young State, which laws have to a great extent become the foundation of all subsequent legislation . . . Nothing remarkable was transacted until 1821, when the legislature created the State Bank of Illinois and sought to induce the United States government to receive its notes as land-office money. Col. Menard had more common-sense than the entire legislature upon that subject and was opposed to the whole scheme." The anecdote told by Gov. Ford, however, that Menard in broken English offered to bet a hundred dollars, after the measure had passed over his protest, that the state bank notes would never be received as land-office money, is discredited by Baker. "He was too dignified and polished a gentleman to act unbecomingly while presiding over the senate." If he said what was reported, he said it in good English and after the adjourn- ment of the senate, when the policy of the measure was being discussed.
At the close of his term as lieutenant-governor in 1822 Pierre Menard declined further political honors and retired to his home and to the conduct of his private business. Yet he was later called upon to negotiate a treaty with the Indians, a form of service which he was singularly well qualified to fulfill owing to his long experience and to the veneration in which he was held by them. Let us at this point review the situation of the In- dians in Illinois during the lifetime of Menard and his relations with them as trader, Indian agent, and negotiator.
On April 2, 1813, John Armstrong, secretary of war, had appointed Pierre Menard United States sub-agent of Indian af-
39 H. S. Baker, Pierre Menard, pp. 153-155.
32 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
fairs at Kaskaskia. What was the field of operations and the duties of an Indian agent at this time ?40
The confederacy of five Indian tribes known as the Illinois, found by the French explorers who first visited the Mississippi valley in the seventeenth century, had been almost wiped out by their neighbors during the following century.
"By 1818 the Cahokia, Michigamea, and Tamaroa had disappeared as distinct tribes," writes Buck; "the Kaskaskia, much weakened, lingered on in a reservation of 350 acres left them by the whites near the town of Kaskaskia; while the remnants of the Peoria still lived near the former habitat of the confederacy on the Illinois river. Next to the Kaskaskia, the nearest neighbors of the white settlers in the south were the Kickapoo. who were scattered along the valley of the Sangamon from the headwaters of the Kaskaskia river to the Illinois. They also appear to have had one or two villages west of the Illinois. Farther north were the Sauk and Fox, who although not completely amalgamated, mingled with each other a great deal and sometimes lived in the same villages. In spite of the nom- inal cession of all their lands in Illinois, the principal villages of these tribes were still located near the mouth of the Rock river with other vil- lages extending along both sides of the Mississippi and into the interior. Generally speaking, these tribes may be said to have occupied the western part of the triangle between the Mississippi and the Illinois, and between the Mississippi and the Rock rivers. The greater part of the domain of the Winnebago was in what is now Wisconsin, but a small wedge-shaped por- tion of it extended into Illinois between the Rock river and the eastern watershed of the Mississippi. Some of the villages of this tribe were located on the Rock. The whole northeastern part of Illinois was occupied by the Potawatomi with the associated bands of Ottawa and Chippewa. They had villages on the Rock, the Fox, the Kankakee, the Illinois, and also in the interior between these streams and the neighborhood of Chi- cago" (pp. 1-2).
These tribes lived along the borders of rivers, differing in that respect from the Indians who hunted the bison on the open prairies or those who hunted in the depths of the forests. Their
40 An excellent and authoritative account of the Indian tribes living in Illinois Territory is given by Solon Justus Buck in his introductory volume to the Illinois Centennial publications entitled Illinois in 1818 (Springfield, 1917). Chapter I deals with the Indians and the fur trade. The author relies upon the papers of the Indian Ofiice, Emma H. Blair's The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes, a compilation of reports of French and American officials located in the region, American State Papers, and other works listed by him in his bibliography.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 33
mode of life is described by Major Morrell Marston, U. S. A., commanding at Fort Armstrong.41
"They leave their villages," wrote Marston to Jedidiah Morse in November, 1820, "as soon as their corn, beans, etc., is ripe and taken care of, and their traders arrive and give out their credits and go to their wintering grounds; it being previously determined on in council what particular ground each party shall hunt on. The old men, women and children embark in canoes, and the young men go by land with their horses ; on their arrival they immediately commence their winter's hunt, which lasts about three months . . . They return to their village in the month of April and after putting their lodges in order, com- mence preparing the ground to receive the seed" (p. 3). The tribes that Major Marston is describing were the Sauk and the Fox ; but those with whom Pierre Menard came in contact doubt- less lived in much the same way, as all were Algonkin except the Winnebago, who were Dakota. The reference to traders and to credits requires further elucidation.
Fur traders had been the first to enter the Indian forests and these were French bourgeois; the work of paddling the canoes and carrying them across portages was performed by voyageurs, and other laborious duties about the camp or on the march were performed by the engages as they were called. After the ter- ritory of New France passed to Great Britain and later the Mississippi valley came under American control, the French boatmen and laborers were still indispensable to traders on ac- count of their amenability to proper control. "The private trader . . . went out into the wilderness, carrying his goods to the Indians at their hunting grounds or villages . . . When cold weather approached the savages were usually without money or furs but it was necessary for them to secure many articles, such as guns, ammunition, traps, kettles, and blankets before they could set out for their wintering grounds. Since these articles could not be obtained at the factories [i. e. the government trad- ing posts, which exchanged goods for furs but gave no credit] the Indians were obliged to resort to the private traders, who
4i In 1818 there were four military posts in Illinois: Fort Dearborn, Chicago, which had been destroyed in 1812 but restored in 1816; Fort Arm- strong- at Rock Island; Fort Edwards, opposite the mouth of the Des Moines river; and Fort Clark on the Illinois river near the outlet of Peoria lake. They aided in keeping the Indians in check and protected the Indian de- partment and the government trading posts. (Buck, op. cit., p. 12.) , .
34 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
were more than willing to supply their needs on credit" (p. 19) .
Many of the private traders at this time were British, who after the close of the war of 1812 were permitted to enter the territory only after they had received permission to trade there from the President; to the United States agents was delegated the power of deciding who should be permitted to do so. "Since the American capital employed in the industry was not sufficient to supply the needs of the Indians," writes Buck, "it was not thought wise at this time to exclude foreigners entirely" (pp. 15-16). Yet the influence of these British traders among the Indians, some of whom had but recently been in arms against the Americans, caused considerable embarrassment to the Gov- ernment. The British were in the habit of making presents to the Indians among whom they traded; so the agents of the Government must perforce do likewise. In 1820 Pierre Menard, as sub-agent at Kaskaskia expended thirteen dollars "for fer- riage of the Delaware chief and his party over the Mississippi" ; nineteen dollars and fifty cents "for supper and breakfast fur- nished thirteen Indians, corn and hay for their horses"; and twenty-three dollars "for four hundred pounds of beef, and mak- ing a coffin for a Delaware Indian who was accidentally killed."42
"The Government had, then, three ends in view in its ad- ministration of Indian affairs on the northwestern frontier dur- ing this period: to preserve peace between the red man and the white settler; to destroy British influence and to render the In- dians dependent upon the United States ; and, lastly, to improve the condition of the savages or, if possible, to civilize them. There was a rather widely spread feeling that the whites owed a certain moral obligation to the Indians on account of the occu- pation of so goodly a portion of their best hunting grounds. The Government sought to carry out its policy by means of three separate and distinct agencies: the military posts upon the frontier, the Indian department, and the system of Government fur trading factories" (pp. 11-12). The four military posts lo- cated in Illinois have been mentioned above; — being forts Dear- born, Armstrong, Edwards, and Clark. The Indian department had its agencies at Mackinac, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Chi- cago, Vincennes, Fort Wayne, and Piqua. While Illinois was still a territory its agents were responsible to Governor Edwards
*2 Cited in Buck, p. 15, from American State Papers, Indian Affairs, 2:302.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 35
at Detroit. "Charles Jouett was in charge of Indian affairs at Chicago, while Richard Graham acted as "agent for Illinois Territory" ; the two sub-agents within the limits of Illinois were Pierre Menard and Maurice Blondeau" (pp. 12-13).
The duties of agents and of sub-agents were similar except as to jurisdiction. They discharged treaty obligations to the Indians, and were the intermediaries between the Government and the various tribes; they granted licences to trade and paid annuities. These annuities were not large. That due the Kas- kaskia in 1818, which passed through the hands of Menard as sub-agent, was one thousand dollars. An equal amount was paid the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi residing upon the Illinois river. The Kickapoo received only nine hundred dollars (p. 13) .
The Government trading "factories" have been mentioned. The first of these dated as far back as 1795. The purpose in establishing them was not to make a profit, such as was sought by the private traders, but to aid the Indian department in its administration of the frontier. The conduct of these was regu- lated by an act of 1811. "The President was given authority to establish factories at such places on the frontier as he might deem most convenient and to appoint a superintendent of Indian trade who should manage the business on behalf of the Govern- ment. The agents appointed to take charge of the various fac- tories were to be responsible to the superintendent and render their accounts to him. The prices of the goods employed in the trade were to be regulated in such a manner that the original capital stock furnished by the United States should not be dimin- ished . . . The furs, skins, and other articles obtained from the Indians in the course of trade were to be sold at public auction under the direction of the President at such places as should be deemed most advantageous" (p. 17). The Government factories were not permitted to give credit to the Indians, a circumstance that gave an advantage to the private trader. "The factories were so widely scattered that it was often necessary for the Indians who wished to exchange their peltries for the white man's goods to make long journeys with their furs" (p. 19). The private trader brought his goods directly to the Indian vil- lage. For these and other reasons the Government trading posts were not successful and were finally abolished in 1822 (p. 21). Unfortunately the private trader too often brought whiskey to exchange for the furs offered by the Indians. The efforts of the
36 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
Government agents to prevent or abate this grave evil were of little avail.
Pierre Menard's last public service was on a diplomatic mis- sion to the Indians, the nature of which can be no better de- scribed than in the wording of the original commission, a copy of which is in the Pierre Menard papers, as printed by the Chi- cago Historical Society.
John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of America ... To all who shall see these presents, Greeting: — Know ye, that in pursuance of the Act of Congress, passed on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1828, entitled "An act to enable the President of the United States to hold a treaty with the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pattawatimas, Winnebagoes, Fox and Sacs Nations of Indians" and reposing special trust and confidence in the abilities, prudence and fidelity of Lewis Cass of the Territory of Michigan, and Pierre Menard of the State of Illinois, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate do appoint them commissioners of the United States, with full power and authority to hold conferences and to conclude and sign a treaty or treaties with the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pattawatimas, Winnebagoes, Fox and Sacs Nations of Indians. . . . Wash- ington, May 24, 1828.
Reynolds mentions an incident seemingly connected with this mission, but the date given is 1826. "He and Lewis Cass were at the Lower Rapids on the Mississippi in 1826, on July 4, pre- paring for a treaty with the Indians, and during the festivities of the day, he named the town at the foot of the Rapids, Keokuk, which it has retained to this day." Keokuk was a chief of the Sauk and Fox Indians. "The Indians," says Reynolds in char- acterizing Pierre Menard, "almost worshipped him as they did the Great Spirit. At any time an Indian would prefer giving Menard his peltry for nothing, than to receive double value for it from a long-knife American . . . No man in the West had more influence with the Indian tribes than he had. He was ap- pointed by the government in many cases to treat with the red- skins."43 Reynolds himself, when governor, sent him as Indian agent the following communication, dated Belleville, 21st July, 1831:
"Dear Sir: — I have before me a petition from many of the citizens of Shelby County, which is situated towards the head of the Kaskaskia River, informing me that some Indians . . . are insolent and are destroying their Stock, they wish them removed, and say, if the Indians are not started off, the Whites will remove them at all events . . . These Indians cannot be
43 Reynolds, op. cit., p. 292.
PIERRE MENARD OF ILLINOIS 37
permitted to live among1 the Whites and destroy their Stock. I am sorry that there is of late so much Indian trouble, and as a friend to all parties advise you to get them off as soon as possible. "44
Pierre Menard died at his home in Kaskaskia on June 13, 1844. The record of his burial reads as follows: "On the four- teenth of June 1844 I, the undersigned, buried the remains of Colonel Pierre Menard in his vault — in the graveyard of this Parish, thither he was accompanied by an immense concourse of People. He died yesterday — the — [illegible in the original manuscript at the Chicago Historical Society] at 1%, having previously received the last sacraments, he was 72 years old. J. M. J. St. Cyr, parish Priest." By his second wife Pierre Men- ard left six children. The names are given in Mason's sketch, pp. 147-148.
We have seen how prominent was the part Menard played in the community in which he lived and how his fellow citizens respected and honored him. Yet Reynolds, who must have known him intimately, says: "It was not in public life where he ex- celled, but it was in his private and domestic conduct where his true and genuine benevolence displayed itself, and all the virtues that adorn and ennoble the human family had a proper theatre in his heart for their action. The poor and distressed always received charity at his hand ... In his younger days he had, as most others did, purchased lands of the citizens. These lands, together with his Indian trade and other means, made him a princely fortune; but his amiable and kind disposition diminished it to some extent. He could not refrain from being security for many individuals whose debts he was compelled to pay . . . The legislature of Illinois in 1839, as a marked honor to him, called a county Menard."45
Mrs. Menard died on February 12, 1839, five years before her husband, leaving six children. The names of all of Menard's children, with dates of birth and death, with other genealogical information, are given by Mason in his sketch.
The memory of Pierre Menard has been honored by several memorials. A statute of him, presented to the State by Charles P. Chouteau of St. Louis, the son of a former business associate of Pierre Menard, was erected on the capitol grounds at Spring- field, the unveiling being held on January 10, 1888. Hon. Henry
44 The Governors' Letter-books, p. 176.
45 Reynolds, op. cit., p. 294.
38 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
S. Baker, who had known Menard and his family, was the orator of the occasion. His address, included in the fourth volume of the Chicago Historical Society Collection, is one of the few sketches of Menard's career available.46 On December 3, 1919, a bronze tablet was placed by the Illinois Daughters of the American Revolution upon the house built by Pierre Menard on the east bank of the Kaskaskia river. This house, built in 1802, has been purchased with its furniture by the State of Illinois. The bill for its purchase was introduced into the Fifty-fifth Assembly in 1927 by Sarah Bond Hanley, whose sketch of the pioneer, in the Blue Book of Illinois for 1927-1928, describes the house in part thus : "It is built of oak with interior finish of black walnut, in the French style of architecture. The windows have twenty-four small panes of glass and there are beautiful fan lights above the double doors. The shutters are cut from solid lumber. The mantels were imported from France and above them were beautiful gilt frame mirrors. The house is 77 by 44 feet, exclusive of kitchen . . . The kitchen ... is floored with flag stones and has an immense rock fire place . . . and a capacious stone oven, and a sink made from solid rock" (p. 320).
This paper may close with an extract from a letter received on March 3, 1931, by the writer from Mrs. Franklin Miller, hon- orary state president of the United Daughters, 1812, in which she states that a marker was in September, 1928, placed on the grave of Pierre Menard by the members of that Society. "The marker is a bronze copy of the insignia of the Society — a star and anchor — with plain bronze plate below, on which is cut the name of the 1812 soldier— PIERRE MENARD."
William Stetson Merrill
Oak Park, Illinois
46 Blue Book of Illinois for 1927-1928 contains a sketch of Pierre Men- ard, pioneer, by Sarah Bond Hanley, accompanied by portrait, cuts of the statue and of the Menard home, still standing across the river from the former site of Old Kaskaskia.
THE MARQUIS'S HOSPITAL
In the general archives located in the National Palace, Mex- ico City, where the nation preserves its heritage of documents dating back to the year of the conquest, 1521, there is a small room filled with a recently acquired archive, the property until last year of the Cortes family. Hundreds of thousands of un- bound manuscripts, tied together without arrangement by year or contents, are now in process of being catalogued with the prospect of the publication of the most important. They con- tain papers relating to the business and charitable enterprises of Hermando Cortes and his heirs and descendants down to the present time, and, because they were kept in the Jesus Nazareno hospital, which Cortes founded, they are generally known as the Jesus Nazareno archive, though but a fraction of them deals with the hospital itself. According to the Mexico City news- papers of December, 1929, the government was informed that the present incumbent of the title of Marques de Valle, title con- ferred by Charles V on Hermando Cortes in 1529, had disposed of some of the most valuable of these manuscripts to dealers in the United States, and in order to prevent further sequestration of national treasure, it confiscated the archive.
It seems probable that out of such a mass of reports, cor- respondence, etc., some new and important data will be dis- covered bearing on the foundation and early years of the hos- pital and of the Confraternity of Our Lady, under whose aegis the hospital was administered, but it must be remembered that this archive, difficult though it has been to use, has not been overlooked nor neglected by Mexican historians. Carlos de Sigiienza y Gongora1 used it in the seventeenth century, and, in the nineteenth, Lucas Alaman2 and Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta.3 With what degree of completeness these writers examined the archive cannot be determined until all the documents which compose it become available for comparison with the history of the hospital as at present known. In view of a reasonable expectation that this may be in the near future, it seems worth while to review here the story as drawn from the above men-
i Carlos de Siguenza y G6ngora, Piedad Heroica de Herndn Cortes, Mexico, 1663. Very rare, but may be found in 1927 edition of Obras.
2 Lucas Alaman, Discertaciones sobre la historia de la Reptiblica Miji- cana, 3 vols., Havana, 1873.
a Joaquin Garcia, Icazbalceta, Obras, 9 vols., Mexico, 1896.
39
40 ELIZABETH WARD LOUGHRAN
tioned historians, and from documents in the printed collections from the archives of Spain.
The original name of the hospital was the Hospital of the Immaculate Conception, Hospital de la Limpia Conception de Nuestra Seiiora, and on April 16, 1529, Clement VII granted Cortes patronage of it in perpetuity.4 Because of this grant and of the generosity Cortes showed towards the work both during his Mexican residence and in his will, the hospital has always been known as the Marquis's hospital. It was not his, however, strictly speaking. It was founded by the Confraternity of Our Lady, of which Cortes was elected majordomo in charge of the hospital during its first years. The confraternity, perhaps a branch of the Confraternity of Our Lady, founded in 1208, and surrounded by traditions of hospital service in Europe, was a voluntary association, somewhat like our present day sodality, founded to honor God and to advance the personal sanctification of each member. The members met weekly for some kind of religious service, and pledged themselves to work without pay in the hospital. They took turns as nurses, and besides, con- tributed always according to their means and generosity. In return, they had the right to certain indulgences on the usual conditions.5 Wherever the colonists established hospitals, be- ginning with the first one, founded in 1503 in the city of Santo Domingo, and throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, it was the general rule to have a confraternity specially interested in the hospital, and often directly managing it.
The conquest of Mexico, it will be remembered, was accom- plished in 1521. The Hospital of the Immaculate Conception was founded soon afterwards. Father Cuevas6 believes in the same year, basing his opinion on the statement by Cortes's friend, Bernal Diaz de Castillo, "eyewitness and true historian" that Cortes was always in the city seeing to it that the Spaniards founded hospitals and churches.7 The statement by Castillo is
4 Alaman, op. tit., II, 262-266.
s The indulgences given the Mexican hospitals were the same as those of Nuestra Senora de Garcia of Saragossa, Spain. "Those who serve the sick in this hospital for days or for week [ ?] may gain after confession and communion a plenary indulgence on the day they enter the hospital for service and at their death." Ordenationes del hospital de N. S. de Zara- goza, Saragossa, 1656, pp. 97-102.
e Mariano Cuevas, S. J., Historic/, de la Iglesia de Mgjico, 5 vols., El Paso, 1928, I, 425.
7 Bernal Diaz de Castillo, Historia Verdadero de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana., Chap. 170.
THE MARQUIS'S HOSPITAL 41
not definite enough for us to be sure of such an early date of foundation, but we do know that three years later it was spoken of in the city records as a landmark. In the earliest extant books of proceedings of the cabildo or city council, those of 1524, nearby house-lots were designated in their relation to "the house of Alonse de Grado, which is at present a hospital."8 We can, perhaps, better appreciate the promptness and en- thusiasm with which the Spainards founded their hospitals if we pause to consider what traditions of establishing and or- ganizing hospitals they carried with them from Spain, and how necessary an aid to social well-being they considered them. Alfonso X, in the thirteenth century, incorporated into his code of laws, Las Siete Partidas, one decreeing that any legacy left to the poor of a community should be distributed by the hos- pital authorities. The Spanish hospital and the American one built in imitation of it, was not only a hospital in the narrow sense but a sort of poor house as well, where the indigent, the blind, the deformed, and the aged were cared for, in addition, it was, as we see from the law of Las Siete Partidas, a dispensing station for alms. The first Spanish hospital, of whose founda- tion proof exists, was built by Bishop Mansona in Merida, prov- vince of Badajoz, in 580 for "whatever sick man, slave or free, Christian or Jew."9 In the ninth century, church councils began to decree that bishops establish hospitals in their sees, and pres- ently the poor, the sick, pilgrims, and the homeless were sheltered and cared for in houses grouped around the cathedral church. In the following century, monasteries placed infirmaries at their gates, to which certain members of the order were assigned as attendants and nurses to alleviate the sufferings of the adjacent community. By the fourteenth century, there were few cities or towns that did not have at least one hospital, and often there were many in the one city. It began to be common for indi- viduals, either while living or through their wills, to found and endow hospitals for different sorts of patients, and many were thus founded by cardinals, bankers, merchants, noblemen, con- fraternities, and some by the municipalities themselves. So many were thus established, that there arose an agitation to unite all those in any place into one or at most two general city hospitals. The bishop of Lerida, by a papal indult of 1450,
s Alaman, op. cit., II, 160.
s Catholic Encyclopedia, art., "Hospitals.
42 ELIZABETH WARD LOUGHRAN
merged six hospitals into one, and later, in the sixteenth cen- tury, sixty-six in Seville were consolidated into two, and twenty in Salamanca into one.10
We see, therefore, that the Spaniard who came to America expected to care for the poor and needy in hospitals and to pro- vide treatment for the sick, poor and rich alike, and, moreover, that tradition placed, in general, one hospital near the cathedral under the direction of the bishop, attached others to parish churches and monasteries, and embraced the possibility of some of lay foundation. Thus it was as much to be expected of Cortes that he would found a hospital at once as that he would create a cabildo. It was part of the orderly functioning of the com- munity.
The site Cortes chose was five or six blocks to the southwest of the cathedral, facing the then fashionable thoroughfare Ixtapolapa, today the Avenue J. M. Pino Suarez.11 Here, before 1535,12 was constructed a two-story building13 about three hun- dred feet long, divided into two infirmaries or wards, one for men and the other for women. Some thirty years later, a second wing of the same proportions was added at right angle to the first, used also as infirmaries, though at later date found un- satisfactory as such and given over to other uses. We have an interesting dialogue,14 written in 1554, which gives us the con- dition of the hospital in that year and public sentiment towards Cortes. The dialogue was written by one of the professors of the University of Mexico, and in it a visiting Spaniard is being shown the city.
"If Cortes had lived longer, I do not doubt that equal to his other works would be the hospital dedicated to the Virgin, which he began on so magnificant a scale.
"Its grandeur is assured by its beginning.
"The work will soon be advanced with the money already
10 F. Hernandez Iglesias, La Beneficencia en Espana, 2 v., Madrid, 1876, I, 277.
" Alaman, op. cit., II, 61.
12 Under a window was found this inscription : "Diego Diaz Deusbona de nacion portugue's hizo esta ventana, ano de 1558."
is The material used was the soft rose-colored stone of Mexico called Tezontle, with trimmings of white limestone. The ceilings were of beauti- ful cedar beams cut on the Cortes estate in the nearby town of Tacubaya. One of these ceilings can be seen today in the inside vestibule of the church.
14 Cervantes de Salazar, Mexico en 155Jf — Tres dialogos latinos, Mexico, 1875, pp. 157-159.
THE MARQUIS'S HOSPITAL 43
gathered for the tribute and assigned to the completion of this hospital.
"Beautiful facade and excellent plan of building." The dialogue then continues on what it calls the real merit of such establishments, namely "what patients it receives and how it cares for them." It is difficult even to hazard a guess as to how many patients the hospital cared for. The wing first built could easily have housed a hundred, but whether it opened with enough beds for this number, or how many patients a year it attended, are among the queries that can be answered only if the Jesus Nazareno archive discloses the information. Siguenza y Gongora, writing in the middle of the seventeenth century, said that in his time the hospital averaged four hundred patients a year.15 From him we learn also that the hospital employed a physician, a surgeon, a barber, a head man nurse and a head woman nurse, a cook, three Indians who kept the building clean, and eight slaves, colored, men and women who completed the domestic service. These data, however interesting as part of hospital history, give little or no light on conditions a hundred years previous, at the time of foundation. A surgeon the hos- pital did have, we know from a page of Bishop Zumarraga's ac- count book for the year 1531.16 The patients, according to Cervantes de Salazar, whose dialogue we have quoted above, were "all Spaniards suffering from fevers." Salazar wrote in 1554, the year in which the Crown established a royal hospital in Mexico City exclusively for Indians. Before this date the patients were without doubt "all Spaniards and Indians suffering from fevers." Had we no evidence to substantiate this state- ment we should be sure of it from the customs of Spanish hos- pitals, for centuries, to receive the sick regardless of race or color. We have, however, almost certain proof. Diaz de Castillo wrote that Bartolome de Olmedo, chaplain to Cortes, gathered into one hospital "all the sick Indians and cared for them with great charity."17 There was a second hospital founded in 1541 by Bishop Zumarraga for contagious diseases, and the Bishop himself tells us that it was opened to both Spaniards and In- dians.18 When the Royal Hospital opened, naturally, the Indians
is Quoted in Alaman, op. cit., U, 64.
is J. Garcia Icazbalceta, Juan de Zumdrraga, Mexico, 1881. Apendice, pp. 62-63.
17 Diaz de Castillo, op. cit., Chap. 170.
is Icazbalceta, Zumdrraga, Apendice, p. 137.
44 ELIZABETH WARD LOUGHRAN
were transferred to it, but between the date of foundation and 1554 many a red-skin must have received treatment not only in the Bishop's but also in the Marquis's hospital.
As to the spiritual care of the patients, it was a primary consideration. As we have seen, Father Olmedo was the first chaplain. A chapel, later known as the Santa Escuela, was built before the hospital itself, and was the second church in the city. It was so situated that the patients, unable to attend Mass, could watch the celebration of it from their beds. The present church, planned and endowed by Cortes before his death, was not begun until 1575 and not completed until almost a cen- tury later. It had evidently been a project near to the Mar- quis's heart, for in a letter written to the King in 1536, Bishop Zumarraga19 urged the immediate building of a fine cathedral, because he said, "the Marquis was thinking of erecting an ele- gant church in which the hours would be chanted, and thus no one to be buried from the cathedral church." In charge of the spiritual needs of the patients was a chaplain chosen first by Cortes and then by his heirs in accordance with the bill of patronage granted them by Clement VII. By the middle of the following century, according to Sigiienza y Gongora,20 there were three chaplaincies attached to the hospital. It was the pious habit of most of the Spaniards and their descendants, the Creoles, and also of the rich Indians to leave in their wills sums of money providing for a certain number of Masses a year for the repose of their souls. In some cases they established an entire chaplaincy, in others, part. Such legacies must account for the two additional chaplains.
It was in this connection with the church that the change of name of the hospital occurred. In 1663, a rich Indian woman named Petronilla Geronima died. She had had in her oratory a very much venerated statue of Jesus Nazareno, and, not being able to decide what church she wished to give it to, in a rather droll will, she named five churches and ordered that lots should be cast, and the statue given to the one which luck favored.19 On a drawing of three out of five, the church of the Immaculate Conception won, and in solemn procession the statue was carried to the church. So great was the popular devotion at the new
19 Mariano Cuevas, S. J., Documentos ineditos de Siglo XIV para la historia de Mexico, 1914, p. 60.
20 Quoted in Alaman, op. cit., II, 65.
THE MARQUIS'S HOSPITAL 45
shrine that the church and the hospital began to be called Jesus Nazareno.
To return to the early years of the hospital and its financial arrangements. The treasury belonged in the beginning to the Confraternity. Cortes supplied a large part of the money for the building and running expenses, though others contributed, perhaps in big sums. The early majordomos were conquistadores to whom Cortes had been generous in the allotment of lands and towns, Antonio de Villaroel, for instance alyuacil mayor of the city. If such men were interested enough to give a part of their time and energy for several years to the work of managing the hospital, they, doubtless, gave freely of their money also. Cortes contributed towards the annual running expenses a thousand ducats in rents and mortages;21 Bishop Zumarraga gave a hun- dred pesos a year, when he could afford to, and, unquestionably, others were regular contributors.22 All the records we have show that these gifts were given "to the hospital and confrater- nity." The report of the archdiocese in 1570 likewise lists the possessions in mortgages, rents, etc., which the hospital enjoyed as "property of the hospital and the confraternity."23
Cortes died in Spain in 1547, and in his will24 he left to the hospital, he does not mention the confraternity, an annual in- come from various parts of his estate amounting to two thou- sand pesos, more or less, and, in addition, or rather, as a prin- cipal gift, the tithes and first fruits from the towns of his mar- quisate, after the expense of chaplain and church in each town or district had been subtracted. Cortes owned large portions of the valley of Mexico, of Oajaca, Toluca, Cuernavaca, Cuantle, Charo, Tuxtla, Tehauntepec,25 and on this property he owed tithes on all agricultural and animal products, and also on the tribute due him from the Indians. All this would amount to a very considerable sum. By the bull26 Eximiae devotionis of Novem- ber, 1501, Alexander VI ceded to the throne of Spain the tithes due the church, and the Sovereigns, in turn, after the erection
21 Ibid., II, 61.
22 Icazbalceta, Zumarraga, p. 62.
23 Descripcion del Arzobispado de Mexico, hecha en 1570, Mexico, 1897, p. 287.
24 Alaman, op. cit., II, 315-342.
25 Descripicion de los obispados de Tlaxcala, Michoacan, Oajaca y otros lugares del Siglo XVI, Mexico, 1904, 153-154.
26 Coleccion de documentos ineditos del Real Archives de Indias, Ma- drid, Second series, V, 79.
46 ELIZABETH WARD LOUGHRAN
of American bishoprics, in 1512, returned the tithes to the bishops.27 By the bull28 Universalis Ecclesiae of July 28, 1508, Julius II gave to the kings of Spain patronage over the church in their new colonies, that is, the right to present names for all benefices. Now, Clement VII, in a bull dated April 16, 1529, gave to Cortes and his descendants not only the right to patron- age in perpetuity of the existing hospitals and of all other churches and hospitals he might found, but also all the tithes and first fruits of his marquisate.29 This was an extraordinary bull in view of the royal prerogatives granted by previous popes.
The Crown, of course, would not recognize this bull, first be- cause it was prejudicial to royal privilege as stated in the bull Universalis Ecclesiae, and second, because it had not received the visa of the Council of the Indies before being promulgated in America.30 Cortes had made a test of it in 1530, and had lost.31 The tithe-collector to whom the royal officials had farmed out the tithes brought suit against Cortes in 1532 before the Audiencia, or court of appeal, because he refused to pay tithes on his property in the archdiocese, amounting to fifteen hundred pesos, a sum equalling one-third the total tithes in that see. The Audiencia made him pay the money and the King sent for the bull, to which, of course, he refused his visa. So when Cortes wrote in his will this donation to the hospital he must have known that it was no more than a gesture of confidence in his own privileges as received from the Pope.
The hospital's actual donation was, then, an annual income of only two thousand pesos; but the heirs of the marquisate have been generous towards what was the great marquis's fav- orite charity. After Hermando's death when a timid govern- ment exiled the family, the administration of the hospital suf- fered. Funds were stolen, and the service was so poor, that in the early part of the seventeenth century the saying was "if Juan de Dios is bad, Jesus Nazareno is worse."32 But this state of affairs was temporary; the Marquis's hospital has been
2* F. J. Hernaez, Collection de Bulas, Breves, y documentos Relativos a la Iglesia de America y Filipinas, 2 vols., Brussels, 1875, I, 21-24.
28 Ibid., I, 24-25.
29 See note 4.
so Recopilacidn de las leyes de las Indias, Madrid, 1680. Lib. I, Tit. VIII, 1, 55.
si Col. de doc. ined, First series, XIII, 237 ff.
32 in 1604 the order of Juan de Dios came to Mexico and established themselves in the Hospital de la Epifania or de los Desamparados, a hos- pital founded in 1582 by Doctor Pedro Lopez.
THE MARQUIS'S HOSPITAL 47
through the centuries a great blessing to the community. Part of the original building is still standing, and the Jesus Nazareno hospital, under government auspices, serves a part of the City of Mexico today.
Such is the story of the Marquis's hospital. It is today Mexico's only monument to the great soldier, poet, scholar, and gentleman, who founded that nation and organized it with such skill as to make posterity wonder at his genius. The monument was of his own building, and it was dedicated to his patron and advocate, the Blessed Virgin. In 1823, the ashes of this great man, to whom Mexico owed so much, had to be taken in the night from their resting place in the church attached to the hos- pital, in order to save them from being scattered to the winds by a people unbalanced by republicanism. Today, the govern- ment pays the popular painter, Diego Ribera, to vilify Cortes in poster art on the walls of his own old palace in Cuernavaca. However, the work of the Jesus Nazareno Hospital continues, and perhaps the ideals which it represents will produce a new generation better able to form a just appreciation of Cortes and of the things for which he stood.
Elizabeth Ward Loughran Boston, Mass.
CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF TEXAS INDIANS1
Twilight had fallen. The hills were assuming that indescrib- able purplish hue; the red glow of sunset was now a faint pink and lavender, a star twinkled here and there, and the hum of millions of insects floated in the air that was laden with the perfume of wild flowers. Instinctively I fell to musing and the thought of what had been in days gone by flitted through my mind. Almost three hundred years before a little band of mis- sionaries slowly wended its way over trackless mountains and boundless plains from Mexico to far away Texas. For the first time the Indians that roamed over the land came into direct touch with European civilization. Even then, some of the tribes had unfortunately come into contact with Europeans, both on the coast and on the vast basin of the Mississippi, but the recol- lection was not pleasant, for they had been driven from their former hunting grounds into the west beyond. That little band of brown-robed Franciscans that entered Texas in 1689 were the first to come on a mission of love and out of solicitude for their welfare. To the accounts left us by these worthy soldiers of Christ must we now turn to catch a glimpse of that world that has so completely disappeared. In their diaries and memoirs are to be found today all that is left concerning the life, the manners, the customs, the habits, and the beliefs of that simple though cruel people that occupied the vast expanse of Texas when the curtain rises on the first act of the great drama of Texas history.
Did the Indians have any idea of God? What was their philosophy of life? How did they explain the great mysteries of nature ? Simple and child-like, the untutored hordes had their own ideas on all these subjects, tempered by a rude and harsh reality. To them the creator of all things was the "Great Cap- tain," called in their tongue Caddi Yago.
i This study is based on the following sources : Juan Augustin Morfi, Memorias para la Historia de Texas, MS, (photostat copy in University of Texas Library) ; Juan Augustin Morfi, Historia de la Provincia de Texas, MS, (discovered by the author in Mexico City last December and copied for the University of Texas Library) ; Isidro Felis Espinosa, Chronica Apostolica y Seraphica, Mexico, 1746; Jose de Solis, The Solis Diary of 1161, translated by Rev. Peter P. Forrestal, St. Edwards University, pub- lished in Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society; Fr. Francisco de Jesus Maria Casanas, letters to the Viceroy of Mexico, August 15, 1691, in "Descriptions of the Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1691- 1722," translated from the Spanish by Mattie Austin Hatcher, Quarterly, Texas Historical Association, Vol. XXX.
48
CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF TEXAS INDIANS 49
In the beginning of the world, they claimed, there was a woman who had two beautiful daughters. One of them was about to give birth to a child. It happened that one evening, as the two girls strayed along the fields in the spring, picking flowers, they were suddenly set upon by a ferocious beast that resembled a huge serpent, whose horns rose from its head and were lost in the skies. This creature was called Caddaha, or evil one, by the Indians. It fell upon the expectant mother and with indescribable fury tore her to pieces and devoured her, bit by bit. The sister of the unfortunate girl ran away as fast as she could and climbed the highest tree in sight, but the ferocious animal had no sooner finished feasting upon the victim than it set about to gnaw the tree on which the survivor had taken refuge. Seeing that the tree would soon fall, the girl jumped into a deep well that stood nearby. She dived into the still waters and came out a long distance away, where she found her mother.
The beast, determined to get the sister, began to drink the water in the well, thinking the girl was at the bottom, without realizing that the well had no bottom but opened into the sea. His efforts proved futile, for as fast as he could drink, the well filled up and the water kept its level.
The mother and the remaining daughter made their way back to the scene of the tragedy. There, on a small acorn shell, they discovered a drop of bright red blood, the only silent wit- ness of the monster's brutality. The mother tenderly picked up the little acorn, placed another half shell over it, and carried it home. She then placed the acorn in a small jar and set it in a corner.
That night she was awakened by a peculiar noise, as if some- thing were knawing at the jar. She got up and went to ascer- tain the cause of the disturbance. Much to her surprise she discovered that the little drop of blood had changed in the bottle into a small human figure, the size of one's little finger. She carefully replaced the cover over the jar and went back to sleep.
The following night she heard the same noise and got up full of curiosity to see what caused it. Imagine her surprise on finding that the small figure had become a full-grown man. Much pleased with the discovery, she lost no time in bringing him a bow and arrow, and, removing the top of the jar, let him out. He immediately inquired after his mother, whereupon he
4013
50 CARLOS E. CASTANEDA
was informed by the grandmother and aunt of her tragic end. Filled with rage and sorrow, he set out in quest of the Caddaha, or evil one, determined to avenge the death of his mother. He found him after a while and shot an arrow from his bow that hit him so hard that it is said the devil has never again had the courage to appear in this world.
The young man, nameless till now, returned to his grand- mother and aunt and told them it was not safe to remain in this world, exposed to the wiles and snares of the evil one, and they agreed to go with him to heaven. They all ascended into heaven and from there Caddi Yago, the "Great Captain" has ever since been ruling the world and watching the evil one.
They not only believed in the "Great Captain," who was their principal deity, but also in life after death or immortality. When a member of the tribe died, a lugubrious death song was intoned and a dance was held. With proper ceremonies the departed one was placed in the burial ground with his bow and arrow, his best clothes, his feathers, and his beads. Just before burial one of their priests would seriously advise the departed one, whispering in his ear, "to work hard in that other house . . . until all shall have assembled."
It was thought that those who died went to a large house where they were to wait until everyone in the world had died, at which time all would start from this house to a new world. They were not to stand idly around while waiting for the rest but must work in the meantime. It seems, from their sayings, that they thought the older residents in the house of death did not work as hard as the new arrivals but actually seemed to take delight in getting the newcomers to work immediately. One account says that the souls in the house of death would say, "Here he comes! make him work until we are all assembled!" when a new arrival appeared in sight.
As in all primitive societies the medicine men of the tribe were personages of no mean importance. They enjoyed all kinds of privileges, being the first to taste of the food and wine at all ceremonies and the only ones allowed to sit in a raised seat higher than the captain himself. The first fruits, as well the choice pieces of game, were always for them. They were dis- tinguished from the rest by their peculiar dress, a tuft of feath- ers worn on the head, and a number of curious necklaces made of different snake skins brightly colored. Naturally the greatest
CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF TEXAS INDIANS 51
desire of the young men, particularly those endowed with ambi- tion and intelligence, was to become medicine men. This was greater than to be captain, and certainly gave the scheming youth a much greater opportunity of enjoying the good things of life than anything else.
But to attain his desire the ambitious candidate had to sub- mit himself to a severe ordeal. All the medicine men of the tribe would meet on an appointed day to examine the candidate. One of the chroniclers assures us that there were a great many medicine men and that this sort of medical board of examiners were extremely jealous of their high position and great preroga- tives, for which reason the young aspirant was put through a severe test according to their lights. The supernatural or mys- terious was inseparably associated with the practice of medicine, magic being indispensable to cover the absence of science.
The medicine men having assembled and the whole tribe being gathered with an abundant supply of provisions and drink for the occasion, the candidate was brought forward. He was first given various potions, previously prepared, all of which he drank in generous quantities and with great frequency. He was also handed a pipe and given abundant tobacco, specially pre- pared for the occasion, to smoke. The result was that he soon fell into a swoon or trance and remained in this condition for twenty-four hours at least, during which time the rest of the tribe and the examiners engaged in merry-making, weird sing- ing, and much eating and drinking. After twenty-four hours of real or feigned sleep, the candidate began to give signs of return- ing consciousness, breathing deeply from time to time and mov- ing as one about to come out of a trance. As he regained con- sciousness he would pretend not to know where he was and would begin talking of what he had seen and where he had been during his sleep, claiming that his soul traveled far into the un- known regions where many things unknown to human kind were revealed to him. The good friar remarks that the "impostors" generally made up a fictitious and most incredible story of what they had seen as they went along.
The ceremonies then continued for ei^ht days, during which time the medicine men sang weird songs and joined in fantastic and grotesque dances, while the women formed a row all around, with dishevelled hair, adding their lugubrious moaning to the infernal music. Fires were kept burning, both for ceremonial
52 CARLOS E. CASTANEDA
purposes and for cooking the food. During all this time various medicine men would hold long and serious conversations with the candidate, during which he would feign to be possessed by superhuman understanding. At the conclusion of the examina- tion and different trials, a great festival was held and the new member of the medical association was acclaimed with much rejoicing.
But all was not roses. If there were many honors and privi- leges enjoyed by the members of this cast, there were also grave dangers. If a sudden epidemic appeared in any locality — this was a common occurrence given the unsanitary conditions in which they lived — and the medicine man was unsuccessful in saving his patients, the rumor soon spread that he had the evil hand, that he had lost favor with the divinity that gave health, consequently he was no good any more in healing them. The end was as swift as it was awful. The men would gather, chiefly the relatives of the recent dead treated by the unsuccessful im- postor, and, without ceremony, club him to death. The Nacog- doches, in particular, demanded success. It is claimed that this tribe was very severe with the medicine man that failed to re- store the patient to health. The relatives of the deceased would take clubs and fall upon the unfortunate doctor, making a quick end of him.
When called to attend a patient, the first thing he did upon arrival at the house was to build a large fire. He then made ready his fifes and a large fan of feathers. With curiously carved sticks that resembled the rattles of a snake he would make an infernal noise by playing upon a stretched dry skin, adding to the weirdness of the performance by his doleful chant that resembled the song of the condemned, according to the chronicler. In the meantime the patient was "warming up" for treatment, placed over a grate of live coals set under his bed. Generally the ceremony preceding treatment would begin in the afternoon and last until the early hours of morning.
From time to time the medicine man would treat the patient by applying his lips to the abdomen of the sick man, pressing as hard as he could with his head and sucking furiously at the skin. While performing this operation, he dexteriously intro- duced various objects and coloring matter into his mouth, which he would later spit out after each operation to show that he was drawing out the cause of the illness. Some times he even in-
CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF TEXAS INDIANS 53
troduced worms into his mouth, which he would later spit out, declaring they were the cause of the illness. This treatment was successful only when applied to snake bites or freshly in- fected wounds, observes the chronicler, because then the sucking produced its effect.
The high priests and medicine men also predicted weather. Their predictions generally went unfulfilled, but many supersti- tions grew around them. It was a common belief that if there were many ticks in the spring — and there always are, declares the good padre — the crop of beans would be very abundant. In the winter the dying coals of a fire should never be enlivened by blowing on them with a feather or straw fan, for this would cause the fine ashes that were blown up in the air to bring down a heavy snowfall. If the rains were heavy in March and April the rainfall during July and August would be scanty indeed and there would be a bad drought. But the good friar observes that whenever a drought was predicted by the wise men of the tribe the crops were usually lost because of excessive rains. The con- trol of the elements has led in all times to ridiculous practices. Not very long ago all kinds of measures to bring about rain were advocated by numerous rain-makers.
Were the children of the plains inured to the soft charm of spring and the universal passion of love? Not exactly. The sturdy young warriors felt the urge of tenderness and the pangs of love as keenly as our sophisticated youth. The customs of courting differed somewhat in the various tribes. Among the Tejas the young brave who wished to court the favor of an In- dian maid first cultivated the friendship of her kinfolk. He would then go out and bring the finest game possible, the most valuable pelts in his possession, and other highly prized tokens and approaching the wigwam of his lady love he would drop them at the door and retire a short distance. The maid did not take up the offerings, but called her parents to see them. If the parents considered them of sufficient value to indicate the worth of the suitor and the extent of his love, they took them in. This was a sign of acceptance of the suit. The brave could now call on the maid. He could not marry her, however, without the consent of the Caddi or chief who must be consulted on the match and invited to the wedding feast.
But matrimony lasted as long as the couple were satisfied with each other. "At the least misunderstanding, each one,"
54 CARLOS E. CASTANEDA
declares the chronicler, "looks for another companion." The matches were easily broken without much formality, and it seems that woman's desire for finery and jewels was as strong and as much the cause of matrimonial unhappiness as it is to- day. The good padre states that the women often left their husbands "especially if the woman finds a man who can give her things she likes better." Some times the husband wore mourning to display his grief at conjugal disloyalty, and there are instances where the adulteress was chastised with heavy lashes of the whip, but in the main they attached little import- ance to chastity or conjugal loyalty and the standard of married life was low in the extreme.
According to the missionaries the Tejas Indians were a comely lot. "The men of this tribe are fair-complected, hand- some and well-proportioned; they go about without any clothing except a breech clout. They are all covered with red and other colored paints. . . . The women, with blond, dishevelled hair, are most beautiful, white-skinned, and pleasant. They wear shammy dresses embroidered and adorned with fringes. They use beads of various colors and hang from the lobes of the ears long, smooth, polished bones." Another missionary confirms this description of the Tejas women declaring that they are "beautiful, white, graceful, and very affable, without lacking in honesty, and specially modest with strangers."
Throughout the year they dressed with decorum, wearing two gamuzas (especially tanned and dressed deer skins). One of these covered them from the waist down to the ankle; while the other, with a hole or opening in the center for the head, covered them from the neck to the waist. The skirt was taste- fully decorated with small white beads and little seeds embroid- ered along the border. The edges of the upper garment were all curiously edged with a fringe "which makes it very pretty," declares the padre.
These Indians were particularly fond of community festivals. The building of their homes, the planting of the crops, the gathering of the harvest, all these were occasions for community festivals. Strange as it may seem they appear to have had a celebration that resembles remarkably well our feast of the May. No definite day was set aside each year, but during this month the whole tribe would go out into the woods and select the tallest and most slender pine tree they could fine. A brave would then
CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF TEXAS INDIANS 55
climb the tree and carefully trim off all the branches except the very top. The tree would then be cut down with due ceremonies and removed to a large open space previously selected, cleared, and leveled. It was here set up and two tracks were marked off around it and made as smooth as possible to facilitate the races. On the appointed day, before daybreak, all the tribe would gather about the tree. The strongest and swiftest runners took their places on the two tracks marked out while the remainder — men, women, and children — ranged themselves around the open space as spectators and judges of the race. In breathless silence the runners and the tribe awaited the first ray of sun- light to stream over the horizon. At the sight of the sun a wild shout of joy rent the air and the racers set off. The braves ran along the tracks for hours, the women wailing for those that fell out exhausted early in the race and cheering for those who remained. The one who ran the fastest and made the most rounds was acclaimed victor. The races over, the whole tribe joined in merrymaking, eating, drinking, and dancing until far into the night.
Their war dances, their cruel treatment of captives, and their many tricks have been more commonly described and will not be discussed in this paper. An example of their great admiration, cult we might say, for courage and bravery cannot be omitted. In their estimation this was the highest virtue. A brave and courageous man was worthy of all consideration.
According to the story, it happened that Lieutenant Antonio Tremiho was one day unexpectedly attacked while on his way with a small escort from San Antonio to La Bahia. The enemy greatly outnumbered his men, and the suddenness of the attack put them at a disadvantage. All his companions were killed by the first charge of the Taovayases and he himself received sev- eral wounds. His horse fell dead and he was forced to take refuge behind a tree, from where he continued to fight undis- mayed. The leader of the Indians, impressed by his bravery, ordered his followers to cease fighting, and, approaching Tremifio, told him it was useless for him to resist, that he would certainly perish, that it was a pity to see the life of a brave man thus uselessly sacrificed. Convinced by these words, he agreed to surrender, after having been offered good treatment. Much to his surprise the Indians immediately made a rough stretcher of sticks and brush, tenderly placed him on it and carried him back
56 CARLOS E. CASTANEDA
to their camp with the greatest solicitude, offering him on the way the best they had. Upon arrival at the Rancheria, a house was made ready for him, Indians were ordered to serve and cure him, and when he was restored to health they gave him an In- dian maid for his wife, as any member of the tribe. So much confidence and respect did they feel for him that he was always called to their councils, even the most secret, and his advice asked on all questions.
But after two years of this life, Tremiiio grew sad and fell into a melancholic mood. The Indians realized he was homesick for his own people. The chief called him and told him he had never been considered a prisoner, that he was at liberay to go when he pleased, that they had tried to make him happy and induce him to live with them, but that if he wanted to return to his people, everything would be made ready. Tremino was much impressed by these words and a few days later set out for San Antonio. He was accompanied by a number of Taovayases who came to protect him from other Indians. All his belongings were returned and he was presented with several good horses. When the party reached the vicinity of San Antonio, the Indians took leave of their "brother," as they called him, assuring him that any time he needed help or wanted to see them, he knew the way to the Rancheria. "And this was told me," declares Father Morn, "by Tremino himself, at the presidio of Bexar where I met him. . . . This single story reveals their character."
Carlos E. Castaneda University of Texas Austin, Texas
A MIRACLE IN MID- AMERICA?
We have no official Acta Sanctorum of the missioners and pioneer priests of the American prairies and forests. No society of American Bollandists has passed on the genuineness of those extraordinary feats which annalists claim were performed dur- ing the missioners' labors for Christ. But occasionally some feat, some extraordinary performance, stands out strikingly in a challenging way, and the mere historical data supplied by the circumstances fail to meet the challenge in a perfectly satisfac- tory manner, and fall quite short of solving the problem involved on purely natural grounds.
Of all the remarkable missioners who labored in the Missis- sippi Valley since the days of Father Marquette, there are none who can surpass in continued effort and in success, the Rev. Francis Xavier Weninger, S.J. The fruits of his labors after three quarters of a century are still so apparent in some con- gregations in Iowa, and, it is presumed, likewise in other states, that the grandchildren of those who heard him know him today by name and speak of him with veneration and awe. And that Heaven itself set its seal of approval upon his work in a spec- tacularly preternatural fashion would seem manifest to us to- day, not merely from references in his own writings, but from the reliable and credible testimony of hundreds who were wit- nesses of some of these extraordinary events.
An intensely colorful career was that of Father Weninger in America; his movements to and fro on his cyclonic missionary journeys — no other adjective brings out the effects of his efforts among the people for whom he labored — through most of the states of the Union, were kaleidoscopic and dramatic. His life was quite eventful even before his arrival in America. Born near Marburg in Austria, he was educated at the gymnasium there. Later while studying pharmacy at Leibach, he made a marked impression on a member of the royal court, who spoke favorably of him to the Empress Carolina Augusta. The latter gave him a scholarship at the University of Vienna, where he completed his classical studies, and then decided to prepare for the priesthood. He earned his doctorate of divinity and was ordained at the age of twenty-five. After serving as professor at the University of Gratz, he applied for entrance into the Society of Jesus and became a member in 1832. In 1840 he was
57
58 MATHIAS M. HOFFMAN
confessor to the Duchesse de Berry, whose father-in-law was soon to become King Charles X of France.1
Until 1848 he was almost constantly engaged in professional work at the renowned University of Innsbruck. Such was his zeal that besides performing his scholastic duties, he heard over 20,000 confessions a year, and occupied three pulpits regularly. The exciting revolutions that broke out in the various German states in 1848 put an end to much of his work, and he applied for and was granted, permission to come to the United States to labor as a missioner.
Arrived in America, he spent the next forty-five years of his life almost entirely in giving missions and retreats. The phen- omenal success that followed him in this field did not prevent him from devoting his spare time to the writing of books and pamphlets. He wrote a series of books on religious topics adapted for his missions; he published a number of volumes of his ser- mons ; and he was a frequent contributor to religious magazines and newspapers. That he was no mean theological writer is apparent from the strikingly favorable comment of the Holy Father, Pius IX, on his volume, "The Infallibility of the Pope." More good had been done, wrote the Pontiff, "by this single book than by all the missions" of the author.
Father Weninger's missionary labors took him through all the country between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, through all the states of the Mississippi Valley from Wisconsin to Louisi- ana and Texas, and through the lands of the Far West. After mastering the English tongue, he was soon able to address con- gregations with almost equal fluency in German, French and English, but most of his work was among the German congre- gations. While on the Pacific coast he made himself at home in the Chinese settlements and when in the South before the Civil War he gave missions to the slaves, on one occasion receiving over fifty of them into the Church. His long and spiritually fruitful life ended on June 29, 1888, at St. Xavier's in Cincin- nati, but his remains now rest in the valley of the Father of the Waters at Florissant, Missouri.
i These general facts of Father Weninger's life are taken from a series of articles appearing from June to December, 1927, in Central- Blatt and Social Justice, (St. Louis), the Central Verein's official publication. These articles were based on Father's Weninger's Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben in Europa und Amerika, his unpublished Memoirs.
A MIRACLE IN MID- AMERICA? 59
Father Weninger had left Austria during the revolutionary year of 1848. Before that year, during it, and shortly after it, thousands of Germans involved in the several revolutionary movements and chagrined at the failure of their attempts to establish democratic government at home, rushed away to em- brace the great free Republic of the West. Many thousands of them settled in various parts of the Mississippi Valley, and it was the fortune or misfortune of Father Weninger to be thrown in frequent contact with them. They were not only avowed enemies of their former governments of Europe but also of their established religions. Most of them, and even the former Catholics among them, were strongly infected with the virus of anti-clericalism. Carl Schurz, that romantic revolutionist of Germany, and military hero and political genius of the United States, known favorably to Abraham Lincoln and other Amer- icans of his day as "that tremendous Dutchman," a man who had abandoned the Catholic faith of his fathers, had become their idol. And Father Weninger's aggressive career among them was, of course, by no means a happy one.2
It was sometime during the year of 1853 as the valiant Jesuit missioner was laboring in Wisconsin that Bishop Loras of Du- buque heard of his herculean successes. Bishop Loras immedi- ately made arrangements with Bishop Henni of Milwaukee to secure the services of Father Weninger for his diocese, and the missioner arrived in Dubuque in the fall to commence a series of missions in Iowa. From the very beginning, Father Weninger encountered opposition and persecution from the "forty-eight- ers" — the German revolutionists. His own description of tfeeir tactics in Dubuque furnishes an enlightening sample of this op- position.
"I opened the first mission in Dubuque itself, the largest city in the state, situate on the Mississippi and seat of the Bishop. Iowa numbers among its inhabitants many fugitives from Europe, and consequently a large number of most determined enemies of religion, one may even say most rabid enemies of God. The mission and its quickening and saving influence were quite discomforting to these radical sons of Satan. How often did I not hear in one place and another throughout the entire state of Iowa the incessantly repeated assurance: 'If you had not come I would have been lost forever; I was about prepared to cast all faith and religion overboard.'
2 On the German revolutionists in America, see Carl Schurz, Militant Liberal, (1930), by Joseph Schafer, Superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
60 MATHIAS M. HOFFMAN
"The exasperation of the hostile, atheistic, anti-Christian elements, on the other hand, promptly and plainly became evident by two attempts against my life. One by hurling a bottle of nitric acid, or oil of vitriol, through the window of my room onto my bed, the other in broad daylight, in the street. I was on my way to comply with a sick-call, wearing my priestly garb, that is, the garb of my order, and carried the Blessed Sacra- ment with me. Suddenly two horsemen galloped up the street, one of whom, seeing me dressed in my cassock, called out to the other: 'Reit doch den Pfaffen nieder!' ('Ride that Papist down!') This horseman there- upon actually rode straight towards me at full gallop. I did not yield an inch but let him come straight at me. The horse was immediately in front of me when the rider suddenly reined it to one side. I had expected to be knocked down, but I suffered no harm, my hour had not yet come. I do not know whether the man was startled by my calm bearing or whether some other circumstance caused him to jerk the horse aside just as it was about to hurl me to the ground, "s
After this incident one of the first places which Father Weninger visited for the purpose of conducting a mission was Guttenberg, forty miles north of Dubuque, a beautifully scenic little town on the Mississippi. It had been known as Prairie La Porte in the days of the Indian traders, but with the arrival of the Germans, among whom were many revolutionists, it had been named Guttenberg, after the inventor of the printing-press.
Here, one of the first acts of the missioner was to cause the erection of a mission cross near the church on the high bank overlooking the river. This was in accord with his unfailing custom in the first years of his missionary activities. He gen- erally arranged to have the cross of huge dimensions, forty or fifty feet in height, and set on a pedestal of nine or ten feet. In farm parishes such a cross would be set up in the churchyard ; in a city where several parishes conducted a joint mission, it was erected in the most prominent place of the community. In connection with these public gatherings, Father Weninger sought to have ceremonies as impressive as possible. Soldiers from nearby garrisons were invited to participate in the processions. The town cannon, often used by the local authorities in those days for civic and national celebrations, was pressed into service to fire salutes at the erection of the outdoor mission cross. The carpenters at Guttenberg attached large, round knobs to the tips of the beams.
It was during this mission, on the afternoon of October 7,
s Annals of the Ludwig Missions- Verein for the year 1853, p. 406 et seq. (Munich, 1854) ; Central-Blatt and Social Justice, January, 1931.
A MIRACLE IN MID-AMERICA? 61
1853, at three o'clock, that there appeared in the sky a large white cross. According to Father Weninger's diary, this re- markable heavenly cross appeared on three other occasions. In 1856 when he passed Guttenberg on a steamboat he again saw the cross in the firmament, and it appeared also in later years during the missions conducted at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Monroe, Michigan. But it is this first appearance of the celestial cross at Guttenberg in 1853 that attracts the attention of the historian because it seems so well verified and authenticated. Father Weninger referred to this event several times in his writings, and we quote here his own words from a sermon de- livered in his late years.
"It happened in the year 1853 when I gave a Holy Mission in Gut- tenberg, Iowa. It was in October in the week when the feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated, and I was commemorating the twenty-fifth anni- versary of my first holy Mass which I celebrated on the feast of the Holy Rosary, 1828, in Vienna, Austria. On Friday afternoon about three o'clock a large cross twenty-five feet in height was raised in the open near the church. ... As this cross was elevated a bright cross appeared in the sky. It did not move but stood still for about fifteen minutes, then gradu- ally disappeared. It seemed about 100 feet long, with cross beams of nearly 25 feet. A lady noticed it at first and she drew the attention of others to the same. Several persons made a sworn statement before a notary as to the truth of the vision."*
In his Memoirs, Father Weninger stated that when the Bishop of Dubuque heard of the affair he sent two priests to make an investigation. All those questioned answered under oath and insisted on the reality of the appearances. And today we actu- ally find reference in the Dubuque archives to this report of the event to Bishop Loras. In a letter written in French to Bishop Loras exactly a week after its occurrance, Father Weninger said: "A mon retour a Dubuque apres la Mission de New- Vienna je vous donnerai des details sur l'apparition d'une croix au ciel, au temps de la plantation de la croix de la Mission. L'apparition dura un quart heure et des Catholiques meme des Protestants en sont temoins." ("Upon my return to Dubuque after the mission at New Vienna, I shall give you the details concerning the ap- pearance of a cross in the heavens at the time of the planting of the mission cross. The apparition lasted a quarter of an hour, and Catholics as well as Protestants are witnesses to it.")
Bishop Loras kept no diary and so we are unable to learn the
* From a sermon preached on May 26, 1882. Weninger's Predigten.
62 MATHIAS M. HOFFMAN
result of Father Weninger's report on the cross. But that the Bishop was impressed by the news is clear from the fact that on the back of the letter he wrote : "Apparition d'une croix au ciel." And that he held the missioner in highest esteem and honor is further apparent from the fact that he wrote on the back of the last letter received from him just after he had finished his remarkably successful tour through Iowa: "Rev. F. X. Weninger, S. J. The Apostle of Iowa."5
But it is from the descendants of the pioneers of Guttenberg who were present at the mission of Father Weninger that we find multifold, and to this day, unchallenged, verification of this celestial apparition. Time and again have these descendants, many of them among the most intelligent, educated and cultured people of the community, heard the details of this event from their fore-fathers who were witnesses of it. Mr. Kamphaus, the chief carpenter, who had supervised the making of the mission cross, delighted in later years to narrate to the young people how, standing in the shadow of the cross he had erected, he saw its heavenly counterpart gleaming in the sky. Dr. Hofbauer, one of the leading revolutionists of the town and a former Catho- lic, remained away from the mission, but his wife was one of the principal witnesses of the event. The grandchildren of Mrs. Winkels recount how this lady, a non-Catholic before the mis- sion commenced, beheld the apparition and was able to give the names of thirteen persons among her acquaintances alone who were eyewitnesses of it. Mr. and Mrs. Heitmann, among the oldest settlers of the community, have handed down their testi- mony to the present age, through their children and their chil- dren's children. A short search among the citizens of the beau- tiful and picturesque river town of Guttenberg revealed many more names and instances than this. But another bit of testi- mony is cited because it confirms Father Weninger's claim that sworn statements of witnesses were taken at the time before a notary. Mrs. Gerald Herman Eilers was in the crowd near the mission cross, when she heard the lady at her side, a Protestant, cry out: "My God! What do I see?" And looking up, she be- held the celestial cross. Mrs. Eilers recounted that this Protes- tant lady, having been among the first to behold the apparition,
5 Letters of Father Weninger to Bishop Loras, Guttenberg to Dubuque, October 14, 1853, and Burlington to Dubuque, November 27, 1853, in Dubuque archdiocesan archives.
A MIRACLE IN MID- AMERICA? 63
appeared before a notary to give her testimony, when her hus- band, a violent revolutionary, arrived upon the scene and led her away, refusing to permit her to testify.
Is it a concession to credulousness for the historian to look upon the appearance of this heavenly cross, witnessed alike by Catholics and by Protestants, by believers and by atheistic Ger- man revolutionists, as something supernatural, something mirac- ulous? Of course, its appearance can be ingeniously explained and correctly, too, as due to natural causes, to the refraction of the sun's rays and their action on the clouds. But the extra- ordinary coincidence of its occurence at the very moment of the open air mission ceremony and the erection of the great wooden cross on the high bank of the Mississippi, seems to add to the event, to say the least, a special, a profound significance. Father Weninger himself was never so bold as to refer to this incident as a miracle in his Memoirs. He relates the affair with the same quasi-casual air which marks all his descriptions. He speaks of gigantic prairie fires, of hair-raising accidents on the road or on the river, of malicious attacks of revolutionists, and of these apparitions, in the same easy tenor, entirely free from all undue emphasis, as he speaks of the ordinary sermons given during a retreat. Whether the coincidence be considered natural or supernatural, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the ap- pearance of the celestial cross was some sort of Divine approval of the remarkable labors of the saintly Weninger, the heroic Jesuit missioner, whose life and work have influenced the Catho- lic history of the Mississippi valley even to this day.
M. M. Hoffman Columbia College Dubuque, Iowa
DOCUMENTS
A CIVIL WAR DIARY
Not the least interesting and valuable books in the library left by my father, William J. Onahan, were his diaries dating from 1856 to his death in 1919. They are really a history of Chicago.
The first entry is on his twentieth birthday, November 24, 1856. He writes: "I am here today full of life, hope and am- bition relying however on the kindly justice of the Almighty. And when my earthly career shall be brought to a close, be it tomorrow or be it long years hence may God grant that I shall not be unprepared." There follow accounts of lectures by prom- inent men, civic events of various kinds, the organization of the Catholic Institute and its meetings; also, his more personal affairs, an ever widening acquaintance with the attractive young ladies of early Chicago. The circle finally dwindled to one. On Sunday, July 8, 1860, he writes: "Today the greatest event of my life, the fulfillment of long yearning hopes was consum- mated. My destiny was forever linked with Maggie. Twas but yesterday I may say we decided upon it and now it is an ac- complished fact. The day, the scene, the circumstances are indelibly fixed on my memory. I hope the Almighty will favor and bless our union, our Blessed Mother be forever our Guardian and protectress. And O vast future be thou propitious! With great hopes and fond anticipations we commence our new life."
The entries from the years 1856 to 1860 are of so personal and intimate a nature that it has been deemed advisable to start with the journals dealing with the Civil War. The following excerpts are taken from that period. As he was what was known as a "Douglas Democrat" his lack of enthusiasm for Abraham Lincoln may be at least partially understood.
Mary Onahan Gallery
Chicago, 111.
Wednesday, May 16, 1860. Meeting of the Republican Na- tional Convention. At twelve o'clock today I was present and heard Governor Morgan of New York read the call of the con- vention. Wilmot of Pennsylvania was made temporary chair- man. He made a noisy speech, the text "Freedom and Freemen." Order prevailed and as far as I can judge all goes on harmoni-
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A CIVIL WAR DIARY 65
ously. Immense crowds everywhere. Hall crammed. City all excitement.
Thursday, May 17. The excitement grows more and more intense. Multitudes are still thronging in from all quarters. The Wigwam presents an enlivening spectacle — thronged to density. The scene this evening upon the reading of the "Pro- tection to Home Industries" plank in the platform was beyond precedent. One thousand tongues yelled, ten thousand hats, caps and handkerchiefs waving with the wildest fervor. Frantic jubilation.
May 18. Balloting commenced this morning. I was present when the result of the first ballot was announced. Seward 175^ — Lincoln 102. On the second Lincoln gained 70 votes and on the third he was nominated. Then what a scene! Yesterday was a dignified display to this. Pity that Seward should have been thus cast out and Lincoln taken in. I was present likewise at the nomination of Hamlin of Maine for Vice president.
Saturday, May 19. The excitement is on the wane. Lincoln fails to excite the genuine enthusiasm which the nomination of Seward would undoubtedly have evoked. The city is still thronged but the signs betoken speedy exit.
Tuesday, August 14. The advent or rather the return of the Zouaves is the feature of today. The bells ring for them at noon and in the evening a great demonstration was held. Our little family flocked to town this evening to witness the reception of the Zouaves. After a severe trial of patience they came. Enough to say that we did feel rewarded for our trial of endurance.
Saturday, September 8. Terrible news is whispered from ear to ear this morning. Tis said the "Lady Elgin" which left here last evening for Milwaukee with three to four hundred excur- sionists from that city is lost with all or nearly all on board. Subsequent advices proved this to be a fearful truth. Two hun- dred souls sent in a moment with no note of warning to eternity. Tis dreadful beyond all expression of words. A thousand homes are desolated in our sister city. Truly tis said in the midst of life we are in death. Requiescat in pace.
Sunday, September 9. The Bishop [Duggan] preached at the cathedral this forenoon and alluded feelingly at the close of his discourse to the terrible disaster the thought of which fills all hearts with sorrow and so many with bitter, bitter anguish. Today sad scenes are witnessed on the shore of the lake. Bodies
66 DOCUMENTS
from the wreck are being hourly washed ashore melancholy vestiges of the precious freight of humanity which but a little while ago revelled in all of life's bouyant activity. The wail from the desolated city of Milwaukee is heartrending. Hundreds of homes in one ward alone are now like vacant places, lampless, lightless and full of mourning. Wives without husbands, chil- dren without parents, parents without children. May God have pity upon these afflicted ones, and be unto them as a Father, kind and merciful.
Monday, October 1. This promises to be a great week for Chicago politically and otherwise. Seward speaks here tomor- row when there will undoubtedly be a great Republican demon- stration.
September 2. Governor Seward in Chicago today. Disas- trous news from the Papal States.
October 5. Douglas home again.
October 6. Douglas spoke to five thousand people.
October 18. Springfield. In Springfield this morning. After finishing my business I introduced myself to Abraham Lincoln, in all probability our next president. He nearly frightened me he looked so cadaverous.
November 5. The eve of a day of great importance to the American people. Tomorrow decides the character of our gov- ernment for the next four years at least. Republicans are con- fident, Douglas men have only the courage of despair to animate them. Yet they will not give up. As things look now tis doubt- ful if Douglas carries a single state. Illinois goes for Lincoln by 10,000, Douglas may carry Missouri, Colorado and perhaps Oregon. I am not posted as to the South.
November 6. The events of today are important and may mark a crisis in the annals of our country. The election for President is held. The election of Abraham Lincoln the Re- publican or Anti-slavery candidate seems imminent, I may say, inevitable. Douglas the man who deserves the office and would do most good has no chance. I voted for Douglas and Johnson, Popular sovereignty and Non-intervention. Tonight the issue is decided yet I now have no positive knowledge of the result. There is hope that New York may go against Lincoln. That is the last, the only hope. Let us see.
November 8. An awful castastrophe occurred at our wharf this morning. The propeller "Globe" exploded and hurled death
A CIVIL WAR DIARY 67
and destruction on every side. I had a narrow, a providential escape. Had not been three minutes out of the boat when the calamity occurred. Tis a terrible scene, the dead, dying and wounded. Walter Hale is among the missing and is supposed to be buried in the wreck. Poor fellow! tis a melancholy end. I owe my own preservation to the protection of the Blessed Virgin and the prayers of some powerful advocate.
November 9. Walter was found in the Marion Hospital and still survives although badly injured. I assisted in carrying him from the wreck. Went with Douglas the same day to the hos- pital yet did not recognize him although he was there all the time. The incidents of this terrible affair I can not speedily forget. The desk, the office and everything about are badly shattered. . . . All is confusion and disorder.
November 26. Panic prevails in the east and is gradually overspreading the whole country in consequence of the Secession movement, now in full progress in the extreme south. A finan- cial revulsion seems imminent. Stocks are down, exchange is up and everything generally unsettled. Doubt and distrust pre- vail.
December 3. The panic prevails. If anything grows worse and worse.
December 8, 9, 10. Secession panic. Ditto. Ditto.
December 19. Secession still rampant.
January 1, 1861. The New Year greeted us this morning with an unusually pleasant aspect. Would that it were an index of peaceful tidings — a harbinger of restored peace to the nation and prosperity to the individual. Maggie and I together wel- comed its advent as the bells tolled the death of 60. God be with it. In the future we will look back to it as marking the "bright particular era" of our existence. Good old 60 farewell. January 10. Home reports are conflicting in regard to the doings at Charleston. Tis said the Itma conveying reinforce- ments for Major Anderson was fired into and forced to put out to sea without unloading the troops.
January 11. There is warlike news from Charleston — partly a reiteration of what I alluded to yesterday. A day or two more and the conflict will begin. Where and when to end?
January 12. News from Charleston wears the usual warlike tone. Congress does nothing. Seward made a great speech today.
68 DOCUMENTS
January 18. No news from the South and affairs in Europe remain in statu quo. King Francis still holds Gaeta. The Pope yet, thank God, at Rome where long may he reign.
January 29. The Secession movement still goes on. Georgia has withdrawn from the Union, and still the cry is "No conces- sion." Petitions and appeals for the Union flood the halls of Congress and — nothing is done.
February 8. The usual twaddle and inertia prevail in Wash- ington. Even the Peace Congress promises to prove of no avail except it be to further show the futility of efforts to save the Union.
February 16. I attended a meeting at Bryant Hall endorsing Compromise and Seward and Kellog for holding out the olive branch.
March 4. The all important epoch in the annals of our coun- try. Lincoln was inaugurated peaceably. His address seems fair and conciliating yet it is even more than ever to be feared that hostilities will follow.
April 12. A notable day. At ten o'clock this A. M. the first hostile shots were fired by the Rebels at Charleston and Fort Sumter formally attacked. Civil war is now inaugurated and who can tell when the end will be — nor how?
April 13. I read first this morning the news related yester- day. Tis startling indeed. Alas that it should be true. There are many rumors and telegrams concerning the attack and de- fense of Fort Sumter. The Old Glory still waves. We shall have something decisive soon.
Sunday, April 14. The city is wild over the news of the sur- render of Fort Sumter to the Carolinians. Everything denotes war. War. Tis on all tongues and in all hearts. Would to God that it could have been averted.
April 15. Still War. President's proclamation calling for 75,000 men to put down rebellion. These are indeed exciting times and we know not where or when the end will come. Chi- cago is arming. I attended meetings preliminary to the city election tomorrow. Bryan and Rumsey are the nominees for Mayor. Phil Conley runs on the Bryan ticket, which it seems now pretty certain will be defeated.
April 18. News still of War. Virginia tis reported has re- fused in convention to secede. This is good news.
April 19. An eventful day in American history. The Mass.
A CIVIL WAR DIARY 69
[achusetts] troops while passing through Baltimore were at- tacked by a mob and many killed on both sides. Terror reigns in Baltimore. Worst of all the Capital is in danger. The most intense excitement prevails in town. The war occupies all thoughts. Business literally suspended.
April 20. News still of war and bloodshed. Fighting still in Baltimore and great fears felt for Washington. The city is teeming over with patriotism. Volunteers everywhere. Drilling on all corners. Attended mass meeting at the Wigwam. Took an oath to support and sustain the U. S. government and that of Illinois. Twas a solemn spectacle. The vow of ten thousand and now the climax is coming.
April 21. The war excitement abounds thro the city. Streets thronged with embryo soldiers who present (large numbers of them at least) a very sorry appearance.
April 22. Great anxiety felt for the safety of Washington. Tis feared Jeff Davis has attempted a raid on it and as the de- fenses are but very weak and inadequate he may have done mischief. Telegraphic communications are interrupted. The city still glowing with military fever. An Irish regiment is now projected and canvassed for.
'April 23. Met Captain Walsh who wants me to join the Irish regiment. James A. Mulligan also urged it. Charlie says I can be paymaster if I go. Here's a chance for glory.
April 24. The war news relaxes much of its former intense interest. Washington is conceded to be reasonably safe. At- tended meeting this evening at North Market Hall for "Irish regiment." Mulligan spoke well. Much enthusiasm.
April 27. Tonight we go to theatre on invitation of Mc- Vicker to receive a flag presented by Sands. The affair was managed very well. Mc. made a clever speech. J[ames] A. M[ulligan] (fresh from the tented field) responded.
April 30. Brigade meetings every evening.
May 11. Dreadful work at St. Louis yesterday. Murderous slaughter of the unarmed citizens by the Dutch troops. Great apprehension felt for the safety of our local banks. A crash is feared.
May 31. The war goes on without so far any battle of note. Judge Douglas remains at the Tremont House in a critical con- dition. He has been so for weeks and his recovery is now despaired of.
7Q DOCUMENTS
June 3. Douglas is no more. He died at the Tremont House this morning. From what I can learn he was received into the Church before his death and participated in her Holy Rites. This is a mournful day for Illinois — for the nation at large. Her foremost patriot has fallen. All seem affected with grief. Tis a great shock and at such a time comes with terrible effect upon a troubled country.
June 4. Thoughts of Douglas occupy all hearts. Mrs. Doug- las was to have taken his remains to the national capital but giving ear to the voice of Illinois, which implores that his re- mains be left with her, she yields to the general desire. Tis fitting that the state of which he was the great pride and glory should possess and honor his remains. I had a passing glance of the Judge as he lay in state at Bryan Hall this evening.
June 6. I engaged with Dr. Butler to go over to the Bishop's and prepare the address for the papers (which the Bishop de- livers tomorrow) . This I did.
June 7. Today business is generally suspended and the city shrouded in mourning. Douglas is to be buried today. Dickson and myself went out and secured a couple of horses and rode to the grave. The funeral obsequies were grand, orderly and in every way impressive.
June 18. Met Dr. Butler this morning. He announced his appointment as Chaplain of the Irish Brigade and goes with them in a few days.
July 20. Severe skirmishing at Bull Run today with the ad- vantage, the papers say, on "our" side.
July 22. News arrived today of a terrible and disastrous battle fought yesterday near Manasses. The Federal army was disgracefully routed. Alone of the whole the glorious 69th fought like heroes. So also the brave Zouaves. Be all honor to the brave. Beauregard's star is in the ascendant.
July 23. Public feeling is terribly exercised over the news of the defeat. The report is that Meagher and Corcoran are killed and the whole regiment nearly annihilated. I pray God tis not true.
August 16. Went up to Jesuit Church this evening. Heard Father Smarius on Sin and Its Enormity. Of course I was pleased beyond measure with his discourse.
August 18. Attended Mass at the church of the Holy Fam- ily. Heard Father Smarius again on the Punishment of Sin.
A CIVIL WAR DIARY 71
High Mass was celebrated with great pomp and such decorum as the Jesuits only can display.*
August 29. No war news — except that Beauregard is ad- vancing on Washington and matters look now as if he could take it if he wants it.
September 3. Prince Napoleon is in town.
September 13. Lexington invested by Price and a Confed- erate army. Mulligan and the Brigade with other forces in de- fense.
September 16. News of the siege of Lexington reached here today. Mulligan and Lexington are on every tongue and ac- cording to all accounts he holds out gallantly. Of course the most intense excitement exists in Chicago concerning the prob- abilities of his holding out.
September 17. We get naught but rumors of the state of affairs at Lexington. The prospects of Mulligan holding out are rather gloomy. Price has a large force. Reinforcements are uncertain and Fremont acts sluggishly or not at all. I hope Jim will come out all right and cover himself with glory. I fear however that he can not hold out long and that his surrender is, only a question of time.
September 18. Still only rumors. Vague accounts are given of prodigious fighting at Lexington — unequalled bravery of the Brigade and fearful loss of the rebels but naught definite. Every- thing so far concerning the fate of the place except the general fact that it is besieged is unrevealed. The inference is that J. A. M. has not been reinforced thus far. Otherwise we should have heard direct from him.
September 19. Lexington still holds out and the reports are that Mulligan is making a right gallant defense. The eyes of the whole country are on him. Fremont announces his promo- tion as Brigadier General (Acting). I still have but little hope of Jim holding out finally. At any rate he has done enough so far to secure a niche in history. "Mulligan and Lexington."
September 20. As far as heard from Mulligan is all right yet. Affairs on the Potomac remaining unchanged. The im-
* Throughout these diaries there are many records of visits to the Jesuits and to the Sacred Heart convent on West Taylor street where Mother Gallway was superior. She and my father were warm friends and the last lines she ever wrote were an inscription in a little book, "The Spiritual Combat," given to him on her deathbed. All these notations are omitted as the Civil War news is of so much more general interest. — Mary Onahan Gallery.
72 DOCUMENTS
pending battle seems as remote as ever. Kentucky is in a tumult but there's nothing decisive there yet. All eyes are turned towards it. Still tis "Lexington and Mulligan." Brave Jim. Long may you live! Drilled tonight at Mat's.
September 21. We have a repetition of rumors concerning the siege and defense of Lexington and many incredible stories are related.
September 22. At early Mass this morning. The Times of this morning gives news of the surrender of Mulligan after a protracted defense of 20 days. He fought gallantly and well — is slightly wounded. Loss of the Brigade not so great as might be anticipated. The news is doubted by many.
September 23. Reported news of yesterday not corroborated this morning. I still think however that the fact of the sur- render is in the main correct.
September 24. The surrender of Lexington fully authen- ticated. Mulligan and all the officers prisoners. The Doctor (Dr. Butler) slightly wounded. Men released and on their way back. I am greatly cast down by the news. Mulligan is the hero of the war now. The details only increase his merit in all eyes.
September 25. Papers full of the Brigade and its glories. No movement at Washington. Kentucky in arms.
November 6. Tonight a party of us held a meeting at the Tremont House to arrange and plan a suitable reception for Mulligan who is expected tomorrow night. Had a telegram from him. There was great spirit and enthusiasm. Telegraphed to J. A. M. "Chicago hopes to greet you Friday night."
November 7. The Mulligan affair is now the local theme, the popular topic. Everything goes on well and promises finely for the ovation. Another meeting tonight. Had to stay down town until a late hour getting things in shape. Met Colonel David Stuart of Bush notoriety. Met also Colonel Tucker who is to be Chief Marshall on the occasion.
November 8. At Tremont House at twelve o'clock with Colonel Tucker. The affair will be a grand one and no mistake. Went with delegation and a big crowd to Joliet to meet the Colonel. We had a great time. He came and is still the same J. A. M. as of yore. Mrs. Mulligan and the Baby alone. Great uproar. General enthusiasm and hilarity. Grand success of demonstration in Chicago. Rode with Mrs. Mulligan and party to Tremont.
NEWS AND COMMENTS
The stream of Marquette memorials, the surprising volume of which was suggested by an illuminating article in the April Mid-America, gives no indication of running dry. A recent con- tribution under this head is a mural painting by Edgar S. Cam- eron, Chicago artist, depicting the landing of Louis Jolliet and Pierre Marquette at the Chicago Portage in September, 1673. It was dedicated April 5, 1931, at the Riverside (Cook County, Illinois) library where it constitutes a panel. Near it is a dec- orative map by George G. Conner indicating the famous Chicago Portage between the Des Plaines and the Chicago Rivers. This was one of the so-called "keys of the Continent," linking up as it did the two great water-systems of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The first white men known to have used it were Jolliet and Marquette, who are accordingly reckoned its dis- coverers. Both painting and map were made especially for the library and are the gift of Robert Somerville, president of the Riverside library board.
. Another Marquette memorial of recent date was a float in one of the parades that crowded the streets of Chicago during a civic jubilee-week celebration (May, 1931). This float, which was Loyola University's contribution to the celebration, won the first-prize trophy for the best reproduction of a scene from Chi- cago history. The parade in which it appeared took place on May 18, the two hundred and fifty-sixth anniversary of Mar- quette's death. The float "portrayed Marquette and six Indians landing on the shores of Lake Michigan at the present site of Chicago. In a canoe towards the rear of the forty-foot float stood Father Marquette. In the front, around a tepee, were grouped the Indians. The float was particularly noticeable be- cause of its utter simplicity, in sharp contrast with the majority of the floats in the parade which were elaborate creations. Loy- ola's float took two days to build and cost about two hundred dollars."
The week March 9-17, 1931, witnessed the bi-centennial cele- bration of the founding of the city of San Antonio, Texas, and the Franciscan Missions of the locality, La Purisima Concepcion,
73
74 NEWS AND COMMENTS
San Juan, San Francisco. It was a memorable occasion made outstanding by the participation in it of the highest dignitaries in Church and State. Cardinal Hayes and other members of the American Catholic hierarchy, Governor Sterling of Texas, and Mayor Chambers of San Antonio were among the notables that took an active part in the celebration. Said Mayor Cham- bers in an official proclamation announcing Bi-Centenial Week and calling upon all citizens to enter into the spirit of the great anniversary: "Behold the mute witness of that romantic, thrill- ing and heroic past of San Antonio and her environs : the Span- ish Governor's Palace recently restored by an appreciative citi- zenry, which will be rededicated during this celebration; our old San Fernando Cathedral, in whose shadow solemn and inspiring religious functions will take place and whose bells have an- nounced the messages of victory and peace to a grateful citi- zenry throughout our long history; the venerable Franciscan Missions whose age stained walls proclaim the faith and the vision of the brownclad Padres who brought Christianty and civilization to Texas; and finally our Alamo, cradle of Texas liberty, whose walls were consecrated with the blood of our heroic patriots. These all proclaim the romance and heroism of San Antonio's storied past."
Both the civic and religious life of the historic Texas city run back for their ultimate source to the missionary zeal of the devoted friars who made of the vast Texas reaches a conquest of their own for the cause of civilization and the Church.
Mid- America called attention in its preceding issue (April, 1931) to the recently published monumental work of Dr. Herbert E. Bolton on the Anza expeditions that led to the founding of San Francisco. Here it takes pleasure in noting another vol- uminous historical project of high rank which is now under way. This is the Southwest Historical Series, a collection of documents hitherto unpublished or inaccessible depicting social and economic conditions in the Southwest during the nineteenth century. The series, which is being edited in its entirety by Dr. Ralph P. Bieber of Washington University, St. Louis, has for publisher the Arthur H. Clarke Company, formerly of Cleve- land, now of Glendale, California. The initial volume, James Josiah Webb's Adventures on the Santa Fe Trail, recently off
NEWS AND COMMENTS 75
the press, reaches a high level of scholarly editorial treatment. Dr. Bieber's intimate acquaintance in all its phases with the general background of Southwest history during the frontier period and with the bibliographical resources available for study in this field particularly qualify him to edit a series such as the present with success. It is contemplated to complete publication within five or six years. All in all, the finished series will take rank with such well known documentary collections as Thwaites's Jesuit Relations and Western Travels and Robert- son's Phillipine Documents.
Agnes Laut in her recently issued Cadillac, which is reviewed in the present number of Mid-America, sees Saint Vallier, the second bishop of Quebec, as a disciple of Loyola. "Cadillac had little sympathy and still less in common with the strict rule of the Jesuit Saint Vallier." Of course Jean-Baptiste de Saint Vallier was in point of fact a diocesan or secular clergyman and not a member of the Society of Jesus. The error in Miss Laut's book is not a mere lapsus calami or casual inaccuracy, of a kind with those from which even the most meticulous of historians are not immune; it is symptomatic of the general haze of in- exactitude and misconception into which she drifts whenever she attempts to explain the part played by the Jesuit missionaries in her story. Biography, which is nothing else than the history of an individual, is bound by the same laws which regulate or are supposed to regulate the compilation of history and among these laws none is more outstanding than the one which requires, not necessarily an unsympathetic, but at any rate an unpartisan and objective attitude towards the subject in hand.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Trans-Mississippi West: Papers Read at a Conference Held at the University of Colorado, June 18-June 21, 1929. Edited by James F. Willard and Colin B. Goodykoontz. Boulder, University of Colorado, 1930, pp. 366, $2.00.
The University of Colorado and Professor James F. Willard are to be congratulated for making possible this pioneer con- ference on the History of the Trans-Mississippi West. Bringing together the leading specialists in the field, the conference per- formed a service of both local and national significance. We can heartily agree with Professor Willard that "similar meet- ings in other districts would do much to supplement the activ- ities of the American Historical Association, and would greatly aid state and more purely local historical societies in their work."
Sixteen papers were presented at this conference. They dealt with a variety of important subjects, but only ten can be mentioned here. Of these, one was a synthesis, three involved problems of interpretation or emphasis, and six were intensive investigations of specific subjects.
The synthesis,' given by the leading scholar in the field, was Herbert E. Bolton's "Defensive Spanish Expansion and the Sig- nificance of the Borderlands." Based upon many years of ex- tensive research, Professor Bolton described, in clear and vig- orous language, the origin and importance of the old Spanish Borderlands, which were the fusing place of two streams of European civilization. He pointed out that, except for New Mexico, Spanish colonization in the northern borderlands was primarily defensive in its origin. Slender though these Spanish outposts were, they have left a permanent impress upon a large part of what is now the United States.
The three papers that involved problems of interpretation or emphasis were: Frederic L. Paxson's "Finance and the Fron- tier," Eugene C. Barker's "On the Historiography of American Territorial Expansion," and Walter P. Webb's "The Great Plains and the Industrial Revolution." Professor Paxson gave an ex- cellent presentation of the hitherto unworked field of finance and its relation to frontier history. The story of how the debtor frontiersman dug into the soil, made a living for himself and family, and finally accumulated sufficient capital to meet his
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BOOK REVIEWS 77
financial obligations, is still untold and is of tremendous interest to the historian of society. Professor Barker presented some pertinent reflections, based upon his researches, on the motives and methods which have operated in our acquisition of the West. He demonstrated that certain psychological attitudes, such as a sympathy for the weak and unfortunate, a desire to write cleverly, a tendency to discredit American officials, and a naive assumption that foreign diplomats have always told the truth, were responsible for much misapprehension of this phase of western history. As a remedy Professor Barker suggested that historians "measure the actions of the American government by the same practical standards of national usage which we apply to other peoples and other governments, and not by the ideal standards of an international Utopia." Professor Webb offered an entirely new interpretation of the delayed settlement of the Great Plains. When the advancing frontier reached the Great Plains, it found the old technique of pioneering altogether inade- quate, and was forced to await the invention of new tools before occupying this vast empire. To support his contention, Pro- fessor Webb described the introduction and use of the "six- shooter," barbed wire, the windmill, and new farming imple- ments.
Six papers represented intensive investigations of specific subjects: Gilbert J. Garraghan's "Nicolas Point, Jesuit Mis- sionary in Montana of the Forties," John C. Parish's "By Sea to California," Colin B. Goodykoontz's "Protestant Home Mis- sions and Education in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1835-1860," LeRoy R. Hafen's "Hand Cart Migration Across the Plains," Louis Pelzer's "Trails of the Trans-Mississippi Cattle Frontier," and Archer B. Hulbert's "Undeveloped Factors in the Life of Marcus Whitman." Utilizing unpublished sources in places as widely apart as St. Louis, Montreal, and Rome, Father Gar- raghan gave an excellent description of the missionary activities of Nicolas Point, who labored among the Indian tribes of the Rocky Mountain region between 1841 and 1847. Father Gar- raghan stressed Point's career in what is now eastern Montana, and related how this famous missionary lived with the Indians, shared their discomforts, followed them about in their periodical hunts, "and, in fine, gave himself up to spend and be spent in ministering to their needs." Father Point, and not Father de Smet, was the typical Jesuit missionary in the Rocky Mountain
78 BOOK REVIEWS
field in the forties. Professor Parish delved among old news- papers and unpublished manuscripts to obtain material for his interesting story of the "sea trails" to California in 1849. He stated that the fatalities of the sea journey were far less than those of the overland trek, but that traveling by ship left the in- dividual with soft muscles and manifestly unprepared for the rigors of mining life. He also asserted that the sea-goers were the first argonauts to leave "the States" for California and that they started considerably earlier than the overland emigrants; but, in the opinion of the reviewer, the latter statement must be modified, for overland emigrants left Texas for the gold fields as early as January, 1849. Professor Goodykoontz's paper dealt with certain phases of New England's interest in education and religion in the West during the quarter century preceding the Civil War. Though the principal reason for Protestant mission- ary activity in the West was religious, a belief in the manifest destiny of the Protestant faith and in the existence of bad moral and social conditions among the western pioneers, were additional motives. Protestant missionaries likewise established colleges and furnished competent teachers for the elementary schools. Dr. Hafen, in discussing the short-lived use of hand carts by emigrants traversing the prairies, declared that Brigham Young suggested this method of transportation for the benefit of the poorer classes of Mormons, and that ten hand cart companies crossed the plains to Utah between 1856 and 1860. Dr. Hafen made no mention of the use of hand carts by Pike's Peakers. Professor Pelzer assembled very important material relating to cattle on the frontier, and described the profits of cattle driving, the experiences of individual drovers, and the statistics of the cattle drives. But the main subject of his paper, cattle trails, was treated only incidentally and at times inaccurately. Pro- fessor Hulbert based his paper on some hitherto unused sources relating to Marcus Whitman.
Taken as a whole, the papers read at the conference main- tained a high standard of excellence. They showed what prog- ress had been made in recent years in the study of the Trans- Mississippi West. It is to be hoped that the success of this con- ference will lead to others of a similar nature.
Ralph P. Bieber, Ph. D. Washington University St. Louis, Mo.
BOOK REVIEWS 79
Stout Cortez. A Biography of the Spanish Conquest. By Henry Morton Robinson. The Century Co., New York, pp. 347.
A gripping, glamorous, romantic, and not altogether inac- curate account of the life of one of the greatest, if not the great- est, of the Spanish conquistadors, this biography should appeal to the average reader. No episode in American history can compare with the dramatic and heroic quality, epic if you please, of Hernando Cortez and the little band of determined and fearless men that single-handed, in defiance of the authority of the treacherous governor of Cuba who had sent them, undertook to conquer the mighty empire of the Aztecs for their own per- sonal gain and glory.
On the whole the author is enthusiastically sympathetic with the bold adventurer and his companions and the reader ex- periences the thrill of conquest, the exhilaration of hand to hand conflict, the heart pangs of thwarted ambition, and the encircling gloom of ingratitude and disillusion that slowly but inexorably close about the hero in the last years of his life. Not only does the character of Cortez stand out. In sharp contrast to his boundless resourcefulness and courage stands the pathetic figure of the Aztec emperor Montezuma, who like a Hamlet of the new world, hesitates, doubts, wavers, and finally falls a pitiful victim to his own indecision. The character of the virile defender of Mexico City after the death of the unfortunate emperor, Cuauhtemoc, is vividly portrayed and true admiration for his noble and determined stand against the Spaniards is expressed.
In simple yet pleasing style, with vigor and dash to suit the stirring episodes depicted, the story of the life of this singular man and his companions is told with a vividness that falls short of reality. There is no new fact brought out, no attempt to utilize recent material. The author has contributed nothing from the point of view of scholarship to the studies of the life of Cortez. On the whole the traditional accounts of Bancroft and Prescott are followed closely and the book makes no pretense of being a scholarly study. It is a popular restatement, ably and pleasingly put together, of the traditional life of one of the most picturesque figures in the history of America. There is not a single footnote to indicate the sources used. Some of the quotations can be traced directly to Bernal Diaz del Castillo, that strong-armed companion of Cortez who added to his mili- tary prowess the gift of a good story teller; others are more
30 BOOK REVIEWS
difficult to identify. Only one of the illustrations used in the book — and there are a good many, well chosen — gives the source from which it is taken. All the illustrations are reproduced as a courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America.
Though the biography cannot be called a scholarly piece of work and though it adds nothing to the available information on this remarkable conqueror, administrator, and benefactor of Indian Mexico, still it is a welcomed addition to our popular his- torical literature. The average person will read it with pleasure and profit, for it cannot fail to arouse the interest of even the most indifferent reader.
C. E. Castaneda, Ph. D.
Latin American Librarian University of Texas
Cadillac. By Agnes C. Laut. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1931, pp. 298, illustrations, maps.
This book is, according to the author, the first biography of Antoine de Lamothe, Sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit and one of the early governors of Louisiana. Information about Cadillac's career has been both sparse and contradictory, the latter perhaps partly due to the fact that he appears to have been prone to incur the enmity of many of his contempor- aries. In the explanatory chapter at the beginning of her narrative, the author says: "Cadillac would not mold to any hand. He would neither bend nor break, and kept his inner self hidden as under an iron mask from all except his family, Louis XIV and Frontenac." At this point it is interesting to note what another writer says of Cadillac. Bishop Schlarman in his From Quebec to New Orleans (1929), says: "At Michillimackinac and Detroit he [Cadillac] had quarrels with the Jesuits, chiefly because of their opposition to the brandy trade with the Indians. Vaudreuil and Raudot, governor and intendant, respectively, of Canada, accused him of 'looking out for himself first . . . ' and of 'being equally hated by the troops, by the inhabitants, and by the savages.' "
Whatever may have been the faults of Cadillac's disposition, he undoubtedly played an important part in the development of New France. His enduring friendship with the strong-willed and hot-headed Frontenac, and his loyalty to Louis XIV were dominant traits of his character.
BOOK REVIEWS 81
Born at St. Nicolas de la Grave, France, in 1658, Cadillac was a cadet in the French army by 1677. In 1683 he was sent to America by Louis XIV. In 1687 he married Therese Guyon, whom he had probably met in Port Royal. Madame Cadillac seems to have helped him in his career throughout by her prac- ticality and her co-operation in all his projects.
After several years at Mackinac Cadillac decided that the site where the city of Detroit now stands was of strategic im- portance in the control of the fur trade with the Indians, and he finally carried out his project of establishing there a fort, which he named Pontchartrain. Probably the happiest years of his life were spent there, laying the foundation of a prosperous city, Detroit. If he hoped to spend the remainder of his life there, he was doomed to disappointment. Greater still would have been his sorrow if he could have foreseen that all the country he helped to develop for France was first to pass into English hands and later to become part of a great new nation undreamed of in his day.
Cadillac's career seems to divide naturally into two parts. In the first he progressed steadily toward the attainment of his ambition, the founding of Pontchartrain. This might be called the high point of his career. His appointment as governor of Louisiana, a position which he unwillingly took in 1712, was a sharp break in his life. After his dismissal from the governor- ship in 1717 he returned to France, where he was caught "in the vortex of the Mississippi Bubble" and was sent to the Bastile. The remaining years of his life after his release from prison were spent near Castelsarrasin, where he died in 1730.
The portions of the book dealing with Detroit give a definite idea of Cadillac's purposes and actions ; but the parts relating to his life in Louisiana, and the causes of his dismissal from the governorship are but vaguely defined. The story of Juchereau de St. Denis and some of the stories about Bienville are inter- esting in themselves, but distract attention from the central figure, Cadillac, and tend to obscure the clearness of the nar- rative.
The illustrations are noteworthy, some being reproductions of paintings in the National Gallery of Canada. The end papers are reproductions of maps of Louisiana, prepared either by Cadillac himself, or by the engineer, De Lery, under Cadillac's direction, according to the author's statement.
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The book is somewhat marred by slovenliness of style. In- stances are : "Death and taxes have to be paid" ; "A light might be seen in some towers where Jesuit scholars were peering their eyes out over some old Latin tome" ; or the rather complicated statement: "When Old France thought to dictate all prices from beaver bought to calico sold, she invited the very same rebellion which confronted the defeated England over a tea-tax in Bos- ton." Such phrases give the impression that the writing was done hurriedly or carelessly. The sources from which the author drew her information are mentioned in the foreword.
Ethel Owen Merrill
Oak Park, Illinois
The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, 1930-1931, v. XXIX. Published by the Society, New York, 1931, pp. 344.
This annual volume of the American Irish Historical Society is divided into five sections, the reports of officers and commit- tees, the annual banquet, the historical papers, the necrology and the membership roll. In the report of one of the officials, James McGurrin, the secretary-general, is found this interesting statement: "Since our last General Meeting this Society has secured no less than 715 new members, an achievement never exceeded before." At the thirty-third annual banquet held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, January 31, 1931, noteworthy addresses were delivered by John Kenlon, the president-general, Clare G. Fenerty and John P. O'Brien. These three presentations were not strictly historical but rather eulogistic in spirit and expres- sion.
The historical papers comprise twenty short essays on vari- ous Irish phases of American history. In his "The First Irish- men in America," R. J. Kelly presents a fine study on the two Irishmen who accompanied Columbus on his first voyage to the New World. "Irish Art" is the subject of an essay by Mary Manahan. A very enlightening article, "Early Irish Settlers in Milwaukee," is contributed by Humphrey Desmond. Margaret McCormack writes interestingly of James Napper Tandy, one of the United Irishmen, about whom were written the well-known lines :
"O! I met with Napper Tandy And he took me by the hand,
BOOK REVIEWS 83
And he said, 'How's poor old Ireland, And how does she stand.' "
George F. O'Dwyer reveals some results of his research in the Old Calvary Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts, the Old Cabotsville Cemetery, Chicopee, Massachusetts, 1840-1850, and St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery, Blackstone, Massachusetts, indi- cating that much more work can be done in this source of early Irish- American history. Cornelius Harnett, a prominent figure in the history of North Carolina, is the subject of an essay by John G. Coyle. William M. Sweeney contributes a brief article on Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, a major-general in the Confeder- ate army, who was born in Cork, Ireland. Maryland is remem- bered in a brief article on John Van Lear McMahon, who played an important part in nineteenth century Maryland. A second contribution by George F. O'Dwyer, "Some Massachusetts Wills," is taken from the Probate Records of Suffolk and Wor- cester counties. "The Mullanphys of St. Louis" is the subject of an essay by Francis X. Stephens, Jr. This article throws no new light on the Mullanphy family. No bibliography or refer- ences for direct quotations accompany the presentation.
A remarkable piece of work is contributed by Charles Mon- tague Early in "Passenger Lists" obtained from The Shamrock or Irish Chronicle for 1815-1816. The list includes 3,150 names of persons "from whom are descended perhaps 230,000 people living today." According to the writer "no less than seventy- two vessels are mentioned as having arrived at various American ports, mainly New York; from certain foreign ports, mainly Irish, with passengers having Irish names" within the year be- ginning September, 1815. Other contributors are Marian Sands, J. Havergal Sheppard, Christopher Colles, William Montgomery Sweeny, Daniel E. McCarthy, Arline Scully, Francis Hackett and Thomas Ollive Mabbott.
The historical papers are extremely brief, with two or three exceptions, and lack proper footnote citations and indication of sources, though in these last two aspects an improvement is noted over the volume for the preceding year.
The necrology contains the names of William Howard Taft, Bishop Louis J. O'Leary, James D. Phelan and seventy-seven other persons. The membership list shows that there are at present 3,001 members including 2,802 annual members, one hundred and ninety-six life members and three honorary mem-
S4 BOOK REVIEWS
bers. An index of subjects and an index of persons complete the volume.
George Francis Donovan, Ph. D. Webster College Webster Groves, Mo.
The Story of the Sisters of Mercy in Mississippi. By Reverend Mother M. Bernard McGuire. P. J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, $3.00.
There is a certain fascination in this account of the Sisters of Mercy in the State of Mississippi, written so modestly, yet so wisely, and withal so simply. The delightful conversational style carries you from one period to another without effort. By her simple manner of narrating little incidents so interestingly hu- man, Mother Bernard makes you feel as if you were sitting with the Sisters in a circle around her listening to her gentle voice telling you of each Sister or priest. Her praise of their work and. their individual characters is the reflection of her own cul- tured mind.
The trials and hardships of war and yellow fever epidemics through which those devoted pioneer nuns passed could only be met by the strong faith which animated them and the wise direction of their superiors. In reading this volume one begins to realize the training necessary to develop the efficiency shown in their system of intelligent management. Possibly few, save the Sisters alone, know of the remarkable grasp of economic problems possessed by these women whose lives were apparently shielded from want and the miseries of the less fortunate of society.
As educators these Sisters were eminently capable and well chosen, but their labors and influence had a far wider reach. Their intelligent assistance to the Doctors during the frightful epidemics of yellow fever, their message of helpfulness to the sufferers, their unselfish devotion to the poor and humble, both white and colored, arouse our deepest admiration for this cour- ageous band of workers whose gentle hands lifted many burdens from fainting shoulders, and reanimated the virtues of faith, hope, and charity in countless faltering souls.
The book has an added interest for the future Catholic his- torian for it tells incidentally of the progress of the Catholic Church in the state of Mississippi. While the history of the
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Sisters of Mercy in other states of the Union may be similar in many respects to that of the Sisters of Mississippi, those of Mississippi are more fortunate in having theirs left to posterity by one so gifted as Mother Bernard.
James J. O'Brien, S. J.
Loyola University
New Orleans, La.
Isabella of Spain, the Last Crusader. By William Thomas Walsh. Robert M. McBride and Company, New York, 1931, pp. xix+515, $5.00.
The life and times of Queen Isabella of Spain will have for- ever, so it seems, a fascination for the historian and the teller of tales. For years this period of Spanish history has been tempting ground for investigation and the work is still going on unabated. From time to time there appears a work in the field of more than ordinary merit — such a book is Isabella of Spain. Viewed from any angle it is different from the general run of books one will find in a list of contemporary biographies. It is an oasis in the desert of our present day mudslinging biography; it is, as the author intended that it should be, not an interpreta- tion of the period or its movements; it is the history of a great Queen told with the conception of a poet, the art of a novelist, and the perspective of a historian. However, one must add that the poet and the novelist in the author seem, in some measure at least, to outrank the historian.
"Isabella was born to the purple in no ordinary sense," the author asserts in his opening sentence and thenceforward he lets the course of events shape the story, which the casual reader will find interesting. To the person with a knowledge of the era it will be doubly so; but to the student searching for facts it will prove of mediocre value for the author is not the master of his appended notes that he is of his material; these are a little too indefinite to be of much aid to the student. The story teller reaches the height of his glory in the chapter dealing with the capture and defense of Alhama (p. 232 ff.) . Then it is that the reader forgets the medium of the printed page as the pageant of late fifteenth century warfare moves swiftly into action. On the whole it is an excellent biography of a woman who lived through and influenced greatly one of the most crucial phases of Spain's history. The influence of things spiritual upon
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the Queen who deserves to be called "America's godmother" is plainly brought out and the portrait is one which will not soon be forgotten.
The book is illustrated, by far the most interesting cuts being from contemporary paintings and tapestries. It is enriched greatly by the front and back end papers, which are from a group of old Burgundian tapestries. The selected bibliography which follows the sketch map of the Iberian peninsula in the fifteenth century explains to a large extent the author's grasp of the material which he marshals on his pages.
Harold E. Young, M. A.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Hebrewisms of West Africa — From Nile to Niger with the Jews. By Joseph J. Williams, S. J. New York, The Dial Press, 1930, pp. xii-f443.
We have here a critical investigation of the possible origin of Hebrew cultural elements found among certain West African tribes, notably among the Ashanti, from whom the negroes of Jamaica are descended. Apparent Hebraic words and customs have been frequently discovered to exist by missionaries and travellers among many savage races in all quarters of the world ; but it is one thing to detect a similarity and quite another to prove that there is a real connection between existing tribal practices and Jewish customs which they are supposed to per- petuate. The task of establishing such a connection Father Williams has carried out with astonishing thoroughness by ac- cumulating a mass of evidence that will convince most readers that the similarity of certain Ashanti customs with well known Hebrew rites and abuses described in the Old Testament are not mere coincidences.
More than thirty Hebrewisms existing among the Ashanti are described. They are words or practices that are distinctly Jewish, such as the remarkable similarity of the Ashanti Yame and the Hebrew Yahweh, the Sabbath rest, the Levirate mar- riages, uncleanness after childbirth, purification ceremonies, the duodecimal division of tribes into families, etc., etc. Can a plausible reason be given for these similarities?
In answering this question Father Williams brings forward all the available evidence that shows what influence Jews have
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had on African tribes. It is a most interesting series of quota- tions relating to African tribal history and customs, movements and events, garnered from all manner of sources, ancient and modern: from geographers and historians, travellers and mis- sionaries, archaeologists and anthropologists. Facts of African history that make us gape with wonder, fascinating glimpses of Jewish enterprise and achievement are recounted briefly — a Jewish Kingdom at Ghana, south of the Sahara, Jewish colonies along the whole northern coast, Jewish commercial centres in the heart of the desert, black tribes that have been Judaized to such an extent as to become devotees of the liberal arts and who collected a library of sixteen hundred tomes. One chapter tells us briefly the history and customs of the Fallashas, a Jewish tribe that has inhabited Abyssinia from time immemorial, who pride themselves on being the descendants of settlers who came to that country in the days of King Solomon ; in fact they claim as their founder a son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, called Menilek. Another chapter informs us that recent tomb- stones found near the site of ancient Carthage prove that the Jewish community of that famous old city was both large and influential in the time of Hannibal ; and long before the Christian era many Jewish commercial towns existed in Cyrene, Ethiopia, Libya, Tarshish and Morocco. When these settlements were absorbed or destroyed by Roman, Byzantine and Moslem forces, the Jews who would not give up their faith took refuge in the desert, where they founded new settlements. There is evidence that many Berber tribes were converted to Judaism, and other African nations were controlled or directed by Jews. Hence the cultural and civilizing influence of the Hebrews in Northern Africa was very considerable at various periods in history, as the author clearly shows by numerous quotations from reliable sources.
Rightly, however, does Father Williams set aside these sources of influence to account for the Hebrewisms found among the Ashanti. The Jewish colonists of Northern Africa passed through various stages of Hellenic culture and were permeated with the traditional spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees, whereas the specific customs under investigation point to pre-exilic rites and practices. Hence they must be traced back to another source. This is found in the Hebrew military settlements near the first cataract of the Nile. As early as 525 B. c. a Jewish
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community existed on the Island of Elephantine, which had its Temple where Yahweh was worshipped under the name of Yahu. Probably around the year 400 b. c. this colony was destroyed by the Egyptians, and the supposition is that the Jews retreated further up the Nile. Later on there was a constant movement up the Nile of other Jewish refugees and traders, and various centres of Jewish culture must have been established in the heart of Africa. Of this we are not certain, but there is sufficient evi- dence to justify the supposition. The author supposes that some such colonists by intermarriage with the native tribes started the Songhois nation, which later on became the greatest Empire in Africa. The Songhois gradually moved westward, from the Nile to Lake Tchad, and thence to the Niger. A large section of this nation later embraced Mohammedanism, but certain tribes clung tenaciously to their ancient faith. From the Song- hois, therefore, the author thinks the Ashanti tribes derived their Hebrewisms.
The explanation is ingenious and logical. It is not set forth as certain, but the evidence presented makes it seem very plaus- ible. The author deserves the thanks of all students of history for this accumulation of material on African tribal customs and Jewish colonial enterprise in Africa, which is presented scien- tifically with due reference to the sources and copious footnotes, a very extensive bibliography and a splendid index. The average reader will find the book informative and interesting, the student of Jewish history will look upon it as an invaluable aid both to profitable reading and to casual reference.
Henry Willmering, S. J. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Brother Dutton Memoirs. Edited by Howard D. Case. The Hon- olulu Star-Bulletin, Ltd., Honolulu, 1931, pp. 242. In Brother Dutton Memoirs unfolds the story of a life whose beginning and end were equally removed in time and place. It is a newspaperman's story of another man's life, which almost any moment of its eighty-eight years would have made front page copy. "Ira B. Dutton was born at Stowe, Vermont, on April 27, 1843," the author tells us in Chap. Ill after having related briefly the history of the island of Molokai and its de- velopment as a leper colony. From that day on until he was
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received into the Catholic Church in 1883 his life was a wander- ing one. He attended the "Old Academy" at Janesville, Wis- consin, whither his family had removed; he attended Milton Academy and later Milton College. He was by turn a clerk in a bookstore, bookbinder, and printer before he was through his teens. It was during this period that he "signed up" with the Janesville Zouave Corps, which later became Company B of the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a regiment which saw serv- ice in Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas during the course of the Civil War. The book is inter- spersed here and there with references to this period of his life and it is interesting to note that Ira B. Dutton began at the bottom, the kicking end of a rifle, and was mustered out a cap- tain at the end of the War. In 1884 he withdrew from the Gov- ernment service and entered shortly thereafter the Trappist monastery at Gethsemani, Kentucky, where the remained for twenty months, leaving because he felt that in the quiet solitude of that Order he could not accomplish as much for his fellowmen as he desired to accomplish. On the morning of July 29, 1886, between the reflecting blue of the Hawaiian sea and the green hills of Molokai a stranger spoke to Father Damien, already famous for his mission to the poor outcasts of society :
"I am Joseph Dutton, a lay brother" . . . "and I have come here to help you carry on your good work." . . .
"I need you. Jump up here alongside of me and we will ride over to the settlement."
That was Joseph Dutton's initiation to Molokai and the be- ginning of his forty-four years of uninterrupted service to man- kind, which ended with his death, March 26, 1931.
The book is well and understandingly edited by one who has caught between covers which partake somewhat of the green verdure of the islands from whose sea-washed shores they have issued, something of the spiritual purpose and self-sacrifice that played so great a part in determining Brother Dutton's life. It has been compiled from the latter's correspondence with his ex- pressed permission and is supplemented by numerous photo- graphs used by the special permission of the Territory of Hawaii. The editor has supplied an interesting treatise on a day spent on the island while the chapter dealing with the leprosy situation in Hawaii should prove worthwhile to those interested from a medical point of view.
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Brother Dutton School, Beloit, Wisconsin, has the United States' agency for the book.
Harold E. Young, M. A. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
The Hogan Schism and Trustee Troubles in St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, 1820-1829. By Francis E. Tourscher, O. S. A. Philadelphia, The Peter Reilly Company, 1930, pp. xxii-j-234.
Father Tourscher's volume recounts the history of one of the celebrated cases in the unhappy series of agitations collectively known as the Trustee Troubles. Commencing shortly after the close of the American Revolution and continuing well into the middle of the last century, small groups of malcontents in New York, Charleston, Baltimore, New Orleans, to mention but a few localities, carried on deliberate and often long continued cam- paigns of resistence to episcopal authority and to the canonically appointed pastors of their respective churches. All too often these willful groups were aided and abetted by the schemings of unworthy clerics whose patronge of the elements of discontent aided the propagation and continuance of what probably con- situted the gravest internal menace that ever afflicted the Church in the United States.
Philadelphia had been the seat of similar troubles for some years previous to the time when the Rev. William Hogan, a priest of the diocese of Limerick, in Ireland, took up his pastoral duties at Saint Mary's Church in that city in April, 1820. The events associated with Hogan's subsequent career in Philadelphia form the major portion of the present volume.
The author has made a careful and searching effort to pre- sent a sober and connected narrative of the unhappy contro- versy. That he has succeeded to a degree surpassing that of the other authors who have essayed to narrate the history of the schism, few will deny. Evidently the product of a wide and careful study of pertinent source material, the volume has been rendered doubly useful to the student of the development of canonical legislation in the American Church by the inclusion of many of the major documents of the controversy.
Unfortunately the documentation betrays at times a de- parture from the now generally accepted norms of presentation for works of historical research. The citation of authorities is
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not always consistent in form, and at times leaves much to be desired. The volume also lacks a bibliography or critical essay on the sources, a serious handicap to the reader or student who might wish to study the Hogan Schism in relation to the trustee troubles in the country generally. A variation in the size of type used, especially in the case of documents reproduced, would have added to the appearance of the page, in addition to lending emphasis to the class of material used.
Yet the evident merits of the work greatly overbalance these defects. The author has evinced a judicial temper in narrating the conduct of individuals whose activities, viewed in the long perspective of a hundred years, offers little ground for com- mendation. That both sides to the controversy overstepped at times the bounds of good judgment in the war of pamphlets, is rightly admitted by Father Tourscher.
The reader who may wish to supplement Father Tourscher' s volume by a study of Trusteeism in other parts of the country will do well to commence with the study of the problem to be found in the first volume of Doctor Zwierlein's Life and Times of Bishop McQuaid, and to follow with Doctor Guilday's Life and Times of John Carroll, Life and Times of John England, and The Catholic Church in Virginia, 1815-1822, from which he may pass on to the mass of material to be found in the older works on the history of the Catholic Church in the United States, and in the publications of the various Catholic historical societies.
Thomas F. O'Connor, M. A.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
The John Askin Papers (Vol. II, 1796-1820). Edited by Milo M. Quaife, Secretary-editor the Burton Historical Collection. Published by the Detroit Library Commission, 1931, pp. 829.
The first volume of the John Askin Papers was published some four years ago. The present volume completes the publi- cation of these impressive first-hand materials for the pioneer history of Detroit and the territory commercially dependent upon it. John Askin (1734-1815) was a native of Ireland who came to America to serve in the Seven Year's War, remaining there to engage in private trade and official employment first in Mackinac and then (1780) in Detroit, where he remained until 1802. He then changed his residence to what is now Walkerville
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on the south side of the Detroit River, being bent on remaining a subject of Great Britain, to whose interests he was loyally and uninterruptedly attached until his death. His papers, comprising a vast range of correspondence and other documents largely of a business nature, were acquired by Clarence M. Burton of De- troit and now constitute one of the most valuable documentary groups of the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. Askin's activities as revealed in his multifarious papers were complex and touched the most diverse phases of the con- temporary life of which he was a part. Authentic and interest- ing data for economic, social, political and, to some extent, cul- tural conditions in Detroit and other localities of the Old North- west during the period 1747-1820 literally swarm in this unique documentary collection. In the words of the editor of the vol- ume before us the papers illustrate such activities of Askin's as: "shipping, Indian trade, land titles and speculation, salt and whisky manufactures, farming methods, and the introduction of new crops. They illustrate also almost every phase of local official and social life — the militia administration, disputes over precedence in the militia establishment and in church dealings with the provincial government of Upper Canada and with the American government at Detroit, the establishment of and sup- port of schoolmaster and missionaries, statesmanlike discussions of political conditions in England and interesting reports con- cerning the military outlook of the Napoleonic period."
Dr. Milo M. Quaife, who has taken in hand the task of pre- paring for publication selected papers from the Askin collec- tion, has discharged the business well, as one would expect from so competent a scholar in the field of Western history. To edit a volume, however, of the proportions of the one before us, en- riching it on almost every page with footnotes which supplement the text with illuminating data, was not a task to be attempted singlehanded ; the editor in his introduction makes grateful con- tribution to his collaborators, in particular, to Mrs. L. Oughtred Woltz for translation of the French documents, to his secre- taries, Ethel Armstrong and Muriel Bernitt, and to Louise Rau, who in the capacity of associate-editor made a notable contribu- tion to the process of publication.
The editor and his associates are to be congratulated on the concrete result of their labors. The volume reaches a high level of editorial excellence and is an object-lesson in the sympathetic
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insight and accuracy of detail which it is to be hoped will pre- vail more and more in the publishing of original texts in Western history. From the printer's viewpoint, too, the volume is a superior thing, — excellent paper, ample margins, distinguished type, solid and impressive binding.
The reviewer has only one regret to register and that is that a list of the documents in successive order according to the cap- tions they bear in the body of the book has not been included. Obviously the index, which is skillfully made, answers for most practical needs the purpose of such a list; but the investigator who is interested in some definite line of research is greatly helped by the convenience of a formal table of contents, especial- ly in such a bulky volume as the present. One other detail. Father Edmund Burke, who went to the West in 1794, settled not in Detroit (p. 32) but at Raisin River (now Monroe, Mich.) whence he frequently made trips to Detroit though he does not appear actually to have resided there.
Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Simon Brute de Remur, First Bishop of Vincennes. By Sister Mary Salesia Godecker, O. S. B., Ph. D., Convent Immaculate Conception, Ferdinand, Indiana. With a Preface by his Ex- cellency, the Right Reverend Joseph Chartrand, D. D., Bishop of Indianapolis. Published by St. Meinrad Historical Essays, St. Meinrad, Indiana, 1931, pp. xliii-f 441, $4.00.
Sister Salesia's portrayal of Bishop Brute is a distinct con- tribution to the ever growing historiography of Catholic origins in the United States. Two things among others go to the mak- ing of a successful biography : an engaging subject and adequate authentic source-material on which to work. The present bi- ography meets these conditions admirably. The personality of the first bishop of Vincennes is one of inevitable interest and charm. Ascetic, literateur, educator, and a tireless worker in the ministry, he stands out a unique and appealing figure in the epic story of nascent American Catholicism. As to material for her task Sister Salesia would appear to have exhausted the pos- sibilities in this direction. No unpublished source of value seems to have escaped her in the patient and prolonged research which she undertook in European and American archives. Even the
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Brute family papers in Rennes have been laid under contribu- tion. But Brute's revealing correspondence, enormous in extent, for he was a most prolific letter writer, has been especially drawn upon. The result is an excellently documented and skillfully executed piece of work that fills a long standing gap in American biography. Regret has often been expressed that no adequate portrayal of Bishop Brute has ever been given to the world despite the wealth of documentary material for the purpose that lay to hand. It has been left to Sister Salesia to attempt the task and succeed, thereby rendering a service to American church history that makes us all her debtors.
Although only five of Brute's sixty years of life were spent in Indiana, two-thirds of the volume is taken up with this period, the most important historically in his career. Indiana, when Brute went there in 1834 to be installed as bishop in the historic town which men of his race had built on the banks of the Wabash, was pretty much of a frontier section of the country. In Catholic development it was likewise backward, something of a neglected area surrounded by regions that were taking lead of it in the growing process of church organization in the West. Cincinnati had been erected as a diocese in 1821, St. Louis, in 1826, and Detroit, in 1833. Now it was Vincennes's turn to re- ceive one of those pioneer western bishops whose achievements are a chapter of glory in the story of Catholic beginnings in the United States.
Brute's activities during the five years he spent in Indiana were amazing, particularly in view of the feeble state of health in which he had to do it all. Among the reasons urged by him for being spared the dignity of the mitre was the difficulty he experienced in travelling, especially on horseback. Still, once he had in a spirit of sheer obedience and submission to the Divine Will accepted the post of missionary-bishop, he would suffer no physical handicap of whatever sort to stand in the way of his duty to the diocese. Visitation and confirmation trips of the most discomforting kind were performed with a zeal and energy that were possible only in a man of his high spiritual purpose and self-effacing devotion to duty. This phase of Brute's life has been portrayed by Sister Salesia with a detail and an impres- siveness which its importance justifies. At the same time the interior devotional life of the saintly bishop has been duly stressed as the unyielding solid rock on which the whole struc-
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ture of his absorbing external activities was reared. It is not unlikely that Simon Brute de Remur may some day be a candi- date for the honors of the altar.
Sister Salesia is generous in laying before her readers hither- to unpublished letters of the most compelling interest. Newman wrote that a man's personality is best revealed in his corre- spondence and it is accordingly on such material that biography is most satisfactorily based. The wide range of archival ma- terial which went into the production of the present work is in- dicated in the admirable survey of Brute biographical sources which introduces it. It may be pointed out, a detail which has escaped mention in this biography, that Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, though at first recommending to the Holy See the appoint- ment of Brute to the see of Vincennes, later withdrew his recom- mendation in favor of Father Enoch Fenwick of Georgetown College, being led apparently to alter his choice by the remark- able letter which Brute addressed to him and which Sister Salesia has reproduced (pp. 207-211) . As a piece of keen, pene- trating, merciless self -analysis this letter is perhaps not inferior to any other document of a similar tenor in the whole range of secular literature.
. The book is got out in attractive form by St. Meinrad's Abbey Press, which is to be congratulated on this successful venture into the publisher's field. Reproductions of pen-and-ink sketches of contemporary persons and scenes by Bishop Brute (for he was an artist of some merit) enhance the value of the volume.
Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Mere Marie of the Ursulines: a Study in Adventure. By Agnes Repplier. Doubleday, Doran & Company, Garden City, New York, 1930, pp. 314.
In 1639 there came to Quebec a little group of people ; a noble lady, three Ursuline nuns, three nursing nuns and three Jesuit priests. They came "to carry the light of faith and the warmth of Charity to the New World." Agnes Repplier in her Mere Marie of the Ursulines tells in a most interesting way of the ex- periences of these pioneers, coming from the comforts of the Old World to face the privations and perils of the New World
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where "Nature's primeval cruelty was a fit setting for the cruelty of her savage sons."
Introductory to the story of Marie de l'lncarnation, foundress of the Ursuline convent in Quebec, which today covers seven acres of ground, the author gives a brief sketch of the lives of Saint Ursula and Saint Angela de Merici, and of the founding of the Ursuline order, of which Mere Marie was to be so dis- tinguished a member.
Marie Guyard when a young girl wished to enter a convent but her parents willed otherwise. She was married, widowed at nineteen, became an efficient business woman and reared a son to the age of twelve, when she put him in school. Then at last, she was free to follow her inclination, and in 1631, with her son's consent, she entered the Ursuline convent in Tours. "The goal, so long desired, was won at last. Behind her the past lay like a troubled dream. Before her the future, wilder than any dream, was veiled in comforting obscurity."
While Marie Guyard was working and waiting for the fulfill- ment of her plans, over in the New World, the scene of her future career, Quebec, was just coming into being. Samuel de Champlain had made explorations, discovered Lake Champlain, and founded Quebec. On his death in 1635 "he left to France a colony, small and weak, but steafast in purpose and of unshaken loyalty." When Pere Le Jeune, superior of Jesuit missions in New France, appealed to the mother country for money and teachers in order to establish a school for French and Indian girls in Quebec, his plea was answered by Madame Marie Made- leine de Chauvigny de la Peltrie. She furnished funds, selected nuns and herself accompanied them to Quebec, where she de- voted the rest of her life to helping the Ursulines in their tasks, proving a most congenial friend to Mere Marie for thirty-two years.
On arrival of the nuns at Quebec, one of their first duties was to learn some of the Indian languages. Mere Marie became in time so proficient that she wrote catechisms in Huron, Algon- quin, and Iroquois, a collection of prayers in Algonquin, and a primitive dictionary in Iroquois. This was only a part of her literary labors. Funds were necessary for the upkeep of the school; and her letters to various persons and institutions in France roused interest in her project and elicited the needed financial support. Her correspondence with her son, Dom Claude
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Martin, who had become a Benedictine monk, is of historical value. It is stated that her letters were continually quoted by Abbe Faillon in his uncompleted Histoire de la Colonie Frangaise. The following are a few of the many momentous events she de- scribed: the founding of Montreal by Maisonneuve in 1641, the death of Richelieu in 1642, the terrible Indian wars and the martyrdom of the Jesuits and other priests, the social and eco- nomic development of habitant life and of the city of Quebec, the struggle between Church and State, and, in the Church, between representatives of the Gallican and Ultramontane spirits, the expedition of La Salle in 1670, and in 1673, the mis- sion of Louis Joliet and Pere Marquette to "put the Mississippi on the map of North America."
Not only are great events described by Mere Marie, but great personages as well. Talon, Argenson, Frontenac, Courcelles, and the great Bishop Laval appear frequently in her pages.
Miss Repplier has devoted one chapter of her book to Fran- Qois Xavier de Laval Montmorency, first bishop of New France. Mere Marie was naturally interested both in his educational pro- jects and in his efforts to prevent the sale of brandy to the In- dians. She knew only too well the disastrous effects of "fire- water" on the Indian nature.
Tribute is paid to the work of the Jesuits in the building of New France. As teachers of Christian doctrine to the Indians, they suffered great hardships and often martyrdom. They per- formed a great service as ambassadors. Miss Repplier quotes Mr. William Bennett Munro as follows: "Every mission post became an embassy, and every Jesuit an ambassador of his race, striving to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the people to whom he went and the people from whom he came. As interpreter in the conduct of negotiations, and in the making of treaties, the missionary was invaluable."
Mere Marie continued her labors until her seventy-first year when her health broke and her death followed in a few months. On the 250th anniversary of her death, in April, 1922, Pope Pius XI declared her "venerable." Her contemporary, Bishop Laval, has also been pronounced "venerable," and the Jesuit martyrs whom she knew and sorrowed for were canonized in 1930.
Both Bishop Laval and Mere Marie have temporal monuments in the city of Quebec, Laval University and the Ursuline convent,
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respectively. The spot where the shack stood which sheltered Mere Marie and her companions on her arrival in Quebec in 1639, is marked by a commemorative tablet.
Ethel Owen Merrill Oak Park, Illinois
Historical Records and Studies. Edited by Thomas F. Meehan, Vol. XX, New York, United States Catholic Historical So- ciety, 1931, pp. 196.
This latest issue of Historical Records and Studies, the serial publication of the United States Catholic Historical Society of New York, is one of unusual interest and importance. For many years the editing of this publication has been in the competent hands of Thomas F. Mehhan, who has to his credit a long record of distinguished service in the field of Catholic history in the United States. It is gratifying to be able to record that his services in this regard have not gone without recognition in high quarters, the Holy See having recently conferred on him membership in the Order of the Knights of Saint Gregory. The present volume contains seven papers: Joseph F. Thorning, S. J., "American Notes in Vatican Diplomacy"; H. C. Watts, "Con- ewago, Our First Shrine of the Sacred Heart" ; Sister M. Eulalia Theresa Moffat, "Charles Constantine Pise (1801-1866)"; Joa- quin Garcia Icazbalceta, "Education in the City of Mexico dur- ing the Sixteenth Century"; Margaret B. Downing, "George- Town-on-the-Potowmack" ; Rev. Thomas P. Phelan, "Sargent Andrew Wallace." Father Thorning's article reproduces some of the highly interesting correspondence occasioned by the clos- ing in 1867 of the American legation in Rome. All in all diplo- matic relations between the Holy See and the United States had been distinctly cordial and the legation passed into history leav- ing behind it a record of service that fully justified the insti- tution. "As citizens of the United States and as Catholics we may admire the courtesy, good feeling and mutual respect which marked every communication which passed between Washington and Rome." The remarkable paper by Icazbalceta, the well- known Mexican historian, is a translation from the Spanish of a study published by the Mexican Government in 1893. It is a critical, thoroughgoing and finely documented exposition of a most interesting phase of the social history of sixteenth century Mexico. The translation is due to Walter J. O'Donnell, C. S. C,
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Ph. D. Together with such papers as those on the Mexico City guilds and on Cortez's famous hospital in the same city appear- ing in the present issue of Mid-America, Icazbalceta's paper af- fords new confirmatory evidence of the epochal contribution made by Spain to the cutural and economic history of the New World.
Our Pioneer Historical Societies. By Evarts B. Greene. (In- diana Historical Society Publications, Vol. X, No. 2, pp. 83-87.)
This is an address by Evarts Boutell Greene, president (1930) of the American Historical Society, delivered before the Twelfth Indiana History Conference at Indianapolis, December 12, 1930, in tribute to the centennial of the Indiana Historical Society. It is a pleasantly written and highly informing ac- count of the process by which the early historical societies of the United States came into being. Dr. Greene, who is a mem- ber of the history-staff of Columbia University and author of outstanding texts in American history, is perfectly at home in his subject, with the result that the present address will well repay perusal. The Indiana Historical Society, which has been particularly active under its present director, Dr. Coleman, is to be congratulated on its venerable and distinguished past. "That an institution of this kind," says Dr. Greene, "should have been set up in Indianapolis in December, 1830, is in itself a remarkable circumstance. The idea of forming a society for the study of history does not ordinarily come to the members of a frontier community. That is usually the work of a people whose pioneer experiences have already receded well into the past and can only be brought back to consciousness through the laborious efforts of scholars and antiquarians."
Vicksburg and Warren County, Mississippi: Tunica Indians: Quebec Missionaries: Civil War Veterans. Designed and compiled by M. J. Mulvihill, Sr., 1931. Published by author- ity of the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Vicksburg and the Board of Supervisors of Warren County, Mississippi.
This interesting brochure of eighty pages is taken up with various episodes of Mississippi history both in the colonial and Civil War periods. The missionary labors of the Quebec Sem-
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inary priests among the Mississippi tribes at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries receive particular attention, pertinent data on the subject being drawn from the Catholic Encyclopedia, various bulletins of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the works of Shea, Martin, Dilhet, Dunbar, and other historians. The story of old Fort St. Peter in the present Warren County, Mississippi, is told in the following in- scription, a photographic reproduction of which appears on page two:
FORT ST. PETER THE FIRST WHITE MEN TO VISIT THE YAZOO RIVER WERE FOUR MISSIONARY PRIESTS FROM THE SEMINARY OF QUEBEC. REV. FRANCIS DE MONTIGNY, A NATIVE OF PARIS, WAS THE LEADER OF THE PARTY AND BORE THE APPOINTMENT OF VICAR GENERAL OF THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC. THE OTHER PRIESTS WHERE REV. ANTHONY DAVION, REV. THAUMUR DE LA SOURCE AND REV. JOHN FRANCIS BUISSON DE ST. COSME. THEIR PUR- POSES WERE TO CIVILIZE AND MAKE KNOWN TO THE INDIANS THAT THERE WAS AN ALMIGHTY GOD, WHO LOVED ALL MAN- KIND AND WOULD REWARD WITH EVERLASTING HAPPINESS ALL WHO WOULD LEARN TO LOVE AND SERVE HIM AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. THEY ARRIVED AT THIS SITE JANUARY 11, 1698 [1699], AND WERE CONDUCTED INLAND FROM THE MISISSISSIPPI RIVER BY INDIANS OF THE TUNICA TRIBE TO THE VILLAGE OF THE CHIEF. THEY ESTIMATED THE POPULA- TION AT 2000 WHICH INCLUDED THE YAZOO AND OFO TRIBES. THE VISIT LASTED EIGHT DAYS AND SICKNESS BEING AMONG THEM THEY BAPTIZED SEVERAL DYING CHILDREN AND A DIS- TINGUISHED CHIEF. THEY VISITED OTHER TRIBES AND RE- TURNED TO CANADA FOR ALL NECESSARIES TO MAKE PER- MANENT THE PLACES SELECTED FOR MISSIONS. THE MISSION- ARIES WERE BACK IN JAN., 1699. THEIR STUDY OF THE INDIAN LANGUAGES WAS SO EXTENSIVE AND THOROUGH AS TO HAVE JOHN P. SW ANTON OF THE U.S. BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY, IN 1911, STATE, IN BULLETIN 43: "IT IS EVIDENT THAT OF ALL MEN DE MONTIGNY AND ST. COSME, ESPECIALLY THE LATTER, WERE BEST FITTED TO PASS UPON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE NATCHEZ TO THE LANGUAGE OF ITS NEIGHBORS." AND IN RE- FERRING TO THE LANGUAGES OF TEN OTHER TRIBES HE STATED THAT IN THE LIGHT OF ALL OUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE NOT A SINGLE MISTAKE WAS MADE BY THEM. LARGE GRANTS OF LAND WERE MADE TO M. LE BLANC, FRENCH MINISTER OF STATE AND HIS ASSOCIATES. IN 1719 FORT ST. PETER WAS CONSTRUCTED AND "ADDITIONS WERE MADE ANNUALLY TO ALL THE SETTLEMENTS UNTIL THERE WERE TWO FARMS ON WALNUT HILLS AND FOURTEEN ON THE YAZOO AROUND FORT ST. PETER THAT BECAME THE ENVY OF THE BRITISH AND
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PRIDE OF THE FRENCH IN 1721." DECEMBER 31, 1729, THE YAZOO INDIANS MASSACRED REV. JOHN SOUEL, S. J.; CHEVALIER DES ROCHES, COMMANDANT, AND ALL THE POPULATION EXCEPT 4 WOMEN AND 5 CHILDREN.
M. J. MULVIHILL, SR., HISTORIAN
Unfortunately the inscription contains some inaccuracies. The Quebec missionaries arrived in the Lower Mississippi in the January of 1698, not 1699. Moreover, they did not return to Canada, as stated, but, leaving Davion behind them, moved up the river to found at Cahokia what is now the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Illinois. De La Source was a deacon, not a priest.
Contributors to this Issue
Marie T. Madden, Ph. D., is professor of Spanish-American his- tory in the Graduate School of Fordham University, author of "Political Theory and Law in Medieval Spain" and con- tributor to "Thought" "America" and the "Commonweal"
William Stetson Merrill, A. B. (Harvard), associate-editor of Mid-America, expert in library science and administration and author of "Code for Classifiers" (American Library As- sociation, Chicago, III., 1928), was long connected with the Newberry Library, Chicago.
Elizabeth Ward Loughran, Boston, Mass., contributor to "Catho- lic Historical Review" and "Hispanic American Historical Re- view," is pursuing research-studies in the field of Spanish- American ecclesiastical history.
Carlos E. Castaneda, Ph. D., Latin-American librarian in the Uni- versity of Texas, is the author of "The Mexican Side of the Revolution."
The Reverend Mathias M. Hoffman, M. A., professor of eco- nomics and government in Columbia College, Dubuque, Iowa, is author of "Antique Dubuque."
Mary Onahan (Mrs. Daniel) Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, is the author of a biography of her father, "Life of William J. Onahan," Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1929.
cTWID^AMERICA
Vol. XIV OCTOBER, 1931 Number 2
New Series, Vol. Ill
Journal of the Illinois Catholic Historical Society 28 North Franklin Street, Chicago
MANAGING EDITOR Gilbert J. Garraghan St. Louis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Frederick Beuckman Belleville William Stetson Merrill Chicago
John B. Cnlemans Moline Paul J. Foik Austin, Texas
Francis Borgia Steck Quincy
28 NORTH FRANKLIN STREET, CHICAGO
HONORARY PRESIDENTS His Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago Rt. Rev. Edward F. Hoban, D. D., Rockford Rt. Rev. Henry Althoff, D. D., Belleville Rt. Rev. James A. Griffin, D. D., Spring field Rt. Rev. Joseph H. Schlarman, D. D., Peoria
OFFICERS
President Financial Secretary
Rev. Frederic Siedenburg, S. J., Chicago Francis J. Rooney, Chicago First Vice-President
Rt. Rev. F. A. Purcell, Chicago Recording Secretary
Second Vice-President Agnes Van Driel, Chicago James M. Graham, Springfield
Treasurer Archivist
John P. V. Murphy, Chicago Rev. Frederick E. Hillenbrand, Mundelein
TRUSTEES Very Rev. James Shannon, Peoria Michael F. Girten, Chicago
Rev. Robert M. Kelley, S. J., Chicago James A. Bray, Joliet
Mrs. Daniel V. Gallery, Chicago Frank J. Seng, Wilmette
D. F. Bremner, Chicago Mrs. E. I. Cudahy, Chicago
John Coleman, Lake Forest
Published by
The Illinois Catholic Historical Society
Chicago, III.
CONTENTS
Catholic Beginnings in Southern Illinois :
Shawneetown Frederic BeucJcman 105 Thomas Francis Meager : Montana Pioneer Francis Xavier Kuppens 127 The Great Village op the Illinois: A
Topographical Problem Gilbert J. Garraghan 141
Documents — The Diaries op William J. Onahan 152
News and Comments 178
Book Reviews 187
cTHID - (AMERICA
c/ln Historical Review
Vol. XIV OCTOBER, 1931 Number 2
New Series, Vol. Ill
CATHOLIC BEGINNINGS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: SHAWNEETOWN
Age carries with it the charm of history. Events which in their day were commonplace grow into significance and historic interest as years fade away. When the lives of pioneers have passed beyond contact with the living and conditions of life radically change, when trackless forests give way to fertile fields and small pioneer settlements amid the aboriginal Indians grow into populous centers, when over a vast territory where there was neither diocese, parish or priest, excepting the early French Missions, a hierarchy now rules, the beginnings grow in sacred- ness and interest.
Seventy years ago a small frame church was under construc- tion on the banks of the Ohio in the village of Shawneetown, 111. Twelve years have passed since the centennial of the landing of the first Catholic at this village. Both events we deem sufficient- ly dignified with years to justify their record as germinal Catho- lic events. An attempt will be made in the following pages to portray in outline the beginnings and the development of perhaps the oldest Catholic settlement in the eastern and extreme south- ern portion of the state of Illinois. If this essay at parish his- tory should not satisfy the enquirer in many respects, if yawning gaps remain to fill in and broken links beg connection in the chain of events, we are not surprised that the reader's imagina- tion must substitute what the writer's research could not as- certain.
Let it here be stated that the blame cannot be imputed to a lack of interest in the subject, nor to a want of research, for we doubt whether greater interest or more earnest research could
105
106 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
have accomplished more.1 The writer has vividly experienced that we treasure too little the historic events of our day by current parish chronicles and that posterity will fail to find the key to the development of events which have been consecrated with the halo of age. Since written records were wanting, no parish chronicle having been kept, research was most difficult and piecemeal in its results. The memory of many events was rescued from the aged before they had carried it with them into a silent past. Weeks, months of inquiry were often meagerly rewarded with a discovery of what might be comfortably nar- rated in a laconic sentence. The writer realizes more than ever that much of the most valuable historic information obtainable lies buried in the memories of the aged and if this is to be pre- served to posterity it must be rescued without delay. It is not overlooked that the memory of men is not always reliable; wherefore we have taken pains to verify every personal recol- lection, at least beyond a reasonable doubt, and where this has not been possible, have left room for doubt.
On the last day of the year 1819 there disembarked at Shawneetown, 111., John Lawler and Elizabeth, his wife, who were the first Catholic settlers in this part of the state. They had emigrated from the town of Monstraveen, County Kildare, Ireland, in March, 1816, and at first settled at Frederickstown, Md. Michael, their five year old son, could not then have known that his new home in a fledgling state was to usher him into a
i The writer was engaged as pastor of Shawneetown and its missions from July 6, 1892, until August 10, 1910. During this time he became in- tensely interested in the history of the Mission and gathered in the course of these years the material embodied in this monograph, which was con- tributed as a serial to the Messenger, Belleville, in the years 1910, 1911, and 1912. The Messenger was at that time a monthly publication, large octavo. A fire destroyed all the files of this publication, and, as far as the writer can ascertain, the only complete set of these serial contributions, which at the time had only a narrow local circulation, is the porperty of the writer. The great amount of source material garnered during those many years and embodied in this monograph the writer thinks ample justification for its preservation and availability to the future historian. The writer had occasion to refer to this source material repeatedly in his History of the Parishes of the Diocese of Belleville, Belleville, Illinois, 1919. Of this his- tory of the diocese of Belleville all copies not sold were destroyed by the same fire, as also all previous files of the weekly Messenger.
Much of the material incorporated in this and subsequent articles could not be secured at this late date. The writer presents the material as writ- ten in the original serials, with the slight changes of relative references as to time to the present year 1931, and the addition of the footnotes.
SHAWNEETOWN 107
distinguished military career as captain in the Mexican war and then colonel, brigadier and major general in the Civil war. The family first settled south of Shawneetown on a farm at Gum Springs, shortly after moved west of town to a farm at Boutwell Springs and a little later to what is now known as St. Patrick's Mission at Doherty, Illinois. John Lawler died April 23, 1835, and lies buried in the Catholic cemetery of that mission. The present cemetery and the church are both located on his land. Many of the grand and great-grand children of John Lawler are still attached to the various parishes of the county.2 It may here be noted that the water supply of a spring determined the location of most of the early settlers.
When John Lawler arrived at Shawneetown, a village of white settlers existed. Michael Sprinkle, a gunsmith, had set- tled here as early as 1800; yet little is known of him. The Federal government platted the city of Shawneetown in 1810 and the first government land office was established in 1812.3 Numerous entries of land were immediately made, but it is un- known to me whether any of these claimants were Catholics. Some time in the early 1820's, a Mary Handmore, a widow, ar- rived from Wheeling, West Virginia, where her husband had died shortly after emigrating to America from Ireland. She was accompanied by three children, James, Thomas and Patrick and her two brothers, Thomas and Stephen Morris. What in- duced this family to locate at Shawneetown is unknown and this causes a suspicion to arise that a certain James Morris, who in 1816 had entered a tract of land in Equality township, might have been a relative. If this should prove the case, the arrival of the first Catholic might antedate the arrival of Lawler by three years, or more. At Shawneetown the widow Handmore married John R. Sheridan and shortly after moved to New Haven, 111., as did also her brother Stephen, where their descend- ants still reside as parishioners at St. Patrick's Mission. If the marriage records of St. Vincent, Ky., record this marriage, the
2 The writer was intimately acquainted with two daughters and the youngest son of General M. K. Lawler, who were members of his parish and have since died.
a History of Gallatin County, Chicago, 1887, pp. 22, 92. S. J. Buck, Illinois in 1818, Springfield, 111., 1917, p. 68.
108 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
arrival of the first Catholic settler at New Haven can also be established.
In May, 1839, the couple, Daniel and Catherine Golden with their niece, Johanna Calahan, arrived at Shawneetown. Their niece was married to Patrick Handmore of New Haven. Three children of Daniel Golden were members of the parish at Shaw- neetown until the twenties of this century.4 Other Catholics who may have resided in this vicinity at this early date, may be traced in records at St. Vincent, Ky., which I regret not to have had the opportunity to consult.
As the first resident priest of Shawneetown did not arrive until 1859, the early Catholic settlers of Southeastern Illinois were attended from St. Vincent, Ky., which is situated about fourteen miles northeast of Shawneetown. There resided the pioneer priest Elisha J. Durbin, born in 1800, in that state and ordained priest by a friend of the "Pioneers of the West," Bish- op David September 2, 1822. It was Father Durbin who carried the consolations of religion to the scattered Catholics of West- ern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Southeastern Illinois. This intrepid priest recognized neither state limits nor river hind- rances in seeking the scattered sheep of a limitless parish, where five dioceses have since apportioned his parish between them. In the early days of the pioneer priest Durbin a sick-call to Shaw- neetown, Piopolis, Vandalia, Mt. Carmel, 111., or Paducah, Ky., or Nashville, Tenn. was not deemed worthy of mention by the pioneer, inured to the saddle. Today, this would entitle the sad- dle-chafed hero to a week's rest in a hospital. Until the year 1859, when the first resident priest arrived at Shawneetown, a period of thirty-seven years, the scattered Catholics of South- eastern Illinois, who had colonized at Shawneetown, Walton- boro, New Haven, Piopolis and Enfield owed to this indefatigable pioneer priest the treasure of their faith. At the venerable age
* Mary, Johanna and Michael Golden lived with their aged mother at Shawneetown as parishoners of the writer. All have since died. Johanna had a continuous record of fifty years as a teacher in the public school at Shawneetown. Half of their estate was left to the parish at Shawneetown and is now, 1931, being applied to the erection of a new church in this town.
SHAWNEETOWN 109
of 87 he passed to his reward in March, 1887, at Shelbyville, Ky.5
Foreseeing perhaps a better day for the Illinois Catholic pioneers and an independent new parish, comprising perhaps the greater part of the diocese of Belleville, Father Durbin opened separate church records for the Illinois portion of his tri-state parish in 1842. Previous to this date all Illinois entries were in- scribed in the parish records at St. Vincent, Ky. It seems that assistance came at intervals to Father Durbin. Other priests appear among the Illinois Catholics as the newly opened records reveal: Father D. Kelly in 1843; J. A. Drew in 1847 and 1848; P. M. McCabe in 1850, 1851, 1852, 1854, 1857; M. Bouchet in 1854, 1855; L. A. Lambert in 1858 and Thos. Walsh in 1859. Excepting Fathers McCabe, Lambert and Walsh, who came from Cairo, 111., and Drew, the visiting priests appear to have been assistants to Father Durbin, whose name still continues to ap- pear on the record almost yearly until 1859.
Until 1853 and 1860 the visiting priests found no church in Gallatin County, mass always being celebrated in private homes : at Shawneetown in the home of Major Aaron Stout, which still stands;6 also in an old frame public school, which stood on the lot now occupied by the parochial school and also in the old brick depot which stood in the southeast turn of the present levee. At the present Doherty settlement mass was said in the log cabin of William Daily, which was at the northwest corner of the northwest quarter of Section 30, Township 8, Range 10. At New Haven there was mass in the Sheridan house, which still stood when the writer took charge of the mission.
Let it here be gratefully recorded that the humble log cabin of William Daily and the more pretentious frame home of Major Stout were the shrines to which the pioneer faithful of this sec- tion of the state pilgrimed to worship. How rare and distant
s Parish records of Mt. Carmel, HI., reveal the attendance of this mis- sion by Father Durbin. Those interested in this most remarkable of pioneer priests of the United States may consult The Centenary of Catho- licity in Kentucky, by Hon. Ben. J. Webb, Louisville, Ky., 1884, pp. 364-372. It might be truly said that Father Durbin, who in his eighty-fifth year of age and sixty-third in the priesthood, still objected to retirement, aver- aged no less than two hundred miles a week on horseback.
e The Stout residence is located at the southeast corner of the city block directly west and opposite the church block, and was hence only about two hundred and twenty-six feet from the original location of the first frame church.
HO FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
were mass and sacramental opportunities and how difficult the performance of religious duty, yet how edifyingly appreciated. To the Catholics, eager to learn of the next visit of the priest, the message of his coming brought cheer. Forest had not yet been felled and marshes drained to build passable roads, but when the message arrived, oxen were put to the yoke, the family was placed in the wagon and with the oxen's slow and measured step, the lumbering wagon rolled towards its sacred shrine; its "Magi" appreciated that above all, "only one thing is necessary." Home is nowadays left a few minutes before mass and again entered in as short a time after. Not so then. The distant wor- shippers arrived at least the day previous and remained until the day after the services, and thus the home shrine became the wayside inn where the pilgrim obtained not only spiritual but also physical shelter and refreshment.
Gratitude owes to Major Stout and to William Daily and their noble wives an everlasting and hallowed place in the mem- ory of Catholics to whose pioneer forbears their homes were church and inn. William Daily arrived in Gallatin County a young man of perhaps sixteen years and probably no later than 1830; soon thereafter came Patrick Dolan and wife, both of whom were cousins of the John Lawler mentioned. This same. Patrick Dolan later moved to the vicinity of the present town of Enfield, 111., and was probably the first Catholic to settle in White County. The records show that he lived there in 1842, but how much earlier I cannot ascertain. The present parish of St. Pat- rick's, near Enfield, was tnen known as Dolan Settlement. Dolan had been a printer, was well informed, witty and an entertaining conversationalist and public speaker. Surnamed the "Old Ro- man" he was elected to the Illinois Legislature where his wit and irony gave him power and standing.7 As early as 1842 several Irish Catholic families were his neighbors.
But there lived in Gallatin County another Catholic, a Ger-
7 The writer met Patrick Dolan at Enfield frequently during the nine- ties of the last century. Although he was then physically feeble, he was still a highly animated, homurous and interesting conversationalist. As a member of the Illinois Legislature, he killed a bill for the drilling of deep wells for water supplies for various localities by an amendment to the bill, offered in his rich brogue, to continue drilling until China was struck for tea. In public debate he wielded wit and sarcasm with disconcerting power and silenced many itinerant bigoted preachers against the Church.
SHAWNEETOWN HI
man, John Lenard Aydt, who like Lawler and Dolan was to prove another bellwether of the first Catholic settlement of Ger- mans of this portion of the state. Another Aydt, who in 1840 had landed at Baltimore, visited Ohio and finally landed at Fer- dinand, Ind. Returning to Germany he prevailed upon a number of the townfolk and the following heads of families of the vil- lages of Ersingen and Bilsengen, Baden viz : Mathew Kauf mann, Albert Eswein, Anton Kaufman, Urban Anselmt, William Aydt, Marzell Zachmann and five single persons, to venture fortune with him in America. After an ocean voyage of forty-one days, they disembarked at New York about May 30, 1841 and from Pittsburg sailed down the Ohio, finally reaching Ferdinand, Ind. Land at this place, at ten and fifteen dollars an acre, was beyond their means. Then it was that they learned that John Lenard Aydt, who had peddled wares from Mexico to Wisconsin, which had fixed on him the sobriquet of "Cheap John," lived at Shaw- neetown. Whilst Cajetan Aydt was sent out as scout to locate John Lenard, these homeless strangers bivouaced in an old coop- erage. John Lenard, happy to meet one of his countrymen, at once started out with him to inspect "Auxier Prairie," the pres- ent neighborhood of Piopolis. A few trappers and hunters lived here. It was decided to locate here and Cajetan returned to pilot the patiently waiting emigrants of the cooperage to their new home. They arrived at Shawneetown to celebrate the feast of the Assumption and reached the scout's place August 21, 1841.8
Father Durbin was the first priest to visit this settlement, but this was not until February, 1843. On this occasion the first mass was celebrated in the log cabin of Nicolas Engel. The baptismal records at Shawneetown show that a number of chil- dren of these settlers were baptised at Shawneetown in 1842.
s "Geschichte Einer Buschgemeinde" by J. N. Enzlberger, Der Fam- ilien-Freund, St. Louis, 1888 (Almanac). Rev. John N. Enzlberger was probably the most scholarly priest of the diocese of Belleville. Exception- ally talented, he contributed during many years his weekly Tagesglossen to the Herold des Glaubens, an important Catholic German weekly of St. Louis, Mo. The Tagesglossen, always signed J. N. E., were nationally awaited and read by clergy and laity. They showed insight into the psy- chology agitating the minds of men, in the virile and formative period of the Church, on many ecclesiastical questions of the day. An extremely valuable historical publication of real source value is his Schematismus der katholischen Geistlichkeit deutscher Zunge in den Vereinigten Stouten Amerikas, Milwaukee, Wis., 1892.
112 TREDERIC BEUCKMAN
II
We stated that "John Lawler and wife were probably the first Catholic settlers in this part of the state." As the richest mineral ore often lies close to the surface and yet escapes de- tection, so a valuable historical leaf long overlooked has been discovered by my friend and former neighbor, the Rev. J. Rens- man. This contains the personal recollections of General M. K. Lawler written by him many years ago at the request of his pastor. The document clearly proves that even before the ar- rival of the General's parents at Shawneetown several Catholics resided in the city. Notwithstanding some repetitions we deem the document of such historical value as to deserve reproduction verbatim.
Early recollections of the Catholic church in Gallatin county, Illinois, by M. K. L. In January, 1820, John Lawler, with his family, located in this county. Thomas Morris, his brother Stephen, and their sister Mrs. Mary Handmore, and Maurice Conner with his family located here about the same time. Stephen Duffy, James Dunn, Robert Dougherty, Terence Nolan, Edward Butler, single men, and Mrs. Milne were here previous to that time. Daniel Curtin and wife in the year 1827. Lawrence McKernan and family, Ignatius Cusick and family and John R. Sheridan in 1828. William Daily in 1831.
The first mass celebrated in the county, to my knowledge, was in May, 1824, by Rev. E. J. Durbin, from the Sacred Heart Parish, near Morganfield, Ky., who had sole charge of the scattered sheep as far north as Vandalia and continued to be our pastor up to the year 1857 and after- wards occasionally visited us a few times each year. Heat or cold, snow or ice, was no bar to him. He is worthy to have inscribed on his tomb- stone, "The Indefatigable," when God calls him from the scene of his earthly labors. The public work commenced in 1837 and the grading of the river bank in front of Shawneetown brought a considerable influx of Catho- lics to this county, many of whom settled here. Major A. K. Stout and wife, James Ransbottom and family, William and Edward Burns and sister, the McGuires, Cains, Rileys, Hickeys, Michael Lawler, Dan Murphy, Wil- liam Raftus and John Maloney."
Thus far Lawler, whose testimony is contemporary.9
Information which the writer has since received from the Rev. James A. Rensman, and also from Mr. M. J. Howley, of Cairo, 111., clears-up the relation of two of the early priests to the parish of Shawneetown. To the personal recollections of General Lawler, Father J. A. Rensman attached many years ago
This transcript is copied from the original of M. K. L.
SHAWNEETOWN 113
a note, to-wit: "The first pastor to reside at Shawneetown was the Rev. J. A. Drew, of the diocese of Chicago, 1847-48." The next resident priest was the Rev. Patrick McCabe, concerning whom Mr. M. J. Howley states: "In 1852 Rev. Patrick McCabe, of Shawneetown, began visits to Cairo and in 1853 commenced collection of funds for a second church. He was so successful that in 1854 he secured lots on the north west corner of Ninth Street and Washington Ave., then in the woods, and built a frame church to the memory of St. Patrick." The same in- formant states that the first Catholic Church had been erected in Cairo about the year 1838, probably under the supervision of the Rev. Michael Collins, C. M., of Cape Girardeau or Perryville, Mo.10
The first church in Gallatin County was erected during the pastorate of Father McCabe in the year 1853, in honor of St. Patrick, at Doherty, known at various times as Waltonboro, Pond Settlement, Irish Settlement, Ponds. This small log cabin church was erected in the rear of the second frame and present brick church. The building of a church, especially the first one, is certainly a most important and significant event in the life of a parish; yet records there are none from which the date of the* erection of this church of the pioneers could be ascertained. Only after lengthy inquiry was the date finally established by the positive memory of the aged Julia Keane, nee Spencer, a native and convert and a member of the parish, who had treas- ured the fact that the friends of her youth, Thomas McGuire and Margaret Deneen for whom she was bridesmaid, were married in this church on the first day on which the holy sacrifice was celebrated therein. The marriage records of the parish certify the marriage to have taken place on the 18th day of August, 1853.
This first church was a small log cabin structure and its furnishings were the most primitive. Log splits with sticks for
10 John A. Lansden, A History of the City of Cairo, Illinois, Chicago, 1910, pp. 138, 139. Mr. M. J. Howley was one of the oldest and best in- formed parishoners of Cairo and for a long time a public official of the city. The Fathers of the Congregation of the Mission of Perryville and Cape Girardeau, Mo., rendered most needed missionary supply work in the pioneer days, and their names are recorded in parish registers and direc- tories along the entire west front of the state of Illinois.
114 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
support served as pews; rail and altar were of the same crude construction. These were pioneer days when pioneer customs prevailed. An aged parishioner, John Daily, son of the hos- pitable William Daily, previously mentioned, gave to the writer his clear recollections of the pioneer life of this settlement. He states that shoes were as rare in those days as bare feet are today and that the worshipers during the clement season carried what shoes they had to church under their arms, donning them when they entered. The pioneer entered the woods, felled the trees and after hewing and scoring his logs with sticks and mud, raised the big hearth and chimney, erected his one-room log- cabin, filled in the crevices between the logs with rocks and mud mortar, furnished the cabin with a few stools and a table and a bed of his own crude construction. He then cleared a small tract of timber around the cabin in the woods, sufficient to raise enough corn for family wants, turned his hogs loose to feed upon the mast of the forest, and transported his goods upon sledges or upon primitive wagons with log cuts for wheels, drawn by oxen. His simple meals were prepared at the open fire-place over which the large iron kettle, the housewife's main and perhaps only kitchen utensil, was suspended. His bread was made from the meal of the corn for which he received as little as eighteen cents a bushel and for which he paid, when ground into meal, as high as fourteen dollars a barrel ; and as the old stone burr mills were few and distant, two or three days were often spent going to the mill and waiting for his turn to have the corn ground. But meat cost the pioneer practically nothing. His hogs roamed wild in the woods finding their own acorn mast; and the wild turkey and the deer were so plentiful that the true shot of the pioneers musket brought to the table his choice of venison, pork or tur- key. The quail, the squirrel, and other small game, the much sought quarry of the present day sportsman, were not considered a re-imbursement for the powder of the pioneer's rifle.
Amid these humble surroundings and beginnings, which in our times appear in the colors of privation, the pioneer Catholic reared his family and the generations which have changed a wilderness into the cultivated fields of today and begot and nur- tured the large cities where the stagnated masses combat for existence, and where they have surrendered the independence and liberty which was the glory and joy of a pioneer's life. It
SHAWNEETOWN 115
is true that the days of the pioneer were days that tried men's hearts, but they developed a sturdiness which laid the founda- tion for our country's marvelous development. "The country and the times have undergone a great change and development," said Daily, the aged pioneer farmer to me, "and I would not want to return to the hardship and privations of the pioneer farm- builder. Then we had no farms — only a lone cabin in the woods ; today the land lies at our command, waiting for the crops to be put in. We were then unconsciously fighting our way into a promised land of which hope could not even dream and a few of us remain to enjoy it — it is the possession of our children.11
Father McCabe, who had been pastor at Shawneetown from 1850, became resident pastor of St. Patrick's church of Cairo, probably in 1853, and attended Shawneetown from there in the years 1854-1857. The Shawneetown and Cairo parishes remained closely affiliated for the decade 1850-1860 through their pastors, the two parishes being alternately parish and mission.
Thirty years and longer had Catholics lived in southeastern Illinois and for twenty-six years had they been privileged to hear mass and to receive the sacraments, at least several times a year; but not until the year 1850 did a bishop appear among them. In that year, on the 20th day of October the Rt. Rev. Oliver Vandevelde, of Chicago, confirmed at Shawneetown twen- ty persons.
From the year 1853 when Father P. McCabe moved to Cairo, Shawneetown was attended at times from Cairo, by Fathers P. McCabe, 1854-1857; L. A. Lambert, 1858; and Thos. Walsh, 1859; and from St. Vincent's, Ky., by M. Bouchet, 1854-1855; and E. J. Durbin, 1853, 1856 and 1859.12 Again Shawneetown received a resident pastor, the Rev. J. A. Jacque, this time in
n This John Daily and wife, nee Stout, celebrated the fiftieth anni- versary of their wedding during my pastorate. Both are buried in the cemetery of the Doherty parish.
12 During the writer's pastorate of Shawneetown the Rev. Louis A. Lambert, on his way to a Grand Army Reunion at Metropolis, 111., visited Shawneetown, and was the guest of the writer during the few hours he spent there awaiting passage on an Ohio River packet. Father Lambert, returning to the East, called on the Rev. John Brennan, who immediately requested of the writer further information about Shawneetown and paved the way for his valuable reminiscences. The writer later requested Father Lambert by letter to write his reminiscences, but it was too late, for Father Lambert, as his secretary notified me, was then on his death bed.
116 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
1859. Rather than live in Shawneetown, this pioneer priest built a room to the log cabin at Doherty, where he lived the humble and retired life of a hermit. At Cahokia, HI., to which place he was later assigned, this lonely recluse died, alone and far from his fatherland, breathing forth a soul consecrated to the priest- hood among a strange people and in a strange land. If not for- saken— yet alone in his death agony — a hero priest finished a life of lonely and humble sacrifice. A passer-by discovered the remains.13
In 1860 the Rev. John J. Brennan, who died a few years after the date of this letter at Utica, N. Y., succeeded as resident pas- tor of Shawneetown. The history of his pastorate is interest- ingly given in a letter from him to the writer, which we repro- duce verbatim omitting a few personal references to ourselves.
Utica, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1898.
Dear Father Beuckmann: —
Your very interesting and welcome letter of the 6th inst. duly to hand and I feel truly grateful for all the interesting news it contains.
Now, as to the history of the church of Shawneetown, it is singular and an interesting one. I was pastor of Jacksonville, where I had built a church, school and parochial residence and expected to make it my home for life. To my great surprise and regret I received a letter from my Bishop (Junker) ordering me to go forthwith to Shawneetown. I remon- strated and protested against the change. Then the Bishop commanded me under the pain of suspension, to go to Shawneetown. I complied with this command. On arriving there I found that the only respectable hotel in the town had been burned a short time before and I went to a very temporary one that had been just erected. I received from the Bishop a letter of introduction to Mrs. Aaron Stout, whose address he had obtained from Father Jacque, who attended there merely as temporary until my appointment as resident pastor. As such I did not intend to be a burden on Mrs. Stout or any one member of the congregation, and hence I went to the hotel such as it was.
I called on Mrs. Stout and presented my letter. Her husband was not in at the time and after a short visit, during which I learned something of the town and the number of Catholics at that mission, I took my leave and after a walk through the town returned to the hotel, where I took
is Flies swarming in and out of an open window attracted the attention of a parishoner, who had not heard the mass bell for several mornings. A torrid hot summer prevailed. The body was badly decomposed and was immediately buried by the Rev. C. Koenig and the Rev. Patrick O'Halloran, both from East St. Louis, from whom I had this information. It is as- sumed that Father Jacque died of a heat stroke probably July 4, 1878.
SHAWNEETOWN 117
supper about 6 P. M. I had just returned to my room when the proprietor knocked at my door and entered with Mr. Aaron Stout. On being intro- duced to that gentleman, he exclaimed: "Father Brennan, what are you doing here? Myself and wife have been expecting you all afternoon. On returning home she told me you called and we thought you had only gone out to see the town and expected you to return and I invited some friends to meet you, who are now awaiting you at my home." I immediately accompanied him and found that they had prepared a beautiful supper and after being introduced to the guests, spent a very pleasant evening with such hospitable friends and genial company. About 9 o'clock P. M., I rose to return to my hotel. On doing so Mr. Stout requested me to accompany him upstairs where he showed me the rooms which he called the Priest rooms, and on looking around I saw my trunk and wallet in the corner of the room. "Now," he said, "this has been the home of every priest that has visited this mission and you will not insult me and my wife by going elsewhere, until we provide a home for yourself." I could not refuse such an appeal like this. No friend, no father or mother, could be more kind and generous than this noble hearted man and his good and saintly wife. They had no family of their own; they had only an adopted daughter. [Mr. Stout was not a Catholic at this time, but was received into the church about twenty years later, F. B.]
Old Father Durbin, of Uniontown.Ky., was the only priest known in that part of Southern Illinois, up to that time. The Protestants called him "Daddy Durbin." Some years previous to my going there, Father Durbin bought an old depot that was built on the banks of the Ohio, out- side of the town, when the company failed in completing the railroad betwe'en St. Louis and Louisville. In this depot he used to celebrate mass when he visited the mission. At the time of purchase he opened a sub- scription list, which he headed, saying: "If this building is ever used for other than ecclesiastical and school purposes, I hereby promise to refund to the Catholics of Shawneetown, a sum equal in amount to that sub- scribed for the purchase thereof." Mrs. Stout kept this subscription list in her possession. The first Sunday I said mass in the old depot, I was shocked and annoyed by finding that some disreputable characters had found their way through the broken windows into some of the basement rooms in the building, who gave great scandal and annoyance during the mass.
On returning to Mr. Stout after the mass, I informed him and his wife of my resolve, never to say mass in that place again; that I would prefer to say mass in a private house or shanty rather than at such a place. It was then Mrs. Stout remembered the subscription list which she found and handed to me. On reading the heading thereto and finding that there were about six hundred dollars subscribed thereon, I concluded to have an interview with Father Durbin as soon as possible. Next day Mr. Stout took me out to his barn where he had several fine horses and bid me take my choice of them. As a matter of course I selected the best he had, and I considered myself a pretty good judge of a horse. He next brought me
118 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
a beautiful saddle and bridle, and saddle bags. Now, he said, you are ready for your mission. My first journey with my beautiful steed was to Uniontown, Ky. Father Durbin and his assistant, Father Wm. Burke, received me very kindly and in their company I spent a most pleasant evening. Had a good supper, comfortable bed and after saying mass the next morning an excellent breakfast. Not till then did I broach a word about the business that took me there.
On making known my business and my request to have the six hundred dollars subscribed for the old depot, Father Durbin became very angry and absolutely refused to do anything of the sort. I told him I was very sorry to cause him annoyance, but under the circumstances I was com- pelled to do so and hoped that he would not compel me to have recourse to Bishop Spalding, of Louisville, Ky., afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore. This set him wild. He said there was no standing the young men of the priesthood, etc. I bid him remember that he was once young himself and that there was no crime in being a young man. As I got into my saddle to depart he requested me not to go to Louisville, that he would call to see me at Shawneetown in a day or two. He was equal to his promise and when he came he was in a much better humor and before leaving gave me a deed for a beautiful plot of timber land outside of Shawneetown, which I had no difficulty in disposing of soon after. With this as a start I at once concluded to build a new church. I drew up the plans myself and called in the gentlemen you mention in your letter (Kaercher and Scanlan) and made a contract with them that they would do the car- penter work within a given time, I think one month. I made another contract for the plastering of the church and for the pews, got the altar, built and painted it myself; all to be completed within the specified time. During all this time I never wrote to my Bishop, nor he to me.
When I saw the work fairly under way, I decided on the day for the dedication and wrote to the Bishop's secretary to let me know whether the Bishop could be present himself, appoint another or grant myself permission to perform the dedication ceremony. He answered : "the Bishop will be there himself, but you must remember the church must be plas- tered." He thought, I suppose, it was impossible to have a church build and plastered in such a short time.
Another incident I must mention here. While the work was going on I went through the mission, Pond Settlement and other places, names I cannot remember; I think one was Hillsboro, [Carmi is meant], where a Mr. Haynes lived. He was a convert who was received into the church somewhere south, while he was superintendent on a plantation. He bought a bell at Cincinnati, Ohio, that was saved from a burning steamboat. He had it in his barnyard and would ring it every Sunday morning, and all his Catholic neighbors would assemble at his house where they would unite in prayer and he would read from some meditation or pious book. On the occasion of my first visit I had mass there and a number of Catholics attended and received the sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist. He told me he intended going South that winter as he wished to earn some
SHAWNEETOWN 119
money to enable him to build a church at that place. I asked him if he was not afraid to leave that beautiful bell exposed to be broken or other- wise injured during his absence. I then requested him to lend it for the time being to Shawneetown Church and that I would give him a written guarantee that it should be delivered to him on demand at any time he felt disposed to call for it. He acceded to my request and that same morn- ing I found one of the farmers who was present at the mass, who con- sented to take it ot Shawneetown. I got another to accompany him and thus did I secure the bell for Shawneetown.
The war broke out and Haynes never returned but died South and I understand gave all his property to the Bishop of Alton, 111. As I see from the paper you have the date of my appointment and the date of dedication, you will understand how the work was accomplished in so short a time. Through the assistance of Mr. Aaron Stout, Protestants as well as Catholics contributed most generously thereto, he finally giving as his donation the beautiful plot of ground on which the church stands and that God has so singularly preserved from the floods by which Shawnee- town has been visited.
After the dedication was over and before the Bishop took his de- parture to return to Alton, I took the opportunity to inform him that whatever I did there was for the honor and glory of God and Holy Church; but I was not disposed to remain there, and begged him to find another place for me. Soon after he called me back to the Cathedral at Alton and from there appointed me the first pastor of E. St. Louis, where I built St. Patricks, the mother of churches in that city. I secured the property there through Mr. Bowman, afterwards Mayor of that city and whor I heard, met with a tragic death. I commenced the church in 1861 when the war broke out and had great difficulty in completing it. Father Ryan, now Archbishop of Philadelphia, preached on the day of its dedica- tion. That was my last mission in Illinois. Failing health compelled me to resign and come East for a change of climate.
I fear I have tried you with a long narration and beg your kind patience in reading it.
I remember Judge Bartley very well. It was he who drew up the papers for Father Durbin and myself and attended to all such business for me. Please tell him I never forget my dear old friends, living or dead, when I am at the altar offering the Sacrifice.
Hoping that I shall be able to realize my heartfelt wish to see you and my old friends in Shawneetown next summer," I am, with much
14 Father Brennan did not realize his wish. Death intervened. Mayor Bowman, to whom he refers in the letter, was a German university grad- uate, an attorney, and a dominant figure in the early development of St. Clair County. He fled to England during revolutionary days in Germany, and was for a short time private secretary there of the Italian revolution- ist, Mazzini, after which he came to America. His assassination November 20, 1885, in East St. Louis, as he entered the gate to his yard that dusk Winter evening, has never been solved. It has been assumed to be a corporation-hired assassination. In the interest of East St. Louis and its future security Bowman had fought in the courts against corporation dominance and confiscation. His daughter entered the religious life.
120 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
esteem for yourself,
Yours in Christ,
John J. Brennan.
The first church erected at Shawneetown by Father John J. Brennan in 1860 was a plain frame structure, quite small, 25x50 feet, yet amply large for the congregation. It was a decided ad- vancement over the two rude log cabin churches at Piopolis and Doherty. It was erected on in-lot 858 donated by Marion Stout. The contract for the erection thereof was awarded to Kaercher and Scanlan of the town. Father Brennan had been successful in collecting about one thousand two hundred dollars at Shaw- neetown, New Haven and Equality, then the only towns of the county. The original subscription list, yet preserved, reveals but a few names familiar at the present time; but it is most probable that the majority of the subscribers were non-Catholics.
The day of the dedication brought a bishop to the mission the second time, the Rt. Rev. Henry Damian Juncker, the first bishop of the new diocese of Alton, who dedicated the church to Mary of the Holy Name. How the title was later changed to Mary of the Immaculate Conception, the records do not in- dicate. On the day of the dedication the pioneer bishop also confirmed forty-six persons. That this small church should be amply large to accommodate the Catholics of Shawneetown for forty-eight years might seem strange today; yet the congrega- tion at no time numbered perhaps more than fifty families.
After Father J. J. Brennan's recall to Alton, the young priest, Father L. A. Lambert, who had served as assistant to Father Walsh of Cairo, was promoted, if it could be so considered, to the pastorate of Shawneetown and its missions. At this time the slavery question was heading to a decision. M. K. Lawler, who had served his country in the Mexican War as a captain lived near Equality and was now a parishioner of Fr. Lambert. Lawler espoused the cause of the North and immediately on the outbreak of the war, tendered his services to his country and organized the Eighteenth Illinois regiment of Infantry Volun- teers. The young priest desired to accompany his parishioners into the war and to attend to the spiritual needs of the soldier. The tender of his services was accepted and a commission was issued to Father Lambert by Richard Yates, Governor of the
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State, and A. C. Fuller, Adjutant General, and O. M. Hatch, Sec- retary of State, to serve as Chaplain of Lawler's Regiment and to rank as captain of cavalry from July 1st, 1861. Father Lam- bert remained with the regiment through the campaigns in Mis- souri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, sharing the perils and hardships of the soldiers to whom he endeared himself and among whom he wielded a potent and salutary influence. After two years service in the army he was appointed to succeed Fath- er Walsh at Cairo, where he remained until 1868, when he re- moved to the East. Here he distinguished himself by his splen- did journalistic and literary labors and became one of the most widely known priests of the States. His replies to Ingersoll familiarized his name among Protestants as well as Catholics, and his editorials placed the Freeman's Journal in the fore- ground.
Ingersoll and Lambert were both residents of Shawneetown and both served in the War of the Rebellion. Father J. A. Rens- man pertinently says of them, "Ingersoll and Lambert, two re- markable men. We meet both in Shawneetown, the one a priest the other a lawyer; we find them again on the same battlefield, the one as an army chaplain, the other as a colonel ; and a third time they come before the public on religious battle ground. Father Lambert, the defender of revealed truth, Col. Ingersoll, its scoffer." The intrepid Christian warrior passed to his re- ward Sunday evening, Sept. 25, 1910.15 Father Lambert attended Shawneetown as pastor and visited the mission as army chap- lain in 1861 and 1862, as shown by the church records.
Father J. Larmer succeeded as the next pastor and continued as such until his successor, Father S. Weggener, was appointed, probably in 1864. Since the Catholics were few in numbers, badly scattered, and of very limited means, material advance- ment of the parishes could not be hoped for and the priest's in- come allowed no more than the absolute necessities of life. Yet immortal souls were to be saved and what was accomplished in this distinct priestly endeavor will only be disclosed by the rec- ords of eternity. The sheep were scattered and a very great
is The writer questioned the Rev. Louis A. Lambert whether or not he had become acquainted with the agnostic Robert Ingersoll while the latter also lived at Shawneetown, to which he replied that he had never met Ingersoll.
122 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
portion of the shepherd's time was spent in the saddle or stage coach riding over his extensive missions.
The year 1864 marks the erection of a fourth church in the vast southeastern Illinois mission about three miles north of Roseclare in Hardin County, which even today remains the only church in the county of petty mountains and no railroad. The cholera, which raged in St. Louis in 1849, drove the first Catho- lic settlers, the brothers, George and Andrew Volkert, into Hard- in County from that city. The place was one of the most diffi- cult of access in the state until the recent entry of a concrete highway; whether it was this circumstance which determined it as a probable safe refuge from the plague, or whether they were invited thither by friends or acquaintances, I did not ascertain. In 1853 George Siegler and Emanuel Herman and in 1854 George Humm increased this small Catholic community of immigrants from the Rheinpfalz, Bavaria. These families erected the first church probably in 1863, a small log structure, since superseded by a larger and neat frame church, and since its destruction by fire, a brick church, which at this date is yet the only Catholic Church in Hardin County.16 This does not bespeak growth and expansion; yet preservation is at least better than decay and death.
This southeastern Illinois mission can now boast of four churches, two in Gallatin, one in Hamilton, one in Hardin and one in White County at Dolan Settlement,17 about three miles west of Enfield, where a church was also built about 1862. Yet the pastor of all these churches and stations had no residence, but lived as a guest of Major Aaron Stout at Shawneetown. In 1864, however, a two-story four-room frame dwelling was erected and attached to the rear of the church at Shawneetown. One wall was saved in this method of construction and this was an
is The writer attended this mission once a month in 1892 and 1893 and knew most of the first pioneer Catholics. These stated that the Rev. Kilian Schlosser, O. S. F., of Teutopolis was the first priest to visit this mission. This Franciscan is listed at Teutopolis in the church directories of the first half of the sixties. This anomoly of attendance from a distance rather than from the near-by Shawneetown is evidently due to the fact that probably previous to the arrival of the Rev. S. Wegener at Shawneetown in 1865 none of the priests there knew enough German to converse with these immigrants from Bavaria and the Rheinpfalz.
17 The Catholic Directory of 1865 lists Dolans among churches and as attended from Mount St. John, Piopolis of today.
SHAWNEETOWN 123
idea which meager finances no doubt suggested. It was humble and humbly furnished, yet a man's home is his palace.
With church in four counties, and stations at Carmi and New Haven within these four counties and a few Catholics scattered over several other counties, the Shawneetown Mission territory, as Father L. A. Lambert told the writer, included all the counties north of Cairo, between the Ohio, Wabash and Mississippi rivers. At this period there were no railroads in this section of the state and all parishes and stations could be reached only by stage coach or saddle over primitive roads or forest trails; hence it must have been a most welcome relief to have two resident pas- tors assigned to this vast southeastern Illinois mission, one of them to reside as pastor at Piopolis. Piopolis received its first resident pastor in the person of Father Edward Hamann, who was transferred from Cairo and arrived at Piopolis in January, 1864.18 It is true that the two resident pastors in this extensive mission lived forty miles apart; but this was quite neighborly when we remember that previously the nearest Illinois priestly neighbors had been at Cairo. There were no railroads; yet this was quite near enough for priestly hearts to seek priestly con- solation and companionship. The Catholic people were at home with their families and although the pioneer priest was no stranger among them, yet a true priest must feel far from home when he is deprived of all priestly associations, which always refresh and invigorate.
The shadows are receding and the day is growing brighter. The field of labor is now divided; the counties of Hamilton and White and later Jefferson, Wayne and Clay receive attention from Piopolis whilst Gallatin, Hardin, Saline, Pope, Johnston, etc., are attended from Shawneetown, and the extreme southern and southwestern counties from Cairo.
As yet the Catholics: of Shawneetown had no distinct Catho- lic cemetery. In those days many farmers had private burial
18 "Geschichte Einer Bushgemeinde" cited previously.
124 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
plots on their farms,19 all traces of which have in many instances been entirely effaced by the plowshare and obliterated by the growing crops, reminding one of the words of Bryan's Than- atopsis :
Earth that nourished thee shall claim Thy growth to be resolved to earth again, And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix forever with elements, To be a brother to the insensible rock And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share and treads up. The oak Shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mould. In 1865 Major Aaron Stout donated the site of the present cemetery about three miles north of town where the hills rise above the low lands, which are subject to periodical overflows. An elaborate plat with circular driveways and ornamental plots far beyond the people's ability of execution and maintenance was drawn by an engineer. In the absence of a cemetery sexton and permanent lot-markers, an inevitable confusion arose, which is now difficult to remedy.
Since the southern half of the great state of Illinois became the separate diocese of Alton in 1857, episcopal visitations and confirmations become more frequent than when the entire state had to be attended by the bishop of Chicago. In 1866 the Rt. Rev. H. D. Juncker entered the Shawneetown missions the second time and confirmed at Shawneetown, Pond Settlement and Rose- clare.
Probably in May 1867, Father A. Mueller became resident pastor of Shawneetown and its missions. He was then a priest of advanced years and was especially remembered by the par- ishioners as a great lover of little children. Recollection states that he was too democratic and simple in his dress and habits to satisfy the rather aristocratic tastes of some of the ladies of
is The private cemetery of the Michael Kelly Lawler family is still the burial place of this family. A rather unique provision of the General's last will provides that his homestead farm is to be the property of the youngest son of his youngest son. The General's youngest son Edward died leaving a son by a second marriage, who is perhaps in his early teens now. The State of Illinois by special appropriation erected a monument to the Gen- eral in the town of Equality, about three miles from the farm homestead.
SHAWNEETOWN 125
the parish and that one of these took it upon herself to write to the bishop asking his removal. When Father Mueller became aware of this, he urged the bishop to accept his resignation and remarked that she who had without reason asked his removal would some day want a priest and not be able to obtain one. These prophetic words were recalled by the parishioners when the lady died without the consolations of the last sacrament be- cause no priest was within reach. This was not the only case in which an unreasonable and unjustifiable opposition to the pastor of the mission terminated as unfortunately; but it is to be hoped that the disturbers received a more merciful judgment than would appear from the circumstances. "He who despises you, despises me."
As far as material development is concerned the pastorates of many pioneer priests were uneventful. The poverty of the early settlers precluded rapid advancement in building and where the most essential structures were log churches and rec- tories financial and executive genius were not requisite; but there were other qualities of priestly activity which were then demanded more so than they are today, especially the courage and willingness to sacrifice every earthly ambition in patient, humble and self-sacrificing consecration to the salvation of souls.
VI
At this time a new feature enters into the material develop- ment of Shawneetown and its immediate vicinity. Some years previously the scion of a wealthy Philadelphia family, of excep- tional endowments and highly educated, yet eccentric, Col. F. H. Sellers,20 immortalized by Mark Twain as Mulberry Sellers, set- tled in the mineral fields south of Shawneetown. Supported by the wealth of his family Sellers explored the country in search of mineral deposits and Indian relics and his visionary mind revelled in the prospect of millions in the resources of the coun- try and of his own remarkable and most valuable inventions.
Through the influence of Sellers eastern capital was intro- duced in the development of the coal fields south of Shawnee- town. As the coal was of a high grade, it readily found a market and an easy entry into the South by way of the Ohio river, to
History of Gallatin County, p. 575.
126 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
which a private railroad was built from the mines. A number of Irish Catholics came to labor in these mines. Business flour- ished in Shawneetown and money freely circulated. Catholics felt elated at the prospect of a growing and possibly larger parish.
When the atmosphere was surcharged with sparkling ex- pectations, the young priest, Father Anton Demming entered the mission as the successor of Father Mueller in December, 1869. His naturally sanguine character was easily kindled with the enthusiasm of the promising outlook. The time was ripe for action and the man who by nature was endowed with the gifts peculiarly adapted to the task had arrived. The activity of youth brought the young priest in frequent contact with the scattered Catholics and bound them together in common awak- ened interest. A new social consciousness had been aroused by the time and the man, so that even at this late date the person- ality of the priest yet stands forth in remarkably clear outlines in the memory of the pioneer Catholics of Shawneetown and its missions. Unassuming, yet wide awake, with an unconscious enthusiasm for his work, he infused Catholics with new courage and confidence in themselves.
Another important event must here be introduced, and that is the entry of the third resident pastor in the Southeastern Il- linois mission. In 1871 Rev. William O'Reilly became the first resident pastor of St. Patrick's congregation near Enfield and relieved the pastor of Piopolis of this congregation and that at Carmi. All extreme Southern Illinois, lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, had in the later years of the eighteen sixties resident pastors at Shawneetown, Cairo, Piopolis, Anna, Mound City and Du Quoin. Yet the erection of new parishes has been very slow until the immense coal deposits of this south- ern section were opened in recent years. What a contrast is pre- sented today in the number of churches and resident pastors!
Frederic Beuckman
Belleville, Illinois
THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER, MONTANA PIONEER*
I
My first acquaintance with General Thomas Francis Meagher was in Montana in the fall of 1865, and under the following cir- cumstances. I was encamped near Bird- tail Rock, between Sun River and Dearborn River, at a place where the present St. Peter's [Blackfoot] Mission is situated, preparing and providing logs and rock for the transfer of St. Peter's Mission to this new place. The old locality on the banks of the Missouri River near the mouth of Sun River had been found inadequate on account of the difficulty of irrigation, and this new place had been se- lected. A couple of white laborers, two Canadian half-breeds and two Indians composed the Camp. Two Indian tents, two tents for the Canadians with their families, my tent for the whites, and a tent for chapel, Mass, prayer, etc., was our whole settlement. One evening towards dusk a blizzard began to blow, and shortly afterwards the Indians announced the arrival of three white men, who evidently had strayed from the beaten road, had wandered off in the hills and stumbled on our Camp.
* These recollections (Ms. in St. Louis University Archives) were penned in 1906 under the caption "Stray Leaves from the Diary and Musings of an Old Friend of Thomas Francis Meagher, Brig. General of the United States Army, and Governor of Montana Territory, 1865- 1867." Their author, the Rev. Francis Xavier Kuppens, S. J., (1838- 1916), a native of Belgium, was for some years an Indian missionary in the Rocky Mountain region where he made Meagher's acquaintance. Though written down some forty years later than the incidents nar- rated, these reminiscences may be rated high in point of historical value as Father Kuppens was gifted with an uncommonly retentive mem- ory and was characteristically conservative in preparing statements for publication. The diary which apparently formed the basis of this sketch cannot be traced. Father Kuppens's remarkable horseback ride from St. Ignatius Mission to Fort Benton to meet Governor Meagher is briefly sketched in L. B. Palladino, S. J., Indian and White in the Northwest, or a History of Catholicity in Montana, Baltimore, 1894, p. 286, which work has other references to Father Kuppens's career in Montana, especially in Helena, where he said the first Mass.
General Meagher was Secretary of Montana Territory from August 4, 1865, to his death, July 1, 1867. He was Acting-Governor from the de- parture of Governor Edgerton, September, 1865, until the arrival of Green Clay Smith as Governor in the summer of 1866. Biographical sketches of him may be read in History of Montana, 1735-1885, Chicago, 1885, p. 247, and in Contributions to the History of Montana (Montana Historical So- ciey), VI, 119 ff. An impressive equestrian statue of Meagher stands be- fore the state capitol building in Helena.
127
128 FRANCIS XAVIER KUPPENS
At first greeting I learned it was General Meagher, accompanied by a judge of the Territory, and a friend. I welcomed them to the tent and to the best in the Camp (which was very poor) . Their horses were treated like our own ; they were securely hob- bled, one fore foot to a hind foot, and given the liberty of a thousand hills.
During the long evening after supper and prayers, the Gen- eral spoke v/ith much feeling of his college days under the care of the Jesuits in Ireland. His stay in Australia, and his doings during the Civil war were referred to by his companions. I was informed also that lately he had been appointed Secretary of Montana Territory and was acting Governor. He made inquiries about Montana, the climate, products, mines, mountains, rivers, the Indians and their tribes and dispositions. At that time I spoke at length and in detail of the wonders of the Yellowstone region, which excited the Governor's curiosity very much and he frequently afterwards returned to that subject, suggesting that it should be made a National Park. My life there among the Indians, separated from the world and from civilization, for the purpose of spreading the gospel and saving a few souls, brought forth numberless questions from his companions. My tent with its little campfire in the center had never felt so com- fortable as that evening when the blizzard was raging and the mercury (I heard afterward) went down to -40°. The low hard ground with a few pine boughs was offered as a couch, and the buffalo robes and blankets, which had done duty for three be- fore, now answered for six. The next two days the storm was at its worst, and perforce the travelers were kept indoors. Gen- eral Meagher hearing that I was a native of Belgium, told of the time of his college years, when he had spent a vacation of a couple of months at Antwerp, and had gone over the compaign marches and battlegrounds upon which the Belgians had fought in 1830 a few years before and gained their independence. He also said that at the beginning of his patriotic career in Ireland he had urged on his hearers the example of the Belgians in drawing the sword and striking for independence ; and that this had so offended Mr. John O'Connell, son of the great Daniel, that he had been silenced and rebuked for it and put out of the hall. During those two days I learned much of Irish history and the character of the people.
THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER 129
On the third day the storm had passed and the General re- solved to continue his journey. He had started from Virginia City, then the capital of Montana, to visit the northern settle- ments of the Territory; the Great Falls of the Missouri also at- tracted his curiosity ; Fort Benton was an extensive trading post, the head of navigation on the Missouri, and the most northerly settlement of the Territory. But the General and his party were sadly equipped for such a journey at that season, they had neither shelter, nor blankets, nor provisions, and if they had not luckily drifted into our Camp they would undoubtedly have per- ished during that blizzard. Now that the snow had stopped fall- ing and the weather had become calm and clear the first look satisfied me that great care and prudence were needed. Snow covered the earth, all signs of trails, indentations of the hills, small ravines were obliterated; only distant mountain peaks, and high buttes could serve as guiding marks ; and I determined my- self to accompany the party to the old mission on the banks of the Missouri and to provide them there with the indispensible bedding, and provisions and good Indian guides for their jour- ney. The few necessary preliminaries, as finding our horses in a sheltered ravine, were happily only a brief task, and we were soon on our road. Although a foot of snow is not much, yet a continuous stretch of twenty miles of unbroken trail is very tiresome on the march. We reached the mission without mis- hap in good season before dark. Father Imoda [S. J.], the Su- perior, and Father Ravalli, S. J., made the party most welcome. Log houses, plenty of robes, also a good number of Indians, neighbors and visitors made the stay more bearable than a small tent.
After a day's rest he [Meagher] set out on his journey to the Great Falls and Fort Benton. Two good reliable Indian guides with packhorses accompanied the party, and they had little to fear where night or a blizzard might overtake them. In fact the heavy roads made it hard on the horses, and they camped out four times before reaching Fort Benton. After some days the General returned to the capital by the ordinary wagon road; he had obtained some conveyance, and I did not see him again for some months. During the winter I heard that General Mea- gher on his return to Virginia City had taken quite an interest in church matters and that Father Giorda, S. J., Superior of the
130 FRANCIS XAVIER KUPPENS
mountain missions, during a visit to the capital at that time had purchased the old log theatre and had with a few altera- tions converted it into a church. General Meagher by his sub- scription, his influence and position had made it possible ; it was a great change for the better, as up to that time we had said mass and administered the sacraments, in halls, dining rooms, stores or any odd place that could be secured for the occasion of the irregular visit of a priest. Immediately a certain pride and emulation about religion had made itself felt in all classes of persons, high and low. I was told also that at the first Christ- mas [service] in the church of Virginia City General Meagher himself took up the collection during Mass.
II
In the spring of 1866 it was decided on account of certain difficulties to abandon for a while St. Peter's Mission among the Blackfeet Indians (both the old and the new mission houses) and to transfer the little belongings to St. Ignatius Mission among the Flathead Indians. It was a sorrowful journey over the Rocky Mountain divide, down the Blackfoot river, down the Hellgate river, with their numerous fords and crossings. The physical labor and fatigue were nothing compared to the mental grief occasioned by the leavetaking of our Indians.
The day after our arrival at St. Ignatius Mission a special messenger came with a letter from General Meagher informing us that three steamboats were near Fort Benton loaded with soldiers and all camp paraphernalia for establishing a new post in northern Montana; he himself would start at once from Vir- ginia City to welcome the officers and men and perhaps advise them as to the most desirable locality. As the old St. Peter's Mission houses were abandoned, and the new house near Bird- tail Rock was nearly ready and would be occupied at our return, General Meagher suggested that a goodly compensation might be obtained for the old buildings if we could induce the soldiers to establish themselves there. The place was well suited for their purpose. He also requested that your humble servant be sent at once and be given power of attorney by his Superiors, so as to be able to transact the necessary business; he had en- closed a blank all filled out, requiring only the signature of
THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER 131
Father Giorda, S. J. The reason for asking for me, he said, was that I was younger, and stronger and a better rider, and he had some hope that I might overtake him and be in time to meet with him the superior officers of the army before the selection of the new fort had been made.
After a hasty consultation, and a few general directions for my course, I was told to set out without delay, and with only what was absolutely necessary, for time was pressing. That night I said goodbye, and had the Superior's blessing on myself and journey. Next morning mass and breakfast were finished by daybreak, and the herder drove the mission horses in the corral for selection. All those we had brought from the Black- foot Mission had their hoofs worn down to the quick and were utterly unfit for the task; those of St. Ignatius Mission were tired out by the Spring work, a few colts were not eligible; only one fine bay six years old, a broncho, had speed and strength; but for three years he had most successfully protested by might and main against all attempts at breaking, not without a cer- tain amount of diffidence was he selected for a trial. In a few minutes the news had spread in the sleeping lodges and an audi- ence of fully three hundred gathered to see the contest. The lasso brought "Whirlwind" to a standstill, and the arugmenta- tion began. Most violent protestations against bridle and sad- dle, and most persistent persuasions, with alternating successes and failures. When the horse was saddled and bridled, however, all help of herder and Indians had to cease, and the real contest had to be single handed. I mounted twice successfully and re- ceived full measure of applause of the appreciating audience; but before that subsided I had twice descended and very uncer- emoniously, not even landing on my feet. The horse was well named "Whirlwind" and he was true to his name. But I be- lieved I had learned his trick, and at my third attempt he hesi- tated a moment, then started off, I waving a goodbye to all. The ' first day's ride brought me beyond Bear Creek near Dear Lodge about 80 miles where I camped: the second day on the Prickly Pear Creek near Clark 60 miles ; the third day I reached a road house at the Sun River Crossing, 50 miles. There I overtook General Meagher. Next day we covered the waterless stretch of sixty miles to Fort Benton. This day had been made very
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pleasant by the inexhaustible supply of anecdotes of the General. At Fort Benton we heard that the military would not come up to the head of navigation; their large boats had been unable to reach farther than the mouth of the Judith River some 70 or 80 miles below. Low water was the cause of their unloading at that place. The soldiers were already establishing themselves there and building he post. Our horses were very tired and the trail on the south side of the Missouri River to that new camp was very bad and very indistinct. We borrowed fresh horses and engaged a half-breed Canadian to be our guide. Mr. Car- roll, a merchant of Fort Benton, and also a teamster looking for opportunities joined our party for the next morning. During the night a small steamboat arrived and was nearly unloaded in the morning. She would return down stream at once as the water was falling fast. The General and party received an in- vitation to take passage to our destination, which was accepted with thanks. We went aboard shortly after noon with our horses, and the General gave a sly hint to the deck hands that he was bringing a priest with a white horse aboard. Their cu- riosity was aroused ; preacher with a white horse, preacher with a white horse, Skypilot Jonas, hoodoo aboard, was the sole topic of conversation. The poor fellows, darkies most of them, were so bewildered that some for fear nearly turned pale. While I was reading my office [breviary] in a retired corner of the deck a couple of the boldest had watched me most carefully for over an hour.
Leaving Fort Benton the man with the sounding lead sang out, "by the Mark Twain," "by the Mark Twain," "Quarter less Twain"; but this changed gradually till it reached the sharp cry of "four feet," "three feet." Sand bars were showing and new channels were cutting at every bend in the river. From the time that the boat pointed her bow down stream, there were acci- dents and mishaps without end; boilers were leaking, engines were shrieking, steering gear and pumps were out of order and the water was falling. The General put every mishap to the credit of the Jonas. The few passengers and even the officers believed him when he told them that the boat would never reach St. Louis. By supper time we had hardly made 20 miles; the current of the river was twice as fast as the rate we travelled
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at. Shortly after rising from table, the Captain himself took the wheel; in less than a quarter of an hour we had stuck on a sandbar hard and fast. The water was perceptibly falling and the river was cutting itself a new channel near the right shore. The General tried to reassure the crew and passengers, he spoke of their senseless superstition, of the joke he had played on me and on them; but for once all his blarney, Irish wit and elo- quency failed. They worked all night; the boat would not move. By the first glimmer of light one could see that the water had fallen about two feet, and was cutting its new channel wider and deeped near the right shore while dry sand was appearing all around the steamboat. By sunrise the nearest water was half a mile distant. Every one saw the helplessness of the sit- uation, and the General proposed that we ride overland to our destination some 60 miles distant. "We said a very sad goodbye to the Captain and officers, passengers and crew, jumped our horses from the boat on dry land, swam across the new channel, and began our journey across the trackless prairie to the mouth of the Judith River. The sun was fierce, many large droves of buffalo, thousands in number, were roaming at will in the prairie and had obliterated the few trails that were there last summer. Only distant peaks of the Bears Paw Mountains or Judith Range or Triple Buttes could serve as guiding marks. Towards noon it became evident that in spite of all our riding we were making no headway, were circling around; the guide sat unsteady in his saddle and a few words revealed the true state of affairs. Messrs. Carroll and Sheahan had gradually separated from the party and were now completely out of sight. The General suffered much from thirst but insisted that we hold to a direct line to the junction of the two rivers.
Towards five o'clock our attention was attracted to a buffalo wallow, a small lake. The outskirts for a hundred yards were tramped by innumerable buff alos in mud four feet deep ; by rid- ing farther in five feet, to the saddle, we found water that was not mud, and comparatively clear. Here we and our horses slaked our thirst. The hand formed too small a cup to satisfy; our guide turning his felt hat inside out and deftly folding it brought a good quantity of water to his lips. The General see- ing it was on the point of imitating when I offered my hat, which had done such service before; I hoped it would be no af-
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front seeing the water was no better than the cup. The pro- f useness of his thanks in accepting gave evidence that his suffer- ings must have been very great ; but withal he could not restrain himself from asking the question whether this filled the condi- tions of the scriptural drink of a cup? of cold? water? His thanks were profuse and genuine. In that little lake perhaps 400 yards across we cooled ourselves and horses. I found a soli- tary sandwich in my saddle bags five days old which we divided in three parts and ate our dinner share and share alike. Then refreshed we took our bearings and started anew; the horses were getting tired, but we had still three or four hours of day- light. By sunset our horses were reduced to a slow walk and at dark we camped on the high prairie. It was well that I had completed my office in the early morning, or it would have been impossible that day or evening to read it; not the smallest stick of wood to make a fire could be found. We held our horses by a short rope and slept the sleep of the just.
Next morning at the first glimmer of day we found that our guide had left during the night; and with no more delay for breakfast than we had for supper we saddled our horses and after an hour's ride heard the morning shot, a most welcome sound. The horses were far from fresh, and we proceeded very slowly. We had to cross a small ravine; the bottom, quicksana and mud, was covered by a few inches of very bitter alkali water. With difficulty I floundered across, my saddle bags remained dry. The General's horse stumbled and fell; he jumped off, hip deep in slush. With hard work, after many attempts we suc- ceeded in getting the horse out of the mire and ourselves into it. As soon as we were on solid ground he said: "Well, that is one against me; I am the Jonas now." Whilst we were resting, and breathing after our exertions interior voices admonished us to proceed on our journey, urgent business had not to be de- layed, no, not even for appearances, and so we set out again on what we fondly hoped would be the last stretch. Admiring me and my horse, he observed that certainly I had succeeded well in effecting a disguise from head to foot. He was sure that neither my best friend nor worst enemy would recognize me under my new covering; he could not imagine that he himself presented a like appearance. It was not a case of the pot and kettle being black ; we had to deal with a yellowish whitish sub-
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stance that permeated every fold, every seam, every fibre of our clothing, every pore of the skin, stuck to the hair, and was un- comfortable to the ears, nose, lips and eyes. But interior voices urged us not to delay in our journey. From the top of the next elevation we saw the smoke of the camp. Soon the white tents appeared, and not long after we were halted by the sentry. Visiting cards were sadly wanting. Our wet soiled clothes and the general dilapidated appearance of men and horses must have caused a strange feeling in the brave U. S. soldier when we told him that General Meagher, acting Governor of Montana Terri- tory, and your humble servant wished to see the commanding officer and asked to be brought to his presence. Eyeing us side ways he made the remark, "Begorra, you look like two gover- nors." We caused a genuine surprise in the camp. Very soon the General was recognized and we were brought to the Colonel commanding the post. After hasty greetings General Meagher asked that scouts be sent out to find our lost guide and our two missing companions. Then a bath, after which fresh dry clothes awaited us, and a breakfast fit for a president. During cigars all the officers of the post had gathered in the Colonel's tent and he asked, "Where the h — did you come from?" to which General Meagher most seriously remarked that the priest came from Hellgate, five days ride distant, and he had that morning escaped from the bottomless pit. He met several officers and men who had known him on the battlefields of the Potomac, and we were most Cordially received by all. Towards noon the scouts brought in the three missing members of the party, worn out with hunger, thirst and fatigue. Under the protecting wing of General Meagher I obtained more than I had hoped for, more than I dared to ask. A company of soldiers was sent to the old mission, who rented the buildings and arrangements were made that I or another priest should visit the post frequently. A large tent or building was to be placed at my disposal for church pur- poses, and officers and men were anxious to help me in my min- isterial duties; and this favorable disposition there happily be- gun lasted for a number of years.
After a couple of days rest we started on our return to Fort Benton. The General and myself had been provided with good fresh horses by the officers, and we made the journey with light
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hearts, and without circling or mishap to Fort Benton. There we found some of the passengers, officers, and crew of the ill- fated steamboat. They had abandoned the boat and walked overland to Fort Benton whilst teams had been engaged to draw the freight and belongings of men to that post. During winter the oat was dismantled, and next spring the ice demolished the hull. The bell of the boat was offered for sale in Helena next summer. I bought it and it did duty in the first church built in that place. I was able to say mass twice at Fort Benton, had a mixed congregation but few in number.
For our return trip to Helena General Meagher was anxious to see if it were practical to make a wagon road that would touch the Missouri river at frequent intervals for camping, and avoid the dusty waterless sixty miles stretch to Sun river. With an Indian guide and also Mr. Sheahan, the freighter, looking for opportunities, we stayed in touch of the river, and examined over and over again certain difficult points. The General was particularly anxious to have the new road touch the river at the Great Falls and cross Sun river near its mouth. We spent five days doing those sixty miles, with the result that the Gen- eral thought that the road would certainly be built as soon as the territory would be better organized, that now it was beyond financial resources, and the teamsters would be compelled to use the high prairie road for a while longer.
When we reached Helena, General Meagher had been absent about three weeks, and he took the stage coach to Virginia City. During these three weeks I had been able to say my office daily, but had been able to say mass only twice in all. Now in Helena I could say mass daily. I remained over two Sundays, called two meetings of the Catholics to urge them to erect a church on the hill in the center of the town where I had preempted a large plot of ground some time before. The foundations were being dug when I left for St. Ignatius Mission to give an account of my jouurney, and return the power of attorney to my Super- ior; I carried a petition from the citizens of Helena asking Father Giorda that some priest might be stationed permanently in that promising town. Father Giorda appointed myself, and shortly afterwards sent Father Daste [D'Asti] to help me. From Helena we were commissioned to attend to all the mining camps
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within reach. During the Winter Virginia City also received a resident priest. I believe that General Meagher had used his influence to secure that benefit for the numerous Catholics of the Capital city. He frequently expressed a desire to have a church and school in every settlement of the territory and he asked often where he should apply to secure priests. He also wanted Sisters and academies, hospitals, orphan asylums in the ceners of populaion or the most promising places. For he was convinced that few desirable immigrants would build a per- manent home for themselves and family till these things were secured : and till then the territory would have to struggle along with the shortcomings of its pioneer population.
From British Columbia to Salt Lake and Ogden, from the main divide of the mountains to somewhere east in the Dakotas where wcjoined the St. Paul diocese under Bishop Grace, there were only three solitary priests; it was good that we had also extensive faculties, as recourse to his Lordship [Bishop] O Gor- man at Omaha, was exceedingly slow and uncertain. In the Spring St. Peter's Mission near Bird Tail Rock was reopened by two priests for the Indians.
Ill
We were only a few weeks in Helena after the opening of the church when General Meagher was petitioned to come from Virginia City and deliver a lecture for the benefit of the church, and he most readily consented. He took for his subject "Rem- iniscences of the War." The new theatre was offered free of charge. Standing room was at a premium. In his introduction he spoke most feelingly of the apparent anomaly that the sword should help to build the church, that the warrior should help the priest, the strategist should help the Jesuit. But this in- congruity was only apparent; he considered it his duty to show this gratitude, for all that he knew, all that was good in him had been planted in his heart and fostered by the sons of that famous warrior, Saint Ignatius. He was glad and he thanked most cordially those who had invited him, and had given him an opportunity in this new land to show his gratitude to that fam- ous order. Then followed one anecdote after another, breezy, witty, humourous, ludicrous, of the Armies of the Potomac, officers, soldiers, enemies, scouts, and himself that kept the
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house sepllbound for near three hours. The joys and the sor- rows, the marches and the battles, the recruiting and reenlisting were all touched upon. His dislike for soldiers, with long head, level heads, square heads was sustained by arguments and ex- perience. He wanted soldiers with heads round like a cannon ball. "Their's not to reason why; their's but to do or die." These men never received a wound in the back; they could al- ways be depended on to save the day and save the nation, too. Sometimes he would be pathetic and brought tears to the bronzed faces of the miners, and then again he would launch into flights of oratory that brought his audience of over a thousand to their feet, standing, mouth open, stretching their necks, oblivious to all around, drinking in every word of the speaker. Never have I heard such oratory. Father Daste [D'Asti] remarked to me afterwards that he had always looked upon the story of Cicero holding his audience open-mouthed and spellbound as an ex- aggregation, but here General Meagher had undoubtedly per- formed that feat. Needless to say that financially also the lec- ture was a great success.
During the fall of 1866 after General Meagher had been ap- pointed Governor of the Territory of Montana, rumors of an Indian war and fears of a probable outbreak were heard on every side. Large parties of Indians had been seen reconnoiter- ing near the sparse settlements of the Madison and Gallatin Rivers and in the neighborhood of Yellow Stone Lake, and peti- tions had been sent to General Meagher asking for protection for those isolated inhabitants. He hastily gathered a band of volunteers, seasoned miners, issued horses and ammunition, and placing himself at their head prepared to take the field. He sent a letter offering me the chaplaincy of the new army. With many thanks I answered that I had to refer the question of accepting that honorable position to my Superior, but that when- ever any of his soldiers would be wounded or injured, or needed my assistance, I most gladly offered my ministration for one as well as many. Only let me know when I should be needed. But I begged as a favor that he would issue strict orders "not to fire the first shot," and I commended him and his army to their Guardian Angels. My Superiors approved my conduct and di- rected me not to accept the chaplaincy. I heard that General
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Meagher had given the requested order to his men at the very- start. No heavy waggons accompanied his army, only a train of pack horses carried ammunition and provisions, and he was able to follow small trails, climb side hills, and ford rivers with little delay. His constant and orderly vigilance by night or day prevented any surprise attack by the Indians, and the little army rode up and down the valleys, crossed over to the Yellowstone country, and so completely overawed the Indians that after the first few days hardly any were seen during the whole campaign. How different might it have been under a different leader.
During the two years that General Meagher governed Mon- tana I met him repeatedly. Whenever he came to Helena he was sure to give me a surprise of some sort and I never failed to have a few hours of genuine recreation. Whenever I visited Virginia City he would have deemed it an insult if I should not have returned the visit. When we met in our travels or at a mining camp, well, neither would consent to be the guest and honours were easy. From the first time that I met General Meagher I had a genuine admiration for him, which soon ripened into a truly heartfelt affection, and I considered him a very intimate friend; I flatter myself that his love for me was equally sincere. You can easily imagine then how grieved I was about his sudden death. I was on a missionary tour in the mining camps in the Belt Mountains, and at the ranches at the Three Forks when the sad news reached me, about a fortnight after the occurance. The General had gone to Fort Benton to receive military supplies for the protection of the territory. On the first of July, 1867, he rode from Sun River Crossing to Fort Benton. On his arrival there he had at once gone on board the steamboat, and had retired early to his stateroom. In the forepart of the night a sudden piercing cry, "God save me" and a splash in the water were heard by the watchman and several persons. An immediate search revealed the fact that General Meagher was missing; and at once efforts were made to find and save the drowning man. But all was fruitless. The turbulent Missouri had closed her waters over him. Search for his body continued and rewards for the finding of his remains; all proved unavail- ing. As the sad news spread there was genuine sorrow and grief among all classes of men. The mourning was universal. At Virginia City and Helena the priest arranged for a Requiem
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High Mass for the repose of his soul, and the church could not contain the worshippers. Some rumors had been started that there had been foul play; nothing could be traced or proven, and the parties to whom the suspicions pointed offered a very hand- some reward for the finding of the body, and made great efforts in their prolonged search. R. I. P.
General Meagher was of commanding appearance, a born leader of men. In politics he was a staunch Democrat, but willingly granted a hearing to the other side, and had sincere friends in all parties. In the army he was considered the barvest of the brave. After he had resigned the high position of General which he had reached step by step by his bravery, he laid aside all distinguishing marks in his clothing ; a single thread of gold woven in the braid of his hat cord, was the only token suggestive of the army. He revered and loved his wife as he was revered and loved in return. At his arrival in Montana the church started a new and vigorous growth. His position and influence, as well as the zeal of his estimable wife, were of immense value; his sudden death was deeply deplored. As Governor he was in- exorable about honesty in the various offices under his control. He came to Montana at a time when lawlessness reigned su- preme. Highway robbers, who styled themselves road agents, exacted tribute whenever they pleased from all who travelled the highways to or from that territory; and in the mining camps excesses of various kinds were deplorably frequent. The more conservative element of this pioneer population had organized in a spirit of self preservation a "Vigilance Committee" and was gradually bringing a semblance of order out of choas; but all their executions were on their own responsibility and outside the law. General Meagher with strong hand enforced the law and had it respected. At his death the territory of Montana sus- tained an irreparable loss. May the Lord have mercy on his soul.
Francis Xavier Kuppens
THE GREAT VILLAGE OF THE ILLINOIS: A TOPOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM
Within recent years two important and long-standing prob- lems in early Illinois history have been definitely disposed of. On the one hand a committee working in pursuance of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois has located the site of La Salle's famous Fort de Crevecoeur (The Site of Fort de Crevecoeur, Springfield, III., 1925), while on the other hand two Chicago investigators have determined definitely the course of the old Chicago Portage Route (Robert W. Knight, M. W. S. E. and Lucius H. Zeuch, M. D., The Location of the Chicago Portage Route of the Seventeenth Century, Chicago, 1928). It is highly desirable that a third problem in the same field of Illinois his- tory, the true site of the Great Illinois Village associated with the names of Jolliet, Marquette, Allouez, La Salle, Tonti, Membre, and other celebrities of the French period, be investi- gated in the same spirit of thoroughgoing and scientific research that has marked the study of the other two.
As far as the writer is aware this task has never yet been taken in hand. Parkman's identification of the Great Illinois Village with the locality of Utica, La Salle County, Illinois, is well known and has apparently met with general acceptance since he first announced it in his La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. At least one item of the evidence which he alleges in support of his conclusion, namely, a description by La Salle of the physical setting of the Illinois village, seems of itself to settle the entire question. However, apart from the by no means decisive archaeological argument of abundant Indian finds on the Utica site, Parkman produces no other evidence for his purpose except the above-mentioned description. The writer is in no wise bent on contesting the correctness of the New England historian's conclusion; but he does think that the problem should be subjected to new study in view of the cir- cumstance that the Margry and other documents supply num- erous data which Parkman does not appear to have reckoned with and which point to a location for the Illinois village farther up the river in the immediate vicinity of Ottawa. That docu- mentary sources often baffle the investigator with inconsistencies
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which he is at a loss to reconcile is obvious enough. However, in the discussion of such an important historical problem as the true site of the Great Illinois Village one must not blink docu- mentary evidence which runs counter to accepted opinion but must endeavor to square it with the same as far as logic and honesty will allow. (As a general introduction to the subject in hand, there is a good account of the Great Illinois Village under the caption "The Illinois Town Kaskaskia" in Sauer, Cady, and Cowles, Starved Rock Park and Its Environs, Chicago, 1918, pp. 61-64).
The necessary and inevitable approach to the problem in hand is by way of all the available documentary data, direct or indirect, of contemporary date which bear upon it. With this end in view an attempt will here be made to set down in chron- ological order the seventeenth-century documentary references to the "Illinois Village," which is sometimes so designated in these references even when the context makes it clear that the "Great Illinois Village" is meant.
1. September, 1673. Marquette visits on the Illinois river "a village of Illinois called Kaskasia consisting of 74 cabins." Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 59:161. A misinterpretation of Thwaites's translation makes Marquette locate the village on the Chicago Portage, whereas the context indicates clearly that the missionary located it on the Illinois. Moreover, the Mar- quette and Jolliet maps place the village on the north bank of the Illinois.
2. April, 1675. Marquette again at "the village of the Illi- nois." He addresses the Indians "in a beautiful prairie close to a village which was selected by the great Council." The audi- ence consisted of five hundred chiefs and elders and fifteen hundred young men besides women and children, "the village being composed of 5 or 600 fires." Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 59:189.
3. April-May, 1677. Father Allouez, S. J., at "Kachkachkia, the great village of the Illinois." "It was not until the 27th of April that I was able to arrive at Kachkachkia the great village of the Illinois. I entered at once the cabin in which Father Marquette had lodged. ... I found this village largely in- creased since a year ago. Formerly it was composed of but one nation, that of the Kachkachkia; at the present time there are
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8 tribes in it, the first having summoned the others who in- habited the neighborhood of the river Mississippi. One cannot well satisfy himself as to the number of people who compose that village. They are housed in 351 cabins, which are easily counted as most of them are situated upon the banks of the river. The spot which they have chosen for their abode is situated in latitude 40 degrees, 41 minutes. On one side of it is a long stretch of prairie and on the other a multitude of swamps which are [render the atmosphere] unhealthy and [are] often covered with fog — giving Rise to much sickness and to loud and frequent Peals of thunder; they delight however in this location as they can easily espy from it their enemies." Thwaites, Jesuit Relations , 59:159-161. Allouez's account supplies four important data: (1) that the village was on the Illinois River; (2) that it had not changed location since Marquette's visit of 1675; (3) that since his visit it had become the "Great Illinois Village"; (4) that it was flanked on one side by prairie and on the other by low lying and swampy ground. As supplementing Allouez's account the following from a La Salle letter of date not later than 1683 (Margry, 2:201) is important: "All these nations were comprised under the name Illinois, because they are allied (allies) and because there were a few families of each [nation] in the village of the Kaskaskia, (who are the true Illinois), although their villages were separated from one an- other by more than 100 leagues. That of the Tamaroa alone is composed of three hundred cabins. Now [after the erection of Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock] they are uniting together and coming to establish themselves here [at the Fort]."
Of the members of La Salle's first Illinois expedition, four, the leader himself, Tonti, and Fathers Hennepin and Membre make mention of the Illinois village in the respective accounts of the expedition.
4. January, 1680. "This village is situated at 40 degrees of latitude in a somewhat marshy plain and on the right bank of this river [which is] as broad in this place as the Seine before Paris and divided by very beautiful islands. It contains 460 cabins made like berceaux and covered with double mats of flat rushes so well sewed together that they never admit wind, rain or snow. Each cabin has four or five fires and each fire one or two families who all live together on good terms." (From a
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document, Relation des Descouvertes etc. in Margry, Descouver- tes et Etablissements de Francais, 1:466, which, according to Margry, was an official report of the expedition of 1679-1680 submitted to the Ministry of Marine. It was not, however, La Salle's own composition but an account drawn up by his friend, Abbe Bernou, on the basis of the explorer's personal reports and letters. Whereas, according to Hennepin, the party ar- rived at Lake Peoria on January 1, 1680, according to the Re- lation des Descouvertes, they reached only the Illinois Village on that day. They found it vacated, the Indians having moved farther down the river for winter quarters at Lake Peoria, where the French party came up to them. Cf. also Margry, 2 :36) .
5. "When we arrived at the village of the savages, they were absent hunting and as we had no provisions we opened some caches of Indian corn . . . We continued our route in order to join the savages and found them thirty leagues below the village ... we gave them some merchandise for the corn which we had taken in their village." Tonti's Memoir, in Kel- logg, Narratives of the Old Northwest, p. 289. The Tonti ac- count throws no light on the location of the Illinois village ex- cept to fix it thirty leagues above the Illinois winter camp on Lake Peoria.
6. "We continued our course upon the river very nearly the whole month of December, but towards the latter end of the said month, 1679, we arrived at the village of the Illinois which lies near one hundred and thirty leagues from Fort Miamis on the Lake of the Illinois." Thwaites, (ed.), Hennepin's New Dis- covery, p. 145. Hennepin supplies no details as to the location of the Illinois village except indirectly, saying that four days after leaving it the party was at Lake Peoria.
7. Father Membre's brief notice of the Illinois village (Le Clerc, First Establishment of the Faith in New France, ed. by Shea, New York, 1881, 2:118) affords no help in locating it except (like Tonti's) to fix it thirty leagues above Pimiteoui. It may be noted here that La Salle (official narrative) fixes Pimiteoui at thirty leagues below the Illinois provisional camp of September, 1680, which was six leagues below the Illinois Village, the latter being thus placed near Ottawa.
8. March, 1680. La Salle on his famous overland journey
THE GREAT ILLINOIS VILLAGE 145
from Fort de Crevecoeur to Fort Fontenac to obtain supplies arrived at the Illinois Village in March, 1680, leaving it on the 16th of that month. It took him ten days to get from Fort de Crevecoeur to the village. This was at the time unoccupied; but he met there the friendly Illinois chief Chassagooch. Four leagues above the village, so La Salle records, was a rapids (Margry, 2:58). "Meantime the four Frenchmen and the Sav- age whom M. de La Salle had chosen to accompany him carried his canoe and his effects as far as to a rapid four leagues above the village." (Tr. by Anderson, p. 155). This is an important detail. There are two rapids on the Illinois in La Salle County, one near Starved Rock, the other at Marseilles. (Cf. Baldwin, History of La Salle County, Chicago, 1877, p. 274, for cut in- dicating the "Grand Rapids" of the Illinois at Marseilles. The largest of these rapids is at Marseilles, the lowermost is at the base of Starved Rock. Sauer, Cady, and Cowles, Starved Rock Park and Its Environs, Chicago, 1918, p. 6). It is somewhat difficult to determine the equivalent in modern measurements of the French land league of the seventeenth century. It probably had no constant value but varied according to localities. How- ever, as used by La Salle and his contemporaries in New France, the, league must have had a fairly fixed value. Assuming (on good ground) that this was approximately two and a half Eng- lish miles and taking as true that the rapids indicated by La Salle were the larger ones at Marseilles, the Illinois village four leagues (ten miles) below would be fixed just west of Ottawa, and not at Utica, which by rail is ten miles west of Ottawa, Marseilles being eight miles by rail east of Ottawa.
(That the rapids to which the canoe was carried were ap- parently those at Marseilles may be inferred from the following data. When La Salle descended the Illinois in December, 1680, he left behind him at the Illinois village three men who took up residence on a neighboring island. This island, so La Salle says, was "between two rapids." (Anderson, p. 229). The Illi- nois village, which was in the neighborhood of the island, was therefore above the first rapids and below the second, to which latter the canoe was carried a distance of four leagues).
9. 1680. "Two men were sent to me [Tonti] with orders to go to the old [Illinois] village to visit a rock and to build a
146 GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN
strong fort on it." Tonti's Memoir in Kellogg, op. cit.} p. 290. This was apparently sometime in the summer of 1680. Cf. also Tonti's other Memoir, November 14, 1684, tr. by Anderson, p. 33 : "He [La Salle] sent me orders to go back to the Illinois village and build a fort upon an eminence a half league from there." Is the eminence referred to here Starved Rock or Buffalo Rock, which was farther up on the north side of the river?
10. 1680. Leaving Fort de Crevecoeur Father Membre and later Father De Ribourde began to reside in the Illinois village. "The only great Illinois village being composed of seven or eight thousand souls Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient field for the exercise of our zeal, besides a few French who soon after came there." Membre in Cox, Journeys of La Salle.
11. 1680. "The village of the Illinois was on the bank o\ the river on the north side. On the south side there is a very high cliff quite narrow and almost everywhere steep except for a place more than a league in length situated across from the village where the land, quite covered over with fine oaks, ex- tends by a gentle slope up to the river edge. Beyond this high land is a vast plain which extends very far to the south and which is traversed by the river Aramoni [Big Vermillion], the banks of which are covered with a narrow fringe of wood." Letter of La Salle, August 22, 1680 — autumn of 1681, in Margry, 2:122. As cited by Parkman, La Salle and The Discovery of the Great West, this passage is referred to the Relation des Des- couvertes, (Official Narrative), in which it is also found but with a slight variation of text. Anderson translates it as fol- lows : "The left or south bank of the river is formed by a long cliff etc." {Op. cit., p. 203). In the same Relation des Des- couvertes occur also these passages: "The [Illinois] village, which was situated on the north bank of the river, along which it extends for a league and a quarter of a league in width, had no wall or entrenchment." (P. 195.) "This small [Iroquois] army was encamped to the south on the banks of the Aramoni river, which joins the Illinois two leagues below the village" (p. 197). Franquelin's map of 1688 (Kellogg, Early Narratives of the Northwest) indicates the Aramoni as a southern tributary of the Illinois joining it a short distance below Starved Rock, a position corresponding exactly with that of the Big Vermillion.
THE GREAT ILLINOIS VILLAGE 147
The same cartographer's map of 1684 (Thwaites, Jesuit Rela- tions, LX) indicates the Aramoni without naming it. It also shows a still larger southern tributary of the Illinois joining it between Starved Rock and the Fox River. This latter stream (actually smaller in size than the Vermillion) is apparently to be identified with the Marseilles River. Later Franquelin maps, for example, those of 1699 and 1708, indicate the Aramoni under that identical orthographic form, as also do de Fonville's map of 1699 and Chaussegros de Lery's of 1725. (Karpinski carto- graphical photostats, Newberry Library, Chicago).
12. 1683. "Two leagues lower down [from the Pestegouki or Fox River] is the old village of the Kaskaskia, Illinois, who abandoned it after the defeat inflicted three years ago by the Iroquois. The news of the Fort which I caused to be built there has recalled them with other nations. It [the fort] is situated six leagues below the aforesaid village on the left bank as you ascend the river, on top of a rock perpendicular on almost every side, the foot of which is washed (by the river) in such a man- ner that water can be drawn up to the top of the rock, which is about six hundred feet in circumference etc." "Feuilles de- tachees d'un lettre de De Salle/' undated, but written after the construction of Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock in 1683. Margry, 2:175. This is a disconcerting statement to supporters of the Utica site of the Great Illinois Village. Its literal and obvious meaning is that the old Kaskaskia village was six leagues (fif- teen miles) above Starved Rock and two leagues (five miles) below the mouth of the Fox. This distance of twenty miles (by water) between Starved Rock and the Fox is apparently an exaggeration. Possibly La Salle's league was less than two miles and a half. At all events the village was (according to the passage cited) not below, but above Starved Rock and in the vicinity of Ottawa.
Was the "old village of the Kaskaskias" thus pointed out by La Salle identical with the Great Illinois Village ? For the period prior to the Iroquois invasion of September, 1680, there are numerous indications that it was. (After that catastrophe "the old village of the Kaskaskias" was not reoccupied, the tribe, when they returned on the erection of the fort at Starved Rock in 1683, settling across from, and a little below, it on the Utica
148 GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN
side. After their defeat they had retreated down the Illinois River very probably to the west bank of the Mississippi, Tonti having in March, 1683, gone "100 leagues across the prairie to induce them to return").
a). Marquette's "a village of Illinois called Kaskasia," (1675), is identical with Allouez's "Kachkachkia, the great vil- lage of the Illinois," (1677), Allouez on his visit of 1677 having visited or occupied the cabin in which Marquette lodged. Mar- quette's holograph map of 1674, (Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, LLX) , shows Kachkachkia on the north side of the Illinois River, no other Illinois village being indicated. Jolliet's map (1674) also indicates "Kachkachkia" on the north bank of the Illinois (Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, LIX) .
b). The respective narratives of La Salle and his associates recording their descent of the Illinois in 1679-1680 make mention of only one Illinois village on the river. This is sometimes called the "Illinois village," sometimes the "Great Illinois vil- lage." It is altogether impossible that this village should be other than Allouez's "Great village of the Illinois, which is iden- tical with Kachkachkia (Kaskaskia)." With its 351 cabins in 1677 (460 in 1680) plainly visible from the river, the latter could not have escaped the notice of La Salle's party. If the argument from silence is anywhere valid it would appear to be so in the present instance. Moreover, if the travellers, pressed with hunger, had to appropriate some Indian corn at the Great Illinois Village, why had they not relieved their need at the Kaskaskia village, which, on the theory of its separate existence, they would have come to first?
c.) Shea in his edition of Le Clerc (2:117) states that the Great Illinois Village was distinct from the village of the Kas- kaskia. "The village of the Kaskaskia proper was two leagues below the mouth of the Pestegouki and six leagues above the Great Village." The statement is based upon the above cited passage in Margry, 2:175. For reasons already given the writer considers Shea's statement to be untenable; at any rate, he can- not reconcile it with the various narratives of the La Salle ex- pedition of 1679-1680.
d) . Membre writes in Le Clerc, 2 :133 : "There are moreover [that is, besides the Great Illinois Villege] the Miamis . . . the Kikapous, and the Ainoves [Iowa] ; west of these last above the
THE GREAT ILLINOIS VILLAGE 149
River Chechagoumemant the village of the Illinois Cascaschia [Kaskaskia] situated west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin (Michigan) a little southwest and about 31 degrees north." Here it is clearly stated that there was a Kaskaskia village distinct from the Great Illinois Village. It is to be noticed, however, that the location assigned to it (31 degrees north) is scarcely that of the Kaskaskia of Marquette and Allouez, which was on the Illinois river at 40 degrees 41 minutes latitude. There was, apparently, besides the main Kaskaskia village on the Illinois, one or other smaller ones of the same tribe. Marquette in his Journal for January 30, 1675, wrote that there was "an Indian village" only six leagues from his winter camp on the Chicago River (Thwaites, 59:175). But when he started March 29 for Kaskaskia proper it took him eleven days to reach it (Thwaites, 59:187). If the "village of the Illinois Cascaschia" of Membre were on the Illinois river, he would presumably have said so, as being an obvious manner of indicating its location. The only inference to be drawn from Membre's words, especially in view of the evidence supplied from other sources, is that they refer to a Kaskaskia villege other than the "great" one on the Illinois river described by Allouez.
e). Henepin in his New Discovery (Thwaites, ed. p. 166) mentions "the village of the Illinois Kaskaskia situated towards the source of the river Chicago [Illinois]." This is the only Illinois village he here mentions and he indentifies it with the Kaskaskia.
13. A dateless old French map reproduced in Steward, Lost Marramech and Earlier Chicago: A History of the Foxes and Their Downfall near the Village of the Marramech, Chicago, 1903, p. 44, indicates "Illinouek or Kachkachki" on the north side of the Illinois. In the same work (p. 40) is a fragment of a Hennepin map showing the "ancien village des Ilinois" with date, 1679, on the north side of the Illinois immediately below the Fox and above "Fort Crevecoeur, Le Rocher," by which latter desig- nation is evidently meant Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock as the position of Lake Peoria, the true location of Fort de Creve- coeur, on the map plainly indicates. This detail of the Hennepin map is an important one for the present study. The meaning of the French ancien is "old" or "former," its use in the above connection indicating that the position of the Kaskaskia village
150 GILBERT J. GARRAGHAN
on the Illinois river in 1679 was not identical with that which it had at the time the map was executed. (An undated map in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, copy in the Karpinski photo- stats, indicates the "Ancien village des Illinois" on the opposite side of the Illinois from Le Rocher. Tonti in his Memoir also uses the term "old" or "former" (ancien) Illinois village, supra 9, and La Salle, as was seen, speaks of the "ancien village" of the Kaskaskia.
14. The latitude of the Great Illinois Village is variously stated in the sources. According to Allouez it was 40 degrees 41 minutes (supra, 3). Tonti in his Memoir in Margry (tr. by Anderson, p. 29) says La Salle found it to be "39 degrees 50 minutes" while La Salle's so-called "Official Narrative" fixes it at 40 degrees and some minutes.
Collating the above assembled data from contemporary sources one is led to the conclusion that one and the same "Great Illinois Village" was the scene of Marquette's inaugura- tion of the Illinois Mission in April, 1675, of Allouez's visit of April-May, 1677, and his erection of a thirty-five foot cross, of the visits of La Salle, Tonti, and Fathers Hennepin, De Ribourde, and Membre, January 1, 1680, of the zealous ministry in the summer of 1680 of De Ribourde and Membre, and of the tragic Iroquois attack of September of the same year in which Tonti nearly lost his life. No evidence has been forthcoming which demonstrates or even suggests that the Great Illinois Village on any of these occasions was elsewhere than in the same identical location. But when we come to determine this location we are at once confronted with the apparently contradictory data set out above. A choice must then be made between the Utica site and one near Ottawa. An explicit testimony of La Salle (supra; 11, Margry, 2:122) would appear to fix it (for the year 1680) at Utica; a no less explicit testimony of the same explorer (supra, 12) would appear to fix it above Utica and below the Fox, that is, in the locality of Ottawa. The Utica site is the traditional one and has behind it the authority of Parkman, who rested his verdict chiefly on the Relation des Descouvertes. When be appealed as further evidence in support of the Utica site to In- dian relics discovered there, he was less happy in his reasoning, as the relics might very well have been those of the Great Illi- nois Village laid out at Utica after the erection of La Salle's
THE GREAT ILLINOIS VILLAGE 151
fort (1683). This, then, is the present status of the problem of the actual site of the Great Illinois Village. The writer has undertaken merely to indicate the historical data available for its solution with such occasional interpretation of the same as he felt to be warranted. The evidence for the Utica site may be characterized as strong and the writer has no mind to minimize it. He only wishes that due account be taken of documentary data which militate or seem to militate against it. Above all, what he does make bold to suggest is that methods of investi- gation similar to those employed by Knight and Zeuch in their study of the Old Chicago Portage Route be applied to the prob- lem in hand. The services of some one perfectly familiar with the topography of the Illinois valley and the physical features of the Illinois river within the limits of La Salle and Grundy Counties must be utilized. Only in the light of such acquaintance can the numerous pertinent topographical and physical data em- bodied in the Margry and other contemporary documents be properly interpreted. When some one with this equipment fol- lows La Salle and other seventeenth-century travellers mile by mile up and down the Illinois River and, with the aid of the narratives they have left behind, checks up distances and physi- cal landmarks, the first and indispensible step will have been taken towards the determination of the actual location of one of the outstanding historical spots in the Middle West, "the Great Village of the Illinois."
Gilbert J. Garraghan St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
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THE DIARIES OF WILLIAM J. ONAHAN
In the July, 1931, issue of Mid-America appeared under the caption "A Civil War Diary," an instalment from a series of un- published diaries kept by Mr. William J. Onahan of Chicago. Mr. Onahan was a keen observer of the currents of contemporary life about him, and his comments on local and national happen- ings are replete with interest and insight. The social circles in which he moved, the numerous contacts he made with person- alities, lay and ecclesiastical, find reflection in his diaries, which are written with journalistic ease and finish. During the Civil War period Mr. Onahan's political status was that of a Douglas Democrat with pronounced Southern sympathies. He later filled important positions in Democratic municipal administrations in Chicago, among others, those of city collector and city comp- troller. His zealous activities on behalf of the Church brought him in 1893 the distinction of being a papal chamberlain by Leo XIII. Mr. Onahan was a native of Ireland, having been born at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, November 24, 1836 ; he died in Chicago in 1919. The excerpts from the diaries which follow have been prepared for publication by his daughter, Mary Onahan (Mrs. Daniel) Gallery, 1612 Chase Avenue, Chicago, who has also written his life (Life of William J. Onahan, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1929) . The excerpts from the Onahan diaries previously published concluded with the return to Chi- cago, in the role of a national hero, of Col. James A. Mulligan after his distinguished participation in the Battle of Lexington, Missouri. The present installment picks up the thread at this juncture.*
November 9, 1861. Called on the ''Colonel" [Mulligan] this morning. A banquet is now the topic but will probably be dis- pensed with.
November 18. We went to Bryan Hall tonight where the Colonel lectured to a crowded house on the "Siege and Surrender of Lexington."
* In Mid- America, July, 1931, p. 66, under date of November 5, read California for Colorado. The ink in many of these old diaries has become extremely dim, and "Col" and "Cal" look much alike.
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THE DIARIES OF WILLIAM J. ONAHAN 153
November 20. In national affairs there is a new interest growing out of the arrest of Mason and Slidell on a British vessel. Tis feared it will be a casus belli. The government al- though now defending the act would wish 'twere undone.
November 21. Naught new of the war. The probable trouble with England is the sole topic. I think she will take high ground and demand the release of Mason and Slidell.
December 3. Read proceedings of Congress which met yes- terday. The die is cast and the war hereafter assumes an abol- ition stripe unless perhaps the President's message should turn the tide against it. This is improbable. Lincoln's antecedents are all for abolition. The Union is now past all hope and an- archy and disintegration inevitable.
December 16. There is warlike news from England which makes the North tremble and has excited great agitation.
December 26. In the afternoon I attended a gathering at Healy's the painter. Enjoyed the rare treat of examining his studio. Saw a new and fine painting of Jackson intended for Congress.
January 1, 1862. Greeting to the New Year! May it re- store peace and prosperity to our distracted country and con- tinue to give health and happiness to all my little household.
January 5. The morning was bright and cold and the sleigh ride quite exhilarating. We made a brief call on Madam Gall- way. Thence to Mass at the Jesuits and enjoyed the treat of hearing a sermon from Father Smarius. The subject was not calculated to develop his great prowess and masterly eloquence yet he invested it with great interest.
January 8. There is but little of importance today. The armies are quiet. No movement on either side. Congress is gabbling away worse than idly.
January 14. News of Cameron's retirement and the ap- pointment of Stanton to the War Department.
January 15. Witnessed a military parade on lake front of all the forces at Camp Douglas. Called on the Bishop. I have the Bishop's books and am now engaged making up a summary of the year.
January 16. Nothing new in national affairs. There is a great movement impending from Cairo.
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January 19. I spent the usual time at my Sunday school which is growing in numbers and I must say in turbulence.
January 25. Congress is still in session. Would that it were in Timbuctoo! The war yet lags. An affair in Kentucky re- ported defeat of the Confederates and death of Zollicoffee. Tis of doubtful truth.
February 3. The war makes no progress and the South still presents a bold and threatening front.
February 7. The papers report the expulsion of Bright from the Senate and an attack on Fort Henry. Had a sharp contro- versy with the Hales on this action of the Senate, which I con- tend was manifestly unjust.
February 11. National affairs are becoming again of excit- ing importance. On all hands great movements are really im- pending. The Miss, army and flotilla are progressing southwards.
February 13. Father James Dillon (from the advance guard of the Army of the Potomac) surprised me by an unexpected visit. He is off on furlough and leaves again tonight.
February 16. The great and all absorbing topic of the day is the siege of Fort Donelson by the Federals. They commenced Thursday and it is not yet taken. Great slaughter going on.
February 17. Fort Donelson is on all tongues. In the morn- ing there were rumors of heavy reverses to the Federals. At ten o'clock news came of its surrender and with it 1,500 men and three generals, Johnston, Buckner and Dillon. Report also that Savannah is taken. City wild with excitement. Terrible slaughter on both sides. The blow to the South is severe. The city is frenzied with enthusiasm.
February 18. The news of yesterday occupies all tongues. 'Tis undoubtedly a heavy reverse to the South, yet not an ir- reparable one. Savannah was not taken. The only general of note captured at Donelson was Buckner. The rest escaped.
February 21. The Secesh gentry from Fort Donelson arrived this morning. The greatest eagerness exists in the community to see them and much discussion as to how they should be treated.
February 22. In the afternoon I rode out with Joe McDon- nell to Camp Douglas. We forged a pass to get in. Called me "Mulligan." Saw and conversed with the redoubtable Souther-
THE DIARIES OF WILLIAM J. ONAHAN 155
ners. They are generally a fine lot of men and I judge much above the average of ours.
February 24. Reports are current that Nashville has been surrendered to the Federals without a blow. I doubt it.
February 27. I drove Maggie [Mrs. Onahan] in the after- noon to Camp Douglas to inspect the Secessionists. We saw Colonel Mulligan, who is now in command there. Called on Mrs. Walsh and chatted treason.
March 6. Received a letter from General Shields in reply to my invitation to the St. Patrick's day banquet. The General is evidently more at home in wielding a sword than a pen.
March 7. Received letters from Bishop Timon of Buffalo concerning banquet on St. Patrick's night, also from Bishop Duggan, Colonel Mulligan and Doctor McMullen.
March 11. Received letter from Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher in regard to the banquet. Also letter from Isaac Arnold transmitting $10 to banquet fund. Letter from Governor Yates in regard to the banquet.
March 17. Twelfth anniversary of my arrival in this coun- try. Landed from the good old ship "Montezuma" on a wild wintry day, my father (God have mercy on his soul) and we three children. Strangers in a strange land.
This was a great day for Ireland in Chicago. Big procession, imposing display, etc. Banquet at Tremont was a success.
March 20. Of the war the great topic now is "Island No. 10" It is taken or is it not? A desperate attack has been made on it by the great mortar boats and a fleet of gun boats thus far without any result.
March 25. News of a victory by Shields over General Jack- son. Shields wounded. Island Number 10 not taken yet.
March 30. My article impaling the Young Men's Christian Association appeared in the Times this morning.
April 7. Occupied all the afternoon with petition for Sisters of Mercy. We got up an immense one. I went with Phil Con- ley to the Council. Bigotry was rampant. Our petition excited a sensation. We did not succeed but lost on a tie vote, the Mayor voting against the Sisters.
April 9. Surrender of Island Number 10 announced this morning. Later in the day news of a terrible battle at Pittsburg,
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Tenn. came in. Loss on both sides frightful. The most exag- gerated rumors prevail. I suspect Beauregard has drubbed the Federalists.
May 12. News that Richmond is taken prevailed for awhile today and all the city is in a furore. It however proved to be a groundless report.
May 25. Defeat of Banks and repulse of Halleck at Corinth.
June 7. This evening took Maggie to theatre and saw John Wilkes Booth in Richard Lalor Shields tragedy of The Apostate. The anti-Catholic spirit amazed me while Booth as Peccava was wonderful.
July 1. There is bad news for the Federals from Richmond. McClellan's right wing has retreated "as a strategic movement" ? Really no doubt and as I believe because he has been forced by the Confederates to do so. The tide is turning. McClellan will be overwhelmed and driven back.
July 2. News from the Army only makes matters worse. The Federals are in a critical position. There was a rumor to- day that Richmond is taken and for an hour or so there was a furore in the city, bell ringing and flag raising. 'Twas of course all bosh.
August 5. My sister Mary left us and bade adieu to the world today. The convent henceforth is her sphere. She leaves I pre- sume without many regrets for her heart and her desires have found no place outside the Sacred Heart. God bless her.
September 1. News from Virginia. Federal army terribly cut up. Pope outgeneralled at all points. Washington in danger. In the West the Rebels are having their own way also. Battle at Richmond, Kentucky, a terrible slaughter of the Federals. Rebels marching on Cincinnati.
September 4. Called at the Sacred Heart Convent this P. M. Saw Madam Gallwey and Mary. Annie [his other sister] en- tered this evening.
September 8. Early this morning I started for Alton and arrived there duly. Stopped at the Alton House. 'Tis a rocky, precipitous place. Witnessed the release and embarkation of several hundred Confederate prisoners. Poor fellows they looked rejoiced to end their confinement. Hardy looking chaps most of them.
THE DIARIES OF WILLIAM J. ONAHAN 157
September 23. The morning papers contain proclamation from Lincoln declaring Emancipation of slaves of Rebels. Tis the last resort of fanaticism. Now let us see what will follow. The end is near.
October 8. Battle at Corinth. Reported defeat of the Con- federates.
November 4. Important results are pending on the action of today. I devoted myself to "my country" and peddled tickets in the Tenth. My experience was suggestive and my business enlivening. Matters look, well, one can't tell how until night. A vile outrage though was practised, a regiment of soldiers brought here from Springfield to vote! Night came and with it discouraging news locally. Sherman is beat and Charlie Walsh also of course.
November 5. Good news today. Illinois democratic. Ditto New Jersey and New York. Glorious old Seymour is elected. Immense gains everywhere.
January 3, 1863. Papers today announce a great battle near Murfreesboro, Tenn. and it now looks as if Rosecrans were badly whipped. There was the usual frightful slaughter.
January 15. The Bishop sent up his book in order that I might make out the annual statement.
January 16. Received invitation to go to Father Roles this evening; Dr. Brownson to be there. O'Brien and I went. Saw the Great Reviewer. I have a certain measure of respect for him. He is a great philosopher and talks ad libitum.
January 17. O'Brien and I busied ourselves in the lecture plans for tomorrow night. We find however, not only coldness but absolute hostility on all sides. Brownson's abolitionism can not be swallowed.
January 18. O'Brien and I went to the convent but failed to see Madam Gallwey, who is still unwell. This is a matter of serious concern. The loss of Madam Gallwey would be a great misfortune and her frequent illnesses lead us to fear this cal- amity.
Brownson lectured on "The Church and the Republic" at Bryan Hall tonight. Sold tickets in the office and went after- wards to Phil Conley's where were the Reviewer and the usual crowd. Remained until the wee sma' hours. Reached home after
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a weary tramp about two o'clock this morning. So much for the society of the Great Reviewer. He is a great old man.
January 23. Great meeting at Bryan Hall tonight. Heard several Democratic members of the Legislature discourse on Democracy; the best speech of the evening however was that of Dr. Davis. 'Twas eloquent, effective and for Peace.
January 26. Burnside has resigned and Hooker now com- mands the Army of the Potomac. So much the better for Lee and our southern friends. Wrote letter to Vallandigham felici- tating him on his great speech.
February 4. News from Charleston. Beauregard has driven off, sunk and burnt the blockading fleet with only two vessels.
February 21. Had an intimation from Sherlock today that I was to be nominated for membership in the Board of Educa- tion.
February 25. Richmond papers report the capture of the famous Ram "Queen of the West," which lately ran by Vicks- burg.
February 27. Read with great gusto a speech of Richard O'Gorman on the situation of the country.
March 17. Left Kalamazoo at an early hour in a crowded stage with the prospect of a day's weary travel. I soon escaped from the confinement of an inside to the luxuries and dangers of an outside one. The roads were good and the travelling tol- erably rapid. I found staging not after all so disagreeable as I apprehended. Arrived at Grand Rapids in the evening.
April 21. City election. Union and Copperheadism. Labored from five o'clock this morning until the polls closed all the time with great fears for the result. Copperheads triumphed. Sher- man and the whole ticket elected.
May 5. Great movement in Virginia. Hooker has crossed the Rappahannock and now God help him and his army.
May 6. Vallandigham arrived last night.
May 7. Total defeat of Hooker and the Federal Army at Chancellorsville.
May 24. The afternoon was marked by the ceremonies of the dedication of the University of St. Mary's, or, I should say rather, the laying of the corner stone. Bishop Rosecrans de- livered the oration. He is a pleasant looking man. The oration was fair and crowd great.
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June 3. Suppression of the Times. Vide letter of "Alban" in Freemans Journal. Great meeting at the Court house square to denounce the suppression of the Times.
June 4. Times all right again.
June 16. Started for Springfield with the Chicago delegation to the Convention. 'Twas a beggarly show for Cook County. Great crowds, Voorhees, Cox, Richardson. Heard Merrick in the evening deliver an eloquent and impassioned address.
July 3. Great battles announced in Pennsylvania. Lee has assailed Meade with evident success.
July 4. We hear still of bloody work in Pennsylvania but no results announced.
July 6. Still comes the news of bloody battles. There was terrible work in Pennsylvania the other day and now perhaps renewed again. Frightful slaughter on both sides and from all accounts no decisive results reached. At least all is still in douhj, and mystery. Surely Lee would not have fought this battle with- out a certainty of decisive result. I still pin my faith to the be- lief that it was a heavy blow to Meade.
July 13. Great riot in New York (anti draft). General commotion and disorder. Draft suspended, lives lost, buildings burned. The beginning of the end.
July 14. Riot still in progress in New York. The mob has full possession of the city. Tribune office gutted. Horace un- touched. Seymour trying to calm the tumult. Government orders suppression of the draft.
July 15. Riot still unsubdued in New York. Morgan is dash- ing through Ohio and Indiana destroying railroads and bridges. Port Hudson reported surrendered. Things are going badly with the Confederates.
September 17. Rumored reverse to Rosecrans army.
September 21. News of Rosecrans defeat at Chickamauga. It looks disastrous. The tide is about to turn. I look for Con- federate successes from this on.
October 13. Down town this evening. Sojourned long enough to know that the result of the Ohio and other elections has gone badly against the Democrats. Vallandigham beaten by 50,000 on the Home vote. Woodward also whipped in Penn-
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sylvania by 30,000. Tuttle in Iowa also shelved. And so we go hopelessly to wreck and ruin.
October 15. I wrote a contradiction of a slander en the Arch- bishop of Cincinnati which appeared in the Daily Times yester- day. It was published today.
October 20. Observe in Daily Times notice of my appoint- ment by the Common Council to the Board of Education.
October 28. Took the oath of office as member of the Board of Education of the city of Chicago.
December 2. Received letter from James A. McMaster [edi- tor of the Freeman's Journal] this morning announcing his de- parture for Chicago. Went down directly to the Adams House and found him already registered. Our meeting was cordial and I found myself at once at home with him. Moved up to the Tre- mont in the evening. Talked over a great many things. Spent several hours with a gathering of "distinguished" Democrats at the Sherman House.
December 4. Madam Gallwey has undertaken a fair to aid in building a school house for the parish girls.
December 9. I attended a meeting of ladies at the convent this afternoon in reference to the Bazaar.
December 12. Garrick and I started out today on a mission peddling tickets for McMaster's lecture and during the forenoon met with gratifying success. Altogether we sold nearly two hundred. In the evening, whisper it not in Gath, we took pail, paste and brush and with great placards proceeded to the churches and pasted away.
December 15. Met McMaster on lake steamer, took him to Bryan Hall and Healy's gallery. We also visited Times editorial sanctum. In the afternoon I trotted about selling tickets. Eve- ning came. Weather pleasant and prospects favorable. When the time came to introduce McMaster the crowd was not so great as I had hoped for — still it was not slim. After the lecture we adjourned to the Tremont. Had a supper in honor of McMaster. Merrick presented him with a cane on behalf of friends.
December 24. The New York Freeman's Journal is at hand with a personal notice of W. J. O. still more tickling than the last.
December 28. Commenced operations at Metropolitan Hall
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early in the day for the Bazaar. Up to noon we had made little progress and there seemed little promise of bringing order out of chaos by evening. Evening came however and we had made great progress. The weather proved unfavorable and although our arrangements were good the opening night was a failure.
December 29. Attention devoted exclusively to the Bazaar. The hall looks well and had we only decent weather there could be no doubt of its success. Tonight the tableaux were produced. They were very troublesome affairs and I was forced to take part in one — my old role Abel. They seemed to give great sat- isfaction.
December 30. We have concluded to run the Bazaar another night and accordingly engaged Metropolitan Hall for tomorrow evening. The day passes busily fixing and arranging. Night came and for once we could felicitate ourselves on a success. Great crowd and everything passed off harmoniously. I am near- ly worn out with fatigue and labor.
December 31. 1863 is passing away and yet I can make little note of it. Labor at the Bazaar crowds my time and gives me no vacant moments. The weather at noon began to look threat- ening and soon after a regular snow storm set in. Towards eve- ning it grew worse and at the time when we thought of looking for a gatheirng crowd the elements were fiercely at war with our hopes. 'Twas a wild night. The hall was nearly vacant and we had to go on with our programme as best we could discour- aged and disheartened. To make the matter worse many could not get home. No conveyances of any kind. So they made a virtue of necessity and remained in the hall all night. And what a night! The closing hours of the Sacred Heart bazaar will long be remembered.
January 1, 1864. The solemn tolling of the Court House bell marked the hour of twelve and as the echoes of the last note died away familiar voices merrily shouted "Happy New Year." groups awaiting in Metropolitan Hall the coming of daylight, the cessation of the wild storm and an abatement of the bitter cold that had prevailed all thro' the night. The New Year looked in upon a curious scene. For four days and nights the "Bazaar and Ladies Soiree" had held possession of Metropolitan Hall and now the finale was at length reached. . . .
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January 3. Looking out this morning I find the snow piled three feet high and solid at that. Managed to get to church. Father Smarius preached. Subject St. John. He did not indulge in his customary high flown imaginative powers and I considered it below his former efforts.
January 18. Went over with Dickson tonight to Conley's John Duffy and a Mr. Flannagan (a new arrival from Buffalo) were along with us. Arrived there we soon got at "Vautienne" a French game of cards. Finding it a stupid affair I dropped out and opened a chat with Dr. McMullen on the situation of the Church in America, North and South. He has some novel no- tions on the subject and is quite opposed to the movement of the French in Mexico and on general principles to Spanish or Euro- pean domination in South America. He goes in for material development and thinks the Church would really gain more than she would lose by the overthrow of the present system in South America. . . .
We talked over the plan of the proposed magazine and the Doctor renewed his offer of a few days before to give me the "Chair editorial." Father Roles also urged that I would join in the enterprise but I had already concluded to decline. The office would involve too many embarrassments and distractions.
January 22. Dickson and I have been looking around for the past week for a store with a tacit understanding of going into business together. The projected business is to be Flour and Commission. We have talked matters over and think we could make some money in that line. We find great difficulty however in getting a suitable location and rents are enormous. They ask $2,400 a year for second class stores on Water Street.
March 27, Easter Sunday. An immense throng at last Mass [Jesuit Church of the Holy Family]. I acted as usher for a while. Father Van Goch preached, to the disappointment of many who expected to hear Father Smarius or at any rate Fath- er Lawler. In the evening we attended Vespers and Benediction. Father Smarius lectured on "The Immortality of the Soul." It was a learned and logical discourse, yet I think it lacked some- thing of the clearness, certainly of the illustrative beauty to which in his sermons we are usually accustomed. The subject involved necessarily questions of metaphysics and he dived into
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the sea of German philosophy to show how unsound is the doc- trine of infidels and atheists. This was away and beyond the reach or comprehension of the vast majority of the congrega- tion. Few even of the cleverest scholars could follow him closely into the depths of the disquisition. I missed so much the charm of the fine flower of imaginative power which he usually throws into a lecture or sermon. As he told us afterwards he is getting too old for that style. After the lecture according to invitation a half dozen of us went into the Fathers where a supper was prepared. Father Lawlor was in high glee and gave us a fund of anecdotes and song. Father Smarius even became for once sentimental and poetic and indulged us also. On the whole it was an agreeable occasion. Wound up at twelve o'clock.
March 28. Today was appointed for the opening — the "In- auguration of the Irish National Fair." For weeks the papers have devoted columns daily to the coming event and it has been loudly proclaimed that it would be a great day and an affair of unprecedented magnificence. In the hotels, saloons, cars, aye even in the churches it has formed the leading topic. Curiosity was all a tiptoe in excitement. The public at home and abroad were cleverly worked up to a fever heat about it and public ex- pectation ran high in regard to the proposed affair.
The day came and has now passed. What of the "Inaugura- tion" ? The skies frowned upon the Fenians. From early morn- ing they looked a premonition of rain and at the hour appointed to assemble the procession the rain began to come down in tor- rents. They filed out however into the streets and manfully struggled on for a few blocks wading through mud and mire and drenched in rain. It was a dismal spectacle and the Libera- tors soon grew sick of it. The order was given to disband. And soon the great procession might be seen in straggling squads wending their weary way hallwards. Governor Yates was not present. The distinguished speakers were Long John Wentworth and several smaller obscure nobodies. It was confessedly an abortion.
News this morning of a serious outbreak in Coles County. Collision between the citizens and soldiery in which the latter deservedly got the worst of it. The affair has an alarming as- pect and bodes trouble. The people of that section are evidently weary of Federal license and soldiers' insolence and have no
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doubt properly punished the offenders in the present instance. It is now reported that the "Copperheads" are marching in force on Mattoon and that the district is under martial law.
August 30. What an interregnum! How I shall fill up the five months vacuum is a poser. I'll dismiss it with a few para- graphs and at some future time discourse separately on each of its marked events. In April I spent several weeks on a can- vassing tour — visited Morris, Ottawa, Lasalle, Peoria and St. Louis. Travelled from Pekin to St. Louis by boat on the Illinois river. Fell in with some of Stonewall Jackson's men in St. Louis, one of them an old acquaintance. In July I undertook a trip to the East, stopped a day at Buffalo and sojourned a few hours at Niagara Falls setting foot for a brief space on the free soil of Canada. Of course I breathed easier as I stepped ashore from Niagara River on that non envied land. I concluded to take the boat from Albany to New York as by far the pleasantest mode and besides I had never seen the Hudson and here was the long coveted opportunity. Leaving Albany behind my choice was soon justified and my interest awakened by the beauty and var- iety of the scenery. The day was clear and pleasant, the boat one of the finest on the river and two harpers on board added the charm of music to the enjoyments of the occasion. There was not a mile passed that the eye could not rest with delight on some or other beauty spot, fit subject for painter's pencil or poet's pen. Besides a multitude of points of historical interest ever and anon presented to us so numerous indeed that I would be obliged to refer to my guide book for the names of all.
About five o'clock the tall masts of the ships and the distant spires of the great city began to loom up before us. Of course I strained my eyes as we drew near endeavoring to note some familiar object. Ten years is a space that involves many and great changes. And that period has elapsed since I last looked upon New York. How well I remember the dim hazy morning I went over from Brooklyn with Eugene and my two little trunks containing all my earthly goods to the Hudson River Railroad depot and there after a good bye to my companions ventured on my journey.
How I marvelled at the manner of place I would find Chicago to be, how my father was settled and Mary and Annie? If I
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could now revive the fancies of that time what a curious chapter they would now make! The boat soon touched the wharf and I leaped ashore looking around me and pushing along as though I were quite at home. With some new made acquaintances I got into the bus for the St. Nicholas Hotel and we were soon careen- ing up Broadway. There was one at least of our number who looked out rather enquiringly at the aspects of passing interest, the buildings, the people, the omnibuses. I found myself quite at home at the St. Nicholas. A great many acquaintances reg- istered from Chicago.
It was about this period that reports came from the Shen- andoah of disasters to Mulligan's command and rumors of his capture, some accounts say seriously wounded. Disasters to the Federal arms follow each other thick and fast and in the confusion and excitement consequent thereon in that locality it is impossible to distinguish how much of truth or falsehood there may be in these wild rumors.
Letters from home added to the fears for his safety and the rumors of his death multiplied in the papers. I still held to the hope that he had escaped at least death when on taking up the Herald one morning I read in one column the assurance from Baltimore that "Colonel Mulligan is certainly not dead as re- ported but wounded and in the hands of the enemy," and in a parallel column a despatch from Chicago coldly and cruelly an- nouncing "The remains of Colonel Mulligan arrived here today and will lie in state in Bryan Hall."
And so Mulligan, old friend, companion of my Club and In- stitute days has fallen. Cruel, cruel war! I can hardly realize that it is he. He who went forth little more than a month ago full of animation, ambition and goodness. 'Tis but a short pe- riod since he sat with us together in church, dined with us, chatted with us and laughingly bade us "By-By." And now his lifeless remains "lie in state in Bryan Hall."
This is very sad news. To have gone unscathed through three years of this horrible war, to have safely passed through the perils of Lexington and the perils of Western Virginia thus to fall perhaps on some nameless field seems hard indeed. He had I know from his own lips looked forward to a different re- sult. There was so wide a field open to him and he justly and
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naturally longed for the opportunity to make his mark anew, if not in military at least in civic life. He was a noble and true man abounding in chivalric traits and the soul of honor. With- out vices he was truly "sans peur et sans reproche."
How the thoughts of olden times when I listened to him in the Club or consulted with him in the Institute come back upon me! And how will she bear it who followed him through all this sad work of war with more than a wife's devotion, an af- fection truly romantic? Alas for her! May the Almighty tem- per this heavy blow that she may bear it for her childrens sake.
Later. I wrote an article for the Freeman on poor Mulligan and it was inserted.*
November 29. A movement that may swell into important proportions was inaugurated at Caulfield's office. About fifteen of our Catholic acquaintances were present to discuss a scheme for founding a Catholic colony in Mexico of emigrants from this country. After considerable discussion it was voted to organize a society. "Viva Mexico and Maximilian."
December 1. An adjourned meeting of the Mexican Emigra- tion movement (in embryo) was held this evening. There were not so many present as at the previous meeting although there were some new faces. The proposed plan of organization was submitted and a long rigmarole by Charley Walsh tacked on. The discussions were not entirely harmonious nor was the gen- eral effect of the meeting in hearty accord with the object.
Sunday, December 4. Father Lawlor surpassed himself to- day in a fine discourse on "Hope." For logical clearness, unity of purpose and felicity of illustration it was far above any ser- mon of the kind I had heard in that church — except perhaps the sermons of Father Smarius.
Visited the convent (Sacred Heart on West Taylor street) this morning. Saw "Madam" Mary. She will be sent off to St. Joseph, Missouri, next week. That is now the order and her first knowledge of it was gained from Madam Gallwey during my visit. Of course the command was received with becoming resignation. And thus begins Sister Mary's first trials in a re- ligious life.
* For a good account of Col. James A. Mulligan and his regiment, the Twenty-third Illinois Infantry (the Irish Brigade), cf. Andreas, History of Chicago, 2:190ff.
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Made a pilgrimage to the North Side this evening. Called on Dr. McMullen at the University. Found him immersed in the M. S. S. [Ms.] of the proposed Catholic magazine. After a con- versation on general topics I broached the subject of Mexico and found the Doctor extremely radical in his views of that country. Maximilian, he holds, will be driven out before long. Visited Father Roles in his sanctum and of course the articles of the latest British Reviews formed the leading topic of discourse with some reference to home affairs discussed in a way peculiar to him.
December 5. Mexico again tonight, an abortive meeting. The attendance grows smaller by degrees and beautifully less. Dis- trust of Caulfield's fitness and the fear of being compromised in a movement composed exclusively of Catholic Democrats is the main cause of this failing interest.
December 7. Clouds of snow falling this morning and the ground is spread with it to the interruption of street rail cars. Was obliged to walk down to the office in the absence of the cars.
December 8. Sherman is not yet out of the fog in Georgia.
December 10. Attended Mexican meeting last night and came away disgusted. The whole affair threatens to fizzle out. The gathering last night was suspiciously "Coppery" and very few of the original interested parties were present. Went home "a sadder and wiser man."
December 11. Remained indoors until evening owing to the storm when I journeyed on foot down town to attend the meet- ing of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Mary's church. A slim meeting and dry reports. Father Roles presided.
September 15, 1866. What a gap! December 1864 to Sep- tember 1866 ! Shall I attempt to bridge it over by a compendium of personal history for the missing period? No, not now. I may at another time have more leisure and a more apt disposi- tion for the task than at present. So, bygones remain still un- written. Well, what of the present? . . .
In our lately — and some say still disunited country, there are sad goings on. The war over, the South crushed, Lincoln assassinated, Davis in prison, Lee running a college, Johnston a railroad, Johnson President. At this time the newspapers are seriously and gravely discussing the prospect of another civil
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war, not a war of states but that most fearful of all, an interne- cine war, a war of neighborhoods. To what are we coming ? The South kept out of the Union, Congress threatening the President with impeachment and Johnson hurling back defiance to them. We live in an era of tumult, extravagance and crime. Chicago makes wonderful progress. Everywhere improvements, new blocks, new public buildings, new streets. Growing wealth, in- creased population. In Catholic affairs new churches, new schools keeping pace with the growing city.
October 18. The cholera which has prevailed of late to an alarming extent has this week in a great measure abated.
October 23. News from Europe reports that Spain has de- termined to stand by the Pope. Grand old Spain ! I fear though that the tangled web of diplomacy may bring to naught this resolve. The resolve and its fulfillment would be worthy of the better days of that antique empire.
October 26. Wrote letter endorsing Hugh Maher for office of United States Collector of Customs, for which post I learn he is a candidate.
October 29. Have just written letter to Father Riordan and commenced one to Maguire. Heard Father Damen preach.
November 24. This day and date should be notable in these annals and memorable in my life. It is my Thirtieth birthday. Naturally suggestive of retrospect and a time also for forecast- ing the horoscope of my future. Thirty years today. Ordinary birthdays are in many respects suggestive of sad and solemn thoughts; they recall the memories of the past, the changes and mutations of life; they recall years wasted — opportunities lost.
January 1, 1872. The weather is auspicious and favorable to all who observe the time honored custom of New Years calls. Contrary to my usual practice I confined my visits today merely to the Bishop, the Fathers at the College, the Convent and Father Conway. I made one exception amongst the laity, Lizzie McDonald. Mr. Brady of the Comptroller's office accompanied me on my visits.
January 2. Received my first commission in my new busi- ness (Real estate) from Father Damen yesterday, to buy half a block of ground for him for a church site. In the afternoon by appointment I drove him with Fathers Coghlan and Koopman
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through the burnt district. The ruin and the resurrection are alike astounding to see. Got a glimpse of the Grand Duke Alexis on Change.
January 3. Fathers De Blick and Venneman spent the eve- ning with us.
January 8. Attended to insurance matters for Father Da- men. Went to surprise party at Walsh's tonight. Quite num- erous and festive gathering. Occupied myself with a party at game of "draw." Result, came out as usual at the small end of the horn, $15. Did not get home until three o'clock this morning, hence a headache and slept until all hours.
January 11. Fathers Verdin and Venneman came in and smoked a cigar. Received also package of photographs from Father Swager. Attended St. Patrick's Fair in the evening.
January 11. On Change as usual but saw none of my debtors. Lunched with Caulfield and Forsyth. The afternoon spent main- ly in procuring tickets for the Fathers and attending to their insurance affairs. In the evening attended meeting of the Board of Directors of the Public Library.
January 13. Went to new theatre with Jones of St. Louis. Saw Wyndham Company in "Ours."
January 14. Father Corbett perached. Caulfield and Jones spent the afternoon with us and dined with us. Visit from Miss Buchanan. Called at Sheehan's to see Mrs. Drury, thence to Davis. Evening occupied at poker with a small party.
January 18. Jerry Crowley commenced with me this morn- ing. I have made no terms with him as I hardly know whether I can afford to keep him for any length of time. Attended a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Library.
January 19. At meeting tonight in reference to project for reorganizing the "Western Catholic."
January 25. An encouraging day for business, several re- bate matters brought in, divers pieces of property offered to me to sell and a large tax list from Erie Rd. Father Conway brought me the Randolph street property of the Church. Went this evening to the Library. No meeting in consequence of fire in the rear. Called in at Dan O'Hara's.
January 26. Dick Ennis of St. Louis called on me this eve- ning en route east.
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January 28. The Bishop sent for me and gave the tax matter into my charge. After dinner I made a journey on foot to Maguire's all of whom I found pretty well. Thence I called in at Carlin's and saw all that remained of the late Phil Carlin. R. I. P.
January 29. Madam Miller sent for me in haste. Mother Gauthreaux is sinking and a consultation of physicians is de- sired.
February 7. Saw Cleland of the Fort Wayne railroad about clergymen's tickets.
February 15. Received letter from Judge Finney referring to a published letter about Chicago from Dick Ennis.
February 16. Father Masselis paid me a visit this afternoon. Called on Bishop about his lecture. Father Verdin sent over the stereoscope today and I filled it with views. 'Tis quite inter- esting. Bad news from the convent this evening which I for- warded to Madam Bourke.
February 18. Father Corbet preached. Dry and dismal.
February 19. Received letter from Father Damen. Twenty lines of exhortation, three of business! God bless him for his prayers and thought of me.
February 22. No public recognition to mark that today is the once widely honored anniversary of the Pater Patriae. Not even a newspaper mention of the circumstance. We had a card party at the house this evening, Twohey, Bud Tierney, Dan O'Hara and Tom Brennan made up the ring. Closed at 12. Bank ahead.
February 25. Father Venneman preached very awkwardly a halting seromn. I was in fear that he would break down.
March 10. The News has my article on the Catholic Church in Chicago three columns this morning. With the exception of a few annoying errors of typography it presents a fair appear- ance and will pass muster. I attended Father Waldron's this evening and acted as sponsor for his new bell. Had a big din- ner afterwards, the Bishop and quite a number of the clergy there.
March 11. The News republished my article this morning. I presume they were hard up for material although they say edi- torially that they publish it "By Request."
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March 17. Today is a memorable anniversary with me. Twenty-one years ago this morning I landed on the shores of America, my father, two sisters and I. Two are now gone. Annie and myself only remain. Attended Mass at the Jesuits. Father Corbet preached but not on St. Patrick.
March 19. I went this evening to hear Charlotte Cushman read in a church. It was a treat and I enjoyed it vastly. The "Death of the Old Squire" and the Trial scene in Shylock Merchant of Venice were capital.
March 24. Mother Gauthreaux is going fast but holds out beyond all expectation. It was thought that her last hour had come this evening but she still lingers. Wrote an obituary in anticipation.
March 26. Madame Gauthreaux died at one o'clock this morn- ing. News of her death was sent to me at two o'clock in the night. Went to convent early and arranged for funeral neces- saries. Telegraphed to Madame Gallway and D. G. Jones. Miss Buchanan did this duty for me to Annie and Madame Burke. Saw the Bishop in regard to use of metallic casket for the re- mains and assisted at the convent to place them therein and had the last glimpse of Madame Gauthreaux as they were sealed up finally. Heaven be her lot!
March 27. The funeral services took place in the convent chapel this morning. Bishop Foley officiated. I assisted only at the final blessing when he delivered a short eulogy which was neat but not remarkably touching. Then we took the remains and buried them in the lot on the convent grounds. The News had the obituary I wrote which was likewise in the German "Union."
February 29. Dr. Butler spent an hour with me this after- noon.
March 31. Easter Sunday was ushed in drearily by a fall of sleet and snow. At early Mass and offered my Communion for Madame Gauthreaux. Paid a visit to the convent and saw Mesdames Miller and Neiderkorn.
April 3. Fathers Damen and Corbett called on me. I ac- companied the former to look at some property which we think of buying jointly. At Library meeting tonight.
April 4. Father Damen closed the purchase this evening of
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the block which we buy jointly and he left this evening for his missions in the east.
April 5. Father Van Goch left this evening. He promised to say several Masses next week for Madame Gauthreaux on my account. Received telegram from Dan O'Hara from Spring- field announcing arrival of two Sisters of the Sacred Heart this evening and asking me to chaperone them on arrival. Which I accordingly did.
April 7. Father Verdin preached the best sermon I have yet heard from him. After dinner I made a visit to the convent and paid my respects to Madame Hardy, the great Superior of the Sacred Heart in America. Called in at the News office and left a couple of articles for puublication.
April 8. Wrote to W. R. Arthur of St. Louis today for pass for Madame Tucker.
April 12. Fierce blasts and blinding dust. There is a goggle fever prevailing abroad. Every second person you meet wears these hideous substitutes for eyes.
April 14. Molly [Mr. Onahan's daughter] in her new rig journeyed out with me this morning. We visited the convent where she was presented with the wreath that was on Madame Gauthreaux before she was consigned to the tomb. My memento is her portfolio. After dinner I strolled out with George Glass- brook. Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy paid us a visit this evening.
April 18. Went up to Tom Hoyne's office to see about release of mortgage of Walker property. Called in at the office of the Post and had a chat with the Minerva of the Press, Miss Buchanan, chiefly about affairs of the Western Catholic.
June 13. The event of the day, or rather night, was the Library entertainment at Wall's Hall. We had an elegant little audience — not so very small either — and barring that Father DeBlick's address was a little mal a propos all else passed off well. I had an impromptu gathering at the house afterwards. Lots of music, singing etc. Miss Buchanan was of the party.
January 1, 1874. Greeted the New Year in bad humor. Out of sorts all day. Limited my visits to a few ecclesiastical ones, with a few, very few, to the lay fraternity. The house was in a bustle all day I believe and far into the night with the throng of annual Bores and Bibbers. I saw a few of them late in the
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evening. Of course they were top heavy and demonstrative.
January 3. Arranged for a small card party this evening but nearly all the invited failed to put in an appearance. Jim Runnion came and we talked and gossipped over books etc. To our surprise who should stalk along with Dan O'Hara but Mayor Colvin. The former was in jolly humor and the latter evidently "out for a time."
January 18. Wrote letter to Springfield to several of the Legislators concerning tax affairs.
January 15. Wrote to Finney of St. Louis enclosing $10 for O'Connell monument. The letter was written for publication as per request. I am, so he says, the first subscriber. I wonder if they'll ever finish the monument? Most likely 'twill have the fate of most Irish projects.
January 20. The Tribune noticed my letter to Finney of St. Louis enclosing my subscription for the O'Connel monument. The letter was published in the St. Louis Republican.
March 3. The Tribune today has a fearful onslaught on Storey of the Times from Dr. Johnson.
March 5. Anniversary of John Duffy's death. Went to the Mass celebrated for his repose in the basement of the church. In the evening with Maggie [Mrs. Onahan] went to hear Hesing Jr. on Rome. It was two-thirds Guide Book and one-third Hesing. 'Twere to his credit had the latter been entirely omitted. The lecture was far from being Catholic in tone or spirit. I was disgusted with it.
March 17. Weather admirable. Heard Father Lawlor preach at the Pontificial Mass at St. Patrick's which was filled with the Societies. The procession was a great success, the first demon- tration ever seen here. I drove Dr. Johnson to the college. In the evening went to the Irish banquet and ball at the Mattison House. I responded to the toast of the evening "The Day we Celebrate." The banquet was a tame, spiritless affair. The ball was quite a success.
March 20. Today is the settlement day with the County Treasurer but by appointment we averted it until 1st prox. Busy at my west side office getting ready the books. I do nothing except answer the office seekers who daily bore me. Met. Dr. Nolan, editor of the Vindicator, who seeks my aid and sanction
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for his joint stock company. Worked for a couple of hours in the office this evening at the footing of tax books.
March 22. Had a visit from Dr. Nolan, whilom editor of the Catholic Vindicator, who seeks to organise a Catholic newspaper for Chicago — a forlorn hope.
March 26. Attended a meeting of Real Estate Dealers this afternoon which contemplated organisation of Real Estate Board. In the evening with Maggie [Mrs. Onahan] drove over to Hesing's where we spent the evening. Gossipped on politics and newspapers with A. C. H. He has a palatial mansion and lives like a Dutch nabob.
March 27. Met Sheehan on my way to office. He informed me of his resignation as a member of the Free Library Board and of my probable nomination as his successor. While at City Hall was informed that Judge Tree had been approached on my behalf to induce the D. D. Storey to "let up" on me in the event of my nomination as Town Collector. Per Contra Dan showed me a copy of a letter which he had sent to the Judge dissuading him from doing anything of the kind.
March 30. I was nominated by the Mayor and confirmed as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Library. Very busy closing up books and preparing for a settlement with the County Treasurer.
April 3. The Town Board meeting tonight was held — a full Board present. The result was far from being satisfactory. The J. P.s are a set of miserable idiots, cowardly and as far as they dare dishonest. I am beat by their action out of several thousand dollars.
April 4. Attended meeting of Public Library Board this after- noon. It is quite a dignified committee. Talked with Poole the Librarian, who seems unobjectionable. Rode home with Dan, who seems a little on the "go."
April 6. The Post and Mail this evening published my note disclaiming the honor of candidacy for the office of Town Col- lector in the election tomorrow.
April 7. Town election today. Notwithstanding my pub- lished protest I find that my name appears on one of the tickets for Town Collector. Confound their impudence! Had a party of half a dozen at poker this evening Sheehan, Alex Sullivan,
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Dan O'Hara, Tom Brennan and Father Conway.*
Madame Burke gave me a photograph of dear old Madame Gallway, a speaking picture.
April 8. Father Damen sent for me this morning. He sug- gested something about a German religious recently added to the convent staff, an exile from Germany. He was as always fertile of thoughts in other regards, always for Church interests.
April 14. Received a letter from Madam Hardy from Paris, thanks and compliments. Was summoned by an urgent message to visit Colonel Cleary whom I found abed suffering from news- paper and political extinction ! Meeting of Catholic Library this evening which I attended. Protracted session and much gabble, to which I contributed an undue share.
April 15. We gave a farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Paulsen, the only hospitable thing we have done for them since they became neighbors.
April 23. Committee from Catholic Library came to notify me of my nomination for President thereof, which I at once declined.
April 24. Received letter from Keogh of the Catholic Pub- lication Society, which I turned over to Poole of the Public Library. Called on Father Riordan to ask his acceptance of Presidency of the Catholic Library. Will answer tomorrow. Went to Library Hall and witnessed the tail end of a dramatic entertainment. "The Boys" seem to insist that I shall run any- how.
April 26. Walked over to the Library in the afternoon. I have been placed in nomination by the "Regulars" for the presi- dency contrary to my positive refusal.
May 2. Attended meeting of Directors of the Public Library which developed a first class row on the subject of the intro- duction of Catholic books. Raster and Rosenthal being par-
* The frequent mention of poker parties in these diaries may occa- sion with some a smile, with others adverse criticism, according to the temperament of the reader. As a matter of fact home amusements were much more common in those days than they are in our town. There were no motor cars to take people about and there were fewer places to go to. And so card parties at home were a frequent occurence. The women did not play in those days as they do now. The parties were almost exclusively masculine affairs and the clergy sometimes participated. (Mary Onahan Gallery.)
176 DOCUMENTS
ticularly demonstrative and offensive. I gave them my mind boldly and broadly. We shall hear more of this. The German Hibernian alliance may possibly be endangered.
May 3. The "Times," nothing if not sensational, devotes a column and a half to the Library controversy, distorting and embellishing of course.
May 4. Easter's letter changing front entirely appears in the Times. I added a P. S. by way of rejoinder to my communi- cation and handed it in at the Times office. The Evening Journal had a criticism of my action at Library, so I wrote them a letter for publication.
May 5. More letters on Library issue in the Tribune — Raster and Rosenthal. My letter to the Journal is published and an editorial reiteration of yesterday's comment so I have now cor- rected the newspaper accounts of my position as far as I can.
May 6. Copeland was in and came home with me at noon. He is a strange, old genius and seems not to know what to do or how to decide his future. Fell in with Father Dorney who was the victim of a runaway or breakdown. Drove him out and we made the tour of the boulevards. Lalor translated for me an article in the Staats Zeitung by Raster which reflects on me in the Library affair. Tis a bald and barefaced lie all through. Engaged revising and enlarging the list of books to be purchased by the Library.
May 7. I interviewed Raster, editor of the Staats Zeitung, on the question of his editorial attack on me. I wrote and sent him a rejoinder. Mr. Eagle was here this evening on the subject of By Laws for the Catholic Library. Made lists for Public Library for submission to Committee on Library.
May 8. The Staats Zeitung published my letter today oc- cupying nearly a column.
May 10. Miss Buchanan's editorial appeared in the Times this morning. Big Humbug. The Public Library discussed the imbroglio from the same standpoint that I did.
May 12. The election for officers of the Board occurred today and although a candidate against my wish I took no part.* Went there at a late hour, voted for my opponent M. J. Dunne.
* This was probably the Catholic Library.
THE DIARIES OF WILLIAM J. ONAHAN 177
The regular ticket was chosen and I am the President of that body.
May 14. There appeared in the Tribune this morning the correspondence between Hayes and O'Hara on the question of interest. Dan is in an awkward fix.
May 15. Dined with Raster and that gent disposed of the vexed question of the "List." Then followed meeting of Rosen- thal's committee of Administration. So far I have come out ahead on the Library affair.
May 19. The inauguration of officers at the library took place this evening. Hesing made a formal, set speech and I was forced to speak. Everything went off fairly.
May 20. Attended Requiem Mass for Reid ordered by Cath- olic Library. Condon and myself the only members of the Library present as far as I could observe.
(An entry dated August 21, 1875, closes the early diaries of my father. From 1876 to 1904 there is an interim for which no diaries can be found. He may have tired of the habit of keeping a daily journal or, as seems more likely, he may have devoted the time once given up to the keeping of a diary to the writing of newspaper articles and speeches. Indeed that his attention was already being diverted into these channels is evidenced from the fact that many of the pages of the diaries from 1874 to 1876 are devoted to first drafts of these articles and speeches. He was always a ready writer and his newspaper articles alone would fill many volumes. Fortunately they are preserved in scrap books and they are an eloquent witness that he stood ever ready to defend the Faith which to him was the most precious thing in life. — Mary Onahan Gallery) .
NEWS AND COMMENTS
On the banks of the Kankakee River near Custer Park, Illi- nois, were disinterred in July, 1930, two human skeletons, having about them a number of silver objects. These were three silver crosses, ten large circular ornaments, a crescent shaped silver ornament with rude carving of a fox and some metal rings. The word "Montreal" and the initials "P. H." were stamped on one of the crosses. The eminent archeologist, F. W. Hodge, of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, having forwarded a newspaper story of the find to his fellow- archeologist, Arthur Woodward of the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, the latter wrote July 22, 1930, to the editor of Mid-America:
"It so happens that for the past three years I have studied the silver ware of the eastern and middle western tribes and this find intrigues me. ... I should judge, following the newspaper description of the items that the bodies were those of Potawattomie or Shawnee Indians. The dating of the burial might range from 1755 to 1810-12. The crosses were the usual type trade crosses; the circular objects, one of the type brooches; and the gorget a trade piece following the degeneration of that particular type of insignia. My impression is that these Indian burials date from around 1775 or probably later. . . . The history of the distribution of the trade and native manufactured silver ware of the eastern and middle western tribes is somewhat complicated. ... In the meantime such finds as you have examined interest me. You were correct in assuming the bodies were not those of missionaries. They were Indians, and the amount of silver trappings as well as the nature of the specimens appear to place them as Potawattomie or Shawnee, more likely the former. The crosses of the type discovered were common trade objects, and had no special religious significance at that particular time."
Mr. Woodward is an acknowledged authority on the silver ware of the eastern and middle western Indian tribes, his first paper on the subject being "The Indian Use of the Silver Gor- get," which appeared in Indian Notes, October, 1926. It has been conjectured that one of the bodies found might be that of the Franciscan missionary, Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, who was killed by Indians in 1680 somewhere along the Illinois River. Mr. Woodward's comments do not support this conjecture.
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NEWS AND COMMENTS I79
The year 1931 marks the centennial of the beginning of Bishop Frederick Baraga's remarkable missionary labors among the Indians of Michigan. On May 28, 1831, he arrived among the Ottawa of Arbre Croche, Michigan, having been assigned to that post by Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati, to whose juris- diction he had attached himself. Born in Lower Carniola, June 29, 1797, Baraga, after earnest studies, first in law and then in theology, followed by the reception of the priesthood, was led to devote himself to missionary labor in the United States by the founding in 1829 of the Leopoldine Society of Vienna for the support of the German missions in North America. His labors in the missionary field were incessant, revealing a degree of apostolic energy and zeal that embraced not only the redmen but the white as well and led to his appointment as first incum- bent of the see of Marquette. Bishop Baraga's outstanding career as missionary priest and bishop is the subject of an in- forming volume by Rev. Chrysostom Verwyst, O. F. M.
Preparations for Chicago's World Fair of 1933 go on apace. The great spectacle will commemorate the centennial year of the city's career as an incorporated town. It is not to be over- looked that 1933 also marks the centennial of organized Catholic life in the same metropolis. One hundred years ago saw the building of Chicago's first Catholic church, St. Mary's, and the arrival of the first resident priest, the Rev. Irenaeus Mary St. Cyr. The handful of Chicago Catholics, less than a hundred in number, to whom he ministered, has since grown into a sizeable body of a million and over. The church which he erected and which served the needs of his parishoners for almost a decade of years has been reinforced by other Catholic houses of worship until today their number reaches the amazing total of almost two hundred and fifty. The proverbial mustard seed has grown with a rapidity probably unequalled in history into a tree of majestic and towering proportions. It is to be hoped that the Catholic side of the events of 1833 will not fail of adequate com- memoration by the great religious body who have entered into the humble pioneer labors of Father St. Cyr.
The current year witnesses the sixtieth anniversary of the
180 NEWS AND COMMENTS
great Chicago fire of October 8-9, 1871. The cause of the dis- aster has never been satisfactorily explained; in lieu of authen- ticated fact the classic story of Mrs. O'Leary and her cow will no doubt do service in the popular mind as a key to the mystery for generations to come. Not a shred of reliable evidence has ever been adduced to substantiate the alleged bovine origin of the tremendous conflagration. A municipal official investigation in which more than fifty sworn witnesses were heard, including Mrs. O'Leary herself, disclosed that neither this estimable lady nor her "harmless, necessary cow," had anything to do with the affair. Apparently some wag at the moment when public curiosity as to the cause of the calamity was at a white heat fabricated the O'Leary story and threw it out on a receptive world. It caught the popular fancy, traveled to the ends of the earth, and today still shows a vitality which sober historical truth cannot always duplicate. The dull drab attire of estab- lished fact is frequently no match for the picturesqueness of a popular myth. And yet the historian must continue to ply his often thankless task. If fable and legend were to have it all their own way, what a phantom and illusory world we should come to live in.
Mrs. Bedelia Kehoe Garraghan, widow of Gilbert Garraghan, who died in 1904, passed away in Chicago on August 6, 1931, having reached her eighty-ninth year. How comparatively re- cent are Chicago beginnings as compared with those of the other great cities of the world, is revealed by the story of her career. At the time of her decease she was, with perhaps one exception, the oldest native-born resident of the metropolis. She was the daughter of Michael Kehoe, of County Carlow, Ireland, one of Chicago's first alderman, who settled in the growing town in 1839, and as an employee of the Canal Land Office was instru- mental in unearthing the famous canal-scrip fraud of the fifties. Her mother, Ellen Fennerty Kehoe, a native of Dublin, was re- lated by marriage with the kin of Jean Baptiste Beaubien, out- standing Catholic layman of the eighteen-twenties and thirties, whose claim, allowed at one time by the Illinois State Supreme Court, to the choicest section of downtown Chicago, is a cause celebre among American land-suits. Mr. and Mrs. Kehoe both died in 1890 and at the same age, eighty-four.
NEWS AND COMMENTS 181
Mrs. Garraghan's long life synchronized significantly with the extraordinary development of the Catholic Church in the western metropolis. At her birth, March 2, 1843, in her father's home on the river-bank between Randolph and Washington Streets, Chicago, the town was in the diocese of Vincennes, the diocese of Chicago having been erected only in the following November. She was baptised in St. Mary's Church on Madison Street near Wabash Avenue, then the only Catholic house of worship in Chicago. Today the city counts within its limits nearly two hundred and fifty Catholic churches. Among her earliest recollections was that of the day on which her mother lifted her in her arms to view the remains of Chicago's first Catholic bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Quarter, laid out in St. Mary's Cathedral after his premature death in 1848. She was a pupil in the old St. Xavier's Academy on Wabash Avenue, where among her schoolmates were the children of families associated with Chicago pioneer history, among them the two daughters of Alexander Robinson, the well-known Potawatomi chief. It was only ten years before Mrs. Garraghan's birth that the Potawatomi Indians ceded the last of their lands around Chicago to the government, celebrating the event by a long-remembered pow-wow on the streets of the village. She was well-known in the 'social life of the metropolis as an interesting living link between Chicago's slender beginnings and its tremendous devel- opment of today and in view of her unique history was made an honorary member of the Chicago Historical Society.
At the 28th annual convention of the National Catholic Edu- cational Association, held in Philadelphia, June 22-25, 1931, a new organization to be known as The Catholic Library Associa- tion was formed. Since the year 1923, the librarians of the Catholic colleges, academies and high schools had been function- ing as a section of the College Department of the N. C. E. A. The expanding program of this Library Section, the work al- ready in hand and the new projects to be undertaken, made it advisable to ask separation from the N. C. E. A., in order that the work of the Catholic libraries might be more definitely and efficiently carried on. This request was acted upon at the closing meeting of the N. C. E. A. on Thursday, June 25th, and on that
182 NEWS AND COMMENTS
day The Catholic Library Association began to function, with the following officers in charge: President, Rev. William M. Stinson, S. J. ; Vice-President, Rev. Paul J. Foik, C. S. C. ; Sec- retary, Rev. Peter J. Etzig, C. SS. R. ; Treasurer, Francis E. Fitzgerald.
The preamble of the constitution of The Catholic Library Association states: "The purpose of this organization shall be to initiate, foster and encourage any movement directed toward the progress of Catholic library work." All persons interested in the purposes of The Catholic Library Association are eligible for membership. The annual dues for institutional membership are five dollars a year, and for individual membership, two dol- lars; these dues include subscription to the official organ of the Association, the monthly publication, "The Catholic Library World." The organization is now soliciting membership and it is hoped that this invitation will meet with a ready and generous response. It is only by such a hearty response that The Catholic Library Association will be able to continue the two great works on which it now centers its efforts, the editing of the Catholic Periodical Index and the Catholic Library World. The Catholic Periodical Index, which contains an author and subject index to current articles in some fifty representative Catholic maga- zines of American and Europe, has been referred to as "one of the most progressive steps taken in Caholic education since the opening of the present century." New and renewal subscriptions for the second year of this Periodical Index are now being so- licited. Subscriptions for membership in The Catholic Library Association, as well as for the Catholic Periodical Index, should be addressed to Mr. Francis E. Fitzgerald, Treasurer, Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, New York.
Col. Michael J. Mulvihill, Vicksburg, Miss., author of Vicks- burg and Warren County, Mississippi: Tunica Indians: Quebec Missionaries: Civil War Veterans, has written to Mid- America, August 25, 1931, in regard to a notice of his brochure which ap- peared in the July issue of the Review:
I note especially your criticism on page 101: —
"Unfortunately the inscription contains some inaccuracies. The Que- bec missionaries arrived in the Lower Mississippi in the January of 1698, not 1699. Moreover, they did not return to Canada, as stated, but, leaving Davion behind them, moved up the river to found at Cahokia what is now the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Illinois. De La Source was a deacon, not a priest."
BOOK REVIEWS 183
As to your criticism for inaccuracies in the inscription it is more than strange to me, why you inserted the year 1699, in parenthesis, and then made your criticism of that date, when the bronze tablet, erected on the site of Fort St. Peter, does not contain the year (1699) ; nor does it appear on its photographic reproduction, on page 2 two of my brochure, as you say it does, but gives the time of arrival as January 11, 1698, which I agree with you as being the correct date.
As to some other "inaccuracies" — The inscription you published gave the initial P instead of R in the name of the Smithsonian Ethnologist, John R. Swanton.
In quoting some of the authorities I gave, in brochure, you listed a "Dunbar" which is only a part of the name of Dunbar Rowland, Missis- sippi's State Historian.
You state — "The Quebec Missionaries did not return to Canada and left Davion behind them; and that De La Source was a deacon, not a priest."
Father De La Source in his letter, in Shea's "Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi" wrote: — "We left there (the Taensa, Louisiana In- dians) on the 27th to bring down the things left at Chicagou and arrived on Maunday Thursday at Chicagou." "We are to start from Chicagou on Easter Monday."
Rev. Patrick W. Browne, S. T. D., of the Catholic University of Amer- ica, in his translation of — "Beginnings of the Catholic Church in the United States," by Father Jean Dilhet, on page 155, gives: —
"The ecclesiastical history of Louisiana begins May 1, 1698, when Bishop St. Vallier authorized the Seminary of Quebec to establish missions in the west. This authorization was conferred by letters patent on July 14, and endorsed by Frontenac, Governor of New France, on July 17, 1698."
"In December of that year three missionaries of the Seminary,, Jacques de Montigny, Antoine Davion and Jean Francois Buisson de St. Cosme reached the Mississippi, and sailed down stream to the villages of the Arkansas, Tonicas and Tacusas, planting crosses at several points."
Rev. Father St. Cosme in his letter in Shea's "Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, gives the time of leaving Michillimakinac as Sep- tember 15th, and of their entering the Mississippi river from the Illinois river as December 5th, 1698, and their arrival at the mouth of the Arkansas as on January 2, 1699, which date is also given by Rev. Father De. Montigny.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says in its articles, on the Tonica and Taensa Indians, that La Source was a priest:
"Tonica Indians: Their definite history begins in the summer of 1698 with the visit of the Missionary priests of the Quebec Seminary of Foreign Missions, Fathers Montigny, Davion and La Source."
"Taensa Indians : A tribe of Muskhogean stock and somewhat superior culture, living when first known on the west bank of the Mississippi, within the present limits of Taensa Parish, Louisiana, and numbering perhaps 1200 souls, in several villages."
"In the same year, 1698, Fathers F. J. De Montigny, Antoine Davion, and Thaumur de La Source were sent out from Quebec by the Seminary
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of Foreign Missions (Missions Etrangeres) which had undertaken work among the southern tribes."
"After a preliminary reconnaissance, Father Montigny, with powers of Vicar-general from the Bishop of Quebec, went in 1699 to the Taensa, and assigned Davion to the Tonica."
"Later on Father Buisson de St. Cosme, of the same Seminary, arrived and was assigned to the Natchez."
Shea, in his note 52, to La Source's letter wrote: "The Rev. Dominic Thaumur de le Source had been a pupil of Father Charlevoix at Quebec, and was ordained there. Charlevoix found him at Cahokia in 1721."
The authorities I gave in brochure, and now repeat; as to the return of the priests to Canada and that Davion also went with them and that De La Source was a priest, will be sufficient, in my opinion, for readers to judge as to whether the inscription I drew was based on facts or "con- tains inaccuracies." . . .
Mid-America comments upon Col. Mulvihill's letter as fol- lows: The criticism embodied in the review of the brochure in question is correct in each of its three salient points.
I. The year of the arrival of the Quebec Seminary priests in the Lower Mississippi was 1699, not 1698. In the last paragraph of the review (p. 101) these two dates were inadvertently interchanged. The reviewer's mind in the matter is clearly expressed by his inserting 1699 in the in- scription in brackets, which indicates, of course, merely an editorial in- terpolation or correction, and by no means suggests that the bracketed matter is to be found in the original document.
That the Seminary priests arrived at the Arkansas January 2, 1699, is so stated by Father de St. Cosme in his classic narrative of the journey. Moreover, that this was the fiist expedition of the Seminary priests to the Mississippi is certain. In all the contemporary correspondence bearing on the subject there is not the slightest reference to a "preliminary recon- naissance" in the summer of 1698 by Montigny, Davion and LaSource in the Lower Mississippi region as alleged by Col. Mulvihill on the authority of John R. Swanton (Bulletin 43, Bureau of American Ethnology) and the Catholic Encyclopedia XIV, 777. The latter work cites no direct authority for its statement but includes Swanton's monograph in its bibliography. Swanton, on the other hand, cites in a footnote as his authority for the statement in question Shea's Early Voyages on the Mississippi, pp. 75-86. Shea, however, as may be verified by turning to the pages indicated, does not give the date January 4, 1698, for the departure of the missionaries from the Arkansas. Neither in his footnotes nor in the letters reproduced is any such date indicated. What Shea really held on the point in dispute is indicated in his Catholic Church in Colonial Days, p. 538 ff., where (by implication) he dates the first trip of the Seminary priests to the Lower Mississippi in 1699, being absolutely silent about any "preliminary recon- naissance" in the summer of 1698. Further, and this ought to be decisive in the matter, the Abb6 (later Cardinal) Taschereau in his detailed Memoir (based on material in the Quebec Seminary Archives), Histoire du Seminaire de Quebec Chez Les Tamarois ou Illinois sur les bords du
BOOK REVIEWS 185
Mississippi, has not a word about any "preliminary reconnaissance" made by the Seminary priests in 1698.
n. That the missionaries "returned to Canada for all necessaries to make permanent the places selected for missions" cannot be substantiated.
(a). Neither the contemporary letters cited by Col. Mulvihill nor his quotations from secondary sources make any mention whatever, directly or by implication, of a return of the missionaries to Canada to obtain supplies. According to Taschereau, Montigny's party when they left Que- bec in July, 1698, had three lay assistants, and two blacksmiths, these being provided with all the necessary tools for building houses and chapels.
(b). A return journey of the missionaries to Canada cannot be made to fit in with the known chronology of their movements. Their letters- patent from Bishop St. Vallier are dated May 1 and July 14, their pass- ports from Fontenac July 17, and their departure from Quebec took place July 16, all in 1698. All documentary evidence of contemporary date bearing upon the episode is overwhelming in its witness to the fact that the missionaries were going to a strange country, which they had never visited before. (For a correct chronology of the Quebec Seminary expe- dition of 1698-1699 to the Mississippi, worked out mainly on the basis of the Seminary correspondence and other contemporary material, see the Illinois Catholic Historical Review, October 1928-99 ff.). The journey from Quebec to the Arkansas took nearly six months, July 16, 1698, to January 2, 1699. Manifestly it was impossible for Montigny and his com- panions to have been on the Lower Mississippi in the summer of 1698 and to have then returned to Canada and later made a second journey to the Lower Mississippi, arriving there as early as January 2, 1699. As a matter of fact, Montigny's party was leaving Quebec in July, 1698, (a fact no one calls into question) at the very time they are alleged to have been making a "reconnaissance" on the Lower Mississippi.
III. The statement that Thaumur de la Source was not a priest is based on the following grounds: (a). LaSource is nowhere referred to in the Seminary letters as a priest or missionary. Montigny, superior of the mis- sionary band, assigns him no mission as he does St. Cosme and Davion. La- Source says in his letter: "Mr. de Montigny inclines to put me at the Tam- aroa with Mr. St. Cosme." Why he is to be placed with Mr. St. Cosme is not stated. It may be mentioned incidentally that Father Gravier, the Jesuit, narrating the visit of the missionaries to Mackinac on their way down from Canada, mentions by name only three priests, Montigny, Davion and St. Cosme, as being of the party. Jesuit Relations (ed. Thwaites) 65:61. (b). The Abbe Tanguay in his Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Canadiennes, 1:564, gives February 20, 1717, as date of ordination of Dominique Antoine-Rene de la Source. No other priest named La Source is listed by Tanguay. (According to Tanguay Dominique de La Source, the priest, was baptized August 1, 1692. His parents were married in 1689 and he was a second son; hence there could not have been a very long interval between birth and baptism. This would make La Source only seven or eight years of age at the time he wrote his letter! Or was the author of the letter not the same person, though bearing the same name, as the priest who came down from Canada in 1719 and was living at
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Cahokia when Charlevoix visited there in 1721? (Charlevoix arrived in Canada for the first time in 1705.) However, only one Dominique de la Source is listed by Tanguay, if we except the priest's father, also named
Dominique, a surgeon, who was possibly the author of the letter in ques- tion.) (c). "Thaumur de la Source (alias La Source) was neither a priest nor an ecclesiastic. He was one of the engages (or hired men) who ac- companied the Seminary missionaries. (See From Quebec to New Orleans by Bishop J. H. Schlarman, 1929, p. 141, note.) This error, namely, that La Source was a priest or deacon, has been perpetuated for fifty years and more. I have corrected it wherever I could." Letter of Msgr. Amedee Gosselin, Archivist of Laval University, Quebec, September 21, 1931.
Two other points call for mention: (a). January 2, 1699, (though given by Shea) is an impossible date for the Montigny letter cited as a source on the matter in dispute. Montigny writes therein: "for the present I reside among the Taensas." But on the date mentioned the party had arrived only at the Arkansas and had not yet gone as far as the Taensas. Moreover, Montigny writes: "as to Mr. St. Cosme he remains at the Tamarouois [i. e. at Cahokia]." But on January 2, 1699, St. Cosme was at the Arkansas, his well-known letter written from this river bearing precisely that date. The Montigny letter in question is very probably to be assigned to the early summer of 1699, that is, to Montigny's second visit to the Taensas. (b). The assumption that the St. Cosme and La Source letters deal with different trips is not tenable. St. Cosme and La Source made the trip of 1698-1699 from Canada together. (See La Source's statement that he was with St. Cosme's party at Chicago when the little boy was lost in the prairies.) St. Cosme's narrative covers the trip as far as the Arkansas; La Source takes up the narrative where St. Cosme drops it, i. e. at the Arkansas, saying explicitly that he will not concern himself with the "route" from Michilimackinac to the Arkansas, this stage having been dealt with in a letter sent by "our Gentlemen," that is, priests, to Canada. La Source tells of what occurred below the Arkansas, especially the incidents connected with the visits of the missionaries to the Lower Mississippi tribes. St. Cosme and La Source are therefore merely dealing with two different stages of one and the same journey. One detail in La Source's letter (strangely confused at times) to suggest that the two letters in question deal with different journeys entirely is the date he gives for the arrival of the missionary party at the Arkansas, i. e. December 17, St. Cosme's date (apparently the correct one) for the same incident being January 2. It is not easy to explain La Source's date satisfactorily. Of course one may assume that it is merely a slip of memory on La Source's part or perhaps a copyist's mistake.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Great Plains. By Walter Prescott Webb. Ginn and Com- pany, Boston, 1931, pp. xv-f-525.
Professor Webb's volume is not alone an historical narrative of the settling of the Great Plains. It is a study in physical and historical geography as well, and to a lesser extent, perhaps, in the literature and sociology of the plains country.
When the westward advance of the frontier reached the country of the Great Plains, which the author, for want of any other more concrete line of demarcation, accepts as starting, roughly, at the ninety-eighth meridian, it was forced to abandon the methods and instruments of frontier advance which had served it east of that line, and to adopt an almost entirely new technique of exploration and settlement. East of the Great Plains the frontiersman had made his way in a land of forests, of rolling and broken surface, and of abundant rainfall — a land not unlike that with which himself or his ancestors had been acquainted in the old world. But when he went west of the ninety-eighth meridian he emerged into a land dissimiliar in all of these respects — a land of comparatively level surface of vast extent, a practically treeless land, and a region of insufficient rainfall for the normal type of agricultural and economic enter- prise to which he had been accustomed. The pioneer was, in consequence, compelled to adjust his technique of pioneering to the new conditions before he was able to make economic life successful in the plains country. The story of this adjustment constitutes the bulk of Professor Webb's study.
The settling of the Great Plains occurred after the industrial revolution, and by the mechanical contributions of the industrial era intensive economic and social life was made physically pos- sible on the plains. This physical adaptation to life on the plains is in large part the history of the invention and use of the "six-shooter," barbed wire, the windmill, and farm ma- chinery suitable to large scale farming. To the discussion of these factors Professor Webb brings an understanding at once comprehensive and sympathetic. One of the most interesting and fundamental sections of the work is that treating of the struggle of the plainsman for water. Out of that struggle re- sulted eventually the modification and in some cases even the
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138 BOOK REVIEWS
abrogation, of the provisions of the English common law re- specting riparian rights.
The Great Plains, like Turner's famous essay on the signifi- cance of the frontier, Alvord's, The Mississippi Valley in British Politics, and other like studies of new and challenging viewpoint, must await the mature consensus of historical scholars ere its ultimate place in American historiography can be assigned it. Professor Webb writes with enthusiasm. Perhaps his enthusi- asm will not be shared on all points by the generality of his- torians. The final chapter, in one or more of its sections, does not measure up to the standard of the rest of the volume. Yet it is the reviewer's opinion that the major contentions of the work will be sustained.
The mechanical makeup of the volume is all that could be desired in a work of that nature. The bibliographies, which are appended to the successive chapters, portray the wide range of the author's researches, and constitute an exceptionally fine working list for the student anxious to continue further this fascinating study.
Thomas F. O'Connor, M. A.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
The Sisters of Mercy, Historical Sketches, 1831-1931. By Sister Mary Josephine Gately. The Macmillan Co., N. Y.
In 1846 the Chicago Daily Democrat, quoted by the Rev. Gil- bert J. Garraghan, S. J., in his Catholic Church in Chicago, said: "A school for young ladies is this day opened by these Sisters of Mercy (than whom none are more competent to teach) in the old chapel in the rear of their residence on the Lake Shore. They also visit the sick and distressed and dispense mercies to the wretched and those whom poverty has chained to her car. Ere long, too, they contemplate forming an Orphan Asylum. What citizen is there who will not hail the coming of these Sisters of Mercy as among the choicest of blessings for our city." The fol- lowing year St. Xavier's Academy was incorporated and that same year the Sisters of Mercy opened the first free school for girls in the city of Chicago. Within the next five years they had established an orphan asylum and the well known Mercy Hos- pital.
The rapid growth of the Sisters of Mercy is astonishing. The
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Chicago community came from the original Mother House in the United States, located in Pittsburgh. That house had been founded in 1843 from St. Leo's, Carlow, Ireland. Only eleven years before the first reception of the Institute had been held in Dublin, and it was as late as 1835 that the Rule was approved by Pope Gregory XVI. Within ten years the Community had spread throughout Ireland, had entered England, had established houses in Australia, in New Foundland, and New York City. Since then progress has been continuous. The Sisters of Mercy have schools, hospitals, and asylums in Scotland, Wales, Canada, and in nearly every state in the Union.
The Community was founded by Catherine McAuley, born in the suburbs of Dublin. From childhood she saw the Christian spirit of charity exemplified in the life of her father. Ireland as well as England suffered severely after the Napoleonic war. Not only was there poverty, destitution also was widespread. With no market for her products unemployment was prevalent. Many people were wandering on the streets homeless and starv- ing. Mr. McAuley gathered the poor and ignorant around him, fed them, and on Sunday mornings taught the principles of their religion to the hungry children. Catherine helped him in his unselfish work, and at an early age determined to devote her life to the care of the poor, sick, and those who craved for education but had not the means to acquire it. After the death of her parents she resided with wealthy relatives who made her their heir. She was now able to realize some of her girlhood dreams. Like her father she was impressed with economic conditions around her and determined to establish an institution where re- spectable working women might find a home during intervals of unemployment. In 1824 the corner stone of a large building was laid in Baggot Street, Dublin, and after making the building larger by the addition of a home for orphans, the edifice was solemnly blessed and opened on the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, September 24, 1827.
The history of religious organizations in the Catholic Church is a fascinating part of Church history. All of them were formed to satisfy some need of the times, so that their history is a sec- tional history of modern religious and social civilization. This enables us to understand why the number of religious organiza- tions in the Church is very large. So long as time brings forth new problems just so long will new religious organizations be
190 BOOK REVIEWS
formed. The Church is a living organism, and like all living organisms is productive. That the organizations are genuine Christian products is clearly seen from what perplexes those who are not members of the Church. They have been founded by men and women and yet are never antagonistic one to an- other. They have been founded to meet particular social and religious conditions, they have their own individual methods, they have their individual ideals, they have distinctive names given them by their founders or by mankind, but all together they are one solid, harmonious mass of Catholic men and women.
In 1831 there was room in Ireland and in all English-speaking countries for a new religious society of women. The machine age had begun and with it were the portents of economic changes very familiar to us today. Women were coming in from the farms and seeking employment in the cities. The movement had not yet progressed very far, but the impetus had been given and modern conditions were inevitable. In Dublin were many unemployed women, many sick, and nearly all very poor. The needs of these women were primarily in the mind of Miss Mc- Auley. She and her associates spent a year in the novitiate of the Presentation Order in Dublin, and then with the willing con- sent of the ecclesiastical authorities established themselves in their own building and organized a new Institute. The principal objects of the Rule of the Community were education, visitation of the sick poor, and the protection of women of good character.
The energetic spirit of their founder has become a dominant force in the lives of the Sisters of Mercy. It was that spirit that led them to the battlefields of the Civil War in this country, and many years later to the improvised wards of Mafeking in South Africa. For their heroic work among the sick and wounded Boers, Britons, and Blacks they were honorably mentioned in dispatches sent to England, and the Sisters who returned were decorated with the golden Royal Red Cross in an audience of the Queen of England. Over the great door of St. Paul's in London is the inscription : "Let him who would know what we have done look around." It is only by looking over the English-speaking world and seeing the hospitals, orphan asylums, colleges, high schools and parochial schools conducted by the Sisters of Mercy that we are able to form an adequate idea of the work the Com- munity is doing. In the early days of the Church one of the most important letters ever written by the hand of man was carried from Corinth to Rome by a woman. The letter was that
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written by St. Paul to the Romans and the woman was Phebe, deaconess of the church at Cenchrea. The message she carried contained the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion, and we may believe she was well able to expound them. The Sisters of the Catholic Church are her successors. They are ceaselessly and laboriously strengthening the foundations of re- ligion in a special organization that seems to have lost its stability.
Sister Mary Josephine Gately has produced a book that should be read by all the women of the country. It is the story of a woman who did great things. And it is the story of a modern religious association of women that will do still greater things. There is not a dull line in the book.
Eneas B. Goodwin, S. T. B., J. D. Loyola University Chicago, 111.
A History of the Pacific Northwest. By George W. Fuller, Li- brarian, Spokane Public Library; Secretary, Eastern Wash- ington State Historical Society. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1931, pp. xvi+383.
Mr. Fuller has written a book packed full of information about the exploration, settlement and development of the terri- tory out of which have been created the states of Oregon, Wash- ington, Idaho and Montana. He begins with the geological formation of that part of the continent, describes the aborigines, and then takes up the history by topics, such as explorers by land and by sea, fur trading companies, missionary pioneers, Indian wars.
The great fur trading companies played an important part in the history of the Northwest. They conducted explorations and encouraged settlement. Even in early days there was keen rivalry between the English and the Americans and to a large extent the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute hinged upon early settlements by representatives of one nation or the other.
The chapter on missionary pioneers brings in the story of the Indian pilgrimage to St. Louis. The first knowledge of Christianity was brought to the Flathead Indians by a band of Iroquois from near Montreal, and later the Indians desired teach-
192 BOOK REVIEWS
ers of the new faith, "the 'black robes' of whom they had been told." There is little first-hand information about this pilgrim- age; an account was published in 1833 which is stated to be "a highly imaginative account written to please Protestant readers and destined to have far-reaching results." The first mission- aries were Methodists, who, however, passed by the Indians who had asked for them, and founded a mission for the white settlers. Later there were missions led by such men as Dr. V/hitman and others. The first Catholic missionaries were sent from Montreal as the new Jesuit school at St. Louis had not enough available priests.
Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company, one of the greatest figures of his time, gave aid to the Catholic mis- sions as well as to Protestant missions. Though he did not be- come a Catholic until 1842, he established a school for teaching prayers and canticles to Catholic women and children, a school which, the author says, furnished an excellent foundation for the work of the priests. The first two Catholic missionaries were the Abbe Francois Norbet Blanchet, who was Vicar General of the Oregon country, and the Abbe Modeste Demers, his as- sistant. In 1841 the Jesuits entered the field. Fathers Pierre Jean De Smet, Nicholas Point, and Gregory Mengarini were sent in that year from St. Louis.
The Indian wars form a grim chapter of the history of the Northwest. Massacres were frequent and often the men who were doing the most to help the Indian were the victims of his cruelty and treachery. The early settlers had to cope not only with Indian wars. Outlaws, bandits and gamblers were numer- ous. Conditions grew so bad that, lacking settled law and order, the citizens formed vigilance committees. Gradually the politi- cal and social development of the territory brought improved conditions, followed by the growth of industries and the build- ing of railroads, until at last four great states came into ex- istence.
The book has good illustrations, including portraits of nota- ble pioneers, and maps. At the end of the volume is a list of references to documents, society records, journals, etc. The list is arranged by chapters, a somewhat inconvenient method for the reader who may wish to check up on the references, as it necessitates looking to see what chapter is being read. The topical development is interesting and valuable to readers study-
BOOK REVIEWS 193
ing one phase of history, as for instance, fur trading, but it creates a slight confusion as to chronology.
Ethel Owen Merrill Oak Park, Illinois
Excelsior, the story of Lucien Delorme (1905-1926), a college boy of today. Translated from the French of Rev. A. Dragon, S. J., by Robert Glody, A. M., with a foreword by Rt. Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, D. D., Bishop of Albany. Loyola Uni- versity Press, 1930, $1.00 net.
Historically the narrative tells how a youth of today who died in his twenty-first year, conquered, with the aid of a Divine ally, the most difficult of worlds, himself. Early in life this Lucien Delorme felt the call of the Master to higher things and de- termined to enlist at the appointed time under the Excelsior banner of the soldier-saint, Loyola. The preliminary training at high school and college was not easy. Lucien possessed only mediocre talent for books. He was conditioned in some studies. Driven back, but never defeated, he "plugged" the harder, begged reinforcement from Almighty God, and in each case went for- ward to victory. All the while Lucien was a normal youth, a member of the college hockey team, a leader of his fellows, and was stopped and threatened by a traffic-officer for speeding fifty miles an hour. Quite naturally a girl-friend enters on this stage of his life. Did he then really have a vocation? Again grace answered his call for help. He applied for admission into the Society of Jesus.
In it the Divine Leader trained Lucien for the voluntary ac- ceptance of the supreme sacrifice. Tuberculosis brought this novice of a year to death's door. He was allowed to return home in the hope that the disease might be stopped. But the Master's campaign was different. Lucien accepted the chalice, despite the cry of his youth for life. He was allowed to make the three vows of a Jesuit scholastic and from the earthly Society of Jesus Luciene Delorme then passed to the heavenly.
The reviewer earnestly recommends Excelsior to the atten- tion of Sodality directors and deans of men.
Daniel M. O'Connell, S. J.
Loyola University Chicago, 111.
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Catholic Culture in Alabama: Centenary Story of Spring Hill College 1830-1930. By M. J. Kenny, S. J., Ph. D., Litt. D. Preface by Dr. James J. Walsh, K. C. St. G., M. D., Ph. D., Litt. D., LL. D., Sc. D. American Press, New York, 1931, pp. 400.
Catholic Culture in Alabama is a most welcome accession to the ever growing body of Americana. Combining careful re- search with engaging literary presentation, it approximates with much success the ideal of what a work of this type, a college history, should be. In reality the life story of an educational institution, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, it is also the record of Catholic culture over the entire area of that state, for the cultural influence of the institution named has been state- wide, to say the least. Spring Hill College began its career in 1830 with diocesan clergy in charge ; it continued it subsequently to 1847 under Jesuit management. As the obvious approach to his subject, Father Kenny leads the reader along the main high- way of French colonial history in the South up to the period of the American occupation and beyond. Only the high lights are pointed out; there is no need to multiply detail.
In the handling of the main theme — the vicissitudes, the faculty and student personnel, the physical equipment at various stages, the academic successes of a century-old institution — the author is particularly happy. A college history, as a distinct and recognized genre in historiography, has its own problems and perplexities not always satisfactorily solved. To say that the present work disposes of its problems with complete success might be an extreme statement to make; but it disposes of them remarkably well. A chronological scheme was inevitable; but the narrative has not suffered thereby and there is no suggestion of the merely annalistic type of history to plague the reader. The story moves along smoothly and rapidly, and important and interesting personalities, as Bishops Portier, Loras and Bazin, and the Jesuits Gautrelet, Curioz and de la Moriniere are por- trayed with vividness. Especially is the reader made to feel the atmosphere of a distinctly Catholic college; he sees steadily at work the various influences, cultural and religious, which operate in those schools in the United States (and elsewhere) of which Spring Hill is an outstanding type.
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The book is attractive in format and typographical feaures and is profusely illustrated.
Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Four cents an acre: the story of Louisiana under the French. From "Notre Louisiane." By George Oudard. Translated by Margery Bianco. Brewer & Warren Inc., New York, 1931, pp. 316.
The tremendous difficulties of exploration have been written of at great length in many volumes. In the work under con- sideration the equally tremendous difficulties of colonization and organization of a new territory are emphasized.
"Four cents an acre" tells the story of an empire won for France by the heroism and perseverence of missionaries and other explorers and lost through political intrigue and govern- mental short-sightedness. The story of the exploration of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence valleys is a fascinating and glori- ous chapter of history. From the little settlement of Quebec, founded by Champlain, went forth explorers, fur-seekers and missionaries seeking to extend the sway of the church. Soon posts were scattered here and there, at Sault Ste. Marie, Saint Francis Xavier, Point Saint-Esprit, Point St. Ignatius and other strategic sites. Talon, the first intendant of New France, dreamed of founding a great empire from the St. Lawrence to Florida; had Louis XV appreciated the possibilities of New France, as had Louis XTV and the great Cardinal Richelieu, the history of North America might have lieen far different.
The discovery of the Mississippi River was the essential fac- tor in the development of the Louisiana territory. First known by rumor only, it became the object of search and finally the famous expedition of Pere Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet was organized. Pere Marquette was recommended to Talon by Pere Dablon, Superior-General of the Jesuits in New France. One chapter of the book is devoted to the description of the voyage down the river, the explorers' experiences with the In- dians, the return to Sault Ste. Marie after going as far south as the Arkansas, Jolliet's journey to Quebec and the loss of one copy of Marquette's journal in the rapids of La Chine, and Pere Marquette's return to the Illinois country to die among the In-
196 BOOK REVIEWS
dians. Again is told the dramatic story of the voyage of the Indians, some years subsequenly, to Saint Ignace, with the bones of their beloved Pere Marquette.
The author next takes up the relation of the heroic adven- tures of La Salle in his exploration of the Mississippi River and the discovery of its mouth, ending with his tragic death at the hands of his own associates. The antagonism between La Salle and the Jesuits is attributed by the author to the influence of Frontenac.
With the beginning of the colonization period in Louisiana, the name of Le Moyne appears frequently. Several members of that family, especially Iberville and Bienville, played important roles in the development of the new colony. Iberville was sent to complete La Salle's work and he built a fort in Biloxi Bay. After his death Bienville succeeded him as governor of Louisina. It was an extremely difficult position. There was much intrigue and many petty quarrels occurred among the men who should have cooperated in the organization of the new government. The court at Versailles frequently acted in a short-sighted man- ner, sending settlers who were not desirable, and sometimes causing terrible hardships for the colonists by holding back needed food supplies or military aid. When Cadillac was re- moved from Detroit and sent to Louisiana as governor, much against his will, he spent a good deal of time quarreling, both with Bienville, and with Crozat who at that time held an ex- clusive commercial privilege in Louisiana. Later Crozat re- linquished this privilege, Cadillac was recalled and Bienville again became governor.
The next chapter of Louisiana's history is connected with the "Mississippi bubble" and John Law's schemes of finance and colonization. The colony grew rapidly during this period, but conditions were bad. Too many criminals had been sent as colonists, food supplies were insufficient and there was great need of a good harbor. It was not until 1718 that Bienville was enabled to carry out his project of making New Orleans a port.
In 1731 the Company of the Indies requested the French king to take over Louisiana. Under the new regime the administra- tion of the colony was reorganized, troops and munitions were furnished, and Bienville was again made governor. When he asked to be recalled in 1742 conditions had been very greatly improved. Succeeding governors were hampered by intrigues, quarrels and dishonest officials, insomuch that it seems remark-
BOOK REVIEWS 197
able that the colony could develop at all. Dangers were threat- ening on all sides. By 1760 Canada had passed into the posses- sion of Great Britain, and in 1762 Louisiana west of the Missis- sippi was ceded to Spain. The Spaniards were slow in taking formal possession and peculiar conditions resulted, culminating in an unsuccessfull revolt. In 1803, three years after Louisiana had been retroceded to France, it was purchased by the United States, during the administration of President Jefferson.
Speaking, in conclusion, of the loss to France of its immense possessions in America, the author says: "The fatherland of Marquette, of Jolliet, of Cavelier de la Salle, Iberville and Bien- ville, which opened up to the future United States the valley of the Mississippi and the path to the Pacific, has lost the benefit of the austerity of its pioneers through the mistake of over- feeble and badly organized colonization."
There is a bibliography at the end of the book, but no index, a serious drawback in a work of this kind.
Ethel Owen Merrill
Oak Park, Illinois.
Ymago Mundi de Pierre D'Ailly, Cardinal de Cambrai et Chan- celier de L'Universite de Paris (1350-llf20). Texte latin et traduction frangaise des quatre traites cosmographiques de d'Ailly, et des notes marginales de Christophe Colomb. fflude sur les sources de Vauteur. Par Edmond Buron M. A. (archiviste de Gouvernment Canadien, ancien eleve a L'Ecole Normale Superieure). 3 volumes in 8 jesus reliure, editeur, sur papier alfa anglais, comprenant une introduction sur d'Ailly et Colomb, d'abondantes notes; un appendice et un index. Illustres de 60 planches hors texte avec en frontis- pice le portrait de d'Ailly reproduit en couleur d'apres la celebre tableau de A. Lefebvre, existant a Compiegne (Eglise Saint- Antoine) et des illustrations dans le texte. Prix, 375 fr.
This monumental work of three volumes contains the original Latin text with French translation of four scientific treatises of Pierre d'Ailly, Cardinal-Archbishop of Cambray and Chancellor of the University of Paris, and a great theological luminary of his age. The first of these treatises and the most important, sixty chapters in length and bearing the title Ymago Mundi or World Survey, presents the status of geographical knowledge at the close of the middle ages. Its significance today lies in the
198 BOOK REVIEWS
fact that together with the other treatises of d'Ailly included in the present work, it was the chief source on which Columbus drew for his ideas in the field of geography and cosmography.
Somewhere about 1481-1483 there appeared at Louvain a printed volume containing sixteen treatises, twelve of them by d'Ailly and four by John Gerson, the well known Chancellor of the University of Paris. This volume, which is without title or date or place of publication, became known as the Ymago Mundi from the title of the first of the opuscula embodied. Columbus got hold of a copy and made a thoroughgoing study of it, en- tering with his own hand more than eight hundred notes on its margins. His son, Fernando, at his death bequeathed the book to the Chapter of Seville together with all his father's papers and books. The collection formed the nucleus of the Columbina Library of Seville. The annotated copy of the Ymago Mundi, now carefully preserved in this library in a crystal urn, has been examined by Washington Irving, Navarette, Harrisse, and other historians; but no attempt has been made until now to edit it scientifically or reproduce it in any modern language. Accord- ing to Las Casas, the famous Bishop of Chiapas and Columbus's friend and biographer, "of the ancient writers d'Ailly did most to inspire Columbus to realize his great project." The hundreds of marginal notes written by Columbus into his copy are evi- dence enough of the decisive part played by the Ymago Mundi in the shaping of his scientific ideas and theories. In this work he familiarized himself with such conceptions as the rotundity of the earth, parallels of latitude and longitude, climatic zones, the equator, the poles, terrestial degrees, the zodiac, the solar year, etc. For the student of the history of geographical knowl- edge the Ymago Mundi and accompanying treatises are of the first importance, presenting, as they do, a universe which is still that of Aristotle, Pliny, Isidore of Seville and Roger Bacon. At the same time, as the editor points out, the work is, after all, a mere compilation and a superficial one at that. D'Ailly was no original investigator or professional student of scientific sub- jects. "Having at hand no source material (documentation) on France, he passes on, for he is under pressure to publish a 'Sur- vey of the World,' and he has no leisure for research" (I, 234).
The plan of the present edition comprises elaborate intro- ductory studies on various aspects of Columbus, especially his standing as a man of science, and scholarly footnotes indicating the sources for all important statements in d'Ailly's text. This
BOOK REVIEWS 199
latter feature is the most valuable contribution made by the edi- tor to the history of geographical science. To cite one instance, the passage on Arabia is shown to be borrowed almost textually from Roger Bacon with no acknowledgement by d'Ailly (I, 276) . (The editor, however, states that in general d'Ailly cites his sources.) Aligning himself with George C. Nunn in his Geo- graphical Conceptions of Columbus, M. Buron refutes "the legend of the scientific incompetency of Columbus," as set forth by certain historians, especially Vignaud, who, by the way, held that Columbus read the Ymago Mundi after and not before his memorable discovery. An interesting item mentioned by the editor is the recent identification (1926) of a map in the Na- tional Library of Paris, previously thought to be anonymous, as really a production of Columbus. The identification, which was made by M. Charles de la Ronciere, historian of the French Navy, is held to be certain. The work is profusely illustrated, numerous original cuts in the first edition of the Ymago Mundi being reproduced, as also portraits of Pierre d'Ailly and other scientific celebrities of the medieval or post medieval world.
The editor has done his work, particularly the tracing of d'Ailly's data to their sources, with precision and thoroughness. One error has been noted. Fiske, Acta Concilii Constancensis (I, 82) should read Finke. The same error occurs in the bibli- ography.
D'Ailly's views in philosophy and theology, as the editor is at pains to point out, were not always orthodox in the Catholic sense. "Here are theories which lead to scepticism (I, 98)." "He [d'Ailly] . . . may be considered a champion of Gallican- ism." At the same time M. Buron's attempt (I, 85) to explain d'Ailly's doctrinal vagaries is not an altogether happy one, the citation from Renan carrying with it implications which are at variance with the Catholic theological position.
Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Sister Louise (Josephine Van Der Schrieck, 1813-1886), Ameri- can Foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of the Catholic University of America in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
200
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doctor of philosophy. By Sister Helen Louise (Nugent), M. A. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C, 1931.
In this doctoral dissertation a Sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Namur aims to make known the life-work of the American foundress of her Congregation. Good use has been made of the rich mass of source material available in the Mother- house at Namur in Belgium and at the Provincial house at Cincinnati, Ohio.
The author having already to her credit (1928) a Life of Sister Julia (Susan McGroarty, one of the first pupils of Sister Louise and later her successor in the office of Provincial), was able to bring to her task a maturity of judgment which has re- sulted in a work at once edifying and instructive. The book though primarily intended for members of her own Congregation will undoubtedly be read with interest by all students of our ecclesiastical and educational history. It gives a sympathetic and well-balanced account of the life-work and achievements of a remarkable woman who has left her mark not only on the annals of her own Congregation but on the educational history of this country.
"Ninety years have passed since the Sisters opened their first school in Cincinnati on January 18, 1841. During forty- five of these years, until 1886, Sister Louise watched and guided the progress of her Congregation, founded twenty-six houses that were added to the first one in Cincinnati, and firmly estab- lished the spirit of Notre Dame de Namur in each house." The houses of the Congregation were established in the states of Ohio and Massachusetts and in the cities of Philadelphia and Washington. When Sister Louise died in 1886 the Congregation numbered 800 Sisters and their pupils reached far into thousands.
No less significant has been the progress which has been made by the Congregation during the past forty-five years. The number of houses in this country has increased to sixty-three. The main interest of the Sisters is still popular free education. Hence they have been chiefly concerned with parochial schools both elementary and secondary, but in response to the new demands of the age they have also established academies and even colleges. Many people regard the opening of Trinity College during the administration of Sister Julia as a landmark
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in the history of the higher education of Catholic women in this country.
Hugh Graham, Ph. D. John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio
Marquette Memorials. By (Sister) Mary Arth, S. N. D. Re- printed from Mid-America, April, 1931.
This is a remarkable collection, practically complete, of all known attempts in art, geographical nomenclature and other media to perpetuate the name of the famous seventeenth century missionary-explorer of the middle United States. It is a re- markable verification of Bancroft's prophecy "the West will build his monument."
The Solis Diary of 1767. Translated from the Spanish by the Rev. Peter P. Forrestal, C. S. C, A. M., Litt. D., Professor of Spanish, St. Edward's University (Austin, Texas). Edited by Rev. Paul J. Foik, C. S. C, Ph. D., Chairman of the Com- mission, President of the Society. (Preliminary studies of - the Texas Catholic Historical Society, Vol. I, No. VI, March, 1931. Distributed under the auspices of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commission.)
This diary was written by the Rev. Fray Jose de Solis, O. F. M, during his visitation, 1767, of the missions of the Prov- ince of Texas. It is a valuable contemporary source for condi- tions among the Texas Indians as also in the Franciscan Spanish missions in the mid-eighteenth century.
Chicago Under the French Regime. By Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J., St. Louis University. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, 111., 1930. Publication No. 37, pp. 18.
This is an attempt to assemble between the pages of a single monograph all available authentic data concerning Chicago under French rule. The story begins with the arrival of the Jolliet- Marquette party, September, 1673, and ends with the Treaty of Paris 1763, by which the "Illinois Country," including the Chi- cago terrain, passed from the French into British hands. The
202 BOOK REVIEWS
monograph discusses among other interesting topics the ex- istence of a French fort as also of a French Jesuit mission on the site of Chicago.
Old Vincennes: A Chapter in the Ecclesiastical History of the West. By Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J., Ph. D., St. Louis Uni- versity. Reprinted from Mid-America, April, 1931, pp. 19.
This monograph, which deals with the pioneer Catholic his- tory of historic Vincennes, Indiana, supplements on the religious side the oft told story of the stirring civic events culminating in the surrender of Vincennes by the British to George Rogers Clark in 1777 and the origin of the old Northwest territory.
An Historical Sketch commemorating the Golden Jubilee of the Third Parish Church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, 1881-1931, St. Marys, Kansas, pp. 34.
Probably no Catholic parish of the trans-Mississippi West has a more colorful history behind it than the one the story of which is sketched in the present booklet. Founded in 1838 by Jesuit missionaries among the Potawatomi Indians of Sugar creek in southeastern Kansas, it was transferred to its present location on the banks of the Kaw with the removal of the tribe thither in 1848. The Potawatomi disappeared with the break-up of their reservation in the seventies and the whites took their place. A whole chapter of heroic and on the whole fruitful mis- sionary effort is written around this historic parish, the vicis- situdes of which the Rev. William T. Doran, S. J., has told in these pages accurately as well as interestingly.
Contributors to this Issue
The Reverend Frederic Beuckman, contributing editor of Mid- America and author of "A History of the Parishes of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois" has been long engaged in re- search-study in the early history of Illinois.
The Reverend Francis Xavier Kuppens, S. J., (1838-1916) was the last surviving missionary associate of Father Peter De Smet in his historic evangelization of the western Indian tribes.
The Reverend Gilbert J. Garraghan, S. J., Ph. D., is managing- editor of Mid- America.
Robert Knight, C. E., and Lucius Zeuch, M. D., are joint authors of a definitive topographical research-study "The Location of the Chicago Portage Route of the Seventeenth Century/' published by the Chicago Historical Society, 1928.
John W. Curran, M. A., LL. M., is professor of law at De Paul University, Chicago.
Thomas F. O'Connor, M. A., is a teaching fellow in the Depart- ment of History, Graduate School, St. Louis University.
William Stetson Merrill, A. B., contributing-editor of Mid- Amer- ica and expert in library science and classification, is on the staff of the John Crerar Library, Chicago, Illinois.
cTMD-c^MERICA
Vol. XIV JANUARY, 1932 Number 3
New Series, Vol. Ill
Journal of the Illinois Catholic Historical Society 28 North Franklin Street, Chicago
MANAGING EDITOR Gilbert J. Garraghan St. Louis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Frederick Beuckman Belleville William Stetson Merrill Chicago
John B. Culemans Moline Paul J. Foik Austin, Texas
Francis Borgia Steck Quincy
28 NORTH FRANKLIN STREET, CHICAGO
HONORARY PRESIDENTS His Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago Rt. Rev. Edward F. Hoban, D. D., Eockford Rt. Rev. Henry Althoff, D. D., Belleville Rt. Rev. James A. Griffin, D. D., Springfield Rt. Rev. Joseph H. Schlarman, D. D., Peoria
OFFICERS
Pbesident Financial Secbetaby
Rev. Frederic Siedenburg, S. J., Chicago Francis J. Rooney, Chicago Fibst Vice-Pbesident
Rt. Rev. F. A. Purcell, Chicago Recording Secbetaby
Second Vice-Pbesident Agnes Van Driel, Chicago James M. Graham, Springfield
Tbeasubeb Abchiyist
John P. V. Murphy, Chicago Rev. Frederick E. Hillenbrand, Mundelein
TRUSTEES Very Rev. James Shannon, Peoria Michael F. Girten, Chicago
Rev. Robert M. Kelley, S. J., Chicago James A. Bray, Joliet
Mrs. Daniel V. Gallery, Chicago Frank J. Seng, Wilmette
D. F. Bremner, Chicago Mrs. E. I. Cudahy, Chicago
John Coleman, Lake Forest
Published by
The Illinois Catholic Historical Society
Chicago, III.
CONTENTS
The Noese Voyages to America William Stetson Merrill 207
The Dawn of Christianity in Mexico Mariano Cuevas 228
Gonzalo de Tapia: Un Conquistador de Dios,
1561-1594 TV. Eugene Shiels 241
The Shawneetown-to-Cairo Mission Trail Frederic Henchman 253
Vaeia : 263
The Birthplace of Father Marquette; A Jesuit School in Seventeenth Century New York.
Documents — The First Catholic Missions in Nebraska 269
News and Comments ' 276
Book Beviews: 283
Jacks, La Salle; Thorning, Beligious Liberty in Transition; Sister M. Eleanore, On the King's Highway: A History of the Sisters of the Holy Cross of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Notre Dame, Indiana; Sherwood, The Oblates' Hundred and One Tears; Butler, Lives of the Saints; McNamara, The Catholic Church on the Northern Indiana Fron- tier; De La Ronciere, Jacques Cartier; Baumgartner, Catholic Journalism : A Study of Its Development in the United States, 17 89-1930; Williamson, The Story of Fope Pius XI; Rawleigh, Freeport's Lincoln; Lyons, The True Story of George Schumann; Schafer (ed.), California Letters of Lucius Fairchild; Cather, Shadows on the Rock; Lockridge, La Salle.
c7HID - AMERICA
c/4n Historical Review
Vol. XIV JANUARY, 1932 Number 3
New Series, Vol. Ill
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA
One of the most fascinating but apparently baffling problems of American history is the subject of the voyages of Norsemen, in the late tenth and early eleventh century of our era, to a re- gion called in the Icelandic sagas "Vinland" or "Wineland." This problem has engaged the attention of modern scholars for three hundred years. The results of research and of criticism of the sources have been so divergent upon many points that certainty has even been declared by some writers to be unattainable. Yet all competent historians today agree that it is certain or highly probable that the Norsemen reached the eastern shores of North America. The matters in dispute are: where they landed; how many voyages were made and when ; who were the leaders ; who were the natives with whom the Norsemen came in contact, In- dians or Eskimo; what interpretation shall be put upon certain terms and phrases that occur in the sagas. The solution of these and other questions depends upon the credibility to be attributed to the original sources, upon the right identification to be made of various localities described in the narratives, and upon the correct order of the events. As a bird's-eye view of these sources is indispensable for a right understanding of the subject, the reader's indulgence is asked while we present a few bibliographi- cal data.
The sources of our information may be grouped somewhat as follows :
I. Narratives (manuscript).
A. Hauk's Book. (Ms. no. AM 544, 4to, in the library of the Uni- versity of Copenhagen). Written 1304 or before 1334. The portion relating to the Vinland voyages is entitled Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne (Thorfinns Saga Karlsefnis).
207
208 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
B. Saga of Eric the Red (Saga Eireks Rautha) (Ms. no. AM 557,
4to, in the same library). Written about 1400. This saga is to be distinguished from the Tale of Eric the Red in the Flatey Book.
C. Flatey Book. (Ms. no. 1005 of the Old Royal Collection in the
same library). Written 1387-1395. The portion relating to the Vinland voyages is interpolated in the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason and comprises two tales or short stories:
a. Tale of Eric the Red (Thattr Eireks Rautha).
b. Tale of the Greenlanders (Groenlendinga Thattr).
II. Minor notices and allusions.
These have been found in the works of Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070), and of Ari the Learned (12th cent.), in certain other sagas, in a geographical treatise, and in Icelandic annals.
These sources were first collected in their entirety by Charles C. Rafn, secretary of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North, and printed in a volume entitled Antiquitates Americanae (Copenhagen, 1837). Just before the celebration of the tercen- tenary of the discovery of America, Arthur M. Reeves issued what has remained the classic work on the subject : The Finding of Wineland the Good (London, 1890), comprising the Icelandic texts in facsimile and in transcription, accompanied by an ac- count of the manuscripts, translations into English, and annota- tions. The translations of the sagas used in this paper are taken from his book.
The Hauk's Book and the Saga of Eric the Red have many points in common, while they differ from the narratives in the Flatey Book which, when brought together, form the Flatey Book account of the Vinland voyages. A recent writer, Gray,* has characterized these two divergent accounts as follows:
* In order not to burden the text of this paper with numerous footnotes, since it is intended to be a readable sketch rather than an erudite treatise, the titles of works cited are collected in the bibliographical note at the end of the paper. Students interested in tracing the history of the various theories and opinions that have been voiced in this mooted problem will have no difficulty in locating them in these works.
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 209
The GREENLAND version. The ICELAND version.
Sources: (a) The Tale of Erik the Sources: (a) The Saga of Thorfinn
Red, and (b) The Tale of the Green- Karlsefne, in HAUK'S BOOK, and
landers, in the FLATEY BOOK. (b) The Saga of Erik the Red, in
Six voyages. A. M. 557.
1. Bjarni Herjulfsson, who did not Three voyages.
land in Vinland. 1. Leif Eriksson, mentioned quite
2. Leif Eriksson, 1 ship and 35 briefly.
men. 2. Thorstein Eriksson and 20 men.
3. Thorvald Eriksson, 1 ship and 30 (Failed.)
men. 3. (a) Thorfinn Karlsefne, Gudrid,
4. Thorstein Eriksson. (Failed.) and Snorri Thorbrandsson, 1
5. Thorfinn Karlsefne, Gudrid, 1 ship, 40 men.
ship, 60 men, 5 women. (b) Bjarni Grimolfsson, Thorhall
6. (a) Thorvard and Freydis, 1 Gamlison, 1 ship and 40 men. ship, 35 men. (c) Thorvard and Freydis, Thor- (b) Helgi and Finnbogi, 1 ship, vald Eriksson and Thorhall the 30 men, 5 women. Hunter: 1 ship and 80 men. (Total: 2 ships, 65 men, and 5 (Total: 3 ships, 160 men.) women.) Voyage 1, 2, and 3(c) led by
All ships, except 5 and 6(b) com- Greenlanders ; 3(a) and (b) by Ice- manded by Greenland Colonists. landers.
The main outlines of the account given in the Flatey Book are as follows : "After that sixteen winters had lapsed from the time when Eric the Red went to colonize Greenland (A. D. 985) Leif, Eric's son, sailed from Greenland to Norway ... to visit the king (Olaf Tryggvason). King Olaf expounded the faith to him ... it proved easy to persuade Leif, and he was accord- ingly baptized, together with all his shipmates." The narrative now goes back to the year 985 and states that Biarni, son of one of the settlers who went to Greenland with Eric, on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland to join his father, was driven out of his course by north winds and sighted in succession three strange lands. The first land was level and covered with woods with small hillocks upon it. Leaving this shore on his larboard he sailed until he sighted another land that was flat and wooded; then he sailed out upon the high sea with southwesterly gales till he came to a third land that was high and mountainous, with ice-mountains upon it. He held his course off the land and saw that it was an island. Finally he reached Greenland. The de- tails of this voyage have significance when we come to plot the course of Leif Ericsson, who followed Biarni in the reverse di- rection.
Eric the Red with his family lived at Brattahlid on Ericsfiord
210 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
in the so-called Eastern Settlement, which was on the west coast of Greenland, where Julianehaab is now situated. Eric's son, Leif, bought Biarni's ship from him and, with a crew of thirty- five men, set out to explore the lands seen but not visited by Biarni. The year was 1003 according to the chronology worked out by Storm from the saga narratives. The first land sighted was a table-land of flat rock all the way from the sea to great ice mountains that lay inland. Leif named it Helluland (Land of Flat Stone). The next landfall was a level wooded land with broad stretches of white sand; Leif named it Markland (Forest Land) . They "sailed away upon the main with northeast winds and were out two 'doegr' " — i. e. two days' sail of either one hun- dred and twenty or one hundred and fifty miles — "before they sighted land. They sailed toward this land and came to an island which lay to the northward off the land. There they went ashore." Dew upon the grass was sweet to the taste. "They went aboard their ship again and sailed into a certain sound, which lay between the island and a cape, which jutted out from the land on the north, and they stood in westering past the cape. At ebb-tide there were broad reaches of shallow water there and they ran their ship aground there, and it was a long distance from the ship to the ocean ; yet they were so anxious to go ashore that they could not wait until the tide should rise under their ship, but hastened to the land, where a certain river flows out from a lake. As soon as the tide rose beneath their ship, how- ever, they took the boat and rowed to the ship, which they con- veyed up the river and so into the lake, where they cast anchor and carried their hammocks ashore from the ship, and built themselves booths there. They afterwards determined to estab- lish themselves there for the winter and they accordingly built a large house. There was no lack of salmon there either in the river or in the lake. . . . There was no frost there in the winters and the grass withered but little. The days and nights there were of more nearly equal length than in Greenland or Iceland. On the shortest day of winter the sun was up between 'eyktar- stad' and 'dagmalastad' " — terms to be explained presently. They then for a time divided the men into two groups and explored the country around. One of the party, a German named Tyrker, discovered grapes. The men proceeded to gather grapes, to cut vines and fell trees, all of which were stored till the next spring, when the expedition returned to Greenland in 1004. On the re- turn voyage Leif rescued a shipwrecked party among whom was
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 211
a young woman named Gudrid, who was to play a prominent part in subsequent events. Leif was thereafter called Leif the Lucky. His voyage was referred to after his return as Leif 's Vinland journey, and in other accounts he is said to have discovered Vinland.
Before relating the subsequent voyages, let us review the course of opinion as to the lands reached by Biarni and Leif, and the discussions regarding the interesting details mentioned in this story. The Tale of Eric the Red and the Tale of the Green- landers, both contained in the Flatey Book, were made the basis for the researches of Rafn. He located Leif's booths on Nar- ragansett Bay in Rhode Island. He attempted to confirm his identification of the various localities by correspondence with members of the Rhode Island Historical Society regarding the local topography. But the point upon which he laid most stress was the passage giving the length of the shortest day in Vin- land, because from it he believed he had figured the precise lati- tude, which he made to be 41° 24' 10". This parallel passes across the southern coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, west- ward from Cape Cod. Other writers, both preceding Rafn and in recent years, however, have reached figures showing a lati- tude of 49°, as the northern limit of Vinland as determined by this passage, which would place the country in the St. Lawrence valley or around the mouth of that river. How far south of that limit Vinland was located, cannot be exactly determined from the data; the discrepancy is to be explained thus. "The Ice- landers, having no clocks or scientifically constructed dials, were in the habit of estimating the time of day by the position of the sun above the horizon. With this object they marked eight points upon the horizon, utilizing hills and natural objects where such were conveniently situated, and erecting cairns in places which were otherwise undistinguished" (Hovgaard). "Eykt" was one of these day-marks, or, as Gray suggests, "meal-marks," because the principal divisions of the day were the times for meals. What "dagmalastad" indicated we do not know; but we fortunately do know about "eykt." In an ancient collection of Icelandic laws called Grdgds has been found a passage that reads: "Divide the . . . southwest octant (i.e. eighth) of the circle of the horizon into three equal parts. When the sun has traversed two of these and has still one to go, that is the posi- tion of 'eykt.' " The reader may visualize this definition ap-
212 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
proximately by drawing a circle, marked with four points of the compass, to represent the whole horizon ; this circle will also represent the 24 hours of the day from midnight to midnight. Divide the circle into eight parts; mark the top segment "mid- night," the east one 6:00 A.M.; the bottom one "midday," and the west one 6:00 P.M. The octant at the point "southwest" will be the one mentioned in the Gragas, covering the hours 1:30 to 4:30; two-thirds of the way westward from the compass point SSW, or 1:30 P. M., is a point on the compass 52° 30' west of south or 3:30 P. M. That is "eykt." Professor Geelmuyden cal- culated that on the shortest day of the year in the eleventh century, the latitude in which the sun actually set in this direc- tion was 49° 55', which is the latitude of the northern portion of Newfoundland. Captain R. L. Phythian, U. S. N., arrived at the latitude 49° 50' 02" or farther south. But there are two factors that modify this result. The first is that the reports of the voyagers to Vinland could not have been based upon accur- ate observations or precise placing of the meal-mark "eykt"; the second is that the definition of "eykt" given in the Laws may, according to M. M. Mjelde, be taken more loosely to mean the point two-thirds of the way across the quarter of the horizon from midday to 6:00 P. M., which would locate it at 4:00 P. M. on the circle and indicate a latitude considerably more to the south.
We see that this passage does not furnish the data by which to fix with precision the latitude of Vinland; but the fact is un- deniable that the length of the day there differed enough from that of the day in Greenland or Iceland to impress the voyagers, and also lead the sagamen to hand down the significant phrase from generation to generation until it was finally written into the saga. Vinland must have been south of Labrador and was probably south of Newfoundland. As wild grapes were found there, it could not have been in Nova Scotia, because "except in the Annapolis basin on the west, which does not suit the re- quirements of the saga, no wild grapes can be found there" (Gathorne-Hardy). The valley of the St. Lawrence and New England both meet the requirements of latitude and wild grape bearing. Which region was Vinland? Or was it the name of a region extensive enough to cover both New England and part of Canada? We will hold these questions in abeyance while we follow the fortunes of Leif's successors.
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 213
The narrative proceeds: "Now Thorvald, with the advice of his brother Leif , prepared to make this voyage with thirty men." Sailing doubtless by directions supplied them by Leif, they reached his booths, and remained there during the winter (of 1005) , living by fishing. In the spring "Thorvald said that they should put their ship in order, and that a few men should take the after-boat and proceed along the western coast and explore (the region) thereabouts during the summer. They found it a fair, well-wooded country; it was but a short distance from the woods to the sea, and (there were) white sands, as well as great numbers of islands and shallows. . . . The following summer Thorvald set out toward the east with the ship, and along the western coast." Meeting with rough weather they damaged the keel of the ship and after repairing the damage, set up the keel on a cape, which Thorvald named Keelness. "Then they sailed away to the eastward off the land and into the mouth of the adjoining firth, and to a headland which projected into the sea there." Upon returning to the ship, they discovered nine na- tives lying under three skin-canoes. They killed eight but the ninth "escaped with his canoe." This detail has a bearing upon whether these canoes belonged to Indians or Eskimo. The In- dians used birchbark for canoes, which were light enough to be carried by a man in hurried flight. The Eskimo, on the other hand, used sealskin for their boats, which were of two kinds: kayaks and umiaks. The kayak carried only one man, whose body was tightly enclosed by the skin stretched over the top of the canoe. Under a kayak three men could not lie. But a umiak, or women's boat of the Eskimo, which carried sixteen or twenty men or women, could not be grabbed up by one man in a hurry. This incident indicates that Thorvald found Indians. Other natives now arrived in canoes, attacked the Norsemen, and Thorvald was killed. His companions buried him on the head- land and named the spot Crossness. The next spring (1006) they returned to Greenland. The visitor to Point Allerton, the hill north of Nantasket Beach in Boston Harbor, will find a small marker placed there by some local antiquary, recording that Norsemen landed near that spot about the year 1000 and that Thorvald was killed. But this identification is but one out of many others. Leif 's booths must be taken as the starting-point from which to lay Thorvald's course, and these we have yet to locate.
214 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
Thorstein, another brother of Leif, next undertook to go to Vinland. After losing his bearings and tossing about on the ocean through the summer of 1007, he at last returned to Green- land. Thorstein had married the same Gudrid whom Leif has rescued from shipwreck, and she accompanied him on this voy- age. The Western Settlement where they lived, located at the modern Godthaab, was that winter attacked by sickness, Thor- stein died, and his widow went to live with Leif.
Thus far we have been following the two Greenland narra- tives of the Vinland voyages found in the Flatey Book. A dif- ferent story is told in the Saga of Eric the Red in Hauk's Book, which gives the Iceland version. After tracing the ancestry of Eric the Red and the events which led up to his settlement of Greenland in 985 A. D., this saga brings Gudrid into the story, first as taking part with a heathen soothsayer in an interesting ceremony in Iceland, and later arriving at Brattahlid, Eric's home, with her father. Nothing is said about their being rescued from shipwreck. Leif Ericsson is said to have gone first to the Hebrides before reaching the court of Olaf Tryggvason and there to have had a love affair with a high-born woman. He sailed for Greenland in the year 1000 for the express purpose of carry- ing out the bidding of King Olaf to introduce Christianity into that country. He was driven out of his course, and "came upon lands of which he had previously had no knowledge. There were self-sown wheat fields and vines growing there. There were also those trees there which are called 'mausur,' and of all these they took specimens. Some of the timbers were so large that they were used in building." Nothing is said, be it noted, about a previous voyage of Biarni, or of a voyage of exploration by Leif and of his wintering in Vinland after passing and naming Hellu- land and Markland. Thorstein's voyage and marriage to Gudrid are next mentioned. Thorvald is mentioned only as taking part in the voyage now to be described.
In 1008 according to the Flatey Book chronology, but 1002 by this saga, there arrived at Ericsfirth a wealthy Icelander named Thorfinn Karlsefne. He was entertained by Eric with whom he spent the winter. Karlsefne married Gudrid, Thor- stein's widow.
"About this time there began to be much talk at Brattahlid to the effect that Vinland the Good should be explored. . . . And so it came to pass that Karlsefne and Snorri fitted out their
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 215
ship for the purpose of going in search of that country in the spring. Biarni and Thorhall joined the expedition with their ship and the men who had borne them company." These com- panions of Karlsefne had come with him to Greenland. On the expedition were also Thorvald, who had made a separate voyage according to the Flatey Book but here joins Karlsefne; another Thorhall called the Hunter; and a couple named Thorvard and his wife Freydis, who was a natural daughter of Eric. Here again there is a conflict in the story, because in the Flatey Book, as we shall soon see, this couple, accompanied by two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, went to Vinland on a separate voyage, the last of the series of six. Karlsefne's party set out in three ships and had in all one hundred and sixty men. Gudrid accompanied her husband. The date was 1009 by the Flatey Book but 1003 by this account. Gathorne-Hardy, alone of more recent writers, believes that the voyage could not have been undertaken before 1020, basing his argument upon the long gap that there would otherwise be between the birth of Snorri, Karlsefne's son born in Vinland, and Snorri's grandson, who was born (by actual record) in 1085.
The voyage of Karlsefne is narrated in both the Saga of Eric the Red in Hauk's Book and in the Tale of the Greenlanders in the Flatey Book, but with significant variations, which we will outline as we proceed, abbreviating the two sources as the "Saga" and the "Tale." Karlsefne, according to the "Tale," ar- rived safe and sound at Leif's booths, which Leif had agreed to lend him. No details of his voyage thither are given. The "Saga," however, relates that the expedition sailed first up the Greenland coast to the Western Settlement, thence to Bear Island, and "thence they bore away to the southward two 'doegr' " to a land characterized by "large, flat stones" and "Arctic foxes." "They gave a name to the country and called it Helluland. Then they sailed with northerly winds two 'doegr,' the land then lay before them, and upon it was a great wood and many wild beasts ; an island lay off the land to the southeast and there they found a bear, and they called this Biarney (Bear Island) , while the land where the wood was they called Mark- land. Thence they sailed southward along the land for a long time and came to a cape ; the land lay upon the starboard ; there were long strands and sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and found upon the cape there the keel of a ship and they
216 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
called it there Kiarlarnes (Keelness) ; they also called the strands Furdustrandir (Wonder Strands), because they were so long to sail by." The reader will recall that in the other account Leif had named these lands and that Thorvald had set up the broken keel of his ship on a cape and called the spot Keelness. No explanation is offered in the "Saga" of how that keel got there, which looks as though it were not as circumstantial as the "Tale." "Then the country became indented with bays and they steered their ships into a bay." Two Gaelic scouts, a man and a woman, who had been given to Leif by King Olaf and "lent" to Karlsefne, were here set ashore and told to explore the country to the southward. At the end of three days they re- turned; "and when they came again, one of them carried a bunch of grapes and the other an ear of new-sown wheat." This would indicate that the party was not far from Vinland or Winerand, the land of grapes; and the "Tale" expressly says that Karlsefne reached Leif's booths and gathered grapes. But we shall soon see that neither then nor later did Karlsefne find grapes, accord- ing to the "Saga." If the scouts could find them in a day and a half, why could not Karlsefne? Is it possible that we have here an incident that really belongs to the voyage of Leif, as related in the "Tale" ? If the scouts were given to him to use, why were they not used by him? Recent opinion tends to ac- cept Gathorne-Hardy's contention that the incident of the Gaelic scouts belongs in the voyage of Leif and became transposed in the tradition.
The "Saga" now continues: Resuming their course "Karlsefne and his companions held on their way until they came to where the coast was indented with bays. They stood into a bay with their ships. There was an island at the mouth of the bay about which there were strong currents, wherefore they called it Straumey (Stream Isle). There were so many birds there that it was scarcely possible to step between the eggs. They sailed through the firth and called it Straumfiord (Stream Firth) and carried their cargoes ashore and established themselves there. They had brought with them all kinds of live-stock. . . . There were mountains thereabouts. They occupied themselves with the exploration of the country. They remained there during the winter. . . . The fishing began to fail and they began to fall short of food." A whale was cast ashore and when the people
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 217
ate of it, they were made ill. Later the fishing improved and game was obtained.
A verse is now introduced into the saga that is generally admitted to bear the earmarks of being very ancient. In it Thor- hall the Hunter complains:
When I came, these brave men told me,
Here the best of drink I'd get, Now with water-pail behold me —
Wine and I are strangers yet.
This verse shows that Vinland had not yet been reached by the party. Moreover, the "Saga" continues, "Thorhall wished to sail to the northward beyond Wonder Strands in search of Vin- land, while Karlsefne desired to proceed to the southward, off the coast." Thorhall sailed to the northward and was lost. Karlsefne cruised southward with Snorri and Biarni. "They sailed for a long time and until they came at last to a river, which flowed down from the land into a lake, and so into the sea. There were great bars at the mouth of the river, so that it could be entered only at flood-tide. Karlsefne and his men sailed into the mouth of the river and called it Hop (a small land-locked bay) . When they had been there two weeks, "one morning early . . . they saw a great number of skin-canoes, and staves were brandished from the boats with a noise like flails, and they were revolved in the same direction in which the sun moves. . . . The strangers rowed toward them and went upon the land. . . . They were swarthy men and ill-looking and the hair of their heads was ugly. They had great eyes and were broad of cheek. They tarried there for a time . . . then rowed away, and to the southward around the point."
Karlsefne built huts, some near the lake, in which they spent the winter. "No snow came there and all their live-stock lived by grazing." The next spring the natives reappeared in skin canoes and began to offer peltries and "grey skins" in exchange for strips of red cloth proffered to them by the Norsemen. Then a bull belonging to Karlsefne ran out bellowing and the Skrael- ings, as they are called in the "Saga," hastily rowed away "to the southward along the coast." At the end of three weeks, however, they returned in large numbers and a fight ensued. The Skraelings had war-slings and a weapon described as "a great ball-shaped body, almost the size of a sheep's belly and
218 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
nearly black in color," fastened to the end of a pole. This weapon they would bring down upon the ground with a crash, causing the Norsemen "in great fear" to retreat up the river, until they came to certain jutting crags. Thorbrand was found dead, "his skull cleft by a flat stone" (tomahawk?), and two others killed. The Skraelings, frightened at a strange gesture made at them by the warlike Freydis, ran to their canoes and rowed away.
Karlsefne, believing that the region was too dangerous for settlement, returned with his party to Streamfirth. Later he sailed in search of Thorhall. His course was "northward around Keelness and then bore to the westward, having land to the lar- board. The country there was a wooded wilderness . . . with scarcely an open space; and when they had journeyed a con- siderable distance, a river flowed down from the east toward the west. They sailed into the mouth of the river and lay to by the southern bank."
The "Saga" now relates the death of Thorvald as an incident of this voyage of Karlsefne to the north, attributing his death to an arrow shot by a "Uniped." "They sailed away back to- ward the north and believed they had got sight of the land of the Unipeds. . . . They concluded that the mountains of Hop and those which they now found formed one chain. . . . They sailed back and passed the third winter at Streamfirth. Then the men began to divide into factions, of which the women were the cause. When they sailed away from Vinland they had a southerly wind and so came upon Markland, where they found five Skraelings, of whom one was bearded, two were women and two were children. Karlsefne and his people took the boys but the others escaped." The boys were taken to Greenland and taught to speak Norse. "They said that their mother's name was Vaetilldi and their father's Uvaegi. They said that kings governed the Skraelings, one of whom was called Avalldamon and the other Valldidida. They stated that there were no houses there and that the people lived in caves or holes."
Much learning has been bestowed upon the statements here attributed to these Skraeling boys, in the belief that perhaps they may convey in cryptic fashion some information about the natives with whom the Norsemen came in contact; but nothing definite can be made of either the names or the statements. If the boys or their parents really bore Indian or Eskimo names,
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 219
these names have become hopelessly changed in the process of being handed down by Norse tradition.
Let us now compare the account of Karlsefne's adventure as given in the "Tale" (in the Flatey Book) . In the first place, the events narrated there all happen at Leif's booths; there is no mention of Karlsefne landing on Keelness, going first to Stream- firth, where there was lack of food, then cruising southward to Hop, then going north in search of Thorhall with Thorvard as one of the company, meeting the Uniped, returning to Stream- firth and from there setting forth for their return to Greenland. The two engagements with the Skraelings, however, are related with some variations that we need not pause here to consider.
The Saga of Eric the Red is silent as to any further voyage ; but the Tale of the Greenlanders relates that Freydis and her husband, together with two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, who arrived in Greenland from Norway the same summer in which Karlsefne returned from Vinland, undertook a voyage to Vin- land in two ships. The brothers had the larger ship and after the arrival at Leif's booths Freydis tried to exchange her ship for theirs. As she had smuggled aboard in Greenland five more men than the thirty agreed upon for each ship, the brothers yielded to her demand. But she, intent upon picking a quarrel, in a scene too long to quote here, incited her husband to have his men seize and put to death the two brothers and their fol- lowers. Freydis, being unable to get her men to kill the women also, did so herself with an axe. Threatening to wreak vengeance upon any one who should reveal this dreadful deed, Freydis with her company sailed back to Greenland. Leif finally heard of the guilt of his sister but said he could not punish her as she deserved. "Hence it came to pass that no one from that time forward thought them worthy of aught but evil."
Writers on the Vinland voyages, until Storm wrote his epoch- making Studies on the Vinland Voyages in 1887, accepted the texts of the saga narratives just as they have come down to us, and as of equal value, whatever might be their inherent credi- bility; the problem was to reconcile the two divergent narratives. The Flatey Book narrative was largely followed, as giving the fullest account of Vinland.
The course of opinion as to the identification of the localities reached by the Norsemen is traced by Winsor in his admirable survey of the literature. His own opinion is that the historical
220 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
data are too vague to permit of any identification. After study- ing the narratives, he says, "we end with the conviction that all attempts at consistent unravelment leave nothing but a vague sense of something somewhere done." A summary of the more important opinions as to the regions visited by the Norsemen, covering the period from Torfaeus to Winsor (1705-1889) , is as follows :
Undetermined. "Estotiland."
Labrador and Newfoundland.
Newfoundland.
South as far as Carolina.
Greenland ( ! )
Labrador or Newfoundland.
Doubts the assigning of Vinland to
America. New England.
Long Island Sound. Rhode Island. "May have reached the shores of
Labrador." Somewhere on the American coast. "Legends in which a little truth is
mingled with much fiction." "Did not pass Davis Strait." "A myth." Leif Ericsson compared
to Agamemnon.
In the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North (1888), Gustav Storm, professor at the University of Copenhagen, presented a critical study of all the sources of the Vinland voyages and reached the conclusion: "Weighing all that has been said, it will, I certainly think, be safest henceforth to treat the account in GTh [Tale of the Greenlanders in the Flatey Book] with great circumspection. Whatever has its only basis in GTh must be rejected as doubtful, and whatever is there found at variance with early tradition, as wanting historical foundation. Accordingly, Bjarni Herjulfsson's voyage should no doubt be omitted, to make room for Leif Ericsson's voyage, and the voyages of Thorvald Ericsson and of Freydis should be comprised in the great exploratory expedition under Thorfinn Karlsefni. Geographical data and description relying for sup- port solely upon GTh must be sifted with great care and never admitted save when borne out by the Saga of Eric the Red (in
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1705 |
Torfaeus |
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1755 |
Mallet |
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1778 |
Robertson |
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1782 |
Sprengel |
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1793 |
Munoz |
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1818 |
Barrow |
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1829 |
Murray |
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1831 |
Wheaton |
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1837 |
Rafn |
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1840 |
Bancroft (3rd edi- |
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tion) |
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1862 |
Wilson |
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1882 |
Nadaillac |
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1884 |
Weise |
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1887 |
Massachusetts His- |
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torical Society |
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 221
Hauk's Book). Not till this has been done, can we venture on a critical investigation of the geography of Vineland."
This position of Storm has been approved and adopted by many later writers upon the subject. The latest (1930) Ice- landic contributor to the problem, Matthias Thordarson, director of the National Museum of Iceland, supports Storm's views, yet says that the Flatey Book "cannot be disregarded entirely." Storm, taking Leif's voyage to be one of landfalls only, traces Karlsefne's voyages along Labrador and the northern peninsula of Newfoundland (Helluland), past Newfoundland (Markland) on the ocean side to Cape Breton (Keelness), thence southwest past the sandy shores of Cape Breton Island (Wonder Strands) to one of the bays (Canso Bay?) in Nova Scotia. Thorvald was killed on one of the rivers flowing into the bay north of Nova Scotia.
Reeves, in his now classic work, The Finding of Wineland the Good (1890) , relying upon Captain Phythian's calculation of the latitude as 49°, based upon the passage about the length of the day, contents himself with saying that "if we may rely upon the accuracy of this astronomical observation, it is clear that thus far south it (i. e. Wineland) must have been."
The position of Professor Storm as to the relative value of the sources was attacked by a competent scholar in 1914. Wil- liam Hovgaard, late commander in the Danish navy and at present professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, based his work, The Voyages of the Norsemen to America, (1914), upon both of the main narratives, which he attempts to reconcile. His work was the first to introduce illustrations, taken from photographs of the spots on the Atlantic coast with which he identifies the scenes described in the sagas ; his knowl- edge of shipbuilding makes his observations on the seacraft of the early Norsemen valuable.
Leif, according to Hovgaard, in his voyage of exploration, starting from Greenland, sighted Baffin Land with Grinnell Glacier in the background, coasted past Labrador and New- foundland, then turning out to sea in a southwesterly direction reached Cape Cod. The climate and the azimuth of the sun mentioned in the sagas may be reconciled with this region, which abounds in grapes. Thorvald rounded Cape Cod, crossed Cape Cod Bay and reached some headland on its west coast (Nahant? Marblehead?). When he comes to Karlsefne, Hovgaard intro-
222 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
duces a new theory that this explorer never reached Leif's booths. Leaving Greenland he coasted Labrador until he reached Sandwich Bay (Streamfirth), then continued on to White Bay (Hop, Karlsefne's Vinland) on the east coast of Newfoundland. On his voyage northward in search of Thorhall he passed around Cape Bauld (Keelness) southward to Bonne Bay on the west shore. The Skraelings were Red Indians of Newfoundland. He spent his third winter at Sandwich Bay. Hovgaard insists that any claim to the Cape Cod region as the location of Hop is met by the absence of mountains in that region. The Blue Hills are the nearest approach to a mountain in eastern Massachusetts.
Professor H. P. Steensby of Copenhagen made the next im- portant contribution in his Norsemen's Route from Greenland to Wineland (1918), in which, relying solely upon the Saga of Eric the Red (in Hauk's Book) , he describes two voyages, Leif's and Karlsefne's. Vinland cannot have been Nova Scotia because, according to Fernald, neither wild grapes nor wild rice grow there. "Navigation with the Norseman," says Steensby, "had the character of coasting. . . . The coast lines were guides for the ancient Norsemen and they must be ours." Hence he claims that the Vinland voyagers hugged the shore, along Labrador on its east and south coasts, up the St. Lawrence River to the junc- tion of the Saguenay (Keelness headland). Hop was at St. Thomas on the south bank of the St. Lawrence below Quebec; Vinland was the neighboring region; the Skraelings were In- dians.
Our next authority, G. M. Gathorne-Hardy, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London, in his The Norse Dis- coverers of America (1921) has some pointed criticisms of the authors we have just reviewed: both narratives are to be con- sidered; the climate of Nova Scotia with a low temperature of 20° below zero and the absence of vines and "corn" rule that out as the site of Vinland; "Wonder Strands" must have been long indeed to impress the Norsemen and Karlsefne's explorations through three years and cruises of "a long time" call for a wider stretch of coastline than Nova Scotia; at Nain in Sandwich Bay Karlsefne's expedition would have been '"maddened by mos- quitoes in the summer and hopelessly frozen in during the long winter"; the "coasting voyage" claimed for the Norsemen by Steensby is not borne out by the text of the sagas; Hop could not have been on the south bank of the St. Lawrence because
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 223
the Skraelings approached by canoes from the south; its dif- ference in climate from that of Streamfirth, if both were on the St. Lawrence, would have been inconsiderable, yet by the sagas this difference was marked; the climate of the St. Lawrence valley does not at all correspond to the mild winters at Vinland. Gathorne-Hardy's critique will apply to the theories of others who locate Vinland in the St. Lawrence region. Gathorne-Hardy accepts as a fact that Karlsefne did reach Leif 's booths in Vin- land, and proceeds to locate the latter by plotting Thorvald's voyage from a coast facing south. "To the east of the base the land must soon have turned towards the north," to agree with the saga; the south shore of the Barnstable peninsula best fits the requirements; Cape Cod was Keelness. "The river flowing from east to west," which Dieserund declared not to be found anywhere on the Atlantic coast, is identified as Pamet River, south of Provincetown. Streamfirth may be Long Island Sound and Hop may have been located on the west tip of Long Island on New York harbor. As regards the "mountains at Hop," Gathorne-Hardy thinks the text possibly corrupt and that it may not refer to Thorvald's voyage at all.
The limits of this paper will permit us but one more inter- pretation of the Vinland voyages, that of Edward F. Gray, re- cently British Consul at Boston, in his Leif Eriksson, Discoverer of America, A. D. 1003 (1930). Mr. Gray's is one of the most comprehensive treatises on the subject that have appeared, and is as intensive and original in its treatment as was Storm's. His theory is, as concerns the Icelandic texts, that incidents that really occurred on Leif's voyage of exploration, as recorded in the Flatey Book, are in the Hauk's Book attributed to Karlsefne, due to a deliberate intent to magnify the deeds of that Icelander and to disparage those of the Greenlander, Leif Ericsson. The reader will recall that the Flatey Book narrative has been called the Greenland version and the Hauk's Book narrative the Ice- land version. The altered passages occur in the Saga of Eric the Red, which Storm and his followers have contended to be the only reliable version of the Vinland narratives. In present- ing the account of Karlsefne's voyage — he reprints Reeves' texts — Mr. Gray has rearranged the successive incidents in a very in- genious and plausible way.
"In Iceland," says Mr. Gray, "Biarni was apparently unknown or forgotten; and the Iceland narrator was thus left with the
224 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
necessity of finding some one else to be credited with the first discovery. This he does, in a passage obviously interpolated, by attributing it to Leif Eriksson, whose name was better known in Iceland. ..." In the Iceland version of Karlsefne's voyage appear passages that relate to Leif's: (a) the allusion to Leif's two Gaelic scouts; (b) the move from Leif's temporary booths to the island where Leif built his stone house; and (c) Leif's rescue of a shipwrecked crew on his return voyage from Vinland to Greenland. The incident marked "b" is mentioned only in the manuscript AM 557; the confusion caused by "c" led to statements in the sagas that, as Reeves says: "Leif upon two different voyages saved the lives of a crew of ship-wrecked mariners for which he twice received the same title (Leif the Lucky) from the same people!" Incidents of Thorvald's voyage are given under Karlsefne's, that really belong to Thorvald's in- dependent voyage: (a) the story of Thorhall the Hunter; (b) the start of Thorvald's relief expedition to look for Thorhall; (c) Thorvald's death at Crossness. Coming now to Karlsefne's expedition, we find, according to Gray, that the Greenland ver- sion mentions but one ship; Karlsefne's voyage is called "the beginning of the Vinland voyages," thus ignoring those of Biarni, Leif, and Thorvald; also we find allusions to persons who took part in Freydis' separate voyage. Gray claims that the Greenland tradition held to six voyages, which became merged into three in the Iceland version.
The geography of the Norse voyages is treated by Gray with evidence of wide study of the local topography of the Cape Cod region, where he locates Vinland, and his work is enriched by many reproductions of photographs. His reconstruction of the voyages is as follows: Biarni sighted in succession Newfound- land and Labrador and Hudson Strait; Leif's chance discovery of "strange lands" was a transfer, to Leif, of Biarni's voyage. Leif retraced Biarni's course to Newfoundland, which was Bi- arni's first landfall, not his second;; thence Leif coasted Nova Scotia, which he named Markland and, putting out to sea, sailed on until he sighted Cape Cod and landed on the old island of Nauset, now washed away; then southward and westward into Nantucket Sound, where he, not Karlsefne, put ashore the two Gaelic scouts. The grapes are abundant enough in that region today; the self-sown wheat is unidentified. Leif, again not Karl- sefne, sailed westward in the strong currents about Martha's
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 225
Vineyard, and ran his ship aground at Gay Head on that island. "Here they found a river flowing out of a lake — the old Weiwatik River, now partially replaced by Menemsha Creek, a very short distance up which there opens out the tidal lake or Pond of Menemsha. . . . On the tide rising they took the ship up the river past the site of the present fishing village of Menemsha and anchored her in the lake." This, then, was Hop. The manu- script AM 557 here adds the passage: "Then they went out to the island." Which island? No Man's Land, says Gray, just southwest of Martha's Vineyard.
The scene of Thorvald's adventure is Barnstable Harbor. Kaiisefne's expedition is said in the Iceland version to have in- cluded three ships, in one of which there must have been eighty men — an astonishing number — apparently due to the merging of Freydis' independent voyage with Karlsefne's. The expedi- tion of Karlsefne followed the track of Leif's voyage to the island of No Man's Land, mentioned above.
The Skraelings of the narratives were Eskimo, not Indians, Gray believes. In a conversation that he had with Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the distinguished authority on Eskimo, he was told by Stefansson that "it is a common custom today among the Eskimo ... to break up the bones of any animal left, extract the marrow, and put it into the animal's bladder to be kept as emergency rations on the journey. With the jolting of travel- ling, the marrow becomes mixed with the blood, unavoidably left in the bladder, and the result is just what is described in the saga." The five Skraelings killed by Karlsefne had such vessels lying beside them.
Our rather lengthy survey of varying opinion on the Vinland voyages has shown the difficulties and uncertainties connected with the problems involved, which may be grouped thus: (a) textual uncertainties; (b) historical credibility of the sagas; (c) geographic identification.
The critical study of the texts has yielded some interesting results, which are yet to be "proved." The identification of places is rendered uncertain partly by the vagueness of the saga descriptions and partly by the many, not the few, localities that have been sought out by investigators of the Vinland voyages, each one of which localities seems to "fit." Finality will be reached when criticism shall have expended all of its arrows;
226 WILLIAM STETSON MERRILL
but that situation can hardly be said to have yet been reached. The Catholic contribution to the subject has been treated by the present writer in 1928.
The credibility of the narratives was attacked most danger- ously by the eminent explorer and scholar, Fridtjof Nansen, in his In Northern Mists (1911). Dr. Nansen, while admitting the great probability that the early Norsemen did reach the shores of North America, held that the whole literature in which their voyages to Vinland are described is not history but the Norse version of classic legends of the Fortunate Isles, in which there are also incidents derived from Irish tales of legendary voyagers — St. Brandan and others.
Gathorne-Hardy devotes twenty-one pages to examining and refuting Dr. Nansen's conclusions. Professor F. Jonsson has pointed out that while resemblance may be found, the difference between fiction and fact is also apparent in the character of the Icelandic narratives. Yet Hovgaard seems to surmise that some elements have crept into the narratives that show the influences to which Nansen calls attention. Little attention seems to have been paid to the length of time that elapsed between the dis- covery of Vinland in 1003 or thereabouts, and the earliest possi- ble date at which the narratives could have been reduced to writing, about 1250. The Icelanders were noted for the accuracy of their oral traditions ; but to determine just how far details of events have been preserved in their first integrity through two hundred and fifty years, is no easy task.*
* Sources cited in the Text.
Dieserud, Juul. Norse discoveries in America.. New York, 1901.
Gathorne-Hardy, Geoffrey Malcolm. The Norse discoverers of America, the Wineland sagas; tr. . . . by G. M. Gathorne-Hardy. Oxford, 1921.
Gray, Edward F. Leif Eriksson, discoverer of America A. D. 1003. New York, 1930.
Hovgaard, William. The voyages of the Norsemen to America. . New York, 1914.
J6nsson, Finnur. Erik den Rbdes Saga og Vinland. Kristiania, 1911.
Merrill, William Stetson. "The Catholic contribution to the history of the Norse discovery of America." Catholic Ristorical Review, n. s. vol. vii, pp. 589-619. Washington, January, 1928.
Nansen, Fridtjof. In northern mists; Arctic exploration in early times . . . tr. by Arthur G. Chater. New York, 1911. 2 vols.
Rafn, Carl Christian. Antiqvitates americanae; sive, Scriptores septen- trionales rerum ante-columbianarum in America. . . . Hafniae, 1837.
Reeves, Arthur Middleton, ed. The finding of Wineland the good: the his- tory of the Icelandic discovery of America; ed. and tr. from the earliest records by Arthur Middleton Reeves. . . . London, 1890.
Steensby, H. P. The Norsemen's route from Greenland to Wineland. Co- penhagen, 1918.
THE NORSE VOYAGES TO AMERICA 227
Storm, Gustav. "Studies on the Vineland voyages." In Memoires de la Soci&te Royale des Antiquaires du Nord. Copenhagen, 1888.
Th6rdarson, Matthias. The Vinland voyages, tr. by Thorstina Jackson Walters. American Geographical Society research series no. 18. New York, 1930.
Torfaeus, Thormodus. "The history of ancient Vinland. . . . tr. by Prof. Charles G. Herbermann. ..." In United States Catholic historical magazine, v. 2 (1888) no. 8 [appendix]. New York, 1888.
Winsor, Justin. Narrative and critical history of America, vol. i. Boston, 1889.
William Stetson Merrill Oak Park, Illinois
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO*
Though at first sight it would seem as if the shipwreck of 1511 had little or nothing to do with the history of the Church in Mexico, in reality it is closely associated with the origin of Christian civilization in this country.
For Mexcans it is a great honor and a great consolation to be able to say, in all historical truth, that the first words of civilization and the real beginning of their history were the praises of the Most Blessed Virgin, and that the first object known to have reached their shores was a book of the Hours of Our Lady.
Toward the close of the year 1511, a Spanish caravel, under the command of Captain Valdivia, on its way from Darien to Hispaniola, was lost on what was known as the Snake or Alli- gator Shoals. With great difficulty nineteen men without bread or water entered the little lifeboats, poorly equipped with oars.1
After suffering great mental anguish, seven of these died. The rest succeeded in landing "in a province called Maya," that is, on the coast of what is now known as Yucatan.
All of them fell into the hands of a very cruel cacique, who sacrificed Valdivia and four others, offering them to his idols. Their bodies were eaten amidst great festivities and rejoicing. The seven who remained were locked up in a cage, there to be fattened and to be used later in solemnizing other festivals. But these prisoners were determined to end their lives in a different manner; they broke open the cage in which they were enclosed and fled to the hills.
Before long five of them perished and the only ones who re- mained were Jeronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero. Jeronimo de Aguilar lost everything in the shipwreck except the Hours of Our Lady, which he always carried with him, even at the risk of his life. In the daily recital of these Hours he found great consolation and strength during his eight years of captiv- ity and solitude. In the year 1519, Hernan Cortez found him, and thereafter always retained him as his interpreter. Jeronimo
* Mariano Cuevas, S. J., Historia de la Iglesia en Mexico, 1921, I, pp. 101-118. The translation from the Spanish text is by Peter P. Forrestal, C. S. C, Litt. D., Saint Edward's University, Austin, Texas.
i See Herrera, D6cada II, Bk. IV, Chap. VTI ; and, De'cada I, Bk. DC, Chap. II, §§ 1, 2.
228
THE DAWN OP CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 229
played such an important role in the conquest that without him it is very probable that it would have been a failure.
In the spiritual conquest and in the ecclesiastical history, Aguilar is the good Christian preserved from that horrible ship- wreck, who, strong in faith and piety, brought down the mercies of heaven upon Mexico. He was the first, after so many cen- turies of abominable idolatry, to entone the praises of the true God and His Most Holy Mother.
The way to salvation began to be prepared from another direction six years later. Among the adventurers who resided in the island of Cuba, about 1517, were some far-sighted and courageous men, anxious to distinguish themselves in the service of their king. These, not satisfied that the sole recompense for so many hardships should be the narrow limits of that land, an unhealthful climate and a miserable existence, conceived the idea of setting forth on an expedition of new conquest. Among these adventurers there was an old Spaniard who was a good Chris- tian, and a brave, trusty, frank and sincere warrior. His name was Bernal Diaz de Castillo. It is he who writes :
"We decided to muster one hundred and ten companies. ... It was agreed that a rich nobleman, Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, was to be our Captain in the task of seeking and discovering new lands. In order that our expedition might be carried on in the right spirit we decided to take with us a cleric from the town of San Cristobal [Havana], whose name was Alonso Gonzalez. After uttering words of encouragement, he went along with us. We made all arrangements, heard Mass, recommended ourselves to Our Lord God and to His Most Blessed Mother, and com- menced our voyage on the eighth day of February in the year 1517.
"Once on the high seas we ventured toward the west, without any knowledge of shoals or currents or winds that are wont to prevail in that latitude. Our lives were in great danger, because soon a storm arose which lasted two days and two nights. Twenty-one days after we had left the Island of Cuba we came within sight of land, and we were very happy and gave thanks to God. One morning, March 4, 1517, we saw five canoes coming toward us. . . . and the following morning we landed." — Bernal.
The secular cleric Alonso Gonzalez was, then, the first priest of God to set foot upon Mexican soil, landing at the Cape of Catoche, March 5, 1517.
The adventurers were given a very hostile reception by the the Indians, and the very first day saw the beginning of that series of combats with which all of us are familiar from our general history.
"In those skirmishes," says the above-mentioned witness, "we
230 MARIANO CUEVAS
captured two Indians, who later on were baptized and became Christians, one being named Melchor and the other Julian." It is to be regretted that we do not know the exact date upon which the first sacrament was administered, that upon which the first Mexican received supernatural grace, and upon which the first prize was snatched from the tyrannical dominion of Satan in our land.2
The fate of that expedition was a sad one. Driven out of their course by the tempests, sick and poor, they resolved to return to Cuba, where they arrived after incredible hardships. Their unsuccessful efforts should not, however, deprive them of a place in our history nor of our gratitude. They were the first to imperil their lives, and, by that first expedition, furnished the information necessary for the two that followed.
The first one who took advantage of this information was Juan de Grijalva, a brave, quiet hidalgo from Cuellar, of whom Fray Bartolome de las Casas said that he would have made a good friar.
Juan Diaz, chaplain of the fleet organized by Grijalva, kept a diary of the expedition. We have made use of the Italian trans- lation found in the Colombina Library in Seville,3 and from it have culled the following :
"On Saturday, May 1st of the year mentioned (1518) the said Captain Juan de Grijalva set out from Fernandina Island [Cuba] . . . and on the following Monday . . . we saw land, and because it was the feast of the Holy Cross ... we called it Santa Cruz.4 On Thursday, May 6th, the Captain ordered one hundred men to be armed and prepared. These leaped into the canoes and later on disembarked, taking a cleric with them. They reached the tower in an orderly manner. . . . The Captain climbed the tower together with the ensign, who carried the standard, which he planted in a suitable place in honor of the Catholic King.s He took possession in
2 In a letter written in New Seville, November 7, 1519, and addressed to Juan de la Pefia, we read that fifty Indians were taken along on this expedition. . This is not incredible, and when we consider the sufferings the members of this expedition had to undergo on their return, it would be still less surprising if they retained them. Trois Lettres sur la Decou- verte de Yucatan et les Merveilles de ce-Pays. Amsterdam, 1871.
3 Itinerio de la Armada del Rey, Catolico a la Isla de Yucatan en la India. 1518. MS. in the Colombina Library. Viajes de Ludovico Varthema. New designation: 12-3-34.
4 The document is defective but the meaning is clear and should be interpreted as noted.
s The standard of Castile was violet, the color which modern scholars have given it. When we speak of Castile in the time of the conquest we mean all of Spain, exclusive of the kingdom of Aragon.
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 231
the name of His Majesty and desiring1 to leave evidence of said seizure, placed a document in the side of the tower. This tower was terraced and was eighteen steps in height. Its base was solid and was eighty feet in circumference. Above it there was another small tower the height of two men, and on the inside were certain figures, bones and ashes, which were the idols they adored.s The tower was prepared for services im- mediately and Mass was said." — Juan Diaz.
Jesus Christ took possession of His Mexico. Because of this the sixth of May should be a day of great solemnity throughout this country.7
Grijalva returned to Cuba, a defeated man and broken in spirit. His expedition had failed, but he and his followers, hav- ing discovered the grandeur of this new land, encouraged and in great part went to make up the third and final expedition.
With eleven vessels manned with one hundred and nine sailors and at the head of five hundred and eight soldiers, Hernan Cor- tez weighed anchor in the port of Havana on February 18, 1519, and struck out for the Cape of San Anton and the coast of Yucatan under the protection of his special advocate, the apostle Saint Peter.
Diego Velazquez, governor of Cuba, although regretting that he, had entrusted the command to Cortez, had on the 25th of October of the previous year given him, among other instruc- tions, the following of a religious character. These exemplified the faith and practices of the conquistadors, and embodied those ideals which were, more or less, put into practice.
"First of all," the instructions State, "the prime motive which should actuate you and your followers is that this voyage redound to the service and praise of Our Lord God and to the spread of our Holy Catholic faith. You must permit no one, whatsoever be his rank or condition, to speak ill of Our Lord, His Most Blessed Mother or His saints, or to utter any sort of blasphemy against His most holy Name; before all else you must warn them against this, and those who commit such a crime are to be punished according to law with all possible rigor.
"You shall permit no public sin, such as prostitution, and you shall see to it that no Spanish Christians of your company have access to or carnal relation with any woman contrary to our law, because it is a sin which God detests and which is prohibited by both laws, divine and human. You shall proceed with all rigor against whosoever commits such a sin or
e The pyramid discovered in Cozumel by the Carnegie Commission in 1925 seems to warrant this description.
7 These words of the celebrant himself disprove the assertions of all who maintain that the first Mass was offered on April 17th or March 25th. Either of these dates would refer to a Mass said by the chaplains of Cortez at a date later than that we have given above.
232 MARIANO CUEVAS
crime and chastise him according to justice, being guided by what the laws ordain in such a case.
"You must endeavor not to have in your company any person whom you know not to be zealous for the service of Our Lord God and their Majesties, or who is turbulent and fond of innovations or a disturber of peace; and you shall prohibit dice and cards on all your vessels.
"Because in many parts of the said island of Santa Cruz and on top of certain tombs and burying places crosses have been found which are said to be held in great veneration, you shall find out by all possible means and with great care and diligence what significance they have and why it is the natives probably have had or have some knowledge of Our Lord God and of a man that suffered on the cross. In this matter you shall exercise the utmost care and you shall make an exact report on all this before your notary, not only in this island but in any others in which you find the said crosses.
"You shall use great diligence in investigating and learning, by every means and form at your command, if the natives of said island or of any of these islands have any sect or creed or rite or ceremony in which they believe or any person whom they adore, or if they have mosques or any houses of prayer or idols or other things of this nature, or if they have persons that administer their ceremonies, such as doctors of the law or other ministers; and you shall make a very extensive and detailed report on all this in the presence of your notary so that it may bear the marks of credibility. For you realize that the principal reason why their Majes- ties permit the discovery of new lands is because in these parts there are so many souls that have been lost to our faith so long a time for want of someone who might bring them the true light. You must do all in your power to explain this faith to them, so they may know that there is but one God, Creator of heaven and earth and of all things in heaven and in the world. You must tell them all else that you may be able to explain under the circumstances and of which time will permit." — Norm of action outlined by Velazquez.s
We do not claim to describe the conquest of Mexico. It is a collection of historical truths, which, like a heroic poem, is worthy of Spain and of its age. We must limit ourselves to a description of its ecclesiastical aspect, that is to the more or less religious characteristics of its conquerors and such acts of theirs as bear relation to the propagation of the Catholic faith.
Hernan Cortez is the first personage of our political and mili- tary history, and he also plays a very important role in the ecclesiastical history of the period we are considering.
Hernan, or Fernando Cortez was born in the noble little town of Medellin in the province of Extremadura. His father was the
s A. G. I. -1-1-12. Apud Alaman, Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica Mexicana, 265-270.
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 233
poor but honorable nobleman, Martin Cortez de Monroy, and his mother, Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. During the years 1499 and 1500 he studied at Salamanca, though without the inclina- tion or progress which his father had expected of him.9
In 1504, when on the point of sailing for Italy, he changed his plans and set out for Hispaniola, where the commander Ovando, a relative of his, gave him Indians as his portion of the spoils of victory, a favor which he enjoyed until the year 1510. The following year he accompanied Velazquez in the conquest of Cuba, in the capacity of assistant treasurer to Pasamonte.
In the year 1517, and in the following year news was re- ceived of the unsuccessful expeditions of Fernandez de Cordoba and Juan de Grijalva; but at the same time it was learned that those regions were extremely rich. Because of this, Cortez de- termined to enlist in the armada which was being organized by Diego de Velazquez for the purpose of undertaking these con- quests. Intimate friends as they were, Cortez won the confi- dence of Velazquez, who finally appointed him captain of that armada.
Sooner than Velazquez had expected, and against his will, Cortez left Havana on February 18, 1519. After touching sev- eral parts of the islands of Yucatan and Tabasco, on Good Fri- day of the same year he landed in what is now known as Vera Cruz. Two years later, on the 13th of August, he completed the conquest of the Montezuma empire.
In 1524, driven on by thirst for conquest, he undertook the unfortunate expedition to Hibueras, or Honduras. He returned to Mexico in 1526, finding everything in a state of turmoil as a result of his absence. The following year he was ordered back to Spain, but he failed to carry out these orders until the year 1528. He was shown every sign of affection and gratitude by Charles V. A little later he visited the sanctuary of Guadalupe in Extremadura. In Extremadura he became acquainted with Juana de Zuiiiga, whom he married in 1529. In July, 1530, he was back in New Spain, though he did not reach the capital, being prevented from doing so by the oidores, judges of the Audiencia, who had received a royal decree for the purpose.
a He made progress in Latin, however. The conquistador Luis de Cardenas tells us that when Cortez did not want certain people to under- stand him he used to speak Latin. Zumarraga wrote long sentences to him in this language.
234 MARIANO CUEVAS
Once more, in 1532, he assumed the command of the armada, which was setting out to conquer the islands and the lands of the South Sea, an expedition which failed also.
Until 1540 his life was a series of disappointments and con- troversies, most of which were the result of the Juicio de Resi- dencia, which was begun in 1527, renewed in 1530, and lasted without any satisfactory settlement until his death. He returned to the court in 1540, and the following year accompanied Charles V on the famous Algiers expedition, from which he barely es- caped with his life.
A series of quarrels, rebuffs and contradictions embittered the rest of his days which, as he himself tells us, were spent going from town to town and from inn to inn, and which came to a close in a Christian manner on December 2, 1547, in Cas- tilleja de la Cuesta, a town near Seville. For some time his re- mains were kept in Santiponce ; ; later on they were brought back to Mexico and buried, not in Coyoacan, as he had requested, but in the Hospital Church of Nuestra Sefiora, now called Jesus Nazareno. Were it not for the levity of his youth, the relations he had had for some time with Dona Marina, certain actions of his in the conquest and his unjustifiable and cruel conduct to- ward Cuahutemoc, Cortez might be regarded as a truly famous man in the world's history.
He understood and lamented his outburst of passion. Al- ready an old man and beset by persecutions, we hear him ex- claim : "For this I give thanks to God who wishes to punish me for all the offenses I have committed against Him. May He be pleased to consider it thus for the final reckoning." If, as we believe, God pardoned him, let us also pardon his mistakes in consideration of the great service he has rendered us and which all Mexicans should acknowledge. This is a noble attitude.10
Speaking in general, that is, not including certain details of the conquest, (since historians do not discuss rights, but nar- rate facts), we have all the documents and data necessary to show that Cortez, and a fortiori his men, acted in good faith, at least subjectively.
io The crime of uxoricide of which Cortez has been accused could not be proved at that time nor can it be proved today. Nemo malus nisi pro- betur. The fact that witnesses mention certain marks which would indi- cate choking or strangling is not sufficient proof. They may have given this description from marks they had observed on persons murdered in this way or from accounts of such deaths. They themselves were not eye- witnesses.
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 235
Hear what Don Hernando proclaimed in his ordinances of 1524 and 1525:
"I exhort and beseech all Spaniards of my company who are going to this present war or who in the name of His Majesty go under my command to any other wars, that their chief motive and intention be to withdraw and wrest all the natives of these parts from the aforesaid idolatries and to convert them or, at least, to desire their salvation, and that they be brought to the knowledge of God and of His Holy Catholic faith; because if this war were carried on with any other intention it would be unjust, and whatever might take place in it would be censurable, restitution would have to be made, and His Majesty would not be justified in ordering any recompense for those who served in it. This I place upon the conscience of said Spaniards, and from this moment I protest in the name of His Majesty that my principal intention and motive in carrying on this war and any future wars is to bring and to convert these natives to the knowl- edge of our holy faith." — Cortez.n
Through these fragments and through others of the same character which we shall reproduce in part, it is clear that Cortez was a man of deep faith and piety.
"The said marquis," says Bernal in speaking of Cortez, "car- ried a banned on which was a device representing white and blue fires, with a red cross in the center. It bore the inscription: Amici, sequamur crucem et si nos fidem hahemus, vere in hoc signo vincemus.12 He did not carry large gold chains, but only a little, gold chain, beautifully fashioned, with a small jewel and the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding her precious Son in her arms. It bore a Latin inscription to Our Lady on one side, and on the reverse side there was a picture of Saint John the Baptist with another inscription.
"Cortez prayed several hours every morning and heard Mass with de- votion; he had Our Blessed Lady as his special patroness, whom all faithful Christians should hold as their intercessor and advocate; and he had like- wise great devotion to Saint Peter, Saint James, and Saint John the Bap- tist. He was also very charitable to the poor. May God pardon him his sins and may he pardon me also and grant me a happy death, which is more important than the conquest and victories we have had over the Indians."
In the Cortez statutes we read the following: "The same is to be observed in respect to Our Lady and all the saints, under
ii Ordenanzas de Cortes. Icazbalceta, Vol. I, 446.
12 "Friends, let us follow the cross, and if we have faith we shall con- quer with this sign." Relation de Andres Tapia sobre la Conquista de Mexico. Col. Icazbalceta, 11, p. 554.
236 MARIANO CUEVAS
pain of incurring not only the penalty established by the laws of the kingdom against blasphemers, but also of paying fifteen gold castellanos, one-third for Our Lady's sodality that shall be organized in this region."13
Cortez ordained, likewise, that "on the farms and in other places where the Spaniards made use of the Indians there is to be a special place for the image of Our Lady. Every morning before the Indians go out to work they are to be taken there and instructed in matters of our holy faith and are to be taught the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed and Salve Regina. In this way it will be evident that they receive the doctrines of our holy faith. Failure to do this will result in a penalty of six gold pesos, to be applied as stated above."14
In treating of his companions, those that followed him until 1521, and considering them in this period alone, no absolute statement can be made, as is always true of human beings taken collectively.
A priori, it might be taken for granted that among the great numbers that came to Mexico there were many of reproachable lives. It is hardly credible that all the seducers, revellers, pro- fligates, plotters, and the rest of the vagabonds and knaves could have remained in Spain ; nor does it seem possible that they were converted by enchantment, as it were, merely because the sea lay between them and their native homes. This explains many incidents of the conquest as related in the political histories.
There is a very curious book in the Archives of the Indies, compiled by order of the royal council, in which, apropos of the demands made on the Crown by the first conquistadors and colonizers, a succinct account is given of their merits and serv- ices, and also data on the lives of these conquistadors before they crossed the sea.15
After studying it one can see that for the most part the con- quistadors were men of low type; many of them had fought in one faction or another during the Comunero wars of Castile, in the Italian wars, or in the conquest of Granada. These came from the territory subject to the Crown of Castile; for to this kingdom, excluding that of Aragon, was accredited the conquest
13 Documentos In&ditos (Torres de Mendoza). Orders issued by Hernan Cortez for the good treatment and government of the Indians, XXVI, 168.
14 Idem.
is Archivo General de Indias en Sevilla, 87-5-1.
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 237
of America. Most of the conquistadors of Mexico were from Andalucia and Extremadura, the leaders being from this latter province and from Castile. There were many Basques, especial- ly among the sea-faring men, a limited number of Portuguese and very few, if any, from Aragon and Catalonia. But, prac- tically all of them came over to the Indies imbued with an Andalucian, and, to a still greater extent, a Sevillian civilization. Prom that time down to the XVIII century the heart of Amer- ica was in Seville, and Seville offered the standard of culture and even of ecclesiastical discipline to the secular clergy.
As their deeds proved, the conquistadors were military ad- venturers of unexampled valor and daring. That some of them were cruel can not be denied. To their rude mentality the con- quest was a sort of continuation of the Moorish war. Standing before the Indian temples, which they called mosques, and with the blood of the victims and the innocent before their eyes, with little difficulty they convinced themselves, as did also their cap- tains, that they were engaged in a holy war, although they realized and admitted that they themselves were not holy.
From the study of the above-mentioned book on Ivlerits and Services it is also evident that many though poor indeed in earthly goods, were honorable men, of good birth and rightly married. When, later on, after the din of battle had died away, we shall see how, as it were, honor sprang up among them anew and how, in contrast to the rabble that came after them, they were the best ecomenderos, or land-holders, of the colony and the most beloved friends of the Indians. A large number of them even took the religious habit.
"Among the conquistadors," says Bernal Diaz in one of his beautifully constructed paragraphs, "there was a certain Alonzo Duran, who was rather old, whose sight was defective and who assisted in the sacristy. He became a Mercedarian friar. And there was a soldier named Sindos de Portillo, a native of Portillo, who had good Indians and was wealthy, but who gave up his Indians, sold his possessions, distributed all he had among the poor, became a Mercedarian friar and led a holy life. Another good soldier called Quintero, a native of Moguer, who had good Indians and who was very wealthy, relinquished all for God's sake and became a Franciscan friar and a holy religious. An- other soldier, Alonso de Aguilar, who owned the inn which is now known as Aguilar Inn, located between Vera Cruz and
238 MARIANO CUEVAS
Puebla, was a very wealthy man and had a good repariimiento. He sold everything, distributed the money for the glory of God, became a Dominican friar and led an exemplary life. Another soldier, a certain Burguillos by name, had good Indians, was well-to-do and left all to become a Franciscan. This Burguillos left the Order later. Another good soldier, named Escalante, who was chivalrous and an excellent rider, became a Franciscan friar. Later he left the monastery and returned to his triumphs ; but after a month had elapsed he took the habit once more and became a virtuous religious. Another soldier, Gaspar Diaz, a native of Old Castile, wealthy in Indians and successful in busi- ness, left everything for God's sake and went off to the lonely pine groves of Huejocingo, where he built a hermitage and lived as a recluse. He led such a saintly life, fasted so much and used such strict discipline that he became emaciated and weak; and he is said to have slept on some straw strewn over the ground. When the Bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, learned of this he ordered him not to practice such rigorous discipline. The hermit Gasper Diaz attained such fame that other hermits came to join him, and all of these led good lives. After he had been there for four years God saw fit to grant him the crown of glory."
This large percentage of religious vocations sheds much light on the rest of the conquistadors because we judge the spirit of a community by the proportionate number of vocations to a more perfect life. In any case, whatever may have been the lives and faults of the men accompanying Cortez, they were full of the Spanish faith of their day, a faith that was simple, pious and deep-rooted.
There were only two ecclesiastics on the Cortez expedition. The first, and the one whose authority bears more weight, was Fray Bartolome de Olmedo of the Order of Mercy, a prudent, energetic apostolic man, a good theologian, a preacher and a singer. He was not a mere troop chaplain, but a counsellor, though in important matters his advice was not always followed by Captain Cortes. In religious matters he always spoke with authority and, when necessary, protested with all the energy that could be expected from one of his character and calling. Shortly after having taken possession of Mexico City, Pedro de Alvarado set out on his conquest of the South and of the Zapotecs; and the good Fray Bartolome de Olmedo, "who," ac- cording to Bernal, "was a holy friar, toiled among them,
THE DAWN OF CHRISTIANITY IN MEXICO 239
preached to them, taught them the articles of faith and baptized more than five hundred Indians in those provinces. Indeed, he v/as weary and old and could no longer walk; he was occupied in preaching the holy faith to the Indians and used to say Mass on an altar which they built and on which they placed a cross which they had already worshipped, because they had noticed we worshipped it. Then the friar erected an image of Our Lady which Garay had brought and had given him when he was dying. It was small but very beautiful and the Indians loved it very much. The friars told them whom it represented."
Olmedo died in Mexico City at the end of October or the be- ginning of November, 1524. The lawyer Zuazo communicated this knowledge to Cortez in a letter which reached the latter when he was on his way to Honduras. The letter stated that the good friar Bartolome had died, that he was a holy man and that all Mexico bewailed his loss; that he had been enterred with great pomp in Sefior Santiago; that from the time of his death until his burial the Indians had not eaten a morsel; that the Franciscan Fathers had preached in his honor at the burial and had stated that he was a saintly man and that the Emperor was greatly indebted to him, but that the Indians were indebted to him- still more; because, if Olmedo, like Cortez and the other old conquistadors, had given vassals to the Emperor, he had given the Indians a knowledge of God and won over their souls for heaven. The letter stated that he had converted and bap- tized more than two thousand five hundred Indians in New Spain and that Fray Bartolome de Olmedo had on more than one oc- casion remarked this to the preacher himself. It stated also that he was greatly missed because with his authority and holi- ness he was wont to put an end to many dissensions and disputes, and because he was very good to the poor.
If it could be proved, the data given us by Veitia about Fray Bartolome de Olmedo's having written a catechism would be very interesting.
The secular priest Juan Diaz was also one of those who came over with Cortez. Don Juan de Zumarraga tells us that Juan Diaz was an old and honorable cleric, and that he had appointed him to hear the confession of Cristobal de Angulo before the latter underwent the torture. In 1649, Bishop Don Juan de Palafox learned from Juan Juarez, who had it from hearsay and who was very far distant from the scene, that the cleric Juan
240 MARIANO CUEVAS
Diaz had been killed in Quechulac for having destroyed with flint knives the idols belonging to the Indians. Nicholas de Villanueva, another witness much like the former, heard that they had stoned him to death. In 1608 Torquemada learned from the Indians that they had made him suffer a violent death, not knowing he was a priest. The fact is that the manner in which he suffered Christian martyrdom is not certain. His body was said to have been preserved in the hermitage of San Esteban in Tlaxcala. At the end of the XVI century, in several of the Franciscan convents, there were paintings that represented him baptizing the principal citizens of Tlaxcala and Texcoco.
In 1521, another Mass cleric, who had arrived with Narvaez, was hanged because he was regarded as one of the conspirators against Cortez. In 1524, two Mercedarian friars accompanied Zuazo, but only one of them reached Mexico. That was Fray Juan de las Varillas, "who was wont to say that he had studied his theology in the college of Santa Cruz in Salamanca, his birth place, and that he was considered of very noble lineage." An- other cleric came also. This might have been Pedro de Villagran, mentioned in the Cabildo records of May 30, 1535, as parish priest for Mexico City. Among the first clerics, mention is also made of Marcos de Melgarejo, Juan Godinez, Juan Ruiz de Guevara, and a certain Martin, who had a bachelor's degree and who said his first Mass in Mexico. Those, however, who can rightfully be regarded as pioneers were Fray Bartolome de Olmedo and the licentiate Juan Diaz. Fray Juan de Zumarraga mentions, besides Juan Diaz, Francisco Martinez, Luis Mendez Tollado and Diego Velazquez among the clerics of the conquest, although, as Bishop Palafox imagines, all of these might not have come with Cortez.
Mariano Cuevas
GONZALO DE TAPIA
Un Conquistador de Dios 1561-1594
Hubert Howe Bancroft tells us that from 1591 to 1767 north- western Mexico writes its history from the records of the Jesuit missionaries1 Now this opinion was written without knowledge of the government archives in Seville, and hence should be modi- fied to some extent, but it states the major point of importance to the student of our southwestern history. For the missionaries not only preserved the best account of the Spanish advance up the Pacific slope, but they actually made much of the history of that movement. The beginning of that advance is the subject of this story. The start in Sinaloa formed the nucleus of a wide system 'that in its maturity brought the colonies of Spain to the distant borderlands of Arizona and California.
The earliest permanent settlements in New Spain were the product of conquest. The natives naively enough could not un- derstand the mixed imperial motives of colonizing, Christian- izing, protecting and exploiting the despoiled peoples, and they resisted to death the coming of the white man. Philip II saw the inhumanity and the waste in the military policy, and in 1573 gave orders that henceforth only peaceful weapons might be used in expanding the dominions of his majesty.2
Such weapons were lying plentiful in the arsenals of his country. The religious orders were in their heyday. It is a curious commentary on the much-heralded evils of the sixteenth century that that same century witnessed a burst of Christian zeal such as had not been seen since the days of Gregory the Great. Thousands of men and women who lived under vows of high resolve yearned to give their fullest efforts for the spiritual welfare of those whom they called "the heathen."3
This missionary work had early fallen to the good fortune of the Franciscans and other orders, and the followers of the holy man of Assisi merited well the esteem and trust in which they were held.4 The day came, however, when the field was too large for their numbers, and a combination of Pope, King, Vice-
i North Mexican States and Texas, I, 119.
2 Cf . Bolton, Spanish Borderlands, C. vi.
s Cf . Thurston, No Popery on the point.
* Introduction to Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.
241
242 w- EUGENE SKIELS
roy, and local clergy brought the Jesuits to Mexico.5 Their first settled habitation was taken over in Mexico City in 1572. For eighteen years they put their chief interest into works of educa- tion and assistance of the local parishes in cities and semi- civilized neighboring pueblos. (The term "civilized" is used in a restricted sense, as is proper when one considers the attain- ments of the Nahuas before the white man ruled them.)
The distinctly missionary work of the Jesuits owes much of its impetus to Rodrigo del Rio y Loza, the companion of Fran- cisco Ibarra and the one who reaped much of his harvest.6 This dashing hidalgo had settled down after his roamings, in the gov- ernorship of Nueva Vizcaya, the seat of which was Zacatecas. He ruled over the districts of Zacatecas and Sinaloa, embracing the present province of Durango and extending up until they were lost in the Northern Mystery. He took a special interest in Sinaloa, where he and his illustrious forbears in the list of exploring conquistadores had begun or ended most of their ex- peditions. His youth gone, his pastures grazing more cattle than any ranchero of his time, his reputation made, Rio y Loza gave thought to the larger things of life. He would see the province of Sinaloa a flourishing civilization and its Indians brought to Christianity. From 1585 to 1590 he appealed to the provincial of the Jesuits in Mexico, Father Mendoza, to send him some missionaries.7 A colony of Jesuits had been at Zacatecas for some years, and he liked their work. He had spoken to one of their number about going far north to New Mexico. s Perhaps his appeals to Mendoza asked the two-fold mission — the wise petitioner requesting twice what he hopes to receive.
Now Mendoza was reluctant to send any Jesuits on such an enterprise, and so was his successor, Father Pedro Diaz, who took office in 1590.° But there was then present in Mexico a representative of the Jesuit Father General, Father Avellaneda,
■r» Florencia Historia de la Provincia de la Compania de Jesus en Nueva Espafia. Also Astrain, Flistoria de la Compania de Jesus en la Assistencia de Espafia, IV, 403 sq., and Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesus in Provincia Mexicana, I, passim. The latter is the best work.
e Perez de Ribas, Historia de los Triumphos de la Santa Fe in Sinaloa. Ribas was a personal friend of Rio y Loza.
? Tapia to the Father General, August 2, 1592.
s Albieuri, Historia de los Missiones Apostolicos de Compania de Jesus in Indos Orientales y Nueva Vizcaya. Manuscript work of 1633 now in the Bancroft Library, University of California.
s Astrain, IV, 427, et seq. Cuevas, Historia de la Iglesia in Mexico, II, 345-352, opposes the view of Astrain with some force.
GONZALO DE TAPIA 243
sent as a Visitor to look over the affairs of the new province. His authority overruled the reserve of Diaz and he gave the word that began the mission of Sinaloa. Accordingly Diaz informed Rio y Loza that he might have two Fathers, Martin Perez and Gonzalo de Tapia, for whatever work he desired among the sav- ages. As superior of the newly constituted domus he named Father Tapia.
Tapia, then, was the founder of the Jesuit missions on the Pacific slope of New Spain, and he likewise became their first martyr. Only three years did he spend in constructing the basis of this edifice, but he did it remarkably well, and he gave his life's blood to make it permanent. As the leading figure in the first hundred years of these missions, and one of the best known Jesuits in the world of those days, his biography demands attention.10
He was born in 1581 at Leon in Castile, just over the moun- tains from historic Covadonga.11 His parents were of noble blood. His brothers all followed the career of arms and died young in the service. Gonzalo, sole heir to the name and rev- enues of his house, received a thorough classical course at the local Jesuit college, and at the age of fifteen forswore his worldly possessions for a life as a Jesuit priest. He finished his course of studies in the Order in eight years, and then further dispos- sessed himelf by leaving his own country and going to Mexico as a missionary. After a year of lecturing as substitute for a dis- abled professor of philosophy he was ordained priest. His su- periors wished him to go on for the doctorate of theology, so unusual were his talents and personality.12 But his pleading re- leased him from this duty and he entered on the immediate preparation for his mission work.
At Patzcuaro was a school for Indians and a curriculum for Jesuits studying native languages.13 Sickness had made a va- cancy here, and Tapia was given the place. He intended to leam the languages, and in practical contact with the natives to come to understand their way of thinking. A year of this effort
10 Confer the Menologies S. J. of Tanner, Drews, Nadas, Guilhermy, Patrignani, etc., for July 10 or July 11. The Anuas from 1595 onward record July 11 as the correct date.
ii Albieuri has the best data on his early life.
12 Father Ramirez, a schoolmate of Tapia, and others from Leon are quoted in Albieuri. Perez de Ribas concurs with them.
13 Letter of Tarascan Indians in Documentos para la Historia de Sinaloa/' 45a, in Bancroft Library.
244 W- EUGENE SHIELS
merited high commendation from his provincial, who then or- dered him into retirement for ten months to make his tertianship and prepare for his last solemn vows. This final step in his Jesuit course was taken in the spring of 1587.
Now Tapia was assigned to itinerary mission work among the Tarascans and Mexico mountain Indians. His charges were those employed in mines or on plantations, and were called "peones," a term meaning laborers and then devoid of its present ugly connotation. The Chichimecos of the Zacatecas country heard of him and got their governor to have him assigned to care for them. He made marked progress with this tribe and his reputation had become so great that he was summoned to Mexico to represent the conditions of the missions in the pro- vincial congregation of the Order in 1588-89. Returning, he found that the Franciscan Fathers had taken over the pueblos which he had inaugurated for these Chichimecos, so he turned to class work in the Jesuit Indian college of Zacatecas.14 He was here when he got the message to report to Rio y Loza early in 1591.15
The interview over, Tapia and Perez rode out alone south- westward to Acaponeta, to avoid the Indian war at Topia on the ordinary trail to Sinaloa.16 Thence they turned and followed the coastline through San Miguel, Culiacan and Mocorito to San Felipe y Santiago where they fixed their permanent head- quarters.17 San Felipe was the remnant of an old foundation of Ibarra that had since been decimated by the natives so badly that only five Spaniard backwoodsmen were there in 1591. About a month was spent in learning the Sinaloa dialect, and then the missioners divided the field and began work. The Indians were hostile at first, mindful of earlier meetings with white men, but they softened when they recognized the unselfishness of the priests' purposes. Soon chapels were erected, hundreds were baptized, and the civilizing influence of Christianity made itself felt.18
Next year two more men joined Perez and Tapia. Tapia himself, after reallocating his workers and mapping plans, trav-
i* Albieuri, 265.
is They met at Durango, then called Guadiana. i6 Tapia to Acquiviva as noted above.
i7 On contemporary geography cf. Purchas, His Pilgrimes, IV. is The Annas, or Litterae Annnae, from the Mexican provincial to Acquaviva, 1591 to 1595, give long accounts of the work.
GONZALO DE TAPIA 245
eled back to Mexico to report to his provincial and to the vice- roy. The latter agreed to give a stipend to support the mission.19 This journey was also a success in the interest it roused in the city, regarding the new venture that promised so much for the future of Spanish aims.
Returning in 1593 Tapia reattacked the labor and furthered the organization of the mission. At Christmas the four Fathers held a reunion of joy and mutual encouragement and promise. The work went on with energy and the reward of conversions and the beginnings of some semblance of culture. There was opposition, as one would expect, especially from the older In- dians, who were found generally intractable. One of them, Nacabeba of Tovorapa, plotted the death of Tapia; and on July 11, 1594, at sundown, as he knelt to say his rosary and prepare for sleep, he was struck with a sword. Dying he crawled toward the church to end his life on the altar, but a native cut off his head. His relics are held in veneration and he is listed as a martyr in the annals of his day.20
Tapia's death brought the government to establish a presidio at San Felipe, and to adopt this protection as a regular thing for the future missions.21 Tapia organized the first really thorough mission work of the Jesuits of New Spain. He wrote catechisms and grammars in the native tongues. He outlined the method of grouping the savages in pueblos round the central church of the district. He got the head of the Jesuit province to establish a school for his young converts, thus to perpetuate his work and in time to set up a native clergy. But more effec- tive than his scheme of administration was his personality, that welded his men into a vigorous group and convinced the Indians that all that was Spanish was not bloodly and avaricious. He was an inspiring example of what he taught them to be. It was men like Tapia who roused the Indian to elevate himself, until in later times we see direct descendants of these same barbarians in the highest positions of church and state in Mexico.
W. Eugene Shiels, S. J. San Francisco, California.
is Astrain, ib., 432.
20 Santiago to Diaz, July, 1594. Albieuri, ib.
2i Letters of Perez, Santiago, Velasco to provincial Father Paez, 1595.
THE SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO MISSION TRAIL
In the early half of the last century and later there came from Ireland and Germany and from England to a lesser extent, immigrants of a sturdy Catholic faith to seek a homestead some- where in the state of Illinois. A perusal of the Catholic Direc- tories of those years evidences that an effort was made, evident- ly by priests and bishops, to secure such immigration and settle- ment within the state of Illinois by the offer of fertile and cheap land. Many of these pioneer immigrants, however, drifted, as chance might lead them, to some spot in the wilderness where they built their one-room cabins to shelter a family. Too many of these earliest pioneers passed over the most fertile soils to choose at a greater distance the very poorest. While it is true that much of the richest soil then was undrained and swampy, large areas of richly wooded, higher, selfdrained areas remained to become the possession of later immigrants, oft times for a mere bit or two bits an acre. The earliest German immigrants, arriving by way of New Orleans up the Mississippi river, passed over the deep, rich soil of St. Clair County, to establish them- selves on the shallow, hard-panned soil of other counties in Illinois.
The pioneer Catholics who settled in the southeastern sec- tion of Illinois, in the counties of Johnson, Saline, Hardin, and Pope, might then have secured the richest lands of the state as cheaply as their own. A comparison of the population, cul- tivated farms, villages, towns, and parishes of these counties with Monroe, Randolph, Clinton, and the rural districts of St. Clair presents an unmistakable answer to the question, why so many counties in southern and southeastern Illinois lagged so far to the rear in growth of population and the establishment of Catholic parishes.
The answer is found in the extreme inequality in the fertil- ity of the soil. The great areas of thin soils in southeastern Illinois failed to attract the early immigrants, and this accounts for the paucity of Catholic settlements and parishes in that large section of the present diocese of Belleville.
With the map of Illinois before us, let us follow the mission trail from Shawneetown to Cairo, and halt about midway, where New Burnside, Stonefort, Vienna, and Oak spot the map in Johnson, Pope, and Saline counties, and pause to read the story
246
THE SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO MISSION TRAIL 247
of Catholic beginnings of eighty years ago, as unfolded to us by the oldest son of the first pioneer Catholic family which settled along this approximately one hundred-mile mission trail.
Upon request Thomas McCabe formulated his reminiscences in the year 1911. The writer enjoyed the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with this sturdy Catholic pioneer, a gentleman of excellent mind and memory, who was born February 9, 1851, was a resident of the New Burnside mission since February, 1854, and died here August 2, 1925.
The footnotes which have been added to this vivid historical legacy of Thomas McCabe will serve to verify and amplify cer- tain data in these memoirs.
Grouped settlements of adjoining farmers were unknown in pioneer days, and many miles separated the pioneer family, log- cabined within a small timbered clearing of a wilderness, from its nearest neighbors. On our far flung mission trail, from Shawneetown to Cairo, the communal life of a mere hamlet seems to have been only at the federal and later state salt reser- vations of the hamlet of Equality. Antedating the merchant shop and the way-side inn, the Irish and German Pedler Boys carried their wares from cabin to cabin, listened to folklore of the pioneers, and returned to winter quarters like Ulysses to tell the tale of that year's Odyssey. A number of the Irish Pedler Boys went into winter quarters at New Burnside, and during the pastorates of Father James Mamer and Peter Goelzhauser the writer was fortunate enough to meet these Boys gathered at the priest's log-cabin fire-side, telling the tale of pioneer days. The memoirs of Thomas McCabe evidence that these Boys rend- ered valuable service in establishing acquaintanceship between the pioneer Catholic families and again between these and the priest whom they chanced to meet in their wanderings.
REMINISCENCES OF THOMAS McCABE
"On the 22nd day of February, 1854, my parents, John and Ellen, nee Cunningham, my infant self, and my mother's brother, Patrick C, arrived at Reynoldsburg, Johnson County, and be- came the first Catholic settlers of Johnson and neighboring counties. They erected a one-room cabin about four and one- half miles north of Reynoldsburg. Until about 1872 when the C. C. C. & St. L. R. R. was built the Catholic mission was known as Reynoldsburg P. O., which was located about one and one-
248 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
half miles from the present New Burnside. My father was born in Kings County, Ireland, in 1824, and emigrated to New York in 1847, with his oldest sister Mary, where he obtained employ- ment at his trade of stone mason, and his sister as a domestic. Through his sister he became acquainted with Ellen Cunning- ham, a sister of the priests Thomas and Michael Cunningham of Elmira, N. Y. She was born in 1819 in County Cavan, Ireland, and emigrated in 1847. After three days' courtship my father married her at Pittsfield, Mass., and on February 9, 1851, the narrator was born. A short time after, my parents and my father's sister moved to my mother's brother, Patrick, in Ten- nessee, where they remained a short time, and then moved to Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River below Cairo, and remained there about two years.
"My mother's brother Patrick, then visited us and he and father went to Illinois in search of a location, and selected a place about four miles north of Reynoldsburg P. O., and moved there by way of the river landing Metropolis, 111., and arrived at their new home February 22, 1854. They began the erection of a one-room log-cabin which was completed for occupation in about two months.
"My paternal grandparents, Mathew McCabe and Catherine, nee Quinn, with their six sons and three daughters left Kings County, Ireland, and by way of Baltimore and Dayton, Ohio, landed at Golconda, from which place they were transferred by an ox wagon, which had just been unloaded of its burden of tobacco to my father's log cabin. Again grandparents and their entire family of nine children, Michael, Mary, John, Ann, James, Patrick, Catherine, William, and Joseph, the youngest ten years old, were united in the new land of promise. Then my father was the only married child of grandparents' family.
"Now came the awful drought of 1854. To keep the family from starvation the able bodied men had to seek employment in the public works. Michael and James, with their sister Ann as cook, secured work at the old Illinois Furnace & Iron Works in Hardin County. My father obtained employment as a stone mason in the building of the abutments of the I. C. R. R. bridge across the Big Muddy. With his earnings he bought corn at one dollar per bushel near Shawneetown, forty-five miles distant, for food for the family and the stock. Half of the corn he had to pay to the man who had hauled it with his oxen team. Father
THE SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO MISSION TRAIL 249
built stone chimneys for the farmers, who were able to have it done, and turned over his earnings to mother, who hired help and managed the farm. Mother was a courageous and energetic woman who proved herself, as many pioneer wives, not merely a companion but a true helpmate to her husband. To her faith- ful perseverance and labors is to be ascribed to a very great measure the preservation of the faith among the early pioneers. In the absence of a priest she taught the catechism and consoled and encouraged those early Catholic settlers. Her family con- sisted of five boys and two girls, myself being the oldest.
"My Aunt Ann, who was serving as cook to my brothers Michael and James at the Illinois furnace, became engaged there to a Pennsylvania German, a non-Catholic. The marriage took place in 1856 at grandfather's house, a half mile from ours. It was then I saw the first priest. Father Thomas McCabe, no relative, who rode up on horseback from Cairo, married them at grandfather's cabin and there also celebrated the first Mass and administered the sacraments.1 This marriage was blessed with two boys and five girls. Five of these children had each again families from five to seven children, who are all living and all Catholics.
"Father Thomas McCabe visited us perhaps three times. Un- til 1858 the McCabes were the only Catholic families in the coun- ties mentioned. Then came the family of Dennis Dwyer, who moved from Ohio to the neighboring town of Vienna ; then from Ohio Patrick Murphy who settled about five miles from us near Stonefort; also the families of Dr. Thos. Murry and Patrick Hughes, who settled in Pope County about fifteen miles from us, and the family of Arthur O'Keefe, who settled in Pope County, about twenty miles from us, and the German family of Steven Zimmer, who settled in Pope County near Oak P. O., about five miles from O'Keefe's.2 All these families located about 1858- 1859, and although badly scattered constituted what we were happy to consider the parish of Reynoldsburg, midway between the other nearest parishes of Shawneetown and Cairo.
i Cf. Mid- America, XIV, 123, line 14, and correct Father Edward Hamann to Father Edward Herrmann. This first pastor of Piopolis, one time Franciscan, had joined the ranks of the secular clergy of the diocese of Alton.
2 Stephen Zimmer and his wife, Louigard, emigrated from Baden, Ger- many, and settled in Pope County in 1856; Dr. Thomas Murry, Patrick Hughes, and the family of Arthur O'Keefe settled there in 1857.
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"About 1859 Fr. Thomas Walsh of Cairo began to visit us.3 He came perhaps three times, and went from house to house where families lived too far apart. The children were then baptised and we had the opportunity to hear Mass and receive the sacraments. The visits of the priests were months and sometimes more than a year apart. Then came the Civil War with its agitation and we were without the visit of a priest for some time. Only for the part which the Catholic Irish Pedler Boys played, Catholicity might have died in its infancy.4 They would tell the Catholics where they had seen a priest, where other Catholics lived, and would then in their migrations inform the priest of our needs. Through them Catholics became acquainted, and associations were formed.
"My grandfather, Mathew McCabe, died April 1, 1861, and the following September my father, my three uncles, Michael, James, and David Bayles, also Patrick Hughes and Dr. Murry's son and two other Irishmen, staying at my father's, joined the Union Army. All served three years and returned home. Those were trying times.
"Now the noted Father L. A. Lambert, army chaplain, in 1863, learning from the Cairo Church records of the Catholics at Reynoldsburg, mounted his horse on a Monday morning at 6 A. M. and started in search of us.5 Inquiring at Reynoldsburg for us he was informed that we lived some four miles north, in a double log cabin with two glass windows facing the road, the only house so equipped. As mother was out in the road that evening, milking the cows, the stranger accosted her, asking whether McCabes lived here. I was standing by mother, whose joy-illumined countenance I yet see when she said, 'Yes, father, are you not a Catholic priest.' He had ridden fifty miles that day, was fatigued and thirsty.
"Tired and hungry Father L. A. Lambert dismounted, after his fifty-miles horseback ride that day. Mother gave him a
s Rev. Thomas Walsh was at Cairo from September, 1858, until his sudden death in church while about to give Benediction at an evening devotion, March 15, 1863.
4 Cf. Mid-America, XIV, 111. John Leonard Aydt, a German Pedler Boy, located immigrants from Baden, Germany, at Piopolis.
s Rev. Louis A. Lambert, served as assistant to Rev. Thomas Walsh at Cairo from April until September, 1859, and then became pastor of Shawneetown, and chaplain to General Michael Kelly Lawler. He suc- ceeded Father T. Walsh, after his sudden death, as pastor of Cairo, re- maining there until 1868 when he left the diocese, and I think entered immediately the diocese of Buffalo.
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drink of water from a long-handled gourd, a fact which he yet recalled in reply to my letter of congratulation on the occasion of his golden sacredotal jubilee. I was then twelve years old. After Father's horse had been cared for and supper served, I was sent to notify grandmother's folks, then walked five miles after dark to notify Murphy's that there would be Mass Wednes- day morning. Murphy immediately saddled his mule and rode twelve miles to notify Murry's and Hughes' ; they in turn sent a messenger to O'Keefe's, and they in turn to Zimmer's, and by Tuesday morning all Catholics within a radius of twenty miles were notified. All these families hitched up their oxen teams Tuesday morning, took along bedding and provisions for their families, and by night they arrived at my father's house. Father Lambert heard confessions until 11 o'clock that night. Through the country the news had gone that a priest had come, and Wednesday morning there were gathered about two hundred people. Catholics and Protestants, among them seven preachers. Some one was overheard to say, 'I never saw the priest's horns, he just looks like a smart man.'6 He preached a very fine ser- mon and referred to the absent ones on the battlefield, and re- quested the prayers of all for the safety of the soldiers. He did so in such a way that there was many a wet eye among the non- Catholics as well as the Catholics. One old lady, who had three sons in the army, was so affected that she began to shout, and wanted to give her hand to join the Church in the real Methodist fashion. It seems to me now that that was the most devout and sincere gathering of Catholics I ever saw. The distance traveled by the members then present embraced the present church at Oak in Pope County, the church at Stonefort in Williamson, the church at Vienna in Johnson County, as well as the church at New Burnside.7
"Father L. A. Lambert was the first priest I ever attempted to serve Mass for. I did not know the words, but mother was at my side and she repeated the words, and I poured the wine and water. After that, when I was working with mother in the field, she would teach me how to serve Mass as she knew it, having to
e Bigoted traditions about priests had survived to some extent when the writer entered on this mission field in 1892.
i This church was destroyed a few years ago by fire, and has not been rebuilt. It was the gift of the first settler, Stephen Zimmer, and was built in 1884 during the attendance of this mission by Rev. Charles Eckert of Mound City.
252 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
hear her brothers Thomas and Michael Cunningham recite their Latin lessons in Ireland, and particularly the Mass prayers. From Father Lambert's time in 1863 to Father J. Mammer's time in 1893, I acted as server and companion of the priest at church and on sick-calls, till I raised sons big enough to take my place, the youngest of whom is now serving at the age of fifteen. My family consisted of three girls and four boys. When a choir was started, my family constituted the choir and furnished the altar boy.
"Now here I may note with reference to Father L. A. Lam- bert, that I noticed an account of his golden jubilee in Scotts- ville, N. Y. The account recalled childhood memories of him. I immediately wrote him a letter, relating incidents of his visits, and the names of the pioneers present, and what had become of them, and that at present old Mrs. Murry and myself were the only pioneers living, that were then present at the Mass when the altar stone was laid on top an old fashioned dresser, which had to serve as an altar. Now I scarcely expected an answer to my letter, but to my surprise and joy I very promptly received a long letter even recalling incidents on that occasion I had for- gotten. He remember the different individuals and described our old drinking gourd, saying he still remembered the odor of that water gourd, and how good the water tasted. He sent his regards to Mrs. Murry, and said he had received many letters and tokens on his Jubilee, but none he appreciated more than my letter, coming from me, with memories so vivid, nearly half a century old. He sent me his button photo of himself, and after a few days a large photo inscribed : 'To Thos. F. McCabe from L. A. Lambert for old time sake.' I only remember seeing Father Lambert once, but others speak of him being at their house in 1863. He was at Mr. P. W. Redden's, Sr., then at Desota.
"Mr. Redden has been a member of the New Burnside mission since July, 1877, when he moved here with a large family of boys and girls.s Mr. Redden is still living at his hotel in New Burnside, and entered his ninetieth year last August 12th. He came from Ireland in 1847.
"Now in 1865, I think it was, Father O'Halloran came to see
s Mr. P. T. Redden, became personally known to the writer, when he was conducting the hotel at New Burnside. This mellowed, pleasant old gentleman, an intelligent and fervent Catholic, and a respected and in- fluential citizen, and formed railroad section boss, wielded a quiet power of example and word for his faith among men of all creeds.
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us two or three different times from Cairo, 111.9 Then in 1886, I think, Father Grant from Mound City, 111., attended us;10 also Cabe brought to us in a buggy to perform the marriage between by uncle, Joseph McCabe and Catherine Connolly, my mother's niece.11 The roads were rough. We had no priest for some time and the buggy horse had sore, swollen shoulders. I was forced to hitch a two year old mule to the buggy and take him to O'Keefe's, eighteen miles away. We started late, and having no moonshine or lantern, we made slow progress. When crossing the Saline Creek it was so dark we could not see our mule. He had proved a trusty in the buggy service, although the first time hitched to one. We let him drink and pulled to the right to make the ford crossing, but the mule refused to turn; we were going to force him, but I thought something was wrong, and climbed out on his back to the rings, and found we had let the lines change in the hand while he was drinking. Had he made one step to the left, as the line was pulling him, it would have turned mule and buggy off the ford crossing into some ten feet of water, in the dark, and I doubt much that I would be writing about this today. Well we arrived at O'Keefe's after eleven o'clock, shouted and called till Mrs. O'Keefe came to the door, and -taking us for coon-hunters, said Mr. O'Keefe was not at home; but when we made her understand' who we were, and that we had nothing to eat since dinner, and that Father wanted to say Mass in the morning, you can bet that she called her husband out of bed quickly. Then and there on that old time logfire hearth, with skillet and pan, she prepared a meal, as I have often said, in the shortest time, which tasted the best I ever ate. The priest, my Uncle Patrick and myself just finished sup- per before midnight.
"The next morning after Mass and dinner were over, Mr. O'Keefe was to hitch his mare to the buggy and take the priest
9 Rev. P. J. O'Halloran was pastor at Cairo from October, 1869, until November, 1873. He was not stationed in 1865 at Mound City or Anna. In that year the Catholic Directories register Rev. F. Chmelecek as assis- tant to Rev. L. A. Lambert and also Rev. Patrick Brady at Cairo. Fr. O'Halloran died as pastor of St. Patrick's, East St. Louis, 111., December 29, 1898.
io Rev. Richard Grant was pastor at Mound City November, 1873, to May, 1874. After that he was assistant to Rev. P. J. O'Halloran at St. Patrick's, East St. Louis, where he died a sudden death in 1890. My records do not disclose his presence in Cairo or Mound City in 1866. Father Wegener from Shawneetown, whom uncle Patrick Mc-
ii Rev. S. Weggener was pastor at Shawneetown, 1865-1867.
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to Zimmer's, and let me return home. They attempted to put the mare into the shafts. Well, I have seen animals scared in my time, but I do not remember seeing anything so near frightened to death as that mare. I was again obliged to harness my faithful mule for the extra eight miles to Zimmer's. I stayed there until after Mass next morning. Zimmer took Father to Shawneetown, and I came home about 2 P. M.
"It seems to me there was a priest from Shawneetown named Wiedeman, who came to see us whilst visiting the different rail- road camps in 1871. 12 He was collecting for some church at the time.
"Father Joseph Hellhake, stationed at Anna, HI., attended our mission in 1868.13 He would ride through on horse-back, stop- ping to say Mass at the different houses where he would gather three or more families. Then Father Foekele took his place at Anna to attend this mission.14
"I will always remember Easter Sunday in 1870. My uncle, Joseph McCabe, was afflicted with the bleeding scurvy, as Dr. Murry called it. He had bled so much that his blood would not stain a linen cloth. His voice was weakened to a whisper. Mother and I were at his house sitting up the rest of the night. There was no man there, and it was decided to send for a priest. Uncle motioned me to his bed. I had to hold my ear close to his mouth to hear what he said, which was, 'Tom, you go for a priest; I place my last dependence on you to bring him quickly.' I had never been to Anna nor knew the roads any distance in that di- rection. The distance was said to be forty miles, and I have never doubted it from my experience. I left his house at 4 P. M., too full of grief to eat anything. I kept my mule steadily urged to a fast walk till I was close enough to Anna to hear the train whistle, when the thought struck me that the priest might be going away on that train. I urged the mule to a trot and gallop, for a mile or more, asking every one I met, for the road to the priest's house. When I got in sight of it, I met Father at the gate, with a grip in hand ready to take the train to Murphysboro. I told him I was on a sick call from Reynoldsburg. He turned back when he heard my story, ordered dinner, fed my mule, and
12 My records fail to locate a priest by the name of Wiedeman. Rev. H. liegeman was pastor at the Dolan settlement near Enfield from 1876 till 1880.
is Rev. H. Hellhake was pastor at Anna in 1872 and 1873.
i* Rev. F. Foekele was stationed at Anna, 1868-1871.
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sent me to the livery stable for the best horse and saddle to be ready at 1 P. M. When he went to Mount, two men held the horse, for it was high-spirited, and ran all of the first fifteen miles. My mule was forced to travel in a fast trot, and yet at times Father was out of sight. I did not know the road either way, and v/hen it got dark, I asked the priest if he did not wish to put up for the night. He said : 'We will ride farther if your mule can hold out,' and so we continued our journey as he knew the road. When within seven miles of home, we came to a field which had been cleared and fenced up since his last visit. The roads had been altered, and we chose the wrong one and got lost in the woods. Father said : 'My boy, I have led you astray, now you lead the way.'
"It was God who guided the weary travelers. I looked up to the sky and chose a direction. We rode through the thick un- derbrush a half mile, and to our joy entered upon a road leading in the direction we were going. It proved afterwards to be a new road some two miles shorter than the road Father used to travel. We reached mother's in time to eat before midnight, and, learning of uncle's improvement, we went to uncle's next morn- ing, when Father administered the sacraments. Then I learned that rny mother's brother, James Cunningham, who was teaching school some fifteen miles distant near Marion, HI., was also sick; so we continued our journey, and Father administered the sacra- ments also to him in a Protestant's house, but we could not have been treated with greater respect and kindness. We stayed there all night, and the next morning rode to where the roads parted, Father going to Anna, 111., and I came home. Contrary to expectation Uncle James Cunningham died, whilst Uncle Joe McCabe got well and lived till 1875. The next time Father Foekele came back he brought me a pocket compass, which I carried for ten years.
"Now in 1868 the first effort was made to build a Catholic church. I made collections of eggs, dried fruit, and poultry, etc., hauled it to Carbondale, thirty-six miles distant, sold the collec- tions and gave each donor credit for the amount of the sales, bought lumber and had it hauled to the present cemetery grounds, where we erected the hewed log walls, 20x24 feet square. For the want of means the church was not completed and the lumber rotted. The prospective building of a railroad also delayed further efforts on church building, since we were
256 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
anxious to ascertain where the town would be located.
"Some years later, October 14, 1870, John McCabe and wife made a deed to St. Francis de Sales Congregation of Reynolds- burg of the cemetery containing two and one-half acres of land. It had answered as the only Catholic cemetery for the present parishes of Vienna, Stonefort, Harrisburg, and New Burnside where the cemetery is located and I have acted as the only cemetery sexton from the beginning.
"Now in 1870 came the first opportunity the mission children had for confirmation. Fathers, mothers, and children drove in wagons drawn by mules and some by oxen to Murphysboro forty- five miles distant. We surely looked like a band of emigrants or traveling gypsies, supplied as we were with feed, provisions, and bedding. We lodged in an old factory over night and prepared ourselves to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. The Bishop praised us for our zealous faith, which seems to me was greater in those former days, in spite of difficulties and hardships, than it is now with all our conveniences and accommodations.
In 1871 we were attended by Father Wegbann from Murphys- boro who made his mission journey in a buggy.15 Fathers Weg- mann and Hellhake called to see me at St. Francis Solanus Col- lege in Quincy, 111., where I attended eight months of school in 1873. In 1873 I think a Father Hoffman at Mound City attended us a short time;16 then in 1874 Rev. Thos. Masterton was sta- tioned at Mound City, 111.17 He celebrated his first mission Mass in my father's house and there the first marriage ceremony took place on February 9, 1875, when he joined my eldest sister Mary Ann McCabe and P. G. McEvoy in marriage. He attended the mission regularly once a month till 1880, when he was moved to Cairo, 111. He endured many hardships on his trips to sick calls and services.
"Father tried various ways to reach the scattered families, celebrating Mass now at one house, then at another, until Mass had been celebrated in every house. The home at which Mass was celebrated served dinner to the entire congrgation, and often times the Mass was celebrated on one side of the board partition
is Rev. Theodore Wegmann was pastor at Murphysboro from Septem- ber, 1871, till April, 1873.
is Rev. Cornelius Hoffman was the organizer and first pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Cairo, the second Catholic parish of Cairo. It was for the Germans, who previously were affiliated with St. Patrick's.
17 Rev. Thomas Masterson, pastor of Mound City from January, 1S75, until December, 1879, then at St. Patrick's, Cairo, until July, 1882.
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of the log cabin, whilst dinner was preparing on the other. This custom of serving dinner was continued until it was abused by a certain class of non-Catholics, who came merely to get the fine meals. After the services the priest and server took dinner with the family and the others brought their meals. The dinner was spread on the greensward and the congregation resembled a happy picnic gathering.
"The visits of the priests and the sick-calls to the mission then meant real hardship and often Father would not collect enough to pay his railroad fare.
"The several attempts to build a church were not successful until about 1879. We collected to build at New Burnside, but there being more members at Stonefort at the time, the Bishop granted permission to build there, and all moneys collected in the four counties were applied to the erection of this church and all the Catholics of the four counties attended there.
"About 1882 the next church of the original Reynoldsburg mission was built at Oak in Pope County, in the Zimmer settle- ment and especially by this family.18
"In the winter of 1878 I drove Father Maesterson in what we called a Yankee jumper, a self constructed sleigh, the seat of which was attached to two long hickory poles, which served as shaft and runners, to visit P. T. Redden, Sr., railroad section foreman, who had donated sixty dollars to the new church. On our return over rough roads our jumper was upset and Father was thrown against a large rock and painfully injured so that he could not rise to his feet. It was dark and I could summon no help within a half mile. I finally managed to place him back in our jumper, and drove him to my father's home, where he lay crippled two weeks before being able to return to Mound City. His cousin Kate Sheridan, who kept house for him, was worried and mother invited her to come to visit Father, which she did. NoW don't condemn me. I was then twenty-seven and single, and immediately fell captive, and in the course of a year I had her as my wife, and Father lost his good cousin housekeeper.
is This church was destroyed by fire from lightning August 12, 1925. Rev. J. B. Henken was the last resident pastor of New Burnside. He was transferred in May, 1919, to Dorrisville and jointly Harrisburg, and from there this Zimmers Settlement was attended by him once a month on week days. He writes, "Some of the old stock died, some of the families moved away, the young people invariably married out-siders, the larger part of the original population has simply moved to other parishes." It is stated that this mission numbered at its best about twenty families.
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Another young man who also thought well of her accused me of crippling Father to secure his cousin. I have never regretted that fortune decreed her mine. She came of a priestly Irish stock, having six cousins priests.
"Father Maesterson was succeeded by Rev. Henry Becker in February, 1880, at Mound City.19 When the priest came to Stonefort he would also go to Zimmer's before returning. Then in 1882 Father C. J. Eckert, successor to Father Becker, attended us.20. During his time we accomplished the often discussed in- tention to survey and plat the cemetery and set the price at six dollars a lot. T. F. McCabe was appointed cemetery sexton and remains so until now. In 1885 Father J. Harkins became pastor of Mound City and attended us.21 Now the Catholics living in the neighborhood of New Burnside, Vienna, Tunnelhill, and San- burn began an agitation for a church at New Burnside, as a railroad was being built at the time from Marion, 111., to Pa- dueah, Ky., which crossed the Big Four two miles south of New Burnside. We expected to obtain considerable assistance from the various construction camps. My father donated the building site, two acres, and his cash contribution. The site was accepted by the priest and Bishop. We decided to build a frame church, 24x28 feet, without gallery and special sacristies.
"Father J. Harkins always remained over a day or two on the occasion of his monthly visits, and I was selected to drive him to the various construction camps. One trip I especially recall. It was harvest time and I could not spare any of my teams, nor could the other farmers. However, we managed to secure a broken down, emaciated Texas pony and a wobbly, rattling buggy of colonial design, and harness equally antiquated. Father and I became unusually prominent as long as we occupied this rig. We escaped no eye and very seldom a greeting, such as, 'Which way, to the bone-yard or the poor-house?' Father
i9 Rev. Henry Becker, D. D., was stationed at Mound City from Feb- ruary until November, 1880.
20 Rev. Charles Eckert was pastor of Mound City from November, 1880, until December, 1884, when he assumed the pastorate of Shawnee- town, holding it until July, 1892. On his return from Europe in November he was assigned to the pastorate of Chester, retaining it until his accidental death, November 24, 1925, while returning from his ministrations at the state prison. His record is one of great personal sacrifices and of a saintly life.
21 Rev. John Harkins was pastor of Mound City from August, 1886, until September, 1889, when he was transferred to East St. Louis to or- ganize St. Mary's parish, of which he remained pastor until his death, December 17, 1913.
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Wanted to know whether the people suspected that I was taking him to the poor house. I said, 'Father, I fear you will come to the conclusion, that we have not visited one poor house but a number of them, when we finish our rounds.' We finally arrived at Mr. Keenan's camp. He went with us and secured a subscrip- tion of one hundred and twenty dollars from the men, which was to be collected from their next pay. Then we took dinner with the men at the camp table. Father being given the place of honor at the head of the table with the contractors and bosses. Mr. Keenan came out to see us off, and when he saw our pony and rig, he laughed heartily and remarked, 'Father the very looks of your outfit would put charity into a stone.' We then started for Marion over the rough roads made by the building of the railroad grade. We had to cross a twenty-foot grade. Poor pony! Father and I got out and pushed the buggy, when finally after various efforts and rests we reached the top, Father and I blowing as hard as the pony. We reached Marion after dark, located our friend Dr. Bentley, who lodged and fed us. At Marion with the assistance of Dr. Bentley and Tom Dwyer of Craborchard we secured eighty dollars cash, and started homeward, lightening the pony's burden by getting out at every hill. The pony did its best, then why not praise the ship that carries you safely. Father Harkins remarked that during his course of studies such experiences had not been part of the in- struction, but he thought that young priests ought to be en- lightened concerning such missionary labors. With much per- servance and labor we finally accumulated eight hundred dollars, and awarded the contract for the building of the church to John English of Anna. The first Mass was celebrated there July 22, 1888, at which the choir of Mound City assisted. Thus Johnson County received its first church, which was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. John McCabe died March 26 of that year, and hence did not see the church he so longed for.
"Father Harkins attended New Burnside and Stonefort every month until about 1889, when he was succeeded by Father Wil- liam Van Delft, also of Mound City, who continued monthly visits, and attended Vienna and Metropolis, in which cities there was no church.22
"About the year 1893 Father James Mamer was assigned as first resident pastor of the original Reynoldsburg Mission with
22 Rev. William Van Delft is present pastor of Prairie du Rocher.
260 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
residence at New Burnside.23 Stonefort, Zimmer's, Vienna, and Metropolis were his charges and his territory included all of Johnson, Saline, Pope, and Massac Counties. The present rec- tory at that time belonged to my mother who gave its free use to the priest but in 1901 at her death, deeded it to my sister Mrs. M. McEvoy who in turn deeded it to the parish in the year 1906. Father Mamer planted a number of maple trees on the grounds about this residence; these trees now are admired by every passer-by.
"In 1895 Rev. John Duffy succeeded him.24 He lived at New Burnside about a year. Father Duffy built a church at Vienna and another at Metropolis.25 He then purchased a house next to the church at Vienna and took up his residence there. He installed new pews, an organ and a bell in the church and started a choir. He blessed the bell, St. George, and bestowed on my mother the honor of ringing it for the first time.
"In 1897 Father P. Goelzhauser succeeded him.26 He con- tinued to live at Vienna until 1902, when he moved back to Burnside. From the latter place he could more easily reach his
23 Rev. James Mamer is at present pastor of a large parish in the diocese of St. Paul. He had requested his exeat to return to his native diocese.
24 Rev. John Duffy is at present pastor of the Holy Name parish of Sheridan, Wyoming.
25 Judge Mulkey, a distinguished jurist and member of the Supreme Court of the state of Illinois, and a convert, was a member of this small parish of Metropolis, and was buried from its church. The funeral services were conducted by the pastor of this mission, Rev. Francis Pieper. He was a priest of outstanding scholarship, a recognized pulpit orator of solid deep piety, and withal a gentleman of a cheerful and delightful reserve. In stature, proportions, bearing and disposition he carried himself with the gracious ease and reassuring gentle approach of the saintly bishop of the diocese, John Janssen, whom he followed closely in death, the former dying July 2, the latter September 19 of the same year, 1913. From the year 1906 until his death there, he had been pastor of St. Patrick's church of Ruma, 111., and chaplain and instructor of the candidates of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, whose mother-house is located there; he is to be credited with a very marked advance of the standards of this teaching sisterhood. Among priests he towered not by his height, which did not exceed five and a half feet, but by the benignity of a privileged soul, for- tified with native and acquired abilities, and consecrated with a singular conscientiousness to priestly ministrations. He was frequently referred to by his conferees as a man of apostolic mould. He was summoned at high noon of a most beneficent priestly career, at the age of about forty- three years.
26 Rev. Peter Goelzhauser died as pastor of Equality, 111., January 27, 1928. A smile always illumined his face, and a pleasantry was always on his tongue. I believe him to be the most successful man in avoiding the giving of offence to anyone I have known in my long priestly life, es- sentially a perfect gentleman, as Cardinal Newman defines a gentleman.
THE SHAWNEETOWN-TO-CAIRO MISSION TRAIL 261
missions, being quite near to the crossing of the Big Four and I. C. Railroads. He repaired the old residence, attending to most of the work himself. With the assistance of the Irish Pedler Boys he built the sacristy and choir-gallery and ceiled the in- terior of the church and floored the same; he cleared the ceme- tery of timber and undergrowth and built a fence about it. He also gave the church at Stonefort the necessary repairs and finished the church at Metropolis. To do all this required a great sum of money, much of which he himself donated. He did not keep house but boarded at Mr. P. Redden's hotel. Mr. Redden was very kind to the priest at all times.
"During Father Goelzhauser's and Father Duffy's times mis- sions were conducted that were well attended by non-Catholics also, several of whom were converted. After Father Goelzhauser had put all the property in a fairly good condition he was trans- ferred, April 15, 1907, to East St. Louis and was succeeded by Father D. D. Miller, who remained with us till the following November.
"Then came Father A. J. Kuhls, January 1, 1908.27 He at- tended all the missions and built a brick church at Harrisburg. He made the day of dedication a memorable one. Rt. Rev. J. Jan-ssen with the assistance of many priests, dedicated the church; the St. Joseph's Choir of Cairo sang, and the uncle of Father Kuhls, the aged and venerable pioneer priest of the west, Monsignor Kuhls of Kansas City, preached the sermon. Father Kuhls then moved to Harrisburg and was succeeded at New Burnside by Father Voll, October 27, 1908, who attended Stone- fort, Vienna, and Metropolis. He repaired the Stonefort church and built a sacristy to the Vienna church. He remained with us until his successor, C. V. Collins came, September 26, 1910, from East St. Louis.
"The five surviving members of the original pioneers are Mrs. Kate Cunningham, aged 70; Mr. Patrick McCabe, aged 75; Mrs. Dennis Dwyer, aged 85; Mrs. Dr. T. Murry, aged 90; Mr. Thos. McCabe, aged 60. There are others who were either babes at the time of the arrival of their parents, or were born shortly after the arrival of their parents; they are rather to be classed as descendants of the pioneers.
"What a change since the arrival of the first Catholics in 1854. All southeastern Illinois was without a priest or church
st Rev. A. Kuhls is now pastor of Trenton, 111.
262 FREDERIC BEUCKMAN
then except Cairo and Shawneetown. After fifty-seven years we now have twenty churches and fourteen priests, and as many members in each parish as we then had in the entire territory. Beginning at Cairo, St. Joseph's and St. Patrick's, there are churches at Mounds, Mound City, Grand Chain, Metropolis, Vienna, New Burnside, Delwcod, Stonefort, Harrishurg, Eldor- ado, Equality, Ridgeway, Doherty, Carmi, Enfield, Rose Clare and Shawneetown.
"Let us thank God, his priests and people for this spread of Catholicity in the vast southeastern mission of Illinois and let us not ignore the aid given by the Irish Pedler Boys."
What is the status of this pioneer group of missions today? The little frame mission church built and donated by the pioneer Stephen Zimmer, at Oak in Pope County, has since been de- stroyed by fire and has not been rebulit, and again we must register Pope County without a Catholic church structure. As far as has been ascertained only two Catholic families remain in this original Zimmer settlement. A resident pastor is no longer located in these missions, and New Burnside, Stonefort, Vienna, and Metropolis have since been attended from Equality.
Reverting to our introduction to this contribution, the eco- nomic problem of the standstill or the waning of these missions is answered. The soil lacks the productivity to promote and increase prosperous farming communities. On this trail are today located the phenominally developed cities, Eldorado and Harrisburg, in which are located struggling Catholic parishes. The rich coal fields, opened in that section some years last, laid the economic basis for this mushroom prosperity. King Coal also waved the magic wand over other large areas of thin soils in the south-central section of Illinois, built new cities and established new parishes, but held them subject and dependent on his out-put. The status of these parishes fluctuates with the ebb and tide of the coal industry. These parishes lack the per- manent backing of a substantial farming community.
Frederic Beuckman Belleville, Illinois
VARIA
THE BIRTHPLACE OF FATHER MARQUETTE
The city of Laon, which in ancient times was the capital of Picardy in France, has a special interest for all Americans of the Middle West because of the associations it has with the life of Father Marquette. In this little city he was born and here most of his youth was spent. No one who has followed the account of his meanderings as recorded by this seventeenth century "saint of the wilderness," devoted to the task of bringing the message of the "Prince of Peace" to the benighted savages, can but be conscious of the tremendous spiritual force that moved a man to suffer such severe hardships to enlighten a race less capable of understanding than a tyro of the civilized world. The enterprise demanded total self-effacement and an outstanding idealism to withstand privations such as have been endured by missionaries since the dawn of the Christian era. Physical suf- fering meant nothing to Father Marquette bent on his great mission, and death in its quest was but a realization of a hope that he would die in pursuit of its fulfillment. To do reverence to his memory two students of mid-west history made Laon one of their principal objectives during a trip abroad in 1930.
The average tourist generally follows the beaten path as laid out by the travel agencies in order to cover the greatest number of points of interest commensurate with the time at his disposal. Rarely does an itinerary such as this take one into France to any great distance from Paris. But by automobile travel with a privately owned car Laon can be reached by the expenditure of a little additional mileage and time when one is touring through the World war battlefields along the Marne and Aisne rivers. If one visits England first, as we did, and enters France by cross- ing the English Channel from Dover to Calais, the auto route passes through Amiens and Compiegne to Soissons. From here, by taking a road forming the west side of a triangle, at the apex of which is Laon, and the base of which connects Soissons with Rheims, one can reach the home town of Father Marquette with- out much loss of time and with no inconvenience. The eighty- seven miles of beautiful country intervening have the added charm that little used thoroughfares reveal to those who enjoy back country scenes.
263
264 VARIA
An intensive study of the places visited by Father Marquette during his ministry in North America created a great desire within us to visit Laon. We were made very happy by finding the original portion of the city little changed by the flight of centuries. The charm of this very old city, rich in tradition, is much enhanced by its location on a hill almost six hundred feet in height, that arises from a fertile plain. Above all other struc- tures of the city is the cathedral, which dominates the eastern extremity of the elevation. Here and there in the plain below are newer additions to the city. Fortunately for lovers of his- toric atmosphere the old city has not been disturbed by modern innovations. The approach is up a zigzag rural road, over which ox cart transportation of produce going to market lends a seven- teenth century aspect to the landscape, such as must have de- lighted Father Marquette in his youth. The peasants we meet have not been influenced by modern notions of dress, but are still wearing the same style of blouses, heavy shoes and beret that have served their ancestors for generations.
The top of the steep slope is crowned by partly ruined ram- parts and from the promenade along the line of ramparts there is an extensive view northward to beyond St. Quentin, west- ward to the Forest of St. Gobian and southward over the wooded hills of Laonnais and Soissons.
Within the city itself, as one passes through narrow streets without sidewalks, the thought comes to mind that perhaps this contracted existence may have had something to do with the creation of a desire in the youthful Marquette to seek open spaces as a place for his ministry rather than labor in the nar- row confines of the city. The very narrow Rue Chatelaine, seem- ingly the principal business street, leads to the church of Notre Dame built during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and still called the "Cathedral," one of the most interesting of the churches in Northern France. It is in a better state of preserva- tion than the more famous one in Rheims. The facade is a masterpiece of pure Gothic, flanked by two graceful towers, which originally were surmounted by spires. The interior of the church inspires profound reverence. The transepts are di- vided into nave and aisles, which like those of the nave itself, are separated by substantial cylindrical columns, from the cap- itals of which, each sculptured differently, slender columns arise to the vaulting. The aisles are furnished with lofty galleries
varia 265
beneath the triforium. The chapels at the sides were added in the century following its erection. At the end of each transept is an ancient chapel of two stories. The stained glass in the rose-windows enhance the beauty of the sanctuary and a carved wooden pulpit made in 1681, brings one back to a period when infinite care and pride in their work was exhibited by craftsmen. In common with all the large churches throughout France and Italy there are no pews within the edifice, which adds greatly to its beauty and dignity; however, during mass a "prie-dieu" is brought forth for each worshiper.
We were greatly impressed when the caretaker who acted as our guide made us understand that Father Marquette had celebrated mass in this church. It was also in this very House of God the impressionable youth Marquette received his inspira- tion that later urged him to prepare at Nancy for the task that has made his name pre-eminent in the annals of mid-western history.
Throughout this city of his birth one looks in vain for a memorial to the gifted son of Laon, who is so liberally remem- bered in the country of his adoption and death; but there is a recent encouraging report that a movement by mid-westerners is underway to locate the building in which he was born and fulfill this duty.
The writers of this message advise all who make a trip abroad to pass through Laon, for they too by such a visit can experience like emotions as made the sojourn memorable to us, who repaired to this city of Father Marquette's nativity to do him homage as Chicago's first resident, two hundred and fifty- five years after his stay in the wilderness where now is situated our marvelous city.
Robert Knight, C. E.
Chicago, 111. Lucius H. Zeuch, M. D.
A JESUIT SCHOOL IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY NEW YORK
The earliest recorded instance of the presence of Catholics in colonial New York dates from the period of Dutch rule. In 1626 Portuguese soldiers were residing at Fort Orange, and in 1643 Saint Isaac Jogues, on his journey through the province,
266 VARIA
met a transient Irishman and a Portuguese woman.1 It is also likely that there were some Catholics from the Netherlands living at Albany in 1667, since Father Hennepin, the Franciscan missionary, was invited to visit them.2 In an affidavit made in London in 1675, the Rev. Peter Smith, a Catholic priest, declared that he had been in New York in 1665.3 Father Smith probably returned again to New York, for a baptism, apparently per- formed by him, is noted in 1685.4 It is not improbable that transient teachers, traders, and others of the Catholic faith, came to the colony during the course of the century, but the lack of adequate records makes it virtually impossible to offer any trustworthy account of the existence of Catholics in colonial New York during the greater part of the seventeenth century.
The incident of greatest significance for the history of Catho- lic activity in New York during that century is that connected with the establishment, during the administration of Governor Dongan, of a Jesuit school in New York. Curiously enough, it is an incident that has generally been neglected or superficially treated by those who have written about the history of toleration in the colonies. Sylvester Cobb, in his Rise of Religious Liberty in America, states that three Jesuits are said to have been in the colony during Governor Dongan's administration, and that one of them is thought to have been a teacher in the Latin school opened by the governor.5 In presenting the fact merely as a matter of belief, Cobb was probably only following what older authors had written on the matter.6 But documentary evidence attests, not only to the presence of three Jesuits in New York during those years, but likewise reveals their identity, along with the fact that the "Latin school" was in very truth a Jesuit school.
In the Roman Catalogue of the Society of Jesus it is recorded that Father Thomas Harvey, S. J., was in New York from 1683 until 1690, and again in 1696. Father Henry Harrison, S. J., also
i John G, Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States, I, 86; J. R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York, I, 169.
2 Shea, op. cit., I, 88.
s Shea, op. cit., I, 88. (Letter of Edward Antill to James Alexander, 18, April, 1752.)
4 E. B. O'Callaghan and B. Fernow ( ed. ) , Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Albany, 1861-1865, III, 610, 747; IV, 398.
s P. 335.
e William Smith, History of New York, I, 90.
VARIA 267
labored in the colony during 1686 and 1687. 7 Father Warner, the provincial of the English province of the Jesuits, writing, on February 26, 1683, to the General of the Society, said: "Father Thomas Harvey, the missioner, passed to New York by consent of the governor of the colony. In that colony is a respectable city, fit for the foundation of a college, if facilities are given, to which college those who are now scattered throughout Maryland may betake themselves and make excursions from thence into Maryland. The Duke of York, the lord of that colony, greatly encourages the undertaking of a new mission. He did not con- sent to Father Thomas Harvey's sailing until he had advised with the provincial, the consultors and other grave fathers."8
It appears that Father Harvey sailed for New York in the party of Governor Dongan. Fathers Harrison and Gage, who followed later, were accompanied by two lay brothers. Of Father Harrison we are told that though of English parents, he was born in the Netherlands, and was probably selected for the New York mission on account of his familiarity with the Dutch.9
Much of our knowledge of these early Jesuits and of their school comes to us from Jacob Leisler, a German merchant settled in New York and identified with the partly anti-Catholic movement known as the Revolt of Leisler (1689) . It is probable that the school was well received, and we are told that it was patronized by prominent residents of the city, including the town clerk, Mr. West, Judge Palmer, Mr. Graham, a member of the Council, and others.10 Shea states that the school was apparent- ly located on the King's Farm, which was afterwards leased by Governor Fletcher to Trinity Church.11 The same opinion is ex- pressed by Hughes.12 Finally, we are told, even the bell of the Dutch Reformed Church was rung at eight o'clock each morning to call the children to class.13
7 E. B. O'Callaghan (ed.), The Documentary History of the State of New York, Albany, 1850, III, 73.
s Henry Foley, S. J., Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus, VII, 343.
a Foley, ibid., VII, 335, 342 ; Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States, I, 90, 91; Thomas Hughes, History of the Society of Jesus in North America, Documents, I, No. 6, 43.
io Hughes, ibid., Text, II, 147; Doc. Hist. N. Y., U, 22.
ii Op. cit., I, 91; Col. Docs. N. Y., IV, 490.
12 Op. cit., Text, II, 147.
is Hugh Hastings (ed.), Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York, Albany, 1901, I, 247.
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The success of such an enterprise, and even its very existence, at such a stage in the history of the colony naturally depended to a very large degree upon the friendly attitude and patronage of the royal authorities. With the displacement of Dongan in 1688, such broad toleration of Catholics was at an end. At the time of Leisler's usurpation Father Harrison left the colony and went to Europe. After undergoing many risks at sea he was taken captive by Dutch pirates and robbed, but eventually found his way to France.14 Father Harvey took refuge for a while in the home of Mr. Pinhorne, a councillor, a fact which Bellomont later charged against Pinhorne.15 Father Harvey later went to Maryland, where he seems to have become known as Father Smyth, of Talbot County, on the eastern shore. In 1690 he was back again in New York, under the name of Thomas Barton, and remained there for several years until expelled by Governor Fletcher.16
There are many facts which we would like to learn about this seventeenth century school — its curriculum, the academic standing of its students, its discipline, its treatment of the mat- ter of religious instruction — but the ravages of time and the carelessness of men have obliterated whatever records may have been kept in a school operating under such unusual conditions.
Thomas F. O'Connor, A. M. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
14 Hughes, Documents, I, No. 8L2.
is Col. Docs. N. Y., IV, 398.
is Hughes, Text, I, 149-150; Documents, I, No. 8L2
DOCUMENTS THE FIRST CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN NEBRASKA
The text of the following letters of the Reverend Jeremiah F. Trecy is reproduced from typed copies found in the papers of the late Msgr. Michael Shine of Plattsmouth, Nebraska. These papers, containing a vast amount of data on the pioneer Catholic history of Nebraska, are now in the archives of the Lincoln diocese. Father Trecy's letters bring out the interesting cir- cumstance that the pioneer diocesan priests of the West, while not formally assigned to the duties of Indian missionaries, were often called upon to deal with the redmen as well as with the whites.
Father Jeremiah F. Trecy was born about 1823 in County Tyrone, Ireland, educated at Emmitsburg, Maryland, and or- dained to the priesthood by Bishop Loras of Dubuque. During the period July-August, 1851, he was attached to St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque, and later served various parishes in the diocese as Garryowen, Jones County, Cascade, and Independence. He appears to have organized and conducted a colony of his Iowa parishioners to St. John's, now Jackson, Dakota County, Ne- braska, the earliest parish to be established in the state. Father Trecy died March 4, 1889, in the Alexian Brothers Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri.
For permission to publish this correspondence the editor is indebted to the courtesy of the Lincoln diocesan authorities. He has also to thank Sister Mary Bernadette Riefert, O. S. U., of the Ursuline Convent of Divine Providence, Falls City, Neb., for having brought the letters to his attention and furnished him with the above biographical data about Father Trecy.
Rev. Jeremiah F. Trecy to Bishop O'Gorman, Vicar- Apostolic of Nebraska, August 4, 1859.
Rt. Rev. and Dear Bishop:
In reply to your request, I haste to give an accurate account of the Missions that have grown up from my first coming to the Territory, to the present time (now over four years) . 1st. — The oldest Mission in the Territory is St. Johns. It was
commenced on the 24th. June, 1855, with a congregation of 11
souls; the number today is over 1500 souls.
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270 DOCUMENTS
2nd. — Mission in point of time is Omaha City. In July of the year above mentioned I visited this place. Father Emmonds had visited this place a day or two before. I left it to him during his stay at C.[ouncil] B. [luffs]. The number of Catholics here then was about one hundred — the present number of Catholics is better known to your Lordship than to me.
3rd. — August of this same year I visited a village of Canadian French, Half-Bloods and Indians on the Big Sioux now in Dahkotah Territory; had present during the Holy Sacrifice over 300 Indian Warriors — After Mass I administered the Sacrament of Baptism to 20 Half -Bloods, 10 Indian women and 6 young warriors. (This village goes, or is known, by the name of White Bull's Village.)
4th. — In September I visited Smutty Bear's Camp, or village, also in Dahkotah Territory. Baptized 32, can't now say how many of them were adults.
5th. — In same month visited the Camp or Village of Strike the Ree. (The word Ree was given this Chief and his band on account of a deadly wound he received from an Indian of the Ree tribe. ) * Baptized 12 Half-bloods. Here my life for the first time was threatened by three young warriors, one of whom wished to marry one of the Half-bloods I had just baptized, and being filled with a superstitious idea that by Baptism she became a white woman and that she would not be let marry him. Immediately after the ceremony had been completed these three young warriors started mounted on the way I was to go. After they had left, the Half-blood who I had with me, to show me the road came to me [and] related the case; to which after a moment's reflection I replied — Go tell them, they have arrows. I have none; I came not for war, but that I love a Great Father and that they have no Father and I wish them to be children of my and their Great Father which cant be by so wicked an act. My guide went
i Strike the Ree (Pa-Ha-Ne-A-Pa-Pe), head chief of the Yankton Sioux, had his village near the site of Yankton, S. Dak. He was born August 29, 1804, and the next day was wrapped in an American flag by Captain Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was baptized in 1866 by Father DeSmet, S. J., who calls him "Pananniapapi" or "man who strikes the Ree" (Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, 4:1526). He died July 29, 1888, aged eighty-four, his funeral sermon being preached by the Reverend John P. Williamson, a Protestant minister. (Marginal note by Msgr. Michael Shine on typed copy of the present letter.)
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immediately to one of the Chiefs whose daughter I had bap- tized, he was a Half-blood.
In a few moments I saw the Chief at the door of his wigwam and [sic] in a suppliant tone exclaimed Yeho? Yeho? Yeho? At the conclusion a number of young men assembled around him; his actions were violent, he pointed towards me and to the sun. Immediately six of these young men ran, got their ponies and started as I supposed after the others —
In about an hour after I started with my guide, went on very well for two or more miles, when he hallowed out at the top of his voice "Stop," all at once he jumped out of my carriage, desired me to turn back, I declined, he left me. I was then at the edge of a large body of timber, along which I should skirt for 3 miles. In about a mile after my guide left me, I met the three first referred to. The moment they hove in sight, I stopped my team, commenced unhitching, as it were determined to run on there. They came up in full run, two of them with the usual salutations of a friend "How, How," the two shook hands but the third did not speak. Thus we parted.
6th.-*— Mission. The same month I visited the Ponca Indians, Baptized only seven my first visit, they were Half-bloods. I was more pleased with the general bearing of these than any of the other Indians I visited. I hope soon to see a permanent Mission established amongst them.
7th. — Mission — Fort Randall, a U. S. Military Post. I visited this place a first time October 2nd. 1856, found in all, here, over 600 Catholics mostly Irish. Married two couple; bap- tized 9 children; heard over 500; had to Holy Communion about 400.
8th. — From here at the request of some Traders, I visited White Earth River Station or Trading Post. Baptized 8 Half-blood white, and 3 Half-blood negroes.
9th. — Mission — In November of this year I for the first time de- termined to perform a Mission in Covington and Sioux City. Baptized several children. This Station has been attended regularly since.
10th. — On the 15th. of this same month I visited Galena on Ayoway Creek. There are about 30 Catholic families there. There are several other Missions that should be seen to.
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varying from 50 to 100 miles from this place, namely Fon- tenelle, Pasyfic, Santalena [St. Helena], St. James, North Bend, etc. The Missions south of the 42d. Paralell, Fr. C [Cannon, O. S. B.] can better give than I.
The following is the general character of the country and cli- mater on the various Missions.
Mission — 1 — Climate healthy, soil of a sanded clay, very fertile, partially level, partly broken and partly undulating, well watered, well timbered, an abundance of lime and standstone rock, gypsum, iron and coal (of an inferior quality) are found in large bodies.
No. 2 — Of its wood and mineral sources I cannot say much, in every other regard I believe it corresponds with no. 1.
No. 3 — As No. 1, in every respect. 15 miles from here.
No. 4 — Climate healthy, soil of a dark sandy loam, very light to the eye, the face of the country looks well, undulating, but filled with gravel knolls and large rocks called bowlders, tim- ber very sparse, water also. This Mission from St. Johns is about 100 miles.
No. 5 — Will compare with No. 1, being more undulating, less broken, but less favored with timber, water and back coun- try. This place is expected to be the Capital of the new Territory of Dahkotah; about 80 miles from here.
No. 6 — Of the country in the vicinity of this Mission, I feel rather unfavorably impressed, being low and swampy. From St. Johns it is about 170 miles.
No. 7 — Is in a valley, surrounded by immense sand-hills, extend- ing for miles on every side; without timber, water or stone; saw a small strip of the Missouri Bottom of about from one mile to a mile and a half wide. The only thing those hills seem able to produce is the prairie dog, which seem to be in abundance. So barren is the country that I never as yet although I have been 10 or 12 times to the Post, [have] seen a single living quadruped save a wolf, and of fowls, none. This Post from here is by river about 300 miles and about 180 by land.
No. 8 — This locality will favorably compare with the 4th. in every respect, save it is well watered and well timbered. Dis- tant 470 miles.
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No. 9 — As the 1st. save its minerals and water. No. 10 — Still more rich than the first, but more distant from the river. From St. John's 20 miles.
Yours in Ct. obediently
J. F. Trecy St. Johns, Aug. 4th, 1859 or Feast of Saint Dominick.
Catholic School for the Ponca Indians Dept. of the Interior Office of Indian Affairs
January 27, 1860 Rev. J. F. Tracy, Bait. Md.
Sir,
I have to acknowledge the receipt of the Prop- ositions submitted by you to the Department on the 24th. in- stant, to establish a Catholic Mission among the Ponca Indians under the 4th. clause of the Treaty made with them on the 12th. of March 1858, and would reply that before taking any action in the premises it is desirable that the Agent of the tribe should be conferred with, who is expected to arrive in this city within the course of a very short time.
Very respectfully, Your Obt. Servt.
A. B. Greenwood
Commissioner.
St. Patricks,
Washington, (D. C.)
Feb. 1st. 1860. Rt. Rev. Bishop:
Inclosed please find the Ponca Treaty, in the 2nd. article of which, you will see the provisions made for schools etc. Under the 4th. Clause of this Art. I have made a proposition in sub- stance as follows: To take the children as half -boarders, con- ditioned that the Department erect or authorize us to so do the necessary buildings for school and Teachers houses. Also to furnish us with the necessary implements for the instruction in the manual labor department of said schools. The proposition is under consideration at present with the Secretary of the Int.
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I have not been able to reach the War Dept. as yet. Every thing is confusion here. If there be a Sodom or Gomorra it[s] then the Great Capital of the Nation or Confederacy Yesterday they came within one of electing a Rep. Speaker. I think for certain they will today. I was to Baltimore to see the Archbishop last week, I was much pleased with the interview I had with his Grace, — I will write in a few days again. I stop with Rev. Father O'Toole.
Your Obedient Servant in Christ,
J. F. Trecy
N.B. — Snow fell last night full 4 inches. Today very cold.2
St. Patricks
Washington (D. C.)
Feb. 12th, 1860. Rt. Rev. Dear Bishop:
This morning I received your favor written at the Im. Cone [e]pt [ion]. St. Louis on the 8th inst.
In reply I can but say our position with the Govt, for the In- dians is now or never. To fulfill any contract with certainty is not ours : nor do I suppose that He, who give [s] those wander- ing creatures Grace to demand to know His Divine Truths will fail to afford means equal to the emergency that they may come to a knowledge of Him. Grant, we cannot get Sisters of Bro- thers at present, neither at all, even so have we not the same means Protestants have: or with the like material can we not do as much as they : whose end is but here below. Had we Sis- ters and Brothers we are not prepared for them nor will we for 6, 9 or 12 months to come. Houses for Schools Dwellings etc. are to be erected. This being the state of the case it is not my intention to make any contract with the Govt, we cannot fulfill did we never get a Brother or Sister. But surely surely the burning zeal of the good Sisters of [the] Ever Blessed Mother Immaculate longs as I feel satisfied their Father does for a par- ticipation in bringing to a knowledge of Jesus, Mary and Joseph those who never heard those sacred and holy Names. By yes- terdays Mail I sent you very important Documents, received from the War Dept. with reference to Ft. Randall. I directed
2 This and the following letter appear to have been written to Bishop Loras of Dubuque, to whose diocese Father Trecy belonged.
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them in care of the ArchBishop of St. Louis. My regards to the good Sisters, hoping they will pray for me and the Miss, with the poor Indians.
Assure Father Donohoe of fond remembrance of him and as- sure further although I have not often written to him he is none the less fondly remembered by me.3
Hoping your health is on the improve believe me
Truly and sincerely yours in Christ.
J. F. Trecy
On the back of this letter was the following : T. Lynch, Glassnevin, Dubuque Co.
s Father Donohoe (Donaghoe) of Dubuque, founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin.
NEWS AND COMMENTS Father Marquette and his two voyageurs, Pierre Porteret and Jacques Le Castor, enjoy the distinction of having been the first group of white men known to have resided on the site of Chicago. This circumstance fixes their name indelibly on the very first page of the city's history, and ensures them permanence of fame as long as the great center of population remains on the map. The prestige of Marquette in particular gathers in volume as the years roll on. Abundant evidence of this is to be found in the remarkable study, "Marquette Memorials," which appeared in the April, 1931, issue of Mid-America. One instance in this con- nection may be noted. According to resolutions adopted by the Chicago City Council in 1924, "the fourth day of December" has been set aside as "Marquette Day" to commemorate the first day (December 4, 1674) of the great missionary's period of residence on Chicago soil. In 1931, Marquette Day, Chi- cago's official tribute to the missionary, was celebrated with appropriate ceremonies at the Michigan Avenue Link Bridge. Students of Loyola University, Mundelein, Rosary, and St. Xavier Colleges participated. President Robert M. Kelley of Loyola University sketched the career of the missionary-explorer; M. Edward Meier, vice-consul of the French Republic, delivered an address; and Mayor Cermak read the official Marquette Day Proclamation of the City Council. The ceremony concluded with the placing of a wreath at the foot of the Marquette pylon of the Michigan Avenue Bridge by Teresa Dougherty, "Miss Chi- cago." Then followed exercises at the Damen Avenue Marquette monument where a paper was read by L. Hubbard Shattuck, di- rector of the Chicago Historical Society.
We reproduce the following item from The Wisconsin Maga- zine of History, September, 1931, p. 108:
The dedication of the heroic statue entitled "The Spirit of the North- west" on the Court-house grounds of Green Bay, occurred June 10 [1931] and was a noteworthy occasion, the consummation of the plans of several years. The artist, Sidney Bedore, is a descendant of the early French inhabitants of Green Bay and designed his statue to represent the romantic period of Wisconsin's early days. Three great figures, an Indian, Claude Allouez, a missionary, and Nicolas Perrot, a trader, symbolize the primitive, the religious, and the industrial spirit of the Northwest during the first century of our history. Governor La Follette was present and spoke on the lessons of courage which we could learn from the early explorers. Dr. Schafer and Bishop Rhode also gave appropriate addresses.
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The choice of Father Allouez to represent the missionary spirit of the Old Northwest was happily made. No other of his contemporaries in the historic preaching of the Gospel to the redmen of the upper Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes re- gion in the seventeenth century rises to a more commanding height. His appointment, 1665, by Bishop Laval as Vicar- General in the West marks the first organization of the Church in that part of the United States. His missions, which included among others, La Pointe on Lake Superior, St. Francis Xavier's on Green Bay, St. Mark's on or near the Fox River, and probably St. Joseph's on the site of Niles, Michigan, are evidence of his organizing ability and the unceasing energy with which he plied his apostolic tasks in the West over a period of twenty-four years. A glamor similar to the one that overhangs the brilliant apostolic career of St. Francis Xavier attaches to his name. Thousands of the aborigines were drawn by him into the Church. Historical geography, too, owes him a debt of gratitude. His mention of the Mississippi in the Relation of 1665 was the first to find its way into print and in the preliminary investigations and studies that paved the way for the Jolliet-Marquette ex- pedition of 1673 he took an active and leading part.
The great figure of Robert Cavalier De La Salle continues to grip the popular imagination. Parkman drew the first large scale picture of him for the English reading public. Attempts have lately been made to fix the lineaments of the famous ex- plorer in historical fiction or biography. Sir Gilbert Parker's The Power and the Glory is a fanciful reconstruction of the past with La Salle as the chief actor on the stage. Recently a suc- cession of La Salle biographies has come on the market, among others, those by Lockridge, 1930; Jacks, 1930; and Gaither, 1931. The latest attempt to portray the exployer's career is by the eminent authority on Mississippi Valley history of the French period, the Baron Marc De Villiers du Terrage, L'Expedition De La Salle, 168^-1687. De Villiers's book, which appeared in the fall of 1931 in Paris, is concerned only with the closing episode of the explorer's life, his expedition to the Gulf of Mexico. Re- cent books on La Salle tend to glorify him at the expense of his enemies, real or so-called. De Villiers's book, which is based on documentary research in the French Archives, utilizing, among
278 NEWS AND COMMENTS
other sources, a hitherto unpublished journal of the expedition in question, attempts to seize and present the objective truth of things amid the welter of jarring interests and personalities in which De La Salle was involved. Beaujeu, in particular, who has generally served as little more than a foil to La Salle's greatness in previous portrayals of the latter, appears in a more favorable light than has heretofore been his lot.
The Kansas Knights of Columbus have recently erected at Council Grove, Kansas, a memorial to Padre Padilla, proto- martyr of the United States. It would be intensely gratifying to be able to identify with precision the spot or even general locality where this glorious trailblazer of the Faith laid down his life. With no documents available other than the con- temporary accounts of the Coronado expedition, all of which have been published in Winship's monograph, it seems unlikely that the problem will ever be definitely solved. These documents have been subjected in recent years to thoroughgoing and ex- haustive criticism and as happens so often in the critical exam- ination of historical sources have led to the most diverse results. Quivira, the celebrated region which Coronado explored and in or close to which Padre Padilla met his end, has been placed by Winship and Hodge in central Kansas; by Bandelier along the Kansas-Nebraska line; by the late Monsignor Shine well within the limits of Nebraska; by Houck in eastern Missouri; and by the most recent student of the problem, Mr. David Donaghoe, of Fort Worth, Texas, in the Texas Pan-handle. The determina- tion, however, of the actual site of Padilla's martyrdom is not a matter of grave importance. Wherever it may have been, the memory of the zealous follower of St. Francis is secure in the memory of posterity, and his heroic passing remains one of the great glories of pioneer Catholicism in the United States.
M. Edmond Buron's recent scholarly edition of Pierre D'Ail- ly's Ymago Mundi (reviewed in Mid-America, October, 1931) is a work to challenge attention in critical and academic circles. M. Buron's work, says Mr. George E. Nunn, the well known authority on Columbus, in the Canadian Historical Review, Sep-
NEWS AND COMMENTS 279
tember, 1931, p. 307, "is so well done that it is to be hoped that it will be possible for him to clarify further the history of Columbus by similiarly treating the copies" of other ancient authors which Columbus had in his hands. M. Buron, a Cana- dian scholar now attached to the Paris office of the Dominion Archives at Ottawa, has been active for many years in docu- mentary researches bearing on Canadian history of the pre- British period. As a collateral line of research he was also en- gaged for years on this critical edition of the Ymago Mundi, the chief source drawn upon by Columbus for his cosmographical and geographical conceptions. Buron as against Vignaud and his school represents the sympathetic attitude towards Colum- bus, with its tendency to bring into sharp relief the scientific and other attainments of the great discoverer. Mid-America repeats the wish expressed by Mr. Nunn that M. Buron will continue his scholarly investigations in the field of Columbian sources. Prob- ably not until this field has been thoroughly worked will the true lineaments of the illustrious discoverer be available for accurate portrayal by historians and biographers.
In the diary of William J. Onahan (Mid- America, October, 1931, p. 70) occurs a contemporary reference to the interesting circumstance that Stephen A. Douglas was received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed. Mr. Onahan a few months before his death in 1919 put on record additional data which supplement the meagre entry in the diary {Illinois Catholic His- torical Review, I, p. 177) :
"Bishop O'Regan was succeeded by Bishop Duggan, whom I have rea- son to remember gratefully as my boyhood friend. I became on occasions a sort of a lay secretary and did a great deal of writing for him. I re- member sitting up in the Palace one night writing out the address the Bishop delivered at the grave of Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Of course the address I wrote was for the Bishop's notes or copy. It was scarcely known at the time or since that the Senator was received into the Church and baptized. Mrs. Douglas was a Catholic, and when in the city a regular attendant at old St. Mary's, where I often saw her. She induced the Bishop to come to the Tremont House in the Senator's last hours, and so it was he had the grace of dying a Catholic. As this fact has been questioned, I may say I have the most unequivocal testimony of the truth of what I assert. The physician who was in attendance, Dr. Hay, afterwards for a long time my own physician, and a Sister of the Good Shepherd, who at the time was in the Tremont House and not then a religious, both cor- roborate my assertion. I stood near Bishop Duggan when he delivered the address when Douglas was laid in his last resting place. The Douglas monument now surmounts the grave."
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Interest in this incident has lately been revived in view of the fact that Mr. Milton, editor of the Chattanooga Times, and author of a notable Andrew Johnson biography, is now engaged on what promises to be the most satisfactory account of the "Little Giant" yet written. A comparison of the accounts of the Douglas funeral appearing respectively in the Chicago Times and Chicago Tribune for June 8, 1861, reveals some highly inter- esting discrepancies. According to the Times, a Douglas organ, there was an impressive religious service conducted by Bishop Duggan and his clergy, while according to the Tribune, hostile to Douglas, there was no religious service at all, the Bishop and his clergy appearing in only "half -canonical attire," and the Bishop speaking at the grave as a friend only, and not as a minister of religion, as Douglas had died outside the pale of the Catholic Church. The historian of today collating all the exist- ing evidence on the point will scarcely evade the conclusion that Douglas was really buried according to the Catholic rite, which would not have been the case had he not died a member of the Catholic Church.
The National Catholic Welfare Council News Service sent out from Tucson, Arizona, in July, 1931, the following story, which through the courtesy of the Service is here reproduced:
When Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, Jesuit missionary and pioneer, set out, at the dawn of the seventeenth century to prove that there was an overland route from Sonora to California, well-wishing, but perhaps skeptical friends declared that they would have to build a monument to his memory if his expedition proved successful. That promise, apparently, never was fulfilled, but today, more than 200 years later, a group of men and women headed by a non-Catholic of this city are laboring patiently to see it realized.
The men and women who seek to honor Father Kino are the members of the Kino Memorial Committee. The genesis and growth of their work has just been explained in an interview granted the N. C. W. C. News Serv- ice by Dr. Frank C. Lockwood, dean of the Liberal Arts College of the University of Arizona and chairman of the committee.
Dean Lockwood paid tribute to Professor Herbert R. Bolton of the University of California, author of Kino's Historical Memoirs of Pimeria Alta, for having disclosed "in firm clear outline one of the great characters of American history" and for revealing him in "his truly monumental character."
"Father Kino," Dean Lockwood continued, "now stands before us in solid reality as a religious genius, a saintly missionary, a mighty spiritual
NEWS AND COMMENTS 281
captain— the most potent individual and most worthy in the civilization of the Southwest. It was he who first explored and mapped Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona; he first brought domestic animals into Arizona; he founded San Xavier Mission, and he was the first to discover that California could be reached by land from Sonora. He was contemporaneous with La Salle and Marquette and his achievements are no less distinguished than the deeds of these fellow Jesuits." [La Salle had been a Jesuit for some years, but withdrew from the Order.]
In describing how he first came to recognize the greatness of Father Kino and in recounting the efforts put forth in Arizona to honor his name, Dean Lockwood said:
"Six years ago I made my first trip into Sonora. As we traveled southward toward Magdalena past the old Spanish missions of San Xavier, Tumacuri and San Ignacio, their beauty and antiquity were for the first time impressed upon my mind. However, even then, the name of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino was strange to my ear, and I was almost blind to the fact that the heroic man who bore that name had planted a chain of about 25 missions in what is now Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona more than two centuries ago.
"It was not until the winter of 1928 when it was my good fortune to travel for nine days in company of Professor Bolton over the desert trails that Father Kino had made almost two and a half centuries before, that I fully awoke to the fact that Father Kino was not only the first to plant Christian civilization in the Southwest, but that the chain of missions founded by him, both in beautiy and antiquity is still of surpassing interest. " "It occurred to me that winter visitors in the Southwest would find much pleasure and instruction in a three-day tour through this region. I wrote to Governor George W. Hunt and to Governor Fauto Topete of Sonora, suggesting that, if the crossing of the border were made easy and certain stretches of road improved, hundreds of tourists each year would visit the chain of missions. I proposed too, that a program of co-operation be undertaken between the executives of Sonora and Arizona and the officers of the Chamber of Commerce in the cities that would be visited.
"Both Governor Hunt and Governor Topete at once took steps to carry out the plan. Governor Hunt became sponsor of an exploration tour, the purpose of which was to determine what missions might be included in the circuit and what were the conditions of the roads. The two Governors met at Nogales, Sonora, and accompanied by residents of both Arizona and Sonora, visited the principal missions. The following places were decided upon as constituting an ideal three-day tour: San Xavier, Tamacuri, Imuris, San Ignacio, Magdalena, Tubutama, Oquitoa, Pitiquito, and Caborca.
"By the autumn of 1928 the grandeur and energy of Kino's personality and the significance of his pioneer achievements in Pimeria Alta had so fired my imagination that I made this suggestion in a lecture delivered in the auditorium of the University of Arizona: 'On May 28, 1700, Em- manuel Gonzales commenting on Kino's belief that California could be entered by land, wrote : "If you accomplish this, we must erect a rich and famous statue." I have longed to find some trace of any likeness of him.
282 NEWS AND COMMENTS
What would be a finer tribute to this greatest of all Arizona pioneers than the erection even at this late date of an idealized statue of him at San Xavier, which he founded, or in Tucson.'
"There was a prompt response. A committee was quickly brought together. It is known as the Kino Memorial Committee. For three years now this Committee has been functioning, gathering funds, informing the public of Kino's remarkable character and great service, encouraging tours of the mission chain and establishing an annual commemorative service in his honor on March 15, the date of his death."
Today, Dean Lockwood said, about $5,000 of the $10,000 needed for the memorial has been raised. Protestant students on the campus of the University of Arizona contributed $300 to the fund in the last few weeks.
BOOK REVIEWS
La Salle. By L. V. Jacks. Scribner's, New York, 1931, pp. 282, $3.00.
The general reader will enjoy this new book by Dr. Jacks. The greatness and tragedy of La Salle's career are presented in an impressive manner. The reader will feel that he too has strained at the oars, has tugged at the ropes, has peered across the misty waters in a vain attempt to sight the lost Griffin, has gazed with horror upon the charred bodies of the helpless Illinoi, and has wandered through trackless forests trying to find the elusive Mississippi. The author at times describes scenes in prose of poetic beauty. Over a framework of minimum facts he has constructed an ornate, colorful, and connected account.
The historian who reads this volume will be disappointed and perhaps annoyed. Although the author has used some first class books such as Margry, Shea, and Gravier, he has overlooked many writers who have made contributions, such as Bolton, Winsor, and Cox. The numberless descriptions of weather, loca- tions, and thoughts are not only of dubious authenticity, but they become monotonous. It is easier to distribute halos and halters thari to weigh character in the scales of justice. The author, apparently conscious of this fact, has placed halos upon La Salle, Frontenac, and DeTonty and halters upon LaBarre, Beaujeu, and Duhaut.
The book contains a map showing La Salle's forts, a brief bibliography, an appendix, and an index.
Edgar B. Wesley, Ph. D.
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minn.
On the King's Highway. A History of the Sisters of the Holy Cross of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Notre Dame, Indiana, by Sister M. Eleanore. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
"Whatever be the faults of young America," says Sister Eleanore, "she has a large measure of gratitude." Young Amer- ica implies the large portion of the population who are members of the Catholic Church, and we may say most emphatically that the Catholic people of this country are grateful for the ines-
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timable benefits they have received from the self-sacrificing and self-effacing Sisters of the Church. In earlier days nearly all the secular education the mass of the Catholic people received was obtained in the parish schools conducted by the Sisters. It has often been said that the school building is as important as the church. If that be so then the work of the Sisters may be placed along side the work of the clergy, and the Sisters are entitled to equal praise for preserving the spirit and the knowl- edge of Christ in this country.
A short time ago we reviewed a history of the Sisters of Mercy. The present book is a history of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Both books were written by members of their respective Communities. We hope these two books will be an incentive to other religious communities of women to write histories of their organizations. And we can assure the interested public that, if the other works measure up to these two books, they will well repay careful reading, and, undoubtedly, will suggest the thought that, if the country had more women as culturly and technically educated, and as capable of managing large organizations as are these Sisters, perhaps some of the governmental difficulties that are embarrassing us today might be avoided.
The Community of the Sisters of the Holy Cross was founded by the Reverend Basil Moreau in 1839. He had clearly in mind the mission of the Community. They were to labor in a special field of the Church, and were to be distinguished by their labor and even by their habit. He had decided what that habit should be. "Masculine and feminine tastes naturally clashed," says Sister Eleanore, but with rather an unusual result. The Found- er's taste was respected to the extent at least, that "a sort of consolidated-interests habit was finally achieved." Although the Congregation had been complete before that time the per- fected Constitution of the Sisters of the Holy Cross was not promulgated until 1859. The governmental form of the Society was adopted from the centralized system of St. Ignatius. The dominant motive was faith in Christ Crucified and in His guid- ance in the field of foreign missions.
In July, 1843, the Sisters of the Holy Cross arrived in New York City. Among those who accompanied them was the Rev- erend Francois Cointet. Shortly after his arrival he wrote Father Moreau a letter that is a real historical document. It contains a narrative of the voyage that is reminiscent of a more famous
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voyage across the Mediterranean from Caesarea to Puteoli. Like St. Paul Father Cointet and his companions were missionaries to a new land of which they had heard much. But unlike the evan- gelical author of the Book of Acts Father Cointet gives a de- scription of the new world city in the middle of the nineteenth century most interesting to those living in the twentieth.
After a short rest in New York the Sisters started westward by way of the Great Lakes to Indiana. Father Sorin had already begun the foundations of the great educational and missionary institution that was to rise on the quiet shores of St. Mary's Lake. In a small room of "a dilapidated building in which their trunks and boxes served as furniture and their umbrellas as first aid to the roof in wet weather" the first Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States lived. From there they soon moved to a more commodious convent over the old log chapel that had been erected many years before, and immediately began the work that has made them well known throughout the United States. They had difficulties, but they overcame them, and we may be- lieve that their prayers were many times granted when, says Sister Eleanore, "they talked both French and English to the statue of Our Lady."
The great school of the Sisters of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame is so well known that it would be superfluous to describe it or to praise the work done there. What may not be super- fluous is to direct attention to the astonishing growth of the Congregation. In nearly every state of the Union is a convent and school conducted by the Holy Cross Sisters. "It would be contrary to the spirit of Holy Cross," says Sister Eleanore, "to confine itself within the limits of one country, for our Father Founder dreamed of a world-wide conquest of souls for Christ by his sons and daughters." At a very early date in the history of the Congregation priests and Brothers were sent to India. Soon after Sisters went there, and established communities in Calcutta, and, after many pathetic vicissitudes, in Bengal. Some of those who went to the far east were from the Convent of St. Mary at Notre Dame.
Although in comparison with the great Orders of the Church the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross is of such late date as the middle of the nineteenth century, yet so much has been accomplished that it seems indeed to be very old. It is in reality very old. It began when the Cross was raised on Calvary
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and it has grown because it has within it the sacrificing and en- nobling and divine Spirit of Christ on the Cross.
Sister Eleanore has produced a charming book. It is one of those books that make the reader forget he is reading a book and believe he is hearing the story of a great and successful enterprise told by one who has taken a great part in the enter- prise. This story of the Sisters of Notre Dame should be in all libraries. It may well be a source of inspiration to those who are trying to do the best that men and women can do on "The King's Highway."
Eneas B. Goodwin, S. T. B., J. D.
Loyola University Chicago
Religious Liberty in Transition. A Study of the Removal of Constitutional Limitations on Religious Liberty as part of the Social Progress in the Transition Period. By Rev. Joseph Francis Thorning, S. J., Ph. D. Benziger Brothers, New York, 1931, pp. 252, $2.50.
It is only within comparatively recent years that the investi- gation of the rise of religious liberty in America has been under- taken in anything approaching a scientific manner. We have long prided ourselves on our liberality in respect to freedom of conscience, but few have undertaken to examine, in the light of the most rigid canons of scientific history, the successive pro- cesses by which this freedom has been attained. Of late how- ever, a few scholars have been turning their attention to this important feature of American culture. Thorn's, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Virginia; the Baptists, Maria Louise Greene's, The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut, and Meyer's, Church and State in Massachusetts: From 17IfO- 1833, to mention but a few, are examples of the newer and more objective study of the subject.
Father Thorning's work is more ambitious in intent than the majority of the previous studies. He essays to cover in this and subsequent volumes a field coextensive in geographical extent with that treated by Sylvester H. Cobb in his study, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America. Unlike Cobb, however, Father Thorning is not concerned with the history of religious toleration in the colonies, but rather with the transition from intolerance of varying degrees to tolerance and equality for all creeds which
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characterized the half century following the American Revolu- tion.
In this, the first volume of his projected series, Father Thorn- ing restricts his study to the New England states. New England was a geographical area possessing, with a few local units ex- cepted, a religious consciousness singularly homogeneous. In adopting such a plan of treatment the author has been enabled to demonstrate a continuity of attitude and policy throughout a comparatively significant section of the original states of the union. Several factors conspired to bring about this transition to a state of tolerance, and to these factors — political, social and intellectual — the author has accorded due consideration. The outstanding battles for toleration were waged in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and it is to these two states that the major portion of the volume is devoted.
The plan of treatment followed by the author leaves little to be desired, either in the mechanical factors of bibliographical material or in judicious interpretation of a most bewildering type of documentary material. Only one who has himself ex- perienced by personal research the complicated nature of early American legislation on the matter of religious toleration, can appreciate the success achieved by Father Thorning in his in- vestigation.
The question of inclusion and exclusion is one that is never absent from the mind of a worker in such a field, and Father Thorning has undoubtedly given careful consideration to his general outline of treatment. Yet to the reviewer it appears that a greater balance might have been secured to the present volume if the author had seen fit to include a separate treatment of the State of Vermont. After all, Vermont became a state in 1791, and the battle for toleration was waged in that state as well as in the neighboring states of the New England group. Yet the author restricts his treatment of the Green Mountain State for the most part to a footnote. However, despite this lack of what some might wish to see accorded fuller treatment, Father Thorning has produced an outstanding work, and one for which students of history and social institutions have long been wait- ing. They will eagerly await the remaining volumes of the series.
Thomas F. O'Connor, A. M. Saint Louis University
288 BOOK REVIEWS
The Oblates' Hundred and One Years. By Grace H. Sherwood. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1931, pp. xiii+288, $2.50.
Mrs. Sherwood in the three hundred pages of this book makes a substantial contribution to American Church history, to the history of the American Negro, and specifically, to the history of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Genuine source material is defltly used, being woven into a readable account, satisfying both the historical sense and human interest. Twenty years ago Katherine Hughes in her "Father Lacombe" anticipated some of the best features of the Strachey-school of biography. Mrs. Sherwood uses a similar method to that of Miss Hughes but with a difference. Miss Hughes remained completely in the back- groun, letting her Father Lacombe tell his story. Mrs. Sherwood like a refined hostess cannot be overlooked though she never ob- trudes herself nor strives to impress us with her sayings and doings.
The Oblates are fortunate, indeed, in having so sympathetic and understanding a historian. It may be doubted whether a member of the Community could have treated more feelingly or adequately the chronicle of events that make up the century of their progress. The Oblates of Providence are our first religious Community of Negro women. In view of historical facts it may well occasion surprise in many minds today that such an estab- lishment should have been launched as early as 1829. If it re- quired rare courage thirty years before the Civil War to envisage a religious congregation for the education of Negro children, what must have been the courage of those who ventured to con- ceive a religious congregation of Negro women for such a pur- pose? Stout of heart they were indeed, Father Joubert, of the Sulpicians, who helped organize and who directed the incipient Community for fourteen years, and the four pioneer Sisters. Father Joubert's diary supplied superb data, detailed and often poignant, which the author turned to splendid account.
There is sunshine and shadow in abundance. Difficult be- ginnings, fair progress followed by reverses, the dark prospect of total extinction, again raised hopes, better days and renewed progress, a miniature of the Church's history, in fact. Perhaps no other religious Community has had a harder fate than the Oblates during the four years following the death of their founder, 1843 to 1847. No annual retreat, Mass in their chapel
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very rarely, no director; an almost total deprivation, in fact, of regular external spiritual helps marked this dark period. Yet they never flinched. Quietly they went about their work and prayer hoping for better days, patiently bearing their cross even as their kinsfolk in bondage bore the yoke of slavery. Happily the Redemptorists came to the rescue and proved the staunchest friend of the Oblates for a period of fourteen years (1847-1880) . Father Anwander was almost a second founder. The Jesuits, especially Father Peter Miller, directed the Oblates from 1860 to 1878, and were followed by the Josephite Fathers in the latter years. Father Leeson, first as a Josephite Father and later as a secular priest, directed the Community until his death in 1911. Directors of the Oblates in subsequent years were appointed from the ranks of the diocesan clergy.
The ramifications of the educational work of the Oblates are interestingly traced in the various foundations, New Orleans, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Leavensworth, Cuba, etc. Since 1926 the care of orphans has been discontinued, except at one or other house, leaving the Sisters free to devote their attention entirely to strictly educational work. Adequate preparation of the Sis- ters for teaching is receiving considerable attention in spite of the handicaps which even these devoted women have to suffer on account of race prejudice. Novices with advanced educational standing are joining the Community. Like all our sisterhoods, the Oblates are in need of far more subjects than they receive to carry on the noble work of Catholic education.
A regrettable error has slipped into the account of the St. Louis Mission. The night school for colored children — if school it really was — opened in 1856 was under the direction of the Sisters of Mercy, who had but just arrived in St. Louis. The Notre Dame Sisters, to whom the author assigns the role, did not arrive in St. Louis until a later date.
The general format of the book, the illustrations, an adequate index, together with the low price, all show that author and publisher have collaborated in a worthwhile addition to our growing library of Catholic Americana.
St. Louis University Henry H. Regnet, S. J.
St. Louis, Mo.
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The Lives of the Saints. Originally Compiled by Alban Butler, Now Edited, Revised and Copiously Supplemented by Herbert Thurston and Norah Leeson. Vol. Ill, March. P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1931.
The reviewer has a vivid remembrance of Butler's Lives of the Saints. The impressions take me back to the time when I was an acolyte, and the parish missions were in full action. I may have forgotten the sermons, but I still recall the display of mission goods. I can see the holy pictures, the boxes of beads, the assortment of prayer-books, and finally the sets of the Lives of the Saints.
Equally well do I recall the display at the close of the mis- sions. The supply of beads and prayer-books was all but ex- hausted, the packages of holy pictures were considerably dimin- ished, but the stately row of Butler's Lives of the Saints re- mained undisturbed.
Now, I often wondered why people did not buy the Lives of the Saints. As a boy I reveled in juvenile stories of adventure and I am sure that I would have made myself familiar with some of the lives of the saints, had the books been handy. Take the volume before me. I would have read the life of Saint Joseph, for that was the name of our parish church. I am equally sure that I would have been interested in St. Patrick. Even when a boy I had heard much of the great St. Thomas Aquinas, and would gladly have made myself better acquainted with the de- tails of his life. There is much deep theology connected with the feast of the Annunciation, but with some encouragement I no doubt would have opened the pages at the feast on or near the 25th of March.
Later when I went to high school and college I would have turned to the life of St. Benedict who did so much to build up the Christian civilization of Europe, and St. John Capistran who was so instrumental in saving it against the onslaughts of the Turks. I would have been interested in the lives of St. John Joseph, St. John of God, St. Frances of Rome, St. Gregory the Great, The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, and others — many others.
The new edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints has many im- provements over the old one. The name of Father Thurston will give assurance that every life is edited with scholarship. Not all the fables and fiction have been eliminated ; but one knows in the
BOOK REVIEWS 291
new edition what is fable and what is fact, at least as far as erudition can separate the two.
Father Thurston in the preface reminds his readers that March is not "prolific in great feasts," and yet to one who is in- terested in serious reading, there is matter for many a pleasant and instructive hour.
Not only have many of the accounts of the saints been en- larged, but new names have been added to the calendar. We of America cannot as yet claim many saints, but the long account of "The Martyrs of North America" is not only of special inter- est to us, but connects our own country with every nation of Europe in winning the aureola of sainthood.
We sincerely hope that this attractive and scholarly edition of the Lives of the Saints will in future not only adorn the mis- sion tables, but will diminish in number of copies as the missions draw to a close.
Henry S. Spalding, S. J.
St. John's College Toledo, Ohio
The Catholic Church on the Northern Indiana Frontier, 1789- 18U. By Rev. William McNamara, C. S. C. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C, 1931, pp. vii-(-85.
In preparing this dissertation, the author, a native of Chi- cago and an alumnus of Notre Dame University, has made good use of manuscripts preserved in the Archives of Notre Dame University and of the Community of the Holy Cross, as well as of printed sources.
The work deals quite as much with the Indians who formerly occupied the territory as with the early white settlers. The mis- sions of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries are not covered in this dissertation ; but even the earliest priests who fol- lowed toward the close of the latter century had mixed congre- gations composed of both Indinas and whites. The outstanding figures among these early clergy were: Stephen Badin, pioneer and the first Catholic priest to be ordained within the limits of the United States; Simon Brute, who became the first Bishop of the new diocese of Vincennes, a jurisdiction that covered all of the state of Indiana and about one-third of Illinois in their present boundaries; Fathers Louis Deseille and Benjamin Petit; and Bishop Rene de la Hailandiere. Their letters, liberally
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quoted by the author, give vivid and often dramatic pictures of the journeys and mode of life of the clergy and of the pioneers of Catholicity in Indiana in the 'thirties.
The narrative closes with the year 1844, in which the charter of Notre Dame University was granted by the state to Father Sorin and his associates of the Congregation of the Holy Cross.
William Stetson Merrill, A. B.
Oak Park, 111.
Jacques Cartier. By Charles de la Ronciere. Plon, Paris, 1931.
This is the second volume of a series, Les Grandes Figures Coloniales, the purpose of which is to recreate the great figures who have been instrumental in the expansion of the French colonial empire.
Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, could have found no historian more thoroughly trained and equipped to write his biography than the author of UHistoire de la Marine Frangaise (five vols.) . Making full use of extant documents and contribu- tions of historians of other nationalities, M. de la Ronciere has produced a book of genuine importance. In a dramatic manner he describes the youth of the discoverer, his first voyage to Brazil, and the four voyages to Canada; throughout the book, Cartier is pictured both as a great patriot working in the pur- suit of his ideal under the clash of rivalry and jealousy, and as a great Catholic, human in his dealings with the Indians and devout in the expression of his faith. The author is especially adroit in presenting historical facts with narrative skill and the book reads like a drama. He visualizes the facts assimilated through patient investigation and describes the hardships of the sailors during the winter they spent in Canada, the sufferings of the crew from scurvy, the mistrust of the Indians and the failure of rival companies. Chapter XI will be of interest to literateurs; the author traces the sources of the navigations of Pantagruel to the relation of Cartier's voyages.
The book is supplied with a bibliography, one map, and five drawings. More attention should have been given to the quality of the paper. There is no index, and no footnote references are given in the text. These are blemishes which can be corrected in a later edition.
Paul A. Barrette, A. M.
Saint Louis University
BOOK REVIEWS 293
Catholic Journalism; A Study of Its Development in the United States, 1189-1930. By Apollinaris W. Baumgartner, Colum- bia University Press, 1931, pp. xvi-(-113.
This work, a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Journalism at Columbia University, was done by Father Apollinaris, O. M. Cap., a graduate of St. Lawrence College, Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin.
The volume is divided into seven principal sections, compris- ing the formative years (1789-1840), the second period (1840- 1884) , the third period (1884-1919) , Catholic journalistic educa- tion (1910-1930), the present state of the Catholic press (1919- 1930), a table of unrecorded journals, and a bibliography.
In the treatment of the early years of Catholic journalism the Courier de Boston, which appeared on April 23, 1789, oddly enough under the editorship of a French instructor at Harvard University, is noted as the first Catholic journal in the United States. Then follows an appreciative account of journalistic be- ginnings in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. The aggressiveness of the second period is emphasized in the names of James White, Eugene Casserly, John Devereaux, James McMaster, Orestes Brownson, John O'Reilly, Martin Spalding, Benjamin Webb and D'Arcy McGee. The Catholic immigration and the provincial and plenary councils of Baltimore also con- tributed to an expanded and more effective Catholic press. The next period brought with it a movement within the Catholic Church to establish "a more truly representative press." Leo XIII in his Longinqua oceani, the Bishops and many sincere Catholic journalists strove to obtain the above aim. The Catho- lic Press Association formed in 1889 foretold the future accom- plishment of united Catholic action. In the field of journalistic education brief remarks are made on Marquette University, Notre Dame University, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, In- diana, St. Joseph's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, Marygrove, University of Detroit, and thirteen other Catholic institutions of higher learning, present day leaders in Catholic journalism.
In developing the present status of the Catholic press con- siderable attention is given to the news service of the N. C. W. C, and Catholic journals. A table of Catholic papers conclude the chapter. Curiously enough, the circulation of Our Sunday Visitor is recorded as 500,000, perhaps the largest of any Catho-
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lie paper in the United States. A list of unrecorded journals, a bibliography and an index bring the dissertation to an end.
Among the defects of the volume are the lack of specific examples, such as quotations indicating the style and thought especially of the earlier journalists, absence of interest caused by excessive listing of papers and a too chronological treatment, at times sacrificing the continuity of thought. Webster College was not included in the list of Catholic institutions having courses in journalism. On the whole the work is scholarly, exact, and shows a vast amount of historical investigation and experience.
George F. Donovan, Ph. D. Webster College
Webster Grove, Mo.
The Story of Pope Pius XL By Benedict Williamson. P. J. Kenedy and Sons, New York, 1931, pp. 174, $2.00, postpaid $2.15.
Pius XI is a dominant figure of this country. His biography therefore is both timely and valuable. The present life by Bene- dict Williamson does not claim indeed to be a biography but merely a popular sketch giving some idea of the life and work of a great pontiff.
The opening chapter is headed, "Who the Pope Is," and deals with the position of the Pope in the world today. In answer to the question, "Why should the Pope whose mission is wholly spiritual be possessed of temporal sovereignty?" it quotes Mus- solini, whom it characterizes as the greatest statesman of mod- ern times. He says: "On our part we have loyally recognized the sovereignty of the Holy See not merely because it existed in fact, or on account of the comparatively trifling territory asked for, but from the conviction that the Supreme Head of a uni- versal religion can not be the subject of any State without in- jury to Catholicity, which signifies Universality."
The three dominant facts in the pontificate of Pope Pius XI are the canonization of Therese of Lisieux, the Missionary Ex- hibit and the Treaty of the Lateran.
The year of Jubilee 1925 was also the year of the canoniza- tion of the Little Flower. Always devoted to St. Therese the Pope had a shrine erected to her in the Vatican gardens and here he stops daily to pray during his walk. Of the ardent mis-
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sionary enthusiasm which inflamed her heart the letters and autobiography of St. Therese bear abundant witness. It was therefore not surprising that in reply to the petition of many missionary bishops he named the Carmelite Virgin of Lisieux Protectress and Patroness of the Missions with the same title as that of St. Francis Xavier.
One of the needs of the Far Eastern Missions of India, China, and Japan is that of presenting to these peoples, all essentially contemplative, as the vast monastic institutions among them testify, the contemplative life as exemplified by the cloistered orders of the Church. Pope Pius realized that hitherto only the active side of the Church had been presented by the Catholic missionaries. The great success of the Trappist foundation in China is only one of the many evidences of the wisdom of the Holy Father. In the belief that the best missionaries are those who speak to their own people the first six native Chinese bishops have been consecrated and Carmelite convents founded in India and China with the happiest results.
The magnificent Missionary Exhibit which the Holy Father opened during the Jubilee year in the Vatican gardens and to which all the commercial houses of Italy sent samples of their manufactures was a tremendous success.
The most important fact of all in the pontificate of the pres- ent Pope was the signing of the Lateran treaty, which acknowl- edged the Head of the Church as a temporal sovereign and created the Vatican state. The significance of the Papacy had early impressed itself on Mussolini and on the day of the Pope's election he called it "The only universal idea existing in the world today." The account of the signing of the treaty is graphically told.
The book is well gotten out and greatly enriched by a large number of attractive pictures in sepia.
Mary Onahan Gallery
Chicago, 111.
Freeporfs Lincoln. By W. T. Rawleigh. Published by W. T. Rawleigh, Freeport, Illinois.
On the cover of this book appears the sub-title, "The Fate of a Nation was Decided at Freeport/' This suitably characterizes the event commemorating the seventy-first anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debate. The book contains the debate itself,
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several addresses, statements from the survivors who heard the debate, and other miscellaneous material. The occasion was marked by the unveiling of a statue of Lincoln, designed by Leonard Crunelle. The donor was W. T. Rawleigh.
The book is deficient in its general failure to make any new historical contribution on this important subject. Fred L. Holmes, author of Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way, gives well the historical background for the debate. The event was made a veritable rally for political liberals. The principal ad- dress was delivered by Senator Norris. Very little in his speech relates to Lincoln. He flays the imaginary power trust, attacks national preparedness, inveighs against great combinations of wealth, derides the federal judiciary, and in general uses this occasion for political propaganda. Even the officiating clergy- man in his invocation seems more thankful for Norris's career than for Lincoln's. Although there appears quite a number of statements from survivors who heard the debate, very little of merit or interest is brought out.
R. H. Baldwin, A. M.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
The King's Steward: the True Story of George Schumann. By George N. Lyons. Published for the Dujarie Institute, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1931, pp. xvi+ 100, $1.10.
This short biography of Mr. Schumann is a sturdy tale of high courage simply told in language such as the subject would himself have used had he chosen to relate it. It is a story of true bravery whose only stimulant was the joy of a task well done for Christ and for humanity.
George Schumann was born nearly a century ago in a little village of Germany whence he emigrated to the United States to escape the military service of his fatherland. The next few years were devoted to mastering the building trade. Shortly after serving an apprenticeship he married and approximately a year later took over the faltering business of a deceased rela- tive. To this, at the instance of a lay Brother who had previous- ly handled them, he added a line of religious articles for sale. This business expanded so rapidly that new quarters were neces- sary in 1882 and its proceeds only a few years later enabled Mr. Schumann to carry on his many and world-wide charities. At
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one time he gave forty-one thousand dollars to foreign missions while between October and January of another year he gave fifty thousand to charitable causes.
However, the phenomenal material success of this man is not the central theme of the book, which is rather the constant and untiring devotion of Mr. Schumann to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to His saints. When three successive days witnessed four deaths in his immediate family he was able to say "Just what- ever God wills!" (p. 18) , a phrase that was ever his watchword on the battlefront of life. His, indeed, was a courage of which too little is made.
His life was a model of devotion to family and business, to Christ's kingdom in Heaven and on earth. It may well be read by every Catholic business man.
Harold E. Young, A. M.
Paola, Kansas
California Letters of Lucius Fairchild. Edited with Notes and Introduction by Joseph Schafer, Superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Historical Pub- lications— Collections Vol. XXXI.) Madison, Wis., 1931, pp. . xix+212.
The letters of this youngster, later to be governor of his state, give a graphic account of the tribulations of the gold seeker of '49. His experiences were those common to the ad- venturous souls of that time whose quest for the "pot of gold" brought them to the Rainbow's End in the California "diggings." The hardships undergone, exposures to the elements, to plagues, Indians, and to the worst of all of man's enemies — evil com- panions, were those which had been endured by thousands of others with varying effects. He saw the complexion of his "train" constantly changing as, at each stopping-place — St. Louis, St. Joseph, Old Fort Kearney, and Laramie — his old friends dropped out and turned their faces once more toward "civilization," and their places were taken by the new groups which swung in to line.
Hopes were soon dampered as the "diggings" at "Big Bar" and the "Consumnes River" failed to yield a profit. His few remaining friends, one after another, gave up in sheer despair; his parents pleaded with him to come home; ;but he had deter- mined to remain until he had "made his pile." "Hope is the
298 BOOK REVIEWS
most prominent Bump on my Cranium." Tired of digging, he turns his hand to other ventures — becomes co-proprietor of the "Queen City," "one of the finest" hotels in Sacramento City; he is, in turn, teamster, table-waiter, "digger," and butcher, but fortune eludes him. Eventually he enters into that fortunate partnership with "Elijah Steele of Kenosha"; he becomes ranch- er, farmer, sawmill operator, horsetrader, yet always remains a "miner." After six weary years he has achieved that goal which he set for himself and, in May, 1655, departs, by way of Panama and New York City, for his home in Wisconsin.
Though he had overstayed his limit in California, there were many things there which held his interest: California's first election day — the "chief issues," "No Banks, No Slavery & Mar- ried women's Rights." The "only law in the Mines is hanging for stealing"; "Hangtown" had earned its name. Though the cost of living is very high, "we live like princes on deer meat and bread."
The letters are the typical missives of a boy of seventeen, and they seem to hold that tenor all during his stay in California. Notwithstanding the fact that they contain some matter which has historical value, the epistles are so fully crammed with much that is of an almost sacredly intimate nature, that one's curi- osity is aroused as to why it was ever deemed desirable to give them to print.
Richard D. Doyle, A. M.
St. Louis University
High School
St. Louis, Mo.
Shadows on the Rock. By Willa Cather. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1931, pp. 280.*
In Shadows on the Rock, Miss Willa Cather tells of the ex- perience of a little girl living in Quebec during the period when the once powerful Count Frontenac was nearing the end of his striking career, and the great Bishop Laval, although aged and infirm, was still laboring diligently among his people. Through the eyes of Cecile Auclair and her father, Euclide, an apothecary and protege of Count Frontenac, we see old Quebec, built on solid rock, with no two buildings in the Upper Town on the same
* A notice of this piece of fiction, essentially an attempt at historical reconstruction is not out of place in the pages of Mid- America.
BOOK REVIEWS 299
level, and Lower Town two hundred feet below, reached by a single steep winding street. In the spring we see the ships from France come in, with every ablebodied inhabitant out to welcome them after the long winter with no news or supplies from home.
Cecile calls on the governor to ask him to furnish shoes for a poor waif whom she has befriended. She goes to the cobbler with an order from Frontenac for the shoes, and the cobbler tells her about his hero, Robert Cavelier de la Salle. One of her great friends is Pierre Charron, a coureur de bois, who has tales to relate about the Great Lakes and the primeval forests, into which he has penetrated. Cecile is thrilled by the story of the Jesuit martyrs, Fathers Brebeuf, Lalemant, Jogues, Noel Cha- banel and their brave companions. She visits the Hotel Dieu and Mother Juschereau tells wonderful stories about Mother Catherine de Saint-Augustin who, inspired by the Relations of the Jesuit missionaries, came to Quebec when barely sixteen years old, and became Superior of the Hotel Dieu, at an early age.
When Cecile goes to visit the churches on All Souls Day, her mind is filled with recollections of the illustrious dead. To quote the author: "When one passed by the Jesuits', those solid walls seemed sentinelled by a glorious company of martyrs, martyrs who were explorers and heroes as well ; at the Hotel Dieu, Mother Catherine de Saint-Augustin and her story rose up before one; at the Ursulines', Marie de l'lncarnation overshadowed the liv- ing."
Among Cecil's favorite stories were those about Jeanne le Ber, who gave up wealth and family to become a recluse in Mon- treal, where she devoted her life to prayer, to the embroidery of beautiful altar-cloths and vestments for churches, and to the knitting of socks for the poor.
Of course, Cecile had gone to school at the Ursuline convent and had many friends among the courageous sisters. The au- thor, speaking of the nuns, says: "The Ursulines and the Hos- pitalieres, indeed, were scarcely exiles. ... In whatever little wooden vessel they had labored across the sea, they . . . brought to Canada the Holy Family, the saints and martyrs, the glorious company of the Apostles, the heavenly host. Cour- ageous these sisters were, accepting good and ill fortune with high spirit, — with humour, even."
We hear echoes of the strife between Governor Frontenac
300 BOOK REVIEWS
and Bishop Laval, chiefly over the brandy traffic with the In- dians; between Frontenac and Saint- Vallier, Quebec's second bishop; and between Monsignor Laval and his successor, Saint- Vallier, who unfortunately upset many of Laval's cherished plans, especially those relating to his Seminary. Bishop Laval is represented as rather grim and autocratic, "but no one could deny that he shephered his sheep. . . . Seventy-four years of age and much crippled by his infirmities, going about in a rusty cassock, he yet commanded one's admiration in a way that the new Bishop, with all his personal elegance, did not. One believed in his consecration, in some special authority won from fasting and penances and prayer; it was in his face, in his shoulders, it was he."
Shadows on the Rock is not so much a story as a picture of the last decade of the seventeenth century in Quebec. It is notable for its clear-cut presentation of the customs and the people of that interesting period.
Ethel Owen Merrill
Oak Park, 111.
La Salle. By Ross F. Lockridge. World Book Company, New York, 1931, pp. xvi+312.
In this book the author tells the story of Robert Cavelier La Salle, the "impersonation not only of the adventurous spirit of the French but of the most intrepid spirit of wilderness ex- ploration." The first five chapters tell of the earlier career of the great explorer : his youth in Normandy, a fitting birth-place for such an adventurer; his arrival in New France at the auspicious moment when Louis XIV became actively interested in his American colony ; his exploration of La Belle Riviere; his enjoyment of the patronage of "the Iron Governor"; and his preparatory years as knight and seignior at Fort Frontenac.
The succeeding chapters relate to La Salle's visions of em- pire and the innumerable difficulties and adventures that he met with in attempting to realize these visions. How largely his later career was an adventure in the forest is evident from such chapters heads as these: "Wilderness Perils," "Wilderness Deso- lation," "Wilderness Diplomacy," "Wilderness Empire." The au- thor makes frequent direct quotations from the sources the kernel of the story hoping thereby to create an atmosphere of
BOOK REVIEWS 301
time and place and to give personal contact with La Salle and the interesting people that moved with him.
Sister Mary Borgias, S. N. D., Ph. D. Notre Dame College of John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio
Earliest Catholic Activities in Texas. By Carlos E. Castafieda, A. M. (Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society, I, No. 8, October, 1931. Distributed under the aus- pices of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commis- sion.)
This is a scholarly and informing account of the work of the early Franciscan missionaries within the limits of what is now the state of Texas. These energetic and zealous pathfinders of the Gospel first made their way into the region in the seven- teenth century. The missionary movement was set on foot in answer to invitations coming from the Texas tribes, who had been miraculously directed by Mother Maria d'Agreda to call for missionaries. This connection of the famous Spanish ecstatica with the inauguration of Catholic missionary enterprise in the Texas region appears to be well vouched for by contemporary evidence.
Souvenir of the Diamond Jubilee of the Founding of St. Bene- dict's Parish, Thursday, September 24, 1931, Nebraska City, Nebr.
Among the necessary preliminaries to the compilation of comprehensive regional or state histories of the Catholic Church in the United States is a thorough study of the parochial units which enter into diocesan organization. A good part, one almost says, the bulk of diocesan happenings gathers around the par- ishes, the history of which must accordingly be put on record with precise and informing details. This booklet deals with a Nebraska parish the history of which begins at a period when the region was still under the jurisdiction of the first Catholic bishop between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. This was the Right Reverend J. B. Miege, Vicar Apostolic of the "Indian Country." St. Benedict's parish passed into the hands of the Benedictine Fathers in 1858 and has remained under their zealous care to the present day.
Contributors to this Issue
William Stetson Merrill, A. B., contributing editor of Mid- America, expert in library science and administration and author of "Code for Classifiers" (American Library Associa- tion, Chicago, III., 1928) is on the staff of the John Crerar Library, Chicago.
The Reverend Mariano Cuevas, S. J., is author of the outstanding history of the Catholic Church in Mexico.
The Reverend Frederic Beuckman, contributing editor of Mid- America, is author of "A History of the Parishes of the Diocese of Belleville/'
The Reverend W. Eugene Shiels, S. J., is a graduate-student in the University of California.
Robert Knight, C. E., and Lucius Zeuch, M. D., are joint authors of a definitive topographical research-study, "The Location of the Chicago-Portage Route of the Seventeenth Century," published by the Chicago Historical Society, 1928.
Thomas F. O'Connor, A. M., is a teaching-fellow in the Depart- ment of History, Graduate School, St. Louis University.
■'
cTWID-cAMERICA
Vol. XIV
New Series, Vol. Ill
APRIL, 1932
Number 4
Journal of the Illinois Catholic Historical Society 28 North Franklin Street, Chicago
MANAGING EDITOR Gilbert J. Garraghan St. Louis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Frederick Beuckman Belleville William Stetson Merrill Chicago
John B. Culemans Moline Paul J. Foik Austin, Texas
Francis Borgia Steck Quincy
28 NORTH FRANKLIN STREET, CHICAGO
HONORARY PRESIDENTS His Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago Rt. Rev. Edward F. Hoban, D. D., Bockford Rt. Rev. Henry Althoff, D. D., Belleville Rt. Rev. James A. Griffin, D. D., SprmgfieldRt. Rev. Joseph H. Schlarman, D. D., Peoria
OFFICERS
President
Rev. Frederic Siedenburg, S. J., Chicago
First Vice-President
Rt. Rev. F. A. Purcell, Chicago
Second Vice-President James M. Graham, Springfield
Treasurer John P. V. Murphy, Chicago
Financial Secretary Francis J. Rooney, Chicago
Recording Secretary Agnes Van Driel, Chicago
Archivist Rev. Frederick E. Hillenbrand, Mundelein
TRUSTEES
Very Rev. James Shannon, Peoria
Rev. Robert M. Kelley, S. J., Chicago
Mrs. Daniel V. Gallery, Chicago
D. F. Bremner, Chicago
John Coleman, Lake Forest
Michael F. Girten, Chicago
James A. Bray, Joliet
Frank J. Seng, WUmette
Mrs. E. I. Cudahy, Chicago
Published by
The Illinois Catholic Historical Society
Chicago, III.
CONTENTS
Venerable Antonio Maegil de Jesus Peter P. Forrestal 305
The Erection of the Diocese op Davenport Charles F. Griffith 335
The First Mission to the Sioux Nancy Ping 344
Documents — The Quarter-Pioquet Correspondence 352
News and Comments 369
Book Reviews: 374
Engeihardt, Missions and Missionaries of California; Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers; Fuller, A History of the Pacific Northwest ; Spalding, Catholic Colonial Maryland; Hinsdale (ed.), Archaeological Atlas of Michigan; Gaither, The Fatal Biver; Eoy, Archives de la Province de Quebec, 1930- 1931; Roy, Le Yieux Quebec; Roy, Les Petites Choses de Notre Histoire; Hagedorn, The Franciscans in Nebraska and Historical Sketches of Mid- Nebraska; Mourret, A History of the Catholic Church; Dehey, Beligious Orders of Women in the United States; Leturia, Bolivar y Leon XII; Hulbert, The Forty-Niners; Ghent, The Early Far West.
Copyright, 1932
by
Mid-America
oMID - AMERICA
cAn Historical Review
Vol. XIV APRIL, 1932 Number 4
New Series, Vol. Ill
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS
I
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that preacheth the gospel of peace. Isaias LIT, 7.
Very few missionaries in the history of the Catholic Church have labored with such indefatigable zeal in winning souls for God as did Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, one of the pioneers in New Spain. Although during his life his name was held in rev- erence and benediction by the inhabitants of practically every town from Panama to Louisiana, and although at the time of his death his obsequies were celebrated in many cities both in the Old and in the New World, today, strange to say, only an occasional scholar north of the Rio Grande is acquainted with the missionary activities of this humble but valiant soldier of Christ.
In presenting the following brief sketch of the life and labors of this great servant of God we shall aim at historical accuracy primarily. With this end in view we have made a very careful study of the letters of this venerable priest, the numerous ser- mons preached, both in America and in Europe, at the time of his death, the Peregrine* Septentrional Atlante and Nuevas Em- presas, published by Espinosa in 1737 and 1747 respectively, the Vida del V. P. Fr. Antonio Margil de Jesus, published by Vilaplana in 1763, the Vida compiled by Arricivita in 1792, and published in the second part of the Cronica del Apostolico Cole- gio de Queretaro, the various documents presented to the Roman curia during the process of beatification and canonization in the last half of the XVIII century, and works of several modern historians to which reference is made in the footnotes.
305
306 PETER P. FORRESTAL
In thfe present article we do not propose to give a comprehen- sive treatment of our subject ; we shall do little more than intro- duce it to our readers, and this with the hope that before long another and a more fluent pen may in a befitting manner describe the activities of this great missionary of New Spain.
Antonio Margil, son of Juan Margil Salumaro and Esperanza Ros, was born in Valencia, Spain, on August 18, 1657, and two days later was baptized in the beautiful church of San Juan del Mercado, which afterwards came to be known as los Santos Juanes Bautista y Evangelista. When still only a mere boy he showed promise of rare talent and virtue, and, because of this, his truly Christian parents procured for him teachers capable of developing in him studious and virtuous habits. When not at school, where he made rapid progress in his studies, he spent most of his time in building miniature altars at home or in serving Mass and making visits to the Blessed Sacrament in one of the many churches of Valencia. According to several witnesses, whose declarations were recorded by the public and apostolic notary in the city of Valencia shortly after his death, his one desire during time of vacation was to visit the churches in which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. There he would become so rapt in prayer and meditation that oftentimes he did not return home till after nightfall. When his mother, realizing that he had been fasting the entire day, used to reprove him for this Antonio would answer respectfully that in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament all this time seemed but an instant and that he would not have left even then had he not been obliged to do so by the sacristan who wished to lock the church.1
Wishing to consecrate himself entirely to God, at the age of fifteen and with his parents' consent he called at the Convent of La Corona de Cristo2 in Valencia and asked to join the ranks of the Friars Minor. The official records containing the names of those admitted into that monastery state that "after Compline, between 5 and 6 o'clock in the afternoon of April 22, 1673, Brother Antonio Margil, a native of Valencia, who had com- pleted the fifteenth year of his age, asked to be admitted as a choir religious into the Convent of La Corona de Cristo; and, in the presence of the community that had assembled for this
i Vilaplana, Vida del V. P. Fr. Antonio Margil de Jesus, p. 8 (Madrid, 1775).
2 So-called because in that convent was preserved half of one of the thorns from the crown of Our Savior.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 307
purpose, received the habit from Fray Jose Salellas, actual Guardian of said convent."3
In the novitiate Antonio was an exemplar of virtue. He took delight in performing the most menial services, and imposed upon himself such severe penances that the Master of Novices took away from him the hair-shirt and forbade him to use the discipline and other instruments of torture with which he was wont to lacerate his flesh. On April 25, 1674, before completing his seventeenth year, he made his religious profession in this same convent of La Corona de Cristo. As a professed religious Antonio made even greater efforts to advance in perfection and to detach himself entirely from the world with its allurements. One day, not knowing that he was being observed, he slipped off quietly to the church, and walking over to one of the tombs, raised the slab concealing a body that had been buried there for some time and that was already in a state of decomposition. He remained there beside that tomb until the Master of Novices, who had followed him down to the church, drew near and asked what he was doing. The young novice replied : "Reminding this brute of a body of what it now is and of what it will one day be."*
When he was eighteen years of age the superiors, convinced that he had a vocation to the priesthood, sent him to the Con- vent of San Antonio in Denia, where, according to the sworn declaration of Fray Vicente Andani, who had been a seminarian with him in the aforesaid convent and who testified in Guatemala on March 6, 1727, young Margil made constant progress in vir- tue and was greatly respected and admired by all because of his deep humility, his jovial disposition and winning ways. After he had completed a three years' course in philosophy at Denia he was sent back to La Corona Convent for his theology. Here during the time not devoted to study he followed the regu- lar exercises of the novitiate, and every night after Matins went down quietly to the garden, where, laden with a heavy cross, he followed in the footsteps of the Crucified Christ, pausing to meditate before each of the fourteen Stations erected within the convent walls. When twenty-four years of age he was ordained to the priesthood, and after his first holy Mass, for which he
a Summarium beatificationis et canonizationis Ven. Servi Dei Antonii Margil a Jesu, no. 5, p. 50, sec. 48. 4Vilaplana, op. cit., p. 12.
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had prepared by prayer, penance, and a humble confession of even the slightest faults, received from the Provincial Chapter an obedience as confessor and preacher in the town of Onda. Here his labors bore such abundant fruit that a short time after his arrival to this town his superiors decided to change him to Denia, a Mediterranean port much frequented by profligates from various parts of Europe and greatly in need of the min- istrations of a zealous priest.
II
He had not been here long before he learned that Fray An- tonio Linaz, who belonged to the Majorca Province and who had recently been preaching with remarkable success in many cities of the peninsula, had obtained permission to take with him twenty-five volunteers for the missions in America. Burning with zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, and realizing that in the far-off Indies the harvest was ready but the laborers were few, young Margil decided to enlist in this little band of missionaries. He took leave of his companions at the Convent of San Antonio, after having asked them to pray for the success of his undertaking, and set out for Valencia in order to pay a visit to the religious at La Corona de Cristo and to bid good-bye to his aged mother, who was now a widow.
His departure was felt keenly by all those religious, who had come to love him from the very day he first called at the novitiate, and it was felt still more keenly by that pious mother who had watched over and guided him during his childhood and who had hoped that he would be present to comfort and console her in her declining years. Informed that Fray Antonio was determined to leave for the Indies, she was deeply affected, and when he came to bid her good-bye the poor old lady said to him : "Son, how is it that you decide to go off and to leave me now when I was expecting from you some comfort and consolation, when I was hoping that at the time of my death you would assist me, that you would be at my bedside in that hour of trial?"5
Antonio, stifling the sentiments of filial love and affection that were welling up in his breast, answered: "Mother, when I entered the monastery I left you, and I took the Blessed Virgin as Mother and Jesus as Father, for at that time I renounced
s Espinosa, El Peregrino Septentrional Atlante, p. 37.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 309
all earthly ties. I am going to labor in the vineyard of the Master, to see if I can please my beloved Jesus. You will find consolation in the Lord, for His Divine Majesty will take care of you and, if He so permit, I shall not fail to assist you at the hour of your death. Do not be afflicted, mother, by these natural sentiments; we must leave all in the hands of Providence. Take this habit, which, with my superior's permission, I leave you in order that you may be buried in it. The fact that my brother- in-law and my sister remain here is for me a source of consola- tion.6 With all my heart I commend you to their care and, in case you be deprived of their assistance, my Father Jesus will take care of my mother Esperanza."7
Antonio cast himself at his mother's feet, and, having re- ceived her last blessing, turned his back upon his childhood's home and took the road leading to Cadiz. Shortly afterwards he and the other missionaries sailed from the aforesaid port, and after a three months' voyage, during which their lives were frequently in peril, they landed at Vera Cruz on June 6, 1683. At this port a most sad spectacle met their gaze. Shortly before their arrival the pirate Lorencillo8 had sacked the city, desecrat- ing the churches, and murdering or crippling great numbers of the inhabitants. Margil, deeply pained, hastened to the assist- ance of that wretched people, and spared no sacrifice in minister- ing to the dying, in burying the dead and in consoling the afflicted.
A few days later, accompanied by one of his companions and provided with nothing but a staff, a breviary and a crucifix, he set out for Santa Cruz Convent in the City of Queretaro. On August 13th, after having given missions at all the towns and ranches along the way, he walked into the Convent of Santa Cruz, which, now erected into a college and seminary, was soon
sVilaplana uses the plural. Antonio had two sisters, one that was married and another that later on entered La Puridad Convent.
7 Espinosa, op. cit., p. 38.
s Fray Rogerio Conde Martinez, O. F. M., in his brochure on Margil states that the pirate was English and that his real name was Lawrence Jacome. At the celebration held in the Spanish capital in 1928, on the occasion of the VII centennial of the death of Saint Francis this work (Madrid, Imprenta Minuesa, 1929) was awarded the prize for the best treatise on Margil, offered by His Excellency Dr. Francisco Orozco y Jimenez, beloved Archbishop of Guadalajara, noted benefactor of an af- flicted people and humble but fearless apostle of Christ.
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to send forth missionaries to all parts of the New World.9 On the first Sunday of the following month he opened a mission in Queretaro, and the inhabitants, observing that he spoke to them with all the unction and sincerity of the anointed of God, and learning that he was accustomed to spend the entire day and most of the night in works of penance and in acts of charity, of humility and of love of God, flocked to the churches, con- fessed their sins and made a firm purpose of amendment. This mission finished, he set out for Mexico City, the emporium of the Western Hemisphere, where, with the assistance of several other religious, he succeeded in eradicating vice and in implant- ing such beautiful virtues as might have incited to emulation the most Catholic communities in Christendom.
Leaving the capital, he retraced his steps to Santa Cruz Col- lege, where he was most punctual in his attendance at the re- ligious exercises, and where each night after Matins he made the Stations with a heavy cross over his shoulder and a crown of thorns upon his head, thereby unconsciously impressing upon his saintly companions the necessity of exemplifying in their own lives the doctrines of Christianity and of trampling under foot the world with its seductions before hoping to bring the pagan nations of America under the yoke of Christ.
Ill
Fray Antonio had been here about three months when he and three other religious received the obedience to labor for the spread of the faith among the barbarous tribes of Campeche or Yucatan.10 Responsive to that call, the four zealous missionaries left immediately for Vera Cruz, and while waiting for the boat to weigh anchor gave a mission at the Castle of San Juan de Uhia.11
Accompanied by their Commissary-General, Fray Juan Luzu- riaga, who was making his visitation of the American missions and who was soon to preside at the Chapter in Merida, they crossed Campeche Bay, arriving at their new field of labor on
o At Santa Cruz College, with which Margil was now connected and which, as other Apostolic Colleges, was under the supervision of a Com- missary-General for the Indies, the friars received special training for the work on the missions.
10 Campeche and Yucatan are now separate states.
ii This fortress overlooks and defends the port of Vera Cruz.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 3H
Holy Saturday, April 1st of the same year, 1684.12. Losing no time, they gave a mission at the port and at each of the towns, villages and haciendas along the road to Merida, capital of the province.
At the Chapter now being held in this city the Commissary- General proposed that the Recollection-Institute, which for so many years had flourished there, be reestablished and that one of the four missionaries that had accompanied him from Vera Cruz be appointed as Guardian. But, finding that not one of these cared to accept the office and that all were burning with the desire to carry the light of the gospel to nations that for centuries had sat in the darkness of paganism and superstition, he allowed them to leave for the Kingdom of Guatemala.
Happy in the thought that they were soon to bring to in- numerable pagan tribes a knowledge of Christianity, they set out on their journey, but on reaching the mouth of the Tabasco River three pirate vessels gave them chase, and only by a miracle of God were they able to escape with their lives and to return, after eight days of mental and physical anguish, to the Port of Campeche. They presented themselves before the Commissary- General, who was stopping1 at this port, and who, apprised of their ill fortune, addressed them in these words: "To me this seems a chastisement from God for not having remained here to establish the institute. I now command you to offer up special prayers in order that God may enlighten you as to the course you are to follow."13
Without the slightest manifestation of reluctance, they re- paired to the choir, and after they had prayed there for a long time the superior called them, and in their presence had a little child draw lots in order to determine the will of God with regard to their future activities. On slips of paper drawn by the hand of that innocent child it was indicated that Fray Antonio Margil and Fray Melchor Lopez were to go to the missions and that the other two religious were to remain in Merida.
Imbued with the spirit of Paul and Barnabas, these two apos- tles of Christ, destined to be inseparable companions for four- teen years in the work of planting the good seed in the fallow
12 Vilaplana, on page 25, states that they landed here in March, 1686. Here there is an evident discrepancy; Vilaplana himself, on page 31, tells us that after leaving Campeche they went to Guatemala and arrived there on September 21, 1685.
13 Espinosa, op. cit., p. 45.
312 PETER P. FORRESTAL
lands of Guatemala, went forth once more on their sacred mis- sion and arrived happily in the Province of Tabasco. For one whole year their days were spent in announcing the truths of Christianity in the towns and hamlets of this province and the greater part of the nights in keeping vigil before a beautiful crucifix which had been given to them at the aforesaid port and which they were to carry with them on all their travels.
Famished with hunger, drenched with rain, broken in health, but undaunted in spirit, these barefooted sons of Saint Francis, leaving behind them the Province of Tabasco, trudged along southward as far as Tuxtla in the present State of Chiapas. Here they became gravely ill, and Fray Antonio was given the last sacraments; but, miraculously cured, they continued on as far as Ciudad Real, where their deep humility and their burning zeal for souls made such an impression on the inhabitants that many of both sexes dressed in sackcloth and joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. After converting the people of Ciudad Real they entered Soconusco on the shores of the Pacific, and as they passed through this province, announcing the glad tid- ings of salvation, thousands of people, with green branches in their hands and with holy joy in their hearts, came forth to receive those angels of peace, the fame of whose sanctity had already reached the utmost confines of Spanish America.14
Traveling by a circuitous route for a distance of more than one hundred leagues and preaching the word of God in all the towns through which they passed, Fray Antonio and Fray Melchor reached the capital of Guatemala, and entered the Con- vent of San Francisco a little after 1 o'clock on the morning of September 21, 1685. 15 But, shortly after their arrival these mes- sengers of peace were summoned to Itzquintipeque to put an end to dissension and discord that had arisen between two com- panies of Spanish soldiers stationed on that coast, and as a re- sult not until the beginning of the new year were they able to open the mission in the capital of Guatemala. For more than six months they preached in the cathedral, convents and other churches, and long after the mission had closed all the priests
i* Fray Juan L6pez Aguado, Voces que Hicieron Eco., p. 20 (Mexico, 1726). "Laurea Funeral Americana," in Garcia Library, Texas University.
is Conde, page 60, tells us that on September 21, 1685, Margil was back in Queretaro. This is obviously an oversight, for on page 46 of the same work he states that on this date he arrived in Guatemala. Strange to say, he falls into exactly the same error with regard to December 2, 1691.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 313
of the city were still busy hearing the confessions of the multi- tudes that, actuated by the fear and love of God, hastened to wash away their sins in the sacrament of penance.
From the capital they continued their journey southward, and, in 1688, entered Nicaragua, Nicoya and Costa Rica, pro- claiming the kingdom of God and exercising such a salutary in- fluence that the natives, of their own accord, destroyed their idols and cut down the trees from which they had been gathering the fruit for their chicha and for their other intoxicating bev- erages. Whenever possible, they reached a pueblo about sun- down, and, with crucifix in hand, walked through the streets announcing the mission and warning the inhabitants to hearken to the voice of God and to confess their sins. In each of those towns they erected the Way of the Cross, taught the people to recite the rosary and to sing the Alabado.16
Learning that there still remained vast regions in which the light of faith had not as yet penetrated, the discalced sons of the poor little man of Assisi turned east, and, suffering untold hardships in crossing bleak mountains and barren deserts, with scarcely enough food to keep them from starvation and with no guide other than the position of the sun and the stars, made their way into the interior of Talamanca.17 With the assistance of some of the natives, who from contact with the Christians of Costa Rica had come to appreciate the blessings of our holy faith and through the good offices of several caciques, who real- ized that men who at such sacrifice had entered the territory of an unfriendly people with no weapon but the cross could be none others than messengers of the true God, they succeeded in estab- lishing eleven pueblos and in making thousands of converts.
Success seemed to attend their labors in this new vineyard of the Lord, until certain tribes, incited to rebellion by their pagan priests, burned the church of San Miguel and threatened to take the lives of the missionaries. Saved from certain death only by a miracle, those two living exemplars of Christian fortitude, following the example of their illustrious prototypes at An-
ie During our recent sojourn in Spain it was for several months our happy privilege to celebrate Mass at the Patronato de los Enfermos in Madrid and to hear this beautiful hymn of praise to the Blessed Sacrament sung on Sundays and feast days by the poor children and working classes of the capital, whose spiritual and corporal needs are ministered to by faithful and devout chaplains and by the self-sacrificing Damas Apost61icas founded by Dona Lus Casanova.
17 A long strip of territory on the Atlantic seaboard of Costa Rica.
314 PETER P. FORRESTAL
tioch,18 gathered up from the ground handfuls of dust and, cast- ing it into the air as a sign of their unworthiness of eternal life, left them and went off to preach to the Terrabas.19
After they had instructed the friendly Borucas on the boun- dary of Costa Rica they came to the land of the Terrabas. These, struck with holy awe at the sight of the saintly missionaries, cast at their feet the weapons with which they had gone forth to receive them, and learning that they could not be saved until they had abandoned their ancient rites and practices, they burnt their idols, razed to the ground their places of pagan worship, and built two temples to the God of the Christians. Fray Melchor remained here, while Fray Antonio journeyed back to convert the incendiaries of San Miguel; but, on August 25, 1691, when both were about to leave for Panama, they recieved from their Commissary-General an order to report to Santa Cruz College in Queretaro. Though regretting to leave those missions, the barefooted friars began immediately that long journey of more than six hundred leagues, and that they did so in the spirit of perfect obedience is evident from a letter which they sent to the Guardian of said college from one of the towns of Costa Rica.20
As soon as they walked into the capital of Guatemala, on December 2nd, the President of the Audiencia of that city noti- fied them that their Commissary-General, informed of their great apostolic labors and of the work yet to be done, had sent a counter order instructing them to remain in Central America. They did not advance another step, but, at the request of Bishop Andres de las Navas, set out for Vera Paz to pacify certain pueblos that had revolted, and about five months later were called back to the capital to establish a hospice for missionaries. While awaiting the royal cedula authorizing this foundation, they suffered great hardships and imperiled their lives in leading back to the fold the apostate Choles of El Manche, and in en- deavoring to convert the ferocious savages of the mountains of Lacandon, that long before had martyred two Dominican priests, Fray Andres Lopez and Fray Domingo de Vico.
Undertaking the last journey he was to make with that zeal- ous apostle who for fourteen years had been his inseparable companion on the missions and who was soon to be appointed
is Acts, XIII.
19 Terrabas and Borucas : tribes inhabiting- the southern portion of Costa Rica.
20 Espinosa, op. cit., p. 83.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 315
President of the new hospice, Margil made his way into the terri- tory of the Lacandones ; but, after enduring extreme hunger and thirst for several months and after braving death itself in the hope of evangelizing that indomitable people, he realized that the hour for their conversion had not as yet arrived, and de- cided to return to the City of Guatemala.21
One. year later, January 17, 1695, that zealous missionary, accompanied by the President of the Audiencia and six hundred soldiers, again walked barefooted up the craggy heights of Lacandon, and after a sojourn of two years, during which he always spent from midnight till daybreak on his knees in com- munion with God, succeeded in exterminating idolatry and in establishing the Christian faith in all that country.
Here he labored with marked success until March, 1697, when, to the deep sorrow of his spiritual children, who had come to love him as a father and who were now to be deprived of his ministrations, he was recalled to Queretaro as Guardian of Santa Cruz. Without hesitation he answered the call of obedience, and after preaching in all the towns along his route, that great apostle of America, so fittingly titled Atlante Pereg- rino by his illustrious colaborer and biographer,22 reached Queretaro on the afternoon of April 22nd of this same year.23 That day the entire community and all others that had gone forth to welcome him at the entrance to the city beheld, indeed, a novel spectacle as the far-famed missionary came along that dusty road in the patched habit which he had worn in Guate- mala, with an old hat thrown over his back and a skull hanging from his girdle.
As superior of Santa Cruz College, he evinced those admir- able virtues of charity and humility that had characterized his work on the missions. He looked after the corporal as well as the spiritual needs of his subjects, built an infirmary for the sick religious, and considered himself merely as a weak instru- ment of the divine will, each night offering the keys of the
21 Fray Francisco de S. Esteban y Andrade, Titulo Glorioso del Cru- cificado con Cristo y Seyunda Azucena de la Religidn Serdfica, p. 15 (Mex- ico, 1729). See "Laurea Funeral Americana."
22 Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa and Fray Antonio Margil worked to- gether on the missions in Texas, Espinosa as superior of the missionaries from Santa Cruz and Margil as superior of those from Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe.
23 Conde states that Margil arrived here on April 2nd. This is prob- ably a typographical error.
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cloister and of the hearts of his subjects to Jesus and Mary, the true Guardians of that convent.24 During the period of his guardianship at this college his days and nights, save three hours given to repose, were spent in penance and prayer, and in gaining souls for Christ, not only by his work in the confes- sional, but by the simple yet heart-stirring sermons which he preached on the streets of Queretaro. On several occasions his insatiable zeal led him out of this city to distant places, and numberless souls resolved to abandon sin and turn to God as he thundered forth the warning to repentance in the churches and on the plazas of Valladolid, Mexico City and Celaya.
IV
In 1700, he finished his term as Guardian, and in April of the following year was called to Guatemala to establish peace between the people and the Royal Audiencia. Without taking leave of the citizens of Queretaro, once more he set out on that long journey of almost four hundred leagues, and toward the end of May or the beginning of June, after having preached and heard confessions along the way, that messenger of peace reached the capital of Guatemala, where he settled the disputed questions to the satisfaction of both parties.
On June 13th he founded in this city a seminary de Propa- ganda Fide, the nucleus of which was to be composed of the re- ligious until then living at the Calvario Hospice, and, prompted by those same motives which at the age of seven had led him to place himself in the arms of Christ Crucified, named it El Colegio de Cristo Crucificado.25 In the Provincial Chapter held soon afterwards he was elected Guardian of this college by those saintly religious, who, acquainted with his missionary activities of fourteen years in Central America, realized that no other could direct so successfully the destinies of the new institute. Those virtuous men had cast their votes according to the dic- tates of conscience and they were not to be disappointed in their choice. Fray Antonio, by his faithful adherence to the rules of Saint Francis, inspired them to exemplify in their own lives the beautiful virtues of charity and humility, and by his continuous and arduous labors in the confessional and pulpit, aroused in them that spirit of self-sacrificing zeal so necessary for the work of the missions. Like the Apostle of the Gentiles, he preached
24 Espinosa, op. cit., p. 125.
25 Vilaplana, op. cit., p. 7.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 317
Christ in season and out of season, and on Christmas night spoke for several hours on the plaza of the capital city endeavoring to prevent the scandalous abuses so common on this most sacred of festivals.
On a certain occasion, when preaching in the Cathedral of Guatemala, he took as his text the brevity of life and the un- certainty of death. In the course of the sermon he remarked, to the astonishment of his audience, that all those then present would not hear him on the following day, because before that time one of them would have been called to render a strict ac- count before the Supreme Judge. Scarcely had he uttered the last words of the sermon when, according to the testimony of Father Jeronimo Varona of the Society of Jesus, who was pres- ent at the time, a woman fell dead between the Main Altar and Socorro Chapel, not having had even enough time to make her confession.26
Satisfied that the rules of the Order were being faithfully observed by all the subjects of that holy institute and that the doctrines of Christianity were being practiced by the inhabitants of Guatemala, he set out for Nicaragua and, after a journey of some two hundred leagues, reached the City of Leon about the end of May, 1703. He left this capital, and in a torrential rain made his way through swamps and over swollen creeks to the towns of Telica, Sevaco, and Granada, denouncing witchcraft, demon worship and superstitution, and awakening in the luke- warm Christians of those parts a sincere detestation of idolatry and a deep sense of their obligations as followers of the Cru- cified Christ.27
In about three months he was back in the City of Guatemala, but he had been here only a short time when summoned to the Pacific Coast to correct certain flagrant abuses that had crept into the provinces of San Antonio Suchitepequez2S and Zapo- titlan, whose inhabitants, Christians only in name, still clung to the ancient rites and ceremonies of their ancestors.29 That his
26 Espinosa, op. cit., p. 174.
27 Later on the capital was changed to Managua, which, as Le6n, is situated on the Pacific.
28 On the Pacific in the southwestern part of Guatemala.
29 Even at the present day much the same may be said of several of the Indian pueblos of New Mexico. It is to be hoped that before long the work of the zealous Franciscan Fathers of this state will be crowned with the success that in Central America attended the labors of their illustrious coreligious.
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mission was entirely successful is evident from the report which the corregidor of Zapotitlan made to the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala on October 12, 1704. This report states that with the visit of Fray Antonio the province became a veritable para- dise of God, for at all hours the people, that until then had been steeped in the most shameful vices, could be seen, both in the homes and on the streets, chanting the Alabado, or reciting the rosary and other prayers in honor of their Eucharistic Lord and of His Most Blessed Mother.30
V
As soon as his term of office had expired this giant pilgrim of America, accompanied by another religious, started out once more for Costa Rica with the hope of advancing farther south- ward and of bringing into the faith the numerous tribes of Panama and Peru; but, on July 25, 1706, as he was about to climb the Talamanca Mountains he received from the Commis- sary-General an order to return to Mexico for the purpose of establishing a new college on the outskirts of Zacatecas. Though he yearned for the conversion of those pagan nations and though his companion urged him to continue on his way, that slave of holy obedience, retracing his steps, began the long, wearisome journey to the scene of his future labors.31 Upon reaching the City of Guatemala he called at the College of Cristo Crucificado to visit the religious, of whom he had been a kind superior and whom he was never more to see,32 and after addressing to them words of counsel and comfort bade them good-bye and continued his journey northward.
Faithful to his custom of preaching the word of God in all the towns and ranches through which he passed, the tireless apostle continued on until he came to Mexico City, where he spent a few days consulting the Commissary-General on certain points relative to the new foundation. During the months of November and December he was at Santa Cruz in Queretaro, and from this college took with him to Zacatecas five religious,
so Espinosa, op. cit., pp. 207, 208.
3i Fray Francisco de S. Esteban y Andrade, op. cit., p. 20.
32 In 1708, upon the death of Fray Tomas de Arrivillaga, Guardian of the College of Cristo Crucificado, the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala begged Margil to accept this office. He wrote back that his heart was in Guate- mala and that if possible he would fly to that kingdom, but that this was impossible, since the Commissary-General held him bound by the wel- riveted chains of obedience.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 319
who, with those already living at the Hospice of Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe, were to form the little community at the Apostolic Institute about to be established.
January 12, 1707, should always be a memorable day in the history of the Church in Mexico, for it was on this day that her greatest of apostles entered the College of Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe at the foothills of the Zacatecas Mountains and, cast- ing himself on his knees before the image of Our Blessed Mother, thanked her for having watched over him during that long jour- ney of more than six hundred leagues from the wilds of Costa Rica and commended to her care the destinies of an institute that was soon to play an important part in the work of evan- gelization in North America.33
From the very outset the new foundation began to grow both in a spiritual and a material way, and within a decade able and zealous missionaries from Zacatecas were spreading the doctrines of Christ in Northern Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. In August of this same year, 1707, Margil, at the request of the Bishop of Guadalajara, left his college for three months to give missions in the capital and in several towns of Jalisco, and he spent the spring and summer of the following year laboring throughout the diocese of Durango.
Toward the close of the year 1708, he went to Queretaro to confer with the Commissary-General on certain matters of im- portance, and while there was asked to preside at the Chapter of the Zacatecas Province. Prior to the Chapter, which was con- voked in San Luis Potosi on February 23, 1709, and which proved to be most successful in every way, Margil preached missions in this capital and in many of the neighboring towns. At the close of the Provincial Chapter he left for Zacatecas and preached and heard confessions at each of the towns and ranches at which he happened to pass the night. He reached Guadalupe College about the middle of Lent, and as religious from several of the provinces had entered the new institute a short time previously, he decided to spend the following year at the college in order to train for the work of the missions the young men committed to his care. During this year his voice was frequently heard in the churches and on the plaza of Zacatecas, and on one occasion he miraculously escaped death at the hands of certain comedians,
33 The royal cedula authorizing the erection of the Hospice into an Apostolic College was granted by Philip V in 1704, but did not reach America till 1706. See Sotomayor, Ibid., vol. 1, p. 32.
320 PETER P. FORRESTAL
whose performances he denounced publicly and whom he finally- induced to abandon that life of sin and turn to God.
During March of 1711, in obedience to a cedula of Philip V, Margil undertook the conversion of certain barbarous tribes in the mountains of Nayarit. Accompanied by another religious from Guadalupe College and by four Indians, he set out for those mountains, and on May 9th sent from the town of Santa Maria de Guazamota a letter informing the barbarians of his coming and assuring them that no motive other than the desire to save them from hell induced him to enter their province. After five days two Indians whom he had dispatched with this message returned with the information that those barbarians, in answer to Fray Antonio's letter, had stated that they would at all costs cling to their pagan practices, that they were not afraid of the Spanish soldiers, and that under no condition would they em- brace Christianity. Nothing daunted, both missionaries entered those mountains, but, though ready for every sacrifice, even that of life itself, in the effort to convert that obstinate people, they came to realize that the hour of their conversion, according to the inscrutable designs of God, had not as yet arrived, and decided to return to their college.
For two years Margil endeavored to prevail upon the Viceroy in Mexico City and upon the Royal Audiencia of Guadalajara to assist him in the work of converting the pagans of Nayarit ; but, seeing that the proposed expedition to that province was being postponed indefinitely he decided, after being relieved of his duties as Guardian in November, 1713, to carry his spiritual con- quests into the New Kingdom of Leon and across the Rio Grande.34
With the permission of the Commissary-General and of the new Guardian,35 and accompanied by another Friar, once more he left the College of Guadalupe, and during the early part of 1714, gave missions in Mazapil, Saltillo and Monterrey and in several other towns of Zacatecas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. In the month of May he reached the Sabinas River and on its banks established and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe the first mission founded among the pagan Indians by the Zacatecas In- stitute. He had been here but a short time when the Tobosos
34 Only a few years later missionaries of the Society of Jesus, to their great glory be it said, succeeded in spreading the Gospel throughout most of this territory.
35 Fray Jose Guerra.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 321
swooped down upon the neighboring pueblo of San Miguel, tore to pieces the sacred vestments, and stripped and threatened to take the life of the missionary. Through the assistance of cer- tain members of this tribe that had once been Christians, the Padre, almost naked, succeeded in making his escape to the Mission of Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe. He reached the thatched hut constructed by Fray Antonio, who, learning of his happy escape and considering this a signal victory for the cause of Christianity, led him in triumph into the church, ordered that the bells be rung, and entoned the Te Deum in thanksgiving.
As the Tobosos still continued their depredations, the Indians that had been congregated at Guadalupe fled back to the moun- tains, and the three missionaries, seeing that under the circum- stances any effort to reestablish the pueblos was useless, left for the Dolores Mission at Punta de Lampazos.36 Though all hope of erecting a mission near the Sabinas had vanished, Fray An- tonio was not discouraged. Awaiting the opportunity to labor among the Texas across the Rio Grande, he spent the remainder of that year and the beginning of 1715, in preaching and hearing confessions among the Christians in Nuevo Leon. Toward the close of 1715, or in the early part of 1716, he set out, with a military escort, for the Mission of San Juan Bautista, located on the Rio Grande del Norte, near the present town of Piedras Negras. Though suffering from double hernia, he walked all the way from Lampazos to the Sabinas River, where, in spite of all protestations, the corporal of the guard insisted that he make the rest of the journey on horseback. Having reached the Rio Grande, he preached to the soldiers at the presidio and intro- duced the Third Order at the Mission of San Juan; but, finding that he could not establish here a mission for the pagan Indians, he decided to return to the scene of his recent labors in Coahuila and in the New Kingdom of Leon.37
36 The Dolores Mission was seven leagues north of that erected by Margil and was founded, in 1698, by Fray Francisco Hidalgo and Fray Diego de Salazar. It should not be confused with the Dolores Mission founded ten years previously at Boca de Leones, or modern Villa-Aldama.
37 Because of the scarcity of priests on the San Xavier missions and in order to take care of the new missions among the Apaches, Santa Cruz College, in 1751, was obliged to turn over to the secular clergy that of San Juan Bautista, founded about fifty years previously. See Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, p. 239.
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VI
In the fall of 1715, steps had been taken to reestablish the long neglected missions on the Neches and thus to prevent fur- ther encroachment of the French upon Spanish territory. To ac- complish this an escort of twenty-five soldiers, under Captain Domingo Ramon, was to accompany into the country of the Hasinai, or Texas, Indians a mission band from the College of Santa Cruz in Queretaro and another from the College of Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe in Zacatecas. The former, com- posed of five priests, was to have as superior Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa, and the latter, made up of three priests, two lay- brothers and one Donado, was to be under the direction of Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus. The superior of the Zacatecas band was still busy visiting the towns and ranches of Nuevo Leon when, in the spring of 1716, word reached him that the expedi- tion was already on the Rio Grande and was about to leave for Texas. Wtihout delay he set out to join his companions, but along the way he became gravely ill and had to be taken to the Mission of San Juan Bautista, where his condition became so critical that he was given the last sacraments. Urged by Margil himself not to postpone the entrada, on April 25th, the mission- aries of both colleges bade farewell to their beloved friend and colaborer, and the expedition, having crossed the Rio Grande, moved northeastward to the country of the Hasinai, which had originally comprised nothing more than the strip of territory between the Trinity and Red rivers and part of what is now the State of Louisiana.38
The founder of Guadalupe College and superior of its little band of Texas missionaries had for many years yearned for the conversion of the Hasinai; he had redoubled his fasts, watched late into the night, and sacrificed everything life holds dear that one day he might be able to bring to this and to kindred tribes a knowledge of the true faith. His heartfelt prayer for the con- version of this people was born of the ardent zeal which had led
3s Informe que se did al Excmo. Sr. Presidente de la Republica Mejicana sobre limites de la Provincia de Tejas, p. 6. (Zacatecas, 1828; Imprenta del Supremo Gobierno.) Dr. Bolton, op. cit., p. 2, tells us that the Hasinai "comprised some ten or more tribes, of which the best known were the Hainai, Nacogdoche, Nabedache, Nasoni and Nadaco." He states also, p. 1, that "early in the eighteenth century the boundaries [of Texas] were ex- tended westward to include the settlements on the San Antonio River and Matagorda Bay." See also Bancroft, The North Mexican States, Vol. I, p. 604, note 2.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 323
him into Talamanca, Lacandon and Nayarit, and, at least in part, that prayer was not to remain unanswered. Margil, com- pletely recovered, soon left the San Juan Mission and, following the route taken by the Ramon expedition, advanced toward the territory of the Texas Indians. When he overtook his com- panions he learned, to his great joy, that they had been well received by the natives and had been meeting with remarkable success in explaining to them the truths of Christianity and in inducing them to abandon their wild, nomadic life.39
The expedition reached the country of the Hasinai, in the eastern section of the present State of Texas, in the summer of 1716, and, setting to work immediately, the missionaries from both colleges made every effort to instruct the natives and to induce them to establish pueblos. The Friars from Zacatecas, in whom we are especially interested, began their labors with the Nacogdoches, and among them, near the banks of the Angelina, established their first mission, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.40 At this mission Fray Antonio and his com- panions spent the remainder of this year, using a thatched hut as a dwelling, enduring every kind of hardship, mingling with the rude and illiterate natives, and endeavoring to impress upon their rude mentalities the grandeur and sublimity of the Chris- tian religion with the hope of gaining souls for heaven.
Informed by the Nacogdoches that certain neighboring and friendly tribes might willingly receive the light of faith, in Jan- uary of the following year Margil journeyed eastward to the ter- ritory of the Ais, and among them, at what is at present the
39 The date of Margil's arrival to East Texas is not at all clear; the fact that he is not mentioned in either the Espinosa or the Ramon Diaries after the expedition had crossed the Rio Grande would seem to indicate that he did not rejoin the expedition until after it had reached the territory of the Hasinai. On the other hand, the Informe cited in note 38 states, page 19, that the expedition, accompanied by Margil, entered the Province of Texas on June 28th. Espinosa tells us that Margil did not leave San Juan Bautista till the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, which falls on June 13th. There is, however, in the Zacatecas Archives a letter written by Margil to Fray Antonio Andrade, and dated May 29, 1716, desde el camino hacia los Texas. From several of his letters, which are preserved in the said archives and which state that "we entered Texas with only twenty-five men," it would seem clear that he overtook the expedition somewhere along the route.
40 in the center of the present town of Nacogdoches Doctor Bolton has located the site of the old Mission of Guadalupe. See Southwestern His- torical Quarterly, April, 1908. At this same time the Santa Cruz mission- aries founded San Francisco de los Tejas, La Purisima Concepcion, and San Jose de los Nazones, somewhat north of the Zacatecas missions.
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Town of San Augustine, established the Mission of Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores. During March he crossed the Sabine, and at the site now occupied by the Town of Robeline, Louisiana, fifty leagues due east from Dolores and not far south of Sham- rock and Spanish Lake,41 founded San Miguel de los Adaes and left at this mission Fray Agustin Patron, one of the Friars that had accompanied him from Mexico.42 From Dolores, for which he had a special affection and at which he spent the greater part of the year, he made regular visits to the other missions, and on several occasions, carrying with him the sacred vest- ments, walked from San Miguel to the French presidio at Natchi- toches, a distance of about ten leagues, and there said Mass, preached, and heard the confessions of the soldiers.
Those were, indeed, years of trial for the religious in East Texas. Since their arrival they had received no letters from their brethren in either Spain or Mexico, and when, in August of 1718, Margil learned that almost two years previously he had again been elected Guardian of Guadalupe College he wrote to his superior, requesting that, as the term was then drawing to a close and as he was hundreds of leagues distant from Zaca- tecas, his resignation be accepted and that he be permitted to remain on the missions. Here Margil and the other missionaries suffered untold hardships and at times had scarcely enough food to keep body and soul together. 1717 and 1718 were years of veritable famine in East Texas ; the corn and bean crops were a failure, the scant supply of provisions the missionaries had brought with them from Mexico had become exhausted a few months after their arrival, and for a time all they could secure to stave off starvation was the flesh of crows.43 In 1717, the Queretaro and Zacatecas colleges, with authorization of the Viceroy, sent a supply of provisions to the Padres. The expedi- tion, comprised of a few missionaries with an escort of fifteen soldiers, reached the Trinity before Christmas of the same year, but, as this river was overflowing its banks for a distance of
4i For further data on the location of these missions consult Bolton, op. cit.; also his letter to Father Engelhardt, published in the Franciscan Herald, August, 1915.
42 With regard to the Friars that accompanied this expedition there seems to be some divergence of opinion. Consult the Espinosa Diary for April 25th, the Cronica, I, 417, and the Ram6n Diary for April 22nd.
43 Mexicana Beatificationis et canonizationis Ven. Servi Dei Antonii Margil a Jesu: De Temperantia, XXX, 32, (Typographia Rev. Camerae Apostolicae). Consult also Informacidn de Sucedidos a N. V. P., article 186. (Proceso de Guadalajara.)
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 325
about two leagues and as there was little hope of its waters subsiding, the supplies were buried in a woods west of the river, and, by means of some Texas Indians that happened to be in those parts, a letter was sent to the missionaries with informa- tion as to the location of the hidden supplies. The expedition returned to the Rio Grande, but, due to impassable roads, the letter did not reach its destination until July 22nd of the fol- lowing year.
In these pages we cannot dwell at length upon this glorious chapter in the History of the Church in Texas, but those of our readers acquainted with the Castilian tongue can find in the first part of the Cronica Apostolica y Serdfica, written by Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa, superior of the religious from Queretaro, a simple, yet beautiful and detailed, account of the sufferings and hardships endured by those zealous pioneers1 during their first two years of missionary activities among the Hasinai.
In 1719, war broke out between Spain and France, and in June of this year the commandant of the French fort at Natchi- toches, without orders from superior officers, made an unex- pected attack upon San Miguel, captured a lay-brother and an unarmed soldier, the only persons present at the time, and seized the sacred vestments and whatever else was to be found at the mission. On the way back to the fort the commandant was pitched from his mount, and in the confusion that resulted the lay-brother, putting spurs to his horse, dashed into a nearby woods, eluded his pursuers, and, making his escape to one of the neighboring missions, warned Fray Antonio and the other Padres of the impending danger. The religious from both col- leges and the few soldiers stationed at those missions recognized at once the utter impossibility of coping with an enemy so well equipped and retired to a place of relative safety; but, seeing that, in spite of repeated and insistent appeals, the royal officials in Mexico were taking no active measures to restore those mis- sions, on October 3rd all withdrew to the Mission of San Antonio, located more than two hundred leagues to the southwest of Natchitoches. In the meantime another and a more pressing appeal for assistance was sent to the Viceroy, and while await- ing results Fray Antonio ministered to the spiritual wants of the soldiers at the presidio, and on the banks of the San Antonio
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River established the Mission of San Jose, which was soon to become one of the most famous of the Zacatecas Province.44
Finally, on April 4, 1721, the long expected expedition, made up of five hundred men, under the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo, Governor of Coahuila, reached the presidio of San An- tonio.45 Here it was joined by Father Margil and by the other Texas missionaries from Santa Cruz and from Guadalupe. On May 13th the entire expedition left San Antonio, and, during the march, each morning several Masses were celebrated, and at night a catechetical instruction was given, followed by the sing- ing of the ATabado.*6 Traveling in a northeasterly direction, the expedition passed close to the sites at present occupied by the towns of New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin,47 Rockdale and Waco, and, having crossed the Trinity, toward the end of July entered the territory of the Hasinai. Both missionaries and soldiers received a warm welcome from the natives, and the cacique of the Adaes, whom all Texas tribes recognized as their leader, assured them that all had been impatiently awaiting the return of the Spaniards and that had they delayed any longer he himself would gladly have gone to San Antonio to seek them.48
Shortly after the arrival of Aguayo, the French commandant, reluctlantly but without offering any resistance, agreed to evac- uate all Spanish territory and to withdraw to his fort at Natchi- toches; a presidio, garrisoned with a hundred men, was built among the Adaes, and the abandoned missions, of which scarcely a vestige had remained, were restored and supplied with min- isters. Fray Antonio took charge of San Miguel, and in the hope
44 Arricivita, op. cit., p. 101 ; Espinosa, Cronica, p. 467. Consult also the Solis Diary of 1767. This Diary, translated for the first time by the author of the present article, was published in the Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society in March, 1931. Another translation, by Miss Margaret Kenney Kress, of the Department of Spanish of Texas University, appeared in the July, 1931, issue of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly.
45 Pena, Derrotero de la Expedicion en la Provincia de los Texas. (Museo Nacional de Mexico; Departamento de la Biblioteca Nacional, Legajo 94, No. 20). This Diary has not as yet been translated, but num- erous references to it can be found in the scholarly article, "The Aguayo Expedition into Texas and Louisiana," written by Miss Eleanor Claire Buckley and published in the July, 1911, issue of the Southwestern His- torical Quarterly.
46 Arricivita, op. cit., p. 101.
47 Miss Buckley, op. cit., p. 38, states that toward the end of May "the expedition camped on what is now Onion Creek, and crossed it later, ap- parently at the site of the present McKinney Falls."
48 Pena, op. cit.
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of reaping a rich harvest in that land that had lain fallow during his long period of absence, he became, so to say, one of the na- tives, helped them in their daily tasks, and shared their joys and their sorrows. Faithful always to his religious exercises, early each morning he said the Divine Office and Holy Mass with scrupulous attention and devotion, and spent several hours daily in mental prayer, spiritual reading and visits to the Blessed Sacrament. His bed was a black sheet spread over the ground and his pillow the trunk of a tree, but frequently he denied him- self even the three hours set apart for repose, for, as one of the religious who had labored with him on those missions testified years afterwards, on many occasions Fray Antonio passed the entire night on his knees in communion with God. On Good Friday of 1722, he spent several hours in retirement, meditating upon the mystery of the Redemption; at 5 o'clock in the after- noon he left his cell, gathered the natives into the church, and there, after speaking for one hour on the sufferings and death of Christ, made the Stations, explaining in the most touching terms the excruciating pains endured by the God-Man along the Sorrowful Way to Calvary.
About this time the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala informed the Commissary-General for the Indies that much dissension and discord had broken out in that kingdom and requested that Margil be sent there as mediator; but, after consultation with the Guardian and Council of Zacatecas College, the General con- cluded that for the present his services could not be spared at the new foundations, and decided to leave him in Texas. Ap- pointed Prefect of the Missions de Propaganda Fide upon the death of Fray Francisco Estevez, one of Margil's first acts was to establish, with the assistance of Fray Agustin Patron, and near the site now occupied by the Town of Victoria, the Mission of Espiritu Santo de Zuhiga for the savage Karankawas.49
VIII
Margil continued his efforts to congregate the Indians of East Texas; he continued, by word and example, his efforts to bring back into the fold the sheep that for two years had been left without a shepherd, that had wandered off to the woods and to the mountains during his forced absence at San Antonio; but, in the summer of 1722, when most busily occupied in these truly
49 Bolton, op. cit., p. 284. Consult also Engelhardt's article in the April, 1916, number of the Franciscan Herald.
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pastoral duties, he received the obedience to report to Zacatecas as Guardian of the College of Guadalupe. Having appointed a successor as superior of the Texas missions, he set out on his journey, and in June arrived in Zacatecas, where, after that long absence of eight years, he was given an enthusiastic and hearty welcome by the inhabitants and also by his fellow-religious at Guadalupe.
At the beginning of the new year he visited Mexico City, ac- companied by Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa, who was now Guardian of the college in Queretaro, and during his stay of three months, awaiting certain concessions in behalf of the Texas missions, addressed large audiences in the Convento Grande de San Francisco and in other churches of the capital. With the Viceroy's assurance that the interests of those missions would not be neglected, he set out again for Zacatecas, but upon reach- ing Queretaro he stopped to visit the religious, and at their request preached several sermons in that city. A few days after his return to Zacatecas he was taken ill with ulcers of the liver, and his condition became so alarming that the doctors gave up all hope of his recovery and advised that he be given the last sacraments. But, in answer to the fervent prayers offered by the Friars at Guadalupe and Santa Cruz and by all with whom he had come in contact, and who had learned of his illness, God saw fit to restore him to health in order that he might continue his work in the monastery and on the missions.
There is no need of recounting here his many acts of virtue and penance in the cloister or his apostolic labors in the pulpit and confessional during his term as Guardian; suffice it to say that in the former he practiced to an eminent degree those vir- tues of prudence, charity and self-denial that had always won for him the love and esteem of his fellow-religious, and in the latter that spirit of self-sacrificing zeal that had always char- acterized his work on the missions.
In keeping with the rules of the Order, at the Chapter, con- voked on February 17, 1725, new officers were named for the College of Guadalupe; but, as Fray Ignacio Herice, the newly elected Guardian, was then in Texas the community requested that Margil remain in office until his successor reached Zaca-
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 329
tecas.50 When Father Herice arrived, six months later, Margil, to prepare for further work on the missions, took leave of his companions, and, with the approval of his superiors, retired to a place of solitude about five leagues from the college. Here he spent several weeks in prayer and penance, and left this retreat only on feast days in order to devote himself to the work of the ministry.
Upon his return to the college he learned that the people of Guadalajara had solicited his mediation in the adjustment of serious differences existing between certain factions in their city, and, on the advice of his superior and that of one of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, he decided to act as arbiter and to pay a visit to that capital. On the afternoon of October 18th he bade good-bye to his fellow-religious, begged them to pardon any faults or offenses of which he might have been guilty, and left that holy institute. The following day, upon reaching the summit of a hill that dominated the surrounding country, he stopped for a few moments, looked back upon the College of Guadalupe, which loomed up in the distance, and which he was never again to see, and, imparting to it his last blessing and having, no doubt, a foreknowledge of the glorious work still to be accomplished by its members and of the cruel persecution to which they were one day to be subjected, he turned his back upon the City of Zacatecas, and, with a heavy heart, continued his journey toward the southwest. The impartial student of history cannot but admire and appreciate the stupendous work done by those saintly religious in Tarahumara and in Upper and Lower California after the enactment of that iniquitous decree which banished the sons of the great Ignatius from all Spanish dominions in 1767; and he is of necessity filled with righteous indignation when, little less than a century later,51 he finds a similar decree of secularization levelled at the mission- aries of Zacatecas and when he pictures those poor, barefooted followers of Saint Francis, men that had sacrificed everything the world holds dear in order to consecrate themselves entirely to the service of God, leaving the College of Guadalupe and,
so Vilaplana, who has taken most of his data and much of his phrase- ology from Espinosa, states that this Chapter was held on February 22nd. Espinosa states that the election took place on this date. Sotomayor, in his list of the Chapters of the Zacatecas Province, tells us (op. cit., Vol. n, p. 367) that the fifth was convened on February 17, 1725.
si August 1, 1859.
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possessed of nothing but their breviaries, making their way southward toward the Town of Cholula.
On November 3rd Margil reached Guadalajara, where he re- mained for more than six weeks, reestablishing peace and har- mony among its citizens, preaching the word of God in the vari- ous churches, and bringing cheer and comfort to the inmates of the prison and to the sick in the hospitals. On December 20th he left this city, and for more than four months gave mis- sions in Ascatan, Piedad, Puruandiro and other towns in the vicinity of Lake Chapala. At some of these places the inhab- itants swept and strewed with flowers the roads over which he was to pass; at others they erected triumphal arches in his honor, walked long distances to meet him and, with bands play- ing, accompanied him to the churches in procession. In order to escape these outward manifestations of veneration and in order to reach the numerous souls still in need of his ministra- tions, on more than one occasion that humble and zealous Friar was compelled to leave a town under the cover of darkness ; but, though sorely in need of rest and though suffering from double hernia and from an ulcer in one of his arms and another in one of his feet, at the end of the day's journey he never failed to spend long hours in the pulpit and in the confessional.
vni
On the night of May 1st Margil arrived in Valladolid, and there was so busily engaged for the remainder of the month that he became dangerously ill, developed a malignant fever and was confined to bed for several days.52 Partly restored to health, he left for Acambaro, where he opened a two weeks' mission on June 15th. On July 7th he reached the College of Santa Cruz in Queretaro. Here his condition became so alarming that the Commissary-General, hoping that with proper medical attention he might find some alleviation from his sufferings, suggested that he go to the community infirmary at the Convento Grande in Mexico City. One of the Fathers at Santa Cruz tried out of compassion to dissuade him from making that long journey, warning him that if he persisted in doing so he would probably die along the way, without a doctor, medicine, or Christian burial. To this Fray Antonio replied: "That is what I deserve;
52 The present City of Morelia, capital of the State of Michoacan.
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I am not entitled to Christian burial; I ought to die out in the wilds, where the beasts can devour me."53
On July 21st he left Santa Cruz, that institute from which, some forty years previously, he had been sent to the missions in Central America, and, in compliance with the wishes of his superior, began the long, wearisome journey to Mexico City. He preached at San Juan del Rio on the 24th, at Cazadero on the 27th, and, burning with fever, traveled on past Ruano and Capulapa till, on the 30th, he came to the Town of San Fran- cisco, sixteen leagues from the capital. The afternoon of his arrival to San Francisco he was obliged to leave the confes- sional because of an attack of chills and fever, but, although unable to sleep that night, he went to the church on the follow- ing day, feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and for the last time in his life offered up the Holy Sacrifice. A heavy rain had fallen during the night, and on the way to the church in which he was to celebrate Fray Antonio contracted a severe cold, which soon developed into pneumonia. This same day, however, he mounted a horse, rode as far as Tepeji that night, and on the following day, August 1st, reached the Town of Cuautitlan. The next morning he felt too weak to continue the journey on horseback, but, having secured a carriage, he traveled on, and that evening, as the sun was sinking back of the Cordillera de las Cruces, reached the Convento Grande de San Francisco. Casting him- self on his knees at the door of the convent church, he adored his Eucharistic Lord, present in the tabernacle, and then, as- sisted by two of the religious, climbed the steps leading to one of the cells in the community infirmary.
Informed that there was no chance of his recovery, that saintly religious, weighed down by old age and infirmities, but happy in the thought that he was soon to be united with Him for whom he had labored so long and so faithfully, rose from his death bed, knelt down on the bare floor, and made a general confession of his whole life to Fray Manuel de las Heras, who for several years had been professor of sacred theology in the Province of San Pedro y San Pablo in Michoacan and who, later on, had assisted Fray Antonio on the missions. But, the servant of God had little of which to accuse himself before appearing before the Supreme Tribunal, for at the age of discretion he had
53Vilaplana, op. cit., p. 177. Navarro, Oracion FUnebre, p. 38: apud "Laurea Funeral Americana." (Valencia, 1729.)
332 PETER P. FORRESTAL
placed himself in the arms of Christ Crucified and, according to the testimonies of Fray Manuel de las Heras, Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa and his other spiritual advisers, he had modeled his life after that of Saint Anthony of Padua and had never lost his baptismal innocence.
On August 4th he received the Holy Viaticum with that same fervor and devotion that he had always manifested in the cele- bration of the Holy Sacrifice. On the 5th one of the Friars ad- ministered Extreme Unction, and after receiving this sacrament Fray Antonio addressed a few words of parting to the brethren that had gathered into his cell, thanked them for the tender care with which they had nursed him during his illness, and begged them not to grow tepid or lukewarm in the discharge of their religious duties and never to abandon the institute. Finally, shortly before 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the following day, August 6, 1726, feast of the Transfiguration, with the words Paratum cor meum, Deus, paratum cor meum5i upon his lips, and as the community entoned the canticle, Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace/5 he yielded up his soul in peace to its Creator.
An hour later, after the tolling of the cathedral and convent bells had announced to the people of the capital the passing of the great missionary of America, words of sympathy and sor- row were exchanged in all parts of the city, and the children in the streets and on the plazas could have been heard crying: "The Saint has died! Holy Fray Antonio is dead!" Anxious to apply medals, rosaries and other articles to those hands that had so often been raised in benediction and to kiss those feet that for so many years had trodden the ways of peace, both clergy and laity flocked in such numbers to the small infirmary chapel in which the body was being waked that the superior, to satisfy their pious devotion, ordered that it be taken down to the con- vent church. On August 8th the Viceroy, the judges of the Audiencia and many other royal officials, as well as large repre- sentations from all the religious Orders, repaired to the Con- vent© Grande de San Francisco; and there, after the Solemn Mass of Requiem, which was attended by the largest concourse that had ever gathered in the capital, the mortal remains of him
54 "My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready," Psalm CVTI, 2.
55 "Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace," Canticle of Simeon, Luke II, 29.
VENERABLE ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS 333
who during life had sought neither honors nor distinctions, and who had always styled himself la misma nada, were laid to rest in a vault near the foot of the altar of San Diego on the Gospel side of the sanctuary. In 1861, they were removed to the cathe- dral, to be placed in a niche in the Chapel of la Virgen de la Soledad, and today they repose in that of la Inmaculada Con- cepcion. Engraved on a metal plate affixed to the coffin could have been read the following inscription:
HIC JACET SEPULTUS, VENERABILIS SERVUS DEI
PATER FRATER ANTONIUS MARGIL, MISSIONARIUS,
PRAEFECTUS, ET GUARDIANUS COLLEGIORUM DE
PROPAGANDA FIDE SANCTAE CRUCIS DE QUERE-
TARO, SANCTISSIMI CRUCIFLXI DE GUATEMALA,
ET SANCTAE MARIAE DE GUADALUPE IN HAC
NOVA HISPANIA ERECTORUM: FAMA UTIQUE
VIRTUTUM, MIRACULORUMQUE ILLUSTRIS.
OBIIT IN HOC PERCELEBRI
MEXICANO CONVENTU
Die VI. Augusti Anno
Dni. M.DCC.XXVL56
We had proposed to present here a compendious life of Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, but, we have come to realize the im- possibility of such a task ; we have come to realize, perhaps more fully than any of our readers, the utter impossibility of recount- ing in these few pages the activities of one who spent more than forty years, journeying thousands of leagues, climbing dizzy heights, crossing swollen rivers, and making his way, barefoot, over the burning sands of the deserts, in the endeavor to win souls for God. Of his theological and moral virtues, of his power of working miracles, of his gift of tongues and of his other gratiae gratis datae, so beautifully and so minutely de- scribed by Espinosa and by his other biographers and contemp- oraries, we have said almost nothing. We trust, however, that the ardent hope expressed at the beginning of this treatise may soon be realized, that another and a finer pen may before long
56 Here lies buried the Venerable servant of God, Father Fray Antonio Margil, Missionary, Prefect, and Guardian of the colleges de Propaganda Fide of Santa Cruz in Queretaro, Cristo Crucificado in Guatemala, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, erected in this New Spain. Famous for his virtues and miracles, he died in this celebrated Convent of Mexico on the 6th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, 1726.
334 PETER P. FORRESTAL
depict in a befitting manner the life and activities of this great soldier of Christ.
Shortly after Fray Antonio's death the Sacred Congregation of Rites, in answer to persistent appeals from the peoples of Central and of North America, ordered that the preliminary processes, or judicial inquiries, for the cause of beatification and canonization be begun in the principal centers in which he had carried on his missionary labors, and, in compliance with this order, postulators were appointed for Mexico City, Guadalajara and Guatemala. The results of these processes having been taken to Rome, several of the miracles wrought through his intercession were approved by Pope Pius VII, and it is our hum- ble opinion that at that time he would have been beatified had not important documents relating to the processes been lost upon the entrance of the French armies into the Eternal City in 1797. These documents reappeared miraculously later on, and, in 1836, the Sacred Congregation approved the introduction of his cause, the virtues of the noted missionary were declared heroic, and a decree conferring upon him the title of Venerable was promul- gated by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Gregory XVI.
At the present time interest has been reawakened in the cause of this servant of God, with the hope that in 1936, cen- tennial of the promulgation of the decree of Gregory XVI, he may be elevated to the dignity of our altars. It is in the belief that our readers will by their prayers hasten that blessed day that we have undertaken to publish this simple, yet faithful, account of the life of him who civilized nations, established pueblos, erected churches and baptized innumerable souls, and who, nevertheless, always styled himself la misma nada.
Peter P. Forrestal
St. Edward's University Austin, Texas
THE ERECTION OF THE DIOCESE OF DAVENPORT
I
The Catholic Directory for the year 1881 gives the situation that necessitated another diocese in Iowa at that time. There was only one diocese in all Iowa, namely, the Diocese of Dubuque.
SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR 1881
Bishop 1
Priests 212
Religious [members of religious orders] (a) Men 70
Religious [members of religious orders] (b) Women 446
Church Students 60
Churches 169
Chapels where mass was said 125
Monasteries 3
Convents 20
Seminary for Church Students 1
while making a visit to Rome, requested that a division of his diocese of Dubuque be made. The reasons he then gave were the
Number Pupils
College (Boys) 1 80
Academies (Girls) 14 1,954
Parochial Schools : (a) Boys 6 685
(b) Girls 4 554
(c) Both 69 8,262
Total 94 9,735
Number Inmates
Orphanages 3 56
Hospitals 3
Asylums 1 50
Catholic Population 117,080*
Considering the necessary visit of a bishop once in three or four years to every congregation of his diocese, together with the vast extent of Iowa and the presence of Catholics in every part of it, the creation of a new diocese was rendered not only proper but also quite imperative.
In some ways, however, a like situation prevailed for many years prior to 1881. As early as 1862 Bishop Clement Smyth, while making a visit to Rome, requested that a division of his
i The Catholic Directory, 1881, pp. 273-74.
335
336 CHARLES F. GRIFFITH
diocese of Dubuque be made. The reasons he then gave were the vastness of his diocese, the rapid increase of its Catholic popu- lation by immigration, and physical inability to meet the re- quirements of his office.2
In 1870 efforts were renewed to found a new diocese in Iowa. A letter to the Apostolic Delegate in the episcopal archives at Davenport acquaints us with the efforts then made. "For many years prior to the division of the Diocese of Dubuque, especially during the session of the Ecumenical Council in 1870, Right Rev- erend John Hennessy being in attendance and the Very Reverend J. A. M. Pelamourgues also being present, the question of the division of the Diocese of Dubuque was being agitated before the Propaganda. . . . "3 This quotation is significant in this that it implies: first, that Father Pelamourgues who was "pas- tor of St. Anthony's Parish [Davenport, Iowa], from 1838 to 1868"4 was interested in the division of the Diocese of Dubuque. At that time he was Vicar-General of the Diocese of Dubuque and it was probable that he would be the choice as bishop of the new diocese. For some reason Father Pelamourgues, in 1857, had been unwilling to be consecrated Bishop of St. Paul even though the papers of appointment had been received.5 Possibly he thought that a new diocese would be soon erected in Iowa with himself as its first bishop.
Again in 1875 the question was discussed. A communication from the Apostolic Delegate contained this significant informa- tion: "The Bishops of the province of St. Louis, in 1875, sub- mitted a proposition to the Propaganda for the division of the
2 J. J. McGovern, The Life and Writings of the Right Reverend James McMullen, D. D., p. 262.
3 Letter written by the Right Reverend Henry Cosgrove, Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport, to the Apostolic Delegation, Washington, D. C, March 20, 1900. Episcopal archives of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.
* Ibid.
s Louis De Cailly, Memoirs of Bishop Loras, New York, 1897. It is to be noted that De Cailly does not give his reference. J. F. Kempker in his study, Father Pelamourgues, Winterset, Iowa, 1901, p. 10, corroborates the above. In an article which appeared in The Catholic Messenger, Davenport, Iowa, January 27, 1894, by the Very Reverend Philip Laurent, the words of Father Pelamourgues are quoted in this connection. The latter actually visited Rome in 1857.
DIOCESE OF DAVENPORT 337
diocese of Dubuque."6 This recommendation was an important one for generally it is the word of the bishops of a province that effects changes of this kind. But a new diocese was not created in 1875.
By another letter, a part of the correspondence already quoted, it is seen that another French priest, the Reverend Andrew Trevis, petitioned Rome for a new diocese in Iowa both in 1875 and 1880: "It should be here stated that the Very Reverend A. Trevis, who was pastor of St. Margaret's Church in Davenport, from 1856 to 1881 . . . represented and presented the claims of Davenport for the See City before the Propaganda in 1875 and 1880. . . . "7 The project of a new diocese in Iowa had thus been presented before the two most important agencies in the Catholic Church government of the United States, the Ecumenical Council of Baltimore and the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith. And yet in 1880 there was only one Catholic diocese in Iowa. Then the unusual happened. Pope Leo XIII personally examined the whole matter. "When the question came up before the Propaganda this time, His Emin- ence, the Most Reverend Cardinal Simeoni was Prefect . . . the questions were examined with great deliberation and even by His Holiness, Leo XIII. . . . "8 After many years of waiting, years filled no doubt with much discussion as to the final out- come, a new diocese was finally erected in southern Iowa.
n
Manifestly, then, a diocese other than that of Dubuque might well have been erected in Iowa long before 1881. Objective con- ditions demanded it and surely sufficient discussion and pressure were had to constitute a new diocese. Why was its coming delayed till 1881 ? Where should the see city of the new diocese be located? These two questions were intimately connected.
e The Right Reverend Henry Cosgrove, Bishop of the Diocese of Daven- port, to the Apostolic Delegation, September 20, 1899. Episcopal archives of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa. The data presented in this letter are of primary source value as the letter itself indicates: "For greater par- ticularity reference is made to the records of Propaganda [in Rome] which are made part thereof." The "Propaganda" referred to in this place is a congregation or church institution which cares for the activities of the Catholic Church in countries which are officially on a missionary basis. Until a few years ago the, United States was considered a "missionary country."
7 Ibid.
s Ibid.
338 CHARLES F. GRIFFITH
The correspondence which passed between the Apostolic Delegate to the United States and Bishop Henry Cosgrove some years later and which has already been quoted in part, gives much, light on the choosing of Davenport as the see city of the new diocese. It was this matter alone, the choosing of a see city, which so long delayed the erection of a new Iowa diocese. The contest was between Davenport and Council Bluffs.9 A letter which embodies data, procured from the archives of the Propa- ganda, makes the matter very clear :
For many years prior to the division of the Diocese of Dubuque, especially during the Ecumenical Council in 1870 . . . the question of the division of the Diocese of Dubuque was being1 agitated before the Propa- ganda, and the question as to the mode of making the division caused much discussion. One party advocated the dividing line should run north and south, and Council Bluffs should be the See City, and the other party advocated the line of division should run east and west, and that Davenport should be the See City. Father Pelamourgues, having been pastor of St. Anthony's Parish from 1838 to 1868, presented the claims of Davenport for the See City before the Propaganda and advocated the dividing line should run east and west and that Davenport should be the See City.io
This letter states that Bishop Hennessy of Dubuque was present also, although it does not state his position on the ques- tion under discussion. The same question was thoroughly dis- cussed in 1875:
The Bishops of the Province of St. Louis, in 1875, submitted a propo- sition to the Propaganda, for the division of the Diocese of Dubuque, by a north and south line and recommended Council Bluffs for the See City, but the Reverend Father Trevis, and others, presented the claims of Daven- port for the See City, and urged the cause upon the ground, among others, that the revenues derived from said "Church Square" and other property in Davenport, could be used by the Bishop for his support, as well as for
9 Ibid.
io The Right Reverend Henry Cosgrove, Bishop of the Diocese of Dav- enport, to the Apostolic Delegation, March 20, 1900. Episcopal archives of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.
DIOCESE OF DAVENPORT 339
the support of the diocesan institutions.*! These questions were discussed . . . and after due consideration the case was sent back to the Bishops of the Province of St. Louis, to be again examined by them, and they answered by sending it back to Rome in 1879, and again recommending Council Bluffs for the See City. When the question came up before the Propa- ganda this time, His Eminence, the Most Reverend Cardinal Simeoni, was Prefect, and the Very Reverend Canonica Sanebercetti was Minutante, and the questions were examined with great deliberation and even by His Holi- ness, Leo Xm, and at last . . . the question coming on for final decision and in view of the fact that the income that was received from said "Church Square" and other property could be used by the Bishop for his own support and for the support of Diocesan institutions, and for other minor reasons, Davenport was chosen for the new Episcopal See.12
The same correspondence contains the following statement which corroborates the above:
Further, it is evident from the letter of His Eminence Cardinal Ledochowsky, Prefect of the Propaganda, dated December 21st, 1899, and now in your possession, that the Propaganda, at some period during the pendency of the case for the division of the Diocese of Dubuque, and prior to its final decision did decide the question at issue in this case in favor of the Bishop, otherwise why should the records of the Propaganda show that one of the reasons for establishing the new See at Davenport was
- 11 "The Church Square." From the following deed the meaning of the above term will be made clear: "This deed made and entered into this sec- ond day of December eighteen hundred and thirty nine by and between Anthony LeClaire and Margaret his wife of Scott County and Territory of Iowa parties of the first part, and Matthias Loras first Catholic Bishop of Iowa Territory, of Dubuque County party of the second part witnesseth: That the said parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of two thousand, and five hundred dollars to them paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, do by these presents grant, bargain, and sell, convey and confirm unto the said party of the second part all their right, title and interest in and to a cer- tain piece of land situated in LeClaire's Addition to the town of Davenport, Scott County, Iowa Territory, and marked and designed on the plat of said town as "Church Square" and bounded as follows on the North by Chip- pewa street, on the East by Brady street, on the South by Ottaway street, and on the West by Miller street. To have and to hold the same together with the right, immunities, privileges and appurtenances to the same be- longing unto the said party of the second part as the Catholic Bishop of Iowa Territory and to his successors for ever legally appointed according to the rules of the Catholic Church, for the use of the Catholic Congre- gation of Davenport, Scott County, Iowa Territory, the said parties of the first part hereby convenanting that their heirs, executors and admin- istrators shall and will warrant and diffend the title to the premises of the said party of the second part and to his heirs and assigns for ever against the lawful claim of all persons whatsoever.
In witness whereof the said parties of the first part have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written. In presence of,
John Forrest Antoine Le Claire
Samuel Mazzuchelli Margueretta Le Claire"
12 Cosgrove, Letter, March 20, 1900.
340 CHARLES F. GRIFFITH
because the income from "Church Square" might be used by the Bishop for the benefit of his diocese.is
In pursuing further the question as to the reason of Daven- port's having been chosen as the see city, the Catholic Directory of 1881 is helpful. The relative merits of the two cities, Daven- port and Council Bluffs, can there be seen.
"Davenport, Scott County, St. Marguerite's, Reverend H. Cosgrove, St. Anthony's, Reverend Laurence Roche, and P. Burke, Assistant. St. Mary's, Reverend M. Flavin. St. Peter's, Buffalo, Scott County, attended from St. Mary's. St. Cune- gunda's, Reverend A. Nierman."
"Council Bluffs, Pottawatamie County, St. Francis Xavier's, Reverend P. B. McMenomy, pastor; Reverend Thos. O'Reilly, assistant. Glenwood and Pacific Junction, Mills County ; Plumer Settlement, Mills County; Neola and Honey Creek, Pottawatamie County; and Shelby, Shelby County, attended from Council Bluffs."14
These figures indicate clearly Davenport's superior merits. It had four parishes and only one mission outside the city to be attended from the Davenport parishes. Council Bluffs had but one parish and besides, the two priests in charge had to divide their time among it and six missions outside the city of Council Bluffs.
A statistical study has been made by the writer of two some- what equally divided sections of southern Iowa. Des Moines in Polk County was taken as the dividing point and a line was drawn north and south. The territory east of Des Moines is designated the Davenport section and that to the west, the Council Bluffs section. The findings of the study, and these are based on the Catholic Directory for the year 1881, show that in the year 1881 there were forty-four parishes with resident pastors in the Davenport section and only eleven such parishes in the Council Bluffs section.15 Clearly on this score the com- parison favors Davenport very much. Closeness to the scene of action is surely an important element in the administration of a diocese. Conferences between the bishop and pastors can thus be carried on with greater convenience and less expense.
13 ibid.
14 The Catholic Directory, 1881, p. 264. is Ibid., pp. 274-78.
DIOCESE OF DAVENPORT 341
III
With great difficulty then, and after many years of discus- sion, the choice of the see city in the new diocese of Iowa fell to Davenport. It was a contest between cities, one in the extreme eastern part of Iowa and the other in the extreme western part of the same state.
But why was not a more centrally located city officially con- sidered as a likely see city, especially since the capital of Iowa, Des Moines, was so admirably located geographically? It is a fact that the official correspondence at hand does not consider Des Moines for the new see city. From the newspapers of the day and some public correspondence in them between two prom- inent priests, we do know there was much dissatisfaction in Des Moines when that city was not chosen. At the time, 1881, it had two Catholic parishes, St. Ambrose's, the Reverend John F. Brazil!, pastor, and the Reverend James Quinn, assistant, and St. Mary's (German), the Reverend Al. Nic. Sassel, pastor.16 For many years previous Father Brazill had been Vicar-General of the Diocese of Dubuque.17
The Reverend Philip Laurent, writing in the Muscatine Jour- nal, January 9, 1882, has this to say of Des Moines : "The Catho- lics of Iowa are of [?] the rehashed and so often warmed up rumor of an 'Episcopal See' being established in Des Moines. ... It is not a Diocese in Des Moines we want . . . but united effort to build up the new diocese of Davenport. Let the people of the capital do as those of Davenport and hold their peace. Before Des Moines has four churches, an Episcopal See will be a great deal."18 This correspondence is significant for two things. In the first place it took place in January, 1882, a few months after Davenport had been chosen the new see city. Sec- ondly, it indicates the lack of material progress of Catholicism in the capital city. The latter circumstance suggests the reason
is Ibid., p. 275.
17 The term "Vicar General" refers to an ecclesiastic who acts in the place of the bishop when requested to do so. Hence, in authority he is next to the bishop. His powers, and they are important, extend over the entire diocese.
is The Muscatine [Iowa] Daily Journal, January 9, 1882. This article was written under the non de plume, "Too High." Cf. The Muscatine Daily Journal, January 31, 1882.
342 CHARLES F. GRIFFITH
why Des Moines was not officially considered.19 It simply had not progressed as Davenport had.
An interview given to Father Kempker by the Reverend A. Niermann on December 16, 1885, asserts that there was a new agitation for an episcopal see at Des Moines at the time of Bishop McMullen's death, July 4, 1883: "After the death of Bishop McMullen some actions were taken by certain parties favoring Des Moines for [an] episcopal see. Father Niermann was acquainted with this, and one day when the Reverend A. Trevis called on him, Father Niermann advised that something ought to be done to represent the matter to Rome in the proper light."20 The aspirations of Des Moines at this time, less than two years after the creation of the new diocese, indicate a well grounded hope of realizing its ambition of having a "Diocese of Des Moines."
This hope was expressed clearly by a Des Moines corre- spondent to the Catholic Messenger:
"The grand wish which has for years lived in the Christian breast of the good people of Des Moines is once more animated with new life. That is, that Des Moines would take her place and be organized as the metropolis and Catholic center of Catholicity in the state. Des Moines was, and is, the great center of Catholicity of the State. She is the metropolis of Iowa. . . . All must agree that Des Moines should have a Bishop. If Des Moines had a Bishop today, the growth of Catholicity in Iowa's metropolis during the next five years would be unprecedented in the history of our city."2i
19 This correspondence was stopped by the first Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport, the Right Reverend John McMullen. Writing Father Laurent, February 18, 1882, he said in part: "In my opinion these things in general are apt to cause hard and uncharitable feelings and nothing more — and your letter in particular I judged too severe. . . . Life is too short to trouble ourselves over such trifles." In this connection we must note an anomalous situation. The editor of The Iowa State Register gave Father Brazzil what is supposed to have been the longest obituary notice in that newspaper up to that time. He looked upon Father Brazzil as the greatest man Iowa ever knew. And all this despite the adverse views of Father Laurent! Cf. The Iowa Messenger (Davenport, Iowa), September 12, 1885, and The Iowa State Register (Des Moines, Iowa), August 30, 1885.
20 Interview by Father John F. Kempker of Father Niermann, St. Cunegunda's Parish, Davenport, Iowa. The truth and accuracy of this material are vouched for by Father Kempker in an appended note in which he says Father Niermann gave out this interview knowing it would be used for historical purposes. The data, in substance, are corroborated by other sources.
21 The Iowa Messenger (Davenport, Iowa), May 31, 1884. The Ioioa Messenger and The Catholic Messenger are titles used at different times for one and the same publication. This paper began publication in 1882.
DIOCESE OF DAVENPORT 343
About the same time another article appeared referring to the same matter.22 Without doubt, then, Des Moines was anxi- ous to be made the see city at the time of the erection of the Diocese of Davenport in 1881.
It has already been shown that the influence and activities of the French priests in the southern half of Iowa were respon- sible for the founding of the Diocese of Davenport. Those same priests were not at all interested in locating the see city at Des Moines. The absence of an advocate for Des Moines at this time, coupled with the French influence favoring Davenport, affords a probable, and at present the only worthwhile explana- tion why Des Moines was not officially considered as a likely see city for the new diocese of southern Iowa.
On May 9, 1881, a cablegram was sent from Rome to the Very Reverend A. Trevis: "On Sunday May 9, 1881, the feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph, it pleased our Holy Father, Pope Leo Xm, first to ratify the creation of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, cut off from the Diocese of Dubuque, which comprised the whole state of Iowa; second to name the Very Reverend John McMullen, D. D., Vicar-General of Chicago, to be the first Bishop of Davenport. This See will be a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of St. Louis."23
The Catholic Directory for 1883 gives the specific boundaries of the new diocese. It comprised "that part of Iowa bounded on the east by the Mississippi River, on the west by the Missouri River, and on the south by! the State of Missouri, and on the north by the northern bounds of the counties of Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar and Scott."
Charles F. Griffith, A. M.
Saint Ambrose College Davenport, Iowa
22 ibid.
23 The Iowa Messenger, November 21, 1891. "Suffragan See." By this term is meant that a diocese, that is, a well defined and generally a large district presided over by a bishop, is a part of a larger ecclesiastical dis- trict called a province. The highest one in authority in a province is called an archbishop. The bishop, however, has full authority in his own diocese.
THE FIRST SIOUX MISSION
The whole history of exploration in North America can be written around the search for a water route to the Orient. The story of Minnesota's first settlement of white men and its ac- companying mission is properly a chapter in this history. By way of preface we read in the Journal des Jesuites under date of August 7, 1720: "Father Charlevoix arrived from France by order of the court, to collect information for the discovery of the Western sea."1
America was not a new land to Father Francis Xavier Char- levoix. After his novitiate in Paris he had spent four years in Canada, teaching in the college of Quebec from 1705 to 1709. He returned to France to complete his studies and at the age of thirty-eight was sent to make a tour of inspection of the French posts and missions in the New World with a view to planning new establishments in the most advantageous sections, with the ultimate aim of opening a route to the Western Sea. There had long been a belief that a way could be found, mainly by means of water-routes, by which the sea to the west of New France could be made accessible. In the preceding century D'Iberville had hoped to make the discovery of this route, and when Du Luth in 1679 reached Mille Lacs in the Sioux country he ex- pected to push on across the continent to the salt water.2 The explorers themselves had no idea of the greatness of the distance to be covered in order to cross North America, and the home government had still less knowledge of the geography of the country. So it is not strange that the Due d'Orleans, the regent, should think the discovery of the Western Sea not only a de- sirable, but a fairly feasible project, and in 1720 should send Father Charlevoix to make a careful investigation and report on the most likely routes.
Father Charlevoix spent the winter in Quebec and in Mon- treal where he diligently sought out travelers who might give him useful information.3 Early in May, 1721, he set out from Montreal and made the journey around the lower lakes, reaching Mackinac on June 28. At La Baye [Green Bay] he met a dele-
1 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, LXIX, 235.
2 Camille de Rochemonteix, S. J., Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVIII Steele, I, 172.
3 Pierre Margry, D6couvertes et Etablissements des Frangais, VI, 532. Letter of Father Charlevoix to Monseigneur le Comte de Morville.
344
TSHE FIRST SIOUX MISSION 345
gation of the Sioux who told him that some branches of their tribe traded with western tribesmen who lived on salt water.4 He visited missions and posts throughout the whole country, not only Canada but Louisiana as well, and on his return to France made a detailed report. We are concerned, however, with but one of his recommendations. He urged the establishment of a mission-post among the Sioux so that this tribe might be bound to the French and the post became a step toward the discovery of the Western Sea.5 It would be a grave mistake to overlook the apostolic spirit which was apparent in Father Charlevoix's letters concerning this new mission. He said himself that he had been repaid for the hardships and dangers of his three years' tour of inspection because he had been able to baptize a little girl who was dying.6 Further, he did not hesitate to offer to establish the new mission and put the missionaries in possession of it despite his lack of the youth and strength needed for the life of a missionary.7 Father Charlevoix's generous offer was not accepted, but his suggestion of a settlement among the Sioux on the upper Mississippi was approved.* At length in 1727, after a temporary truce with the Fox Indians had been arranged, the Marquis de Beauharnois, governor of Canada, gave orders to' prepare the expedition to the Sioux country. Two Jesuit fathers were requested for the mission. That their work was to be useful to science as well as to religion we may surmise from a letter dated April 30, 1727, from the Marquis de Beauharnois to the Minister of the Marine :
The reverend Jesuit Fathers who are going to the Sioux request some mathematical instruments. The ones which are now in their house, and which belong to the king, will serve them if His Majesty will have others sent for Quebec, namely: a mathematics case, a dial plate of universal astronomy, a graduated semi-circle with the degrees indicated, a spirit level, a chain with stakes, and a telescope six or seven feet long. This
* Margry, op. cit., VI, 526. s Margry, op. cit., VI, 534.
e Rochemonteix, op. cit., footnote, I, 178.
"i Margry, op. cit., VI, 535. Letter of Charlevoix to the Minister of the Marine.
* This was not the first contact of the Sioux with the missionaries. At Sault-Ste-Marie, 1641, Saint Isaac Jogues, and his companion, Father Charles Raymbault, the first Jesuits to visit the Middle United States, heard of the Sioux Nadouessis or Sioux in the War West. Later, Father Allouez met members of the tribe and on May 8, 1689, Father Joseph Marest, "missionary among the Sioux," was present at Nicolas Perrot's famous prise de possession of Lake Pepin and the surrounding Sioux country in the name of Louis XTV. Father Joseph Marest was the first Jesuit to preach the Gospel to the Dakota or Sioux in their native habitat.
346 NANCY RING
telescope does not belong to the king, but they are taking away one from their house and ask for another from the king to take its place.
It would be well, my lord, if they could receive these instruments by this year's ships, if this letter reaches you soon enough for that. I have the honor to be with great respect,
My lord, Your very humble and very obedient servant, Beauharnois.s
Apparently the instruments were not sent at once, for the Governor repeats the request in September of the same year in the name of the Jesuit Fathers who had gone to the Sioux the previous Spring.
In order to finance the proposed Siouan foundation a com- mercial company was formed. The colonial treasury was always impoverished: but the merchants of New France were eager to participate in opening the vast territory of the Sioux, which had a high reputation for rich furs. The contract signed on the 6th of June, 1727, stipulated that the promoters were to have a com- plete monoply of the trade of the Sioux country for three years, with a preference for future years. In return — and this is the part which is of particular interest to our story — they agreed to build a fort of stakes, a chapel, a house for the commanding officer, and one for the missionaries, the amount and weight of the cargoes being specifically stipulated; and they were to buy at Mackinac three or four extra canoes in order to transport these goods over the Fox-Wisconsin waterway. This contract is preserved in the archives of the Chicago Historical Society.9 It was signed by Beauharnois, Longueuil, La Corne, D'Aigre- mont, Saint-George Dupre, Youville, Pierre Daillay, Marin, Etienne Petit, Garrau, Frangois Campeau, Frangois du May, Pierre Richard, Jean-Baptiste Boucher de Montbrun, Frangois Boucher de Montbrun and Jean Garrau.
The commandant of the expedition was Rene Boucher, Sieur de la Perriere, member of a well-known family and a distin- guished officer in the colonial troops. He had visited the Sioux country in 1715 as a preliminary to Louvigny's expedition against the Foxes. He was now nearly sixty years of age and he was to find the hardships of the journey too great for his strength. The two missionaries were Fathers Michael Guignas
s Margry, op. cit., VI, 544.
9 Louise Phelps Kellogg, Minnesota History, "Fort Beauharnois," VIII, (1927), 234.
ipE FIRST SIOUX MISSION 347
and Nicholas de Gonnor. Father Guignas was a man of about forty-six years of age and had been stationed in Canada for the previous eleven years. He had had missionary experience, hav- ing been stationed at the Ottawa mission at Mackinac. He was, says Rochemonteix, a religious of an ardent nature, a keen and open mind and a generous heart, possessed of the gift of elo- quence and the qualities of a true missionary.10 Father de Gon- nor was ten years younger than Father Guignas and had been in Canada for only two years. This was his first mission.
At length all was ready for the departure. A letter from Father Guignas to the Marquis de Beauharnois under date of May 29, 1728, gives a graphic account of the journey and the foundation of "Fort Beauharnois" and "The Mission of St. Michael the Archangel."
On the 17th of September, 1727, at noon, we reached this lake [Pepin] , which had been chosen as the end of our voyage. We established ourselves toward evening about the middle of the Northern shore upon a low point whose soil is excellent. The woods were very dense there, but they are already thinned on account of the rigor and length of the winter, which has been severe for the climate, for we are here in latitude 43° 51'. It is true that the difference in the winter is great compared with that of Quebec and Montreal, whatever certain poor judges may say of it. The day after landing axes were applied to the trees and four days later the fort was entirely finished. It is a plat of ground a hundred feet square surrounded by stakes twelve feet high with two good bastions. For such a small space there are large buildings, detached and not crowded, each 30, 38 and 25 feet long by 16 feet wide. All would go well there if the place were not subject to inundations; but this year, on the 15th of the month of April, we were obliged to go and camp outside and the water rose in the houses to the height of two feet eight inches; and it is useless to say that it was the quantity of snow that fell this year. The snow about the fort was melted a long time before; and there was certainly not more than a foot and a half from the 8th of February until the 15th of March; all the rest of the winter one could not have used snowshoes. I have good reason for believing that this place is inundated every year. I always had the same opinion of it; but they were not obliged to believe me, because old people who said they had lived here fifteen or twenty years asserted that it was never inundated. We could not re-enter the rather dilapidated houses until the 30th of the same month of April, and even today the damages are hardly repaired.
Before the end of October all the houses were finished, and furnished; and everyone found himself lodged peacefully in his own home. Nothing was thought of then but to go and reconnoitre the neighboring districts and rivers, to see those herds of fallow-deer of all species of which they
io Rochemonteix, op. cit., I, 183.
348 NANCY RING
tell such tales in Canada. They must have disappeared or have greatly diminished since the time these former travelers left the country. They are no longer in such great numbers and it is hard to kill any.
After having wandered about the country for some time everybody returned to the fort, and only thought of enjoying for a little the fruits of their labors. On the 4th of the month of November it was not forgotten that this was the fete day of Monsieur the General. Holy Mass was said for him in the morning, and we were much inclined to celebrate the holiday in the evening; but the slowness of the Pyrotechnist, and the changeable- ness of the weather caused the celebration to be postponed until the 14th of the same month, when some very fine rockets were fired off and the air was made to resound with a hundred shouts of "Long live the King," and "Long live Charles de Beauharnois." It was on this occasion that the wine of the Sioux was made to flow, and it was most excellent, although there are no finer vines here than in Canada. What contributed much to the amusement was the terror of some cabins of Indians who were then around the fort. When these poor people saw the fireworks in the air and the stars falling from heaven, women and children took to flight, and the most courageous of the men cried for mercy, and urgently asked that the aston- ishing play of this terrible medicine should be made to cease.
As soon as we had arrived among them they assembled in a very few days around the French fort to the number of 95 cabins, which would amount in all to 150 men, for there are at the most two men each in their portable cabins of dressed skins, and in many there is only one. These were all that we have seen, except a band of about 60 men who came on the 26th of the month of February and were of those Nations that are called the Sioux of the Prairies. At the end of November the savages departed for their winter quarters. It is true that they did not go far away and that there are always some to be seen during the winter. But since the 2nd of last April, when several cabins of them repassed here to go to their spring hunting, none of them have been seen. One canoe of ten men, detailed to go and find them, looked in vain for a week even for more than sixty leagues up the Mississippi; it arrived yesterday without hearing any tidings of them.n
St. Michael the Archangel had been chosen as patron of the Mission, for Father Guignas dated his letter from there. Surely the gallant little mission needed a powerful heavenly guardian. The health of the commandant, La Perriere, was so badly af- fected by the hardships of the winter and the flood that he was obliged to return to Quebec, taking Father de Gonnor with him. He was so ill on reaching Montreal that he was unable to make his own report to the governor.12 Then the Foxes went on the
« Margry, op. cit., VI, 552-58. English translation reprinted from Wis- consin Historical Collections, 17:22-28, in Minnesota History, VI, (1925), 364-69.
12 Rochemonteix, op. cit., I, 455. Letter of Beauharnois to the Minister of the Marine.
THE FIRST SIOUX MISSION 349
war path again and a large French expedition under Lignery set out to punish them for breaking the truce. The savages were warned, however, and when the French arrived at their villages not a Fox was to be found. Knowing, then, that the little post on Lake Pepin would be at the mercy of the angry Foxes, Lignery managed to get word through to Pierre Boucherville (who was now in command of Fort Beauharnois) and after due consideration it was decided on September 18, 1728, that the post could not be held. On October 3, just a little more than a year after its foundation, Father Guignas, Boucherville, and ten others took to canoes and were captured by a band of Fox allies, Kickapoo and Mascoutens. At first it seemed certain that they would be killed, but, after being held captive for five months, all were released. There seems little doubt that this happy outcome was due in large measure to the efforts of Father Guignas. An account of the incident is given in a letter from Father le Petit to Father d'Avaugour, New Orleans, July 12, 1730 :
We always felt a distrust of the Renard Savages, although they did not longer dare to undertake anything, since Father Guignas has detached from their alliance the Tribes of the Kikapous and the Maskoutins. You know, my Reverend Father, that, being in Canada, he had the courage to penetrate even to the Sioux, wandering Savages near the source of the Mississippi, at the distance of about eight hundred leagues from New Or- leans, and six hundred leagues from Quebec. Obliged to abandon this in- fant Mission, by the unfortunate result of the enterprise against the Renards, he descended the river to repair to the Illinois. On the 15th of October, in the year 1728, he was arrested when half-way, by the Kikapous and the Maskoutins. For five months he was a captive among these Savages, where he had much to suffer and everything to fear. The time at last came when he was to be burned alive, and he prepared himself to finish his life in this horrible torment, when he was adopted by an old man, whose family saved his life, and procured him his liberty. Our Mission- aries, who were among the Illinois, were no sooner acquainted with his sad situation, than they procured him all the alleviations they were able. Everything which he received he employed to conciliate the Savages, and succeeded even to the extent of engaging them to conduct him to the Illinois, and while there to make peace with the French and the Savages of that region. Seven or eight months after this peace was concluded, the Maskoutins and the Kikapous returned again to the Illinois country, and took away Father Guignas to spend the winter with them, from whence, in all probability, he will return to Canada. He has been exceedingly broken down by these fatiguing journeys, but his zeal, full of fire and activity, seems to give him new strength.^
is Thwaites, op. cit., LXVIII, 208-09.
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In 1731 the post among the Sioux was reestablished.14 Things seemed to go better for a time. Godefroy de Linctot was in command; a new commercial company had been formed to finance the post and Father Guignas was again its missionary.15 The Sioux chiefs expressed their joy at the return of the French and plans were made for them to pay a visit to the Governor. Then, too, the post managed to swell the fur trade in 1735.16
But bad times were again in store ; it is doubtful if times were ever very good for the little mission. In a letter from Father Nau to Father Bonin, dated August 2, 1735, Sault St. Louis, there is mention of the hardships of Father Guignas:
Father Guignas is in the Sioux country, at a little French fort with but six men with him. Scarcely a month ago the Marquis de Beauharnois governor-general of New France, sent twenty-two men in four canoes with supplies of which he stood absolutely in need, for the Sioux refuse to pro- vide for him. It is not at all certain that the relief party will reach him without molestation, their route lying close to the country of the renards. ... It is to be hoped that father Aulneau will find more docile savages than the Outaouais and the Sioux, among whom fathers Saint Pe and Guignas are laboring with little success. They have managed to convert but a few old men and women who are beyond the age of sinning. The greatest good they can effect is to Baptize children when they think they are on the point of death; those who recover seldom fail later to fall away from the faith."
Still another letter, this one from Father Aulneau to Father Bonin, gives us an idea of Father Guignas's life:
We received, just a few days ago, news of Father Guignas; since 1732 he had not been heard from. He is in a helpless state. The hunger he has had to endure, the imminent danger to which he has been continually ex- posed, of being massacred by the sakis [Sauk] and the renards [Foxes], and numberless other hardships, borne heroically, have brought him so low, that even the savages, who have little pity for us, are forced to look upon him with feelings of compassion. We are, however, in the impossibil- ity of attempting anything for his relief, owing to the scarcity of mission- aries. Pray God, my reverend father, to send laborers to this needy mission.is
St. Pierre replaced Linctot as commandant of the post of the Sioux in 1735. In 1736 the Sioux of the Prairies terrorized the
14 Margry, op. cit., VI, 569. Letter of Beauharnois to Minister of the Marine.
is Rochemonteix, op. cit., I, 198. is Margry, op. cit., VI, 574. 17 Thwaites, op. cit., LXVTII, 281, 285. is Thwaites, op. cit., LXVTII, 257.
THE FIRST SIOUX MISSION 351
traders and made a raid in which they seized a large quantity of beaver skins. Finally, in 1737, war broke out between the Sioux and two neighboring tribes. The account of the incidents which preceded the evacuation of the post is given in St. Pierre's report to the Marquis de Beauharnois under date of October 14, 1737. First a band of Sioux killed two Frenchmen. The Sioux were openly on the war path and a band of Puans who had brought timely warning to the French fort sought protection from the French and built a camp nearby. Then
on December 18 there arrived thirty-six [Sioux] men with their families. The young men took the lead and set fire to the fort of the Puans. St. Pierre demanded of Ouakantape if he was not content to have given the French two grievous wounds without coming again to insult them in their fort by burning that of the Puans, their brothers. He replied that he had done this with reflection and on purpose. Then they tore up the stakes in Father Guignas's garden, set them afire and ran away.is
The situation steadily became more dangerous. The Puans also deserted the French. After consultation with Linctot, the second in command, with Father Guignas and the French in- habitants of the post, it was decided to abandon it. On the 30th of May, 1737, the decision was carried into effect.
So ended the first mission on the soil of Minnesota. It was a gallant attempt and the people of Minnesota have not for- gotten it.
The Goodhue County Historical Society arranged and successfully car- ried into effect an appropriate celebration at Frontenac on September 17th (1927) for the 200th anniversary of the building of Fort Beauharnois on the shore of Lake Pepin. The central feature of the program was the unveiling of a bronze tablet bearing the inscription:
"Near this spot Fort Beauharnois was erected by the French in September, 1727. Here also stood the Mission of St. Michael the Archangel, the first Christian Chapel in the present boundaries of Minnesota."?*)
Nancy Ring, A. M. St. Louis, Missouri
is Margry, op. cit., VI, 577.
20 Minnesota History, VIII, No. 4, p. 432. The Mission of St. Michael the Archangel was in the locality of Frontenac, Minnesota, probably on or near the site of the Ursuline Convent of that place.
DOCUMENTS
THE QUARTER-PICQUET CORRESPONDENCE*
I
Chicago, Illinois June 12, 1844 Dear Sir:-
Your kind letter of the 19th Ult., is this day received and now before me. It grieves me to learn that you have been so long without a clergyman, and thereby deprived the opportunity of complying with your religious obligations at Easter.
At this moment I have not a single clergyman that I could send you, but in a few weeks, I hope to be able to make such arrangements as will enable me to furnish you with a pastor.
Pray that our divine Master may please to send laborers into
his vineyard, for in every part of this extensive diocese are they
craved most earnestly and as yet they are not here to be sent.
Accept the assurances of my best wishes for your spiritual
and temporal prosperity.
Yours in Christ,
William [Quarter], Bishop of Chicago1 To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esq.2 Ste. Marie Jasper County, 111.
* These letters, addressed by the Right Reverend William Quarter, first Bishop of Chicago, to Joseph Picquet, founder of the Sainte Marie settle- ment, Jasper County, Illinois, are in the possession of his daughter, Miss Marie Picquet, who is living in her father's old home in Sainte Marie. The letters are published with her kind permission. Copies from the originals together with accompanying explanatory notes, have been furnished Mid- America by Sister Mary Salesia Godecker, O. S. B., Ph. D., author of the recently published notable biography, Simon Brute De Re'mur, First Bishop of Vincennes, St. Meinrad, Indiana, 1931.
i William Quarter, first Bishop of Chicago, was born at Killurine, King's County, Ireland, on January 24, 1806. He came to America as a young man and made his ecclesiastical studies at Mount St. Mary's, Em- mitsburg, Maryland. Father Quarter was ordained by Bishop Dubois of New York City, and served the Church faithfully at both St. Peter's and St. Mary's in the same city. He was consecrated Bishop of Chicago on the feast of the Forty Martyrs, March 10, 1844, in the Cathedral of New York at the hands of Bishop Hughes. Bishop Quarter repaired immediately to his field of labor where a period of scarcely four years was to round out his career as ordinary of the diocese. At the early age of forty-two he was claimed by death, expiring on April 10, 1848. Cf. Garraghan, The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871.
352
DOCUMENTS 353
II
Chicago, Illinois August 30, 1844 Dear and respected sir:-
Your esteemed favour of the 19th Inst., came to hand this morning with the letter of Miss E. Bentdell enclosed. It rejoiced me to hear of your safe return and that you were surrounded by friends, so near and dear to you. I had information of your arrival in New York and of your having selected as a partner in the cares and solicitudes of life, a lady, remarkable for her piety, amiability, and interesting manners. I beg you will pre- sent her my most respectful regards and permit me to present to you both my cordial congratulations and my very best wishes for your mutual happiness.
Previously to the receipt of your letter I had written to the Reverend Mr. St. Cyr, of Kaskaskia, a very worthy and ex- emplary clergyman, to endeavor to make such arrangements with his neighbor clergyman as would enable him to go and take charge of the Catholic congregation in your Settlement. I have had no answer from him as yet. If he cannot leave his present mission, I will write immediately to the Reverend Mr. Guth. If, however, you think both could be there supported having also Teutopolis and the other adjacent missions, please inform me and I shall request of Reverend Mr. Guth to come also and take
2 Joseph Picquet, the founder of Sainte Marie, Jasper County, Illinois, was the son of Mr. James Picquet and wife, Cleophe Picquet, nee Schif- fenstein, and was born at Mommenheim, Lower Rhine, Alsace, France, on March 17, 1816. He received his early education in the common schools of Haguenau. In 1828 he entered the Jesuit College at Fribourg, Switzerland, where he was in attendance until 1833. During the following year he con- tinued his studies under private tutors. In 1835 he left his home in Haguenau, Alsace, France, to come to the United States. After spending more than a year in America he returned to his home. A year later a company of ten with Joseph Picquet as their leader arrived in Illinois and founded the village of Sainte Marie.
Mr. Picquet was twice married, in 1844, to Miss Rose Muller, whose death occurred in the fall of the same year, and in 1850, to her sister, Miss Caroline Muller. Both marriages took place at Mr. Picquet's old home in France. He died at his home in Sainte Marie on Saturday, November 30, 1912, in the ninety-seventh year of his age.
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charge — or you may write to him and tell him I shall feel most happy to receive him into the diocese.
Reverend Mr. Fisher is no longer attached to this diocese.3 In accordance with the directions of Bishop de la Hailandiere,4 he left here and is gone to the Mission appointed for him at Logansport.5 As soon as I can possibly escape from this place, where I have now much to do, I shall pay you and your inter- esting family a visit. Please present to each member thereof, my affectionate regards and if your friend, Mr. Thomas, be in your neighborhood I desire to him an affectionate remembrance also.
With sentiments of high regard and esteem, I have the honor to remain,
Yours sincerely in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet
Ste. Marie, 111.
3 Francis Joseph Fischer was born in Alsace and made his studies in Strassburg. He joined the missionary band accepted by Bishop de la Hailandiere for Vincennes and arrived in New York with this group under the lead of Reverend Augustine Martin, chaplain of the Royal College of Rennes, on September 11, 1839.
Francis Fischer received minor orders at Vincennes on January 18, 1840. He was ordained subdeacon on April 5, deacon on August 16, and raised to the holy priesthood on September 19, 1840. In the fall of 1840 he was sent to take charge of the German congregation in Chicago where he remained until 1844. During the following nine years he served the Church very devotedly at Lottaville, Logansport, Lanesville, Madison, and Vin- cennes. In 1853 he joined the Chicago diocese and was pastor at Sainte Marie, Jasper County, Illinois, until November 1, 1855, when he was trans- ferred to Waterloo, Illinois, where he stayed until October, 1861. Father Fischer returned to his native country, Alsace, in the spring of 1862.
4 Bishop de la Hailandiere, the second Bishop of Vincennes, was born at Combourg, in Brittany, May 2, 1798. He studied law to fit himself for the magistracy. At the age of twenty-four he entered the seminary at Rennes and was ordained at Paris on May 28, 1825. He came to America in 1836 and became the Vicar General of the diocese of Vincennes. Two years later he returned to France in the interests of the diocese. While thus engaged Bishop Brute de Remur died and de la Hailandiere was ap- pointed bishop. He was consecrated at Paris on August 18, 1839, by Bishop de Forbin Janson. Bishop de la Hailandiere was a man of restless activity and his energy made him unpopular with many. He resigned his see in 1847 and returned to his native country where he died on an estate belong- ing to the family, at Triandin, on May 1, 1882.
s A flourishing post town in 1833 and the seat of justice of Cass Coun- ty, Indiana. Situated at the confluence of the Wabash and Eel rivers, it is surrounded by an extensive tract of rich land.
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III
Chicago, Illinois November 4, 1844 Dear and respected Sir:-
Your kind letter of the 10th Ult., was before me when I re- turned a few days since from the visitation of a large portion of the diocese. Shortly after the receipt of your first letter I wrote to Reverend Mr. Guth, inviting him to this diocese and telling him where he would be stationed, namely, in your Settle- ment. I have had no answer up to this date. You had better write as soon as possible, and maybe you will be more success- ful. I fear Reverend Mr. St. Cyr cannot be induced to leave St. Louis. I have lately written to Bishop Kenrick, requesting him to urge him to go to your place, at least until spring, when I hope to have three or four young gentlemen for ordination from Emmitsburg. I expect the Bishop's answer after a few days. I have had a letter today from some Reverend Gentleman of the name of Opperman, who has been officiating, he tells me, in that district.6 I never heard the name of this clergyman before.
I feel very anxious to have those Missions supplied, and shall take care to send you the first clergyman of worth that presents himself to me.
I am thankful for the kindly feelings of your family towards me as expressed in your letter. To your respected lady and to each member of your worthy family please present me cordially
e Charles Oppermann was born in Duderstadt, Hanover, Germany, in 1808. After his preparatory studies in Germany he went to St. Sulpice, Paris, France, to study theology. He was a highly educated young man. He spoke French as fluently as his own mother tongue. In Paris he answered Vincennes' call for German priests and crossed over to America in 1840, coming directly to St. Gabriel's College, Vincennes, where he fin- ished his studies. Tonsure and minor orders had been received in Paris. He was ordained subdeacon on June 5, deacon on August 15, and priest on September 12, 1841, by Bishop de la Hailandiere at Vincennes. On a special invitation from Father Kundek he celebrated his first Mass at Jasper, Indiana, on September 19, 1841. The pastor of Jasper retained the young priest as a helper on his many missions for several months, but shortly before Christmas Father Opperman was called to take care of the German parishioners of St. Francis Xavier's, Vincennes.
Oldenburg, Lanesville, New Albany, Dover, and Union County, Ken- tucky, witnessed the fruitful labors of this intrepid toiler in the Master's vineyard. He fell ill in the spring of 1849 and went south to New Orleans where he died six months later on September 10.
356 DOCUMENTS
and affectionately, also to Mr. Thomas, if you please, for whom I entertain a warm regard and please accept for yourself the assurance of the
Sincere esteem and respectful regards of Yours devotedly in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet
Ste. Marie, 111.
IV
Chicago, Illinois February 7, 1845 My dear Mr. Picquet :-
On opening The Catholic Herald of the 23rd., Ult., which I have received this morning, the melancholy announcement of your bereavement met my eye.7 Had I known the amiable soul that is already called to enjoy forever the bright scenes above I could not have felt more pained at the separation — for it is pain- ful for flesh and blood to lose sight, even for a while, of those we love and cherish — and although we indulge the hope, nay feel the conviction that their condition is bettered, and that they will rejoice to welcome us soon to the participation of that felicity in which we believe, but which they experience. Still do we mourn their absence. I need not tell you how much I sympathise with you and the other members of your respected family. What I most regret, is that I could not have been with you at this trying moment. Indeed, had I anticipated that you would be afflicted I would have travelled night and day to lend my feeble aid to afford you the least consolation. All I can say now, is, Thy Will, O Lord be done!
Altho' I have no doubt but the sweet canticle of praise, in honor of the saints that sitteth on the Throne, and liveth forever and ever, are at this moment chanted by the one, whose sudden departure from among us still wrings our hearts with sorrow and bedews our cheeks with tears, still there is a consolation in offering up the Immaculate Victim, in expiation of the least stain of imperfection that might not be atoned. If all be pure and the fortunate soul has reached everlasting glory — may we not fancy, we hear that sweet voice swelling the chorus with thousands of
7 A Catholic newspaper published in Philadelphia. Its first number appeared in 1833. This paper continued until 1856 when it was consolidated with another Catholic journal, the Visitor.
DOCUMENTS 357
others, of the angelic choir, of GlorQ be to God in the Highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna.
Altho' I shall often make a memento, yet on the 26th of this month, at 7:00 a. m., I shall offer up the Divine Mysteries — the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. You and your family may then unite in prayer.
It pains me very much not to have been able to send you a clergyman before this. It was not my fault. I had no one to send. I expect some young men for ordination next spring and then, you shall have a priest permanently.
Please present my respectful regards to each member of your family. That I condole with you, deeply, and sincerely, as I would with a brother, I am sure you are aware — that I shall pray to our Heavenly Father to grant you patience to bear your cross with a proper spirit and to submit patiently to whatever trials it may please Divine Providence to send you and this one especially, I need hardly assure you.
Respectfully and affectionately, Yours in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet
Ste. Marie, 111.
V
Galena, Illinois November 18, 1845
Dear and respected friend :-
Your kind letter addressed to me at Chicago was duly re- ceived. I have been much engaged for the last two months in visiting this northern section of the diocese, where Catholicity is springing up very fast and where new churches are being built in various settlements, whilst new congregations are form- ing and crying aloud for priests. In attending to the spiritual wants of those poor people, I have been obliged to neglect my correspondents, and in visiting carefully this portion of the flock I have as yet, apparently neglected other portions equally be- loved if not more so, and equally dear to my heart.
If Providence gives me health and strength, I hope soon to be able to visit every congregation in the diocese, and allow me to assure you that you would not have been so long neglected were it not for the important undertaking, a new ecclesiastical
358 DOCUMENTS
seminary, that I have had in hands. Although I was not present with you, you are aware I did not lose sight of you, and en- deavored to secure for your place, the services of that pious clergyman, that you had in some of your former letters spoken of so favorably. 1 feel very grateful to those gentlemen of the College at Vincennes for visiting you so regularly. The proposi- tion made by the Superior as well as by yourself shall receive my earnest consideration. It is my desire to do what I can for the best interests of religion throughout the diocese but upon all matters of this nature I require time for prayer and reflec- tion. Please present my respectful regards to each member of your family and also to my friend Mr. Thomas, when you see him and believe me to remain with the warmest feelings of affection,
Sincerely yours in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet
Ste. Marie, 111.
VI
Chicago, Illinois March, 1846
Dear and respected friend :-
Your esteemed letter of the 24th., Ult., was duly received. Three or four times during the winter did I make preparations to set out for your settlement and was as often disappointed, either by the badness of the weather or urgent calls of a busi- ness nature here, that could not be put off. I wrote to the Bishop of Vincennes, that I was going, but the affairs of the new college and seminary of the diocese which were then in a critical way detained me here in spite of my best efforts and intentions. You will be pleased to hear that our new diocesan seminary is ready for the plasterers and will be finished in one or two months. I had much to regulate here — many things to set in order. Being the See, it was all important that order and regularity prevail as soon as possible, and that Institution be founded whence could flow to the diocese at large all religious blessings. And whilst these matters were in active progress of arrangement I could not give to the other parts of the diocese as much of my presence as I could desire, altho' my attention was directed to every section — neither would a flying visit of my
DOCUMENTS 359
own be so profitable as to have clergymen to station where there were none, and where they were much needed. Henceforth I hope to be able to do more and with permanency for the mis- sions. I have not been idle since I came. I worked as hard as I could and yours is the only section of the diocese that I have not visited, but I knew the Bishop of Vincennes would not leave you forsaken until I could come to your relief.
I have no objection to the Eudists8 taking charge of the con- gregation in your settlement, but as I am not acquainted with the nature of their obligations as Religious I must inquire be- fore I would induct them canonically into the diocese. I thought I would wait until I saw the Superior and then make inquiries of him. I hope they will continue to attend to your spiritual wants meanwhile, and when we have some correspondence with each other, we may adjust matters to their satisfaction and the religious benefit of your settlement. I will do all I can for you Mr. Picquet, rest assured of it. Beg the Superior to write to me. He and any priest he sends will have all the faculties enjoyed by any other priest of the diocese. It is now so near Easter I fear I will not have the pleasure of seeing you until I return from the Council. Your Settlement is the first I will then visit. I hope to be with you in June. That is not long — so be not uneasy. I know nothing of the rumors you heard and to which you allude regarding a division. It may take place hereafter, but perhaps not as soon as you intimate. I think you will be mine yet a while. I thank you very much for your polite offer to me with your carriage. I shall avail myself of your kindness after a little while. Present me affectionately and respectfully to every member of your family and to my respected friend, Mr. Thomas, when you see him, and pray for
Yours devotedly in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, 111.
s An ecclesiastical society founded at Caen, France, on March 25, 1643, by St. Jean Eudes. The principal works of the society are the education of priests in seminaries and the giving of missions. A colony of Eudists came to America for the diocese of Vincennes, in 1836. After spending one year in educational institutions in Maryland they arrived at Vincennes and took charge of the new St. Gabriel's College in that town.
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VII
Chicago, Illinois June 7, 1846 Dear and respected Sir:-
Had I taken the advice of the Bishop of Vincennes I would have visited you on my way home from the Council, but I feared to do so lest engagements that I had made here before my de- parture might be interfered with, and to the prejudice of re- ligion. I have heard from Reverend Mr. Hamilton how matters are in that section of the diocese, and I have already sent a priest who will attend to St. Francisville, Coffee, and Mt. Carmel, and who will reach his destination in a few days. Your Settle- ment I have not lost sight of. When at Buffalo I had a conver- sation with the Reverend Mr. Bayard, who stated that some clergymen (Benedictines) were anxious to make a foundation in this diocese.9 I spoke of your place, and he thought they would be pleased to settle there, if sufficient encouragement were held out. Will you, dear sir, be so kind as to inform me how much land you felt disposed to give to a religious order, and also what other grants of money or materials for building etc. These particulars I wish to communicate to the Reverend Mr. Bayard, who will write, when he receives them, to the Principal of the Order — and who has already consulted him about the removal of these clergymen to this country — or if it were convenient you might address a few lines to Reverend Mr. Bayard, Ste. Mary's Church, Buffalo.
I should be very happy could you induce the Very Reverend Mr. Hamilton to remain with you for some time. I have assigned him another Mission but I know yours is most in need at pres- ent; therefore, he would have my full permission to remain there.
When in conversation with the Bishop of Vincennes he re- quested that I write to Mr. Thomas to make out the deeds of such church property as is by him (the Bishop of Vincennes) to be transferred to me. Will you kindly at your convenience ask of Mr. Thomas to please make them out agreeably to the act past by the Legislature of this State in favor of the Bishop of
9 A colony of Benedictines who had contemplated coming to Sainte Marie arrived in this country from Einsiedeln, Switzerland, under Abbot Wimmer as their leader. Upon arriving at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bishop O'Connor kept them in his diocese, placing them at St. Vincent, Pennsylvania.
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the diocese holding property in trust for Religious Societies, etc., except the Deed of the lot upon which my own house stands, that I would retain as personal property for the present, owing to certain circumstances that I may explain to you hereafter.
If V. Reverend Mr. Hamilton be still in your section of the country he would attend to those matters and save you the trouble. I hope you will pardon the liberty I take in writing to you on these matters. I would not presume were I not already aware of your kindness to me — together with that, I hope Mr. Hamilton may be still in your neighborhood and he will attend to all. Altho' he wrote me he did not tell me when a letter would reach him. Let me then beg of you one favor more and that is to request of V. Reverend Mr. Hamilton to make a thorough visitation of that section of the diocese before he leaves, and write to me all the particulars — this would save me a long jour- ney at present, especially as there are no children to be Con- firmed.
Please present me most respectfully to each member of your family and believe me,
Your attached friend in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esq.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
vin
Chicago, Illinois July 13, 1846 Dear and respected friend :-
Together with this will be deposited in the post office today, a letter for Reverend Mr. Bayard of Buffalo. I have extracted from your letter those paragraphs that specify the amount of the donation you are willing to bestow on a religious community, together with the conditions subject to which such donation would be made, and sent them to the Reverend Gentleman for his consideration. I accompanied them not with comment, as I wish to have his opinion who himself belongs to a religious com- munity. To avoid the difficulties to which you allude in your letter, it is no doubt necessary to proceed with just prudence and caution in this matter, therefore, I shall not speak further on the affair until I hear from Rev. Mr. Bayard — but you will at the same time be assured of my most anxious wish to do whatever
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I think will advance the interest of our holy religion in all parts of the diocese and especially do I feel inclined to second your pious wishes to the full extent of my ability.
You cannot, dear sir, feel more anxious for a visit from your Bishop, than he is desirous of paying it — but the good of re- ligion, at least in his humble opinion, obliged him to forego a pleasure, and defer a duty for a while, and entrust the visiting of a portion of his diocese to his Vicar General, whilst he gave his care to the forwarding of an Institution upon which the future hopes of the diocese mainly rest, and without which the field of the Church here must necessarily be left an uncultivated waste. The seminary is now built and already inhabited. The diocese has at length an ecclesiastical seminary, thank God, and by and by you will see me, I trust, free from apprehension lest the work should be discontinued, ready to pass whole days in your agreeable society and under your hospitable roof. I must however defer my visit South until the oppressive heat moder- ates, for altho' I am pretty much fire proof, yet I don't relish being scorched too much.
I thank you kindly for your prompt attention to that part of my letter which related to the Deeds of the Church property. I have written to the V. Reverend Mr. Hamilton requesting him to remain with you. I hope he will consent.
With best wishes for the health and happiness of yourself and each member of your respected family, I have the honor to remain,
Your obedient servant in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esq.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
IX
Chicago, Illinois August 1, 1846 My dear friend :-
I am just in receipt of a letter from Reverend Mr. Hamilton, telling me that he is appointed pastor of a church in St. Louis. At your request and his own [Ms.?] I had given him an ap- pointment to your Settlement. Whereas he will not content him- self in this poor diocese, we must still not lose courage, but en- deavor to get some one to fill his place at Ste. Marie. I will
DOCUMENTS 363
appoint another then, after two or three weeks and hereafter I trust you shall not have cause to complain of being forgotten or neglected.
I take leave to send you a view of our new University erected during the present year. I may say I shall be down towards the close of September or the beginning of October. My re- spectful regards to each member of your family. Do pray for, Your devoted friend and bishop,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
X
Chicago, Illinois November 22, 1846 My dear friend :-
I avail myself of the first moment of leisure since my return, to make my most grateful acknowledgements to you — to your honored parents — and to your amiable sisters, for the kind at- tentions I received from all during my most agreeable and happy visit to Ste. Marie. The few days I spent in the society of your esteemed family are a sunny spot in my life, to which the mind will often revert with pleasure.
You know my warm attachment for yourself. Assure your parents and sisters that prayers shall be offered up for their temporal and eternal happiness.
The polite attentions of those gentlemen that escorted me to your Settlement, and again accompanied us on the morning of our departure, are also remembered by me with much gratitude.
I have not since heard from the Lazarists. I hope you have come to some terms favorable to your pious views. We have had yesterday in our Cathedral the solemn profession of a nun. The church was crowded to overflowing and chiefly by Protes- tants. All the wealth, intelligence and respectability of the city was there fairly represented. The grandeur of our Catholic ceremonial was displayed to full perfection and fully sustained itself. All departed when the profession was over — struck, awed, and favorably impressed. Oh! how sublime is our holy Religion! What resources has she always at her command! All others, cold, lifeless — She full of dignity, of grandeur, of sublimity — of life — of soul!
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Tell Miss Mary, if you please, we have a delightful little room, or what nuns call a cell in reserve for her when she has fully made up her mind. Misses Matilda and Amelia are not forgotten either. How is Reverend Mr. Griffin ? Please remem- ber me to him affectionately and accept the assurance of the unaltered regard of
Your devoted friend in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago P. S. Please ask your pious Father and Mother to pray for me and the diocese under my charge. Kind regards to Rev. Mr. Vabret. To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, HI.
XI
Chicago, Illinois March 18, 1847 Dear Sir:-
Your kind and welcome letter was received yesterday. I hasten to acknowledge it lest the pressure of duties incident to the approaching last week of Lent might prevent my doing so for some time. I am happy to learn from you that religious matters look well and are prosperous at Ste. Marie. It is indeed consoling to hear such good news, but I have little fears for Ste. Marie. The Patroness you have chosen will not cease to watch over you and intercede for you, and happily you of her can have the proper sentiments and right devotion. Ste. Marie is a select spot, and selected, too, are those who have settled there. May you prosper, is my earnest prayer.
It gratifies me also to learn, you may be sure, that I was not deceived in my estimate of the piety and strict devotion to his duty of Reverend Mr. Griffith, but as I promised to give him another Mission after some time I do not wish to violate my promise or disappoint his expectations, so I have just written him to come to the Retreat and come prepared not to return. I intend sending in his place a young clergyman who is very familiar with the French language and who may be more useful at Ste. Marie amongst the great bulk of settlers than Reverend Mr. Griffith could be, owing to his deficiency in that language. Now you see I am determined, God willing, that you shall not be strangers to my care any longer.
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You say that you will visit St. Louis in April. Can you not extend your journey a little farther and come and see us in Chicago? The clergy will be all assembled for Retreat — the Jubliee will be opened for them and the week following for the laity, and you will have a week or two of spiritual and religious enjoyment the equal of which you may not have enjoyed since you left Europe. I should be also delighted to see your Ven- erable and honored Father and Mother. You might bring one or both of them along. It would refresh them and make them feel youthful again.
I hope you will accept this invitation both for yourself and parents. Your Father, if he comes will take his apartments next to my own — your Mother with the Sisters of Mercy. Your own self amongst the clergy. Now you see I have it all fixed. So don't disappoint me for this is not a mere matter of form invitation. I give none such. I know a religious festival such as we hope to have here for two weeks would rejoice the hearts of your pious and worthy parents and I would be most anxious that they be with us. The journey can be easily performed for the navigation is now open. You must come by all means. Let not your excellent sisters imagine I overlook them, by no means. I shall be happy to see them, they may be assured, at any time, but it might be supposed if I invited them too at this time, happy as I would be to see them, I was not in earnest. Your parents I do want to see at this Retreat.
Accept the assurance of the sincere regard of, Your devoted friend in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
xn
Chicago, Illinois September 8, 1847 Dear and respected friend :-
This will be handed you by the Rev. Mr. Plathe whom I have appointed your pastor at least for some time. I am certain you will be pleased with him, for he is both pious and zealous, and capable of doing much good on the Missions. I recall the Rev- erend Mr. Sheaf er [Schaeffer] here. It may not be long until I have the pleasure of visiting again your Settlement and of en-
366 DOCUMENTS
joying for a time the delightful society of your excellent family, to each member of which I beg a kind and respectful remem- brance, especially to your honored Parents.
Pray my dear sir for this diocese and for him who has the pleasure to subscribe himself,
Your friend in Xto.,
William, Bishop of Chicago P. S. I send this by post that it may reach you sooner than the
arrival of Reverend Mr. Plathe. To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
XIII
Chicago, Illinois December 6, 1847 Dear Sir:-
Your kind and welcome letter is this day received. It is long since I have had the pleasure of a line from you, altho' I desired it much. My disappointment was indeed great not to be present at the consecration of Doctor Bazin, but it was not my fault.10 So close to Vincennes and yet unable to reach there. At Paris, almost in view of Ste. Marie, and of my dear and respected friends, and not able to exchange with them one word of salu- tation or of friendship. Was it not provoking? But I took it that it was the Will of God and that his Providence had regard to some poor soul that might have been benefitted that Sunday, and I, altho' unworthy, was to be his happy instrument. May it not have been so ? For how unsearchable are the ways of God ! At Vincennes I would have had the pleasure — at Paris the poor souls that assembled there enjoyed to all appearance this dis- appointment of mine and seemed happy. I must reserve the details of that half week's adventure, if I may use the expres- sion, for some fine evening when I have the pleasure, next spring,
io John Stephen Bazin, third Bishop of Vincennes, was born in 1796, in the diocese of Lyons, France, where he entered the priesthood. In 1830 he came as a missionary to the diocese of Mobile, where for a period of seven- teen years he labored with great zeal and devotedness for the Church in the city of Mobile. He was Vicar General to Bishop Portier. Upon the recommendation of the sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore, he was ap- pointed Bishop of Vincennes. His consecration took place in the Cathedral of Vincennes, on October 24, 1847, Bishop Portier being the consecrator. In the Providence of God he was almost immediately stricken down and expired on April 23, 1848.
DOCUMENTS 367
to be surrounded by my revered friends at Ste. Marie and then I shall narrate all.
I am happy to learn from your letter that you are so much pleased with the Reverend Mr. Plathe. The Reverend Mr. Sheaf er [Schaeffer] is well and when I see him I shall present him your compliments as you desire. When are we to hope for that long promised visit? You may be sure that you will be welcome.
To each and every one, especially to your honored parents do I desire a kind and affectionate remembrance — whilst I re- main as ever,
Yours most devotedly,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
XIV
Chicago, Illinois December 8, 1847 My dear Mr. Picquet :-
* I have just received your kind letter postmarked Vincennes, December 1. How very kind of you to translate that false letter. The origin of Reverend Mr. Plathe's difficulty here was his having denounced a man of the name of Bumgarter from the altar, on Sunday, in his church. I reproved him and he acknowl- edged his error. But then came his persecution. I can call it by no other name, because, altho' I sat patiently (?) seven days, to hear witnesses and their accusations against him, nothing appeared in evidence to cause me even to reprove him. That affair to which allusion is made in the letter you translated was the burden of all. But no proof — all hearsay, suspicion, etc., etc. ! ! ! I told them I would not send him from his congregation as there was no proof of guilt. Then the few that were against him became desperate, Divusy [Diversey?] especially! Oh! it was soul harrassing to me. He, Plathe, asked to go. I gave him leave for they would not pay him. Yet the majority of the con- gregation were petitioning me in his behalf. He did not leave stealthily or by night fearing any consequence. The stage starts and he might have left before day. We apprehended nothing of what is in that letter intimated. I rather think the writer has transferred his own fears to another.
368 DOCUMENTS
Divusy has just left me, after making complaints against poor Reverend Mr. Sheafer too. I fear I shall not be able to keep any priest with these unfortunate people. The priest will fear for their character, to approach them. There is some evil spirit at work, I fear in the mind of that man. May God convert him. I shall have to send Reverend Mr. Sheafer off now. Divusy says, and he is the leader of a faction, they will not have him.
I had a letter from Reverend Mr. Plathe asking his letters. I take leave to enclose them herein. I suppose since those rumors have gone abroad his usefulness in this diocese is de- stroyed— be he innocent or not.
I lose not a moment in answering your kind letter so I can scarcely tell what I have written so hastily have I written, but I hope it will satisfy you that I did not send you a priest, sup- posing him guilty of any faults of a base or material nature — no I sent him because I believed him innocent and to protect his character if I could.
My most respectful regards to all your family and believe me, Yours sincerely and devotedly,
William, Bishop of Chicago To
Mr. Joseph Picquet, Esqr.
Ste. Marie, Illinois
NEWS AND COMMENTS
The sketch of the Venerable Padre Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus (1657-1726) in the current issue of Mid- America brings to the notice of its readers one of the most appealing figures in the history of Catholic missionary enterprise within the present limits of the United States. Franciscan missionary zeal was conspicuously instrumental in planting the first seeds of Ca- tholicism in the old Spanish Southwest and the record of its activities may well become one of the most inspiring chapters in history. The significance of the achievement, the appalling hardships under which it was carried through, the notable re- sults in which it issued, are all gathered up and reproduced in the career of the holy Franciscan friar, Antonio Margil, already declared Venerable by the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XVI, and, it is hoped, to be raised in no long time by the Holy See to the ranks of the Blessed. It is to interest Catholics in the cause of the beatification of the Venerable Margil and to engage their prayers for its promotion, that Dr. Forrestal has compiled his splendid sketch, which, subsequently to its appearance in Mid- America, will be given additional publicity through the pious enterprise of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Com- mission. May the cause of the Venerable Margil meet with every success and the Catholics of the United States be privi- leged soon to invoke and honor as thdr intercessor in heaven this glorious figure of an ideal missionary who lived and labored for a span within the limits of the country that we call our own.
The initial issue of the Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu, a review devoted to the history of the Society of Jesus, made its appearance January 20, 1932. It is published in Rome under the editorial management of Father Peter Leturia, S. J., with whom are associated as cooperators eminent Jesuit historians of vari- ous lands. Contributions from non-Jesuit writers will be ad- mitted. Writers will be free to use Latin, English, French, Ger- man, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. The contents of the re- view will range over a great variety of topics including the con- stitutional history of the Jesuit Order, its activities in the de- fense and propagation of the Faith, its works on behalf of souls, its endeavors in the fields of education and science, its relations with governments, peoples, etc. As regards manner of pre-
369
370 NEWS AND COMMENTS
sentation the review will endeavor to avoid polemics, restricting itself to publication of original sources with objective evaluation of the same. Five sections are contemplated : scientific articles, unpublished and not easily accessible sources, shorter contribu- tions and texts, bibliographical surveys, and finally a chronicle of persons and things. The review will appear twice a year, in January and September. For libraries, universities, colleges, historical periodicals, as also for students and investigators in- terested in the important field to be covered, it promises to be of the utmost utility and value. It may be noted that the June, 1932, issue of the Archivum will contain an exhaustive bibli- ography of the recent literature on Jesuit missions in the Amer- icas.
The price of subscription (outside of Italy) is thirty lire the year; for the single issue, eighteen lire. Subscriptions and all other communications to the review should be addressed to the "Sign. Dirretore Arch. Hist. S. I., Borgo S. Spirito 5, Roma, (113) Italy."
Interest in the frontier chapter of American history is peren- nial. The circumstance is impressed on us anew by the an- nouncement of the impending publication of two important doc- umentary series. One of the two, Narratives of the Trans- Mississippi Frontier, will comprise reprints of Western Amer- icana, most of them journals and books of travel of the frontier period. The other, Overland to the Pacific, a Documentary and Narrative History of the Great West, 1819-1869, will be pub- lished by the Stewart commission of Colorado College under the editorship of the well-known specialist in western history, Archer Butler Hulbert. Part first of this elaborate series will bear the title, The Crusaders of the Northwest, and will run to eight volumes, with index. The material to be reproduced in these eight volumes would cost today at rare book prices, so it has been estimated, over forty-six thousand dollars. As show- ing the interesting new documentary material to be made avail- able in the Crusaders of the Northwest, the three hundred docu- ments never printed before will include Samuel Parker's report to the American Board after his tour of 1835 in which the state- ment is made that the "wise men from the West" went to St.
NEWS AND COMMENTS 371
Louis in 1831 not for the "white man's book but merely out of curiosity," a very significant statement omitted from Parker's published Journal. Again, "here are documents to prove that Doctor Whitman rode east in 1843 neither to seek political in- fluence nor merely to save his mission but rather to overcome Father DeSmet's propaganda at home and abroad."
The recently published report (1930-1931) of Doctor Jame- son, Chief of the Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress, on the European Historical Commission now engaged in secur- ing photographic reproductions of manuscript material in Euro- pean libraries bearing on American history, is replete with in- terest. As a result of the activity of the commission over a hun- dred thousand documents are being annually added to the Li- brary's great fund of unpublished papers. The reproductions received during the twelve months ending June 30, 1931, amount to 48,333 from Great Britain, 66,659 from France, 79,237 from Spain, 81,231 from Germany, 9,823 from Austria, 3,378 from Canada, and 32,113 from Mexico and 2,863 from elsewhere, al- most all these last from places in the United States. The total is 323,637. As accessions of this type of documentary papers have been in progress for a few years, a vast amount of his- torical material has so far been accumulated. The value of this material for the purposes of students, investigators and writers in the field of American history is inestimable. To illustrate, the diplomatic history of the American Revolution as regards France and the United States has still to be written with ade- quacy in view of the mass of pertinent and hitherto unutilized data which are now being brought within reach in the Library of Congress. To the distinguished doyen of American historical scholars, Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, under whose uniquely com- petent direction this great project is being carried forward, all students in the field of American colonial history will find them- selves in lasting debt.
Baron Marc de Villiers, eminent living specialist in the field of Mississippi Valley history of the French period, has recently given to the public a notable study, L'Expedition de Cavelier De La Salle dans Le Golfe Du Mexique (168If-1687) (Maisonneuve,
372 NEWS AND COMMENTS
Paris, 1931). This is a fresh treatment based partly on unpub- lished material of the final chapter in La Salle's kaleidoscopic career, his last expedition to the Gulf Coast, which ended in disaster and cost him his life. De Villiers's attitude towards the great explorer is a critical one, an effort being made to in- terpret the motives that lay behind his often mystifying activ- ities. At the same time La Salle's enemies, real or supposed, receive more sympathetic treatment than is generally accorded them in the books. That La Salle was of unsound mind has sometimes been asserted. Jacks in his recent biography of the explorer endeavors to refute the charge. De Villiers's comments on the subject are interesting:
On his return to France in 1684 the unfortunate LaSalle, whose mental tendency to ideas of persecution or grandeur, or what doctors call tabula- tion continued to aggravate, seems to have acted often like a somnambulist who, believing himself to be walking on level ground, runs along the edges of a precipice and finally loses his equilibrium. Instead of seeking, as all French historians have done, to deny his mental disturbances during his last campaign, and they are incontestable, one must on the contrary not ignore them, were it only to be able to plead subsequently the partial irresponsibility of the unfortunate explorer.
To our mind LaSalle was not always completely responsible for his acts and we have asked Dr. Legriffe, an alienist, well known for his ven- tures into the field of historical research, for his opinion on LaSalle's men- tal state. "It cannot be said," he answered, "that LaSalle became insane or out of his mind. He was at the end of his career merely the exaggera- tion of what he always had been, a suspicious, proud, domineering, and self-centered individual; from this to bad faith there is only one step. He was what we call a paranoic, otherwise described as an individual whose judgment and reasoning powers, and, what issues from them, morality, have been faulty from the start. The proof of all this is that his brother, without having the undeniable qualities of the explorer, presents the same family defects. . . . Had he remained in France, LaSalle would probably enough have ended his days in some house of detention; but he went abroad . . . like so many other ill-poised characters he passed through adventures in far off lands, and rendered great services to France ... to his own misfortune he ventured on undertakings which a well balanced mind would never have attempted.
Professor Arthur Barnaby Thomas of the University of Oklahoma, whose Forgotten Frontiers is reviewed in the present issue of Mid-America, has been engaged for some years in the study of that particular sector of the eighteenth-century Span- ish borderlands which represents the thrust of exploration and
NEWS AND COMMENTS 373
settlement north of Mexico in the direction of the Missouri Val- ley. His attitude towards Spanish colonial achievement in the American Southwest is one of intelligent and just apprecia- tion. Read, for example, this pregnant passage from his re- cently issued book : "Spain's North American frontiers are for- gotten frontiers. The sweep of the Anglo-Saxon has blurred their silhouette and fathered the illusion that western history runs only with the nineteenth century. This delightfully simple legend summed up in the 'Westward Movement' is unjust. In- dian civilizations, submerged in the glorification of the pioneer, project their significance. The shambles of extermination graced the Nordic westward-ho. No such imprint mars the scutcheon of Spain in the West. There the Indian bears the mark" (p. 83) .
BOOK REVIEWS
Missions and Missionaries of California. By Fr. Zephyrin En- gelhardt, O. F. M. Vol. II, Upper California. Second Re- vised Edition. Mission Santa Barbara, Calif.
This is one of the most valuable contributions to regional American history published in recent years. It is time the debt the people of the United States owe the religious orders of the Catholic Church be repaid, at least in recognition and apprecia- tion. If the writings of the early missionaries had not been carefully preserved in the archives of their monasteries, our knowledge of the history of this country during the one hundred and fifty years after the discovery would be as incomplete as is our knowledge of English history from the departure of the Romans to the coming of Augustine. The missionaries were educated and observant men. Naturally they were interested in the beliefs, customs, habits and all else that were peculiar to the strange people in this strange land. Along with their natural curiosity they had also a purpose in coming here that made them look upon the savage from a view point entirely different from that of all other observers. Neither their curiosity nor their interest was casual. In the charters granted the Spanish ad- venturers in South America and the Puritan adventurers of New England it was expressly stipulated that one of the reasons for the grants by the Crown was the royal wish that the natives be converted to the Christian religion. In New England the only serious attempt to carry out the king's command was that of John Elliot. As for the rest of the people the annual Indian hunt can hardly be looked upon as a Christian crusade for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ. In Mexico and South Amer- ica the work of Christianizing the savages was left to the mis- sionaries. And the missionaries did work for the Christianiza- tion of the natives. That was their primary purpose in coming here.
The missionaries wrote complete reports of their work. As historical documents these reports are of inestimable value. There was no thought in the minds of the writers that their narratives might enable them to advance to a high worldly posi- tion. They were contented in the position in which their superi- ors had placed them and their sole desire was the salvation of the souls of the savages around them. It was this that made
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their viewpoint as observers completely different from that of all secular observers. They studied the savage as a man, not as a draft animal nor as an enemy. And in the case of the Franciscans they were filled with a pity that was as poignant as that of St. Francis for the stricken people of Italy. Their reports, then, are real human documents.
This is very clearly seen in this second volume of the history of the California Missions by Father Engelhardt. The labor of compiling and arranging the documents and then writing an in- teresting and authoritative history was immense. Father En- gelhardt has the industry and possesses the qualifications requi- site for the production of a history based on sources. Unlike several recent source histories his work may be read by the general public as well as by the student of American origins. In this respect he has followed the best examples of historical writing. Perhaps one of the reasons for popular ignorance of our early history, and popular indifference also, is the deliberate refusal of historical scholars to attempt to make history inter- esting to the general reader. However, when we read authori- tative books like those of Mr. James T. Adams, and the very new Only Yesterday by Professor Allen, we may believe histori- cal scholars are again assuming the attitude of Thucydides, Lingard and Macauley.
It is impossible in a review to give an adequate idea of this great work. It contains an exhaustive history of the administra- tion of Father Junipero Serra, founder of the Californian Mis- sions, and of the administrations of Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen and Father Estevan Tapis. The period covered is between 1768 and 1812. The first mission in Upper California was established by Father Serra at San Diego. From there he and his companions advanced establishing missions all along the Californian coast. In chapters fifteen and sixteen Father Engel- hardt gives an interesting account of the work of the mission- aries. It should be remembered that the Indians of Upper Cali- fornia were very different from the Indians of the eastern part of the country. The habits of the Californians were scarcely above those of the lowest wild beasts. Father Engelhardt quotes Tuthill who said that "of all wretchedly and debased and utterly brutish beings the Indians of California were the farthest fallen below the average Indian type. They were neither brave nor bold, neither generous nor spirited. We hear of no orators
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among them, no bold braves terribly resenting and contesting the usurpations of the whites. They were 'Diggers,' filthy and cowardly succumbing without a blow to the rule of foreign mas- ters. They were as contemptible physically as intellectually, and evinced as little traces of conscience as of a reasoning faculty." To civilise these savages was a difficult task. The Franciscans attacked the problem methodically. They first endeavored to secure safety and tolerable comfort in material affairs for the savages. They taught them to build substantial dwellings, to use the plow, to crush their wheat and corn by means of water wheels, to do carpenter and mason work after the European fashion, to make soap, hats, and more suitable clothing than they were accustomed to wear. The old lessons of industry and thrift that had been successfully taught the barbarians of the sixth and seventh centuries by the great religious Order of that time were again taught the Californian savages with the in- evitable result that their whole attitude toward life was changed. Those lessons were reenforced by the spiritual and intellectual training of the Franciscans. The children were taught to read and write. And all were instructed carefully in the doctrines and practices of the Christian religion.
Father Font, an eye witness of the methods used by the mis- sionaries in converting the Indians, says: "The methods ob- served by the Fathers in the conversion of the Indians is to force no one to become a Christian. They admit only such as volun- tarily offer themselves. Then they instruct those who volun- tarily come, teach them how to bless themselves and all the rest that is necessary. If they persevere at the catechism for two or three months with the same determination and if they have ac- quired sufficient knowledge, then they are baptized." The mis- sionary then, continues Father Engelhardt, "had to explain all that had been learned by heart and the meaning of all that was observed at the divine services. One of the greatest obstacles was the multiciplicity of languages. Frequently the natives of the various villages on meeting at the missions could not under- stand one another." It was impossible for the missionaries to learn all the dialects, so a common language, Spanish, was intro- duced. Thus it was that the Castilian became the universal language of the Californian Indians. Interpreters were also used. Some of the Franciscans learned the Indian languages and taught the savages in their native idiom. The aesthetic faculty
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of the Indians was developed by decorating the walls and chapels of the churches and community houses with pictures of the Blessed Virgin, angels, and saints. Community singing was practiced. No work was performed on Simday. The Indians attended Mass in the morning, and in the afternoon were devo- tions consisting of the Rosary, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, and other prayers in Spanish. At San Diego and doubtless at other missions the Christmas season was joyously celebrated.
The History is illustrated with many reproductions of old maps and missionary scenes. The Appendix contains valuable notes on controverted subjects and a reproduction of the procla- mation of Governor Johnson declaring the two hundredth anni- versary of the birth of Junipero Serra a legal holiday. It would be unpardonable to neglect an expression of gratitude to the Very Reverend Novatus Benzing, Minister Provincial of the Province of Santa Barbara. Father Benzing, in the name of the Province, defrayed the entire cost of the publication of the second edition of the History of the Missions. The people of the United States are indebted to him for this generous and expen- sive act. The book should be in all libraries, and, we may add, in all American homes.
Eneas B. Goodwin, S. T. B., J. D.
Loyola University Chicago, HI.
Forogtten Frontiers: A Study of the Spanish Indian Policy of Don Juan Bautista De Anza, Governor of New Mexico, 1777- 1787, from the Original Documents in the Archives of Spain, Mexico and New Mexico. Translated, edited and annotated by Alfred Barnaby Thomas. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1932, pp. xviii+351, maps, $5.00.
In this work Professor Thomas has gathered together valu- able source materials relating principally to New Mexico. The author has selected six diaries and relevant correspondence con- taining much geographical and historical information. In addi- tion, the Description of New Mexico by Padre Juan Agustin de Morfi gives an account of the missions and pueblos, their loca- tion, their population, their growth or decline during the eighteenth century, and many other facts of great importance to the historian of the Spanish period.
The title chosen for the book is very appropriate, as the docu-
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ments here presented give us an insight into the difficulties that beset the Spanish government and its representatives during the critical times when the provinces along the frontier were very extensive and subject to attack by foreign powers, as well as by the depredations of the Apache and Comanche Indians, who were a constant menace to the Spanish territories of the South- west. Professor Thomas has taken great pains both in his preface and in his historical background to explain the scope of his inquiry, and has presented abundant data, carefully anno- tated, so that there is a clearer and better understanding of the problems of Governor Anza's rule in New Mexico during the last quarter of the century (1778-1787).
The author has made an excellent contribution to the history of New Mexico, and he has also furnished to the historians of the Southwest special information for a correct interpretation of these closing years of the Spanish power when the govern- ment was trying to ward off impending ruin. The chapter deal- ing with the Comanche problem gives the history of the invasion of these Indians from the beginning of the century. The incur- sions of the savages were very likely incited by the French from Louisiana, and the struggles that ensued along the entire frontier states kept armies always alert and active. Sometimes there were wars, and frequently there were attempts at conciliation, but even under the most favorable conditions there was never a feeling of security. This was also the situation when Anza be- came governor. His first expedition was against the Comanches in 1779, and he continued in his efforts to subdue these warlike savages until he was able to dictate the Peace of 1786. The story of all these conflicts is thus graphically summarized by the author: "The unwritten record of this heroic defense of New Mexico is limned with Spanish blood that alone saved the distinctive Pueblo Southwest and dulled the edge of surrounding savagery. Indians whose lush lands the English coveted have struck their tipis. Enchanted Zufii still warms the desert sky- line where the Spanish standard lifted."
The documents themselves, gathered from the Archivo Gen- eral de Indias of Seville, the Archivo General y Publico de la Nacion at Mexico City, and the Santa Fe Archives at the old Governor's Palace (New Mexico) , are well translated and reveal for the first time in English this golden treasury of historical materials. The hope is entertained that the same scholarly ef-
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fort will bring forth an additional wealth of source materials for the history of the Southwest.
Paul J. Foik, C. S. C., Ph. D. St. Edward's University Austin, Texas
A History of the Pacific Northwest. By George W. Fuller, Librarian, Spokane Public Library; Secretary, Eastern Wash- ington State Historical Society. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1931, pp. vii+383, $5.00.
The story of the Pacific Northwest, the land "Where rolls the Oregon and hears no Sound Save his own dashings," will forever form a fascinating chapter in our national history, and every contribution to our stock of information on this interest- ing subject must be welcomed by all. Mr. George W. Fuller's History of the Pacific Northwest is a more than ordinary con- tribution of this kind.
The author rightly stresses the fact that the Pacific North- west, the "Oregon Country" of old, is the only section added to the Union of States by discovery, exploration and occupation. ' The discovery made by Gray in 1792 established our claim to the drainage basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries, and Lewis and Clark first explored the region in 1805-1806. The Pacific Northwest is the only region on the North American continent jointly occupied by two nations, and the only terri- tory where a provisional government has existed, supported by citizens of both nations, fighting its own Indian war and carry- ing on governmental functions until Congress got around to organizing a Territory in 1848 and landing a governor at Oregon City in 1849.
After a well studied physical description of the country, the author contributes valuable information on the aborigines. Painstaking study has made him familiar with the customs, the mode of living, the social morality, the mythology and religious practices of the Red Man. The view that our Indians came originally from Asia by way of the Aleutian Islands will no doubt be accepted as a quite plausible explanation of their pres- ence in the country prior to the white man's arrival. Similarity of language between far northern tribes and natives in Arizona seems to lend considerable strength to that view.
The story of the first explorers by sea and by land is well
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told. When speaking of the efforts of the Spaniards at occupy- ing Nootka, the author might properly have made a reference to the first missionary endeavors by Franciscans at that place and on near by islands. In the Lewis and Clark expedition the strange guide Sacajawea, the Shoshone Indian woman, holds the reader's attention as much as, if not more than the two sturdy explorers themselves.
In the wake of the explorers we see the advance of the rival fur trading companies. The chronicle of their efforts at estab- lishing trading posts throughout the country, and of the final domination of the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade forms deeply interesting chapters. Its first chief trader, Dr. John McLoughlin, who for upwards of twenty years guided the des- tinies of his company in the Oregon Country, an uncrowned emperor in a vast wilderness, is given a becoming meed of rec- ognition for his unselfish devotion to his duty, his superior ability in dealing with the natives and his unstinted generosity to the early American settlers and missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant.
In dealing with the christianizing efforts of the Catholic and Protestant missionaries, our author rises above the average historian and tries to give true history. It may surprise many a reader to learn that the first seeds of Christianity in the Pacific Northwest were sown by laymen and not by priests or preachers. Mr. Fuller brings out this fact very clearly. It is refreshing to follow his narrative of the memorable Indian expedition from the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis in quest of Black Robes and not of the White Man's Book. "The Indian pilgrimage bore curious fruit. The appeal for Catholic missionaries was an- swered by the Methodists." Another historical error, "the Whit- man Saved Oregon" myth, our author disposes of in a simple and decided manner. Whitman's admirers claimed that he "saved Oregon." Oregon did not need any saving in the sense in which the Whitman admirers claim it was saved. "There was never any serious danger that the territory south of the Colum- bia would be lost to the United States. In 1842 the British were resting their claim only on that part of Oregon lying north of the river. The part of Oregon which was in danger, the north- ern part, was saved by diplomacy and the course of events."
In a one-volume history of the Oregon Country one can hard- ly expect a lengthy account of the missionary labors of the Cath-
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olic pioneers, secular priests, Oblates and Jesuits. We feel, how- ever, that the chapter on "Missionary Pioneers" is too meagre to allow the average reader to gain an adequate knowledge of the hardships of those pioneers and of the glorious results of their work. The conversion of the Rocky Mountain tribes and their subsequent religious way of living belong to the domain of general history fully as much as the barbarous customs of the Indians in earlier days. We regret also that our Catholic sister- hoods and their first educational endeavors did not secure the space to which their noble work entitled them.
Despite these deficiencies and some trifling inaccuracies this History of the Pacific Northwest is well worth reading and should find a place on the shelves of the historical sections of our libraries.
George F. Weibel, S. J.
Colville, Stevens Co., Wash.
Catholic Colonial Maryland. By Rev. Henry S. Spalding, S. J. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, pp. xv-f 243.
The Introduction to Catholic Colonial Maryland states that 'no attempt is being made to present "the complete history of Colonial Maryland"; rather insistence is to be laid on the "re- ligious phase of the subject" and the "lives of the colonists." Catholic Colonial Maryland is interesting reading. After a brief historical sketch of England in the sixteenth century, with par- ticular emphasis on religious matters, the author launches into his subject proper. The attempt to recreate the life of the people leads to the discussion of such a variety of topics as houses, household furnishings, chimneys, cooking, fruit trees, flowers, foods, hospitality, education, dances, slavery, the making of candles, soap, maple sugar and clothes. As a result of this vivid presentation we are enabled to recreate the atmosphere and con- ditions of those other days; the colonists live again. Not only can we follow them as they go about their daily tasks, but we are able to appreciate more fully the heroism of the days of persecution which followed upon the accession of William and Mary. Among other results of the administrations of Governors Nicholson, Seymour and Hart was the writing of a glorious chapter in the history of the commonwealth about the Ches- apeake.
But the high standard of the purely narrative parts of the
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volume is not sustained when the really difficult problems of the colony's history are dealt with. This is especially true of the discussion of such controverted points as the relations of the Jesuits to the proprietors, and the clash between Claiborne and the Calverts. This latter controversy was not so simple and one-sided as the handling of it seems to imply. Thus, for ex- ample, no mention is made of the facts vouched for by Channing (Vol. II, 256) on reliable evidence, that Claiborne had estab- lished a post on Kent Island at least by 1629, possibly as early as 1625, and that this settlement had sent a representative to the Virginia Assembly in 1631. Moreover, a letter from the Privy Council in England to the Virginia Assembly had given assurance that private rights were not to be affected by the grant to Lord Baltimore. If these be the facts it is impossible to dismiss the claims of Claiborne as "forced and inconsiderate." Claims such as Claiborne's were not invalidated because waste- lands and unoccupied territory abounded in the vicinity.
Statements of doubtful historical accuracy are to be found in several places. Thus, to cite an instance or two, it is by no means certain that the Franklin-Carroll mission to Canada in 1776 would have been a success even if the causes of failure mentioned on page 181 had been eliminated. For in any case the intense pro-British sympathies of Bishop Briand were a force to be reckoned with. Again, the most recent study of the Franco-American Alliance of 1778 comes to the conclusion that causes other than the influence of Charles Carroll were the factors which determined Louis XVI to come to the support of the American Colonies in their struggle with England.
It was inevitable that the motives of the Calverts in found- ing the colony of Maryland should come up for discussion. Ac- count is taken of the difficulty of defining "the principles which inspire any man's actions" in any given case, a difficulty en- hanced beyond measure when the individual in question lived in another age and under vastly different conditions. The limited character and number of documentary sources but add to the difficulty. But if human motives are always complex, is it not quite possible that each of "the extreme theories" mentioned on page 218 "may yet include a portion of it [the truth] ?" On that supposition it is arbitrary to assume that whosoever "as- sailed his motives" must have viewed them "through the dis- torting lenses of prejudice, bigotry, injustice, and resentment"
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(p. 216). The author would have strengthened his case very greatly by citing more recent students in support of his view. Because of the discoveries made since his death Orestes A. Brownson is not today an authority of great weight. In short, on the evidence presented it appears very hazardous to conclude that "the main purpose of the Lords Baltimore in founding Maryland was without doubt a religious one" (p. 221). More- over, one might well ask whether the policy of the Baltimores was determined by abstract devotion to principle, or whether it was not influenced to a considerable extent by conditions in England. Could Baltimore have adopted a less liberal policy and still secured a charter? Was not toleration of every Christian sect the minimum that would be allowed by a non-Catholic gov- ernment in exchange for the unhampered practice of Baltimore's religion, proscribed in the home land by so many statutes? Much of the legislation of the second Lord Baltimore shows rather conclusively that his liberalism was not without serious limitations.
Another inevitable subject was the right of Maryland to priority in establishing religious toleration. Here again one might observe that the writer who questions her claim is not of 'necessity her enemy as is stated on page 194, and that it is as- suming much to assert that religious liberty in Rhode Island "was the purest cant and insincerity."
A free and easy style makes Catholic Colonial Maryland pleasant reading. Anecdote and reminiscence add to the in- terest. The illustrations are well chosen. The table of contents and the summary at the beginning of each chapter are very commendable. Printing mistakes are few. In some few in- stances quotation marks have been omitted; at other times the absence of references leaves one in doubt as to the source of the quotation and hence its value as evidence is lessened. Catholic Colonial Maryland should be read by all who are interested in the lives of our forefathers and in the long struggle by which religious liberty was won.
Charles H. Metzger, S. J., Pk. D.
John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio
384 BOOK REVIEWS
Archaeological Atlas of Michigan. Prepared by the University Museums, University of Michigan, Wilbert B. Hinsdale, Editor. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1931, pp. 38, 20 maps, atlas folio. (Michigan Handbook Series, No. 4.)
This monumental work is destined without doubt to become the standard source of information upon the archaeological his- tory of Michigan, both prehistoric and Indian. The scope of the work is indicated by the headings of the chapters: Trails, Waterways and Portages, Mounds and Other Earthworks, Vil- lages and Camp Sites, Burying Grounds, Garden Beds, Mining, Cultural Features. The eye is at once attracted by the admir- able maps which accompany the descriptive letterpress, based, we are told, mostly upon the results of field surveys conducted by members of the staff of the University Museums, who visited every county in the state. A key-map shows the numbers of the archaeological maps upon which are traced cartographic symbols of great interest to the student. Preceding these de- tailed maps are two showing respectively "Indian villages of Michigan of which the names and locations [of 123] are known" and "Principal Indian portages."
Travel by Indian or trader was either by waterway or by trail; and one is surprised to see how systematic were these highways of communication. The authors say: "Trails hun- dreds of miles in length extended across the country and shorter ones connected places or haunts which the Indians habitually visited. These footpaths had been located with great sagacity and were usually the most feasible lines for tramping from place to place. . . . The first trade and commerce in Michigan by white men was with the Indians. The traders' stores, usually called trading posts, had no other object than to create among the tribes desires for European goods and to barter with the native hunters for furs. These posts were almost always situ- ated at the meeting or crossing of trails, generally upon some important water course."
The map given in the Atlas, on which are shown the water courses and portages on the various routes of travel across the present state of Michigan, presents these features with admir- able clearness. The voyager by canoe could cross the northern peninsula by three routes, two of which led to Green Bay. One could go from Lake Huron west across the state to Lake Michi-
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gan by three routes. The most southerly started from the head of Saginaw Bay, followed the Saginaw River to its confluence with the Shiawassee, thence by portage to streams that flowed into the Grand River leading to Lake Michigan. From the De- troit region the Clinton or the Huron rivers led to portages by which the Grand or the St. Joseph were reached, and so Lake Michigan. Nature provided what might be called a "grand cen- tral portage" in the southern portion of the state. The canoeist could paddle down the Raisin River to Lake Erie or follow the Grand to Lake Michigan; or he could ascend the Grand from the west and reach streams flowing into Lake Erie or into Lake St. Clair or into Lake Huron. The St. Joseph River led to Lake Michigan in one direction and to the Kankakee in the other. The Mississippi could be reached from southern Michigan either by the Kankakee to the Illinois; or by the St. Joseph of the Maumee to the Wabash. By either route he would at last glide out upon the Father of Waters.
Like the continental highways of our own day, there were great land trails leading from the shores of the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The "Great Trail," as it was called, tapped by its eastern branches the New England region, the shores of Dela- ware Bay and those of Chesapeake Bay. It connected with the Sauk or Chicago Trail by branches that passed around the west end of Lake Erie. Fifteen trails crossed what are now Canada, the country east of the Great Lakes, and the United States east of the Mississippi.
A list of sixty-two titles of books used in the preparation of the Archaeological Atlas is appended to it. Evidently the most careful methods of research and the best resources of typogra- phy have been expended in the preparation of this sumptuous volume. The example of Michigan is one to be recommended to other states, especially Wisconsin and Illinois, where remains and historic landmarks similar to those of Michigan should be described in the same fitting manner.
William Stetson Merrill, A. B.
Oak Park, 111.
The Fatal River: the Life and Death of La Salle. By Frances Gaither. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1931, pp. 303, $3.00.
One of the outstanding figures in that great epic of Mid-
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America, the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi River, is Robert Rene Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, whose successes and failures are described in Frances Gaither's The Fatal River. The story of La Salle is like a tragic drama, coming to a glorious climax with the discovery of the mouth of the great river. Then follow disaster, failure and the death of the intrepid explorer at the hands of his own men.
In the early part of the book there are two threads in the narrative. The first is concerned with the theories of many explorers in the New World. Columbus, Magellan, Balboa, Verrazano, Corte Real, Cartier, De Soto, Hudson, Champlain, Nicolet, Coronado, Marquette and Jolliet — whether seeking the route to Cathay, the Seven Cities of Gold, or the mysterious river called by the Indians Messi-Sipi or Mitchi-Sipi — each made important discoveries. It remained for La Salle to go down the river, which had been partly explored by Marquette and Jolliet, and from it to enter the Gulf of Mexico.
The second thread of the narrative is concerned with the early life of La Salle, his boyhood in Rouen, his withdrawal from the Jesuit order and his coming to New France, where he spent much time among the Indians. From them he heard rumors and legends of a mighty river which led him to devote his whole life to the exploration of the river, and to attempts to establish forts and colonies in its valley. With the beginning of his first trip into the wilderness the two threads are woven together, not to be severed but with the death of the intrepid explorer.
Many were the hardships La Salle suffered in his travels. Sometimes alone, sometimes surrounded by savage tribes, in the terrible heat of summer or the bitter cold of winter, slashing a path through the virgin forest, wading through deep snow or traversing flooded ravines, he never lost sight of his goal. The forces of nature were not the only ones arrayed against him. Mutiny of his followers; incompetence of subordinates; chicanery of politicians; loss of fortune by shipwreck, by treachery and by theft; all these he had to cope with. More- over, there were elements in his own nature that militated against success. With such notable exceptions as the faithful Henri de Tonty, Nika the Shawnee and a few others, he ruled by authority alone. The following excerpt from the book gives a graphic picture of the last march of La Salle, that fatal march during which he lost his life. "There they all were, marching
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along together, little boys set to keep pace with the lithe Indian hunter; the buccaneer, pistols at belt, marching alongside the f rocked Franciscan with his breviary in his sleeve; a merchant, a doctor, and a swaggering gallant, some of them hating each other, all without common denominator of body or spirit, with nothing to bind them together but the silent will inside the tall figure marching in the lead. They obeyed him, but of course they did not understand him, a proud, shy, utterly lonely man, inwardly lashed by furies of self-reproach for every mistake and failure of these two lamentable years — or three if you count from France — inwardly swearing there should be this time no turning back, as his great body crashed out for the rest of them a path toward his river."
There appear to have been several causes for La Salle's un- friendly attitude toward the Jesuits. The antagonism of his patron, Frontenac, to the Order must have had considerable influence. In the matter of the traffic in brandy with the In- dians, La Salle supported Frontenac in his dispute with the Bishop. Another possible reason for La Salle's unreasonable prejudice against the Jesuits is indicated in the following pas- sage: "Beneath the Jesuits' politeness to him personally lay, he could be certain, their knowledge of his past. How did they really feel toward him? He must have seen himself always a renegade in their eyes, must have believed [gratuitously, indeed] that in whatever he attempted they would wish him to fail, to be brought humble and repentant to his knees." If such were really La Salle's thoughts, his obsession may be readily under- stood.
There is quite an extensive bibliography at the end of the book, and it contains a number of maps illustrating the travels of various explorers of the Mississippi Valley, but the reader will notice the omission of an index.
Ethel Owen Merrill
Oak Park, 111.
Archives de la Province de Quebec, 1930-31. Pierre-Georges Roy (ed.). Redempti Paradis, Imprimeur de sa Majeste le Roi, pp. 508.
Le Vieux Quebec. Par Pierre-Georges Roy. Imprimerie le Quotidien, Levis, 1931, pp. 300.
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Les Petit es Choses de Notre Histoire. Par Pierre-Georges Roy. Imprimerie le Quotidien, Levis, 1931, pp. 304.
Beautifully printed and generously illustrated with portraits and photostatic copies, the report of the Archives of the Prov- ince of Quebec for 1930-1931 is another enviable contribution of the distinguished Canadian archivist. It comprises the cor- respondence of Talon, the first Intendant to Canada, an inven- tory, by the Abbe Ivanhoe Caron, of the letters of the Right Reverend Louis-Philippe Mariauchau d'Esgly, Jean-Frangois Hubert and Charles-Francois Bailly de Messein, and finally, a record, by Mr. E. Z. Massicotte, of the appointments of some French-Canadians who went west in search of adventure (En- gagements pour VOuest).
With eulogistic reference to Senator Chapais's standard book, Talon, Intendant de la Nouvelle-France, Mr. Pierre- Georges Roy gives as an introduction a brief outline of Talon's career. The letters reproduced occupy more than one-third of the report; they reveal the deep interest and patriotic insight of the great Intendant and bear witness to his influence upon the colonization, agriculture, industry and commerce of New France. Although France was then engaged in war on the Continent, the colony received 2516 settlers during Talon's ad- ministration. Historians interested in the colonial period of Canadian history will welcome the publication of the correspon- dence between Talon, Louis XIV and his minister Colbert.
The Abbe Ivanhoe Caron has done valuable work in prepar- ing the summary of the letters of the Bishops of Quebec for the years 1740-1791. Readers in Canadian history are well aware of the clergy's influence on the life of the French Canadians during the colonial days and under British rule. Ministering to the spiritual and temporal welfare of the settlers, the priests received guidance from their bishops. These in turn appealed to the civil authorities in England and several ecclesiastical dignitaries in Europe. Numerous requests were made to Mgr. Butler, Bishop of Cork, Ireland, and to the Abbe Hussey, Vicar General, London, to send Irish or English speaking priests to take charge of the rising English speaking Catholic settlements. Through Mgr. de Leonce of London, several French priests, driven out of France during the Revolutionary period, came to Canada and became engaged in educational and parochial work. Students in search of a topic for a doctoral dissertation will find
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a rich and interesting field of investigation in studying the re- lations between the ecclesiastical authorities in New France and the civil authorities in England or in writing the history of the Irish clergy in Canada.
Genealogists will consult with interest the third part of the report. Compiled by Mr. E. Z. Massicotte, the list of French Canadians who left their home, 1746-1752, in search of adven- ture and better welfare, answers a long-felt need. Some of these returned home, others died, some settled in the new country, others emigrated to the United States. This list will be com- pleted in the next report.
The report is ably edited; it is equipped with a table of con- tents, a table of portraits, and two indexes, general and geo- graphical. Although carefully prepared, these indexes would better serve their purpose if they were more analytical. The reviewer noted 93 numerical references to the name Talon ; such a lack of specification is a serious handicap to the hurried re- searcher.
In Le Vieux Quebec Mr. Pierre-Georges Roy has compiled a number of events relating to the social, political and ecclesias- tical history of Quebec city. Among other items discussed, we might mention the first census (by names) of Quebec, some of the conflagrations occurring during the French regime, Rear- admiral Jacques Bedout, the sword of Montgomery and the first English school in Quebec, which was opened in 1792. The author might have given some documentary information regarding the first French elementary school and the founding of the first college, which was to become Canada's oldest university. Some of these topics are important, others afford the reader whole- some and interesting pastime, e. g. the will of the Honorable Henry Caldwell.
Under the title Les Petites Choses de Notre Histoire are gathered incidents which happened during the French and the English regimes. As in the preceding volume, they are thrown together without any attempt at classification. There is no in- troduction and the style is too often marred by the numerous quotations from the archives of Quebec and Canada. These two volumes, however, will be of genuine value to college educators in interesting their students in the study of the petite patrie.
Paul A. Barrette, A. M.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
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The FraTwiscans in Nebraska and Historical Sketches of Mid- Nebraska. By Rev. Eugene Hagedom, O. F. M. The Hum- phrey Democrat, Nebraska; The Norfolk Daily News, Ne- braska, 1931.
This pioneer volume in the field of Nebraska church history was compiled for the occasion of the diamond jubilee of the city of Columbus, Nebraska. A preface by Francis Dischner, entitled "Historical Sketches of Mid-Nebraska," furnishes the general reader with a necessary background of local history. The author's "Miscellania" completes this background by weav- ing together family origins, early dangers and difficulties and pioneer reminiscences into local social history.
Part II, detailing the activities of the Franciscans in Ne- braska, is prefaced by a short history of the Franciscans from St. Francis to the missionary expedition of Fray Juan de Padilla into Quivira. Introductory to the main theme is a resume of "Catholicity in Nebraska, 1843-1931. The dominant features of the book are, first, a complete account of the Franciscan con- tribution to the upbuilding of Catholicity in Columbus, Platte County, and, secondly, a record of Franciscan labors in the State outside Columbus.
The treatment is by development of parishes. From humble beginnings, through the incumbencies of various pastors, a church grows out of the struggle. The part played by parochial schools is given due emphasis. In most cases the story is brought up-to-date.
The author makes a notable departure from his original theme, "The History of the Franciscans in Nebraska" and widens it into "A History of Franciscan Parishes in Nebraska." Unskillful piecing of fragments interferes with continuity of treatment and results in, at best, a profusely illustrated chroni- cle. There is no attempt at footnote citations, only an indefinite list of references, which are no guide to specific information. What is presented for an index is a table of contents. In the "History of St. Francis de Sales Church, Lincoln," no mention is made of the fact that Ursuline Sisters taught the parochial school in 1898 and were succeeded, in 1904, by the Franciscan Sisters from Lafayette, Indiana. However, the defects of the study are offset by its documentary value. Numerous letters and biographies are inserted often with acknowledgment to par- ish and diocesan records and archives. In view of the fact that
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so few sources are extant, and still fewer immediately acces- sible, the author deserves much credit for his industry and in- vestigation. In addition to its wide popular appeal, the volume places a vast amount of material at the disposal of searchers in problems of local Nebraska church history.
Mary Bernadette Reifert, O. S. U., A. B. Ursuline Convent of Divine Providence Falls City, Nebr.
A History of the Catholic Church. By the Rev. Fernand Mour- ret, S. S. Translated by the Rev. Newton Thompson, S. T. D. Volume I, Period of Expansion. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1931, $4.00.
Dr. Newton Thompson has already given us a translation of the fifth volume of Mourret, and this appearance of another volume gives proof of the active prosecution of his great task. Mourret's Histoire generate de VEglise is, beyond question, the most readable and reliable history of the Church that is at pres- ent available. The new Kirchengeschichte projected by Kirsch, and of which two parts are already in print, has, it must be con- fessed a greater show of erudition, but is far less attractive in its presentation of material. Dr. Thompson's own estimate of Mourret's work is set forth in a preface which notes its "wealth of detailed information . . . its more than passing mention (of) the causes, development, and consequences of the notable move- ments that have affected the Church," and which praises its author as "an eminent scholar whose talent combines tireless patience in research, sound historical judgment, facility in clear exposition, unswerving loyalty to ascertained truth, and a zeal for God's honor." With that estimate no reader either of the translation or of the original is likely to disagree.
The present volume covers the ground from the founding of the Church to the period of the Constantinian Peace. It describes the primitive Church and its first contact with the Greco-Roman world, the relations of the Church with the successive Emperors, peaceful or persecuting, the growth of the organization and liturgy of the Church, the vicissitudes of the Papacy in the face of perils in regard both to the primacy of jurisdiction and the presidency of the magisterium, and finally the flowering of Christian literature and sanctity of life.
Father Thompson has taken certain editorial liberties with
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the arrangements of the original text. The nineteen pages in the table des matieres have been curtailed into six. The change involved in placing this table of contents in the beginning rather than at the end of the book will, I think, be welcomed by most readers; but it may be questioned whether the abandonment of Mourret's detailed analysis does not involve a real loss. Mour- ret's marginal summary is completely neglected. Again the eleven pages devoted to a notice bibliographique at the begin- ning of the French appear in the translation as a bibliography without comment or criticism, printed at the end. For the most part the reference in the footnotes are given to the English translations, where this is possible, of the works mentioned in the original. The rule, however, is not universal. Thus Barden- hewer is referred to in the French translation, and Riviere's Propagation du Christianisme is referred to in the original rather than in the English translation.
It cannot be said that Father Thompson's work is quite flaw- less as a translation. The English is far from smooth, and in places hardly does justice to the French. At times not only the language, but the historical reality suffers. Thus the reference to the sons of Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla whom, as Mourret says, Domitian "destinait a l'empire," (meaning that he destined them to succeed him, as Titus and he had succeeded Ves- pasian) , is wrongly translated thus: "whom he intended for the imperial service," as though the young Domitian and Vespasian were to be civil servants rather than masters of the Empire. Or again, Mourret's reference to St. John as being "relegue ensuite dans une ile" is translated "sent back to his island exile," as though relegue meant "sent back/' and as though St. John had already been in Patmos before his exile. On the other hand Father Thompson makes amends by correcting in the translation phrases that might be wrong or ambiguous in the French. Thus in one place (p. 146) Mourret uses the expression "coupables de nouveautes" in obvious allusion to the "molitores rerum novarum" of Suetonius. Father Thompson very rightly intro- duces the original phrase in a bracket, and gives to res novae the force not of "novelties" but of "revolution," which is what Suetonius meant.
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In spite of minor blemishes Father Thompson's work may well be described as an admirable rendering of an excellent book.
Gerald G. Walsh, S. J., A. M. Woodstock College Woodstock, Md.
Religious Orders of Women in the United States. By Elinor Tong Dehey. Revised Edition. W. B. Conkey Co., Ham- mond, Indiana, 1930, pp. xxxi-f-908.
The sub-title is a perfect description of the book : "Accounts of their origin, works, and most important institutions, inter- woven with histories of many famous foundations." From the Ursulines, the first of the devoted band of consecrated women that have been so potent in the upbuilding of Catholicity in America, to the Sisters of Social Service, the most recent foundation in our country, from the Sisters of St. Agnes to the Sisters of St. Zita there is a common bond uniting them all — love of Christ, our Lord, and love of man because of Him. All those whose history is chronicled here, Benedictines, Domin- icans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Lorettines, the teaching congre- gations, the contemplatives, the hospitallers, those who have devoted themselves to the abandoned ones of Christ's flock, all of them in a very real sense may well be called Sisters of char- ity, Sisters of supernatural charity. This volume is a notable contribution to the history of charity and of education and of culture in the United States.
This revised edition of Mrs. Dehey 's book, which first ap- peared in 1913, is the only complete account of the work of our nuns in the United States. As such it should find a place in every Catholic library and, is it too much to hope that it will be placed on the reference shelf in public libraries as well ? The volume is a monument of patient industry as will be obvious to any one who has attempted to get data from Catholic institu- tions, so prone are we to hide our light under a bushel. In a compendium of this sort, of course, one must not expect to find glowing accounts of heroic sacrifice, yet heroism and sacrifice are written between the lines, a daring, sacred adventuring for Christ and with Christ by these saintly women of colossal faith and confidence, so that one may say the simple narratives here are none the less a book of golden deeds.
The volume is excellently printed and edited. Not the least
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of its charms are the striking illustrations that adorn the book. The glossary of conventual terms should prove useful to the journalistic gentry; in fact, even a fairly well-informed Catholic will find here new and fascinating words, touriere, for instance, and barhetie. This record of the magnolia Dei in America de- serves high commendation and a wide circulation.
William J. McGucken, S. J., Ph. D. St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
Bolivar y Leon XII. Por Pedro Leturia, S. J. Parra Leon Hermanos, Caracas, 1931, pp. xviii-(-181.
In May, 1827, Leo XII formally established the Catholic hierarchy in New Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador, the three South American Republics, whose independence had been won by Simon Bolivar. The significance and the far-reaching conse- quences of this step will be apparent to anyone even slightly ac- quainted with the history of those stormy days. The Spanish Patronado with its three centuries of glorious achievement was broken; the churches of the young republics were brought into immediate contact with the center of Catholic life ; a new source of law and order was set up amid the chaos resulting from the revolution ; the already decrepit system of Metternich was quiet- ly ignored; the dawn of a new era in a large portion of the New World was greeted by the resurgent Papacy. The slow, sure, movements of the Holy See had gained a triumph, where less cautious, less courageous, diplomacy would have meant disaster.
The subject of Father Leturia's book has wonderful possi- bilities, and the author is well qualified to handle it. Years of active work in Bogota have given him a sympathetic under- standing of the Latin American soul, while his wide and unre- stricted ranging through European archives, his tireless and successful search for documentary evidence, his long training in historical methods lend the assurance of reliable scholarship. His published work in German and in Spanish has been almost entirely in this field and has been very favorably received. The present volume is a by-product of more ambitious studies and is offered as a contribution to the centennary literature on Bolivar.
The great Libertador is the central figure of the drama. And it is especially interesting to watch the energy and determination
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with which he works for the hierarchical establishment of 1827. The personal religious, and irreligious views of Bolivar were the result of an education vitiated by reading the Encyclopedia and kindred works of the eighteenth century. During the early struggle for independence he was a dreamer, an idealist and most likely a deist; but when he plans for permanent peace, he is a political realist; in his diplomatic dealings with Rome he is a devout Christian.
William R. Corrigan, S. J., Ph. D. St. Mary's College St. Marys, Kans.
Forty-Niners. By Archer Butler Hulbert, Director of the Stewart Commission on Western History of Colorado Col- lege. Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 1931.
The author has made a very complete study of the transcon- tinental trails and the maps on which they are marked. He has studied also every available diary or journal bearing upon actual experience on these trails between the years 1848 and 1853. Every material fact or incident recorded in the book is to be found in some of these diaries or journals. All the illustrations (and there are plenty) are of contemporary drawings or car- toons. Eight excellent maps enable one to follow the travellers at every stage of their trip.
The result is a most readable and surprise-creating account of that most difficult journey over plain, desert, and mountain from Independence, Missouri, to California. " 'Figger it fur yourself says Meek, '2100 miles — four months to do it in be- tween April rains and September snows — May, June, July, August — 123 days. How much a day and every cussed day?' I saw the point. Seventeen miles a day. 'Yaas,' drawled the scout: 'and every day, rain, hail, cholera, breakdowns, lame mules, sick cows, washouts, prairie fires, flooded coulees, lost horses, dust storms, alkali water. Seventeen miles every day — or you land in the snow and eat each other like Donner party done in '46.' "
The story shows what careful preparation had to be made to insure success. We see the heartbreaking, even fatal, results of flinging one's self out on the trail without such preparation. The wayside crosses are eloquent of this, as well as of the cholera. We read, too, the old, old story of travellers cumbering
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themselves with excessive impedimenta only to cast much of it aside when half way through the journey.
The reader identifies himself with the fortunes of one well prepared and well knit organization that forged ahead along the trail and shares with them all the thrills and hairbreadth es- capes that came to those who would make their way to the land of gold. As a picture of the struggles and achievements of the men, women, and children who figured in this stirring episode of American history, the book is well worthy of attention. As might be expected, the incidents are frequently of the raw type and the local color lurid. There is a very complete bibliography of the writings (diaries, journals, maps), of the California Argonauts, 1848-1853. Many items of this bibliography are unpublished manuscripts.
James I. Shannon, S. J., A. M.
St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo.
The Early Far West, A Narrative Outline, 15^0-1850. By W. J. Ghent, Author of The Road to Oregon. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1931, pp. xi+411.
A treatment addressed at once to the general reader and the class student of the history of the Trans-Mississippi country throughout the entire period prior to 1850, by which time United States territory had reached as far as the Lower Rio Grande and the Pacific. The plan is typically chronological rather than topical, an attempt being made to let the reader know what events of significance were happening simultaneously in various sectors of the vast geographical area covered. For sources of information Mr. Ghent has relied in considerable measure on recent monograph literature dealing with various topics of Trans-Mississippi history. The reviewer has been impressed with the author's alertness thus to avail himself of the most up- to-date and authoritative studies pertinent to his subject. The result is a well balanced and reliable survey of a block of Amer- ican history which is as interesting in content as it is far flung in the physical stage on which it was enacted. The account of the fur trade in the pioneer West is particularly good. As to Marcus Whitman's famous ride, Mr. Ghent discounts the findings of Professor Edward G. Bourne, generally accepted by the pro- fessional historians, which divest the journey of any political
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significance. The reviewer has noted only a few inaccuracies. The relations between Kaskaskia and the Des Peres village are confused, a wrong date, 1700 for 1703, being indicated for the origin of Kaskaskia (p. 18). Some of the positions of settle- ments as indicated by dots on the map on page 35 are incorrect.
G. J. G.
The Expedition of Don Domingo Teran de Los Rios into Texas. By Mattie Austin Hatcher, A. M., Archivist, University of Texas, and Corresponding Member of the Commission. Edited by Rev. Paul J. Foik, C. S. C, Ph. D., Chairman of the Commission and President of the Society, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas. (Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society. Distributed under the Auspices of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Com- mission. )
This is an important group of documents bearing on the official expedition (1691-1692) sent out by the Mexican author- ities to Texas to counteract the French penetration of that re- gion which had been inaugurated by LaSalle. The expedition also is notable as marking the true beginnings of missionary work among the Tejas Indians. The documents reproduced in English include the instructions issued to the leaders, military and ecclesiastical, and the journals kept by Teran and the Fran- ciscan missionaries of the party. Differences which arose at the very beginning of the journey so handicapped the work as to render the trip without any appreciable results. This publica- tion is a fresh instance of the splendid material which is being assembled for the history of the missionary or Franciscan period of the Church in Texas, which is now under way at the hands of the Rev. Dr. Francis Borgia Steck, O. F. M.
Catholic Central-Verein of America (National Federation of German American Catholics). Official Report of the 76th General Convention held at Fort Wayne, lnd., August 23rd to 26th, 1931. Wanderer Printing Company, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1931, pp. 136.
An interesting illustration of what intelligent lay action can accomplish in the field of practical sociology and economics. The Central Verein has for years been engaged in the study of
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contemporary social problems from the standpoint of Catholic doctrinal and ethical teaching. Already it has a considerable body of achievement to its credit and is now organized broadly and solidly enough to pursue its splendid program with even more substantial results in the future.
Contributors to this Issue
The Reverend Peter P. Forrestal, C. S. C, A. M., Litt. D., con- tributor to Mid- America and to the Records of the American Catholic Historical Society, is professor of Spanish at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas.
The Reverend Charles F. Griffith, S. T. B., A. M., is professor of American history at St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa.
Miss Nancy Ring, A. M., St. Louis, Missouri, has made research- studies in the French period of American colonial history.
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